Undergraduate Courses (Meet Major Area Requirements)
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ANTH 109 Language and World View [Ross]
Th 15:30PM - 18:00PM | Does the language we speak affect the way we perceive and construct our view of the world? How does it affect our behavior? How do we organize "reality" by means of our language? How do we understand other people's realities by examining their languages? We will think about these and other questions by reading and discussing examples from English and from other languages that are unlike English in many ways. Students will write short essays and do brief oral presentations throughout the semester. Class size will be strictly limited to allow for seminar-style alscusslon. Course meets second writing requirement and Non-Western requirement. Course is restricted to instructor permission. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 222 Buddhism [Seneviratne]
TuTh 11:00AM - 11:50AM | An introduction to the philosophy and social origins of Buddhism; the practice of Buddhism in selected Buddhist cultures. Course meets Non-Western Perspectives requirement. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 223 Fantasy and Social Values [Wagner]
TuTh 9:30AM - 10:45AM | 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. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 224 Race Gender & Medical Science [Fraser]
MoWe 14:00PM - 15:15PM | This course discusses Western medical systems (focusing in particular on American medicine) from an anthropological perspective. Instead of turning the anthropological mirror on the medical practices of other cultures-- practices, usually typified as "folk" or "backward," or "superstitious," or "traditional"--we will consider American health care as a culturally, socially, and historically embedded system. This is a complex system and multi- stranded project that could be handled in a number of ways. Yet in the past decade, it has become increasingly clear that any critical cultural analysis needs to take into account race, class, and gender as factors for practitioners and clients in medical interactions, aid the delivery of health care, in the training and socialization of health professionals, in determining who gets sick and how they get sick, in the ways the body is conceptualized and treated. Anthropology is a discipline that will allow us to focus on these issues as both observers and participants. Restricted to instructor permission. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 231 Symbol & Myth [Sapir]
MoWe 14:00PM - 15:15PM | This course treats human beings as 'symbol making animals.' We will first consider the basic nature of symbolism paying particular attention to the kind of complex symbolization that develops in imaginative thought. We will then treat the symbolism of categories, of space, male/female, directions, nature/culture and the symbolism of myth. Throughout the course, substantive materials will be drawn from anthropological and common everyday, 'at home' sources. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 232 Symbol and Ritual [Metcalf]
MoWe 10:00AM - 10:50AM + section | Rituals great and small permeate social life everywhere, yet their meanings are ambiguous, or contradictory, or contested. For that very reason, their interpretation gives access to an understanding of religions that goes beyond mere dogma, and constitutes anthropology's contribution to the comparative study of religion. Examples are drawn from cultures simple and complex, exotic and close to home. This course requires enrollment in, and attendance at, a discussion section. Course meets Non-Western Perspectives requirement. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 237 Culture & History Photography [Sapir]
MoWeFr 11:00AM - 11:50AM | The course is blocked out into three sections: (1) The nature of photography. What form of communication is it and what is unique about it. How do we "read" photographs and why are they always so ambiguous? What are the motivations for snapshots? 2. A survey of the history of photography from its invention at the beginning ofthe 19th century to at least 1942 (beyond that if time permits). Subjects to be covered: the people involved with the invention of photography; the early photographic processes; photographs of the places in the world; photographs of "the other"; photographs in the archives - surveillance and the criminal type; photography as documentation; photography as an art and the influence of photography on art. The work of particular photographers will be examined in detail. 3. Continuing more general themes we conclude with three quite sperate topics: the use of photography in positive science; Photographic imaging on the computer; ethical problems in the photography of everyday life. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 240 Language & Culture [Contini-Morava]
TuTh 11:00AM - 12:15PM | A survey oftopics 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 data from languages are used in related fields as evidence of cultural, social and cognitive phenomena. Topics include: nature of language, origins of language, how languages change, use of linguistic evidence to make interferences about prehistory, the effects of linguistic categories on thought and behavior, regional and social variation in language, and cultural rules for communication. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 280 Introduction to Archaeology [Seneviratne]
TuTh 12:30PM - 13:45PM | Topics will include alternative theoretical approaches to the study of orehistorv and cultural change. methods and techniques of excavation, regional survey and eating, and tne construction or economic, political, social and religious organization of prehistoric societies. Case-studies will be drawn from both the Old and the New World. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 300A Perspectives for Majors [Staff]
Mo 13:00PM - 13:50PM | A course for majors and minors in the department designed to introduce them to a number of topics of concern to current anthropology. Majors and minors are expected to take this course at their first opportunity after joining the program. This course will also be offered in the Spring. (1.0 Units)
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ANTH 300B Perspectives for Majors [Staff]
Fr 12:00PM - 12:50PM | A course for majors and minors in the department designed to introduce them to a number of topics of concern to current anthropology. Majors and minors are expected to take this course at their first opportunity after joining the program. (1.0 Units)
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ANTH 301 Anthropological Theory [Crocker]
Tu 19:00PM - 21:30PM | An outline of the development of anthropology as a scholarly discipline stressing both is unfolding internal logic and its relation to "the rest" of the world. Themes include the dialectics of structure, function, conflict, and cultural style. Restricted to 3rd & 4th year Anthropology majors. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 327 Political Anthropology [Crocker]
TuTh 11:00AM - 12:15PM | Reviews the variety of political systems found outside the western world. Examines the major approaches and results of anthropological theory in trying to understand how radically different politics work. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 330 Tournaments and Athletes [Mentore]
Th 15:30PM - 18:00PM | This course will offer you a cross-cultural study of competitive games. Criticizing current theories about the "innocence" of sports while comparing and contrasting various athletic events from societies around the world, it will provide an argument to explain the competitive bodily displays of athletes. It will select materials which allows you to examine bodily movement, meaning, context, and process, in addition to the relations between athletes, officials, spectators, and social systems. Its general thesis will be that sport brings out the universal morals of community, challenges and tests them in controlled and unthreatening genres, yet never defeats them or makes them appear unjust. (4.0 Units)
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ANTH 332 Shamanism, Healing, and Ritual [Turner]
TuTh 14:00PM - 15:15PM | This course delves into the sources of shamanism and ritual healing, and provides an understanding of their inner processes and why they heal. The class will "unpack" the meanings of contemporary non-Western rituals, keeping respect for their veridicy and effectiveness. Performance of ritual being its actual life, we will learn how to approximate a sense of ritual by performance. A term paper is required, also short papers during the term. Course meets Non-Western Perspectives requirement. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 352 Amazonian Peoples [Mentore]
TuTh 11:00AM - 12:15PM | Native Lowland South American peoples 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 relations between such thinking and the experience of being "Indian" in Amazonian societies? Are there any other ways of understanding the Amazonian social experience? This course addresses these questions through a reading of the ethnography of the region. This course will satisfy the non-western perspective requirement. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 355 Anthropology of Everyday Life [Damon]
MoWeFr 10:00AM - 10:50AM | Using production and exchange theories about society, this course creates an anthropological perspective on modern American society by tracing the development of individualism in American historical and institutional development, using as primary sources of data religious movements, mythology as conveyed in historical writings, novels, and the cinema, and the creation of modern American urban life. This course will satisfy the second writing requirement. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 357 Peoples & Cultures of the Caribbean [Fraser]
TuTh 12:30PM - 13:45PM | The Caribbean is just around the edges of the American imagination-- tourist brochures, Spring Break, warm sea and sun, accented English, Jamaican posses, Haitian political chaos, tropical fruit in the supermarket-- yet in reality this complex archipelago of islands and histories is barely known by its nearest and most important neighbor (the U.S.) This course Moves between this familiarity and strangeness to explore the histories and politics that have shaped the nations and dependencies that are geographically and politically defined as Caribbean. It will take a regional and a national perspective on the patterns of family and kinship; community and household structures, political economy, ethnicity and ethnic relations; religious and social institutions; relations between Caribbean abroad and at home. The student will leave the course having dispelled some myths, having gained a comparative perspective of the French, English and Spanish Caribbean, and identified the key social and politic-economic issues facing contemporary Caribbean peoples.
This course fulls the non-western perspective requirement and the second writing requirement. This course is restricted to instructor permission. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 361 Native American Women [V. Hymes]
TuTh 9:30AM - 10:45AM | This course explores the lives of Native American women through reading and discussion of life histories, autobiographies, ethnographies, and articles addressing specific questions of the roles and status of women in American Societies before and after contact with Europeans. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 388 African Archaeology [Laviolette]
MoWeFr 11:00AM - 11:50AM | In this lecture and discussion class we begin with a brief overview of human evolution, from the earliest australopithecines to the emergence of modern humans in the Middle to Late Stone Age. We then slow the pace and deal in greater depth the Late Stone Age and Iron Age societies, up through the archaeology of European colonialism. Although we cannot touch on all topics of interest over this vast time period and continent, the goal ofthe course is to give you solid footing in the broad themes, most important details, and controversies in African archaeology. Areas of focus include great archaeological sites; hunter/gatherer societies; plant and animal domestication; technological and social innovations ofthe Iron Age; Nile Valley peoples; medium-range and large-scale societies; the archaeology of Islam; the trans-Saharan, Atlantic and Indian Ocean trades; and the politics of archaeology in the developing nations on the African continent.
Undergraduate responsibilities include two map quizzes, an essay assignment or short research paper, and two in-class midterms and a final. Graduate students have different requirements, which will be discussed abler the first class meeting. Course meets second writing requirement. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 389 Southwest Archaeology [Plog]
TuTh 9:30AM - 10:45AM | The northern section of the American Southwest offers one of the best contexts for examining the evolution of local and regional organization from the prehistoric to the historic period. Readings and discussion focus on both archaeological and ethnographic studies of the desert (Ho ho ham), mount ain(Mogollon) , and pi ateau(Anasazi/Pueblo ) culture. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 401A Senior Seminar [Damon]
Mo 19:00PM - 21:30PM | This course has two purposes: First, to provide Anthropology majors an introduction to recent trends in 'Pacific' Studies, in the end concentrating on affinities and differences between the Hula Ring' of Papua New Guinea and social forms in Island Southeast Asia; Second, to initiate, through comparative and joint study, a dialogue between the social analyzes now common practice in Anthropology and the practices in the Environmental Sciences (EnviSci minors and majors avidly welcomed). (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 401B Senior Seminar: "The Archaeology of Colonialism" [Laviolette]
MoWe 14:00PM - 15:15PM | This seminar explores the archaeology of colonialism by foregrounding European expansion, about which we know the most, against a backdrop of colonialism and the archaeology of expansions generally. We will review pertinent, recent literature on colonialism and colonial historiography, to help inform our analyses of archaeological studies. We will discuss various models used to interpret sites on colonial frontiers, and examine how different archaeologically-known expansions, including the Uruk expansion in the ancient Near East, and the so-called Bantu expansion of Iron Age Africa--are conceptualized in terms other than strictly those of European colonialism. The core of the class will be close readings of case studies, bringing to bear the above considerations. Student responsibilities include participation in class discussion, occasional presentation of readings, and one or two research papers totaDing 20 pages on a topic relating to the class themes.
This course fulfills the Second Writing Requirement. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 508 Archaeology Method & Theory [Hantman]
Tu 19:00PM - 21:00PM | An intensive investigation of current research in the principles, methods, findings, and analysis of anthropological archaeology. Permission of instructor required. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 519 History of Kinship Studies [McKinnon]
Th 18:30PM - 21:00PM | This course traces the history of kinship studies (which constitute one of the primary foci of anthropological investigations of other cultures) beginning with 19th century evolutionary models and moving through the development of structural-functional, structural, and cultural models. This will be a critical reading of these models and will see them as representations of our own cultural constructions of ideas of person, relation, gender, and society. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 539 Anthropology & Colonialism [Metcalf]
MoWe 14:00PM - 15:15PM | This course addresses three broad issues: how colonial encounters shaped anthropology, how they continue to influence the discipline, and how an awareness should recast current fieldwork and theory. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 540 Linguistic Anthropology [D. Hymes]
Tu 14:00PM - 16:30PM | Reviews the many ways in which language is central to the theoretical issues and research of anthropology. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 542 20th Century Linguistic Theory [Contini-Morava]
MoWe 15:30PM - 16:45PM | An introduction to the basic concepts of linguistics and their development in the twentieth century in Europe and the Unites States. Focus is on American schools (Bloomfieldian and Chomskyan), but their intellectual roots and relationship to the work of de Saussure and the Prague School are examined in detail. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 556 Contemporary India [Khare]
TuTh 12:30PM - 13:45PM | This seminar is designed to give the student a survey of the major developments in anthropological studies of contemporary India (especially after the Independence), and examine some recent critical conceptual and methodological departures and debates developed in the context of India's major cultural and religious conflicts, historical controversies and social issues. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 575 Buddhist Monasticism [Seneviratne]
Mo 18:00PM - 20:30PM | A discussion of the nature and evolution of the world's first monastic system with special reference to the early developments and changes in contemporary times. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 577 Cultural Inventories [Wagner]
Th 15:30PM - 18:00PM | TBA (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 587 Arceiaeozoology [Wattenmaker]
TuTh 14:00PM - 15:15PM | TBA (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 589A Quantitative Methods in Anthropology and Archaeology [Most]
Fr 9:30AM - 12:00PM | This course provides an introduction to the use of statistics and quantitative methods in anthropology. Analytical techniques used to describe both anthropological and archaeological data sets are emphasized but experience has shown that students in sociology, psychology, and nursing have little problem applying the statistical methods learned to their own data sets. The course focuses on descriptive statistics, probability and sampling, and univariate, multivariate and non-parametric statistics. No prior knowledge of statistics is necessary. Course requirements: Regular attendance and participation. Timely completion of 8- 10 weekly assignments and a research project/term paper (about 15-20 pages) involving the (statistical) analysis of a data set of your choice. (Students who lack a data set will have assistance in locating one with which they can work.) (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 589B Archaeology of Symbolism [Wattenmaker]
We 18:30PM - 21:00PM | Much controversy surrounds the question of whether anthropologists can investigate the symbolic aspects of society through archaeological research. This courses examines the theoretical underpinnings of this debate, the ways in which various archaeologists have studied the symbolic dimensions of societies, and the controversies surrounding their findings. Some of the topics we will examine include archaeological approaches to changing concepts of space and time, the symbolic uses of goods in various societies, and the construction of social identity (particularly rank and gender). We will also examine the symbolism of the past in various cultures, and relations between the past and present in modern societies. (3.0 Units)
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Course Number Index
Courses that meet Major Area Requirements:
Prin. of Social AnalysisCultural DiversityArchaeologyLinguistics
223,224,231,232,237,
332,327,529
222,352,355,357,
577,556,575
282,388,389,508,
587,589A,589B
109,240,540,542
Non-Western Perspective
109,222,224,232,332,352,357
Senior Seminars
401A, 401B
Second Language Requirement
109,355,357,388,401B
Graduate Courses
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ANTH 508 Archaeology Method & Theory [Hantman]
Tu 19:00PM - 21:00PM | An intensive investigation of current research in the principles, methods, findings, and analysis of anthropological archaeology. Permission of instructor required. (3.0 Units)
Expand content
ANTH 519 History of Kinship Studies [McKinnon]
Th 18:30PM - 21:00PM | This course traces the history of kinship studies (which constitute one of the primary foci of anthropological investigations of other cultures) beginning with 19th century evolutionary models and moving through the development of structural-functional, structural, and cultural models. This will be a critical reading of these models and will see them as representations of our own cultural constructions of ideas of person, relation, gender, and society. (3.0 Units)
Expand content
ANTH 539 Anthropology & Colonialism [Metcalf]
MoWe 14:00PM - 15:15PM | This course addresses three broad issues: how colonial encounters shaped anthropology, how they continue to influence the discipline, and how an awareness should recast current fieldwork and theory. (3.0 Units)
Expand content
ANTH 540 Linguistic Anthropology [D. Hymes]
Tu 14:00PM - 16:30PM | Reviews the many ways in which language is central to the theoretical issues and research of anthropology. (3.0 Units)
Expand content
ANTH 542 20th Century Linguistic Theory [Contini-Morava]
MoWe 15:30PM - 16:45PM | An introduction to the basic concepts of linguistics and their development in the twentieth century in Europe and the Unites States. Focus is on American schools (Bloomfieldian and Chomskyan), but their intellectual roots and relationship to the work of de Saussure and the Prague School are examined in detail. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 556 Contemporary India [Khare]
TuTh 12:30PM - 13:45PM | This seminar is designed to give the student a survey of the major developments in anthropological studies of contemporary India (especially after the Independence), and examine some recent critical conceptual and methodological departures and debates developed in the context of India's major cultural and religious conflicts, historical controversies and social issues. (3.0 Units)
Expand content
ANTH 575 Buddhist Monasticism [Seneviratne]
Mo 18:00PM - 20:30PM | A discussion of the nature and evolution of the world's first monastic system with special reference to the early developments and changes in contemporary times. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 577 Cultural Inventories [Wagner]
Th 15:30PM - 18:00PM | TBA (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 587 Arceiaeozoology [Wattenmaker]
TuTh 14:00PM - 15:15PM | TBA (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 589A Quantitative Methods in Anthropology and Archaeology [Most]
Fr 9:30AM - 12:00PM | This course provides an introduction to the use of statistics and quantitative methods in anthropology. Analytical techniques used to describe both anthropological and archaeological data sets are emphasized but experience has shown that students in sociology, psychology, and nursing have little problem applying the statistical methods learned to their own data sets. The course focuses on descriptive statistics, probability and sampling, and univariate, multivariate and non-parametric statistics. No prior knowledge of statistics is necessary. Course requirements: Regular attendance and participation. Timely completion of 8- 10 weekly assignments and a research project/term paper (about 15-20 pages) involving the (statistical) analysis of a data set of your choice. (Students who lack a data set will have assistance in locating one with which they can work.) (3.0 Units)
Expand content
ANTH 589B Archaeology of Symbolism [Wattenmaker]
We 18:30PM - 21:00PM | Much controversy surrounds the question of whether anthropologists can investigate the symbolic aspects of society through archaeological research. This courses examines the theoretical underpinnings of this debate, the ways in which various archaeologists have studied the symbolic dimensions of societies, and the controversies surrounding their findings. Some of the topics we will examine include archaeological approaches to changing concepts of space and time, the symbolic uses of goods in various societies, and the construction of social identity (particularly rank and gender). We will also examine the symbolism of the past in various cultures, and relations between the past and present in modern societies. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 701 General Anthropology [Handler]
TuTh 11:00AM - 12:15PM | Canonical theories in modern Western social philosophy, including social contract theory, romanticism and primitivism, evolutionary theory, utilitarianism, functionalism, and cultural relativism. Works by Locke, Rousseau, Tocqueville, Darwin, Morgan, Spencer, Durkheim, Weber, Boas, DuBois and Benedict. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 703 Ethnology II [Khare]
Mo 15:30PM - 18:00PM | Ethnography is the characteristic literary gene of anthropological thought since World War II, a half century during which separate English, French, and American traditions have influenced each other to produce a broad and subtle international discipline. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 729 Nationalism & Politics of Culture [Handler]
We 15:30PM - 18:00PM | A critical analysis of nationalist ideologies and the cultural politics associated with them, concerning such issues as language and ethnicity, race, history, tourism, and cultural representations. Special topic for 1997 is the second- generation invention-of-tradition literature. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 734 Life History and Oral History [Perdue]
TuTh 14:00PM - 15:15PM | This course offers an in-depth study of the life history and its use as a sociocultural document, and of oral history methodology. Students will read and critique various works both historical and contemporary that use oral history or what various scholars have termed: personal narrative, personal experience story, life story, life history, conversational narrative, or negotiated biography. Practical experience will be gained in conducting interviews and writing life histories. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 730 Tournaments and Athletes [Mentore]
Th 15:30PM - 18:00PM | This course will offer you a cross-cultural study of competitive games. Criticizing current theories about the "innocence" of sports while comparing and contrasting various athletic events from societies around the world, it will provide an argument to explain the competitive bodily displays of athletes. It will select materials which allows you to examine bodily movement, meaning, context, and process, in addition to the relations between athletes, officials, spectators, and social systems. Its general thesis will be that sport brings out the universal morals of community, challenges and tests them in controlled and unthreatening genres, yet never defeats them or makes them appear unjust. (4.0 Units)
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ANTH 761 Native American Women [V. Hymes]
TuTh 9:30AM - 10:45AM | This course explores the lives of Native American women through reading and discussion of life histories, autobiographies, ethnographies, and articles addressing specific questions of the roles and status of women in American Societies before and after contact with Europeans. (3.0 Units)
Expand content
ANTH 788 African Archaeology [Laviolette]
MoWeFr 11:00AM - 11:50AM | In this lecture and discussion class we begin with a brief overview of human evolution, from the earliest australopithecines to the emergence of modern humans in the Middle to Late Stone Age. We then slow the pace and deal in greater depth the Late Stone Age and Iron Age societies, up through the archaeology of European colonialism. Although we cannot touch on all topics of interest over this vast time period and continent, the goal ofthe course is to give you solid footing in the broad themes, most important details, and controversies in African archaeology. Areas of focus include great archaeological sites; hunter/gatherer societies; plant and animal domestication; technological and social innovations ofthe Iron Age; Nile Valley peoples; medium-range and large-scale societies; the archaeology of Islam; the trans-Saharan, Atlantic and Indian Ocean trades; and the politics of archaeology in the developing nations on the African continent.
Undergraduate responsibilities include two map quizzes, an essay assignment or short research paper, and two in-class midterms and a final. Graduate students have different requirements, which will be discussed abler the first class meeting. Course meets second writing requirement. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 789 Southwest Archaeology [Plog]
TuTh 9:30AM - 10:45AM | The northern section of the American Southwest offers one of the best contexts for examining the evolution of local and regional organization from the prehistoric to the historic period. Readings and discussion focus on both archaeological and ethnographic studies of the desert (Ho ho ham), mount ain(Mogollon) , and pi ateau(Anasazi/Pueblo ) culture. (3.0 Units)