ANTHRO M126N
Genes, Disease, and Culture
Description: (Formerly numbered 126N.) (Same as Society and Genetics M126.) Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour (when scheduled). Introduction to genes, disease, and culture. Introduction to basic concepts in human genetics, expanding upon evolutionary genetic concepts learned in course 1, and survey of both inherited and infectious disease on global level. Wide range of topics include gene-culture co-evolution, niche construction theory, cultural perceptions of disease, cultural selection, biological and environmental determinism, and evolutionary origins of disease. Course is broken down into genes and genomes, Mendelian disease, complex disease, and infectious disease. Discussion of selected readings that integrate cultural perceptions with biological/genetic phenomena. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2025 - The professor knew what she was talking about and was very insightful. She had a lot of slides, which pretty much had everything you needed to know for the tests written on them, so lectures aren't necessary if you really want to skip. I learned a lot from this course and enjoyed some of the topics. The discussions were easy and included a one-question assignment per week on the weekly readings. The discussion readings were interesting and included cultural aspects, but the lecture readings were purely about biology. I didn't really read any of the lecture readings and still got an A. The study guides, final, and midterm, however, were very time-consuming and consisted of over 100 vocabulary words. The tests had two short essay questions, three short-answer questions, and about 40 multiple choice, which were relatively easy if you completed the entire study guide, which had 10 short-answer prompts and about 120 vocabulary words. There was also a final project, which was also pretty easy (a short paper outline and a 5-minute podcast recording). She provides a lot of extra credit opportunities, which, in combination with discussion assignments and the final project, were able to boost my grade from my lower test scores. Overall, it is a worthy course that challenges memory skills and includes a lot of key biological terms and concepts in relation to culture.
Fall 2025 - The professor knew what she was talking about and was very insightful. She had a lot of slides, which pretty much had everything you needed to know for the tests written on them, so lectures aren't necessary if you really want to skip. I learned a lot from this course and enjoyed some of the topics. The discussions were easy and included a one-question assignment per week on the weekly readings. The discussion readings were interesting and included cultural aspects, but the lecture readings were purely about biology. I didn't really read any of the lecture readings and still got an A. The study guides, final, and midterm, however, were very time-consuming and consisted of over 100 vocabulary words. The tests had two short essay questions, three short-answer questions, and about 40 multiple choice, which were relatively easy if you completed the entire study guide, which had 10 short-answer prompts and about 120 vocabulary words. There was also a final project, which was also pretty easy (a short paper outline and a 5-minute podcast recording). She provides a lot of extra credit opportunities, which, in combination with discussion assignments and the final project, were able to boost my grade from my lower test scores. Overall, it is a worthy course that challenges memory skills and includes a lot of key biological terms and concepts in relation to culture.
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