ANTHRO 4
Culture and Communication
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Required as preparation for both bachelor's degrees. Introduction to study of communication from anthropological perspective. Formal linguistic methods compared with ethnographically oriented methods focused on context-bound temporal unfolding of communicative activities. Topics include language in everyday life and ritual events, socialization, literacy, multilingualism, miscommunication, political discourse, and art-making as cultural activity. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 5.0
Units: 5.0
3 of 4
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2019 - Dropped this class two weeks in because the professor treated us like middle schoolers. First of all, she started her first lecture by telling us we were not allowed to use laptops, and if we had to use it, we had to sit at the back of the class and she would get TAs to monitor us. She probably forgot about it because no one really cared the next lecture. Secondly, her lectures are incredibly dull and she goes off tangents. She spent 35 minutes one lecture for us to finish an activity that would not be graded at all, and most people started to get bored 10 minutes in. She also went off tangent talking about topics that did not contribute to the class whatsoever for another 10 minutes. Most people in class and my discussion were complaining about her lectures because they were incredibly unorganized and did not have any coherency. Thirdly, I can't emphasize how much this lecturer treated us like middle schoolers, which was incredibly frustrating. I missed the end of a lecture due to a conflicting lecture and I absentmindedly rushed off without collecting my assignment. I emailed the professor because the assignment was 10% and she did not care to upload a 10% assignment online. I was rejected and she told me that it was my fault (which is), and she would not send me a copy of the 10% graded assignment. Seriously? I would have understood if the assignment was 1% of my grade, but turning down a 10% assignment was really unfair because I made a simple mistake and I apologized for it. Having a 10% take home assignment that she stubbornly refuses to upload online was pretty unfair because people might have emergencies that cause them to miss their lecture. Her inflexibility led me to believe that this class is simply not worth it at all. Fourth, she took 15 minutes to go through the IPA chart, contributing to much confusion in class. She then proceeded to throw us her webpage and kept advertising how good it was and how we should do all our learning on her webpage. I would have understood if this was some readings to supplement our knowledge of the subject, but the fact is that she barely even touched upon the subject (what is this class about, anyway?) and made us learn what was essential for the class by ourselves. She then proceeded to ask us for tips on learning it when it was her responsibility to teach us this. Lastly, she made us take CITI training courses that are a complete waste of time because we would never need it at all, she even stated that. I've asked someone else who took this course under another professor - he never had to take it at all. Basically she wasted an entire week of lecture on a useless online training course that would not have helped us at all without understanding of this course and was incredibly dry and boring.
Fall 2019 - Dropped this class two weeks in because the professor treated us like middle schoolers. First of all, she started her first lecture by telling us we were not allowed to use laptops, and if we had to use it, we had to sit at the back of the class and she would get TAs to monitor us. She probably forgot about it because no one really cared the next lecture. Secondly, her lectures are incredibly dull and she goes off tangents. She spent 35 minutes one lecture for us to finish an activity that would not be graded at all, and most people started to get bored 10 minutes in. She also went off tangent talking about topics that did not contribute to the class whatsoever for another 10 minutes. Most people in class and my discussion were complaining about her lectures because they were incredibly unorganized and did not have any coherency. Thirdly, I can't emphasize how much this lecturer treated us like middle schoolers, which was incredibly frustrating. I missed the end of a lecture due to a conflicting lecture and I absentmindedly rushed off without collecting my assignment. I emailed the professor because the assignment was 10% and she did not care to upload a 10% assignment online. I was rejected and she told me that it was my fault (which is), and she would not send me a copy of the 10% graded assignment. Seriously? I would have understood if the assignment was 1% of my grade, but turning down a 10% assignment was really unfair because I made a simple mistake and I apologized for it. Having a 10% take home assignment that she stubbornly refuses to upload online was pretty unfair because people might have emergencies that cause them to miss their lecture. Her inflexibility led me to believe that this class is simply not worth it at all. Fourth, she took 15 minutes to go through the IPA chart, contributing to much confusion in class. She then proceeded to throw us her webpage and kept advertising how good it was and how we should do all our learning on her webpage. I would have understood if this was some readings to supplement our knowledge of the subject, but the fact is that she barely even touched upon the subject (what is this class about, anyway?) and made us learn what was essential for the class by ourselves. She then proceeded to ask us for tips on learning it when it was her responsibility to teach us this. Lastly, she made us take CITI training courses that are a complete waste of time because we would never need it at all, she even stated that. I've asked someone else who took this course under another professor - he never had to take it at all. Basically she wasted an entire week of lecture on a useless online training course that would not have helped us at all without understanding of this course and was incredibly dry and boring.
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Most Helpful Review
Not a good lecturer. Our classtime consisted of her handing out a handout (which ended up online) and then reading said handout to us. She showed approximately two movies, neither of which was on the midterm, and most of our grade is coming from two "projects" that she thinks are fun but really could be considered a nuisance. One said project was to sit for an hour, 3 different weeks and observe; i'll admit, actually pretty cool to people watch. But then we had to write a 10 page paper about something we'd observe. I never have too much trouble writing papers, and I couldn't figure out anything to write. We also had a lot of reading, which you sometimes you never ended up having to read because she puts the whole plot down in her handout. Basically if you want a class where you don't have to go to class and you only have 2 test and 2 papers, this class is for you.
Not a good lecturer. Our classtime consisted of her handing out a handout (which ended up online) and then reading said handout to us. She showed approximately two movies, neither of which was on the midterm, and most of our grade is coming from two "projects" that she thinks are fun but really could be considered a nuisance. One said project was to sit for an hour, 3 different weeks and observe; i'll admit, actually pretty cool to people watch. But then we had to write a 10 page paper about something we'd observe. I never have too much trouble writing papers, and I couldn't figure out anything to write. We also had a lot of reading, which you sometimes you never ended up having to read because she puts the whole plot down in her handout. Basically if you want a class where you don't have to go to class and you only have 2 test and 2 papers, this class is for you.
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2016 - Easy Anthropology class. My TA was Ricardo. If he's still there, sign up for his section or switch over! He is so helpful and that's coming from the shystudent. He treats everyone fairly. Professor Steinberg is so clear and loves her research. Great class. Learned a lot. Selling textbook: Making Sense of Language: Readings in Culture and Communication Second Edition by Susan D. Blum I will ship it to you priority for only $25 total. I accept Venmo. I will ship ASAP and include a tracking number for you :) Text me: **********
Spring 2016 - Easy Anthropology class. My TA was Ricardo. If he's still there, sign up for his section or switch over! He is so helpful and that's coming from the shystudent. He treats everyone fairly. Professor Steinberg is so clear and loves her research. Great class. Learned a lot. Selling textbook: Making Sense of Language: Readings in Culture and Communication Second Edition by Susan D. Blum I will ship it to you priority for only $25 total. I accept Venmo. I will ship ASAP and include a tracking number for you :) Text me: **********
3 of 4
