| Anthropology |
ANTH 411 - Global Perspectives on the Human Condition: An Introduction to Anthropology
Credits:
4.00
By providing a global perspective on the human experience,
this course helps us think about the issues that confront
students as citizens of the world. Gleaning lessons from
cultures past and present this course examines what it
means to be human. Whether humans are violent or
peace-loving, egalitarian or hierarchical is linked to
specific ways of life, rather than reflecting a fixed human
nature. The course examines the economic, political, and
social forces that shape human behavior and the global
forces that people around the world currently confront.
From an anthropologcial perspective it addresses pressing
social issues such as sustainable development, hunger and
poverty, population growth, religion and changing world
views, racism, urbanization, comodification, and movements
for social co modification, and movements for social justice
ANTH 411H - Honors/Global Perspectives on the Human Condition: An Introduction to Anthropology
Credits:
4.00
See description for ANTH 411. Writing intensive.
ANTH 411W - Global Perspectives on the Human Condition: An Introduction to Anthropology
Credits:
4.00
See description for ANTH 411. Writing intensive.Lecture:
4.00
ANTH 412 - Broken Pots and Buried Cities: Adventures in Archaeology
Credits:
4.00
Traces the history of archaeology's most spectacular finds
and how those moments of adventure and glory developed
into a scientific discipline. Provides an introduction to
the methods used by archaelogists to recover, analyze, and
interpret data in their ongoing effort to understand
humanity through the analysis of those small things left
behind.
ANTH 413 - Monkeys, Apes, Stones, and Bones: Introduction to Physical Anthropology Archaeology
Credits:
4.00
An introduction to physical anthropology. Deals with the
historical and comparative biology of humans, looking at
humans as members of the animal kingdom, focusing on the
attributes shared with our primate relatives, and the
origins of uniquely human attributes. Using the approaches
of biological anthropology (and archaeology), the course
traces human physical and cultural development from its
earliest beginning, more than five million years ago, to
about 15,000 years ago, just before the beginnings of plant
and animal domestication and the rise of complex societies.
ANTH 450 - Introduction to Race, Culture, and Power
Credits:
4.00
Race, culture, and power intersect at a social space where
those in that space experience differing opportunities and
access to social and economic privileges, resources, and
power. This course explains the way race functions today as
a social and cultural category to justify systematic
inequality and differences in power and to obscure the
functioning of the global economy. The course draws on
emerging literature on Blackness, Whiteness, and Minorities
and on analyses of the differential implementation of
social welfare policies in the United States. (Also listed
as INCO 450.)
ANTH 500 - Peoples and Cultures of the World
Credits:
4.00
A) North America; B) South America; C) Middle East and
North Africa; D) Sub-Saharan Africa; E) South Asia; F)
Southeast Asia; G) Oceania; I) Caribbean; Z) Other.
Characteristic ecological, historical, and sociocultural
factors in the major ethnographic regions of the globe.
Analysis of selected societies and institutions. Offered in
the following sections as staff is available and student
needs dictate. North America: Study of the economy,
society, religion, art, and ideas of North American Indians
from precolonial times to the present. South America: A
survey of the indigenous cultures and selected studies of
the relationship between environment and culture. Changes
in culture and social organizations since the 16th century
will be considered where historical data permit. Middle
East and North Africa: The role of ecological, social,
cultural, and historical factors in shaping Middle Eastern
and North African culture today. Special attention will be
paid to family, values, and religion; to nomadic, village,
and urban ways of life; and to issues of unity, diversity,
colonialism, and culture change. Sub-Saharan Africa: Study
of Sub-Saharan economy, society, and culture from
precolonial times to the present. South Asia: Emphasis on
India, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. Traditional and changing South
Asian cultures, including caste, family, economy, and
religious traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism. Southeast
Asia: Geographical, historical, ethnic, and sociocultural
factors characteristic of the region. Impact of Indian,
Chinese, Islamic, and European civilizations. Analysis of
selected indigenous social, political, economic, and
religious institutions. Oceania: Study of the economy,
society, religion, art, and ideology of Pacific Island
cultures from precolonial times to the present. Caribbean:
The history and contemporary situation of diverse cultures
of the Caribbean are examined using ethnography, music, and
film. The mixture of cultural roots from Africa, Europe,
and Asia are investigated and the dynamic and fluid nature
of these cultures is stressed. Race as an experience of
oppression and resistance is discussed.
ANTH 500W - Peoples and Cultures of the World
Credits:
4.00
See description for ANTH 500W. Writing intensive.
ANTH 501 - World Prehistory
Credits:
4.00
A) North America; B) Mesoamerica; C) South America; D)
Near East; E) Other. The development of prehistoric
culture in various areas of the world. Offered in the
following sections as staff is available and student needs
dictate. North America: Archaeology of the Indians north of
Mexico from earliest evidence of settlement to European
contact. Diversity of cultures from ecological and
evolutionary perspectives. Emphasis on the Eastern
Woodlands, the Plains, and the Southwest. Mesoamerica:
Cultural development from earliest cultures through the
Spanish conquest. Emphasis on origins of agriculture and
rise of Olmec, Teotihuacan, Mayan, Toltec, and Aztec
civilizations. Stress on factors critical to the
development of complex societies. South America: Cultural
development from earliest migrations through Inca Empire.
Focus on major regions of South America. Consideration of
Intermediate Area, Amazon Basin, and Central Andes as core
regions for foundations of civilization. Near East: From
earliest cultures to the development of agriculture and
settled village life. Examines the processes that gave rise
to the world's first civilizations.
ANTH 511 - Core Concepts in Anthropology
Credits:
4.00
This course introduces students to the core concepts and
paradigms of contemporary anthropology. Students will
learn how anthropology approaches the study of family.
kinship, community, gender, economic relationships,
political systems, religion, social change and
globalization. Ethnographic material from a variety of
cultures will illustrate the concepts of social structure
and the cultural construction of categories such as race
and ethnicity. Foundation course required of anthropology
majors in first year of declaring their major. Writing
intensive.
ANTH 512 - Introduction to World Ethnography
Credits:
4.00
Primarily for major and minors, but open to all students.
Historical and geographic factors, types of social and
economic organization, and problems involved in the
comparative study of human societies and institutions.
Analysis of selected peoples in the major ethnographic areas
ANTH 514 - Method and Theory in Archaeology
Credits:
4.00
Basic method and theory; techniques in recovering and
interpreting data; laboratory exercises in ceramic and
lithic analysis. Critical evaluation of archaeological
literature. Prereq: ANTH 412 or permission.
ANTH #515 - Anthropology and Contemporary Issues
Credits:
4.00
Anthropological approaches to current world issues such as
racism, poverty, religious movements, revolution, and
environmental stress. Selected topics examined in the
context of both western and nonwestern societies.
ANTH #516 - Kinship and Social Organization
Credits:
4.00
The significance of kin and non-kin relations in human
societies. Topics include the origins and evolution of
human society, variations in the form and functions of
marriage, family, and kin-based groups and selected non-kin
relationships. Primary focus will be on non-industrial
societies. Prereq: ANTH 411 or permission.
ANTH 517 - Critical Reading and Writing in Anthropology
Credits:
4.00
Basic skills of reading, writing, and analysis essential
to the study of anthropology. Focus on learning to
recognize, compare, and evaluate critically the central
arguments of several major books drawn from different
subfields and orientations in anthropology. Small class
size for extensive discussion and feedback. Prereq: ANTH
411 or 412;/or permission. Writing intensive.
ANTH #520 - Anthropology of Migration
Credits:
4.00
The question of immigration, an issue of great concern
throughout the world, is addressed along with the movement
of people as a historical, economic, and cultural process.
Life experiences of people in motion are examined. Using
case studies, past and present migrations are compared.
The racial, ethnic, and national identities of migrants are
explored. Distinctions between immigrants, refugees,
sojourners, internal and international migration, and legal
and undocumented migrants, as well as the history and
current status of attacks on immigrants are critiqued.
While most of the course material is drawn from the U.S.
experience, the perspective on migration is global.
ANTH 597 - Special Topics
Credits:
4.00
Occasional and experimental offerings on an entry level.
May be repeated for different topics.
ANTH 601 - Topics in Popular Culture
Credits:
4.00
This course explores the anthropology of popular culture
using film, novels, and other media as well as widely
disseminated texts. The course focuses on myths about
culture and human behavior which become part of the global
cultural mainstream, and counterposes popular stereotypes
with data from cultural anthropology and archaeology. A)
Native Americans and Popular Culture B) Archaeology and
Popular Culture C) Popular Culture and Physical
Anthropology D) Poverty and Popular Culture E) Gender and
Popular Culture F) Other. May be repeated but not in
duplicate areas.
ANTH 610 - Medical Anthropology: Illness and Healing
Credits:
4.00
How we as humans define sickness and health, our theories
of who or what made us ill, our approach to biological
processes from birth to death and our search for cures have
varied through history and from culture to culture. This
course provides and overview of illness and healing beliefs
and practices in different cultures both around the world
and in the United States. The course examines the
practices and belief systems of healers, voodoo
priestesses, midwives, Taoist priests, psychiatrists and
medical doctors through the same analytical lens.
ANTH 614 - Economy, Culture, and Society
Credits:
4.00
This course explores the different ways that humans have
earned their livelihood, from foraging and agriculture to
industrial capitalism. Emphasis is placed on the social and
cultural correlates of different economic strategies, with
particular attention to the consequences of the spread of
capitalism. Consideration is given to issues of equality,
gender, sustainability, and the utility and limits of a
"globalization" perspective. Prereq: ANTH 411 and ANTH 511,
or permission. Writing intensive.
ANTH 616 - Religion, Culture, and Society
Credits:
4.00
Major anthropological theories of religion; analysis of
religious beliefs as symbolic systems and their
interrelations with ritual and other social institutions.
Detailed study of specific religions. Writing intensive.
ANTH 617 - Religion, Culture, and Conflict in South Asia
Credits:
4.00
Explores connections between religion and voilent conflict
in South Asia. Includes overviews of three great religious
traditions of the region - Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam -
and how they are realized in the daily lives of South Asian
practitioners. Ethnographic case studies of religious
violence, coupled with readings in contemporary theory, to
understand how and why violence is produced by considering
not only religious belief and practice but also such
factors as colonialism, postcolonial politics, the social
processes of contemporary Diasporas, economic structure and
change, and international religious movements. Prereq: at
least sophomore standing. Anthropology or religious studies
background recommended. (Also offered as RS 617.) Writing
intensive.
ANTH 618 - Political Anthropology
Credits:
4.00
Political processes and structures in nonindustrial
societies. Major topics: centralization of power and
authority, legal systems, and warfare. Prereq: ANTH 411
or permission.
ANTH 625 - Female, Male, and Society
Credits:
4.00
Critical, cross-cultural study of sex-related behavior in
historical as well as contemporary perspective. Draws on
anthropological, social-psychological, and sociological
literature. (Also offered as SOC 625.)
ANTH 626 - Women in the Middle East
Credits:
4.00
This course explores the diversity of women's lives in the
Middle East and North Africa. Among the themes addressed
are: national, regional, class and ethnic variations; the
effects of differing ecological adaptations (rural, urban,
and nomad) on gender roles; the underlying cultural and
religious values that affect gender relations in this part
of the world, and the social, ecological, economic, and
political factors which shape how those values are enacted
in every day life. Also examines women's active
participation in contemporary movements such as feminism,
nationalism, and Islamic fundamentalism, as well as their
roles in periods of national, radical, or revolutionary
ferment.
ANTH 627 - Urbanization in Africa
Credits:
4.00
Explores the process of urbanization and describes the
creation of urban culture in sub-Saharan Africa by
investigating the effects of urbanization on socio-economic
and cultural conditions. An attempt is made throughout the
course to study urbanization and urban life within the
context of broader societal, economic, cultural, and
political relations in order to understand the dynamics
inherent in these processes. Urbanization is discussed in
the context of colonialism, post-colonialism, and other
social relations of dependency that continue to shape urban
life and urban-rural relations.
ANTH 650 - Discovery Guatemala, Archaeology Semester Abroad
Credits:
12.00
Field and laboratory methods in archaeology. Emphasis on
excavation techniques and data analysis as related to
project research design. Includes practical experience in
lab as well as field. Prereq: permission. Special fee.
ANTH 670 - Language and Culture
Credits:
4.00
Investigates the relationship between language and culture
and how their interpenetration produces meaning. Special
attention to the issues of class, gender, and ethnicity and
the ways in which inequality is maintained through
culturally patterned speech styles and associated
prejudices. Speech communities in the United States are
emphasized.
ANTH 680 - Globalization, Development, and Poverty
Credits:
4.00
This course considers the phenomenon of globalization, a
term that has come into use since the 1980s to describe
the ever-intensifying networks of cross-border human
interaction which increasingly tie the world together.
Tracing the relationship between the increasing
interconnectedness of the world, the processes of economic
development and change, and world poverty, the course
demonstrates that the consequences of globalization are
neither the same nor positive in every country. Through the
use of case studies of different development processes,
students gain an understanding of why and how globalization
is creating differential effects in different parts of the
world. This course is the first course of a suggested two
course sequence, ANTH 680 and ANTH 780.
ANTH 685 - Gender, Sexuality and HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa
Credits:
4.00
AIDS is spreading rapidly in sub-saharan Africa. Course
explores the factors that are behind this rapid
transmission, including poverty, gender inequality, culture
and sexuality. Writing intensive.
ANTH 690 - Ethnographic Field Research
Credits:
4.00
Explores history, theory, and practice of ethnographic
research. Students read and practice such techniques as
mapping, taking life histories, compiling genealogies, and
analyzing use of space, language, and rituals. Each student
also carries out, writes up, and presents an independent
research project. Prereq: ANTH 411 or SOC 400; one
500-level or higher anthropology or sociology course; or
permission. No credit for students who have completed ANTH
630. Writing intensive.
ANTH 697 - Special Topics
Credits:
4.00
Occasional or experimental offerings. May be repeated for
different topics. Prereq: ANTH 411 or permission. Writing
intensive.
ANTH #698 - Folklore and Folklife
Credits:
4.00
Examines the materials and methods used to study folklore
and folklife, emphasizing the historical context and
development of folklore studies in North America and
Europe, field research, performance theory, and other
topics. (Also offered as ENGL 732.)
ANTH 699 - Senior Thesis
Credits:
4.00 or 8.00
Independent work in the library or field; recommended for,
but not confined to, majors intending to pursue graduate
studies; required for honors candidates. Contact staff to
obtain approval and arrange supervision prior to senior
year. 4 or 8 credit 2 semesters, 8 credits required for
honors; an IA grade (continuous course) given at end of
first semester.
ANTH 700 - Internship
Credits:
1.00 to 4.00
Provides student with supervised practical experience in
anthropology in one of the following areas: A)
professional or community support work within an academic
or applied anthropology setting; B) teaching; C) museum
work; D) archaeological laboratory or fieldwork; E)
research on a faculty research project; F) editorial work
on a journal or faculty book project. May be repeated up to
8 credits. Prereq: permission.
ANTH 701 - History of Anthropological Theory
Credits:
4.00
Reading and discussion of the works of major theoreticians
of American, British, and French schools. Selections from
the works of Spencer, Morgan, Tylor, Boas, Kroeber, Lowie,
Steward, White, Durkheim, Mauss, Levi-Strauss, Malinowski,
Radcliffe-Brown, Evan-Pritchard, and others are treated in
terms of their contributions to the historical development
of anthropology and their relevance to contemporary debates
in anthropological theory. Prereq: ANTH 511.
ANTH 702 - Issues in Contemporary Anthropological Theory
Credits:
4.00
Explores such recent directions in the discipline as
cognitive/symbolic anthropology, cultural materialism,
evolutionary theory, gender studies, interpretive
anthropology, political economy, practice theory, and
structuralism. Prereq: ANTH 701 or permission.
ANTH 705 - Topics in Mesoamerican Anthropology
Credits:
4.00
Examines the very origins of civilization in the New World
by first focusing on the domestication of staple food
crops and the development of inequality and carefully
tracing the ever increasing socio-political complexity
displayed by early Mesoamerican peoples. Includes the
successive rises of the Olmec, the Zapotec, the Preclassic
Maya and Teotihuacan in an effort to understand the
mechanisms driving the development of agricultural
intensification, economic specialization, long-distance
trade networks, and the institution of divine kingship.
ANTH 710 - Youth, Culture, and Society in Comparative Perspective
Credits:
4.00
This course examines lifestyles, social identities, and
subcultures of youth in a variety of sociocultural and
historical settings. Students will develop an understanding
of the conditions that foster the formation of social
identity and the emergence of age-based subcultures. The
course explores the relationship between individual and
social identity, and between youth subcultures and dominant
cultural systems. (Also listed as EDUC 711.)
ANTH #714 - Caste, Class, and Colonialism
Credits:
4.00
Peasants, urban communities, race and ethnicity,
stratification, local-national integration, the effects of
colonialism, modernization, and social change. Prereq: ANTH
411 or permission.
ANTH 715 - Global Warring
Credits:
4.00
Global Warring examines warfare in societies with and
without the state. It explores different theoretical
perspectives concerning war, rejecting biological
approaches in favor of the one that stresses logics of
power. This latter position suggests that human societies
have their cultural, economic, and political institutions;
that these when inter-connected are structures of power
called complexes; and that the 'logics' of complexes-how
they act - explain war. Specifically, it is argued that a
'military-capitalist' complex evolved during the making of
the modern state, one of whose logics led to global warring
in the interests of powerful capitalist actors and their
allies in political and cultural institutions. Prereq: ANTH
411 or 511, and at least two other courses in social
sciences or history or by permission of professor.
ANTH 720 - Roots and Routes: Migration and Globalization
Credits:
4.00
Migrations are changing the nature of national identities,
cultures, and concepts of citizenship. Many migrants live
their lives across borders, keeping their homeland
identities while becoming significant actors in their new
lands. At the same time, people who are the descendants of
immigrants are exploring their family genealogies and
discovering their roots. In this course we ask why
migration is a global phenomenon, who is moving, and why.
The course compares the new migrations and life experiences
of migrants to the migration of the previous few centuries
as a way of highlighting the nature of contemporary
migration and globalization. We link migration to
disparities of wealth and power within and between states.
Prereq: sophomore level, ANTH 411 or an introductory-level
course in social science or history.
ANTH #750 - Middle East: Issues of Ethnicity, Work, and Identity
Credits:
4.00
Community studies approach to such topics as ethnicity and
identity in the interrelationship of language, religion,
and corporate membership in a community; ethnic division of
labor; work; pluralism, and family networks; mobility and
immobility; estates vs. classes. (Also offered as SOC 750.)
ANTH 760 - Race in Global Perspectives
Credits:
4.00
The concept of race developed to justify European
Colonialism. Race, because it is a relationship of power,
has emerged as a form of transnational identification which
unites people in common struggle for social justice. Using
history, ethnography, novels, and films, this advanced
seminar looks at the development and deployment of concepts
of race in different situations of inequality around the
world. Possible topics include the black Atlantic,
Pan-Africanism, First People identity, whiteness,
orientalism, mestisaje, and anthropological treatments of
Jewish identity. Prereq: INCO 450 or ANTH 450; introduction
to race, culture, and power. Writing intensive.
ANTH 770 - Culture, Personality, and Society
Credits:
4.00
Examines narratives of the sinister--stories about
witches, demons, vampires, extraterrestrials, and so
on--that are told as if true, and the cultural, political,
and economic contexts of their production. Variants of the
sinister are compared cross-culturally and
trans-historically. Links between a recent worldwide
upsurge in narratives of the sinister and the processes of
globalization and modernity are emphasized. Operates on a
seminar format; open only to juniors and seniors. (Also
listed as RS 770).
ANTH 780 - Anthropology of Globalization
Credits:
4.00
The central question of the Anthropology of Globalization
is the following: "What is happening to the life ways of
people and identities around the world as a result of
contemporary globalization and why?" To answer this
question we begin the course by exploring the global
processes behind images of untouched cultures presented
through tourism. We explore contemporary commodification of
culture. This course develops a definition of globalization
by examining the relationship between contemporary and past
periods and processes of globalization, reviewing the ways
in which cultures and identities were constructed through
processes of globalization. We include in our exploration
changing values, social relationships, racial, ethnic, and
national identities, gender constructions, and the nature
of social protest. Juniors and seniors only. (Students are
encouraged to first complete ANTH 680, Globalization,
Development, and Poverty.) Writing intensive.
ANTH 795 - Reading and Research
Credits:
1.00 to 8.00
A) Cultural/Social Anthropology; B) Anthropological
Linguistics; C) Archaeology; D) Physical Anthropology.
Prereq: 12 credits of anthropology; permission.
ANTH 795A - Reading and Research in Cultural and Social Anthropology
Credits:
2.00 to 8.00
ANTH 795C - Reading and Research in Archaeology
Credits:
1.00 to 8.00
ANTH 796 - Reading and Research
Credits:
1.00 to 8.00
A) Cultural/Social Anthropology; B) Anthropological
Linguistics; C) Archaeology; D) Physical Anthropology.
Prereq: 12 credits of anthropology; permission.
ANTH 796C - Reading and Research in Archaeology
Credits:
2.00 to 8.00
ANTH 797 - Advanced Topics
Credits:
4.00
Advanced or specialized courses presenting material not
normally covered in regular course offerings. May be
repeated, but not in duplicate areas. Course descriptions
on file in the department office during registration. A)
Social Organization; B) Economic Anthropology; C)
Anthropology of Religion; D) Political Anthropology; E)
Social Impact Analysis; F) Cultural Ecology; G) Prehistoric
Archaeology; H) Historic Archaeology; I) Cultural Resources
Conservation; J) Lithic Analysis; K) Ceramic Analysis; L)
Faunal Analysis; M) Human Evolution; N) Human Variations;
O) Anthropological Theory. Prereq: ANTH 411 or 412 (as
appropriate)/ or permission.