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 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!)

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.

Very repetitive. Way too much reading. Horribly done lectures in which he reads his slides verbatim. Ends up being a class about African American Vernacular instead of a general linguistic anthro class. Though, it is definitely very easy. Don't have to do the readings and can still get an A no problem. Honestly though, He could have taught us the concepts that it took him a quarter to teach in 2-3 weeks. Bad class that I wouldn't recommend to anyone. He's a cool guy and I like him a lot. I likely got an A in the class too. But seriously, avoid this class if you can.

This guys was an amazing professor. He is very concerned with a students grade. He also has lots of people come during the lecture within linguistic anthropology to get you interested in the field. There is lots of reading and hw to turn in every week. But you get attendance points. He also gives you a paper to write about 6 pages this is just to help bring up your grade since they really dont focus on details as much. The final was also an autobiographical essay. He also gave us an extra 2%. He is really approachable and really helpful but you must go to lecture to do well in the class. If you got to lecture you will get a B and higher at the very least if not you will be lost in the class and the reading. But he its a fun class, so help fun during his celebrations of knowledge.

this was a great class! it focused on language inequality, which turned out to be a really interesting subject. a lot of assigned reading but you didnt have to do it all. if you go to lecture and skim the readings, you should be fine. alim is a really nice/cool guy who cares about the students. he's very open to talk to you during office hours, which you should talk advantage of for sure. pretty easy class and a lot of fun.

At first I was not a big fan of this class but as time progressed I started to enjoy it more. It seems overwhelming at first with all of the readings but I realized later that professor alim did not expect students to know every little detail. Nice teacher and nice TA's at least the guys, the girl TAs scared me a bit. Overall good class.

Hmm, it's really surprising to me that some people write in such strongly negative reviews for Prof. Alim; ie "avoid at all costs". I would recommend ignoring those reviews, as I had a really great experience with the class, and its hard for me to believe that people actually feel that way. This class truly changed my perspective on the world in a really meaningful way, and I still think about things I learned in the class all the time. Alim is a really cool person who cares about student learning and making the class fun. The lectures had lots of variety in media--ie youtube videos, films, etc. This class was not easy, and doing the readings and going to lecture really was necessary, but if you work hard to understand the concepts and examples, you should do fine on the exams. I definitely recommend this professor, and will try to take him again if he teaches another class in the future. My grade: A+.

I feel that the below reviews are somewhat unfair. This class is now called Anthro 4.
Professor Alim is very passionate about raciolinguistics, and so, as is his prerogative, he made it the focus of his class. He is very good about making us feel like colleagues, rather than lowly undergraduates, and makes an effort to keep it interesting. He invites leaders in their fields to come speak to us, including Boots Riley, director of Sorry To Bother You, whose panel was extra credit. His midterm was 25 multiple choice questions, which were pretty easy but if you get 3 wrong its already a B. He changes slides super fast, which is kind of annoying, but the TA's were very helpful during discussion to clarify things. There are a LOT of readings, but as an anthro major, i'm used to it. Alim is at the forefront of the raciolinguistic field and I feel lucky to have been in his class.

This class is now called Anthro 4. Alim was a very knowledgeable and compassionate professor. He really cared about engaging and teaching his students. He brought in tons of guest lecturers that were equally interesting. But the class material seemed repetitive to me. It focused raciolinguistics but the majority of the quarter was spent talking about African American vernacular and its effects and left out other racial groups. The tests were not difficult if you study for them and there was opportunity for extra credit. If you try at all you can get an A.