Chair: Sergei Kan
Professors H. S. Alverson, D. F. Eickelman, K. M. Endicott, S. Kan, D. L. Nichols; Associate Professors K. A. Korey, J. M. Watanabe; Assistant Professor K. Abdi; Senior Lecturer R. L. Welsch; McKennan Postdoctoral Fellow J. Cullinane, Visiting Scholar B. J. Didier.
Consult the Departmental Administrator for further information.
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE MAJOR
The major consists of ten courses, to be selected as follows:
1. Anthropology 1 or 3.
2. At least one course from each of the following four subject areas: archaeology, cultural anthropology (if Anthropology 1 is taken in fulfillment of requirement 1), ethnography, biological anthropology (these areas are indicated as ARCH, CULT, ETHN, or BIOL in each course description).
3. Any six additional courses (five if Anthropology 1 is taken in fulfillment of requirement 1) from among the department’s offerings.
A culminating experience is required for the major and must be satisfied by completion of a Culminating Seminar selected from one of the following areas: ethnography/cultural anthropology (73), archaeology (75), or biological anthropology (78), to be taken as one of the ten courses required for the major.
Students who plan to attend graduate school are strongly encouraged to take at least one statistics course—e.g., Government 10, Psychology 10, Social Science 10, or Sociology 10.
Modified Major: The Modified Major consists of seven courses in anthropology, one of which must be a culminating seminar and another of which will normally be Anthropology 1 or 3, plus four courses above the prerequisite level in one or more other department(s) or program(s). The 11 courses must form a unified, coherent program of study. Students wishing to modify their Anthropology major must submit a written rationale that makes clear the coherence and purpose of their modified major. This rationale, signed by the department Chair, must be submitted with the major card to the Registrar.
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE MINOR
The minor in Anthropology comprises six courses, which include Anthropology 1 or 3 plus one course in ethnography, one course in biological anthropology, one course in archaeology, and two additional courses within the department to be selected by the student. If Anthropology 3 is not taken in fulfillment of the first requirement, then one of the two courses selected by the student must be a cultural anthropology course.
HONORS PROGRAM
Students applying to the honors program must meet the minimum college requirements of a 3.0 grade point average and a 3.3 grade point average in the major. By the end of the third term preceding their graduation, applicants will ordinarily have completed, with a minimum grade of A–, a preparatory reading course (Anthropology 85) and will have submitted an honors thesis proposal for work to be supervised by a primary faculty advisor. Admission to the program is by vote of the department faculty, which may appoint one or more secondary advisors.
Students admitted to the honors program must enroll in Anthropology 88, in addition to the courses ordinarily required in the major. The honors project, which culminates in a substantial independent thesis, will be submitted to the primary advisor at least four weeks prior to graduation. Those students completing the program with a grade of A– or higher in their honors course will receive honors recognition in the major. High honors may be awarded by faculty vote for truly exceptional work.
SUMMARY OF ANTHROPOLOGY CURRICULUM
The subject areas within the curriculum are given in the table below.
Ethnography: Anthropology 4, 25, 26, 27, 35, 36, 37, 38, 52, 53, 54.
Cultural: Anthropology 3, 9, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 46, 47, 48, 49, 51, 73
Archaeology: Anthropology 5, 8, 11, 13, 21, 22, 23, 24, 31, 75.
Biological: Anthropology 6, 41, 42, 43, 78.
1. Introduction to Anthropology
04F, 05F: 10
A comprehensive study of humankind, the course will survey and organize the evidence of our biological and cultural evolution. It will explore the unity and diversity of human cultural behavior as exemplified in the widest variations in which this behavior has been manifest. Lectures and readings will describe the dialectical relationship between the material conditions of our existence, on the one hand, and, on the other, the unique human capacity for creativity both in thought and in action. The focus of this course will be not only to outline the conditions and conditioning of our cultural past and present, but also to indicate possibilities for future evolution of human culture and experience. Dist: SOC or INT. Class of 2008 and later: WCult: CI. Watanabe.
3. Introduction to Cultural Anthropology
05S, 05X, 06W: 10
Cultural anthropology is the study of human ways of life in the broadest possible comparative perspective. Cultural anthropologists are interested in all types of societies, from hunting and gathering bands to modern industrial states. The aim of cultural anthropology is to document the full range of human cultural adaptations and achievements and to discern in this great diversity the underlying covariations among and changes in human ecology, institutions and ideologies. (CULT) Dist: SOC or INT; WCult: NW. Endicott. Alverson, Endicott.
4. Peoples and Cultures of Native North America (Identical to Native American Studies 10)
05W, 06W: 11
The course provides an introduction to the peoples and cultures of Native North America. Several indigenous groups (nations) from different “culture areas” are highlighted to emphasize particular forms of economy, social organization, and spirituality. The course focuses on the more traditional American Indian cultures that existed before the establishment of Western domination, as well as on the more recent native culture history and modern-day economic, sociopolitical and cultural continuity, change, and revitalization. The readings include works by anthropologists (Native and non-Native), American Indian academic and tribal historians and autobiographies. Lectures are combined with films and slides.
Open to all classes. (ETHN) Dist: SOC; WCult: NW. Kan.
5. Reconstructing the Past: Introduction to Archaeology
05X:11
Archaeology is the anthropology of past human societies. It has three important goals: (1) studying culture history, (2) reconstructing past life-ways, and (3) understanding culture change. This course will introduce students to the basic principles used to interpret the material remains of past human behavior. Students will do a series of small projects designed to acquaint them with archaeological methods. Case studies will be discussed to demonstrate how archaeologists reconstruct past cultures and investigate changes in them. (ARCH) Dist: SOC. Abdi.
6. Introduction to Biological Anthropology
04F, 05F: 11
The major themes of biological anthropology will be introduced; these include the evolution of the primates, the evolution of the human species, and the diversification and adaptation of modern human populations. Emphasis will be given to (1) the underlying evolutionary framework, and (2) the complex interaction between human biological and cultural existences and the environment. (BIOL) Dist: SCI. Korey.
7. First-Year Seminars in Anthropology
Consult special listings
8. The Rise and Fall of Prehistoric Civilizations
05W: 10 06W: 2
The transformations involved in the evolution from small, non-hierarchical, kinship- based societies to complex state organizations are examined in this course. Basic issues covered will include the change from food-collecting to food-producing societies (‘the Neolithic Revolution’), the development of ranking and stratification, and the emergence of central places and the first cities. Theories of the evolution of civilizations are discussed, and students will become acquainted with archaeological methods of reconstructing past sociopolitical systems. The civilizations considered include Mesopotamia in the Near East, Egypt, the Harappan civilization of the Indus Valley, Teotihuacan and the lowland Maya of Mesoamerica, and the Aztec and Inca Empires. (ARCH) Dist: SOC or INT; WCult: NW. Nichols.
9. Introduction to the Study of Language and Culture
05X: 12
This course will introduce students to the study of human language as a species-specific endowment of humankind. In this investigation we will examine such issues as: 1) the relationship between language use (e.g. metaphoric creativity) and cultural values, 2) the relationships between language diversity and ethnic, political, economic stratification, 3) language use and the communicating of individual identity, thoughts, and intentions in face-to-face interaction, 4) the cultural patterning of speech behavior, and 5) whether or not the structure of specific languages affects the characteristics of culture, cognition, and thought in specific ways. (CULT) Dist: SOC. Alverson.
11. Ancient Native Americans (Identical to Native American Studies 11)
04F: 10A
This course provides an introduction to the ancient societies of North America. Discussion begins with a consideration of the wider social context of archaeological views of Native Americans and how these have changed over time. The course examines the populating of the Americas and related controversies. We then concentrate on the subsequent development of diverse pre-Columbian societies that included hunter-gatherer bands in the Great Basin, the Arctic, and the sub-Arctic; Northwest Coast chiefdoms; farmers of the Southwest, such as Chaco Canyon and the desert Hohokam; and the mound-builders of the Eastern Woodlands. (ARCH) Dist: SOC; WCult: NW. Nichols.
12. Experimental Courses:
04F: 9L, 11 05W: 10, 10A 06W: 10A
In 04F, Religious Conflict and Collective Violence (Identical to Religion 19.2). In this course we will explore the nature of political Islam and the social life of Muslims in South and Southeast Asia, the so-called “periphery” of the Islamic world. Rather than seeking to understand Islam through a study of its authoritative texts, we will explore Islam as lived through social institutions such as purdah in India, Islamic courts in Malaysia, separatist movements in the Philippines and the state in Indonesia. (ETHN) Class of 2007 and earlier: Dist: PHR; WCult: NW. Class of 2008 and later: Dist: TMV; WCult: NW. Didier.
In 04F, Welcome to Amexica (Identical to Latino Studies 45). The U.S.-Mexico borderlands will be examined in ways that take us from a concrete analysis of the region, including conflict and organizing efforts at the border to more abstract notions that include strategies of cultural representations and the forging of new dietetics. We will consider several analytical perspectives relevant to anthropology including: gender, identity, resistance, economics, globablization, migration, and the politics of everyday life. (CULT) Dist. SOC. Class of 2008 and later: WCult: CI. Gutiérrez.
In 05W at 10, Comparative Diasporas (Identical to Jewish Studies 15). This course considers various theories of diaspora (including whether the Jewish experience should be considered a model for diaspora culture), as well as several of the most prominent “new diasporic” formations in our time, such as the Black Atlantic, South and East Asian diasporas, and the Romani (or “Gypsies”). Our study of these diasporas will help us to rethink relations among politics, territory and identity in our time. (CULT) Dist: SOC or INT. Class of 2008 and later: WCult: CI. Boyarin.
In 05W and 06W at 10A, Gender and Sexuality in Cross-Cultural Perspective (Identical to Women’s and Gender Studies 30). This course will explore some of the dominant theories of sex, gender, and sexuality in the social sciences in the past century. Debunking theories of sex difference, we will consider the ways in which scientific narratives are themselves shaped by cultural and social context. We will consider Marxist, structuralist, feminist, and performance-based approaches to the study of gender and sexuality in diverse cultural settings. We will look at gender roles, same-sex sexuality, and the cultural construction of macho and masculinity through case studies from Papua New Guinea, Egypt, Mexico, Bolivia, Africa and the United States. (CULT) Dist: SOC. Class of 2008 and later: WCult: CI. Cullinane.
14. Death and Dying
Not offered in the period from 04F through 06S
15. Political Anthropology
Not offered in the period from 04F through 06S
16. Secrecy and Lying in Politics, Law and Society (Identical to Public Policy 81.7)
Not offered in the period from 04F through 06S
Claims to secret knowledge—in families, organizations, and states—is a form of authority over those who do not possess it. This seminar explores how claims to secret knowledge and lying relate to the institutional and cultural frameworks in which knowledge is produced, the use of “leaks” to challenge hierarchical controls and sometimes sustain them, and the ways in which secrecy, deception, and lying form a necessary and often desirable part of social, political, and economic life. (CULT) Dist: SOC. Eickelman.
17. The Anthropology of Health and Illness
05S: 12
This course will examine how people in various cultures define and make sense of illness and what they do about it. We will consider the metaphors and symbols attached to diseases and healing rituals, asking whether and how ritual really works. We will explore the role of ritual healing in modern society, as well as in preindustrial societies. We will compare indigenous and Western forms of medical practice to discover universal aspects of the tasks of medical care. In recent years there has been an increasing demand for anthropologists to work with physicians in many areas of medicine, among them mental illness, drug abuse, and AIDS. This course will introduce students to anthropological methods and knowledge that contribute to efforts to solve some of the puzzles of disease and illness. (CULT) Dist: SOC or INT. Cullinane.
20. Introduction to Research Methods in Cultural Anthropology
04F, 05F: 3A
This course will introduce students to the premier method of empirical research in cultural anthropology: participant observation, and associated informal dialogue and interviewing. We will study techniques for planning and carrying out such research, and for recording, checking validity and reliability, storing, coding, analyzing and writing up of ethnographic data. Students will undertake “mini” research projects, and become familiar with basic ethical issues, informed consent, writing of research proposals, formulating research contracts, and sharing results with cooperating individuals and groups.
Prerequisite: Anthropology 1 or 3 or one ethnography/culture area course. (CULT) Dist: SOC. Alverson.
21. The Aztecs (Identical to Latin American and Caribbean Studies 42)
05W: 12
For nearly two thousand years the dominant political power in Middle America has resided in central Mexico. Mexico City, the capital of the empire of New Spain and of the modern nation-state of Mexico, lies over the remains of Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec empire. This course examines the development of the Aztec empire and the organization of Aztec society and religion, and the Spanish conquest of the Aztec. It ends with an introduction to Nahua society in the first century after conquest. We will also consider the varied perspectives of Aztec history offered by Nahua texts, archaeology, history, and art history. (ARCH) Dist: SOC; WCult: NW. Nichols.
22. Prehispanic Civilizations of Mesoamerica (Identical to Latin American and Caribbean Studies 43)
Not offered in the period from 04F through 06S
23. Civilization of the Ancient Near East
05S: 11
Often hailed as the “Cradle of Civilization,” the ancient Near East witnessed many major developments in the human career, including the origins of villages and cities, food production, states and empires, and writing. This course will trace the roots of Near Eastern civilization from early sedentary villages to complex political formations. It will also survey socio-political and cultural developments—including religion, literature, and arts and crafts—in Mesopotamia, Persia, Anatolia, and the Levant. (ARCH) Dist: SOC; WCult: NW. Abdi.
24. Civilization of Ancient Egypt
05X: 2
The most majestic of ancient civilizations, Egypt holds a special place in human history. This course will begin with a consideration of how the environment and geography of Egypt shaped the course of Egyptian civilization from the archaic period to the Roman conquest. It will focus on the distinctive features of Egyptian civilization, including the cosmology, institution of kingship, and characteristic style of art and architecture. (ARCH) Dist: SOC; WCult: NW. Abdi.
25. The Land of the Totem Poles: Native Peoples of the Northwest Coast (Identical to Native American Studies 49)
04F, 05F: 2A
With their complex social organization, elaborate ceremonies, fascinating mythology, and flamboyant “art,” the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast represent a truly unique “culture area” of Native North America. The course surveys several cultures of this region (from the coast of Oregon to southeastern Alaska), drawing upon early travelers’ accounts, anthropological works, native testimony, artifacts from the Hood Museum of Art, and films. Lectures, class discussions, and student presentations will deal with the “classic” Northwest Coast cultures of the eighteenth and the nineteenth centuries as well as their modern versions. Open to all classes. (ETHN) Dist: SOC; WCult: NW. Kan.
26. Tribes, Kingdoms, and Nation-States: An Introduction to Southeast Asia (Identical to Asian and Middle Eastern Studies 16)
06W: 2
The cultures of Southeast Asia are remarkably varied, ranging from elaborate Hinduized civilizations (Bali) and modern city-states (Singapore) to “hill tribes” (e.g., the Meo of Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam) and nomadic foraging bands (e.g., the Semang of Malaysia). This course is a survey of Southeast Asian societies focusing on the question of why their cultures take the form they do. This entails an examination of the modes of environmental adaptation of the various peoples, their integration into regional and world-wide systems, and the historical influences of the great civilizations of India, China, the Middle East, and Europe. The course looks at how Southeast Asians live and at the religions that give meaning to their lives. (ETHN) Dist: SOC; WCult: NW. Endicott.
27. Thought and Change in the Middle East and Central Asia (Identical to Asian and Middle Eastern Studies 5)
Not offered in the period from 04F through 06S
30. Archaeology of Early Humans
05F: 2
This course introduces students to the archaeology of our early human ancestors. We begin with a survey of humankind’s discovery of its remote past and then review human cultural evolution from the first appearance of proto-humans 2.5 million years ago to the end of the Paleolithic period. We discuss such groundbreaking developments as the origins of tool-making, the discovery of fire, human radiation out of Africa, and the origins of language, social organizations, and arts. (ARCH) Dist: SOC. Abdi.
35. Culture, Class, and Community in Contemporary Mesoamerica (Identical to Latin American and Caribbean Studies 41)
05S: 9L
A comparative study of the Hispanic and indigenous societies of Mexico and Guatemala, this course will focus upon the synthesis of three developments that play a major role in the problems of nation-building and the formation of national consciousness in this region of the world: (a) the mixing of Spanish and preColumbian civilizations that has led to the creation of vital, if contradictory, indigenous cultures; (b) the role of conflicting social relations between the masses and elites and their effect upon demographic, economic, and intellectual developments; and (c) the new geopolitical importance of this region for the U.S. and the reciprocal growing influences of Hispanic culture in contemporary North America.
Prerequisite: One course in Anthropology or Latin American, Latino and Caribbean Studies. (ETHN) Dist: SOC; WCult: NW. Watanabe.
36. Culture and Culture Change in Post-Colonial Africa (Identical to African and African American Studies 44)
04F: 12
This course will survey principal changes in institutions and ideologies which have taken place in rural and in urban communities of southern, central, and west Africa over the past half century. Emphasis will be placed on study of the responses and adaptations of indigenous arts (cultural, architectural, ritual, and healing) and associated cultural ideologies to the intrusions into, and appropriations of, African communities by Western institutions and interests. Case study material will draw on peoples of the modern African nations: South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Congo, Cameroon, Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Mali.
Prerequisite: One introductory course in anthropology or in AAAS or by permission. (ETHN). Dist: SOC; WCult: NW. Alverson.
37. Legacies of Conquest: Latin America (Identical to Latin American and Caribbean Studies 45)
04F: 12
Despite nearly five hundred years of conquest, colonialism, and change, native peoples still survive in culturally distinct enclaves within the dominant Iberian traditions of Latin America. This course examines the roots as well as the endemic social inequalities and prejudices that resulted. Selected cast studies will relate to such contemporary problems as international drug trafficking, deforestation of the Amazon basin, and ongoing political repression and revolution in Central America. The course draws on the insights of local ethnographic studies to shed light on global problems, while anthropologically situating native cultures of Latin America in their larger historical and geopolitical context.
Prerequisite: One course in anthropology or Latin American and Caribbean Studies. (ETHN). Dist: SOC. Class of 2007 and earlier: WCult: NW. Class of 2008 and later: WCult: CI. Watanabe.
38. Peoples of Oceania
04F: 10 05F: 12
This course will deal with the ancient, historical, and contemporary aboriginal peoples of Polynesia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and New Guinea. It will investigate migrations of humans into the Pacific, their adaptation to the island environments, the variety of sociocultural systems that arose, and the relationships between the various peoples of the region. It will also consider some effects on Oceanic cultures of trade, colonialism, missionaries, the second world war, tourists, ethnic self-consciousness, and national independence.
Prerequisite: Anthropology 1 or 3 or permission of the instructor. (ETHN) Dist: SOC; WCult: NW. Welsch, Endicott.
41. Hominid Evolution
05W: 2A
This course examines human evolution primarily from the perspectives of paleontology and archaeology. It emphasizes contemporary attempts to reconstruct the hominid past by drawing variously upon morphological, ecological, and cultural considerations. Attention is also given to the patterns of biomolecular variation illuminating the origin of the human lineage and on the subsequent appearance of the modern species.
Prerequisite: Anthropology 6 or permission of the instructor. (BIOL) Dist: SCI. Korey.
42. Biological Diversity in Modern Populations
06W: 10A
The processes and factors shaping the biological variability of the living human species are examined in this course. The adaptive and historical connections between human biology, culture, and environment are explored mainly from the perspective of human population genetics, whose principles are developed in formal terms. Topics include the distribution and organization of genetic diversity, the influences of natural and cultural selection on the human genome, and the patterning of traits of complex and multifactorial inheritance. While knowledge of calculus is not a prerequisite, some mathematical preparation is highly recommended.
Prerequisite: Anthropology 6 or permission of the instructor. (BIOL) Dist: SCI. Korey.
43. Human Osteology
04F, 05F: 2
This course is concerned with analysis of skeletal remains of earlier human populations. Topics include bone morphology, principles of bone growth and remodelling, biomechanical aspects of bone structure, analysis of variation within and between populations, paleo-pathology, and paleodemography. Practical techniques, emphasizing fragment identification, aging, and sexing, are intensively developed in regular laboratory sessions and are central to the course. Prerequisite: Anthropology 6 or permission of the instructor. (BIOL) Dist: SLA. Korey.
46. Culture, Economy, and Development Policy in the World’s Poorer Regions
05F: 10
Anthropologists and historians, trained and socialized in intellectual traditions, increasingly recognize the complementarity of their shared assumption and research strategies. This course explores new developments in both which take this complementarity into account. Topics to be explored include feudalism, inequality and stratification, family and household, and the social functions of the past. Strategies for writing ethnographies and histories are also discussed. Open to sophomores, juniors, and seniors. (CULT) Dist: SOC: WCult: NW. Alverson.
47. Hunters and Gatherers
05F: 2
This course explores the hunting and gathering way of life, the sole means of human subsistence until the development of agriculture 10,000 years ago, now represented by only a few dozen groups around the world. We will examine a number of hunting and gathering peoples living in highly disparate environments— deserts, tropical forests, arctic regions— in an attempt to discover how they adapt to their natural and social environments, how they organize and perpetuate their societies, and how they bring meaning to their lives through religion. Understanding contemporary hunter-gatherers illuminates the workings of earlier human societies as well as fundamental features of human society in general, such as the sexual division of labor.
Prerequisite: One introductory Anthropology course. (CULT) Dist: SOC or INT; WCult: NW. Endicott.
48. The Anthropology of Religion
05S, 06S: 11
In this course religions are seen as cultural systems which give shape and meaning to the world in which people live and provide a means, in the form of rituals, by which they can attempt to manipulate those worlds. The emphasis is on understanding non-Western religions, especially those of tribal peoples, through the interpretation of myth, ritual, and expressed beliefs. The role of religion as a social institution is also examined. Alternative approaches to the interpretation of myth, ritual symbolism, deity conceptions, witchcraft, etc., are explored.
Prerequisite: One course in Anthropology or Religion or permission of the instructor. (CULT) Dist: SOC or INT; WCult: NW. Kan.
51. Colonialism and Its Legacies
05W, 06W: D.F.S.P.
Between the early 16th and mid 20th centuries, European nations and Japan colonized much of the rest of the world. This course looks at the history of colonialism in various parts of the world, focusing on the similarities and differences between colonialism as practiced by different colonial rulers in different regions at different times. It also traces the ways in which the colonial process and experience has shaped the world we live in today, both in developed and developing nations, in such areas as political systems, economic systems, religions, and interethnic relations.
Prerequisite: Any two courses in anthropology; Anthropology 38 highly recommended. (CULT) Dist: SOC or INT; WCult: NW. Endicott, Watanabe.
52. Introduction to Maori Society
05W, 06W: D.F.S.P.
This course is an introduction to the study of traditional and contemporary Maori society and culture. Topics for study include pre-european Maori history, origin and migration traditions, land ownership and use, religion, leadership, meeting ground (marae) protocols, the colonial experience, struggles of resistance and of cultural recovery. (ETHN) Dist: SOC. WCult: NW.
53. Ethnography of Island Polynesia
05W, 06W: D.F.S.P.
This course examines “traditional” aspects of Polynesian societies and cultures as they are presented and interpreted in ethnographic and historical studies and in the works of indigenous authors. The themes of “modernization” and “development” are also addressed. The course begins with an overview of Polynesia as a geographical and historical region. Then the diversity and correspondences among six Polynesian societies—Tikopoia, Tokelau, Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, and Hawaii—are explored in greater detail. (ETHN) Dist: SOC. WCult: NW.
54. Foreign Study in Anthropology
05W, 06W. D.F.S.P.
Credit for this course is awarded to students who have successfully completed the designated course in the department of Anthropology at the University of Auckland during the Dartmouth foreign study program in Anthropology and Linguistics and Cognitive Science.
Prerequisite: Two courses in Anthropology. Dist: SOC.
60. Knowledge, Power, and Representation in Native American Studies (Identical to Native American Studies 54)
05W: 2A 06W: 12
One of the key goals of Native American Studies is to re-center the representation of Indians from the perspective of Native American peoples and communities. This course will examine the structural and the disciplinary constraints that prevent this goal from being realized, as well as the potential intellectual downfalls of this goal. In particular, the course will explore the critiques of academic representation and research practices offered by contemporary Native American scholars and place them in dialogue with scholars from the ‘dominant’ disciplines that study Indians—anthropology, history, and literature.
Open to all classes. Dist: SOC. Class of 2007 and earlier: WCult: NA. Class of 2008 and later: WCult: CI. Ranco.
Culminating Seminars
Enrollment in all culminating seminars will normally be limited to seniors, with others by permission.
73. Main Currents in Anthropology
04F: 10A 05F: 12
In this course we will examine the major frameworks (and major protagonists of each) which/who have advanced anthropology’s investigation, understanding, and explanation of human culture(s). Those anthropologists whose contributions to anthropology we will study, are Bronislaw Malinowski, A.R. Radcliffe-Brown, Mary Douglas, Claude Levi- Strauss, Marshall Sahlins, Clifford Geertz, Victor Turner, Marvin Harris, Maurice Godelier, and certain proponents of the post-modern interpretive school of anthropology. (CULT) Dist: SOC. Eickelman, Watanabe.
75. Ecology, Culture, and Environment
04F: 2A
Anthropology’s interest in the interactions of humans and their environments has been longstanding, especially in archaeology. In this seminar we will consider changing conceptual frameworks for understanding human-environmental interactions and longstanding debates about nature vs. culture, materialist vs. symbolic approaches, the development of cultural ecology, and the new “ecologies.” We will draw on the research of archaeologists, biological and sociocultural anthropologists, geographers, and historians. (ARCH) Dist: SOC. Nichols.
78. Genes, Culture and Behavior: A Sociology of Science
06W: 2A
This is an interdisciplinary culminating seminar for senior anthropology majors; it also fulfills the department’s requirement for a course in biological anthropology. The central theme of the seminar concerns the framing of the modern discourse on human genetics and evolution in light of extra-scientific attitudes and commitments—primarily ideological. Topics will include the eugenics movement and geneticists’ attitudes about race before World War II, reconstitution of physical anthropology in the postwar period, civil rights and feminism as precipitants of scientific revisionism, and contemporary debates on the significance of the genes as determinants of behaviors notably associated with race, sex, and sexual orientation. (BIOL) Dist: SOC. Class of 2008 and later: WCult: CI. Korey.
85. Reading Course
All terms: Arrange
Students who would like to pursue intensive, supervised study in some particular aspect of anthropology will be expected to justify such study by means of a fully developed proposal which must gain the approval of the department. Normally open only to seniors.
Prerequisite: written permission of the department faculty member who will be advising the student.
87. Research Course
All terms: Arrange
This course is designed for the student who has an interest in research and a particular problem that he or she desires to investigate. A faculty adviser will be assigned to each student to supervise the work through regular meetings or conferences. Usually a formal paper embodying the results of the research is required. Any student desiring to enroll in Anthropology 87 must first submit a formal research proposal to the department. Consult with the Chair for details of such a proposal. Normally open only to seniors.
Prerequisite: written permission of the department faculty member who will be advising the student.
88. Anthropology Honors
All terms: Arrange
Open only to honors seniors by arrangement with the Chair. Admission to the honors program shall be by formal written proposal only. Consult with Chair concerning the details.
Prerequisite: written permission of the department faculty member who will be advising the student.