Indigenous Peoples of the Americas This course introduces students to the indigenous peoples of North and South America, from before European conquest to the present. Following a brief look at the mound-builders of North America, we will explore the connection between social stratification, religious ideology, and imperial expansion in the political economy of the Aztecs and the Incas. Ethnographies of Quechua peasants in the Peruvian Andes, Yanomami Indians in the Amazon, and Oglala Sioux in the Dakotas will show how contemporary Native Americans are dealing with the never-ending process of colonialism. How Europeans have imagined indigenous peoples has had a profound impact on how the latter defend themselves. The resulting images of authenticity and resistance have always been double-edged. The course will conclude with the debate over the reservation paradigm in the U.S.

The Anthropology of Warfare and Polarization In this course we will use the anthropology of human evolution, religion and politics to identify the cognitive patterns that justify feuding, warfare, witchcraft, conspiracy theory, and ideological polarization.  Beginning with animal behavior and hunting and gathering societies, we will study natural selection for accountability, moralism, and factionalism; how social groups define themselves through mimesis, othering and scapegoating; how scapegoating justifies aggression; how sacrifice and other forms of ritualizing victimhood generate sanctity, sacrilege, and outrage; and how religious and political loyalty tests enforce social boundaries

Refugees or Labor Migrants: The Anthropology of South-North Migration Millions of people from low-income countries are moving to high-income countries without work visas.  If they seek to escape poverty and government corruption, do they deserve to be classified as refugees with a human right to cross international borders? Heightened border enforcement has led to thousands of deaths in the American Southwest and the Mediterranean, and now anxious voters are electing politicians who promise even harsher crackdowns. Based on research with international migration streams, this course will explore debates over asylum rights, border enforcement, the deportation industry, the migration industry, low-wage labor markets and remittance economies, with a focus on Latin American and Chinese migration to the U.S., as well as African and Mideastern migration to Western Europe

Diversity and Human Nature: Introduction to Cultural Anthropology This course introduces students to the varieties of human experience in social life and to the differing approaches and levels of analysis used by anthropologists to explain it. Topics include: culture and race, rituals and symbolism, kinship and gender roles, social evolution, political economy, and sociolinguistics. Ethnographic examples are drawn chiefly from non-Western societies, from simple bands to great agrarian states. The ultimate aim is to enable students to think critically about the bases of their own culture and about practices and beliefs previously unanalyzed and unexamined.

Anthropology of Global Corporations Multinational corporations have become pervasive in the 21st Century global economy. No other social organization matches their ability to increase productivity and multiply wealth. Nor does any other social vehicle match their power to destabilize preexisting relationships. In this course we will learn about the anthropology of exchange and capitalism through ethnographies of corporations, corporate social responsibility, factory production, and financial speculation in the U.S., China, South Africa, and Papua New Guinea. We will also evaluate social-justice critiques of corporate structures: are they meritocracies or exclusionary kin-based networks? Do they build community or merely offload costs? For the final project, students will have the option of doing ethnographic research on a for-profit or not-for-profit enterprise. 3 hours, lct/disc,

Environmental Anthropology Environmental issues are also cultural and political conflicts, between competing social groups, economic interests and cultural paradigms. This course introduces students to human ecology, the study of how our adaptations to the environment are mediated by cultural differences and political economy. Topics include: how ecological anthropology has evolved as a subdiscipline, with a focus on systems theory and political ecology; how ritually regulated societies manage resources; how rural communities deal with environmental deterioration; and how contradictions between environmental protection, economic development, and cultural values complicate so many ecological issues.

Pyramid Schemes, Bubbles, and Crashes In this seminar we will study the anthropology of exchange, then use it to analyze ethnographies of financial speculators, labor migrants, microcredit borrowers, and other agents and victims of global capitalism.  We will focus on conflicting obligations to kin and to creditors, on how people in different cultures and social classes juggle these obligations, and how the growth of financial debt can turn social relationships into commodities.  Studying debt and how it is leveraged in different societies and historical eras will show why capitalism is so vulnerable to speculative booms, swindles, and collapses.

David Stoll

Reviews and ratings for David Stoll at Middlebury College.David Stoll teaches Indigenous Peoples of Americas, Anthro Warfare & Polarization, Anthro of Labor Migra & Refuge and more.  Explore top rated instructors and find the best for you.Is David Stoll good ? Find out on MiddCourses.

I would say this class is different from what many people might expect. The professor and the course do a strong job preparing students to understand the current climate and debates around immigration. While he genuinely tries to be kind and thoughtful, there are moments when some of his comments could be taken the wrong way. He should be more careful when discussing the identities and experiences of minority groups. 

He is incredibly kind and though the readings are long, it is a good course. He grades fairly in my opinion, and the in class essays we did were pretty straightforward. If you meet with him, he will tell you the prompts in advance. 

This was honestly one of my last choices; I really didn't want to take it. By the end of the semester, this is genuinely my favorite class. I'm going into STEM, but this is a super fun class. I wish there were more cool anthropology classes like this for my next semester, but non seem on the same wavelength as this one