Professor: Townsend Course format: Lecture w/section Number of respondents: 56 Total Enrollment: 88 Class Composition: Froshs: 47 Sophs: 22 Jrs: 6 Srs: 11 Concs: 12 Non-Concs: 22 Don't Know: 14

Instructor Average: 2.43 Course Average: 2.28

If Anthropology strikes you as something that might be of interest, then 'Cultural Meaning and Social Disorder: An Introduction to Cultural Anthropology' is your chance to try it out. The course's main purpose is to familiarize students with the terms, concepts, and methods used by anthropologists, and to get them interested in learning about other cultures and what Śculture' really is.

Professor Townsend brought his own enthusiasm to the course, and students appreciated that. However, they also said that his lectures were often unorganized or unrelated to the readings, which made it hard to follow and take notes. Many reviewers commented that Townsend might have made better use of class time by giving more focused presentations of the material covered.

Reading assignments for the course included about a chapter a week in the textbook, and an additional book every two weeks or so. These readings included ethnographies and individual accounts which most students found more interesting than the textbook itself. Yet they were frustrated by the fact that the readings didn't always seem to follow the ideas presented in class. Other assignments included three short observation exercises and one five-page paper, in addition to the midterm and final exam. Most students devoted between two and four hours to the coursework outside of class each week, although a few spent much more than this.

The majority of students were glad to have taken the course, because it provided them with a pretty easy introduction to a really interesting subject. The course was more of a chore for students who were already familiar with the subject and knew that they wanted to take additional classes, since they viewed the class as prerequisite which they were eager to be done with.

Whether you'll enjoy this course is really a question of whether the subject itself interests you. Because of this, many reviewers suggested shopping the course to make sure that anthropology is something you'll like. The course is a fairly easy, general introduction to an area that many students were eager to pursue.

View AN/0010 in the Brown Online Course Announcement.