Goucher College 2017-2018 Undergraduate Catalogue 
    
    Mar 29, 2024  
Goucher College 2017-2018 Undergraduate Catalogue PLEASE NOTE: This is an archived catalog. Programs are subject to change each academic year.

SOA 383 - Seminar: The Good Life (4 Cr.)


What does it mean to live a life that is a “good life”? This course takes an anthropological approach to understanding the many ways that human beings conceptualize and live out “the good,” both in terms of aspirations to live well and in terms of moral worth. We will bring together a wide range of studies in anthropological subfields, such as economic anthropology, medical anthropology, psychological anthropology, and the anthropology of morality, to address what people around the world think makes life worth living. How is happiness defined and pursued cross-culturally? What does it mean to be a “good person” or to “do good” in the world, and how might these meanings vary from one cultural context to another? How are the obstacles to achieving the good life experienced, and what are the implications of these experiences for personal or cultural wellbeing? Some of the topics we will consider are: health and healthcare; wealth distribution and inequality; volunteerism; pleasure and emotional wellbeing; and humanitarianism and human rights.  Prerequisites: Junior standing and one of the following courses: SOA 200 , SOA 201 , or SOA 217 . Spring. Offered 2018-19 and alternate years. Schwarz.