Anthropology, Associate in Arts for Transfer, (AA-T)

Program Overview

The Associate in Arts for Transfer in Anthropology equips students with a comprehensive understanding of the field, including its holistic nature, four-field approach, and cultural diversity. It prepares students for a seamless transition to a bachelor's degree in Anthropology at any CSU campus, fostering critical thinking, cultural awareness, and ethical research practices.

Program Outline

Degree Overview:

Overview:

The Associate in Arts for Transfer degree in Anthropology provides students with the foundational knowledge necessary to make a successful transition into a Baccalaureate Degree at any of the CSU campuses.

Objectives:

• Demonstrate basic knowledge of the holistic nature of Anthropology and the concepts of culture and biology as used by contemporary anthropologists.
• Describe the development of Anthropology as a profession, explaining why it can be considered both a science and a humanity and how it became a distinct field of inquiry while retaining a relationship with other academic disciplines.
• Discuss the four-field nature of Anthropology and the relation of its sub-disciplines to one another, particularly in terms of the biological and social construction of such terms as sex, gender and race.
• Describe ways in which different aspects of culture—economic, social, political, and religious practices and institutions—relate to one another in a cultural system, and draw comparisons between different cultures, past and present.
• Demonstrate an awareness and appreciation of cultural diversity enhanced by a holistic perspective on culture as integrated, dynamic, and embedded in broader processes of intercultural connection and globalization.
• Discuss their own cultural biases, as well as the biases of others, explaining why these biases exist while retaining the ability to put said biases aside in order to evaluate the cultural syntheses of others in ethnographies, films, news and media.
• Articulate the importance of ethics in Anthropology, specifically the fundamental obligations of anthropologists to members of the societies they study, their research sponsors and their profession.