What does it mean to be human? Most of us assume that the world we grew up in and its values, norms, and assumptions are shared universally by other members of the species, and that this question about the nature of humanity can be answered by simply observing our immediate environment. Anthropology, a field devoted to documenting and understanding humanity on a global scale beginning with our earliest ancestors, tells us otherwise. What we think of as real or true actually just feels that way because it is familiar, and other cultures can have very different norms and perceived truths that feel as natural to them as ours do to us.
In this micro-credential, students will explore aspects of the human experience in the past and present in two courses. Introduction to Archaeology (ANTH 220) focuses on the history of humanity and the science of how we understand it, with particular focus on the cultures of Mexico and Central America. Introduction to Cultural Anthropology (ANTH 201) shifts the focus to the present with a focus on the dizzyingly broad spectrum of the human experience that is found across the globe. Taken together, students will challenge some of their assumptions about the nature of the world and get a broader and nuanced understanding of what it means to be human.
| Course | Credits | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| ANTH 220 - Introduction to Archaeology | 3 |
Summer Session C: |
| ANTH 201 - Introduction to Cultural Anthropology | 3 | Summer Session D: |
