Easiest upper division class I've ever taken. There are no exams, just weekly reflections and a final paper. The weekly reflections are just a single spaced paper discussing what you learned from the designated readings, due at the start of each week. There are 9 of them but you only need to complete 6. The final paper was originally supposed to be 10 pages, but towards the end of the quarter he reduced it to 6 pages; most professors aren't that lenient so I admire that a lot. I was able to get a 100 on the paper even though it was above average at best. You don't even really need to attend the lectures since attendance is only mandatory for discussion sections. The grade breakdown was 60% weekly reflections, 30% final paper, 10% discussion attendance. If you're an Anthro major, or if you're not but just need an upper division class with minimal work load take this one!!

I took this as a GE my first quarter of freshman year. The class setup made it so that you really don't need to attend class. But I attended almost all lectures and found them fairly interesting. Professor Aciksoz is super passionate about his field and has experience on the very subject we were learning about. The papers that make up most of your grade are really self explanatory and I believe all TAs graded these really leniently. Discussions were also chill and fairly interesting. The final exam was super straightforward as well. I recommend this class as an easy GE.

Do the readings for your own sake! So interesting.

I took this class as a GE, and I really enjoyed it! This was by far my favorite class. He is an extremely thorough and engaging lecturer and applies the information we learn in class in real life as well. He's also quite animated, which makes lectures enjoyable. The course does not require a textbook, just some weekly readings. There's also no homework. Your grade is determined by your participation in discussions, mini ethnography, a media analysis (watching a movie and analyzing it), and the final (in-person, composed of 3 short answers and 1 essay question). The final will make you draw back to information from the reading but he gives a study guide. If you know the concepts in the study guide and know the general idea from all the readings you're pretty much set. I think TA you have will either make you love or hate the class though. I had a wonderful TA and it was okay to not completely do the readings in time. The discussion was comprehensive and went through concepts from lecture and helped me understand the readings more. Don't be afraid to ask questions too! Asking questions and doing a little debrief on my plan for the mini ethnography and media analysis really helped me get a good grade. I wasn't aware, but you can also see comments after the assignments are graded, so be sure to look at those comments to improve on the next one.

tl;dr: amazing and super easy GE

This was one of the last classes I needed to take in order to graduate with the Anthropology BA, so I already was very well-versed in anthro and what it's all about, and I am also very passionate about it–I love anthro. This professor, however, would have uninspired me to choose anthro as a degree had I taken this class earlier in my academic career. His lectures are absolutely useless, and often say a lot without meaning anything. He tries to make claims about society using overly generalized arguments that fall flat because he uses circular reasoning. Essentially, this class (at least taught by Prof. Aciksoz) can be summed up as "everything is a social construct, the world is evil, and nothing is truly real." While I do understand that many of the concepts taught in this class are heavily supported in academia and have valid applications in the real world, Aciksoz fails to give meaning to anything he teaches–in that the only truly adoptable concepts are those embedded in readings, separate from the professor.
If Aciksoz is teaching the class:
–If you plan on majoring in Anthro, wait until a different professor is teaching it. You can take pre-req classes at any point in your academic career for this major.
–If this is simply a GE requirement, do not take this class; your perception of what Anthro actually is will be tainted.

Overall, very disappointed with this class because I know what it could've/should've been. In spite of all this, Prof. Aciksoz is a very kind person with great intentions, and it was a pleasure to get to know him. This is not a critique of Prof. Aciksoz, it is a critique of how this class is taught.

I really enjoyed this class! Although it was online due to covid, I still really liked Professor Aliksoz and his lectures. He also taught us about his own research into disabled veterans in Turkey, which was really interesting! This class was a really fun and easy ge!

He is one of the most enthusiastic and passionate professor that I’ve encountered so far in regarding to not only teaching the material but explaining it! The class overall is fairly easy if you attend lecture on a regular basis and go to section! The PowerPoint slides are honestly just for him to reference on what he is saying about that weeks subject and relating it back to readings. He does include YouTube videos and a couple movies in lecture as well (talk about fun!) Although the readings are mandatory and are a lot if you miss any he references them in lecture so you have an idea what’s happening but it’s best to go back and skim/read them! There is 1 mid term with 3 short answers and 1 long essay question. There is a paper that’s due but it’s early on the quarter so you don’t have to worry about it during finals. The final is in similar format to the mid term with 4 short answers and 2 long essay questions. Honestly his teaching style and enthusiasm made me excited to go to his class and I would take him again if I could! One of the best anthro professors out there! I highly recommend! He will rejuvenate your excitement and interest in being an anthro major if you’re in a rut on questioning if this is what you wanna do! If you can take this class and introduce yourself to him, especially with going to office hours he appreciates it and invokes new thought!

I really liked Professor Aciksoz. He had engaging lectures with powerpoint slides and the material isn't hard to grasp at all, while also being interesting at the same time. However, your grade in this class is very dependent on your TA, and I got stuck with a TA that graded my midterm and paper (called a "mini-ethnography") extremely harshly where friends in other sections got graded very easily. The midterm was not difficult if you pay attention in class, but it is entirely up to your TA as to how nitpicky they want to grade. Overall, this class was interesting and I would take a class again with Aciksoz but just make sure I get a reasonable TA!

The grade for this class consists of 3 papers
Mini-ethnography (4 pages, 30%)
Media Analysis (4 pages, 30%), my personal favorite
Pandemic Diary (7 pages total, 1 page journal entry everyday for one week, 30%)
Participation in discussion (10%)

Overall this class is pretty easy, coming from someone who does not like writing at all. The discussions were based off of weekly readings which were manageable. Some were more boring than others. The lectures were honestly pretty useless. The first few lectures were necessary in understanding what anthropology actually is, but afterwards I would say you did not need any of the information from lecture. The ethnography paper was based on your own observations and analysis at an outside place of choice. The media analysis paper was based on a film that we watched for class and watching another movie that connected to that film. The pandemic diary was pretty open ended, where we wrote about our day while connecting it to the pandemic as well as general concepts of the readings/lectures. While the topics were pretty eye-opening, I did not feel the need/want to sit through lecture due to it being useless in the actual assignments itself.

The class was simple and consisted of three main essays. Ended up with an A but the TA graded my two essays quite harsher compared to other people. Consisted of a media analysis (which was interesting), pandemic diaries (super simple and straightforward, and an ethnography.