Peoples and Cultures of the World

What does it mean if someone raises his eyebrows when he meets you? Are modern technological nations really happier and better off than "primitive" hunter-gatherer societies? How common is cannibalism today? Why are Starbucks coffee shops so popular with American consumers? These questions and more are addressed in this fascinating course on cultural anthropology. As a science that incorporates many disciplines, including psychology, biology and genetics, politics, economics, and religion, the field of anthropology probes human behavior from nearly every possible perspective. Travel the world with Professor Fischer, visiting a community where women can have up to 20 husbands, a society that tracks family lineage through the mother's line, a country with a "third gender" of highly-valued men who dress like women, and areas where cannibalism is still practiced. Studying these people opens up many questions: How should we judge what other cultures do - or should we judge them at all? What if those practices, such as female circumcision, conflict with our own sense of morality or human rights? What are the ethical implications of anthropologists' interactions with indigenous peoples? Can they affect or even harm a culture by making a documentary film, or providing goods such as tools or food? Explore these questions in depth and see how the study of other