Professor: Smith Course format: Seminar	Number of respondents: 19 Total Enrollment: 22
Class Composition: Froshs: 0 Sophs: 0 Jrs: 6 Srs: 12 Concs: 5 Non-Concs: 14 Don't Know: 0

Instructor Average: 1.63 Course Average: 1.46

The goal of "Anthropology and International Development: Ethnographic Perspectives on Poverty and Progress" is to apply the principles of anthropology to the problems of modern developing societies. As an upper-level seminar, its main purpose is to encourage critical discussion of the case studies the class read. Although experience with anthropology is not really necessary, a background in development studies was often very helpful.

Professor Smith was praised as excellent at facilitating discussions. He gave few lectures, and instead brought up interesting points for the class to discuss, challenged them with his own ideas, and kept the classes focused. The student-professor interaction in the class was described as "stimulating" and "effective." The reviewers were overall very pleased with the way that Professor Smith took their interests into account; the way the discussions were run gave them a chance to bring up specific issues of their choosing, and he was willing to work with them individually.

Students described most of the assigned readings, which were used as topics of discussion, as being interesting and useful with a few books that were less so. However, they did not agree on which readings were the best. Predictably, people preferred the books that dealt with their specific interests. The written assignments included three short "reaction papers" and one long (20- to 25-page) research paper.

The number of hours that reviewers spent per week on out-of-class work varied widely, ranging from three to twelve. Most students described the reading load as heavy. The class itself, though, is definitely recommended for those with a development background and a love of discussions.

View AN/0185 in the Brown Online Course Announcement.