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Today's public institutions and community organizations operate in complex societies and serve an increasingly diverse set of constituents and stakeholders. Anthropological research provides tools for understanding diverse perceptions, practices, and social problems in cultural and historical context. The centerpiece of this course is an actual group research project here in western Mass: students will act as a team to design a research project, conduct field research with a partner organization, organize and analyze data, and present research findings.

This course explores the rich landscape of African American material and expressive culture from the era of enslavement to the present day. Drawing on interdisciplinary approaches from anthropology, history, African American Studies, art history, and cultural studies, the course examines how Black communities create, use, and interpret objects, spaces, performances, and aesthetic practices as forms of identity, resistance, memory, and everyday life.