Flirting with the Mind of God: On the Power of Cultural Anthropology
A Student’s Perspective: Learning to think critically, analytically, reflectively, and comparatively in this cultural anthropology course is like flirting with the mind of God. The teachers in this course (Jason, Joshua, Jean-Michel and Ugo) have opened up new vistas of thought that have enabled me to go beneath the surface of things and grasp the core principles, concepts and ideals pertaining to how different cultures develop, function and evolve. It is fascinating how you can take something which is relatively simple like the layout of someone’s house and see the nexus between the structure of the house and the elements of human relationships. The manner in which these teachers engage the students is conducive to self-discovery. I am truly grateful and appreciate to the utmost this privilege and honor to have access to this information.
—Robert Butler
A teacher’s perspective: We decided to introduce the students to the main themes of the discipline through a series of case-studies: from table manners in Oxford to the exchange of cattle in Sudan; from American football to gifts in Polynesia. Before the first class, I had attempted to quell my fears by preparing for every possible question, and designing what I thought was an iron-clad lesson plan. Within minutes of entering that class, my fears had disappeared. Shortly after we began, I was thrown into a fascinating debate on the meaning of American hygiene (one of the subjects of the essay we were reading.) No one was scared to speak, and everyone was eager to learn. I have to say, however, my iron-clad lesson plan came to naught. The “complicated” contradictions of the text, which I thought we would talk about at the end of class, were already grasped and discussed in the first few minutes. I left the room elated, and in need of a new lesson plan. By now, the only thing I know in advance about the discussion in class is that I don’t know what will be brought up; I have been constantly confronted with new, fascinating perspectives on texts which I thought were staid classics. Teaching these texts has also reawakened in me a revived belief in the power of anthropology. After a certain number of years spent thinking about how different groups around the world name birds, I was beginning to question its relevance. In the classroom at San Quentin, suddenly this seemingly arcane subject was debated passionately, and, even more rewardingly, was being taken up as a way to reflect on life in contemporary America. In discussions that have ranged from arguments about the nature of kinship to the question of whether there is a universal concept of time, all the students have been open-minded, and dedicated to succeeding.
— Joshua Craze
(with Ugo Edu, Jason Price & Jean-Michel Landry)
