global
Anthropology
Global Anthropology Program
Culture Academy's Global Anthropology Program introduces students to the fields of global affairs and sociocultural anthropology—the study of human cultures in their diversity and variation. We offer students both cultural anthropology courses (online and/or in-person) along with experiential learning abroad to meld with the knowledge they gain in the classroom.
Program Themes
Why Anthropology?
Rather than providing a collection of facts about other cultures, however, our programs attempt to provide a sense of the general approach anthropologists take when they study another culture. This approach is extremely useful regardless of the field or career path one takes. It focuses on how to ask intelligent questions, rather than providing an inventory of answers. Its aim is to lead you to “think like an anthropologist” as you reflect on other cultures as well as your own.
While in the popular mind anthropology is often associated with isolated villages or “primitive tribes”, in fact, anthropologists today study cities, media, migration, militarism, science and technology and an array of contemporary issues. What is most distinctive about cultural anthropology is the way it looks at the world. Culture Academy will teach students how to “see like an anthropologist.” No matter what your interests or ambitions, learning how to see others and yourself through anthropological perspectives is a valuable skill that will yield novel insights about your own life and the world. The perspectives offered by anthropology will challenge you to examine critically your common-sense assumptions about society and human nature.
Learning to observe closely, to listen carefully, to read between the lines, to suspend judgment, to perceive the absurdity of our own social conventions as well as those of others, to become attuned to nuance and ambiguity, to see not black and white, but all the many shades of variation in between, to see yourself through others’ eyes, and to be able to shift along a range of perspectives from which to view the world- are all part of seeing like an anthropologist.
This is why with Culture Academy, every lesson and every site abroad are carefully curated to expand on each student’s knowledge of our modern, globally connected world. We are confident that after each learning experience with Culture Academy, students will become more adaptable, resilient, and globally competent individuals as each of them are encouraged to think beyond traditional categories of being human all while enjoying the beauty and excitement of Europe and the world.
Why Europe?
Culture Academy offers educational tours for high school students in Europe by bringing the excitement and joy of learning about its peoples, cultures, and politics. Based on the fundamentals of cultural anthropology, it is unlike other abroad programs because we provide participants highly informed viewpoints of the contemporary development of society, culture, and politics.
We believe Europe is the perfect place to not only experience going abroad but also to challenge our daily assumptions of who we are in the world. Europe’s rich cultural and political diversity makes for the perfect setting to understand global cultures that will in turn create better students, better travelers, better leaders, better citizens, and most of all, better people!