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People rely on religion and various belief systems to bring meaning and understanding to everyday life. This course will show how anthropologists unravel and interpret cultural belief systems to gain insight into the cultural environment. Cross-cultural ethnographic examples will illustrate the various ways in which anthropologists analyze belief systems as a way to understand a culture. Topics include religion, worldview, symbolism, taboo, myth, ritual, witchcraft, shamanism, religious practitioners, magic, healing, and spirits. Students must be prepared to look at both literate and pre-literate ritual systems. Non-Western belief systems are contrasted with religions of the Western world. Theoretical approaches to religious systems will be included along with an observational field project.

People rely on religion and various belief systems to bring meaning and understanding to everyday life. This course will show how anthropologists unravel and interpret cultural belief systems to gain insight into the cultural environment. Cross-cultural ethnographic examples will illustrate the various ways in which anthropologists analyze belief systems as a way to understand a culture. Topics include religion, worldview, symbolism, taboo, myth, ritual, witchcraft, shamanism, religious practitioners, magic, healing, and spirits. Students must be prepared to look at both literate and pre-literate ritual systems. Non-Western belief systems are contrasted with religions of the Western world. Theoretical approaches to religious systems will be included along with an observational field project.

This course is a general introduction to the four fields of anthropology that looks at how anthropologists study cultural and physical aspects of humankind. We will explore a range of societies and methods anthropologists study. This course covers such topics as economic systems, population dynamics, kinship, political systems, religion, art, medicine, as well as globalization, power relations and ethics. This course covers cross-cultural ethnographic data including Africa, Meso-America, Australia, and Asia.

This course is a general introduction to the four fields of anthropology that looks at how anthropologists study cultural and physical aspects of humankind. We will explore a range of societies and methods anthropologists study. This course covers such topics as economic systems, population dynamics, kinship, political systems, religion, art, medicine, as well as globalization, power relations and ethics. This course covers cross-cultural ethnographic data including Africa, Meso-America, Australia, and Asia.

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Medical Anthropology aims to understand the interrelationship between culture and understandings of disease, health, and healing. Anthropologists look at the biocultural basis of health to understand how different cultures experience and treat illness. This course looks at medicine in terms of health, illness, and forms of healing from an Anthropological perspective that includes biological and cross-cultural perspectives. Whereas Western biomedicine tends to favor an application of science, in some societies health and illness cannot be separated from their worldview and spiritual belief systems. This course will address the various theories and methods used to analyze and understand the body as a site of illness and healing. Topics include Healers and Healing, Ethnomedicine, Humoral Medicine, Belief Systems (Religion, Spirituality, Worldview) and understandings of health, Diet and Nutrition, Social Inequality & Health Disparities, and Cultural understandings of Mental Health.

Medical Anthropology aims to understand the interrelationship between culture and understandings of disease, health, and healing. Anthropologists look at the biocultural basis of health to understand how different cultures experience and treat illness. This course looks at medicine in terms of health, illness, and forms of healing from an Anthropological perspective that includes biological and cross-cultural perspectives. Whereas Western biomedicine tends to favor an application of science, in some societies health and illness cannot be separated from their worldview and spiritual belief systems. This course will address the various theories and methods used to analyze and understand the body as a site of illness and healing. Topics include Healers and Healing, Ethnomedicine, Humoral Medicine, Belief Systems (Religion, Spirituality, Worldview) and understandings of health, Diet and Nutrition, Social Inequality & Health Disparities, and Cultural understandings of Mental Health.