entry level anthropology

<p>i just signed up for this class as a freshman, what type of work is it exactly ? does it look at humans from a science view or from literature view ?</p>

<p>like for example will it be about biology or will you have to do more things like read and write about the psychology of humans</p>

<p>let me know about this class if anyone took it</p>

<p>So, I will try my best to answer this, but keep in mind, your post is VERY vague and Anthropology is one of the broadest fields in academia.</p>

<p>I am going to guess that this class is socio-cultural anthropology, because that is the “go to” track of anthropology. Biological, physical and linguistic anthropology classes are usually labeled as such. However, if this is a biological anthropology class expect the following to various degrees of coverage: genetics, primate evolution, hominid evolution, anatomy and human/primate behavioral studies. Not knowing your school or class I cannot get anymore specific.</p>

<p>If it is socio-cultural (like I predict) the class could honestly go in a 1000 directions, mostly depending on the interests of the professor. Anthropology is a social science, so it is closer to history in the style of lecture. I am not sure what you mean by a “literature view,” because anthropology is not a humanity and you will not be analyzing or discussing novels in an introductory anthropology class. There will be reading. Lots of reading. Instead you will be learning foundations: kinship, social patterns, stratification, taboos, ethnocentricity and many more things that try to consider the different ways different cultures answer the “big questions” (I’m paraphrasing Geertz). </p>

<p>I hope this helped. To be honest, anthropology can be and is taught differently at basically every university. It’s not like math or chemestry with explicit rules and official text books. Every professor will assign different readings, materials, assignments and schedule the class differently.</p>

<p>well from behavioral sciences i have to pick one and i picked anthropology but i can change it anytime online, which one out of the behavioral sciences do you personally prefer, like which is more interesting. keep in mind im a science/math/history type of guy, not into literature, literary analysis classes or any of that.</p>

<p>choices are (these are all introductory classes)</p>

<p>afro-american studies
Anthropology
economics
political science
psychology
sociology</p>

<p>i have to pick 2 subjects from this category, this semester im doing one of them, so which one should i do ?</p>

<p>Any of these topics can be absolutely fascinating, or not. When taking classes outside your intellectual comfort zone, the quality of the professor is especially important. See if you can check teaching evaluations, or just talk to kids who’ve taken these classes at your university in past years. Sometimes your faculty advisor can give you guidance but many professors will not badmouth a colleague even if s/he is well-known for being mediocre or worse in the classroom. Also, many faculty members don’t know much about professors in other departments. Your best bet is to sign up for the classes that get strong recommendations from students who are similar to you in interests and ability. Remember that part of what makes college exciting is the chance to explore fields you know little or nothing about beforehand.</p>

<p>If you’re a math/science guy, definitely choose economics. Although, if it’s an entry level course, you won’t be using much math beyond basic algebra.</p>

<p>I agree with jingle that you might choose based on professor reputation.
I personally like Anthropology, and if you’re a history person than it might fit your interests as well. I remember during one week we read a book about the history of sugar (use and production), which was a springboard for talking about taste- where it comes from and why we like the things we do. Sociology is similar to Anthro, but with an extra quantitative element (usually surveys, statistics, population patterns, etc).</p>

<p>if you want to do real social sciences, don’t get a social sciences degree. get a math, stats or CS degree. haven’t you noticed that social science research is almost all hardcore applied statistics? there is a wide gap between what social science research is at the highest levels, and what they feed to the students, in a way that does not exist for physical sciences or engineering.</p>

<p>^ what are you talking about man, im not pursuing a social science degree… im going after a science degree for chemistry… and i just need to take one of these classes for core requirements and need help choosing</p>

<p>So given those options, it would definitely be a socio-cultural anthropology class.</p>

<p>I completely agree that you should ask around, see what classes other science majors enjoy. I majored in anthropology (so I am biased) but I had many friends in the sciences who did not enjoy that type of class because the field is not concrete.</p>