Which classes do you teach online?
Anthropology 100: Cultural Anthropology
What do you want students in your courses to learn? What is the learning outcome or objective?
After successfully completing the course requirements, students will comprehend the definition and nature of culture, its content and structure (e.g., kinship, politics, and religion); understand basic anthropological field methods; evaluate issues within an anthropological lens; and appreciate non-western cultures.
Why did you start teaching?
I enjoy this subject, and I wanted to share Anthropology (and all that it can teach) with other people.
What advice would you give to those considering this online program?
Take it! It very well may be the best academic decision that you ever make!
What qualities make someone particularly successful in the field in which you teach?
Generally, it is international field research involving up to a year or more of participant observation in another culture. In my case it was on the edge of the Gaeltacht (analogous to a native reservation) in Ireland, followed by successful publications.
What do you think is the biggest challenge that people in the profession face today?
Funding.
What is the one book you think everyone should read?
George Orwell's "1984."
Tell us something interesting about yourself that your students may not know about you.
I taught Cultural and Biological Anthropology in a medium-security prison as a graduate student.
