ANT 388 LOVE IN THE BUBBLE
A lot of social science studies explore the romantic or sexual lives of modern college students. But we know very little about how specific college environments shape, inform, or transform differential student experiences with dating and relationships within these environments. How do Elon students compare to each other in terms of how they find romantic and sexual partners at Elon? What do individual social markers such as gender, ethnicity, or religion contribute to how successful or satisfied students are with their love lives on campus? And do dating and relationship patterns change from freshman to senior year? What factors, specific to Elon as the limiting environment, contribute to these differential outcomes? In this course students will conduct an ethnographic research study about Elon student dating experiences and compare the findings to cross-cultural, comparative anthropological perspectives on love, sexuality, dating, courtship, marriage, embodiment, and what is and is not sexually permissible in other cultures (norms, taboos, etc.)