Hello, and welcome to Anthropology 112: World
Cultures via the Internet.
I’m Niki Acker, and my background is in
Linguistics.
I’m a field linguist, which means that I
study languages by working with native speakers
in the field.
My dissertation is on the grammar of the Mayan
language Q’anjob’al, and I conducted fieldwork
in Santa Eulalia in the highlands of Guatemala
as an important part of my dissertation research.
In this course, you’ll learn about the basics
of the discipline of cultural anthropology
by studying diverse cultures around the world,
discuss classic and contemporary cultural
anthropology texts, and apply essential anthropological
research tools including interview and participant
observation in the real world.
I’d like to give you an overview of how
this course is organized and how you can navigate
our Blackboard course website.
The Start Here tab provides a brief overview
of the course and includes a student orientation
to Blackboard, which I recommend if you are
new to the Blackboard system.
The course syllabus and my information, including
my email and virtual office hour information,
can be found under Course Information.
The course is organized into ten modules,
which correspond to the ten weeks of the quarter.
You can find a folder for each module under
Course Content on our website.
Each module contains Learning Objectives and
a list of Activities to complete.
Files for each module, including lecture powerpoint
slides and homework instructions, are included
in each module folder.
All of your written assignments for this course
will be submitted through Turnitin.
There are links for submissions in the main
menu entitled Ten Beliefs Submission, Homework,
and Term Paper.
Term Paper also includes instructions and
tips for writing your term paper.
Other important links include Discussion Board,
Quizzes & Tests, and Group Space.
Use Group Space to self-enroll in one of the
nine Discussion Groups responsible for discussing
readings from Boyd and Lassiter 2011.
I recommend enrolling in one of these groups
as soon as possible to ensure that you can
choose the topic and/or date that you prefer.
Participating in one of these Discussion Groups
is a significant component of your grade.
The Discussion Board includes a Welcome Forum
where you can introduce yourself to me and
your classmates.
As part of your grade for this course, you
are required to post in the Discussion Board
at least twice each week.
There are separate threads for each module
and each Discussion Group, and posting in
either of these Forums counts towards your
weekly requirement of two posts.
The lecture slides include discussion questions
in red text to help guide your discussion,
but you can post any questions or comments
you have regarding class material each week.
This course includes a midterm and a final
exam, and most modules include a quiz.
All exams and quizzes can be found under Quizzes
& Tests.
Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me
via email or during my virtual office hours
if you have any questions about this course
or navigating our site.
I look forward to getting to know you and
hope you enjoy our class!
