Children show off their costumes during a Halloween Parade in Tokyo. As a final project for this course, students complete an ethnographic study on Halloween. (Image courtesy of Buz Carter on flickr. License CC BY-NC-SA.)
Instructor(s)
Prof. Manduhai Buyandelger
MIT Course Number
21A.01
As Taught In
Fall 2012
Level
Undergraduate
Course Description
Course Features
Course Description
This course introduces diverse meanings and uses of the concept of culture with historical and contemporary examples from scholarship and popular media around the globe. It includes first-hand observations, synthesized histories and ethnographies, and visual and narrated representations of human experiences. Students conduct empirical research on cultural differences through the systematic observation of human interaction, employ methods of interpretative analysis, and practice convincing others of the accuracy of their findings.