Exploring Gender Through Cultural Anthropology

Gender seems simple. There are men, and there are women, right? Genetically, females have two X chromosomes, while males have one X and one Y chromosome, right? Wrong! That is just a simplified version of what can happen. Take this class and learn more!

This is an introductory Cultural Anthropology course focusing on Gender.  Here's what you will learn:

Unit 1:

• the field of Anthropology

• how to understand other cultures

• why gender is an important topic

• gender & daily life

Unit 2:

• the cultural construction of gender

• multiple gender Identities

• human sexuality around the world

• sexual orientation

Unit 3:

• gendered divisions in life

• gender & products

• gender & space

• gender & clothes

• gender & language

• gender & labor

Unit 4:

• gendered stratification

• gender inequality

• gender ideology

• gender exploitation

Unit 5:

• a summary of everything you learned about gender

In this course, you will watch a combination of talking head videos and narrated slideshows. These are NOT PowerPoint lectures--these are narrated slideshows made up mostly of images to complement the lecture, and there is very little text on the screen.

Lectures are followed by an article to read, a video to watch, and a short activity to do, to help you understand the concepts further. The activities don't need to be turned in, they are just to help you explore the course content. At the end of each unit, there is an assignment using real data, involving case studies, ethnographic data from Anthropological research, or data of your own. The assignments need to be turned in. Then there is a short quiz. At the end of the course, there is a final assignment where you can go out "in the field" and be like an Anthropologist!

This course is part of a series of Anthropology courses, called Anthropology 4U: The 4 fields of Anthropology, For Everyone. The courses can be taken in any order, and you don't need to know anything about Anthropology to take these courses!

Enroll now, and learn about Anthropology and Gender!