In this contribution, Gloria Rudolf describes the beginnings of her long-term friendship with Esperanza Ruiz and the people of Loma Bonita in Panama. Nineteen visits and half a century later, Esperanza’s life history formed the basis of a compassionate ethnographic account of change in rural Panama.  For half a century I’ve been following the lives of the people of Loma Bonita, a small community of farmers and wage workers in the beautiful mountains of central Panama. I first arrived there in January, 1972, a young anthropologist eager to listen, observe, and participate in everyday life ..read more

In this contribution, Karoline Guelke discusses how studies of tourism can help students overcome common misperceptions of other cultures as static and unchanging. During one of my first years of teaching, a student came up to me after a lecture about culture. He told me that he strongly disagreed with the notion that people were affected by their culture; rather, he had always considered himself to be rebellious and consciously acting against social norms. His comments reflect a belief I have seen frequently among students: people elsewhere are governed by culture, whereas I am an independent ..read more

In this post, Jess Auerbach talks about motivating students by using the five senses and bringing them “out of their brains and into their bodies.” “We are not brains on sticks,” a group of 11 African Studies students told me in 2018. I was teaching at a ‘start up’ university in Mauritius and working on a manuscript for a teaching ethnography aimed at explaining the methods of anthropology and also exploring contemporary Angola. I took my students’ suggestions very seriously, drafting a chapter every three weeks and teaching it in a seminar, trying to remember that they were not “brains on sti ..read more

In this post, Andrew Walsh reflects on the promises and pitfalls of innovation in the transition to online teaching. What more can be said about the advantages and drawbacks of online teaching? After almost two years of the uncertainty, shifting institutional guidelines, and changing expectations that the pandemic has brought to the work of teaching, there is no shortage of great resources out there for those trying to make sense of what, to many of us, has been an eye-opening transition to a new and very different way of engaging with students. Thinking back through what I’ve learned, it’s no ..read more

Recently published in the Teaching Culture series, Millennial Movements: Positive Social Change in Urban Costa Rica presents case studies of Costa Rican millennial leaders and shows how youth activists in San José draw from global solutions to address the local problems in their city. In this post, author Karen Stocker delves into her new book and how it can be used in the classroom. Millennial Movements is about forms of protest adapted to a pacifist nation state that offers ample security nets and access to education and healthcare for its residents and citizens. These social guarantees allo ..read more

After a two-year hiatus, we are delighted to announce the relaunching of UTP’s Teaching Culture blog. We are mindful of the incredible challenges and changes that have occurred and/or intensified since our last post: a global pandemic, a renewed social justice movement, and increasingly devastating climate shifts, among much else. Instructors and students alike have had to adopt radically new teaching and learning strategies in response. In the face of these challenges, anthropology offers insights into the diverse ways humans societies experience change and the possibilities for creating a mo ..read more

Jess Auerbach is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at North-West University in South Africa. Her innovative ethnography, From Water to Wine: Becoming Middle Class in Angola, is a multimedia exploration of the experience of change in Angola as experienced through the five senses. “We are not brains on sticks” a group of 11 African Studies students told me in 2018. I was teaching at a ‘start up’ university in Mauritius, and working on a manuscript for a teaching ethnography aimed at explaining the methods of anthropology, and also exploring contemporary Angola. I took my student’s suggestio ..read more

Recently published in the Teaching Culture series, Millennial Movements: Positive Social Change in Urban Costa Rica presents case studies of Costa Rican millennial leaders and shows how youth activists in San José draw from global solutions to address the local problems in their city. In this post, author Karen Stocker delves into her new book and how it can be used in the classroom. Millennial Movements is about forms of protest adapted to a pacifist nation state that offers ample security nets and access to education and healthcare for its residents and citizens. These social guarantees allo ..read more

Morning on Ganjiga beach March 2020. I had been in Uiaku for just over a week, but already established a pattern of sorts. Each evening after visitors had left, I’d sit on the verandah of the Maume Guest House, enjoying the light cooling breeze as I typed a text message to my wife Anne describing the events of the day. In the morning, after enjoying a breakfast prepared by my ‘daughter’ Annie, I’d cage a ride from my ‘son’ Arthur on a small outrigger canoe to cross the Vayova River that divided Uiaku from Ganjiga village. Once deposited safely, I’d walk through a grove of coconut palms to th ..read more

What? November already? We cannot believe how the last two years have flown by. At the same time, it feels like a lifetime since we gathered in Vancouver for AAA. While some of us are excited to reconnect with friends and colleagues in Baltimore this week, others (including yours truly) are opting to attend virtually this year. No matter how you choose to attend, we hope the next four days will be a time for you to have generative conversations – and discover exciting new books! It is a tradition for Teaching Culture to help readers navigate AAA by putting together a list of top sessions for t ..read more