Hawaii Pacific University
ANTH 3230 Making a Differrence Section ____
Semester and year, meeting times
Instructor: Name, contact information and other relevant information about the instructor.
Course description: This course is an ethnographic approach to social activism. It examines the ways
in which activists (broadly defined) conceive of and carry out their understandings of social change. We
will also interrogate the philosophical, emotional and pragmatic bases for these movements as well as
the practical challenges activists face.
Course prerequisite: WRI 1200 and any lower division humanities or social science class.
General Education Requirement: This course is classified as a Global Citizenship course which meets
the Upper-Division Citizenship requirement for general education. While it is formally classified as a
Global Citizenship course, it also provides opportunities for service learning to students who pursue
collaborative research projects with community groups and/or volunteer their time with these groups.
Be aware that some majors specify a particular service-learning course or a different Global Citizenship
course to meet the citizenship requirement. Check your degree requirements if you are planning to use
this course to meet the citizenship requirement.
The course addresses global citizenship through the idea of interconnectedness. Students are
encouraged to see social problems not as isolated issues but as parts of larger, more complex social
situations where global processes and local interpretations of universal struggles over power, identity
and status used to justify access to resources. In some cases, specific organizations (such as The Friends
Service Committee will be able to tie their efforts to issues (such as militarization) that clearly operate
on a global scale. In other cases, groups such as fair housing advocates have to take into account
changes in local economies brought on by changes in the global economy. Students will be encouraged
to examine the connections between these global processes and the impacts of these processes on local
communities.
General Education Student Learning Outcomes and the Five Themes: HPU’s general education
curriculum is focused around five themes. This course draws on three of the themes. Under the Values
and Choices Theme, it provides students with opportunities to achieve the following related general
education student learning outcomes:


Students should be able to apply their understanding of ethical systems and models to develop
and demonstrate a conscious value system as individuals, students, professionals and citizens. In
this class students will explore their own systems of values through engaging with attempts by
real-world social activists to address and change negative social and/or environmental
condition.
Students should understand a range of meanings for concepts associated with individual and
social ethics such as rights and responsibilities, justice and impartiality, citizenship and social
responsibility. In this course students will focus on understanding a range of meanings implied in
the terms “citizenship” and “social responsibility”. Students will read examples of a range of
different philosophies including Marxism (Marx & Engels, Gramsci), anarchism (Graeber), radical
Buddhism (Thurman, Edwards), Fascism, libertarianism (Brodkin) and free-market liberalism
(Dalton, Jensen) and will be asked to relate these philosophies to the philosophy of the group
they are working with as part of their final project.
The course also addresses the World Cultures Theme by providing students with opportunities to
achieve the following related general education student learning outcome:

Students will investigate the roles that race, ethnicity, class, power, belief systems and gender
play in past and present cultural systems. This class examines the role of systems of social
differentiation on past and present cultural systems.
The course also addresses the Global Systems Theme by providing students with opportunities to
achieve the following related general education student learning outcome:

Students should understand the impact of the process of globalization from a historical
or cultural perspective. In this class students will examine the process of globalization in both
material and ideological terms, including the way in which environmental degradation emerges
from capitalism’s constant search for maximal profit.
Note: Purple text shows places where specific course information must be filled in. Red text provides
explanatory notes to the instructor which should be deleted before using the syllabus. Blue explanations
above should be rephrased by the individual instructor to reflect the specific approach in that section to
these required outcomes. Course specific outcomes below are an example and should also be rephrased
or modified by the instructor to fit the particular emphasis of his or her course.
Course-Specific Student Learning Outcomes for ANTH 3230 Making a Difference
1) Students will demonstrate a greater sense of the ways in which analysis of a problem leads to
concrete solutions to those problems.
2) Students will demonstrate an appreciation for the ways in which moral and ideological systems play a
pivotal role in conceptualizing and articulating solutions to problems. This objective derives from
anthropology’s interest in culture as system of meaning.
3) Students will also demonstrate the ability to examine logistical and structural issues (such as
economics, governmental structures and community resource assessments) that play a role in successful
engagement with social issues. This objective derives from anthropology’s insistence on an holistic
approach to understanding a society.
4) Students will have the chance to listen to local community organizers’ discuss their efforts to deal
with specific local and global problems. Students will also demonstrate engagement with these projects
through site visits, literature searches and interviews with project participants.
5) Students will demonstrate the usefulness of an ethnographic and cross-cultural approach in looking at
social issues and at the ways in which social issues might be addressed.
For the rest of these required syllabus items see the details in the faculty handbook. Delete this note
once the syllabus is complete. For online courses there are some additional requirements given at this
link.
Texts List textbooks with ISBN’s and include this language as well
All textbook information (pricing, ISBN #, and e-books) for this course can be found on the HPU
Bookstore website: hpu.edu/bookstore.
If you have any questions regarding textbooks, please contact the HPU Bookstore at:
Phone:
808-544-9347
Or e-mail:
jyokota@hpu.edu
mmiyahira@hpu.edu
Assignments and mode of evaluation
Summary of important dates and deadlines (if the schedule is a separate document and due dates are
not given with the description of the assignments).
Class rules and policies (including regarding attendance, late work and academic dishonesty)
Schedule of events (may be attached separately)