ANTH 1010

This was a great course! It had a very manageable workload, especially as a first-year. To be honest, I pretty much stopped doing the readings after about 2 weeks, and just went to the lectures and still got an A. We did in-person written responses as "quizzes," where the prompts really just meant to test our understanding of the unit. Professor Handler went over most of the readings in lecture, and provided his notes online for many of them as well, so the readings weren't super critical. Definitely don't buy the textbook. However, there were some units where it definitely would have helped if I did the readings, so I'd really recommend doing all the work that you can. I mostly just skimmed them, but I did notice they were a lot more helpful for the quizzes when I actually read them thoroughly and took notes. A lot were really long and confusing though. #tCFS24

This class felt like just regurgitating Mr. Handler’s opinion on quizzes, and then the TAs grading harshly, and that is all we were graded on. No essays, no participation, no projects because of worries about ChatGPT. The quiz-only format made it incredibly hard for me to not only synthesize the material for myself but also to get a good grade.

For the lectures, he would project the PDFs of the readings and repeat the same ideas excessively, which made class boring. Mr. Handler’s a funny guy, but I was not a huge fan of this class.

This course assigns way too many readings to the point that it is almost impossible to read every single thing assigned. However, you will do fine in the class if you keep up with the notes that the professor posts and at least skim over the reading or search up a summary of the main themes. The professor mentioned multiple times that students disliked him for being too far left on the political spectrum, but I didn't notice anything extreme - he just shamed racists and anti-vaxxers which I think is pretty fair. The lectures aren't that useful and are also quite boring so it is not a must for you to attend. Discussion is also very useless because all that happens is other students share their thoughts on the readings and you do not go over anything new, but unfortunately attendance and participation are taken note of.

This is the single most skippable class I've ever taken at UVA. Handler is impossible to pay attention to. It seems like there is little of value he says during any given class period. When I do show up to class, I realize I've done it for the principle of not wanting to skip class rather than actually learning anything from the lecture. The grading on the essays seems pretty arbitrary. Handler is definitely a nice guy and an interesting person to talk to 1-on-1 but I don't think he's a particularly good lecturer. I would certainly not recommend this class other than it being a filler class for non-western that requires minimal work.

I highly recommend this course, especially if you need something to meet gen ed requirements. Professor Handler is a very engaging lecturer, and I always felt like I left class with a better understanding of the readings and the ability to apply them to life outside the classroom. He teaches anthropology in a way that is easy to understand and you can tell he cares a lot about supporting students. Lots of extra resources were provided, and he and my TA were both very responsive and willing to help. If you take good notes and read the materials the exams are on a couple times, you should have no problem doing well on them (plus the lowest exam score was dropped this semester). Highly recommend!

Easy A. Your grade is based on 3 essays (drop the lowest), a final essay, and discussion section (which for me was based on attendance, writing 5 discussion posts, and leading one discussion). You have a week to write each essay and they are open-note. The broad topics the class covered were symbolic mediation, culture (including a comparison between WWII-era US and Japan), language, and race/racism. It was an interesting and unique perspective of American culture (e.g.. Things that seem natural/universal aren’t actually universal, how the auto industry contributes to social inequality). Handler is a great lecturer and tries to make the class easy. He writes notes for each reading and each unit and posts them to Collab. If you’re a Conservative you’ll probably hate this class because Handler is very opinionated and Liberal and he often goes on political tangents/rants (but he says it’s okay if you don’t agree with his views, as long as you understand where he’s coming from). You can get away with not doing most of the reading because the lecture is just Handler reviewing the most important points from the readings, and because he uploads notes with the main takeaways from the articles. But if you don’t read, it may be harder to participate in discussion, depending on your TA. Colleen is a great TA!

A really easy course. I definitely recommend it to anyone who is interested in anthropology or just need an easy class to fulfill a credit. Professor Handler really opens up your eyes to the world we live in. There is so much I didn't really realize about our state of living/being until taking this course. Every class is just a lecture. There's a total of three exams + the final which are all essays. He gives you about a week for each essay and a little more for the final. If you do well on the first two, you don't have to do the third because he'll drop the lowest essay. The readings are kind of long and sometimes are quite hard to understand the first time, so you do have to reread it. There's also discussion, but for me at least, the only grades for it were attendance, discussion posts, and leading discussion at least once. A pretty easy class.

I took this class to fulfill the Living Systems requirement, and also because it sounded interesting. This class was an easy A course for sure-- just go to lecture, listen and take good notes, and you can 100% get away with not doing the long readings. He literally covers everything you need to pull from the readings in class. I spent hours doing the readings in the beginning of the semester, but stopped altogether later on and was fine. Mr. Handler is very entertaining, not only as a funny person but also as an engaging lecturer. You will definitely enjoy this class if you're very liberal. It was interesting to listen to him lecture on race and provide real-world examples. Readings are hit or miss-- some ones that he discusses in class are definitely more interesting than others. Tests are incredibly easy. Three over the semester plus a final, and you can drop one test (most people just decide to not do the third test, get a 0, and drop it. That's how easy they are.) Mostly just analyzing written works and showing that you understand what he lectures in class, which is why the notes are crucial. Discussions are fine, it depends on the TA. I basically did nothing, barely talked the whole semester and it was great. Both Mr. Handler and the TAs should be easy graders too. Overall definitely recommend this course-- I enjoyed it a lot!

Richard Handler is a sweetheart and the perfect professor to teach anth 1010. He rants and rambles, speaks his mind on current events, makes fun of the comm school, and displays a wide variety of funny mannerisms on zoom. Prof Handler is incredibly knowledgeable and passionate about the course material and is a joy to have as a professor. I would recommend this class to anyone, anth major or not. All exams were take-home and usually completed over a weekend, and as long as you pay attention in class, you could do well on them (probably without doing the reading if you didn't want to). Readings weren't difficult or too heavy, and taking notes on them is a great way to prepare for section/exams (plus a lot of them are quite interesting).

With three essays and a final (another essay, just a little harder), it's not a bad class. Handler is a really interesting professor, which I found refreshing in an online class, but he makes all of his topics very political. If you're conservative, you'll find out very quickly that Handler isn't the professor for you. However, being liberal myself, I found the topics really interesting, and I'm planning on taking more Anth classes in the future. The readings aren't absolutely necessary because Handler goes over them in class, but I definitely found the class easier because I did the readings. As long as you pay attention in class (Miao was my TA and also super helpful!) and do the essays, it's not hard to achieve an A. I know a lot of people who didn't like Anth with other professors, so I think you should definitely choose Handler if given the chance.

Loved this class! Professor Handler is incredibly knowledgeable about the topics covered and will undoubtedly open your eyes to the various ways of understanding society and the world. The class is graded out of 100 points. The three essay exams are each worth 20 points and the lowest is dropped. Participation in the discussion section is worth 25, and the final is worth 35. Professor H's lectures cover the readings very thoroughly, so take notes! This will save you time and allow you to contribute to the discussion without having to do much of the reading if you are short on time. All in all, I highly recommend this class! #tCF2020

Took this class online during COVID, but it was sooo easy. Grades consist of 3 essays (one gets dropped), a final (which is take-home and open-note), and discussions. There are readings, but Handler covers the important topics during class, so you don't need to do them. Handler is interesting, but only if you're liberal, otherwise def don't take the class; you won't like what he has to say.
I had Eniola for discussions and she was pretty chill, just make sure you do the discussion posts and speak once during class.
Overall, the class is an easy A even if you don't like Anth. I found it very interesting and Handler tried to make it relevant to modern society (but kinda comes off as very political).

Really eye-opening course that is a great introduction to anthropology. It is a lecture course that assigns about 2-3 readings per week, which isn't too bad and has a discussion section. The readings are sometimes pretty complex, but Handler explains them during lecture that further clarifies them. Exams are essays based on the readings that are pretty open-ended questions. Highly recommend this course.

#tCF2020

I really liked Richard Handler, he is a quirky, interesting guy and his lectures were super interesting. I did not like the structuring of the discussion sections as my TA never showed up on time and was incredibly disorganized. However, he makes your grades based on three written essays and the final being two essays. He usually gives you three prompts to choose from and they grade them fairly. I would say take thorough notes during his lectures so you can make a good argument in your essays. The discussion section makes up 10% of your grade so I would attend as much as possible. I also advise to keep an open mind during his lectures because he can make rather bold comments.

I took this course to fulfill the non-western requirement. It is a very interesting class, Prof Handler shows you a very different perspective of the world. If you pay attention in lecture you don't have to do any reading. The grades come from take home essays and you can write them entirely based off what he says in class. Overall, I enjoyed this class a lot and would recommend to anyone who needs an easy A or something to fulfill the non-western requirement.

Tbh this class was pretty easy -- it had 3 papers (3-5 pages) and handler constantly extended the deadline. they are take home and he gives you about two days to write. the final is basically two take home exams and he gives you like 2 weeks. he drops lowest exam grade and from what I can tell, you basically have to get lucky on who grades your exam. I had TAs grade my 3 take home, 87, 90, 100 and Handler graded my final. He gave me a 84 and an 86 or so. So thats why i ended with a B+ (still mad about it cause I really tried lmao) but tbh this class was minimal effort, i never did the readings, i just took notes during lecture and it was enough for me to write my essays on. I also never read the assigned books. Handler is pretty funny sometimes, I also got away with sleeping in class a lot and just recording the lecture.

This class wasn't very difficult. When I took it, there were 3 writing assignments, as well as a written essay final. Each of our writing assignments, including the final were graded by different TAs too ensure fairness, and Handler himself would also do some grading. Our lowest of those first 3 writing assignments would be dropped. I didn't really do the readings, besides some skimming so I could say a couple things in the discussion section if necessary, and for the relevant portions of a paper. Walked away with an A+ without doing a crazy amount of work. Would recommend taking it with Handler, as the class isn't set up to be overly difficult, in my opinion.

Great class! A very easy intro course and interesting readings/materials. Prof Handler is a very interesting man and extremely knowledgeable. Didn't really have to do many of the readings to do well.

Interesting course, but you MUST have an open mind coming into the course. I hated Handler and the course for the entire first half of the semester b/c he does come off a bit strong and can at times sound arrogant and dismissive of other opinions. Lectures are highly recommended. I never really got more than 2 sentences worth of notes out of them but it's worth going to just listen to the interesting things he has to say. Readings are fairly optional. Grade is somewhat unforgivingly comprised of 4 essays, so strong writing skills are critical. Overall, an easy B+ class that was reasonably interesting.

This was one of my favorite classes taken at UVA. Handler is a really interesting man with very provocative opinions that make you think and reevaluate how you approach the world. I think I gravitate towards anthropology as a discipline itself rather than this specific class, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. At times Handler can be very opinionated to the point that he doesn't consider others viewpoints. This is easily remediated in the discussion sections where the TAs are very helpful and let the students take charge. Take Michelle as your TA if you can!

Not too much reading and take-home exams/final. The reading can be dense.

I would recommend this class to every person in the world, the lectures were really thought-provoking and it was nice to only have writing assignments for exams. Some of the reading was really interesting, some of it was sort of long. Regardless, this was by far my favorite course this semester.

Take this course if you are looking for an easy good grade with minimal effort. If you actually like Anthropology, then I guess take this course? I can't really speak to that as that was not the reason I took this course.
As far as the teacher goes, Handler is extremely liberal, to the point where it is nauseating. He makes it his to point to say shocking things and make you feel uncomfortable, all under the guise that he is just "teasing your brain," trying to get you think outside of these institutions that control us. In all honesty, it comes off as a bit cheesy, sort of cringe-y. However, all the kids eat this up, thinking its really radical and forward thinking.
You can get away with not going to class very easily, you can also get away with not reading, which is primarily why I give this course a high recommendation. However, outside of that, the class is really just this hyper liberal guy trying to say really provocative stuff on purpose because he can. If I could report him, I would.

Tl;dr - Teacher is cringey, course work is just a lot of bogus reading. HOWEVER, easy A with only take home tests, even the final.

This class was fantastic! Handler was a great professor, and I thought everything he taught us was very applicable to our own lives. You learn a lot not only about other cultures in this class, but also about yourself. Also, I greatly appreciated how Handler would change lesson plans in order to talk about current issues, especially because there were so many during the semester I took the class. He genuinely cares about his students, and lectures were very entertaining.

While some people do not like Handler, they simply do not appreicate his views on things. They are narrowminded. He is the man. I am so happy I got the chance to be a student of Handler here, and hope to take another class with him down the road. Handler is very friendly and nice and wants to help you. While he does impose his political views in class, I actually enjoyed this aspect of class--very interesting to see what a real anthropologist thinks about certain things around the world. This class will change the way you think about your world. GO TO CLASS. Take good lecture notes, b/c after all, that is what the TA's are looking for on the take-home tests. The readings are not necessary, but very interesting if you just want to skim them. They are not necessary b/c Handler only tests you on one little passage from the book/article, ususally one of which he talked about in lecture. Be as objective as possible in essays--do not be subjective. TA's are not looking for how you feel; they want to know what you know about anthropology. Overall, great class. Take it.

The topics you discuss, such as race and development, are interesting, but Professor Handler only really presents one view of the issues. He frequently inserts his liberal political commentary in lectures as well. The grading can be subjective based on the TA, but if you go to lectures and read, you should be okay. The take-home tests are essentially looking for what was discussed in Handler's lectures.

Although Handler can be off-putting for some because of some of the provocative (political) things he says, I learned so much about how the world works from his lectures. The mission of ANTH 1010 is "to make the exotic familiar and the familiar exotic" and he is superb at doing so. Exams are take-home and open book so as long as you put forth some effort, your grade will be fine. I'd definitely recommend this class!

This is such an easy class, and interesting too. I definitely recommend it. There is a lot of reading assigned, but its not necessary to read it because Handler highlights all the important points during lecture. GO TO LECTURE. Take good notes because they will help you on the take home essay tests. I wouldn't take this class if you're not a good writer.

Professor Handler just pushes his ideals on everyone in the class. The topics discussed are interesting, but he muddles them with his political ideology. The papers are relatively straight forward, but they are looking for the answer they want, not necessarily a subjective answer that makes an argument. I would steer clear of the class and professor.

TAKE THIS CLASS! Handler is awesome. All take home tests and he drops the lowest one. Grading depends on your TA, but overall it's an easy course. Some of the readings are complicated, but he goes over the readings so don't worry about those!

This class was exceptional. Handler is fantastic lecturer and really opens the students' minds to the techniques and subjects of Anthropology. He only assigns reading homework and only grades in the year are discussion, three tests (lowest dropped), and the final.

I personally thought the class was a lot more overrated. For a class that fulfills a non-western perspective, I felt as if we focused more on the United States. I do however recommend the class if you want an easy A/B.

incredibly enjoyable class
makes me want to major in anthro
TA was awesome - loved our discussions

Handler is the man!

awesome class and awesome professor. it will blow your mind

Go to class and you'll do well on the quizzes.

great class! really changed the way I looked at the world. Handler is a very engaging lecturer.

I took this class based on the rave reviews I read here and elsewhere. I haven't been that impressed. Handler has a tendency to ramble on about unrelated material, and the lectures tend to be a tad boring. It seems fairly easy to get at least a "B", though.

Class is so-so. Handler is interesting, far too liberal for some. Kristin is a pretty good TA. Class is all based on 6 essays, grading is completely subjective.

Ew. Came into this class with such high expectations (courseforum and ratemyprofs hadn't failed me before), and came out HATING IT WITH A PASSION. Handler's lectures consist of incoherent babbling with the occasional curse word thrown in, and it didn't even matter what you wrote on the quizzes--just what TA graded yours. If you got the easy one, awesome. If you got the hard ones--you could have written the freakin Magna Carta and still gotten a 7/10. Total, total waste of time class.

6 essay questions throughout the semester. Drops the lowest grade. I missed 2 therefore got 2 zeros and one dropped, still came out with a C. Interesting class, lecture not absolutely necessary if you do the reading.

Handler is a great, very approachable lecturer and the readings were never too bad. Grading depends on which TA grades yours. If you get lucky Handler will.

Handler is pretty out there and interesting and the course isn't that hard if you do the reading. The grading of the midterms seemed really inconsistent, based on whichever TA graded it.

If there's a class that you must take before you graduate, it would be an anthro class with Handler! Absolutely thought provoking and stimulating. He is not afraid to express his opinion and loves open discussions even in a large lecture. If you do the reading, the quizzes are made so that a majority will get a B, however to get above a B you must in essence sort of quote the readings and key terms.
TA is amazing as well!! Must take class!!

Prof. Handler is an amazing teacher. He is very liberal and is not at all apologetic. Whether or not you agree with him, he'll make you think. I'm an Anthro major because of him.

my FAVORITE prof at uva. his lectures really challenge you to think about everything you do. he's also hilarious. he also likes to throw in the f-word every lecture or two.

warning: some students may feel personally attacked, especially when he talks about ASB, affirmative action, etc...but everything that he says is genius.

Handler is brilliant, passionate, and entertaining. He's about as far left-wing as they come and isn't shy about expressing his political opinions. There's not a ton of reading and most of it is interesting. Grade was based on six 10-point in-class essay quizzes (and then the lowest grade gets thrown out) and a 50-point cumulative essay final. Not only will you learn a great deal, but you'll see things in a whole new perspective after coming out of this class.

This is class is overall interesting, encouraging the student to think outside the box and see everything in perspective. Lectures are generally good, although they can get boring at times. Workload isn't bad, but I didn't do all the reading and still did fine. Professor Handler is a very intelligent man, and he is relatively passionate about Anthropology. I did find that he can be rather closed-minded at times. But he acknowledges it so I guess it evens out. All in all, it's a pretty worthwhile class to take esp. if you're looking to fulfill your social sciences requirement.

Handler is awesome. He's very liberal, politically, and you learn that early on... he's got very strong opinions about all the hot-button issues and does a great job of tying that in to whatever you're studying. Take the optional discussion section- it's one writing assignment and an easy one-credit A. The class itself isn't difficult, but you MUST do the reading... lectures are fast paced and serve as more of a supplement.