College Schools, Departments & Programs

Anthropology

Course Descriptions
General Anthropology
  • ANTH-E 105 Culture and Society (3 cr.) Introduction to the ethnographic and comparative study of contemporary and historical human society and culture. May be taken simultaneously with A105. Credit given for only one of the following: A104, E105, E303, or A304. E105 does not count toward major.
  • ANTH-A 107 Becoming Human: Evolving Genes, Bodies, Behaviors, Ideas (3 cr.) Introduces the interdisciplinary science of human evolution using evidence from genetics, comparative anatomy and behavior of living primates, fossils, and archaeology. Shows how understanding the evolutionary past is relevant to current and future human conditions. Does not count toward the major. Credit given for only one of A107, A105, A303, or A310.
  • ANTH-A 122 Interpersonal Communication (3 cr.) Introduction to the study of communication, culture, identity and power. Each student does original primary research. Topics range from groups in North Africa to high school and college students in the United States, and issues such as gendered language, slang, verbal play, and institutional language. Credit given for only one of ANTH-A 122 or CMCL-C 122.
  • ANTH-A 200 Topics in Anthropology of Culture and Society (3 cr.) Selected topics in the anthropological study of social and cultural institutions. Emphasizes understanding and developing anthropological approaches to questions about social, economic, political, and historical relationships among groups and individuals in contexts across the globe. Course topics may utilize ethnographic, archaeological, linguistic, and historical information. May be repeated with a different topic for a maximum of 6 credit hours.
  • ANTH-A 205 Anthropology Today: Selected Topics in Current Research (1-4 cr.) Selected topics in anthropological methods, techniques, and area or thematic studies. Course content will draw on the fieldwork experiences and/or current research of the instructor(s). May be repeated with different topics for a maximum of 6 credit hours.
  • ANTH-A 208 Topics in the Anthropology of the Arts and Expressive Behavior (3 cr.) Introduction to selected topics in the anthropology of art, performance, music, literature, folklore, belief, and ritual. Examines the methods anthropologists use to study the arts or other expressive behaviors and explores art and expression in a variety of cultural settings. May be repeated with a different topic for a maximum of 6 credit hours.
  • ANTH-A 211 Anthropology Topics in the Natural and Mathematical Sciences (3 cr.) Selected topics in anthropology that explore human interaction with physical and biological environments, or apply scientific methodology to anthropological questions. May emphasize human evolution and biology, nutrition, forensics, non-human primates, technology, archaeometry, and other scientific measurement, experimentation, and inquiry as it relates to anthropological study.
  • ANTH-A 221 Anthropology of Food (3 cr.) In this course we will examine, across space and time, the significance and meaning of food, its production and consumption in human culture and society. Ideas and practices concerning food are deeply held markers of who we are and how we define ourselves.
  • ANTH-E 303 Introduction to Social and Cultural Anthropology (3 cr.) R: Junior standing. Introductory course for more advanced students. Approaches to the study of contemporary cultures: structure, process, and change. Topics include kinship, economy, politics, religion, and worldview. Not open to students who have had E105. Not sequential with A303. E303 does not count toward major.
  • ANTH-A 306 Anthropological Statistics (3 cr.) Fundamentals of univariate and bivariate statistics, construction and interpretation of graphs, and computer-assisted data analysis. Both statistical methodology and theory will be emphasized as well as computer literacy. Students will examine the primary literature in all branches of anthropology to familiarize themselves with the role of statistics in anthropological research. Credit given for only one of A306, CJUS-K 300, ECON-E 370 or S370, MATH-K 300 or K310, POLS-Y 395, PSY-K 300 or K310, SOC-S 371, STAT-K 310 or S300 or S301, or SPEA-K 300.
  • ANTH-X 371 Undergraduate Teaching Internship (1-6 cr.) P: Open to junior or senior anthropology majors with consent of instructor. Students assist preparation and implementation of undergraduate courses. Interns may develop materials, oversee laboratory activities, lead discussions, maintain educational collections, or moderate online work. Students in A420 do not assist in grading. S/F grading. May be repeated for a maximum of 6 credit hours in X371 and A420.
  • ANTH-A 399 Honors Tutorial (3 cr.) P: Consent of departmental honors advisor. Research and writing, culminating in honors thesis. May be repeated once.
  • ANTH-A 400 Undergraduate Seminar in Anthropology (3-4 cr.) Seminar in various anthropology topics not covered by other anthropology courses, excluding ethnography and ethnology. May be repeated with a different topic for a maximum of 9 credit hours.
  • ANTH-A 403 Introduction to Museum Studies (3 cr.) Introduction to general principles, goals, and objectives of museum practice. Museum history, administrative organization, physical plant design, restoration, acquisition, exhibit, and educational programs.
  • ANTH-A 405 Museum Methods (3 cr.) P: A403 or consent of instructor. Methods and techniques of museum design, administration, accessioning, conservation and restoration, acquisition of specimens, curatorial work, exhibition, and education.
  • ANTH-A 410 Anthropology Capstone Seminar (3 cr.) P: Senior status or advanced anthropology students. Selected topics in anthropology approached using concepts from all four subfields of the discipline. Asks students to examine the goals of anthropology and apply what they have learned in previous coursework to current research and contemporary issues. May be repeated with a different topic for a maximum of 6 credit hours.
  • ANTH-A 467 Topics in Medical Anthropology (3 cr.) P: ANTH-E 445 or ANTH-B 445. In-depth perspectives on central topics in contemporary medical anthropology. Focus varies and may include such topics as HIV-AIDS in cross-cultural context; anthropological perspectives on disability; child health and nutrition; health and structural inequalities; and medical anthropology of gender and reproduction. May be repeated with a different topic for a maximum of 6 credit hours.
  • ANTH-X 476 Museum Practicum (1-8 cr.) P: A403, A405, or consent of instructor. Independent work of student's choice in one aspect of the field of museum work. Relevant readings required. May be repeated for a maximum of 8 credit hours in X476 and A408.
  • ANTH-X 477 Fieldwork in Anthropology (1-8 cr.) Fieldwork in anthropology carried out by the student in consultation with faculty members. May be repeated for a maximum of 8 credit hours in X477 and A406.
  • ANTH-X 478 Field Study in Anthropology (1-8 cr.) P: Consent of chairperson. Supervised fieldwork of an anthropological nature arranged through an outside agency or institution, such as an internship, apprenticeship, or volunteer work at a governmental office, zoo, or archaeological site. One credit hour per full week of fieldwork. May be repeated for a maximum of 8 credit hours in X478 and A496.
  • ANTH-X 490 Individual Readings in Anthropology (1-4 cr.) P: Consent of instructor. Independent study or research project under the guidance of an Anthropology faculty member. May be taken in successive semesters for a maximum of 9 credit hours in X490 and A495.
Bioanthropology
  • ANTH-B 200 Bioanthropology (3 cr.) Bioanthropology of humans, basic biological principles, morphology, and function of evolutionary history. Human evolution from lower forms, environmental factors, speciation and differentiation into varieties, mixture, growth, sexual differences, and constitutional variability. I Sem., II Sem.
  • ANTH-B 260 Biocultural Medical Anthropology (3 cr.) A survey of health and disease from a biocultural perspective, which incorporates the evolutionary, ecological, and sociocultural context of health and disease to answer such questions as why we get sick and why there is population variation in the risk of becoming sick. Topics include reproductive, infectious, and chronic diseases.
  • ANTH-B 301 Laboratory in Bioanthropology (3 cr.) P: or C: B200 or consent of instructor. Laboratory investigations of human skeletal biology, including age and sex determinations, bone pathologies, and forensic identification; human paleontological and primate observations; variability in living populations, including anthropometry, blood grouping, and dermatoglyphics. Emphasis on a biocultural perspective in applying methods and techniques of bioanthropology.
  • ANTH-B 310 Bioanthropology: A History of Ideas (3 cr.) P: ANTH-B 200, ANTH-B 301, or permission of instructor. Emergence of modern bioanthropology as an academic discipline, emphasizing the careers of prominent scholars and theoretical contributions they made. Influences of funding institutions and major departments on the directions of research. Relationships to other fields of study.
  • ANTH-B 312 Evolutionary Medicine (3 cr.) P: An introductory course in bioanthropology, medical science, psychology, or biology; or instructor consent. Incorporates principles from evolutionary theory into our understanding of various infectious and chronic diseases common to human populations both past and present. Although proximate mechanisms involving physiology and behavior will be discussed, the focus will be to determine why such mechanisms have evolved in the first place.
  • ANTH-B 340 Hormones and Human Behavior (3 cr.) P: Junior or senior standing, and an introductory course in bioanthropology, medical science, psychology, or biology; or instructor consent. Reviews the roles of hormones in the evolution and expression of human and nonhuman animal behaviors. Emphasis placed on behaviors associated with aggression, stress, mating, and parenting. Particularly relevant for students interested in evolutionary psychology and human health.
  • ANTH-B 343 Evolution of Human Ecological Footprint (3 cr.) The current environmental crisis did not begin overnight and likely has roots deep in our evolutionary history. Although the scale of our effects on the biosphere has only recently shown exponential growth, it is worth examining how we got to this point today. This course explores a series of threshold moments in the history of our species that had great implications for the environment.
  • ANTH-B 368 The Evolution of Primate Social Behavior (3 cr.) Major patterns of social organization in the order Primates, with focus on several important primate species. Examination of Darwinian theories of behavioral evolution. Particular attention paid to the influence of food-getting and diet on social behavior.
  • ANTH-B 370 Human Variation (3 cr.) P: Sophomore standing. Variation within and between human populations in morphology, gene frequencies, and behavior. Biological concepts of race, race classification along with other taxonomic considerations, and evolutionary processes acting on humans in the past, present, and future.
  • ANTH-B 400 Undergraduate Seminar (3 cr.) Selected topics in bioanthropology. Analysis of research. Development of skills in analysis and criticism. Topic varies. May be taken for a total of 9 credit hours as long as the topic changes.
  • ANTH-B 464 Human Paleontology (3 cr.) P: B200-B301. Human fossils: their structure, classification, evolution, geologic range, and geographical distribution.
  • ANTH-B 466 The Primates (3 cr.) P: A105, A107, B200-B301, or consent of instructor. Paleontology, functional morphology, behavior, and natural history of the infrahuman primates. Emphasis on behavioral and ecological correlates of morphology.
  • ANTH-B 470 Human Adaptation: Biological Approaches (3 cr.) Examines the concept of adaptation within the framework of bioanthropology, anthropology, and other disciplines. Focuses on individual and population responses to heat, cold, solar radiation, high altitude, and nutritional and disease stress.
  • ANTH-B 472 Bioanthropology of Aboriginal America (3 cr.) P: B200. Bioanthropological survey of past and present aboriginal inhabitants of North and South America: origins and antiquity, archaeological and ethnic relationships.
  • ANTH-X 479 Fieldwork in Bioanthropology (1-8 cr.) P: Consent of instructor. Fieldwork involving the collection and analysis of biological or biosocial data on prehistoric and contemporary human populations. The materials or data may be paleontological, archaeological, physiological, or ecological in nature. 1 credit hour per full week of fieldwork. Credit given for only one of X479 or ANTH-B 405. SS.
  • ANTH-B 480 Human Growth and Development (3 cr.) P: B200-B301. Characteristics of normal growth and development from birth to maturity, establishment of constitutional qualities, and aging. Anthropology of the individual considered from standpoint of causal factors, patterns of expression, and methods of assessment.
Social and Cultural Anthropology
  • ANTH-E 101 Sustainability and Society (3 cr.) How do humans relate to the environment? Addresses this question from cross-cultural, historical, scientific, and ethical perspectives. Considers current problems; examines how technical, socioeconomic and political changes transform people's use of natural resources. Students evaluate how societies vary in perceptions of nature and explore implications for behavior, decision making, and environmental change.
  • ANTH-E 104 Global Consumer Culture (3 cr.) Traces the spread of global consumer culture and examines how people in different parts of the world have learned to be consumers. Asks tough questions about the future, the environmental impacts of consumption, and the way our cups of coffee and running shoes tie us to a globe of other producers and consumers.
  • ANTH-E 200 Social and Cultural Anthropology (3 cr.) Intermediate survey of theories and problems in social and cultural anthropology. Historical development, methods of inquiry, focal problems, and contemporary theoretical perspectives. I Sem., II Sem.
  • ANTH-E 206 Chanting Down Babylon: Protest and Popular Culture in the Afro-Caribbean (3 cr.) Explores Afro-Caribbean popular culture as a mechanism of political protest against colonialism and its legacies, the failures of local government, and first-world political and economic hegemony. Examines popular culture on the grass-roots level while incorporating mass-media content such as recorded music and film.
  • ANTH-E 208 Global Jazz, Reggae, and Hip-Hop: African Diasporic Music Beyond the African Diaspora (3 cr.) With focus on jazz, reggae, and hip hop, this course links musical production and consumption in the African diaspora to issues of social identity. Among those aspects of social identity considered are race, nation, religion, class, and gender. The course investigates the spread of these musical genres around the world.
  • ANTH-E 210 Rethinking Race Globally (3 cr.) Provides a synthetic approach to human diversity including such aspects as biology, linguistics, culture, and psychology. What do humans have in common? Why do we vary so much? Is physical appearance a good measure of difference?
  • ANTH-E 212 The Anthropology of Youth and Adolescence (3 cr.) A broad introduction to the cross-cultural study of adolescence. Examines classic anthropological concerns such as age sets and age grades, generational groups, and rites of passage, as well as current research on youth language, global youth culture, and intergenerational politics.
  • ANTH-E 220 Performing Human/Nature: Defining Relationships with the Environment (3 cr.) Reflects on the complexity of human experience from personal, creative, and cultural perspectives using fiction, poetry, journalism, creative nonfiction, visual art, music, and films. Students explore others' and their own experience of what it means to be human, analyze and compare the tacit philosophies present in these works, and pose their original organizing frameworks. Emphasis on interpretive skills and theory building, testing, and revising these theories to incorporate the lived experiences of others. Credit given for only one of ANTH-E 220 or CMCL-C 220.
  • ANTH-E 230 American Ethnic Diversity (3 cr.) This course focuses on racial and ethnic groups within the United States, including Native Americans, African Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanics, Jewish Americans and the self-defined "white ethnics." Topics will include the nature of prejudice and stereotypes, the immigrant experience, ethnic strategies for success, education, the arts and competitive sports as a means of expression and social mobility.
  • ANTH-E 251 Post-Taliban Afghanistan and the War on Terror (3 cr.) The September 11th attacks prompted the on-going "War on Terrorism" against Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. This course examines this conflict while focusing on Afghanistan as a multi-ethnic, modern nation-state ravaged by a century of internal colonialism and most recently by foreign invasions, proxy wars, and global terrorism. Credit given for only one of ANTH-E 251, CEUS-R 251, or NELC-N 251.
  • ANTH-E 260 Culture, Health, and Illness (3 cr.) Across the world, ideas about and experiences of health, “disease,” and medicine are profoundly shaped by culture. Introduction to cross-cultural approaches to understanding health and illness, covering topics such as ethnomedicine, ritual healing, gender and health, and international development and global health.
  • ANTH-E 270 Captivity Narratives (3 cr.) Explores ideas of freedom, containment and contact through a wide range of historical and fictive captivity narratives from the U.S. and beyond. Using perspectives from anthropology, literature and film, the course includes texts about slavery, prison, mental hospitals, and wartime kidnappings.
  • ANTH-E 300 Culture Areas and Ethnic Groups (1-3 cr.) An ethnographic survey of a selected culture area or ethnic group. May be repeated for a maximum of 6 credit hours.
  • ANTH-E 302 Ethnographic Methods (3 cr.) Students learn the approaches and methods of ethnography by conducting their own hands-on field research projects in and around the community. Students complete a series of ethnographic lab assignments on participant observation, mapping and visual technologies, interviewing, and writing up research findings.
  • ANTH-E 309 Problems in African Ethnography (3 cr.) Concentrating on ethnographies of African cultures, this course seeks to create an understanding of specific social worlds through the interaction of cultural practices (economy, the arts, law, language, religion, politics) as they have been affected by colonialism, nationalism, modernity, and globalization. May be repeated with a different topic for a maximum of 6 credit hours.
  • ANTH-E 317 Ethnographies of Media Worlds (3 cr.) Examines the challenges that focusing on the mass media—including technologies, production processes, content, and reception—present for studying cultures. Explores the relationship between media and culture to understand people's experiences and conceptualization of time, space, communities, families, and identities. Credit given for only one of ANTH-E 317 or CMCL-C 310.
  • ANTH-E 318 Nature/Culture: Global Perspectives in Environmental Anthropology (3 cr.) When we think of nature, what images come to mind? How are ideas of nature influenced by culture, history, and politics? By the end of the semester, students will recognize how environments represent a collection, not only of plants and animals, but also of meanings and relationships.
  • ANTH-E 319 American Indian Religions (3 cr.) Introduces religions of the peoples indigenous to North America. Concerns include traditional and contemporary native rituals, mythology, folklore, and symbolism occurring throughout these many cultures including topics such as art, architecture, cosmology, sustenance, modes, trade, history, gender, and taboos.
  • ANTH-E 320 Indians of North America (3 cr.) Ethnographic survey of culture areas from the Arctic to Panama plus cross-cultural analysis of interrelations of culture, geographical environment, and language families.
  • ANTH-E 321 Peoples of Mexico (3 cr.) Surveys modern Indian groups, peasant societies, problems of acculturation, and urbanization in contemporary Mexico.
  • ANTH-E 322 Peoples of Brazil (3 cr.) Cultural traditions in Brazil: Indian, Iberian, and African; evolving regional subcultures. Current issues about Brazilian society.
  • ANTH-E 327 Native Amazonians and the Environment (3 cr.) Study of how native peoples in the Amazon Basin have used the environment from prehistoric times to the present. Examination of archaeological evidence, current pressures from development processes, and indigenous knowledge as the key to balancing conservation and development.
  • ANTH-E 328 Ecological Anthropology (3 cr.) Survey of anthropological approaches to the study of human interaction with the environment: history of ideas, major theories, critiques, and contemporary approaches.
  • ANTH-E 333 Peoples of the Andes (3 cr.) Explores the cultures of prehistoric and current groups of the slopes and high reaches of the Andes, from Colombia to southern Chile. Considers historic and current contexts of socioeconomic, political, and environmental change that have shaped the cultures of their nations. The Quichua (Quechua), Aymara, and Mapuche cultures receive special attention.
  • ANTH-E 335 Ancient Civilizations of Mesoamerica (3 cr.) Historical ethnography of the major pre-Columbian civilizations, especially the Aztec, the Maya, and the Zapotec and Mixtec. Emphasis on the social life, cultural achievements, religion, worldview, and political systems to illustrate the diversity and richness of Amerindian life before the Spanish conquest.
  • ANTH-E 337 Food, Sex and Gender (3 cr.) Studies a range of people and places--from cave dwellers to reality TV, New Guinea to New York. Explores how food reflects and creates gender and promotes and expresses sexuality. Readings from many disciplines will foster wide ranging and lively discussion.
  • ANTH-E 338 Stigma: Culture, Identity and the Abject (3 cr.) Stigma theory speaks broadly to the nature of the social relationships that create marked categories of persons. Examines both theory and particular cases of stigmatized persons and groups with an aim toward identifying historically effective strategies for combating stigmas of race, class, gender, sexuality, and physical ability. Credit given for only one of ANTH-E 338 or CMCL-C 333.
  • ANTH-E 340 Indians of Mexico and Central America (3 cr.) R: E105, E200, E303, or sophomore standing. Ethnographic survey of Indian populations of Mexico and Central America, both past and present. Position of Indians within larger political contexts; options and strategies characterizing these relationships.
  • ANTH-E 345 China through Anthropological Eyes (3 cr.) An introduction to the anthropology of modern China. Examines representations of China and how those portrayals have been influenced by East-West relations. Focuses on the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, particularly the socialist era and recent decades.
  • ANTH-E 347 The Anthropology of Contemporary Japan (3 cr.) Frames in anthropological perspective the history, present, and future of Japanese society. Explores anthropological research on Japanese attitudes toward ethnic and national identity; gender and education; and the wide-ranging impact of Japan’s economic decline on attitudes toward work, play, consumption, and travel overseas.
  • ANTH-E 380 Urban Anthropology (3 cr.) P: E200. Urban social organization in cross-cultural perspective. Theoretical perspectives on urbanism and urbanization. Problems include kinship and social networks, politico-economic factors, and cultural pluralism. Strategies of anthropological research in urban settings.
  • ANTH-E 381 Ethnographic Analysis of Family, Work, and Power (3 cr.) P: E105 or E200 or consent of instructor. This course teaches ethnographic analysis as a set of intellectual and practical tools students can use to define and answer questions about the implications of economic and social changes in their own lives and the world at large. Students will learn to identify and debate the patterns of loyalty, authority, and conflict established by specific relations in families and workplaces whether these are described in readings or presented in actual situations.
  • ANTH-E 382 Memory and Culture (3 cr.) Remembrance is analyzed as a cultural and social reality. Review of the theoretical literature on collective memory as it unfolds in written, narrative, visual, and audiovisual art; in architecture and monuments; in private and public ritual; in genealogy; and in the social experience of the body.
  • ANTH-E 383 A World of Work (3 cr.) Ethnographic study of how people learn to work in a range of real jobs around the world. Focuses on how people learn to do a job and get along with co-workers in different cultures. Shows how much a country's legal or economic policies can affect daily work lives.
  • ANTH-E 385 Applied Anthropology (3 cr.) Survey of the applications of anthropological theory and method to meet societal needs in the areas of education, health, industry, food production, and rural development.
  • ANTH-E 386 Performance, Culture, and Power in the Middle East and North Africa (3 cr.) Middle Eastern cultures are well known for their rich and diverse performance practices. Taking an ethnographic perspective, this course views performances as communicative events through which social relations are organized. It explores how performances both participate in local arrangements of power and constitute responses to colonialism, nationalism, and globalization. Credit given for only one of ANTH-E 386 or CMCL-C 422.
  • ANTH-E 387 The Ethnography of Europe (3 cr.) Europe is viewed as an idea, an identity, and an historical consciousness. Students explore the meaning of this idea in the contemporary development of social and cultural anthropology, and in such social areas as regionalism and nationalism, ethnic identity, gender and kinship, religion, the city versus the village, and political life.
  • ANTH-E 388 Ethnicity, Class, and the Model U.S. Citizen (3 cr.) Considers how people's identities influence the ideals and practice of citizenship. Focuses in particular on identities based on ethnicity and class. Examines how ethnicity and class shape discourses of citizenship found in the media and in political and legal spheres. Credit given for only one of ANTH-E 388 or CMCL-C 346.
  • ANTH-E 393 World Fiction and Cultural Anthropology (3 cr.) Uses literature and anthropology as a means of understanding culture. Ethnographic writing and world fiction—novels, short stories, poems, myths, folktales—are analyzed to reveal aspects of the social, cultural, and political lives of peoples around the world. Colonialism, war, socialism, and immigration are also discussed.
  • ANTH-E 397 Peoples and Cultures of the Middle East (3 cr.) General anthropological introduction to social institutions and cultural forms of the Arab countries of North Africa and the Near East, Israel, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan. Topics include ecology, development of Islam and Muslim empires, traditional adaptive strategies, consequences of colonialism, independence and rise of nation-states, impact of modernization, changing conceptions of kinship, ethnicity, and gender. Credit given for only one of E397, CEUS R352, CEUS U397, or NELC N397.
  • ANTH-E 398 Peoples and Cultures of Central Asia (3 cr.) General anthropological introduction to societies and cultures of contemporary Muslim successor states of former Soviet Central Asia, Western China (Xinjiang), and Iran and Afghanistan. Topics include ecology, ethnohistory, traditional subsistence strategies, family, kinship, gender, sociopolitical organization, impact of colonial rule of tsarist and Soviet Russia and China, development of modern nation-states in Iran and Afghanistan, and dynamics of current conflicts and future prospects. Credit given for only one of E398, CEUS R316, or CEUS U398.
  • ANTH-E 400 Undergraduate Seminar (3 cr.) Intensive examination of selected topics in anthropology. Emphasis on analytic investigation and critical discussion. Topics vary. May be taken with a different topic for a maximum of 9 credit hours.
  • ANTH-E 404 Field Methods in Ethnography (3 cr.) P: Junior standing. Introduction to the methods and techniques anthropologists use in ethnographic research. Preparation of a research proposal, interviewing, and the use of the life histories and case studies. May be taken with a different topic for a maximum of 9 credit hours.
  • ANTH-E 407 Visual Anthropology: Filmmaking (3 cr.) P: Junior standing or permission of instructor. Experimental filmmaking concerning social behavior, institutions, and customs.
  • ANTH-E 408 Talk, Tales, and Television: Africa, Europe, the United States (3 cr.) Colonialism, the slave trade, apartheid, African music, Roots, Hollywood: these subjects link together Americans, Europeans, and Africans, and they are portrayed through talk, television, film, radio, and performance at specific sites. Using specific examples, we will examine these tools of communication critically to better understand the ideas and images that circulate back and forth across the Atlantic.
  • ANTH-E 412 Anthropology of Russia and Eastern Europe (3 cr.) Explores the contradictory effects of socialism’s “fall” through a study of new ethnographies of postsocialist societies. Regional inquiries will be related to broader intellectual issues such as globalization, social suffering, commodification and cultural identity, ethnicity and nation building, armed conflict, and gender inequalities.
  • ANTH-E 413 Global Africa (3 cr.) Considers recent ethnographies of the African continent that address contemporary debates over theorizing Africa, locating African productive and creative practices (in cities, in unregulated economic spaces, within households), understanding social relationships in and out of marriage, and religious thought and practices.
  • ANTH-E 415 Topics in Communication and Culture in Comparative Perspective (3 cr.) Cross-cultural exploration of communication systems, ranging from face-to-face interaction to mediated forms of communication, with an emphasis on their cultural foundations and social organization. May be repeated with a different topic for a maximum of 6 credit hours in ANTH-E 415 and CMCL-C 415.
  • ANTH-E 416 Anthropology of Tourism (3 cr.) Explores the phenomenon of tourism from an anthropological perspective. Looks at tourism as linked to consumer culture, transnational movements of people and goods, post-colonial settings, global capitalism, and the politics of ethnic and national identities.
  • ANTH-E 417 African Women (3 cr.) The remarkably active roles that African women play in their communities bring them respect, but also heavy responsibilities. This course follows the themes of autonomy and control of resources, considering both economic resources such as land, labor, income and cattle, and social resources such as education, religion, and political power.
  • ANTH-E 418 Globalization and Consumer Culture (3 cr.) Examines processes of globalization and economic and cultural integration, including the origin and spread of mass-consumer society. Topics include the theories of consumption, mass media and advertising, and the relationship between modernity and consumerism. Examples from Africa, Latin America, Asia, and the United States are included.
  • ANTH-E 420 Economic Anthropology (3 cr.) Introductory course in social/cultural anthropology. Selected topics in economic anthropology. Focus includes contemporary and classic debates; gendered forms of (re)production, such as division of labor and knowledge; ecology; nutrition and food politics; and money, markets, consumption, and value in transnational and global contexts. May be repeated with a different topic for a maximum of 6 credit hours.
  • ANTH-E 421 Food and Culture (3 cr.) Discussion of the economy of food production, trade and consumption on a global basis. Gives a cross-cultural and historical perspective on the development of cooking and cuisine in relationship to individual, national, and ethnic identity. Relates cuisine to modernity, migration, and forms of cultural mixing and Creolization.
  • ANTH-E 422 Native American and Indigenous Media (3 cr.) Study of contemporary Native American and global indigenous representation and communication, including oral performance and media. Explores the poetics and politics of media and performance in the context of indigenous histories, cultures, and experiences of colonization. Examines the use of performance forms as symbolic resources in literature, film, the Internet, music and television. Addresses intersections of gender, class and race in indigenous media worlds. Credit given for only one of ANTH-E 422 or CMCL-C 430.
  • ANTH-E 423 Life Histories (3 cr.) Life histories give ethnographies accessibility, emotional impact, deep contextualization, and a deceptively transparent opening for authentic voices. An exploration of the complex issues of power and knowledge underlying this method, including interviewing strategies, consent, confidentiality, editing and publishing choices, and considers its position within broader research agendas. We discuss classic examples, recent narrative collections and contemporary experimental texts.
  • ANTH-E 424 Sense of Place (3 cr.) Examines the relationship between human identities and places through the study of ethnographies, philosophies, personal essays, films, fiction, poetry, and electronic media. Develops ethnographic skills to describe how personal, public, institutional, and virtual spaces are influenced by history, gender, and social forces. Emphasizes analytical, interpretive, and representational skills to communicate the richness of human experience.
  • ANTH-E 426 Coffee Culture, Production, and Markets (3 cr.) Considers diverse expressions of “coffee culture” in production, markets, and consumption patterns. Explores the history of coffee production and trade, coffee's impact on international relations, and its implications for environmental changes, social justice, and economic development. Also studies local meanings of coffee and its consumption.
  • ANTH-E 428 Contemporary Latin American Social Movements (3 cr.) Compares and contrasts contemporary activist and grassroots movements throughout the Latin American region. Focuses on movements both within the region and within the Latin American diaspora in the United States, organized around the rubrics of ethnicity, gender, resources, and environment.
  • ANTH-E 431 Ethnography as Cultural Critique (3 cr.) Examines the ways ethnographic work can provide a critical lens through which to view our world. By juxtaposing familiar cultural practices and beliefs against those of other societies and cultures, students learn to critically assess aspects of their own society they may have previously taken for granted. Provides training in ethnographic methods and features a semester-long ethnographic project. May be repeated with a different topic for a maximum of 6 credit hours in ANTH-E 431 or CMCL-C 318.
  • ANTH-E 432 Cultures of Democracy (3 cr.) Examines the role of culture in how democracies are practiced. Ethnographic focus varies and includes cross-cultural comparisons of political speech, voting, and democratic representation in different cultures. Particular attention is paid to the dilemmas surrounding the exportation of democracy, especially to the Middle East, Africa, South Africa, the Pacific, and the Balkans. Credit given for only one of ANTH-E 432 or CMCL-C 446.
  • ANTH-E 434 Food Communication and Performance (3 cr.) Investigates food as a cultural and communicative device: how it functions in language, icons, ideologies, and power systems. Focuses on contemporary uses of and attitudes about food in daily use in lore, rituals, spectacles, festivals, and popular movements. Credit given for only one of ANTH-E 434 and CMCL-C 433.
  • ANTH-E 436 The Politics of Marriage (3 cr.) What is the state of marriage today? How do we understand marriage as a social, political, and economic institution? Examines marriage across cultures and time periods. Discusses topics such as arranged marriages, marriage and racial politics, marital citizenship, wedding industries, and battles over same-sex marriage.
  • ANTH-E 437 Power and Violence: Political Systems in Ethnographic Perspective (3 cr.) Different political systems are founded and maintained by varying combinations of overt violence and more subtle workings of ideas and ideologies. Through cross-cultural case studies, the course examines how coercion, persuasion, consensus, and dissent operate in and through the politics and performances of everyday life. Credit given for only one of ANTH-E 437 or CMCL-C 417.
  • ANTH-E 438 Communication in the Digital Age (3 cr.) Examines the everyday issues surrounding public speech in new media: how people establish appropriate behavior in new media and respond to new possibilities for deceptive behavior; how ideas of what counts as 'public' and 'private' change as the result of changes in the way communication circulates; why scholars believe public speech and democracy are so intertwined. Credit given for only one of ANTH-E 438 or CMCL-C 429.
  • ANTH-E 444 People and Protected Areas: Theories of Conservation (3 cr.) Seminar course that explores major theories and approaches to conservation, from “fortress conservation” to community-based and participatory strategies. Considers the implications of protected areas for local human populations and cultural diversity. Evaluates outcomes and unintended consequences of protected areas, and controversies over the “best” way to protect natural resources.
  • ANTH-E 445 Seminar in Medical Anthropology (3 cr.) This advanced seminar in medical anthropology focuses on theoretical approaches to understanding the body and notions of health, illness, and disease across cultures. Concentrates on interpretive and critical (political economy) approaches to issues of health and includes critical study of Western biomedicine.
  • ANTH-E 454 India Lost and Found in Diasporic Feminist Films (3 cr.) Uses an historical and ethnographic approach to study the films and related readings of Indian diasporic filmmakers from the 1980s to the present. Focuses on the films of two prolific feminist filmmakers, Mira Nair and Deepa Mehta.
  • ANTH-E 456 Anthropology of Race (3 cr.) Explores race from a cultural anthropological perspective and investigates the history of this idea within the discipline as well as its dissemination in international society. Examines the play between challenges to race as an intellectual paradigm and the resilient status of race-thinking in society at large.
  • ANTH-E 460 The Arts in Anthropology (3 cr.) Visual art, music, dance, drama, and oral literature, viewed as structural entities, as aspects of human behavior, and in terms of their anthropological context. May be repeated with different topics for a maximum of 9 credit hours.
  • ANTH-E 463 Anthropology of Dance (3 cr.) Techniques of dance research, bibliographic and archival sources, historical and comparative studies, function and structure of dance, distribution of dance styles, and symbolic aspects of dance performance. A variety of dance forms will be considered in their social and cultural contexts.
  • ANTH-E 464 Body, Power, and Performance (3 cr.) Looks at performance in relation to social power by focusing on the body. Examines the extent to which several interdisciplinary readings on performance theory—largely emerging as they have from Western intellectual traditions—speak to embodied/performative negotiations of social power outside “the West.”
  • ANTH-E 474 The Anthropology of Human Rights (3 cr.) Investigates anthropology's theoretical and practical engagements with global social justice. Examines a number of texts central to the development of the notion of human rights, and explores several case studies oriented around a range of historical and contemporary human rights issues.
  • ANTH-E 485 Art and Craft of Ethnography (3 cr.) Ethnography is the defining core of social and cultural anthropology; field research is at the heart of ethnography. The definition and purpose of ethnography, the role of ethnographer, voice, ethics, and modes of presentation, standards, craft, art, and evaluation are examined through specific cases and exemplary ethnographies.
  • ANTH-E 490 Development and Anthropology (3 cr.) P: E420, ECON E103, or consent of instructor. The theory of development; the way anthropology has been employed in development schemes in Melanesia, Southeast Asia, India, Africa, and elsewhere; the practical problem of relating to development bodies such as the Agency for International Development (USAID) and Third World governments; the ethical problem of such relationships.
Anthropological Linguistics
  • ANTH-L 200 Language and Culture (3 cr.) An introduction to the study of language and its relations to the rest of culture. II Sem.
  • ANTH-L 204 Language and (In)Tolerance in the US (3 cr.) Explores the roles that perceptions of linguistic differences among groups and individuals play in intolerant behavior on the part of some segments of American society, and the corresponding roles that genuine understanding of these differences can play in promoting tolerance and guiding responses to intolerance. Credit given for only one of L204 or SLST-S 204
  • ANTH-L 208 Ways of Speaking (3 cr.) Exploration in comparative perspective of the social use of language, with a focus on the interrelationships among verbal form, social function, and cultural meaning in ways of speaking. Credit given for only one of ANTH-L 208 or CMCL-C 229.
  • ANTH-L 222 Global Communication (3 cr.) Examines the cultural assumptions around the world that underlie why some communicative acts occur smoothly, while others become contentious. Provides a set of analytical tools for understanding the cultural specificity of communication, and a basis for analyzing miscommunication cross-culturally.
  • ANTH-L 310 Elementary Lakota (Sioux) Language I (4 cr.) Introduction to Lakota (Sioux), an American Indian language spoken on the Northern Plains of the United States. Course focuses on developing elementary reading and writing skills as well as oral fluency in the Lakota language within the context of Lakota culture.
  • ANTH-L 311 Elementary Lakota (Sioux) Language II (4 cr.) Introduction to Lakota (Sioux), an American Indian language spoken on the Northern Plains of the United States. Course focuses on developing elementary reading and writing skills as well as oral fluency in the Lakota language within the context of Lakota culture.
  • ANTH-L 312 Intermediate Lakota (Sioux) Language I (4 cr.) Study of more complex Lakota grammatical structures, with emphasis on development of active reading, writing, and speaking skills.
  • ANTH-L 313 Intermediate Lakota (Sioux) Language II (4 cr.) Study of more complex Lakota grammatical structures, with emphasis on development of active reading, writing, and speaking skills.
  • ANTH-L 314 Performance as Communicative Practice (3 cr.) Introduction to performance as a communicative practice, focusing on performance as a special artistic mode of communication and performance and as a special class of display events in which the values and symbols of a culture are enacted before an audience. Credit given for only one of ANTH-L 314 or CMCL-C 313.
  • ANTH-L 320 American Indian Languages (3 cr.) An introductory survey of the native languages of the Americas. Topics to be covered include history of the study of American Indian languages, genetic and typological classifications, structures of selected languages, the comparative (historical) study of selected language families, and the interplay between language and culture. The diversity of New World languages will be emphasized.
  • ANTH-L 400 Topical Seminar in the Ethnography of Communication (3 cr.) Current issues in linguistic anthropology, designed to acquaint the student with readings and points of view not covered in the introductory courses. Topics such as languages of the world, variation in language, problems in linguistic structure, and culture and communication. Topic varies. May be taken for a total of 9 credit hours as long as the topic changes.
  • ANTH-L 407 Language and Prehistory (3 cr.) Introduction to the areas of linguistic research that are most relevant to the work of archaeologists and students of prehistory. Topics include mechanisms of linguistic change, the comparative method, genetic and areal relationships among languages, and applications of linguistic reconstruction to the study of ancient cultures and populations.
  • ANTH-L 410 Language and Society in Central Eurasia (3 cr.) This seminar explores how language is used to accomplish economic, political, and sociocultural ends in Central Eurasia. Topics covered include multilingualism; regional ethnolinguistic categories; the relationship between language policy and nationalities policy; gendered language; code choice in interactions; the politics of translation; poetics; standardization; and language shift, endangerment, and revitalization. Credit given for only one of L410 or CEUS-R 492.
Archaeology
  • ANTH-P 200 Introduction to Archaeology (3 cr.) Introduction to the goals, methods, and theories that archaeologists use to learn about the past. The pursuit and interpretation of archaeological evidence are explored by reviewing case studies from across the globe and diverse time periods. Topics include food and subsistence, culture change, social life, political economies, and archaeological ethics. I Sem., II Sem.
  • ANTH-P 210 Life in the Stone Age (3 cr.) Examination of the major developments in the Stone Age, emphasizing technological innovations, changes in subsistence patterns, and geographic and ecological expansions of human populations. The course will consist of two weekly lectures and a laboratory practicum where students will learn to make and use stone tools.
  • ANTH-P 215 Sex in the Ancient City: An Archaeology of Sex (3 cr.) Studies evidence from paleolithic caves to ancient cities to investigate how sex and sexuality differed through time and across space and the implications of those differences. Teaches basic concepts from archaeology and applies them to archaeological evidence to help identify practices and beliefs related to sex in the past.
  • ANTH-P 230 Archaeology of the Ancient Maya (3 cr.) This is a course about the ancient Maya. Lecture and discussion will cover what is known about the Maya past and how the past relates to the present day. Writing, architecture, mythology, mathematics, agriculture, political structure, and economy will be considered.
  • ANTH-P 240 Archaeology and the Movies (3 cr.) Examines how archaeologists and archaeological knowledge are represented in popular cinema and compares these views with the work that archaeologists actually do. Topics include the history of archaeology, archaeological ethics, and archaeological interpretation. Feature films studied cover archaeological practice, the archaeology of early humans, Rome, and ancient Egypt, and related topics.
  • ANTH-P 250 Introductory World Archaeology (3 cr.) Introduction to archaeological discovery in the Americas, Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Near East. Reviews the last 10,000 years of human culture and history, looking for what varies and what does not. For non-majors and students who have an interest in archaeology and a desire to learn about ancient cultures.
  • ANTH-P 301 Archaeological Methods and Analyses (3 cr.) P: P200 or consent of instructor. Specific field or laboratory methods for collecting and analyzing archaeological materials and data within a framework of answering research questions about the past. Topics vary: dating, materials science, subsistence indicators, archaeological survey. May be repeated with a different topic for a maximum of 6 credit hours.
  • ANTH-P 302 Invention and Technology (3 cr.) The evolution of technology is explored from prehistoric times onward. The origins of the major inventions of humankind are traced from their earliest beginnings in the Stone Age up to the Industrial Revolution. Credit not given for both P302 and E410.
  • ANTH-P 310 Prehistory of Europe and Asia (3 cr.) Prehistoric cultures of Europe and Asia, from Old Stone Age through Iron Age.
  • ANTH-P 314 Earlier Prehistory of Africa (3 cr.) A survey of prehistoric developments on the African continent from 2.5 million years ago to the end of the Stone Age, including topics such as the archaeology of human origins, the emergence of fully human ways of life, and the economic and cultural patterns of prehistoric hunter-gatherers.
  • ANTH-P 330 Historical Archaeology (3 cr.) America throughout time. Special attention will be given to understanding the long and complex history of Native American/European interactions, North American social systems, interaction with and exploitation of the environment, technologies, and material culture. The theory and methods used by historical archaeologists will also be emphasized.
  • ANTH-P 332 Industrial Archaeology (3 cr.) P: ANTH-P 200 or upper-level archaeology, history, or folklore course. Explores the material character and social context of industrial heritage in North America including resource extraction, manufacturing, and transportation. Studies the record that industry leaves on the landscape including quarries, factories, office buildings, mills, railroads, and worker housing. Analysis of documents, images, material remains, archaeological sites, and ethnographic sources.
  • ANTH-P 341 Archaeology of the Middle East (3 cr.) A study of the prehistoric cultures of the Middle East. Examines evidence for daily life, the rise of complex society, early writing, and agriculture, and explores the impact archaeology in this region has on the contemporary world.
  • ANTH-P 350 Archaeology of Ancient Mexico (3 cr.) Surveys the archaeology of ancient Mexico. Traces cultural developments of indigenous peoples from the Olmec to the Aztec, and examines issues, controversies, and current debates in Mexican archaeology. Topics include the transition to settled villages, initial complexity, craft production, urbanization, ideology, gender, religion, warfare, and the conquest.
  • ANTH-P 361 Prehistory of the Midwestern United States (3 cr.) A survey of prehistoric cultural developments in the midwestern United States from the earliest human occupations until initial European contact, set primarily within a framework of changing ecological adaptations.
  • ANTH-P 363 North American Prehistory through Fiction (3 cr.) Students consider fictionalized accounts of life in prehistoric North America, written by anthropologists, Native Americans, and novelists, as a means to think critically and creatively about the past. They explore the role and place of narrative and imagination in constructions of the past and consider how authors utilize available data.
  • ANTH-P 370 Ancient Civilizations of the Andes (3 cr.) Prehistoric cultural development in Andean South America: early hunters and gatherers, the beginning of agriculture, the growth of regional civilizations, and the rise and fall of the Inca Empire.
  • ANTH-P 375 Food in the Ancient World (3 cr.) Examines the theoretical and methodological tools that archaeologists use to study food and foodways in ancient societies from a global anthropological perspective. Reveals how studying food and ancient foodways helps anthropologists gain insight into the economic, historic, and political realities of past peoples.
  • ANTH-P 380 Prehistoric Diet and Nutrition (3 cr.) How the long-term history of human diet has influenced our genetic, physiological, cultural, and socioeconomic development. Evolutionary and ecological perspectives on modern human diet and nutrition, including survey of modern human and nonhuman primate diets and the record of prehistoric human diet and methods of dietary reconstruction.
  • ANTH-P 385 Paleolithic Technology Laboratory (3 cr.) P: P200, P250, or consent of instructor. Surveys the development and history of stone tool manufacture and use. Topics include raw material study, fracture mechanics, experimentation in lithic production, and reasons for innovation. Includes practice in identification, analysis, classification, measurement, and illustration of Paleolithic artifacts.
  • ANTH-P 390 Geoarchaeology (3 cr.) An exploration of the dynamic process of archaeological site formation. Focus on geoarchaeological and taphonomic studies of archaeological materials, site context, and environment, and how these approaches help us understand prehistoric lifeways.
  • ANTH-P 399 Undergraduate Seminar (3 cr.) P: P200 or consent of instructor. Intensive examination of selected topics in archaeology. Development of skills in analysis and criticism. Topic varies. May be taken with a different topic for a maximum of 9 credit hours.
  • ANTH-P 401 Cultural Resource Management (3 cr.) P: Junior standing. The anthropologist in the decision-making process for preservation and conservation of prehistoric and historic sites, structures, artifacts, etc. Legal procedures and anthropological values applicable to land use changes that threaten cultural resources.
  • ANTH-P 406 Laboratory Methods in Archaeology (1-6 cr.) P: P405 or consent of instructor. Specialized training in laboratory procedures and analysis of archaeological materials. Major categories of material culture to be studied include lithics, ceramics, and faunal and floral remains. Emphasis is on processing, sorting, identifying, and analyzing material recovered from the previous Fieldwork in Archaeology (P405).
  • ANTH-P 407 Archaeological Curation (3 cr.) P: Junior or senior standing and ANTH-P 200. An examination of the history, methods, legislation, ethics, tools, and technology of archaeological curation. Instruction will include hands-on training in the curation and conservation of material culture and their associated documents (e.g., photographs, digital records). Special attention will focus on the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990.
  • ANTH-P 409 Archaeological Ethics (3 cr.) This seminar explores the professional responsibilities of archaeologists by examining timely issues, such as the differences and, sometimes, conflicts between international law and professional ethics, and between archaeologists and others (e.g., Native Americans, antiquities collectors) who affect and are effected by archaeological work. Some background in archaeology is helpful.
  • ANTH-P 411 Archaeology of Religion (3 cr.) Explores diverse religious practices through time to historically situate and evaluate how the religious, social, and political intersect in societies. Examines different perspectives on religion, and inquires how separable the religious is from the mundane. Provides broad exposure to anthropologies and archaeologies of religion.
  • ANTH-P 425 Faunal Osteology (5 cr.) Lecture and laboratory introduction to the preparation, collection, identification, and interpretation of faunal specimens from archaeological sites. Also includes an introduction to forensic identifications and to zooarchaeological literature.
  • ANTH-P 426 Problems in Zooarchaeology (3 cr.) Students learn how to choose appropriate research designs for the interpretation of animal remains from archaeological sites, through readings, discussions, and laboratory analyses. Coursework will focus on literature review, field identification, lab methodology, quantification, preparing collections, curation, and report preparation.
  • ANTH-P 430 Archaeology of Violence and Conflict (3 cr.) In this course we will examine how we identify violence and warfare in the past. Second, we will explore how violence has affected societies around the world and through time. We review multidisciplinary literature on violence and ask how and why violent acts and institutions of violence develop and persist.
  • ANTH-P 440 Archaeology of Space and Place (3 cr.) Broad review of interdisciplinary literature to evaluate how human experience has been informed and affected by spatial sensibilities. Takes a diachronic and global look at how space impacts politics, society, religion, memory, and identity, with an emphasis on developing critical thinking skills.
  • ANTH-P 445 Pots and People (3 cr.) Uses pottery as a means of understanding past societies: how people make, use, and think about pottery. Participants make their own pots from wild clays; cook a meal in traditional ceramic pots; and consider how experimentation, ethnohistorical data, and anthropological theory work together to produce insights into past lifeways.
  • ANTH-X 480 Fieldwork in Archaeology (1-8 cr.) Archaeological work directed toward field techniques: excavation and preservation of materials, surveying, photography, and cataloging. 1 credit hour per full week of fieldwork. Credit given for only one of X480 or P405. SS.