What is Anthropology?
Anthropology is the multidisciplinary and holistic study of human beings. Anthro. courses explore the following questions: what makes us human?; how are we both biological and cultural creatures?; how can we interpret our own as well as “other” cultures?; how do we work for justice in a multi-cultural world in which people have different levels of access to power and resources?; and how can anthropology offer us tools to make the world a better place? One of the most exciting things for me about teaching Anthropology is entering into dialogues with students during which we think outside the box to come up with new ways of understanding and improving our world.
The academic discipline of Anthropology is comprised of its five interconnected subfields: Cultural, Physical, Linguistic, Archaeological, and Applied Anthropology. A broad field of study, Anthropology intersects with and bridges the social sciences, humanties, and natural sciences. Today, Anthropology is an especially powerful tool through which we are able to seek an understanding of all people and cultures while shedding light on our common and continuing evolution as a species. Encouraging students to delve into the hands-on methodologies of ethnographic fieldwork, Anthropology courses at Gavilan offer students opportunities to desgin independent research projects so that they can get involved with local communities of their choice. Addressing today's cultural, political, and economic challenges on local and global scales, Anthro. courses raise students’ awareness of inequalities that have historically structured relationships between western and nonwestern cultures as well as minority and majority cultures in the US.
