ANTH 3275

This course solidified my decision to become an Anthropology major. If you care about corruption, knowing who truly has power, what is actually going on behind the sciences in the world, or who can you really trust? This course is for you. I’m not sure I have learned more from any course I have ever taken, and professor Bashkow is incredible. Put in the work and you will be rewarded. I could not recommend this course more, on one condition. To get true value out of this course, you really are gonna wanna be highly interested in economics, business, or you probably won’t enjoy this very much. Great class nonetheless, and I would take something very similar again.

The description of the course definitely did not match the content that we learned. Most of the course was learning law, econ, and finance theories for how a corporation worked. I went into this class expecting to learn about how corporations have shaped the world into where we are today, how they affect specific groups/cultures, etc. Ira and Randall were really passionate and the assignments were manageable, but the material itself just was not up my alley as an ETP major. Each class period was Ira going off on tangents about theories and whatnot with no slideshow following it, so my notes felt all over the place! Overall, I would recommend this to people who like heavy reading and theories (which is not me)!!

If you want to learn about anthropology WITHIN a corporation, this is not the class for that. This class teaches you the big picture and the roles the corporations play. You don't get much from the lectures, but they take attendance. The lecture is so light, that it gives you an illusion that the assignments are easy. The assignments are mainly writing assignments. INTEGRATE THE READINGS INTO YOUR ESSAY AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE. The questions ask for your opinions, but understanding of the readings do not get you points; quotes do. I don't enjoy the lectures. The professor has bad time management in the lecture, and it is not clearly structured. In general, to do good, read the readings really well and write nicely. That will suffice. This also means that if you don't like reading and writing, change the class. I acknowledge that the professor is very knowledgeable, but he is not a good lecturer, nor a fun teacher. I don't recommend this class, if you want to try out anthropology.

This is easily my favorite class I have ever taken at UVA. I took it during Fall 2020 so it was on zoom and Bashkow recorded professional-quality podcasts for us to listen to instead of synchronous lectures. The podcasts were so well done it barely felt like class, so I am sure his in-person lectures are great as well. The class consisted of weekly essays and a final paper and it was a pretty easy A. This class will completely change the way you think about the world.