Fall 2019 First Year RAP Program Options

Global Viewpoints RAP Fall 2019

The Global Viewpoints RAP is designed for students interested in learning and thinking about the relationship between culture and people from a variety of perspectives.

Gorman Hall has the option for students to remain in residence during breaks so it is popular for out-of-state and international students. So, students who join Global Viewpoints RAP in Gorman will be part of a cross-cultural community of in-state, out-of-state and international students as they transition to college life. Joining this program will provide students with a unique opportunity to meet and make new friends, and live and learn with students from Massachusetts as well as all over the country and the globe. In addition to the connections that will be made in classes, programming will be provided through Residence Life and the International Programs Office.

Brooks Hall has both first-year and multi-year students (separated by floors). The building is alcohol free and has a 24-hour quiet floor.

See specific course descriptions below.

Gen Ed Course and Residential Location Options: Choose One

"Human Nature": Anthropology 100 (GenEd SBDG) Fall 2019

Students will live together in Gorman Hall in the Central residential area. Gorman Hall has break housing available.

Read what Fall 2019 instructor Joohyeon Han-Johnson has to say about the course: 

This course explores how cultural practices and beliefs shape the world we live in.

In an increasingly globalized world and competitive job market, it is not readily obvious why the study of anthropology matters. Although anthropology is not directly responsible for technological breakthroughs, feats of engineering, or curing diseases, it is essential in understanding how these advancements affect people on the ground and what repercussions certain actions, policies, inventions, and developments have on the everyday lives of global citizens.

Through the four subfields of anthropology (sociocultural, biological, archaeological, and linguistic) we will explore various themes and issues that directly relate to your day to day life as a global citizen:

  • The importance of cell phones to your social relationships
  • The connections of coffee to broader global processes, and
  • What it means to be a consumer in the contemporary world

Specifically you will learn theoretical and methodological tools for approaching your own academic interests in a critical manner. By the end of this class, you should be able to critically engage the questions:

  • What does it mean to be human?
  • What are some explanations for variation in human biology, cultural practice, and beliefs?
  • What are the deeper meanings behind the things we do, the stories we tell, and our everyday practices?

"Culture, Society & People":  Anthropology 104 (GenEd SBDG) Fall 2019

Students will live together in Brooks Hall in the Central residential area.

Read what Fall 2019 instructor Brittni Howard has to say about the course: 

The goal of cultural anthropology is to make the strange familiar and the familiar strange. In this course, you will begin to see the world like a cultural anthropologist--interested in how people live, what they believe in, how they talk, what they eat and why, and more. All of these elements that make up our daily lives also tell us about the society we live in! This course will help you to critically engage the world around you: both here in the US and throughout the world.  As we often find, the more we know about how people in other societies live, the better we understand our own.

This class introduces key concepts, topics, and methods in cultural anthropology, one of the four subfields of anthropology. We will look at questions that have been foundational in anthropology, such as: “does race exist?,” “are men and women driven by biology?”, “do all human societies have similar patterns of inequality?”. We will also look at newer questions like “has the internet changed our social relations?”

To address these questions, and to help us arrive at a better understanding of human diversity, throughout the semester we will:

  • Read articles and ethnographies detailing anthropological fieldwork;
  • Watch films that will illuminate how other societies live;
  • Discuss our own cultural values, traditions, rituals, and beliefs;
  • Conduct some research of your own on campus, using the tools and methods of ethnography

Global Viewpoints RAP