Anthropology is one of the three options offered as an elective during your Junior year of
IB. The three options are anthropology, economics and psychology. It is important to decide
what interests and intrigues you so you can enjoy the elective of your choice. Depending on the
language you are in for the IB program, you may be allowed to choose another language as an
elective.
Anthropology is the study of human culture and human societies. It incorporates the
collaboration of individuals from different cultural backgrounds as well as understanding different
backgrounds. Anthropology focuses on much of the norms and values shared amongst cultures
and learning lots of vocabulary regarding groups of individuals. Specifically what the IB program
offers is Social and Cultural anthropology. This study focuses on the understanding of people
and the diversity of human societies in time and space. It's a social science course that applies
and engages with different methods, language and theories of the concept of anthropology.
Some important words to acknowledge within anthropology are ethnographies,
ethnocentrism, and fieldwork. The term ethnographies associates with anthropology with studies
from other people who observe other cultures. An ethnography is a work created by
anthropologists which travel and live within a society and observe/understand the customs of
individuals and cultures. Being a part of this class, I was able to read one completely called “In
Search of Respect'' which is about Crack dealers in El Barrio and am currently working on
another work titled “Working the Night Shift ``which is about call centers in India and the
perception of woman working at night. Outside of ethnographic work it’s important to
acknowledge the idea of not being ethnocentric. You must be able to explore all cultures without
bias and intent of thinking one culture is superior to another. With this incentive you are able to
be culturally relative and aware of other cultures. The last term relevant to anthropology is
fieldwork. Fieldwork is the written observation of what is occurring between cultures/events. It's
important to write them down to observe trends within society and to conclude results given a
situation.
Now that you know all about anthropology and what it entails, the IB part kicks in with the
test. This is one of three SL (standard level) courses you will be taking, if chosen, and has
required tests. One assessment is paper 1 and it is multiple choice while paper 2 is written.
Aside from those exams, there is an Internal Assessment that is required based on a fieldwork
observation of your choice. Anthropology is screaming your name as it’s a fun, enjoyable and
collaborative class that gets one more culturally aware.