Introduction to Social Anthropology

Introduction to Social Anthropology is, as you might expect, an introduction to the field. It is a large, undergraduate lecture course. The course does not aspire to provide an overview of all of the various subfields of the discipline, but rather to model methods of inquiry — to teach students the practice of thinking like an anthropologist. Students practice these skills in moving through a comparative study of aspects of the life course, including topics such as birth, adolescence, making a home, marriage, work, health, and death.

Jess has lectured on this course every autumn since 2019 and has served as convenor since 2020.