Professor: Symonds Course format: Seminar	Number of respondents: 23 Total Enrollment: 24
Class Composition: Froshs: 2 Sophs: 10 Jrs: 10 Srs: 2 Concs: 2 Non-Concs: 17 Don't Know: 4

Instructor Average: 1.53 Course Average: 1.56

"Peoples and Cultures of Southeast Asia" is a seminar course designed to give students a glimpse of Southeast Asian life, along with an understanding of the region's many different cultural and political influences. No previous knowledge of anthropology or Asian cultures is required.

The vast majority of reviewers loved working with Professor Symonds. Though some found her lectures a little dry, all agreed that they were informative and easy to follow. They were very enthusiastic about the methods she used to vary the lectures; she made highly effective use of slides and videos, and the class went on two field trips. Professor Symonds was also described as "knowledgeable," "open-minded," and "very understanding." The students' only criticism was about her habit of reading her lectures to the class.

There was a moderate amount of reading for this course, and the assigned texts were all relevant, informative, and interesting. The students wrote three short papers, one of which was an ethnography, as well as a 15-20 page final research paper. The four papers were very different in style, and called for various kinds of writing. There were no exams.

The number of hours per week that students spent preparing for this course was around three to five for everyone, not including bursts of intense activity when papers were due. The class took up less time than most people expected. It comes highly recommended as an introduction to the subject and to anthropology. Professor Symonds teaches it well, the readings are interesting, and the field trips are fun. If you have any interest in Southeast Asia, take this course.

View AN/0105 in the Brown Online Course Announcement.