New courses in Anthropology from MIT OpenCourseWare, provider of free and open MIT course materials. https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/anthropology 2021-10-06T20:29:22+05:00 MIT OpenCourseWare https://ocw.mit.edu en-US Content within individual OCW courses is (c) by the individual authors unless otherwise noted. MIT OpenCourseWare materials are licensed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike). For further information see https://ocw.mit.edu/terms/index.htm This course introduces the ethnographic study of politics, i.e., what anthropologists understand to be "political" in various social and economic systems, from small-scale societies to liberal democratic states. It examines politics across three contemporary contexts: electoral politics, public spheres, bureaucracies and humanitarian governance. Students consider and analyze how questions of authority, coercion, and violence have been theorized to relate to the political, and how some aspects of social life are regimented in explicitly non-political ways. https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/anthropology/21a-506-the-anthropology-of-politics-persuasion-and-power-spring-2019 Spring 2019 Cherkaev, Xenia 2020-06-12T10:47:44+05:00 21A.506 en-US politics persuasion power electoral politics public spheres bureaucracy humanitarian governance authority coercion violence language labor political rhetoric publics imagined states society MIT OpenCourseWare https://ocw.mit.edu Content within individual OCW courses is (c) by the individual authors unless otherwise noted. MIT OpenCourseWare materials are licensed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike). For further information see https://ocw.mit.edu/terms/index.htm This course explores connections between what we eat and who we are through cross-cultural study of how personal and collective identities, social relations, and economic inequalities are formed and maintained via practices of food production, preparation, and consumption. Discussions are organized around critical discussion of what makes "good" food good (tasty, healthy, authentic, ethical, etc.), and draw on anthropological studies as well as recent writing and films on the politics of food and agriculture. A primary goal of the course is to provide students with conceptual tools to understand and evaluate food systems at local and global levels. Instruction and practice in written and oral communication is provided.   https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/anthropology/21a-155-food-culture-politics-fall-2019 Fall 2019 Paxson, Heather 2020-05-29T11:37:44+05:00 21A.155 en-US food culture politics waste taste good food food preparation food consumption economy Thanksgiving agriculture hunger nutrition medicine gastropolitics MIT OpenCourseWare https://ocw.mit.edu Content within individual OCW courses is (c) by the individual authors unless otherwise noted. MIT OpenCourseWare materials are licensed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike). For further information see https://ocw.mit.edu/terms/index.htm This course introduces diverse meanings and uses of the concept of culture with historical and contemporary examples from scholarship and popular media around the globe. It includes first-hand observations, synthesized histories and ethnographies, quantitative representations, and visual and fictionalized accounts of human experiences. Students conduct empirical research on cultural differences through the systematic observation of human interaction, employ methods of interpretative analysis, and practice convincing others of the accuracy of their findings. https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/anthropology/21a-01-how-culture-works-fall-2019 Fall 2019 Cherkaev, Xenia 2020-05-26T14:18:10+05:00 21A.01 en-US culture family things creation circulation persons agents selves possessions ethnography MIT OpenCourseWare https://ocw.mit.edu Content within individual OCW courses is (c) by the individual authors unless otherwise noted. MIT OpenCourseWare materials are licensed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike). For further information see https://ocw.mit.edu/terms/index.htm This course examines how a variety of cultural traditions propose answers to the question of how to live a meaningful life. It considers the meaning of life, not as a philosophical abstraction, but as a question that individuals grapple with in their daily lives, facing difficult decisions between meeting and defying cultural expectations. The course also provides tools for thinking about moral decisions as social and historical practices, and permits students to compare and contextualize the ways people in different times and places approach fundamental ethical concerns. https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/anthropology/21a-157-the-meaning-of-life-spring-2019 Spring 2019 Jones, Graham Paxson, Heather 2020-02-06T14:05:21+05:00 21A.157 en-US family marriage parenting life reciprocity money wealth work sex self-cultivation talent beauty mindfulness belonging citizenship loss crisis faith religion community MIT OpenCourseWare https://ocw.mit.edu Content within individual OCW courses is (c) by the individual authors unless otherwise noted. MIT OpenCourseWare materials are licensed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike). For further information see https://ocw.mit.edu/terms/index.htm This course explores the experiences and understandings of class among Americans positioned at different points along the U.S. social spectrum. It considers a variety of classic frameworks for analyzing social class and uses memoirs, novels, and ethnographies to gain a sense of how class is experienced in daily life and how it intersects with other forms of social difference such as race and gender. https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/anthropology/21a-120-american-dream-using-storytelling-to-explore-social-class-in-the-united-states-spring-2018 Spring 2018 Walley, Christine 2018-12-21T18:38:28+05:00 21A.120 en-US American Dream social class mobility immigration storytelling oral history memoir auto-ethnographies race ethnicity gender Studs Terkel Zora Neale Hurston Exit Zero Didier Eribon Alessandro Portelli William Sewell Chole Island Southeast Chicago Historical Museum MIT OpenCourseWare https://ocw.mit.edu Content within individual OCW courses is (c) by the individual authors unless otherwise noted. MIT OpenCourseWare materials are licensed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike). For further information see https://ocw.mit.edu/terms/index.htm This course explores the complex interrelationships among humans and natural environments, focusing on non-western parts of the world in addition to Europe and the United States. It uses environmental conflict to draw attention to competing understandings and uses of "nature" as well as the local, national and transnational power relationships in which environmental interactions are embedded. In addition to utilizing a range of theoretical perspectives, this subject draws upon a series of ethnographic case studies of environmental conflicts in various parts of the world. https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/anthropology/21a-429j-environmental-conflict-fall-2016 Fall 2016 Walley, Christine 2018-01-16T17:20:21+05:00 21A.429J STS.320J en-US environmental conflict nature conservation toxic pollution health effects climate change natural gas the Anthropocene glaciers ecology agency humans non-humans ontology species ethnography toxics endocrine disruptors epigenics environmental health fracking MIT OpenCourseWare https://ocw.mit.edu Content within individual OCW courses is (c) by the individual authors unless otherwise noted. MIT OpenCourseWare materials are licensed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike). For further information see https://ocw.mit.edu/terms/index.htm This course introduces scholarly debates about the sociocultural practices through which individuals and societies create, sustain, recall, and erase memories. Emphasis is given to the history of knowledge, construction of memory, the role of authorities in shaping memory, and how societies decide on whose versions of memory are more "truthful" and "real." Other topics include how memory works in the human brain, memory and trauma, amnesia, memory practices in the sciences, false memory, sites of memory, and the commodification of memory. Students taking the graduate version complete additional assignments. https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/anthropology/21a-104-memory-culture-forgetting-spring-2016 Spring 2016 Buyandelger, Manduhai 2017-07-18T15:56:34+05:00 21A.104 21A.119 en-US memory culture the past memorials symbols rituals internet social media social memory biology neuroscience medicine ethnography Masada slavery war memorials Lenin tragic spirits forgetting MIT OpenCourseWare https://ocw.mit.edu Content within individual OCW courses is (c) by the individual authors unless otherwise noted. MIT OpenCourseWare materials are licensed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike). For further information see https://ocw.mit.edu/terms/index.htm Through investigating cross-cultural case studies, this course introduces students to the anthropological study of the social institutions and symbolic meanings of family, gender, and sexuality. We will explores the myriad forms that families and households take and considers their social, emotional, and economic dynamics. https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/anthropology/21a-111j-for-love-and-money-rethinking-the-family-spring-2016 Spring 2016 Paxson, Heather 2017-06-22T19:46:26+05:00 21A.111J WGS.172J en-US family sex gender anthropology household sexuality social institutions MIT OpenCourseWare https://ocw.mit.edu Content within individual OCW courses is (c) by the individual authors unless otherwise noted. MIT OpenCourseWare materials are licensed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike). For further information see https://ocw.mit.edu/terms/index.htm This course examines the birth and international expansion of an American industry of political marketing. It focuses attention on the cultural processes, sociopolitical contexts and moral utopias that shape the practice of political marketing in the U.S. and in different countries. By looking at the debates and expert practices at the core of the business of politics, the course explores how the "universal" concept of democracy is interpreted and reworked through space and time, while examining how different cultural groups experimenting with political marketing understand the role of citizens in a democracy. https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/anthropology/21a-506-the-anthropology-of-politics-u-s-presidential-election-edition-fall-2016 Fall 2016 Vidart-Delgado, Maria 2017-04-05T22:09:01+05:00 21A.506 en-US elections politics Presidential race marketing techniques voters consensus equality authority mass markets electoral campaigning democratization polling microtargeting candidate branding field campaigning social media ground wars foundational myths American elections citizens consumers public opinion victory lab accountable democracy representation and minorities celebrity politics popular politics engineering majorities controlled interactivity MIT OpenCourseWare https://ocw.mit.edu Content within individual OCW courses is (c) by the individual authors unless otherwise noted. MIT OpenCourseWare materials are licensed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike). For further information see https://ocw.mit.edu/terms/index.htm This course explores the issue of human trafficking for forced labour and sexual slavery, focusing on its representation in recent scholarly accounts and advocacy as well as in other media. Ethnographic and fictional readings along with media analysis help to develop a contextualized and comparative understanding of the phenomena in both past and present contexts. It examines the wide range of factors and agents that enable these practices, such as technology, cultural practices, social and economic conditions, and the role of governments and international organizations. The course also discusses the analytical, moral and methodological questions of researching, writing, and representing trafficking and slavery. https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/anthropology/21a-445j-slavery-and-human-trafficking-in-the-21st-century-spring-2015 Spring 2015 Thakor, Mitali 2015-10-16T15:45:45+05:00 21A.445J WGS.272J en-US 21A.445 21A.445J WGS.272 WGS.272J slavery human trafficking sex gender human rights race capitalism labor exploitation public health violence child labor organ trafficking sexual violence prostitution white slavery abolitionism migration border crossings border policing conflict zones reproductive labor sex work technology and trafficking MIT OpenCourseWare https://ocw.mit.edu Content within individual OCW courses is (c) by the individual authors unless otherwise noted. MIT OpenCourseWare materials are licensed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike). For further information see https://ocw.mit.edu/terms/index.htm This course explores the diverse ways that people teach and learn—in different countries, in different disciplines, and in different subcultures. We will discuss how theories of learning can be applied to a variety of hands-on, in-class learning activities. We compare schooling to other forms of knowledge transmission from initiation and apprenticeship to recent innovations in online education such as MOOCs. Students will employ a range of qualitative methods in conducting original research on topics of their choice. https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/anthropology/21a-150-teaching-and-learning-cross-cultural-perspectives-fall-2014 Fall 2014 Jones, Graham 2015-06-25T21:00:43+05:00 21A.150 en-US teaching learning culture cross-cultural perspectives subcultures schooling initiation apprenticeship education online education MOOCs interviewing observation ethnography discourse analysis socialization social learning ritual rites of passage imitation improvisation creativity language personhood identity cognition perception MIT OpenCourseWare https://ocw.mit.edu Content within individual OCW courses is (c) by the individual authors unless otherwise noted. MIT OpenCourseWare materials are licensed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike). For further information see https://ocw.mit.edu/terms/index.htm This course examines the problem of mass violence and oppression in the contemporary world, and the concept of human rights as a defense against such abuse. It explores questions of cultural relativism, race, gender and ethnicity. It examines case studies from war crimes tribunals, truth commissions, anti-terrorist policies and other judicial attempts to redress state-sponsored wrongs. It also considers whether the human rights framework effectively promotes the rule of law in modern societies. Students debate moral positions and address ideas of moral relativism. https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/anthropology/21a-442j-violence-human-rights-and-justice-fall-2014 Fall 2014 James, Erica 2015-06-04T20:30:58+05:00 21A.442J WGS.270J en-US 21A.442 21A.442J WGS.270 WGS.270J political violence human rights justice freedom peace cultural relativism war crimes tribunals truth commissions historical traumas gender religion the Holocaust United Nations universalism Argentina Ireland Amnesty International Rwanda Palestine South Africa Haiti MIT OpenCourseWare https://ocw.mit.edu Content within individual OCW courses is (c) by the individual authors unless otherwise noted. MIT OpenCourseWare materials are licensed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike). For further information see https://ocw.mit.edu/terms/index.htm This class looks at the birth and international expansion of an American industry of political marketing, with a special emphasis on Latin America. We will focus our attention on the cultural processes, sociopolitical contexts and moral utopias that shape the practice of political marketing in the U.S. and in different Latin American countries. By looking at the debates and expert practices at the core of the business of politics, we will explore how the "universal" concept of democracy is interpreted and reworked as it travels through space and time. Specifically, we will study how different groups experimenting with political marketing in different cultural contexts understand the role of citizens in a democracy. https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/anthropology/21a-506-the-business-of-politics-a-view-of-latin-america-spring-2014 Spring 2014 Vidart-Delgado, Maria 2015-06-01T19:07:27+05:00 21A.506 en-US business politics Latin America marketing democracy elections political consulting political campaign party system electoral legislation media platform strategy public relations market research floating signifiers neopopulism MIT OpenCourseWare https://ocw.mit.edu Content within individual OCW courses is (c) by the individual authors unless otherwise noted. MIT OpenCourseWare materials are licensed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike). For further information see https://ocw.mit.edu/terms/index.htm This subject examines relationships among technology, culture, and politics in a range of social and historical settings. The class is organized around two topics: Identity and infrastructure, and will combine interactive lectures, film screenings, readings, and discussion. https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/anthropology/21a-500j-technology-and-culture-spring-2014 Spring 2014 Helmreich, Stefan Paxson, Heather 2015-05-06T18:05:39+05:00 21A.500J STS.075J en-US 21A.500 21A.500J STS.075 STS.075J technology technology and culture biotechnology computers and the self digital world science and religion racial economy ethics technoscience bioterrorism cloning genetically modified food GMO gender identity information age MIT OpenCourseWare https://ocw.mit.edu Content within individual OCW courses is (c) by the individual authors unless otherwise noted. MIT OpenCourseWare materials are licensed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike). For further information see https://ocw.mit.edu/terms/index.htm This course is an introduction to the cross-cultural study of biomedical ethics, examining moral foundations of the science and practice of Western biomedicine through case studies of abortion, contraception, cloning, organ transplantation and other issues. It evaluates challenges that new medical technologies pose to the practice and availability of medical services around the globe, and to cross-cultural ideas of kinship and personhood. Also discussed are critiques of the biomedical tradition from anthropological, feminist, legal, religious, and cross-cultural theorists. https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/anthropology/21a-302j-dilemmas-in-bio-medical-ethics-playing-god-or-doing-good-fall-2013 Fall 2013 James, Erica 2015-01-15T21:26:15+05:00 21A.302J WGS.271J en-US 21A.302 21A.302J WGS.271 WGS.271J bio-medical ethics medical technologies biotechnologies halth sexuality morality race ethnicity kinship gender abortion contraception reproductive technologies pharmaceuticals end of life care healing practices anthropology medical experimentation sterilization Lynchburg biological citizenship clinical trials MIT OpenCourseWare https://ocw.mit.edu Content within individual OCW courses is (c) by the individual authors unless otherwise noted. MIT OpenCourseWare materials are licensed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike). For further information see https://ocw.mit.edu/terms/index.htm This course examines how people learn, practice, and evaluate traditional and contemporary craft techniques. Social science theories of design, embodiment, apprenticeship learning, skill, labor, expertise, and tacit knowledge are used to explore distinctions and connections among art, craft, and science. We will also discuss the commoditization of craft into market goods, collectible art, and tourism industries. Ethnographic and historical case studies include textiles, glassblowing, quilting, cheese making, industrial design, home cooking, factory and laboratory work, CAD-CAM. In-class demonstrations and hands-on craft projects will be included. https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/anthropology/21a-501j-art-craft-science-spring-2013 Spring 2013 Paxson, Heather 2014-12-12T06:06:09+05:00 21A.501J STS.074J en-US 21A.501 21A.501J STS.074 STS.074J craft technique design apprenticeship learning skill labor expertise tacit knowledge art science market goods tourism industry textiles glassblowing quilting cheesemaking industrial design home cooking technology artisan technician machine knitting glass modernism tools embodied practice value global economy design politics craft politics collecting display authenticity craftivism MIT OpenCourseWare https://ocw.mit.edu Content within individual OCW courses is (c) by the individual authors unless otherwise noted. MIT OpenCourseWare materials are licensed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike). For further information see https://ocw.mit.edu/terms/index.htm This course applies the tools of anthropology to examine biology in the age of genomics, biotechnological enterprise, biodiversity conservation, pharmaceutical bioprospecting, and synthetic biology. It examines such social concerns such as bioterrorism, genetic modification, and cloning. It offers an anthropological inquiry into how the substances and explanations of biology—ecological, organismic, cellular, molecular, genetic, informatic—are changing. It examines such artifacts as cell lines, biodiversity databases, and artificial life models, and using primary sources in biology, social studies of the life sciences, and literary and cinematic materials, and asks how we might answer Erwin Schrodinger's 1944 question, "What Is Life?" today. https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/anthropology/21a-303j-anthropology-of-biology-fall-2013 Fall 2013 Helmreich, Stefan 2014-06-27T18:51:30+05:00 21A.303J STS.060J en-US 21A.303 21A.303J STS.060 STS.060J biology anthropology of biology biopolitics bioethics biodiversity biotechnology MIT OpenCourseWare https://ocw.mit.edu Content within individual OCW courses is (c) by the individual authors unless otherwise noted. MIT OpenCourseWare materials are licensed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike). For further information see https://ocw.mit.edu/terms/index.htm As we live in the aftermath of the Financial Crisis of 2008, there are renewed questions about the nature of the economic system—capitalism—within which we live. What are its benefits and drawbacks? Why does it garner both so much opposition and support? What are its moral, economic, social and political implications? Is it even a "system"? How has capitalism played out in different historical moments and regions of the world? This class addresses the question "what is capitalism?" from a social scientific point of view, rather than a classical economic one.  https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/anthropology/21a-461-what-is-capitalism-fall-2013 Fall 2013 Walley, Christine 2014-05-01T16:48:33+05:00 21A.461 en-US anthropology capitalism capitalist socialism socialist ethnography ethnographic economics inequality class financial crisis weber bourdieu Post-Structuralism Post-Structuralist globalization tea party occupy wall street socioeconomic MIT OpenCourseWare https://ocw.mit.edu Content within individual OCW courses is (c) by the individual authors unless otherwise noted. MIT OpenCourseWare materials are licensed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike). For further information see https://ocw.mit.edu/terms/index.htm Through the comparative study of different cultures, anthropology explores fundamental questions about what it means to be human. It seeks to understand how culture both shapes societies, from the smallest island in the South Pacific to the largest Asian metropolis, and affects the way institutions work, from scientific laboratories to Christian mega-churches. This course will provide a framework for analyzing diverse facets of human experience such as gender, ethnicity, language, politics, economics, and art.  https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/anthropology/21a-00-introduction-to-anthropology-spring-2013 Spring 2013 Jones, Graham 2014-01-07T21:51:22+05:00 21A.00 en-US anthropology Social Science humanities culture society gender ethnicity race language politics economics art identity Capoeira tradition modernity communication identity expressive culture magic MIT OpenCourseWare https://ocw.mit.edu Content within individual OCW courses is (c) by the individual authors unless otherwise noted. MIT OpenCourseWare materials are licensed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike). For further information see https://ocw.mit.edu/terms/index.htm This course is an introductory exploration of documentary film theory and production, focusing on documentaries about science, engineering, and related fields. Students engage in digital video production as well as social and media analysis of science documentaries. Readings are drawn from social studies of science as well as from documentary film theory. The courses uses documentary video making as a tool to explore the worlds of science and engineering, as well as a tool for thinking analytically about media itself and the social worlds in which science is embedded. The course includes a hands-on lab component devoted to digital video production, in addition to classroom lectures and in-class film screenings. https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/anthropology/21a-550j-dv-lab-documenting-science-through-video-and-new-media-fall-2012 Fall 2012 Walley, Christine Boebel, Chris 2013-11-26T21:58:43+05:00 21A.550J STS.064J en-US 21A.550J 21A.550 STS.064J STS.064 documentary film documentary video film history video production video editing ethnography interview science documentary MIT OpenCourseWare https://ocw.mit.edu Content within individual OCW courses is (c) by the individual authors unless otherwise noted. MIT OpenCourseWare materials are licensed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike). For further information see https://ocw.mit.edu/terms/index.htm