Professor Alim is one of my favorite professors. He is extremely helpful, passionate, and want all his students to do really well. The exams were all asynchronous and online on Canva, and the 2 essays were quite easy. The workload is very manageable, because there is only 1 discussion post every week. The readings are very option (I barely did them) and still did very well on the test because he summarizes the readings during the lectures. I would highly recommend this class with Alim.

This was a really great class, he did it asynchronously during my quarter (as a commuter I loved this). I would recommend attending lectures at the very least, as he goes over all the material that will be on the tests and they are not recorded. The reading is a bit heavy, but he says to do the reading after the lectures to know what to focus on. He explains everything that is on the test in great detail. However, be warned because some of the test questions are incredibly long and detailed. Make sure you know everything he has mentioned will be on the test. Honestly, if you attend lecture, take notes, and look up what he said you will need for the test you will get an A. The material is very eye opening, it discusses how language is used to discriminate minorities and how we can have better educational pedagogies to fix this.

This class had lots of interesting material which made the lectures and discussions pretty engaging. If you watch the lectures, pay attention, and do the readings, you will be able to get every question right on the two tests which make up 60% of the grade. He makes sure that every question on them is taught in class, so it's a really fair test. The rest of the course is fairly graded as well, from the essays to the discussion section participation and attendance. There is no extra credit offered. Professor Alim is a really nice guy and cool dude.

I took this class online and almost dropped it when I saw the syllabus. It looks like its going to be a ridiculous amount of work but it turns out that you really do not need to do all the readings. He basically goes over all of the important stuff from the readings during the lectures, so the workload is not bad at all. You write 2 essays that are less than 2 pages each and you take a midterm and a final. You also do a weekly submission to your TA that's only a paragraph long. I still did the readings because they are interesting and help with the submission but don't panic if you can't finish all of them (there are like 100 pages assigned a week). Alim is funny and pretty engaging and incredibly helpful with preparing for the exams.

I took this class first quarter of freshman year during COVID-19 distance learning. Professor Alim is super helpful and super nice, and all of his TA's seemed pretty chill and interactive with the work material. Alim is not very strict (except about certain essay due dates) and likes to maintain a friendly class environment. His passion for the subjects discussed is apparent and really improves the class atmosphere. The coursework is very interesting and analyzes/criticizes relations between White normativity and spoken language. Most of the readings were very interesting, there were only a few that I did not enjoy. Not a difficult class as long as you stay on top of the readings and work with your TA groups. Definitely my favorite class first quarter. (To my understanding, the professor for this class changes every once in a while so if you get a chance to take it with Professor Alim it's definitely worth it!)

Definitely recommend this class. Super easy GE!! Professor Alim definitely knows what he is talking about. Both midterm and final exam are online and he had mentioned exams would be online regardless of the protest/strikes. He gives study guides that basically have all the answers to the exams. There is heavy reading, but honestly if u read the first 10 pages of each article, you'll be fine.

First of all, besides the class, Professor Alim is a genuinely interesting and charismatic man who is obviously incredibly smart, but not in the way where professors forget that they are an expert in their field and their students are not. I recommend going to office hours or talking to him before / after class, even if it’s not course related, because he is very welcoming and listens to his students’ feedback and opinions. Anthro 4 was overall a very easy course - the two tests were online and open note, and the questions don’t try to trick you. The two essays (although paper #2 was cancelled due to strikes / protests / cancellations) were very short and to the point, and really helped you to actually understand main course ideas. His lectures are very dynamic - he uses slides, but doesn’t post recordings or the slides onto BruinLearn, so if you want to learn, you’ll actually have to go to lectures and take notes. He also expands on written slide ideas and will tell you aloud which things will be on the exams. The topics were very interesting and made me think a lot about my own role as a speaker in social settings, so this course is something I will take with me for the rest of my life. I would seriously recommend this class, it was probably the least stressful class I’ve taken so far at UCLA, the Professor is amazing, and the content actually matters.

TAKE THIS CLASS! Anthro4, especially with Professor Alim, has been one of the most interesting, thought-provoking, engaging, and easy classes I have taken thus far at UCLA. It delves into conversations about the overlap between language, race, and gender, and opens conversations about how these dynamics play out in Hip Hop, rap, and even politics. Lecture attendance is pretty mandatory, as slides are not posted after lecture nor are they recorded... but that being said, going to lecture is really fun! Professor Alim is funny and informative -- and he tells you exactly what is going to be on the midterm and final exams (which he calls "celebrations of knowledge"). These exams are online and multiple-choice, and if you go to lecture and understand the topics covered, you will have no issue getting an AMAZING grade. There are also 2 essays in this course which require some quotes from the assigned readings. These weekly readings are pretty heavy - I did all of the readings, but some of my classmates never did them and got by just fine. There are also weekly assignments called 321s, in which you write 3 things you learned from the readings, 2 discussion questions, and 1 critique of the readings. Super awesome! I loved this class and could not recommend it enough.

Overall, I really enjoyed this class and found it really enriching. Professor Alim is a great professor but also a great person. He was always helpful and passionate, and genuinely cares for his students' success. After class or during office hours he was always available if anyone ever had a question or just wanted to chat. He was also really adamant about getting students who were on the waitlist into his class.

The class is structured so that there is your first “celebration of knowledge” (midterm), midterm paper, second “celebration”, and final paper. The papers were both very manageable, and Alim and the TAs covered all the material that was on the “celebrations”. He makes it a point during class to specifically point out important content that will be tested. Based on the title of the course alone which is “Culture and Communication” I initially thought that the course would be a more communications-centered class. However, the course explores a lot of diverse and interesting topics, especially pertaining to race and marginalized groups as they relate to communication. Although some of the readings were a little dense and confusing, the professor and TAs are really helpful at clarifying concepts. I took this class for my major, but this is a great course as an easy GE where you also gain knowledge about a really interesting subject. SIDENOTE do NOT purchase the textbook. The professor provides a pdf of the online version, and the UCLA store currently will NOT buy the textbook back.

Professor Alim was an amazing professor to start the year off with. His lectures were interactive and he always had something knew for us to learn. We watched a movie in class and a Netflix Original where the producers came and answered all of our questions. The tests are multiple choice online and there were two essays that were due. Apart from that my TA was great, he was super well spoken and made everything clear. I will say there are a lot of readings and vocab to learn which is important to study. Professor Alim loves to interact with his students which made the lecture feel like a discussion. Overall, I recommend this class for anyone looking for a good starter class at UCLA.