Anthropology Catalog of Courses Course Descriptions
Courses that meet Major Area Requirements:
Principles of Social Analysis
ANTH 2190 Desire and World Economics
This course offers an insight into the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services practiced by peoples ignored or unknown to classic Western economics. Its principle focus will open upon the obvious differences between cultural concepts of the self and the very notion of its desire. Such arguments as those which theorize on the "rationality" of the market and the "naturalness" of competition will be debunked. (3.0 Units)
ANTH 2210 Marriage and Family
This course compares domestic groups in Western and non-Western societies. Considers the kinds of sexual unions legitimized in different cultures, patterns of childrearing, causes and effects of divorce, and the changing relations between the family and society. (3.0 Units)
ANTH 2230 Fantasy and Social Values
An examination of imaginary societies, in particular those in science fiction novels, to see how they reflect the problems and tensions of real social life. Attention is given to "alternate cultures" and fictional societal models. A "cultural imaginary" allows us to think carefully about implications of gender, technology, and social existence that we, for very good reasons, are not allowed to experiment upon. Three papers, mandatory attendance in lecture. (3.0 Units)
ANTH 2280 Medical Anthropology
Medical Anthropology is a growing and important new subfield within general anthropology. Medical Anthropology compares different cultures' ideas about illness and curing. Although disease is a concept referring to a pathological condition of the body in which functioning is disturbed, illness is a cultural concept: a condition marked by deviation from what is considered a normal, healthy state. Treatment of illness in Western industrial societies focuses on curing specific diseased organs or controlling a specific virus. In many so-called "traditional" societies greater emphasis is placed on the social and psychological dimensions of illness. In this course we will learn that different cultures, even in the United States have different ways to talk about illness, and that the American medical community is at times as "culture bound" as anywhere. "Science" does not stand outside culture. (3.0 Units)
ANTH 2291 Global Culture and Public Health
This course is an introduction to the rapidly expanding anthropological subfield of medical anthropology. It explores how social, cultural, economic, and political factors shape experiences of illness and health in a comparative and transnational manner. This course will show students how illness is understood and perceived in different socio-cultural contexts. It will address how notions of the body, practices of care, and socio-political conditions influence illness experiences and health outcomes. By considering biomedicine alongside other cultural medical systems, students will learn that there is more to health and illness than biology. (3.0 Units)
ANTH 2310 Symbol and Ritual
This course will introduce the student to the social meaning of rituals and symbols. We will look at symbols not only in rituals but also those embedded in "everyday life." Likewise, we will study rituals not only as recognized ceremonies but also as accepted parts of our normal routines. (3.0 Units)
ANTH 2320 Anthropology of Religion
Ritual provides the characteristic approach of anthropology to the comparative study of religion, and the analysis of ritual is anthropology's major contribution to that project. Everywhere ritual permeates social life, yet in no other category of behavior is the exoticness of other cultures more in evidence. This course asks commonsense questions about religion and ritual, and shows how far we have come towards answering them in a century of theorizing. There are no prerequisites for this course, which is designed to be accessible to those with no background in anthropology. (3.0 Units)
ANTH 2325 Anthropology of God
How does the study of society and culture create an intellectual space for any explanation and experience of the Divine? How does anthropology deal specifically with explaining (rather than the explaining away) knowledge and understanding about divinity? Is God an American? If God has a gender and race, what are they? These and many other pertinent questions will be engaged and tackled in this cross-cultural study of the divine. (3.0 Units)
ANTH 2340 Anthropology of Birth and Death
Relevant anthropological approaches, studies and perspectives are discussed for understanding crucial human life-cycle events and related issues in today's social life. Comparative social-religious-ritual, bio-cultural, and medical anthropological approaches will be pursued to explicate (a) human reproduction issues, birthing and child-rearing practices; (b) race, caste, gender and aging inequalities; (c) food, nutrition and self-image issues; and (d) qualities of life, dying, death and afterlife issues. (3.0 Units)
ANTH 2360 Don Juan and Castaneda
Castaneda and Don Juan: “Cracking the Castaneda Code,” a hard “second look” at the supposedly “subjective” vistas of the Meso-American power-quest. Objectivity comes to the rescue of what was once thought to be America’s worse drug scandal. Nine books; three papers, no final exam. Class attendance mandatory. (3.0 Units)
ANTH 2365 Art and Anthropology
The course will emphasize art in small-scale (contemporary) societies (sometimes called ethnic art or “primitive art”). It will include a survey of aesthetic productions of major areas throughout the world (Australia, Africa, Oceania, Native America, Meso-America). We will also read about and discuss such issues as art (and architecture) and cultural identity, tourist arts, anonymity, authenticity, the question of universal aesthetic cannons, exhibiting cultures, the difference between the bellas artes and arte popular, and the impact of globalization on these arts. The class will visit the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection, the Inuit Study Gallery, the Fralin Museum storage facility on Millmont, and the Object Study Gallery at the UVA Art Museum. (The student should also try and travel to Washington D.C. to visit the National Museum of the American Indian and the National Museum of African Art [extra credit possible]. (3.0 Units)
ANTH 2559-001 Internet Is Another Country
We explore the Internet as a mode of exchange and communication that has produced a series of social institutions in the economic, political, and cultural spheres in the context of globalization. Using anthropological literature as our guide, we will describe and analyze emerging s ocial and cognitive formations associated with Facebook, Google, Wikipedia, and other Internet zones. Students will create an online ethnography of the web. (3.0 Units)
ANTH 3129 Marriage, Mortality, Fertility
This course will explore the ways that culturally formed systems of values and family organization affect population processes in a variety of cultures. Topics to be discussed will include (1) marriage strategies and alternatives, the problem of unbalanced sex ratios at marriageable age, systems of polygamy and polyandry, divorce, widowhood and remarriage; (2) fertility decision making, premodern methods of birth control and spacing, infanticide; (3) disease history, the impact of epidemics and famine, the differential impact of mortality by gender, age, and class, the impact of improved nutrition and modern medicine; (4) migration, regional systems, and variation through time and space in the structure of populations. (3.0 Units)
ANTH 3320 Shamanism, Healing, and Ritual
The course delves into the sources of shamanism and ritual healing. It provides understanding of their different logic, and therefore why they communicate and heal. The class brings to life the reports and experiences of contemporary non-Western shamanic and healing rituals, maintaining respect for native interpretations in order to understand the effectiveness of their rituals. We will emphasize the human, personal experience of the events as living processes, and will use the in-depth studies of scholars who have become more than academics and who sometimes participate as practitioners of the crafts about which they seek knowledge. The experiencing and practicing of shamanism and healing being the actual life of these crafts, we will learn how to approximate a sense of these rituals by enacting them. A term paper is required, also a book presentation and short papers during the term. (3.0 Units)
ANTH 5529-002 Kinship & Citizenship
At the intersection of health and politics, we see how some bodies are structurally more susceptible to disease and death, and some lives are treated as mattering less. As we examine conflicts around health and healing, social injury, and life and death, we can trace new practices and relationships of care and activism, addressing contemporary social justice struggles in novel and even radical ways. We will address these topics from a critical medical anthropological lens. (3.0 Units)
Socio-cultural
ANTH 2156 Peoples and Cultures of Africa
Studies African modernity through a close reading of ethnographies, social histories, novels, and African feature films. (3.0 Units)
ANTH 2500 Cultures, Regions, and Civilizations: Inside Iran: Everyday Life in the Islamic Republic
This course will explore the cultural politics of kinship, Islam, and everyday life in post-revolutionary Iran. Moving beyond the sensationalist headlines, the course will use ethnographies on Iran (and elsewhere in the Middle East), films, and popular media to challenge commonly held assumptions about gender, martyrdom, and the veil the Islamic world. This course will additionally provide a very basic introduction to the anthropology of the Middle East and Islam, including concepts such as orientalism and islamaphobia. (3.0 Units)
ANTH 3152 Amazonian Peoples
Native Lowland South American people have been portrayed as "animistic", "totemic", "shamanic", "mythologic", "Dreauduan", "slash and burn horticulturalists", "stateless", "gentle", "fierce", and much more. What do these anthropological portraits mean and what do they contribute to the collective body of Western intellectual thought? Is there any relation between such thinking and the experience of being "Indian" in Amazonian societies? Are there any other ways of understanding the Amazonian social experiences? This course addresses these questions through a reading of the ethnography of the region. This course will satisfy the non-western perspectives requirement. (3.0 Units)
ANTH 3155 Anthropology of Everyday American Life
Taking a production and exchange orientation to society, this course uses anthropological models to analyze aspects of the US experience in North America and its extension into the world. The models will be drawn primarily from the anthropological analysis of exchange, rites of transition, sacrifice and mythology. Although introduced by issues drawn from the immediate questions of American culture, the course has a serious historical orientation. It runs from our 19th century foundation up to contemporary crises. In addition to attending class and a Discussion section students will write several response papers (2-4 pages/) and one research project outline/paper (10+/_ pages) built out of the response papers but involving additional library or ethnographic research. There will be no tests; in-class quizzes may be given. The course should satisfy Second Writing Requirement. (3.0 Units)
ANTH 3550 Ethnography
Readings in Ethnography An ethnography is the characteristic way of presenting the results of research in anthropology. They provide our claim to knowing something interesting and useful about the world. But ethnographies vary widely in their style of presentation, theoretical underpinnings, and success at convincing the reader. This course explores this variety by close readings of half a dozen texts ranging over several continents. Requirements: this course is restricted to majors in anthropology who have already taken ANTH 301. It also requires weekly readings, for which there will be quizzes in class, plus two essays. (3.0 Units)
ANTH 3590-01 Transnational East Asia
South Korea and China are countries “on the move.” By this I refer to their tumultuous histories as well as the increased circulation of people, ideas, and objects within and across their national borders. Through cross-cultural comparison of China and South Korea, this course asks in what ways have border crossing-activities and mobility within circuits of global capitalism altered the way life is lived and imagined both at home and in Korean and Chinese communities overseas? Seeking new transnational milieu, we will explore the challenges that mobility poses to concepts of ethnic/national identity, citizenship, gender and family formation. Topics include, but won’t be limited to, the new forms of marriage and romance mediated by the global economy; diasporic cultures; migrant laborers and “split transnational families;” consumer practices; overseas entrepreneurs; transnational adoptees; and return migrants and their (re)encounter with their imagined homelands. (3.0 Units)
ANTH 3590-02 Development and Culture in Africa
This course draws on critical theory to examine social issues and development in Africa. It explores the general contours of European colonialism, national independence, and the position of African states in today's global economic order. The course exposes students to various theories of underdevelopment and draws on case studies (Sudan, Rwanda, South Africa) to discuss issues related to race, class, labor, gender, trade & HIV/AIDS. (3.0 Units)
ANTH 3630 Chinese Family and Religion
Analyzes various features of traditional Chinese social organization as it existed in the late imperial period. Includes the late imperial state; Chinese family and marriage; lineages; ancestor worship; popular religion; village social structure; regional systems; and rebellion. (3.0 Units)
ANTH 3680 Anthropology of Australian Aboriginal Art
This class will study the intersection of anthropology, art and material culture focusing on Australian Aboriginal art. We will examine how Aboriginal art has moved from relative obscurity to global recognition over the past thirty years. Topics include the historical and cultural contexts of invention, production, marketing and appropriation of Aboriginal art. (3.0 Units)
ANTH 3700 Contemporary India
An anthropological discussion of selected changing aspects of and issues in India since independence, with a focus on interdependently transforming Indian modernity and traditions in the (a) changisng social organization; (b) leaders, caste politics and Indian democracy; (c) social inequalities, Indian modernity and the middle class; (d) religious diversity, religious rituals and politics; and (e) India in the Indian Diaspora. (3.0 Units)
ANTH 5510 The Middle East in Ethnography Perspective
Survey of the anthropological literature on the Middle East & N. Africa. Begins historically with traditional writing on the "middle east" and proceeds to critiques of this tradition and attempts at new ways of constructing knowledge of this world region. Readings juxtapose theoretical and descriptive work toward critically appraising modern writers' success in overcoming the critiques leveled against their predecessors. (3.0 Units)
Archaeology
ANTH 2589 Archaeology of Slavery
TBA (3.0 Units)
ANTH 2800 Introduction to Archaeology
This course introduces the history and goals of archaeological research, different theoretical approaches to the study of ancient societies and culture change, and archaeological methods. Alongside this study of archaeological method and theory, we will explore major transformations in human history through archaeological case studies and discoveries from important sites worldwide. The class meets as a lecture on Monday and Wednesday and students take an additional mandatory discussion section. (3.0 Units)
ANTH 3589-01 Landscape Archaeology
This course examines current archaeological approaches to the reconstruction and explanation of the ways in which humans at once shaped and adapted to past landscapes. It emphasizes current theory as well as GIS and statistical methods for the analysis of diverse data - from pollen spectra to topography. The course is structured around a series of projects in which students will have an opportunity to make sense of real archaeological data. (3.0 Units)
ANTH 3589-02 Topics in Archaelogy: Lithic Technology
Stone artifacts provide a principal means for inferring various aspects of human behavior in prehistory. Aside from lecture and seminar-like discussion, students will learn by making and using stone tools, collecting descriptive data from stone artifacts, and summarizing and interpreting those data in reports. This hands-on course focuses on production technology and tool use as a means for understanding these aspects with prehistoric artifacts. (3.0 Units)
ANTH 3830 North American Archaeology
This course provides an overview of the contributions of archaeological research to our understanding of the long term history of North America, particularly the history of indigenous Native American people. Following an introductory study of the diverse history of archaeological research in North American from the 18th century to the present, the course shifts focus to specific topics of interest. Among these are the debate over the timing and process of the initial peopling of the Americas, the development of distinctive regional traditions, discussions of the origins of domestication and regional exchange systems and the rise and fall of chiefdoms in prehistory, colonial encounters between Europeans and Native Americans, and the historical archaeology of Europeans and Africans in Colonial America. (3.0 Units)
ANTH 3840 Archaeology of the Middle East
We explore the prehistory and early history of the Middle East and Egypt, focusing mainly on the period from ca. 11,000 to 4000 BP. Through both lectures and discussion, we will examine archaeological research and findings on the origins of food production (the domestication of plants and animals), the earliest village communities, the origins of social ranking, the advent of state societies, urbanism and the origins of writing systems. (3.0 Units)
Linguistics
ANTH 2400 Language and Culture
A survey of topics having to do with the relationship between language, culture, and society. We will consider both how language is described and analyzed by linguists and how evidence from language can shed light on a variety of social, cultural, and cognitive phenomena. Topics include: nature of language, origins of language, how languages change, writing systems, use of linguistic evidence to make inferences about prehistory, the effects of linguistic categories on thought and behavior, regional and social variation in language, and cultural rules for communication. Course includes an plus obligatory discussion section. Satisfies the College Non-Western perspectives requirement. (3.0 Units)
ANTH 2410 Sociolinguistics
Every "single" living language is in practice an unbounded array of linguistic forms, functions, and feelings distributed unequally among speakers. Sociolinguists take such variety and inequality as starting points for investigating language as a crucially social (rather than essentially mental) phenomenon. In this introductory course, we will survey how languages vary through time, across space, and among social groups while also thinking about how times, spaces, and social groups are themselves shaped by linguistic variation. No background in linguistics or anthropology is required. (3.0 Units)
ANTH 2420 Language and Gender
In many societies, differences in pronunciation, vocabulary choice, and/or communicative style serve as social markers of gender identity and differentiation. We will compare gender differences in our own society with those in other societies including non-Western ones. Topics to be addressed include: the relation between gender difference and gender inequality (in scholarly discussion of language as well as in language itself); intersection of gender, race, and social class in language use; gender and non-verbal communication (including representations of gender in advertising and the media); issues of nature vs. nurture in explaining these differences. Requirements will include one or two papers based on fieldwork conducted jointly with a working group, participation in the required discussion section, and a take-home essay question exam focusing on the course readings and lectures. (3.0 Units)
ANTH 2470 Reflections of Exile: Jewish Languages and their Communities
Covers Jewish languages Yiddish, Judeo-Arabic, Ladino, and Hebrew from historical, linguistic, and literary perspectives Explores the relations between communities and languages, the nature of diaspora, and the death and revival of languages. No prior knowledge of these languages is required. (3.0 Units)
ANTH 3455 African Languages
TBA (3.0 Units)
ANTH 3480 Language and Prehistory
This course covers the basic principles of diachronic linguistics - the study of how languages change over time - and discusses the uses of linguistic data in the reconstruction of prehistory. We will consider the use of linguistic evidence in tracing prehistoric population movements, in demonstrating contact among prehistoric groups, and in the reconstruction of daily life. To the extent that the literature permits, examples and case studies will be drawn from the Mayan language area of Central America, and will include discussion of the pre-Columbian Mayan writing system and its ongoing decipherment. This course fulfills the linguistics distribution requirement for Anthropology majors and for Cognitive Science majors. It also fulfills the comparative-historical requirement for Linguistics majors. (3.0 Units)
ANTH 3490 Language and Thought
There is almost always more than one way to think about any problem. But could speaking a particular language make some strategies and solutions seem more natural than others to individuals? Can we learn about alternative ways of approaching the external world by studying other languages? The classic proposal of linguistic relativity as enunciated by Benjamin Lee Whorf is examined in the light of recent cross-cultural psycholinguistic research. This class fulfills the Linguistics requirement for Anthropology and for Cognitive Science majors. It fulfills the Theory requirement for Linguistics majors. (3.0 Units)
ANTH 5420 Theories of Language
We will survey a number of modern schools of linguistics, both American and European, trying to understand each approach in terms of its historical context, the goals it sets itself, the assumptions it makes about the nature of language, and the relation between theory and methodology. Grades will depend on: four or five written homework assignments that ask you to look at some data from a particular theoretical perspective; weekly reading responses, a take-home, open-book final exam; and evidence (from class discussion) that you have been doing the readings, which are an essential part of the course. (3.0 Units)
Major Requirements
ANTH 3010 Theory and History of Anthropology
This course is designed for students who are majoring in anthropology. It presents a broad historical outline of major theoretical approaches in the field, from the late 19th century to the present. These approaches will be examined in relation to both evolving debates within the discipline, and the larger historical, cultural and intellectual contexts in which they were produced, and which they to some degree reflect; we will also discuss the enduring relevance of these theories. The course stresses close reading of primary texts and emphasizes in particular the critical analysis of these texts' arguments. The discussion section is obligatory. This is a required course for anthropology majors. (3.0 Units)
ANTH 4991-001 Anthropology, Violence, and, Human Rights
This seminar examines how anthropology has approached human rights, what human rights can gain from anthropological insight, and the cultural meanings attached to human rights and violations thereof, such as genocide and discrimination. Among the questions we will address are: What are rights, and are they culture specific? What happens when cultural and religious norms contradict notions of universal human rights? Are some rights more important than other rights? Can, for example, political rights be ignored if it would help national security or socio-economic development or are there situations when women's rights should take a back seat to religious rights? How are violence and the absence of rights experienced and justified? And is there a culture of human rights, or do human rights activists have their own way of experiencing the world, viewing social issues, and seeking to effect legal and social changes? (3.0 Units)
ANTH 4991-001 Anthropology of the Middle East
This seminar course explores the ways that Middle Eastern ethnographies have contributed to anthropological debates on topics such as history and memory, tribalism gender, religion and secularism, colonialism, nationalism, and markets. We will examine the portrayals of Middle Eastern societies in the Western world and consider how this has changed through time. Second, we will explore the relevance of archaeological and historical narratives to modern communities in the Middle East. Finally, a series of ethnographies (and films) will highlight both the heterogeneous nature of Middle Eastern societies and the anthropological issues confronted by these works. (3.0 Units)
ANTH 4991-003 TBA
This seminar explores the comparative archaeology of colonialism, emphasizing European expansions post AD 1500 but contextualizing them against a backdrop of other archaeologically known examples, e.g., in the ancient Near East, the Classical Mediterranean world, and cases of internal colonialism. In addition to the archaeology itself, we will be considering the success of various perspectives in terms of translating and communicating the human experience of being colonized. The core of the class will be critical readings of case studies and attention to the changing theoretical landscape of colonialism studies. This course can fulfill the Second Writing Requirement. (3.0 Units)
Senior Seminars
ANTH 4991-001 Anthropology, Violence, and, Human Rights
This seminar examines how anthropology has approached human rights, what human rights can gain from anthropological insight, and the cultural meanings attached to human rights and violations thereof, such as genocide and discrimination. Among the questions we will address are: What are rights, and are they culture specific? What happens when cultural and religious norms contradict notions of universal human rights? Are some rights more important than other rights? Can, for example, political rights be ignored if it would help national security or socio-economic development or are there situations when women's rights should take a back seat to religious rights? How are violence and the absence of rights experienced and justified? And is there a culture of human rights, or do human rights activists have their own way of experiencing the world, viewing social issues, and seeking to effect legal and social changes? (3.0 Units)
ANTH 4991-001 Anthropology of the Middle East
This seminar course explores the ways that Middle Eastern ethnographies have contributed to anthropological debates on topics such as history and memory, tribalism gender, religion and secularism, colonialism, nationalism, and markets. We will examine the portrayals of Middle Eastern societies in the Western world and consider how this has changed through time. Second, we will explore the relevance of archaeological and historical narratives to modern communities in the Middle East. Finally, a series of ethnographies (and films) will highlight both the heterogeneous nature of Middle Eastern societies and the anthropological issues confronted by these works. (3.0 Units)
ANTH 4991-003 TBA
This seminar explores the comparative archaeology of colonialism, emphasizing European expansions post AD 1500 but contextualizing them against a backdrop of other archaeologically known examples, e.g., in the ancient Near East, the Classical Mediterranean world, and cases of internal colonialism. In addition to the archaeology itself, we will be considering the success of various perspectives in terms of translating and communicating the human experience of being colonized. The core of the class will be critical readings of case studies and attention to the changing theoretical landscape of colonialism studies. This course can fulfill the Second Writing Requirement. (3.0 Units)
Beyond the West
ANTH 1050 Anthropology of Globalization
The Anthropology of Globalization introduces the social and cultural aspects of global integration. While human communities have always been connected to one another in important ways, recent history has seen a quickening of transportation and communication, increasing the circulation of people, objects, and ideas across significant distances. In this course, we will explore the human side of this circulation: how does it shape people's experiences, and how is it shaped in turn by people's understandings of what is possible, desirable, or inevitable. We will read ethnographic studies of people who are engaged in or responding to global forces and processes. How are global connections contributing to the complexity and interdependence of diverse human cultures? What new forms of social, political, economic, and religious networks are emerging? What kinds of disconnection, exclusion, and inequality? Topics addressed in the course will include the early history of global commodities in imperialism, the cultural specificity of economic markets and trade, the cultural roles of big business and NGOs, the experience of workers in global supply chains, the tension between the local and the cosmopolitan in emerging forms of consumer culture and middle class affluence, illegal and informal economies, neoliberalism and financialization, bor migration, totourism and voluntourism, approaches to lessening poverty and marketing to the "bottom of the pyramid," and the global circulation of music, arts, and performed cultural heritage. We will consider how ideas about globalization themselves circulate and how they are diversely framed from different political, economic, and cultural viewpoints. How are ideas of the "global" and "globalization" used to describe the world as well as to change it? How do global processes look when viewed from above and when viewed from below? (3.0 Units)
ANTH 2156 Peoples and Cultures of Africa
Castaneda and Don Juan: “Cracking the Castaneda Code,” a hard “second look” at the supposedly “subjective” vistas of the Meso-American power-quest. Objectivity comes to the rescue of what was once thought to be America’s worse drug scandal. Nine books; three papers, no final exam. Class attendance mandatory. (3.0 Units)
ANTH 2360 Don Juan and Castaneda
Castaneda and Don Juan: “Cracking the Castaneda Code,” a hard “second look” at the supposedly “subjective” vistas of the Meso-American power-quest. Objectivity comes to the rescue of what was once thought to be America’s worse drug scandal. Nine books; three papers, no final exam. Class attendance mandatory. (3.0 Units)
ANTH 2365 Anthropology of Art
The course will emphasize art in small-scale (contemporary) societies (sometimes called ethnic art or “primitive art”). It will include a survey of aesthetic productions of major areas throughout the world (Australia, Africa, Oceania, Native America, Meso-America). We will also read about and discuss such issues as art (and architecture) and cultural identity, tourist arts, anonymity, authenticity, the question of universal aesthetic cannons, exhibiting cultures, the difference between the bellas artes and arte popular, and the impact of globalization on these arts. The class will visit the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection, the Inuit Study Gallery, the Fralin Museum storage facility on Millmont, and the Object Study Gallery at the UVA Art Museum. (The student should also try and travel to Washington D.C. to visit the National Museum of the American Indian and the National Museum of African Art [extra credit possible]. (3.0 Units)
ANTH 2500 Cultures, Regions, and Civilizations: Inside Iran: Everyday Life in the Islamic Republic
This course will explore the cultural politics of kinship, Islam, and everyday life in post-revolutionary Iran. Moving beyond the sensationalist headlines, the course will use ethnographies on Iran (and elsewhere in the Middle East), films, and popular media to challenge commonly held assumptions about gender, martyrdom, and the veil the Islamic world. This course will additionally provide a very basic introduction to the anthropology of the Middle East and Islam, including concepts such as orientalism and islamaphobia. (3.0 Units)
ANTH 2589 Ancient African Cities
TBA (3.0 Units)
ANTH 2589 Archaeology of Slavery
TBA (3.0 Units)
ANTH 3152 Amazonian Peoples
Native Lowland South American people have been portrayed as "animistic", "totemic", "shamanic", "mythologic", "Dreauduan", "slash and burn horticulturalists", "stateless", "gentle", "fierce", and much more. What do these anthropological portraits mean and what do they contribute to the collective body of Western intellectual thought? Is there any relation between such thinking and the experience of being "Indian" in Amazonian societies? Are there any other ways of understanding the Amazonian social experiences? This course addresses these questions through a reading of the ethnography of the region. This course will satisfy the non-western perspectives requirement. (3.0 Units)
ANTH 3340 Ecology and Society
Forges a synthesis between culture theory and historical ecology to provide new insights on how human cultures fashion, and are fashioned by, their environment. Prerequisite: At least one Anthropology course, significant/relevant exposure to courses in EVSC, BIOL, CHEM, or HIST (which tie in to concerns of this course), or instructor permission. (3.0 Units)
ANTH 3450 Native American Languages
This course in an introduction to the native languages of the Americas. It serves as a way into knowledge of languages very different from English and the frequently studied European languages. The course covers the major grammatical structures found in the different language families of the Americas, and considers the sociolinguistic situation of Native American speakers in the U.S. and elsewhere. Students will become familiar with the structure of Mopan Maya, an indigenous language of Eastern Central America which is related to the Classic Mayan languages of antiquity, and belongs to a large family of modern Mayan languages spoken today by thousands of people in Belize, Mexico, and Guatemala. The methods of analysis should enable students to make intelligent use of linguistic materials on other languages, including those found in other parts of the world as well. Pre-requisite: LGS 325, LGS 701 or ANTH 740. This course fulfills the Language Structure requirement for Linguistics majors and for Linguistics graduate students. (3.0 Units)
ANTH 3455 African Languages
TBA (3.0 Units)
ANTH 3589 Topics in Arch Pueblo
TBA (3.0 Units)
ANTH 3590 Indigenous North American Arts
TBA (3.0 Units)
ANTH 3590-02 Care in Africa
TBA (3.0 Units)
ANTH 3630 Chinese Family and Religion
Analyzes various features of traditional Chinese social organization as it existed in the late imperial period. Includes the late imperial state; Chinese family and marriage; lineages; ancestor worship; popular religion; village social structure; regional systems; and rebellion. (3.0 Units)
ANTH 3680 Anthropology of Australian Aboriginal Art
This class will study the intersection of anthropology, art and material culture focusing on Australian Aboriginal art. We will examine how Aboriginal art has moved from relative obscurity to global recognition over the past thirty years. Topics include the historical and cultural contexts of invention, production, marketing and appropriation of Aboriginal art. (3.0 Units)
ANTH 3700 Contemporary India
An anthropological discussion of selected changing aspects of and issues in India since independence, with a focus on interdependently transforming Indian modernity and traditions in the (a) changisng social organization; (b) leaders, caste politics and Indian democracy; (c) social inequalities, Indian modernity and the middle class; (d) religious diversity, religious rituals and politics; and (e) India in the Indian Diaspora. (3.0 Units)
ANTH 3705 Anthropology of Middle East
This course explores the ways that Middle Eastern ethnographies have contributed to anthropological debates on, and popular understanding of, topics such tribalism, gender and religion, religion and secularism, colonialism, nationalism, nomadism and markets. We will examine the portrayals of Middle Eastern societies in the Western world and consider how this has changed through time. A series of ethnographies (and films) will highlight both the heterogeneous nature of Middle Eastern societies and the anthropological issues confronted by these works. (3.0 Units)
ANTH 3840 Archeaology of the Middle East
We explore the prehistory and early history of the Middle East and Egypt, focusing mainly on the period from ca. 11,000 to 4000 BP. Through both lectures and discussion, we will examine archaeological research and findings on the origins of food production (the domestication of plants and animals), the earliest village communities, the origins of social ranking, the advent of state societies, urbanism and the origins of writing systems. (3.0 Units)
ANTH 5510 The Middle East in Ethnography Perspective
Survey of the anthropological literature on the Middle East & N. Africa. Begins historically with traditional writing on the "middle east" and proceeds to critiques of this tradition and attempts at new ways of constructing knowledge of this world region. Readings juxtapose theoretical and descriptive work toward critically appraising modern writers' success in overcoming the critiques leveled against their predecessors. (3.0 Units)
ANTH 5360 World Mental Health
This course will examine mental health issues from the perspectives of biomedicine and anthropology, emphasizing local traditions of illness and healing as well as evidence from epidemiology and neurobiology. Included topics will be psychosis, depression, PTSD, Culture Bound Syndromes, and suicide. We will also examine the role of pharmaceutical companies in the spread of western based mental health care and culturally sensitive treatment. (3.0 Units)
ANTH 5590-02 African Ethnography
Topics to be announced prior to each semester, dealing with social and cultural anthropology. (3.0 Units)