ANTH 1 - Introduction to Cultural Anthropology

    Recent Professors
    Michael Coffey
    Recent Semesters
    Fall 2026, Spring 2026, Fall 2025
    Class Size
    45 students
    Credits
    3
    Fall 2026 Sections
    View Fall 2026 sections of ANTH 1
    Transfers To
    UC and CSUCal-GETC Area 4 · IGETC Area 4A · IGETC Area 4 · CSU GE Area D1 · CSU GE Area D
    Description
    This course explores how anthropologists study and compare human culture. Cultural anthropologists seek to understand the broad arc of human experience focusing on a set of central issues: how people around the world make their living (subsistence patterns); how they organize themselves ANTH 1 socially, politically and economically; how they communicate; how they relate to each other through family and kinship ties; what they believe about the world (belief systems); how they express themselves creatively (expressive culture); how they make distinctions among themselves such as through applying gender, racial and ethnic identity labels; how they have shaped and been shaped by social inequalities such as colonialism; and how they navigate culture change and processes of globalization that affect us all. Ethnographic case studies highlight these similarities and differences, and introduce students to how anthropologists do their work, employ professional anthropological research ethics and apply their perspectives and skills to understand humans around the globe. Recommended Preparation: Eligibility for ENGL 1A.