Niels Teunis

I'm in the middle of the second class I've taken with Professor Teunis (HMSX 680), and I adore him as a professor. He's nice, personable, and intelligent, and just easy to get along with in general. I really enjoyed taking Cross-cultural Sex and Gender with him, as well. Although I'll agree that there was a homosexual slant, it never occured to me until I read the other reviews here, because class was so interesting. The semester I took it, we focused on the Sambia tribe and the jotas of Mexico, but we also explored several other areas. I felt comfortable speaking in class, regardless of my opinion. The books we read were interesting, especially as far as school books go, and the mid-term and paper were very fair. The final, ten-page paper was divided into several smaller papers, which greatly reduced the severity of the assignment. I'd highly recommend Neils, and if I had the opportunity, I'd take him a third time.

I really enjoyed Niels' wierd sense of humor, willingness to make space for a great variety of beliefs and opinions, and his fair grading practices. My biggest beef was with his choices in reading materials and in how he paced the class (slow at the start, then slammed at the end). I found some of the reading very interesting, some repetative, and some simply outdated. I also felt that there was a definite gay-male slant to the materials, with a tip of the hat to "LESBIANS"(very dry read), and bare token inclusion of the rest of the spectrum. I will definitely take another class with him given the opportuniy, but will be crossing my fingers that he has expanded his repertoir by then.

Professor Teunis is a really nice and smart. He really knows his information. He does not like to tell students that this is the only right answer, rather he likes to keep the question open and let the students figure it out. For example the first day of class he asked everyone what is "sex" and he said it is whatever you make it to be. And by the end of this semester hopefully you will figure it out what it means for you. His teaching style is very cool. This class was in one of the large rooms in the HSS building so if you like a large class this one is it. There was no daily homework, the only work you have to do is read 2 very boring books and write a 10 page final paper, which is due on the last day of class. Also there is a midterm exam, which is taken in class. It was a short question exam which had about 30 questions. Its not that hard as long as you read the book. He talks in a British accent so it is at times difficult to understand him especially if you sit in the back. But believe me to pass this class you do not have to go to class at all. I only went to his class 4 times in the entire semester. This class was the best chioce I made last semester.

He is a great teacher. He knows the subject very well, and lectures with enthusiasm. For people who's not interested in the subject(like the people taking it to fulfill SEG III)it may be very boring, but its not his fault.

I went to his class like 3 times through out the whole semester because he doesn't take attendance. However, if you read the books and go to class for the reviews, you'll pass the course.

The class consists of: 1. Midterm (essay questions) 2. Final paper (10pgs) I think it was 50% each.

R-reviews.

I had Profesor Teunis for People's of Europe, where the emphasis was on the Holocaust. He was an awesome teacher. I highly recommend him since he is so knowledgeable as a profesor. I read the other reviews regarding the human sexuality class and did not run into his monopoly on one group or topic.

This is a good, simple introductory course with no papers and easy tests that go over the basic ideas of the class readings. His test review sheets are not as clear as they could be, and some people thought there was a lot of reading to do. You will get introduced to many of the people in the department who come in as guest speakers. Niels is a very friendly and interesting instructor.

Teunis is an extremely knowledgeable teacher. He always answers your questions. There is so much reading, but most of it is really interesting, if not when he talks about them in class, it is really interesting. He makes you think about another culture in an entirely new perspective. He made me very open minded.

Prof. Teunis is an extremely knowledgeable teacher. He was very professional in his lectures and organized. (There is tons of reading to be done in order to understand the lectures.)My only complaint on him as a professor is that he focuses too much in the homosexual studies. Don't get me wrong I found it interesting, but I did not take a class on homosexual studies. He should balance both the heterosexual as well as homosexual material.

I think this professor is okay. There is nothing too great about him. We have to read a lot of materials for this class, and all these materials are so boring. The mid-term is based on all these materials, but you really have to read every single article and chapter and memorize all of them. Otherwise you would not be able to pass the mid-term. I think the final is really easy. This can let people skip all the classes from the mid-term and onwards. Yet, they can still get a good grade. Somehow, I think this is not too good.

For the above comments, where was the extra credit? I went to class every week and never left early, but I did not remember there's any extra credit assignment.

Prof. Teunis is a great professor.... The class was "Cross Cultural Sexuality and Gender" and I found his leactures to be engaging and informative. He really seemed to know his material and was enthusiastic about sharing it with the class. Most of the reading came out of a reader that he put together... most of it was very interesting. We also read two books - pretty short, although one of them was by Foucault-- very challenging reading, but worth it. Our grade was supposed to be based on a midterm and a final paper, but he also ended up offering an extra credit assignment - so it was pretty easy to get a good grade. The final paper had to be at least 10 pages long, but in case some students were intimated by a 10+ page paper, Prof. Teunis gave us the choice of doing 10 one page review papers of the various articles in the reader. Overall, I would highly recommend Prof. Teunis to any student interested in anthropology and/or sexuality. He was intelligent, funny, enthusiastic, and very generous in terms of giving the students every opportunity to do well. Even with the presence of one student who seemed to have nothing but contempt for what we were studying, I thoroughly enjoyed this class. P.S. The class was so interesting that it clinched my decision to change my major to Anthro.