This course should be considered a gateway 'into' anthropology. But, wait, what is anthropology? Anthropology is the study of human beings. Research in anthropology varies from where we came from to current cultural practices in Papua New Guinea. Anthropology is a broad field, but handy, in its own right. It calls into question common myths and ideals, begging us to ask more indepth questions about who we are and the universal truths that we hold about humanity.
But like most academic fields there is a lot of academic jargon that makes most material hard to interact with. And while this academic speak sometimes borders on snobbish intellectualism it enables a packaging of complex ideas that can be hard to discuss otherwise. For the uninitiated the course is aimed at giving you the ability to unpack (some) of these ideas and engage with them. For those already familiar with anthropology it is a platform to engage with non-anthropologists (er, the public) in a way that will grant more exposure to the field.
As such, the course will start off by describing common core ideas and practices in anthropology*. The general idea is that after 'completing' the course that students will have the knowledge that would come from passing university intro courses on each sub-discipline.+ Additionally the course will provide links to open peer-reviewed journals and other paid for materials that will be of interest to most people.
*Until the course is constructed the focus will be on cultural anthropology with additional info for each sub-discipline being regularly added.