In today’s post I want to talk about one of my new classes that I have just started and also describe my study habits and workplaces.
Although it has only been a week so far, I am enjoying a course titled Anthropology of Contemporary Swedish Society, which is an elective course for international study abroad students. The course has 2 aims: to learn the methods of discovering and documenting the cultures of populations in the field of anthropology, and to learn about Swedish history, politics, and social norms by applying these methods. As an engineering student, I am a complete novice when it comes to social sciences and particularly in the broad scope of research areas and observation that anthropology accounts for. The goal, so it seems, is to gain the fullest possible understanding of a population by combing through every facet of their life and identifying patterns and relationships that can help to characterize the population and how it functions as a community.
The cool part about this class is that my classmates and I are all exchange students who come from different societies and cultures other than Sweden. This gives us the ability to study anthropology as a professor or researcher would really do it: by immersing oneself into the day to day life of the population that you hope to study. This explains the course’s emphasis on learning the methods of anthropological research, because our class is going to actively engage with Swedish peers to produce research of our own using methods like interviewing. As this class progresses, I am excited to see what discoveries and research is produced.
There are lots of options around Lund if you are looking for a nice place to study, from cafes and coffee shops to libraries and academic buildings. Most of the departments in the Faculty of Engineering have their own library in their building, and these along with many other study tables around the building provide a space for work and studying. You can also venture towards the center of town to the main University library or to the Lund City Library.
