This course is a survey of the field of cultural anthropology. The class will compare and contrast cultures around the world, discussing topics such as: the nature of culture, race and ethnicity, making a living in the environment, gender and marriage, family and kinship, stratification and poverty, political and economic systems, language, culture and personality, religion, the arts and world views. A Christian framework will provide the means of determining both the value and limits of cultural relativism.

Cultural geography deals with the ways in which different cultures adapt to, use, and affect the landscape. Topics include cultural perceptions of the environment, the variety of cultural adaptations, technological levels and exploitative strategies, the origin and spread of cultures, the geography of settlement types, and the human impact on ecology. In practical terms, the student, armed with geography's organizing principles and skills, will be better able to make wise personal and societal decisions about using the environment and will be of more help in resolving conflicts among competing values and groups.

This writing intensive course is based on the premise that exposure to and knowledge of a variety of human cultures is essential to mastering a working knowledge of cultural anthropology. Through reading and discussing classic ethnographic writings, students will become familiar with the ethnographic process and with the cultures analyzed in the literature. Students will read from both assigned and elective writings and will prepare an ethnographic report for class presentation that will demonstrate the use of one or more research methods.

This course is an anthropological survey of production and exchange systems from a Christian perspective. Along with the data from the field on different types of economies, we will investigate underlying principles and ethics that are the bases for human economic and social interaction. Particularly, our concern will be with revealing the ethic of reciprocity found in all human societies in either overt or covert forms. Ultimately, we will analyze and critique the modern market economy and propose ways to live as Christians in it and yet not of it.

This course will examine practiced religions around the globe from an anthropological perspective. Magic, ritual, healing, prayer, religious leadership, myth, formal belief systems and religious changes will be discussed. The relationship between world and traditional religions will be analyzed as well. Our purpose will be to reveal the beauty of the Christian faith and to demonstrate what this faith has to offer to others, both in affirming God's previous work in a culture and in speaking boldly the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Language and culture, or ethnolinguistics, examines the relationship between the cognitive categories of language and the worldview of culture. Anthropologists have long investigated this relationship as they have done fieldwork in remote places, often learning languages never before encountered by Westerners. This course will approach the field of ethnolinguistics from the perspective of its usefulness for language learning, for identification of a culture's core values, and for contextualization of the message of the Bible.

Students identify a community to study, either in the local area or abroad, collect data on the community using ethnographic methods, and write a paper describing the results. A formal presentation of the work is made to an audience that may include family and friends. Data may be collected in the summer prior to registering for the class, pending consultation with the professor.

Anthropological explanations for the nature of human social and cultural life have varied greatly. We will survey the history of anthropological theories, including theories in cultural evolution, rationalism, functionalism, semiotics and psychology. Our aim will be to understand the interrelated nature of various aspects of culture and to witness ways in which Christian transformation can bring about appreciation for traditional ways as well as radical change.

In the first integrated theory course, we will investigate the roots of anthropology in the middle 19th century and trace its history through the development of structural-functionalism in the early 20th century. The concept of "culture" constructed during this time will be analyzed in terms of the political circumstance of colonialism and the intellectual circumstance of the European Enlightenment. Harmonious views of social life rooted in notions of the "noble savage" will be deconstructed, as a Christian theology of sin is introduced to add complexity to depection of tribal peoples and cultures. And the epistemology of positivism will be presented and critiqued as having contributed to a highly objectified view of human beings as just a species in nature. Theory from the four fields of anthropology(physical, archeological, linguistins, and socio-cultural) will be covered between the years 1860-1940.

In the second integrated theory course, we will trace the history of anthropology from the collapse of structural-functionalism in the middle 20th century to the present. Particular attention will be given to conflict theory, and to structure and agency. Both structuralism (idealism) and materialism will be deconstructed with a holistic view of the person rooted in the Christian theology of creation.anthropology's current crisis of postmodernism will be studied in the context of the spread of globalization and its paradoxical result: ethnic identity politics and the collapse of the concept of culture. Contemporary ethnography will be analyzed with a post-critical epistemology that parallels the Biblical concept of witness, and the Christian theology of redemption will be acknowledged as the source of hope for humanity. Theory from the four fields of anthropology (physical, archeology, linguistics, and socio-cultural) will be covered from 1960 to the present.

This will be a course on the theological origins and purposes of human culture, setting human culture-making within the broad contours of the Christian story. We will consider fundamental theological ideas that account for the reality and the importance of human culture. Eschatological ideas will also be important in helping us to discern the purpose and direction of human culture: its goodness, corruption, and transformation. All of these subjects will require us to do Christological reflection and practice. So, the course will be theologically demanding and focused, although we will need to consider works from social psychologists, anthropologists, and sociologists on the way. Be prepared to learn not only the language of theology, but other disciplines as well.

The goal of this course is to assist the student in understanding the nature of the social sciences in general and anthropology in particular, in light of recent philosophical discourse concerning the nature of knowledge and truth. The course will trace a sampling of the historical discourse related to the development of social theory, the consequent impact this has had on the quest for truth, certainty and faith, and the way all of this relates to the field of anthropology and anthropological fieldwork. Finally, the above examination will be undertaken in order to gain insight into the nature of Christian faith and its relationship to the discipline of anthropology.

This class is a hands-on practical course in applied ethnographic methods. Ethnographythick of a culture, that is, to describe cultura descriptionprocesses fully and to interpret them correctly. applied ethnography uses the findings to assist people in solving human problems. Students will be trained in ethnographic techniques such as participant observation, informal interviewing, field note taking, data analysis, and ethnographic writing. Methods read about and discussed in class will be practiced in exercises leading up to the construction of a final project.

The colloquium series is a weekly event in which students, faculty, and invited guests present ideas which are at the cutting edge of anthropological thought. Interaction between anthropology and theology is especially central to the discussion. audience participation is strongly encouraged, and a synergy of ideas will contribute to the growth and development of a deeply Christian approach to the study of people and cultures.

The colloquium series is a weekly event in which students, faculty, and invited guests present ideas which are at the cutting edge of anthropological thought. Interaction between anthropology and theology is especially central to the discussion. audience participation is strongly encouraged, and a synergy of ideas will contribute to the growth and development of a deeply Christian approach to the study of people and cultures.

This course critically examines current theories of globalization in anthropology, including key subset fields such as migration and human rights. The course includes selected ethnographic research on topics including global flows of people, material, ideas, identities, global political structures, and local accommodation and resistance. Lastly, students will critically engage with critiquing and constructing a theological paradigm of the anthropology of globalization, migration, and human rights.

The thesis provides students with the opportunity to do their own analytical research under the guidance of a faculty mentor. Students select their mentors from a list of qualified faculty. Faculty guide students through the process of data collection, analysis, and integrated writing. The thesis is written at the end of the curriculum, so students are prepared by their theory classes, their experience in ethnography, their elective menu of applied studies, and by having listened to other researchers presenting at the colloquium series. Students do original thinking and write a refined paper at the graduate level.