Chapter 1 Student Activities

“Anthropology of Movies” Activity

This introductory activity is designed to (i) get students comfortable with class discussions and (ii) illustrate the breadth and relevance of anthropology.

• At the beginning of a cultural anthropology course, students may not yet know very much about the field. They probably do have opinions and preferences about movies, however.
• The instructor asks students what their favorite movie is and what they specifically liked about it. Assuming the instructor is familiar with a student’s chosen movie, he or she will then try to relate each movie to anthropology (e.g., the movie Avatar featured indigenous aliens and colonizing human invaders). With a little imagination, connections can be drawn between most movies and anthropology.

“Making the Familiar Strange” Project

A frequently cited goal of cultural anthropology is to make the strange familiar and the familiar strange. This activity is designed to introduce that concept and encourage students to look at their home culture from an outsider’s perspective.

• Ask students to interpret what the “strange familiar, familiar strange” concept means to them. What value is there in this approach?
• Students will conduct 24 hours of “fieldwork” in their own culture, as if this was their first day in a strange new land. Have them record observations with as much distance or objectivity and detail as possible, no matter how familiar or mundane.
• Students then review their field notes and identify observations and patterns in the familiar that might seem strange to someone from another cultural context. In a short paper or class presentation, have them describe their conclusions and how they arrived at them.