ANTH 2120

I had a lot of fun this semester in this class, all of the homework was enjoyable to an extent and it actually felt like I was learning something significant in this course. Ira is a great professor, unfortunately however, his lectures can be at times tedious and tangentially related to what we're actually supposed to be understanding in the course. Ira is very passionate and interesting as a lecturer though, and is one of the highlights to me. I'm not much of a reader, but the readings that Ira gave for the class never felt too tough in terms of length, and often had some real substance to them. However, reading all of the readings is certainly not necessary, you only really need a basic understanding of the general message a particular reading or topic of the course is trying to convey, which can be picked up through lecture and discussions. The course is set up with pass/fail homework (7 throughout the semester, each one not particularly long), a little bit of participation, and 2 essays, 1 midterm and 1 final. The essays were 3 and 5 pages (single spaced) respectively, and it can be a struggle to get to that page length, however, just asking the TA for help will be really useful in finding out what to write for them. Overall, great introductory class for learning more about anthropology and culture in general, will open your eye more to what culture actually is.

bashkow is awesome. he is really about low class load (although sometimes the readings can be long) and giving very interesting material. the class grading structure consists of 2 papers (midterm and final) which consists of the majority of your grade and weekly hw (which are easy) and discussion participation and writing a class evaluation. when we had to do our midterms, a lot of students had a stressful time managing the time and he extended the deadline. he also canceled some readings and HWs to alleviate stress. he's really awesome like that but i don't think its a BS for an A class. i know a lot of people that rushed the essays/tried to BS them and got like Bs or B+s (which is alright or unacceptable depending on who you are ahah).

Ira is a great professor who is extremely accommodating. He is very flexible with deadlines if you communicate ahead of time and is always around to answer questions.

Bashkow is very nice, but this course was one of my least favorite classes that I've taken at UVA. We ended up with 20+ pages of writing (without it being listed as a second writing requirement) and 12 other assignments that could take 30 minutes to complete, or up to 5 hours. Many of the lectures felt pointless and like there was very little content. He was willing to move back deadlines if enough students complained, but the thing is he would initially give 1-1.5 weeks to write a 5 page paper that needed to heavily draw from 3-4 papers that we had been reading for up to three weeks prior. There was not enough forewarning or preparation time. This happened more than once. Discussions were not the most engaging either. He had groups of students assigned to one another, but the topics of discussion were often shallow and resulted in long, uncomfortable silences.
This class had no exams. Honestly, I would have rather taken exams because it would show that there were more concrete things that I learned from this class. The one benefit I would say is that I can now read large volumes of material and not panic on figuring out how to write about them. He isn't the harshest grader, but sometimes it was hard to even complete the papers/assignments because they didn't feel very important or engaging.

This class is HARD. Do not take it if you aren't interested in ANTH but just want a fun/interesting class. The lecture is pretty interesting, but I usually just sit on my computer. Discussion can be interesting and is also really relaxed. BUT THE WRITING ASSIGNMENTS ARE SO DIFFICULT. Super complex and deep thinking that requires doing and synthesizing ALL OF THE READING while trying to answer 10+ questions that are on the paper prompt page.

This course was amazing! I learned so much. My personal views and general understanding of people and the world were definitely developed. Professor Bashkow is so nice, enthusiastic, and thoughtful. There is a good bit of writing, but I actually enjoyed exploring the prompts/subject matter of each. Take this class!

Professor Bashkow is perhaps one of the nicest professors at the university and he cares deeply about his students and his work. He makes the class very, very enjoyable, and likes to have students work together in groups for some assignments in and out of class. The course is very interesting and not too difficult, with three papers, a few small assignments, and a take home exam at the end of the semester. Even if Anthropology isn't your thing, this class teaches you a lot about people, culture, and every day life.

I love Bashkow! He is very passionate about the material and I actually enjoyed going to lecture (even though you can definitely afford to miss one or two). He is very reasonable and this class was not a strain on my workload. I would highly recommend this professor and class.