Introduction
The courses listed below were all designed and developed by Richard Chalfen and have been given at three locations: the Main Campus (Philadelphia, PA) and the Japan (Tokyo) Campus of Temple University and Wheaton College (Norton, MA). In Philadelphia , these courses serve as electives of the Visual Anthropology Major and Minor and are offered on a two-year rotating basis. Each course has used the Blackboard course management program. Some are cross-listed with the Asian Studies Program or the American Studies Program, and some grant graduate-level credit.

Relevant publications by Chalfen appear with each course.

ANTHRO CO64:
American (Visual) Culture

“The Truman Show offers a grand metaphor for contemporary American culture. Its message is that we are immersed in a media landscape of lifelike fantasies that serves the interests of those in power. If we want to be free and have a chance at an authentic life, it tells us, we will have to distance ourselves from the safety and comforts of our media-saturated culture, and be willing to live in the world as it is.” (Ken Sanes, Salon, 1998)

Overview and Syllabus

ANTHRO 234:
Anthropology In/Through Feature Films

Overview and Syllabus

Related Work:
2003 “Hollywood Makes Anthropology – The Case of Krippendorf’s Tribe.” for
Visual Anthropology 16:4.


ANTHRO 237:
Pictorial Lives: Explorations in Personal Anthropology
Overview and Syllabus

Related Work:
Teaching"Pictorial Lives" in Tokyo and Philadelphia: General Approach and Comparitive Results.

ANTHRO 238/ASIAN STUDIES 338:
Visual Anthropology of Modern Japan

Overview and Syllabus

Related Work:
“Vernacular Visual Culture in Japan” by Kendra Sterns in East Harwich, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, July, 2002.

ANTHRO 241:
Indigenous Media as Visual Communication

Details and Syllabus

Related Work:
1992 Picturing Culture Through Indigenous Imagery: A Telling Story. Film As Ethnography, Peter Crawford and David Turton (eds.), Manchester: University of Manchester Press, pp. 222-241.

ANTHRO 272 / ASIAN STUDIES 255 / AMERICAN STUDIES 131:
American Culture Abroad: Japan
Details and Syllabus

Related Work:
2003 "Studying Japan with Hollywood Films: Showing Mr. Baseball in Class." Education about Asia 8(1): 33-36.

Other courses taught within the past five years: