Cultural Anthropology

I'm sure profs don't enjoy teaching massive intro classes filled with students just there for the distribution credit, but this class was very nonremarkable. Lectures were very dull and felt prepackaged, there were so many of us in the room and no effort was ever made to build community among the students. Exam and paper grading was difficult, requiring specific detail, even though the concepts were taught very abstractly. That's not to say there wasn't some interesting material, especially the sections on political economy and hunter-gatherer societies, but it was presented with no enthusiasm in such an uninteresting manner that it prevented me from learning too much or enjoying it.

I'm sure profs don't enjoy teaching massive intro classes filled with students just there for the distribution credit, but this class was very nonremarkable. Lectures were very dull and felt prepackaged, there were so many of us in the room and no effort was ever made to build community among the students. Exam and paper grading was …Read more

Professor Stoll was awesome. He clearly has had a fascinating career as a professional anthropologist and he does a great job transferring his vast wealth of knowledge over to his students. Some of the material can be very dry at times and extremely interesting at others. Lots of videos to watch and reading all the time.

If you have a more relaxed schedule you will be fine with this class, but I already had a heavy workload and this class topped it off. It is a LOT of reading I was almost never able to complete it all when also working with my other classes. To give an example we recently read somewhere upwards of 300 pages this past week plus watched an hour and a half film and had a discussion post (every Thursday night before discussion friday). So again if you’re really into anthro or have the time to spare then go for it but it’s not gonna be a easy class unless you can commit to the time necessary. Also I’m not really sure how to estimate the hours I spend per week so that could be way off it really depends on your reading speed too.

If you have a more relaxed schedule you will be fine with this class, but I already had a heavy workload and this class topped it off. It is a LOT of reading I was almost never able to complete it all when also working with my other classes. To give an example we recently read somewhere upwards of 300 pages this past week plus watche …Read more

This class felt like a bit of a slog. Expect to read a book + watch a movie per week, with no course materials newer than 2005. Speaking of things that haven't been updated since the naughts, lectures are done with a whiteboard and marker in lieu of slides. Quizzes and tests ask pretty hyperspecific questions from lectures, but if you're savvy while studying, you can predict what he's going to ask pretty easily. All in all, not the most difficult class but definitely time intensive, and the idiosyncracies in lectures, readings, and tests kind of cloud how cool the material is.

This class felt like a bit of a slog. Expect to read a book + watch a movie per week, with no course materials newer than 2005. Speaking of things that haven't been updated since the naughts, lectures are done with a whiteboard and marker in lieu of slides. Quizzes and tests ask pretty hyperspecific questions from lectures, but if yo …Read more

I could never keep up with the readings and the films were overkill. There were times where I had to skip the readings entirely to feel some sort of happiness. The discussion section was dreadful, but I think this depends on the group you're a part of. I only had to write three papers for the class, but they were based on the readings so I had a hard time. Although Oxfeld could be monotone at times, her passion for anthropology always shines through. If you want to major in anthropology, I definitely think you should take the class. If not, stay away.

I could never keep up with the readings and the films were overkill. There were times where I had to skip the readings entirely to feel some sort of happiness. The discussion section was dreadful, but I think this depends on the group you're a part of. I only had to write three papers for the class, but they were based on the reading …Read more

Excellent and engaging lectures, though very fast-paced. Difficult to keep up with in class and readings are an absolute grind. So much on anthropological history, methodology, and really interesting ethnographies. Exams are based heavily on lectures and readings. Documentaries are interesting and grading is fair. Accommodating professor as long as you communicate. Would recommend despite the challenge.

Excellent and engaging lectures, though very fast-paced. Difficult to keep up with in class and readings are an absolute grind. So much on anthropological history, methodology, and really interesting ethnographies. Exams are based heavily on lectures and readings. Documentaries are interesting and grading is fair. Accommodating profe …Read more

Lots of reading, would be manageable with a light schedule. Expect >300 pages per week with a discussion post and sometimes movies and videos to watch. Lectures were boring and just came from a slide deck. Not very engaging and she didn't ever learn anyones name in the class.

This class required a lot of reading. There was only a final and a midterm that were both take home essays. There was also an additional pape, besides that the class only had weekly discussion posts. The teacher was also very understanding and did not take attendance for class.

The class comprised of two lectures and a discussion. His lectures were pretty fast-paced and often people asked him to repeat words and phrases. After the first quiz, we were quick to realize that they relied heavily on his lecture and less on specific details about the readings. He'd ask for definitions and some of the things we noticed about the reading/videos assigned. Discussion would go by fast as he usually guided us well through the reading for the week. Sometimes we'd go around the class to answer one of his questions or opinions of certain topics. We had a final paper which was not bad at all. His exams not too bad if you are fine with memorizing a lot of stuff.

The class comprised of two lectures and a discussion. His lectures were pretty fast-paced and often people asked him to repeat words and phrases. After the first quiz, we were quick to realize that they relied heavily on his lecture and less on specific details about the readings. He'd ask for definitions and some of the things we no …Read more

David Stoll is a good lecturer, but the exam based nature of the class was challenging. The questions required incredibly precise answers, and you had to study a ton if you wanted to have a chance of doing well. The material was somewhat interesting, but not incredibly.

This course was not very engaging. Tons of readings to keep up with and classes were very fast paced lectures. Exams expected you to memorize everything Stoll said in class. They weren't too hard to do well on, but required lots of boring memorization for prep.

Definitely a course that takes up a lot of time reading. She's an interesting person and you can tell she's passionate about what she's teaching but the work load made the class sort of a turn off.