Faculty Syllabus

ANTH-2351 Cultural Anthropology

STEPHANIE MUNDINE


Credit Spring 2026

Section(s)

ANTH-2351-005 (15152)
LEC DIL ONL DIL

ANTH-2351-007 (15153)
LEC RGC ONL DIL

LEC Th 9:00am - 10:20am RGC RG10 1317.00

Course Requirements

Required Resources for Class:

  • Book: Perspectives: An Open Invitation to Cultural Anthropology 2nd Edition – Brown et al. ZTC
  • Blackboard:Course information (i.e., course syllabus and schedule, Zoom links, announcements, handouts, grades, and other material) is available on blacboard. You should access Blackboard before each class to look for updates and announcements. If you need help with Blackboard, email and other technical support, contact the Student Technology Services http://www.austincc.edu/sts.
  • Reliable Internet: If you need access to reliable internet or access to a computer, you can use the computer labs on campus

Readings

Required Resources for Class:

  • Book: Perspectives: An Open Invitation to Cultural Anthropology 2nd Edition – Brown et al. ZTC
  • Articles: Provided by professor and will be located on blackboard 

Course Subjects

Topics and Readings

 

Ch 1: Introduction to Anthropology

Article: Body Rituals Among the Nacirema

 

Ch 2: The Culture Concept

Article: Nice Girls Don’t Talk to Rastas

 

 

Ch 3: Doing Fieldwork

 

 

Ch 4: Language
Article: Conversation Style: Talking on the Job

 

Ch 5: Subsistence

 

 

Ch 6: Economics

Article: Poverty at Work

 

Ch 7: Politics and Law
Article: Cross-Cultural Law: the Case of an American Gypsy

 

Ch 8: Family and Marriage
 

 

Spring Break! No Classes!! Mar 17– Mar 23

Ch 9: Race and Ethnicity

Article: Your Choice

 

Ch 10: Gender and Sexuality

 

 

Ch 11: Religion/Rituals/Beliefs

Article: Tarka’s Ghost
Article: Baseball Magic

 

Ch 12: Globalization

Article: Village Walks: Tourism and Globalization

 

Ch 15: Performance

 

Ch 16: Media Anthropology

Article: Media Magic

Article: I lost it at the movies

 

Ch 17: Health and Medicine

 

Ch 18: Seeing Like an Anthropologist

 

Student Learning Outcomes/Learning Objectives

Core Objectives/Competencies Outcomes:

Recognize, understand, and appreciate human diversity. Develop an awareness of the issues of power and inequality both locally and globally.

This course is designed to provide students with an understanding of the methods and theories of archaeology that will allow students:

  • Accurately use anthropological terminology and key concepts on exams, in written assignments, and in classroom discussions/presentations.
  • Analyze and critique all course materials using an anthropological perspective.
  • Explain the historical and cultural construction of gender, age, ethnicity, race, religion, and class and analyze how these constructions provide opportunities and impose limitations on different groups.
  • Assess culture-bound concepts such as progress and development as lenses through which we evaluate other groups and cultures.
  • Analyze how cultural systems operate as adaptive strategies in response to physical and social environments
  • Evaluate the diversity of human cultures by comparing ethnographic information from a variety of world societies.
  • Assess the dynamics of culture change in order to understand the complexity of culturally heterogeneous societies.
  • Analyze the methodological practices of cultural anthropology with a major focus on the pursuit of ethnographic research via fieldwork.
  • Identify the basic conceptual framework of anthropological study, including the crucial distinction between ethnocentrism and the practice of cultural relativism

Office Hours

T 11:00 AM - 1:15 PM Zoom

NOTE

Office Hours

T 11:00 AM - 1:15 PM Zoom

NOTE

Published: 01/22/2026 12:27:55