Lesley Sharp

Pro: It is a class exclusively for Barnard Anth students. Very discussion based, with Prof Sharp giving some background of the authors at the beginning of each class. The reading materials are really fun and eye-opening. Prof encourages people to go to her office hours and she is usually very available. She also posts key terms of the readings so you would have an easier time locating them in the heavy reading assignments. Con: There were 3-6 readings every week, and you would have to finish it by the first class session because that's when the weekly reading response is due. There are 3 ~250pgs books and a shorter one that Prof assigns for you to finish in a week. You are expected to know the details of the depicted rituals and relationships. The weekly reading responses often ask you to put the authors in conversation with others and are graded critically (2 pts each).

I've known Sharp for 3 years and she was my adviser until recently. I used to like her quite a bit -- she is undoubtedly smart and an accomplished anthropologist. At her best, she teaches you how to be systematic in your writing and to meet unreasonable standards. The most you'll get out of her course is a real life experience of Horrible Bosses or The Devil Wears Prada translated to academia. Only take a class with Sharp if you the kind of person who can put up with bullshit. The most successful route dealing with her is to sit down, and shut up. Participate enough to get credit and look like you read the material, but just say what she wants to hear. She consistently picks a "favorite" in the class, along with a person to shit on and make an example of regardless of your knowledge or effort. I've been in both roles. I was the favorite when I was a first year because I kissed her ass. When she became my adviser and we got to know each other better, the tables turned. Despite every effort to engage with the reading material, it seemed the more 'myself' I acted, the more she just hated me. I watched her do the same thing as a first year to a senior major in EFR in NYC. Sharp gave her a C even though that student seemingly did all that was required on the syllabus. All in all, she has an incredibly limited view of anthropology and what a student/teacher relationship should look…

As earlier reviews have stressed, Professor Sharp is a HARSH grader. I don't think that anyone got an A the semester I took this class. She expects you to be extremely scrupulous about punctuality, citations, formatting, the length of your final presentation: all the details, down to what kind of binder you hand your final project in in. She has extremely high standards on everything from your actual intellectual work to how you format your bibliography. Do not count on her excusing some tardiness and a late assignment because your project is great. She won't. Despite all that and as much as it pains me to admit it, Professor Sharp is actually a really good professor. You will learn a lot about how fieldwork is done if you take this class and she will push you to make your project something you can really be proud of. This class is great preparation for doing a thesis and I'd highly recommend it to anyone who plans to go on to study anthro on a graduate level. It was one of the most intense and demanding academic experiences I've had. Despite my disappointment over my grade, I'm glad I took this class.

Professor Sharp is boring, anal, and wears alot of purple and her class is a serious waste of time. Shes strict about attendance and going to class is usually painful. I usually felt like shoving my pen into my side. It is clear that she belonged to the guilded age of social anthropology and refuses to move forward. She doesnt engage with the test in class and by the looks of her opinions and attitudes never did engage with the texts. Shes a dinosaur when it comes to critical theory but not friendly like Barney. She seems to have a soft spot for flakey spacey girls, and by soft spot I mean...

You should really consider taking a class with Prof. Sharp. You can tell from the first class that she loves medical anthropology and I was never once bored in her class. The syllabus is very interesting.I loved the class overall and felt like I actually learned something from it rather than just having to make the grade. What i didn't like was that she would have us read entire books and only spend one or two classes discussing small portions of the readings. Although I thoroughly enjoyed the books, it's best to skim through them, get the general idea and then focus on what she brings up in class. I actually had fun writing my final 10-15pg paper. You can chose whatever interests you and if you are a little lost and confused, dont hesitate to go to her office hours.

If you are interested in Africa, then this is a fantastic course. If you don't know much about Africa, but care about youth and culture and education (especially in post-colonial contexts), then also take this class. Sharp is terrific, she knows the material, can lead class discussions, lots of participation . The level of the class is, obviously, dependent on the students, but Sharp knows how to bring up controversial topics and ideas from students and stimulate you intellectually. This class is not about BS, and papers are graded accordingly. Be creative in how you present your ideas and think about anthropology/historical contexts/politics. Probably the best class I took at Columbia, reinvigorated me.

This class rocked! Also, there are a lot of people who wrote that her grading schemes are inexplicable, which is entirely not my experience. She gives a detailed rubric to how she grades and follows it if you ask her for an explanation. She is super approachable in my experience and really interesting. From the previous comments, I get the impression that everyone simply wasn't prepared to do anywork.

Heavy reading list Good introduction to anthropological techniques / classics (Weber, Durkheim etc.) Very progressive view of the role of the modern anthropologists. Good class discussions, everyone leads one per semester. Good if you like to read and discuss. No prior anthro experience required.

I went into this class fairly nervous because of existing reviews of Sharp, and found it much more manageable than portrayed here. Prof. Sharp does not sugarcoat feedback when she disagrees with your opinion, and sometimes I didn't totally agree with what she was saying, but she teaches coherently and encourages in-depth analysis of the texts. The readings for this class were phenomenal, and the grades I got were incredibly fair and not nearly as arbitrary as previous reviews portrayed.

3 papers, 6-8 pages, 20% each Lead 1 class discussion Weekly 2 page reading responses Kiss a dinosaur's bumhole