The first thing I realized as I tried to research anthropology for the first time by doing some quick Google searches on my laptop is that anthropology is not something simple you can watch a few CrashCourse videos on and then be good to go. In actuality, it's a pretty complex study! Finding where to start learning more about anthropology can seem like trying to find a needle in a haystack at first, so here's some handy online courses I found that helped me out a lot. Don't get me wrong, you can never go wrong by watching some beginner animated videos on anthropology, of which I can link below if you guys are interested, but what if you want to go a little deeper? In that case, here's some online courses that I recommend and, unless you want to show off a physical diploma which declares that you've managed to complete this course, are completely free!
Here we go, the best anthropology courses that I've found so far, and am currently taking (as the screenshot of my third course won't let me hide), are: 'Global Health Case Studies from a Biosocial Perspective' by Harvard University on edX, 'Anthropology of Current World Issues' by University of Queensland on edX, and 'Extinctions: Past, Present, & Future' by Emory University on Coursera.
What's the Catch?
Despite you may not be able to complete all the graded assessments (which might not be such a shame to some of you), and only have a limited amount of weeks to complete the courses from the day you sign up based on the number of weeks the course is broken up into if you don't pay for the course, trust me, these courses are more than manageable with some long-term commitment. Back in the beginning of the pandemic, my sixth-grade self signed up for the 'Epidemics' course by the University of Hong Kong, the 'Introduction to Ancient Egypt and its Civilization' by the University of Pennsylvania, and the 'Fundamentals of Neuroscience' course by Harvard University. Though these courses were a little challenging at first, I actually enjoyed them quite a lot, and it wasn't just because I'm a little bit of a nerd. With a teacher walking you through the course through videos, followed by readings and checkpoints with questions, along with discussion posts and forums where you can post any questions you have, your understanding of each new topic is deepened so that you're actually taking away lots of information from your course each week!
An Overview of Each Course
So, before you rush to sign up, I thought I'd give you a general idea about each course and, of course, my favorite at the moment. While the Harvard University course looks at anthropology from a more biological perspective along with a focus on virology and the history of colonization, the University of Queensland course includes lots more interviews of anthropologists to understand the importance of perspective in anthropology and provides you with an introduction to some key general terms in anthropology. Lastly, the Emory University course focuses on anthropology a lot less than the other two, but I still believe that it's a beneficial course to take because it gives you an idea of the timeline of life on Earth, including the five mass extinctions before humans, so that you also have a bigger picture idea of humans' (and their hominin ancestors) time and development on Earth. Now, for the part I'm sure you've been reading up until now for: my favorite course so far is...drum roll please...'Global Health Case Studies from a Biosocial Perspective'! I don't know if any of you guessed that already, but that was the obvious favorite for me with its incorporated biology and virology elements.
My Outro
Anyways, with all this having been said, there's no need for you to take all three of these courses or rather only these three courses, but here are the three that I think will start you off on your anthropology journey on the right track. So check out coursera.org or edx.org today to see if there's something that gauges your interest and sign up for a course for free! Also, feel free to comment below which of these courses seems the most interesting to you or if you have any courses, not necessarily related to anthropology, that you think others would enjoy as well!
That's all for this week, bye!
