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Anthropology Courses
anth 105 Introduction to Biological Anthropology +
Description:
The study of human biological evolution and human population variation. This course introduces the history, theory, and methods of research in biological anthropology through lectures and hands-on exercises. Major topics include: geological time, classification, and the place of humans in the animal world; evidence for primate and human evolution; evolutionary theory and genetics; and discussion of the evolutionary forces involved in producing human population variation. This course addresses, in assignments and during class time, the following general education capabilities: critical thinking; using technology to further learning; quantitative reasoning; collaborative work; and effective communication. More Info
Offered in:anth 106 Introduction to Cultural Anthropology +
Description:
An introduction to the anthropological study of cultures, based on ethnographic descriptions and analyses of tribal, developing, and modern state societies. The course explores a variety of concepts and approaches to the study of culture, and participants acquire experience in critical reading, critical thinking, and analytic writing. More Info
Offered in:anth 107 Intro To Archaeology +
Description:
The study of the past through scientific analysis of the traces left behind by humans. This course introduces the history, theory, and methods of archaeological research through lectures and hands-on projects. Archaeological data are then used to examine such major transformations of human cultural evolution as the domestication of plants and animals and the origins of complex civilizations. Students prepare a paper suitable for the Writing Proficiency Requirement Portfolio. More Info
Offered in:anth 112G Understanding Human Behavior +
Description:
The course addresses issues of diversity through the use of cross-cultural/US-based readings and lectures. This material provides students with a backdrop against which they can begin to understand how culture (including their own) creates and sustains belief systems, including but not limited to constructions of race, class, and gendered systems of knowledge. More Info
Offered in:anth 113G Food and Society +
Description:
This course explores how food is related to culture. Discussion topics include the origins of agriculture, food taboos, the social organization of eating, festivals, and feasting. More Info
Offered in:anth 120L Sports and Inequality: Race, Class, Gender, and the Labor of Sweat +
Description:
This course explores the place of sports in US history and culture. How have sports shaped US history/culture, and how has US history/culture shaped sports? As we read stories of races won, baskets made, fights fought, and players competing, we will explore sport-as-labor and focus on this main themes: the impact of immigration, industrialization, and urbanization on the games Americans played; the class origins of sports like baseball, boxing, football, tennis, and golf; sport and conflict between labor and capital; racial prejudice, gender exclusion, and integration in sport; athleticism and the evolving ideas about masculinity, femininity, and race; the links between sport, patriotism, and national identity; and sport as an arena for political protest. More Info
Offered in:anth 210L Labor and Working Class History in the United States +
Description:
This course examines the history of labor and working people in the United States from the colonial period to the present. It explores the diversity of work and working-class experiences, the history of labor movements, labor conflicts, and the larger processes of social, economic, and political change that have affected work and workers. While work and organized labor receive central attention, the course gives equal consideration to the comparative dimensions of class and cultural identity, race and gender, immigration and ethnicity, family and community, technology, politics, and government policy. We will work to improve our skills in critical reading and writing. Lectures, readings, videos, and discussion explore the actions, opinions, identities, and experiences of diverse women and men. You will work on understanding and interpreting the materials. Short essays, in-class exams, and presentation will provide opportunities to develop your interpretations systematically and polish your writing skills. More Info
Offered in:anth 220G Indigenous Peoples and Cultural Change in Amazonia +
Description:
This course focuses on indigenous peoples of South America's Amazon region, and persistence and change in their cultures and histories, from 1500 to the present- especially in response to European colonizers, missionaries, modern states, and contemporary rain forest development. Participants consider the human rights issues involved, and critique conventional European representations of Amazonians, in ethnography, literature and film. Capabilities addressed: Critical reading, critical thinking, clear writing, academic self assessment, collaborative learning, information technology. More Info
Offered in:anth 223G Afro-Caribbean Religions +
Description:
The purpose of this course is to examine several of the better known Afro-Caribbean religious movements that have played a major role in the modern history of the Caribbean region. Historical influences from Europe, Africa and the Americas will be addressed. The course provides an introduction to the anthropological study of religion and to the field of Caribbean studies. Capabilities addressed: Critical reading, critical thinking, clear writing, information technology. More Info
Offered in:anth 224G The Rise and Fall of the Maya +
Description:
This course focuses on the rise and fall of the Maya civilization in Central America. It considers their origins; political, economic, and social organization; religion and ideology; their eventual collapse; and the contemporary Maya. Discussions include the latest theories and controversies in Maya studies. This course may be counted toward the anthropology major. Capabilities addressed: Critical reading, critical thinking, clear writing, collaborative learning, information technology, oral presentation, academic self assessment. More Info
Offered in:anth 227GL Multicultural Expression and Celebration: U.S. Ethnic Festivals and Transnational Belonging +
Description:
The course uses the lens of celebrating different communities' ethnicities to explore ideas of transnational belonging as they relate to diaspora, ethnicity, and race in the contemporary United States. Class discussions focus on art and display, critical race theory, and anthropological studies of culture history and cultural migration to examine the politics of ethnicity, racialized identity, and national belonging. In so doing, students assess current goals for U.S. multiculturalism and its practical connections to multi-vocality. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
anth 230 Archaeological Myth & Mystery +
Description:
This course introduces students to the myths, mysteries, frauds, and fantasies of archaeology and the human past, such as Atlantis, alien visitations, Stonehenge, pyramids, astronomical alignments, pre-Columbian visits to the North American continent, anachronistic artifacts, and outright hoaxes. These claims - some real, some false, some misunderstood, some intriguing - will be examined closely to see how well the explanations use evidence and how valid the assumptions are that uphold them. Students will learn how to critically evaluate these claims in their empirical, political, historical, and cultural contexts as well as try to understand the agendas, personalities, motives, and politics behind some o f the more unsupportable claims. More Info
Offered in:anth 232 The Viking World +
Description:
The Viking Age (c. 793-1050 AD) is best known as Scandinavian raids throughout coastal Europe. This course examines the archaeology of the societies behind the Viking raids from their origins in Late Iron Age Scandinavia, to their expansion into Europe and the British Isles, and on to the discovery of North America and the colonization of Greenland. In addition to covering the archaeology and history of Viking Age societies, the course presents and critically evaluates several anthropological themes which have been exemplified by Norse society: the Germanic mode of production, gift exchange and reciprocity, proto-world systems, gender and class identity, pagan religious systems and mythology, the archaeology of religious conversion, and cultural contact in the preindustrial world. More Info
Offered in:anth 238 Empire and Imperialism: From Rome to the War in Iraq +
Description:
This class examines the way empires and imperialism have influenced the course of human history and continue to shape the present. Students will be challenged to view the events of today's world within a deeper historical and cultural context in which imperial rhetoric has sought to characterize indigenous and colonized societies as backward and brutal. Through the examination of documentary and archaeological evidence, students will gain an in-depth understanding of the way imperial conquest has played and continues to play such a critical role in shaping the conflicts of the contemporary scene. Through class readings and a series of writing exercises students will gain competencies in the use of analytical concepts such as materiality, hybridity, diversity, and cross-cultural analysis. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
anth 240L Work, Environment, and Revolution in Latin America +
Description:
This course explores the place of work, environment, and political struggle in the past and present of Latin America. How have struggles around work and environment shaped Latin American history and culture? The course examines themes of environmental justice, food sovereignty, indigenous rights, and labor conflicts within the context of economic and environmental transformation. More Info
Offered in:anth 243L Rethinking the Family: Cross-Cultural Perspectives +
Description:
This course analyzes the ways in which culture shapes perceptions of family. It explores narratives about how human family structures evolved, examines the increasing medicalization of reproduction and the body, and takes stock of the ways in which race, class, gender, and sexual orientation affect commonly held and frequently subscribed-to beliefs about what constitutes family. It illustrates the diversity of kinship definitions with ethnographic examples from the Iban of Indonesian Borneo, the Nyakyusa of East Africa, and other societies from the Americas, Africa, Asia, and the pacific Islands. Through an exploration of the pressures to which African American families have been subjected in the United States, it probes the ways in which the legacy of slavery shapes the possibilities and perceptions of contemporary families. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
anth 247 Ancient Cities & States +
Description:
This course compares the processes of state formation in major civilizations, including Mesopotamia, Early Dynastic Egypt, Shang China, Aztecs of Mesoamerica, Inca of Peru. Recent archaeological and historical data are used to explore cross-cultural themes such as the provisioning of cities, role of religious ideology, social organization of land and labor, and gendered dimensions of power and social identity. More Info
Offered in:anth 250L The Hands that Feed Us: Food, Labor, Race, and Migration in the U.S. +
Description:
This course explores two broad inter-related questions. First, how has the labor required to bring food from seas, fields, factories and kitchens to our plates changed over time? And, second, how have workers in fields, factories, restaurants, and homes resisted and transformed the labor arrangements that have defined food production and consumption? These two broad framings necessarily lead us to explore other questions. How have race, gender, immigration and colonial dynamics shaped the division of labor across the food chain? What are the implications of emerging forms of resistance and solidarity on food, agrarian livelihoods, and the service industry? We will examine how patterns of inequality have manifested in spheres such as domestic unpaid food work, farms and food processing, retail, and hospitality. Along the way, we will consider opportunities to realize a food system that upholds equity and dignity for workers. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
anth 256 Anthropology of Mass Violence +
Description:
Using an anthropological perspective on culture, race, representation, and power, this course examines the deliberate measures and actions aimed at the annihilation of specific racial, ethnic, religious, political, and cultural groups. It focuses primarily on the causes of mass violence: the intellectual histories of societies where mass violence has occurred; how the 'enemy' is invented; why mass killings are carried our; and the psychology and motivations of perpetrators. This course concentrates on the 20th century but includes also other historical events for topical purposes. More Info
Offered in:anth 260 Anthropology On Film +
Description:
Film has become an important medium for recording and conveying information about human behavior. To what extent do ethnographic films present a complete and accurate record of cultural reality and to what extent do they project a filmmaker's romantic vision of 'message'? Examples of ethnographic film are viewed and discussed in light of these questions. More Info
Offered in:anth 262 Dreams & Dreaming +
Description:
A cross-cultural exploration of dreams and dreaming across cultures, with general attention to the western Pacific, and the Mekeo people of Papua New Guinea in particular: review of the anthropology of dreams in the context of theoretical works by Freud and Jung, and recent neurobiological studies; and , the relationship of dreams to notions of the self, person, and individual. More Info
Offered in:anth 263 Environmental Anthropology +
Description:
This course focuses on people's complex relationships to their environment. It examines different anthropological approaches to analyze human adaptive strategies to diverse ecosystems around the world from a historical and cross-cultural perspective. It will also examine the different strategies and knowledge systems that humans develop for managing their resources. Finally, the course looks at the rise of political ecology as a perspective to analyze the role of power relations, institutions and ideas of nature in environmental change and conservation. More Info
Offered in:anth 264 Shamanisms: Anthropological Perspectives +
Description:
This course examines the varieties of religious experience, ritual, and practice that fall under the rubric of `shamanism' and `shaman'. Originally a Tungus (Siberian tribal people) word, `shaman' has been extended to include diverse group of specialists: from midwives to Shamans, Priests, Sorcerers, Prophets, and New Shamans. All these religious practitioners use their skills to achieve direct communication with the spiritual realm. The course focuses on the shamanism that is integral to many indigenous religions, and how it aims to fortify relations between humans and the spiritual world in order to validate cultural knowledge, regulate human relations with the natural environment, diagnose and heal human suffering, and build community solidarity. More Info
Offered in:anth 268 Wine and Culture: An Anthropological Perspective +
Description:
This course approaches wine, a cultural and traditional product, from an anthropological perspective. It explores how wine has contributed powerfully to human cultures. Topics considered include the construction of territories and local identities through wine, and the relation between wine and religion, family structures, social institutions, gender, identity, power, class, and heritage. The course's organization is both topical and geographic. Wine is not just the product of history but an anthropological matrix with significant impact on human social relations, identities, and world views. More Info
Offered in:anth 269L Anthropology of the Objects and the Objectified: an Interdisciplinary Approach to Things +
Description:
We have all heard of, or used the term object to refer to things outside ourselves: the object of one's desires, the objectification of other cultures and peoples, works of art vs. ethnographic objects. In this course we deconstruct familiar discourses about things through an examination of the world of material possessions, places, people, ideas, and space in cross-cultural perspective. Our aim is to gain more nuanced understanding about the apparent human tendency to create our identities through assigning personal and cultural significance to objects around us. Course readings will be drawn primarily from anthropology, art history, art criticism, cultural studies, and curatorial/museum studies. We will also share our observations, experiences, and reflections of particular object worlds through museum site visits, class discussions, and individual projects. Our own milieu of the Western museums will offer valuable case studies about the historical and political implications of particular histories of collecting, classifying, displaying, and interpreting the wider world as a collection of objects. More Info
Offered in:anth 270L Native Peoples of North America +
Description:
An introductory survey of Native American societies and cultures. Emphasis is given to the descriptive comparison of selected Native American societies, on their histories, and on problems in cross-cultural understanding. The course focuses on pre-twentieth century cultures and history. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
anth 272 Peoples and Cultures of Africa +
Description:
An in-depth study of selected African societies, examining traditional institutions, the colonial situation, and modernization. More Info
Offered in:anth 273 Peoples and Cultures of Mesoamerica (Mexico and Guatemala) +
Description:
A survey of Mesoamerican ethnology including an introduction to cultural and linguistic regions through comparisons of ethnographic materials. Emphasis is given to acculturation, during the colonial period, among indigenous and Spanish-speaking populations, and, in the contemporary period, on social change among rural and urban sectors. More Info
Offered in:anth 274 Peoples and Cultures of the Caribbean +
Description:
An ethnographic and historical overview of the Caribbean, examining the impact of external forces on local economic organization, domestic life, religion, and migration, with attention to the importance of transnational communities and migrations that link the islands with the North American mainland. More Info
Offered in:anth 275L Peoples and Cultures of China +
Description:
This course describes and analyzes China and Chinese society through the perspective of culture. By looking at the ways in which Chinese people lead their lives, the beliefs and ideas they place importance upon and the ways in which these ideas are manifested in people's actions, we hope to gain a more thorough understanding of China as a social, political and economic entity, and a more nuanced and analytical understanding of China's diverse peoples. Some of the themes we will address include the following: unity and diversity in Chinese society, the role of the family, the place of the state, food and eating, gender relations, ritual and religion, popular culture (particularly movies and opera), economic and social change, nationalism and international relations. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
anth 277 US Immigration: Contemporary Issues and Debates +
Description:
Large-scale post-1965 immigration to the U.S. has significantly reshaped national life. Immigrants from the Caribbean, Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Europe have radically altered the way we think about cities, race, ethnicity, nation, and politics. Key themes covered include history, politics, and processes of immigration; class and race dimensions; transnationalism; immigrants in the economy; and comparative group experiences. More Info
Offered in:anth 278L Introduction to Native American and Indigenous Studies +
Description:
This course is an introduction to key issues and themes in Indigenous Studies and to issues of concern to native peoples today. The majority of the case studies used will refer to Native American/Indigenous Nations from North America, as these nations have the closest relationships with the modern U.S. and are those to whom we have the greatest responsibilities. Other case studies will be drawn from South and Central America, the Pacific (particularly Hawaii, Aotearoa/New Zealand, and Australia) and Asia. More Info
Offered in:anth 279 Peoples and Cultures of the Andes: Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile +
Description:
This course is an introduction to the diverse cultures of the Andean region, which comprises the following countries: Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Chile. Topics considered include the significance of heritage, belief systems and religions, family structures, race relations, social and political institutions, and modes of production -- all considered from an anthropological perspective. The course's timeframe covers the entire modern era, from the 16th century to today. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
anth 280 Special Topics +
anth 295L Introduction to Human Rights +
Description:
This is a collaboratively taught interdisciplinary course on a variety of issues related to Human Rights as discourse and practice. It covers the emergence and institutionalization of human rights discourse in the 20th century, and examines its transformations and extensions into various social, economic, political and cultural realms globally. Topics include critique of Western and normative human rights, policies of indigenous people and women's rights, and cognitive and practical implementations of human rights. More Info
Offered in:anth 301L Childhood in America +
Description:
An interdisciplinary treatment of conceptions and practices of child nature and nurture in the United States, viewed in the context of American culture and history. The course begins with an historical overview of child life in America, with special attention to Puritan New England, nineteenth century industrialization and urbanization, and twentieth century trends. In treating contemporary childhood, the course examines mainstream patterns of the middle and working classes, both rural and urban; African-American child and family life; Hispano-American child and family life; enculturation among selected American Indian groups; the importance of gender as a variable in childhood experience; and the growing importance of formal institutions-such as schools, youth organizations, and medical institutions-as environments for young people. Children's own cultural constructions, in the form of games and folklore, are also considered. The course concludes with an examination of selected policy issues affecting children, such as child abuse, medical intervention, day care, and the Children's Rights Movement. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
anth 312 Human Variation +
Description:
A consideration of the factors involved in the production and maintenance of biological variability within and between human populations. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
anth 314 Forensic Anthropology +
Description:
A course about reconstructing a human life from what may remain after death. Methods of determining age, sex, ancestry, and stature will be explored, along with what pathologies, anomalies, trauma, and personal habits can be deduced from bony and soft tissue remains. How the evidence garnered from fossils, comparative anatomy and behavior, tissue reconstruction, and our understanding of human growth and development will be used to further understand the nature of the physical and social person. An applied science used in criminology, archaeology, and elsewhere. More Info
Offered in:anth 316 Nutrition, Growth and Behavior +
Description:
An evaluation of the influence of nutrition on growth and development in human populations. Particular emphasis on malnutrition and its effects on physical growth, neurological development and behavioral capacity. A model is developed which outlines the relationship between nutritional stress, the behavioral variation produced as a consequence of the stress, and the sociocultural characteristics of human communities. More Info
Offered in:anth 317 Human Epidemiology +
Description:
Epidemiology is the study of disease occurrence and patterns. This course will cover various aspects of epidemiology as applied to human populations, including types of disease and their natural histories, ways of measuring disease occurrence and frequency, ways of studying disease rates and causes, and social disparities in disease burdens. Epidemiology is a foundational area for almost all public health-related work. Understanding how to read, interpret, and conduct epidemiological research will be essential tools for PAMA students looking to pursue careers in public health fields. More Info
Offered in:anth 324 A Biocultural Approach to War +
Description:
This course takes a biocultural approach to the study of warfare by taking a broad view of humans as evolved biological organisms and as cultural beings with complex behavior. This course will critically examine a variety of proposed causes for human warfare (evolutionary, materialism, historical contingency), looking at the evidence for conflict and cooperation in humans (and other species) in the archeological and ethnographic records. Second, this course will explore the epidemiological evidence for the effects of war on human health across the globe, including case studies on its effects on psychological health, nutrition, child growth, infection and other sequelae. More Info
Offered in:anth 330 Archaeology of colonialism in Native North America +
Description:
This course introduces students to the archaeological and anthropological study of colonialism and North America's indigenous people who confronted its various forms during the last 500+ years. The course focuses on how archaeologists use material culture, architecture, food remains, landscapes, and oral histories- -as well as a variety of historical documents- -to understand Indigenous responses to, engagements with, struggles within, and survival through these complex periods. Examples will be drawn from across the diverse regions, Native peoples, and colonial fronts (e.g., English, Spanish, Russian, French) that characterize the past few centuries of North America’s history. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
anth 340 Historical Archaeology +
Description:
An introduction to historical archaeology, from its initial development to future directions. Topics include the subfields which comprise historical archaeology and their interrelationships; the contributions, both substantive and methodological, of historical archaeology to the field of archaeology; and industrial and historic sites in North America. More Info
Offered in:anth 341 Archaeological Method and Theory with Laboratory +
Description:
An introduction to the theory and application of scientific methods in archaeology. Emphasis is given to the ways that the material record of past human activity is formed, from the earliest cultures to those in historic times, and to the recovery and analysis of archaeological data through laboratory and field techniques drawn from geoscience, biology, chemistry, and archaeology. More Info
Offered in:anth 343L African Diaspora Archaeology: Uncovering Roots, Routes, and Resistance +
Description:
This course is an introduction to African Diaspora archaeology, a burgeoning area of study within the sub-discipline of historical archaeology. Students will explore the concept of diaspora as a means to critically understand the factors underlying the forced dispersal of African people. Participants will consider how archaeological studies of the African diaspora have yielded alternative interpretations of the black past. Throughout the semester, students will examine how archaeologists have investigated the physical and culture landscape, foodways, ritual and religion and objects from everyday life to reveal the ways the black people have resisted and responded to enslavement and other forms of racial oppression. More Info
Offered in:anth 345 Theory in Sociocultural Anthropology +
Description:
A selective comparative, historical review of major schools of thought in anthropological theory, with special attention to alternative theories of culture, in relation to society, history, ecology, and political economy; and the application of such theories to the analysis of particular ethnographic cases. More Info
Offered in:anth 346 Culture, Globalization, and the Environment +
Description:
This course will focus on the interrelation between globalization and the environment in a cross cultural perspective. It will examine the rise of globalization from its colonial antecedents to the modern global era and its multiple effects on local populations and their environment. Topics include environmental institutions, global discourses of environmentalism, environmental movements., media, climate change, and finally, understanding the complex and dynamic nature of engagements between `the local' and `the global'. More Info
Offered in:anth 347L Indigenous Research Methodologies +
Description:
This course is designed to introduce students to a variety of research methodologies, present core concepts in critical Indigenous studies, and demonstrate how to implement ethical practices into any research design. Intended for students who are interested in initiating their own research projects in the future, the course is structured to enable those with little prior knowledge of Indigenous research methods to plan, document, and revise an original project and appropriate research questions. This course is international in focus with some readings from Indigenous scholars in Australia, New Zealand, Palestine, Scotland, and more (i.e. settler or colonized states). Literature is drawn from Indigenous scholars and case studies from communities such as Ahkwesa'hsne Mohawk, Nga'ti Awa and Nga'ti Porou iwi Aboriginal Australians, and Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate Dakota, just to name a few. This course builds on students' preexisting experiences, preferred methods of inquiry, and research interests so that they gain a deeper understanding of the skills and tools required for the social sciences and humanities disciplines more broadly but can be applied in many disciplines, even those unrelated to Native studies. Finally, this course will also introduce students to several beneficial technologies and software programs for use in research for general literature reviews and bibliography compilation, collaborative analysis of qualitative data, and digital humanities projects. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
anth 348 Ethnographic Inquiry: Introduction to Qualitative Field Research +
Description:
An introduction to the methods and tools used in qualitative research, including important anthropological techniques such as participant-observation, life histories, and interviewing within an historical, social, and political context. Ethical issues surrounding qualitative research will be addressed. Students will also conduct their own ethnographic fieldwork projects during the semester, learning through practice how to utilize particular methods of qualitative research. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
anth 352 Applied Social Anthropology +
Description:
How is social anthropology used to solve human problems? This course considers anthropological research and intervention in such fields as business management, communications, health care, parks and recreation, urban development, education, and mental health. Special attention is given to the ethical dilemmas encountered by practicing anthropologists. This course helps students assess the relevance of social science training to later career choices. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
anth 353 Urban Anthropology +
Description:
A comparative study of the form and quality of urban life in the contemporary United States and in selected non-Western cultures. Through an examination of selected case studies, the course assesses the varying theories, methodological strategies, and research techniques that have been employed in anthropological analyses of cities; and considers their significance in the broader field of urban studies. Attention is also given to the cultural evolutionary processes leading to the origin and spread of cities and urbanized society, in both the ancient and modern worlds. More Info
Offered in:anth 356 African Diaspora Art in the City +
Description:
For anthropology and other disciplines, the concept of diaspora helps us understand the role of forced and voluntary dispersal of African people in terms of experience, interpretation, and activism. In this course, the arts are our lens onto the diverse experiences of people of African descent, including how Black people live their histories of movement and also have responded to and resisted racial oppression as they have been rooted and routed across space and time. The course examines different forms of art (primarily visual and performing arts), what they mean to artists producing them, how they are categorized in institutions and communities, and how they illuminate ways of anchoring community and identity to place. The course takes us comparatively across global, national, and local (Boston) spaces in order to illuminate how people(s) use arts to express aesthetic, moral, spiritual, and philosophical dimensions of what it means to be human. The overall approach is drawn from Anthropology - the science of the study of culture - but we also draw from analyses in history, art history, activism, and community development/empowerment. Geographic areas covered include Africa, North America, and the Caribbean. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
anth 357 Culture, Disease, and Healing +
Description:
Human adaptations to disease and illness in prehistory and history, and across cultures. Medical systems considered as social and cultural systems related to social structure, religion, economics, and power. Topics include medical anthropology as a field of study, paleopathology, ecology and epidemiology of disease, theories of disease and healing, sorcery and witchcraft, public health and preventive medicine, anatomy and surgery, obstetrics and population control, pain and stress, emotional states, status and role of healers and patients. More Info
Offered in:anth 358 Social Determinants of Health and Health Disparities +
Description:
The social environment is widely recognized to play a critical role in shaping patterns of health and disease within and across populations. Understanding the processes through which the social environment ''gets under the skin'' to influence health has become an important question across medical and social science fields, including anthropology. This course will explore key social determinants of health being explored by medical and bio-cultural anthropologists, including: socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, gender, sexuality, neighborhood environments, social relationships, and political economy. Mechanisms through which these factors are hypothesized to influence health, such as stress and access to health resources and constraints, will be discussed, as well as the ways in which these mechanisms operate within communities and across the life-course. An overarching theme of the course will be how social factors that adversely affect health are inequitably distributed, contributing to marked health disparities. More Info
Offered in:anth 359 Economies and cultures in comparative perspective +
Description:
This course approaches economic behavior, ideas and institutions using two of the hallmarks of anthropology: field-based methods of data collection and cross-cultural comparison. Through ethnographic case studies, anthropological theory and first-hand observation, we will consider the embeddedness of the economy in complex socio-cultural systems, ideological and institutional. A range of systems of production, distribution and consumption in contemporary and past economies will allow students to systematically critique familiar economic ideas and institutions. Topics will include reciprocity and redistribution, traditional markets, notions of scarcity, affluence and fairness, the regulation of economic behavior by formal and informal institutions, the economic division of labor and the interface between modern and traditional economies. More Info
Offered in:anth 361L Indigenous Film and Critical Visual Studies +
Description:
This course explores the ways in which filmmakers have engaged with the notion of ingenuousness primarily through feature film and documentary forms over the last 40 years. The course will look at films directed, produced and written by indigenous and non-indigenous film-makers. We will examine films from a number of different geographical areas, concentrating on North America (the United States and Canada), Aotearoa/New Zealand, Australia, and Southern Africa. We will also be looking at a select number of films from other areas in relationship to specific issues, these include Tuvalu, Kazakhstan and Guatemala. As part of the course structure, we will also be engaging with a number of specific issues. These include colonialism, identity, the importance of land, environmental destruction, gender, coming of age, new media platforms, the impact of commercial media, and commodification and appropriation of indigenous peoples. A select number of film-makers will also be joining the course as guest lecturers. More Info
Offered in:anth 364 Anthropology of Adolescence: Biocultural Interactions +
Description:
This course takes an anthropological, biological, and phylogenetic approach to questions about adolescence, including: What elements of growth and maturation define adolescence, and is this life stage unique to humans? How do the body's priorities change, and what can we learn about the selective pressures that shaped human evolution when we examine those changes in the context of ecological and cultural variation? How, at the threshold of adulthood, is gender newly constructed, and what commonalities and cultural variations in the gender inculcation process exist across the glove? Texts will include literature on human growth and development; comparative data from non-human primates; anthropological literature on rites of passage viewed cross-culturally; and literary dramatizations of coming of age. More Info
Offered in:anth 366 The Anthropology of Religion +
Description:
A comparative study of religion and spirituality from an anthropological perspective. Topics include: belief, ritual, mythology, symbolism, prayer, magic and sacred texts. The course focuses on traditional and indigenous spiritual systems, as well as global religions. The course examines religion in relation to other dimensions of culture, including political systems, economic structures, family life and the arts. Attention is also given to theoretical developments in the anthropology of religion and to research methodologies developed by anthropologists for the analysis and interpretation of religion. The course will examine traditional religions of sub-Saharan Africa, Christianity in Western Europe, and indigenous spiritual systems of Native North America, among others. More Info
Offered in:anth 367 Social and Cultural Perspectives on Witchcraft and Sorcery +
Description:
Beliefs about people with extraordinary powers to cause harm or good are found in societies of different types and in different periods in history. This course examines such beliefs in a number of different cultural, geographical, and historical contexts in order to demonstrate ways in which anthropologists and other social scientists approach the more general problem of understanding the function of belief systems in human society. More Info
Offered in:anth 368 Myth in Cultural Context +
Description:
An anthropological analysis and interpretation of myth, using texts from a variety of world cultures, including African, ancient Middle Eastern, Native American, Amazonian, Mediterranean and other traditions as primary materials. The course offers an overview of central problems and issues in the anthropological study of myth, and emphasizes the importance of examining myths within their socio-cultural settings. The course also considers some of the important theoretical perspectives that have been developed within anthropology for the study of myths and folklore. More Info
Offered in:anth 372 Anthropology of Death +
Description:
Although human mortality occurs in all societies, it is understood and defined differently within various settings. This course examines how culture influences the way people respond to the fact of death. Key themes include: the analysis of funeral rituals; religion and art in relation to death; cultural dimensions of mourning; and the relationship between social organization and death. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
anth 412 Issues in Biological Anthropology +
Description:
An in-depth discussion of current research in biological anthropology based on the reading of primary material from the recent literature. The course is oriented toward the study of human populations and focuses on important controversies and major research trends in a variety of areas including skeletal biology, nutrition, genetics, epidemiology, and evolutionary theory. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
anth 425 Contemporary Issues in Anthropology +
Description:
A capstone seminar for anthropology majors, this course uses the lens of anthropological analysis to address a different topical theme each semester concerning the community and the world in which we live. The seminar encourages students to apply their previous classroom experience in the discipline to a multidimensional view of contemporary issues through individual and small group research projects. More Info
Offered in:anth 432 Archeological Science +
Description:
This course applies the methods and techniques of the sciences to the problems and issues of archaeology. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
anth 444 Cooperative Education for Anthropology Majors +
Description:
Through the Cooperative Education Program anthropology majors may be placed in paid work situations either directly related to the field of anthropology or where anthropological concepts, theories, and/or methods can be explored. In conjunction with the work experience, students undertake a learning project under the direction of a faculty member. This project is based on a prospectus approved by the faculty advisor, which should include appropriate readings, field observation, and written work equivalent to a 3-credit, classroom-based course. More Info
Offered in:anth 476L Current Issues in Native America +
Description:
This seminar focuses on the lives of modern Native Americans, on reservations and off. Topics for reading, discussion, and original research include law, politics, economic development, public health, education, and the arts. Each student in the seminar compiles and presents a comprehensive case study on a subject relevant to one of the seminar themes. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
anth 477L LLOP Research Seminar +
Description:
Instruction in how to develop a comprehensive plan for research on a Latino Studies topic with significant public policy implications. Review of research design procedures, literature assessment, problem definition, use of range of qualitative and quantitative research methods drawn broadly from the social sciences. More Info
Offered in:anth 478 Directed Study I +
anth 479 Directed Study II +
Description:
Advanced students may conduct independent research under the supervision and guidance of members of the faculty. More Info
Offered in:anth 485 Field Research in Archaeology +
Description:
A supervised sequence of field research in archaeology. This research involves continuous study in a field situation directed by a professional anthropologist. The course may include attendance at field schools directed by qualified faculty outside the University, with permission of the department. More Info
Offered in:anth 488 Internship in Anthropology +
Description:
Part-time work experience (8 hours per week) in an appropriate business, governmental, laboratory, clinical, museum, or non-profit institution, supervised by an on-site supervisor and an Anthropology Department faculty sponsor. Conferences with the course instructor and appropriate written work are required. More Info
Offered in:anth 490 Independent Rsrch I +
anth 491 Independent Research II +
Description:
Independent research in anthropology conducted under the supervision of members of the faculty. More Info
Offered in: