Undergraduate Courses (Meet Major Area Requirements)
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ANTH 1010 Introduction to Anthropology [Flood]
MoWeFr 10:00AM - 10:50AM | This course introduces students to the methods, perspectives, and motivations used by anthropologists to study the range and significance of human existence. Students are challenged to follow the way anthropologists approach a research topic, design a question, collect data, and ultimately discuss results via publication. The course surveys the four sub-fields of anthropology (linguistic anthropology, socio-cultural anthropology, biological anthropology, and archaeology) through a combination of texts, multimedia, and guest lectures. The goal of this course is to equip students with an analytical framework which allows the objective appreciation of non-Western languages, social structures, histories and belief systems. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 1050 Anthropology of Globalization [Bashkow]
MoWe 3:30PM - 4:20PM | 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)
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ANTH 2280 Medical Anthropology [Douglass]
TuTh 3:30PM - 4:45PM | 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 (i.e., Hispanic, Asian, American Indian, African American, etc.), 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)
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ANTH 2360 Don Juan and Castaneda [Wagner]
TuTh 9:30AM - 10:45AM | 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)
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ANTH 2285 Development and Humanitarianism [Scherz]
TuTh 2:00PM - 3:15PM | This course explores anthropological writings on development and humanitarianism to better understand the historical context and contemporary practice of these distinct modes of “world saving.” We will attend to critiques of development and humanitarianism, and will also consider writings by anthropologists who champion the humanitarian project. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 2310 Symbol and Ritual [Betancourt]
MoWeFr 11:00AM - 11:50AM | This course will introduce the student to the social meaning of symbols and rituals. 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)
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ANTH 2320 Anthropology of Religion [Dennis]
MoWeFr 9:00AM - 9:50AM | 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)
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ANTH 2360 Don Juan and Castaneda [Wagner]
TuTh 9:30AM - 10:45AM | 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)
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ANTH 2365 Anthropology of Art [Douglass]
TuTh 11:00AM - 12:15PM | 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)
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ANTH 2410 Sociolinguistics [Contini-Morava]
TuTh 12:30PM - 1:20PM | 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)
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ANTH 2420 Language and Gender [Broach]
MoWeFr 12:00PM - 12:50PM | In many societies, features of pronunciation, vocabulary choice, and/or communicative style are used as social markers of gender identity and differentiation. We will take a cross-cultural perspective, comparing language use within the U.S. and in other parts of the world, especially non-Western societies. Questions to be addressed include: How does language use reflect or construct a person’s sex, gender, or sexual orientation? How do language differences, where they exist, contribute to the social construction of gender identity and difference in our and other cultures? How do these differences, or the belief in differences, affect people’s lives/social identities? What social factors besides gender relate to language differentiation, and how do they interact with gender? Is language itself sexist? If so, what can or should be done about it? Course requirements: a group project recording and analyzing a segment of natural conversation; an individual paper; reading checks; participation in discussion; a take-home final exam. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 2430 Language of the World [Dobrin]
MoWe 10:00AM - 10:50AM | This course introduces students to the diversity of human language and the principles of linguistic classification. How many languages are spoken in the world, and how are they related? What features do all languages share, and in what ways may they differ? In surveying the world's languages, we will focus on the structure and social situation of a set of representative languages for each geographic region covered. We will also discuss the global trend of shift from the use of minority languages to large languages of wider communication, and what this means for the future of human diversity. Course work includes problem sets, essays, and a final paper on the linguistic features and social situation of a minor language. Prerequisites: one year of a foreign language or permission of instructor. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 2500 Culture, Regions, and Civilzation [Cieslak]
MoWeFr 11:00AM - 11:50AM | TBA (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 2559 Humans and the Environment [Plog, Most, & Shugart]
Th 2:00PM - 4:30PM | Using methods & theories from environmental sciences and archaeology this class will use case studies from the past and present to examine the impact humans have on their environment and how the environment impacts humans. We will examine the impact of plant and animal domestication, the introduction of non-indigenous species, climate change, water rights, and monoculture. Examples of environmental collapse and ecocide will be closely examined. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 2590-01 Citizen Science [Weston]
MoWe 2:00PM - 3:15PM | Anthropological perspectives on the rise of citizen science, including crowdsourced digital science initiatives and community-based environmental monitoring. How have notions of cultural citizenship, the professionalization of science, populism, and rhetoric about "changing the world" shaped these projects? What happens when archaeology adopts the citizen science paradigm? Case studies from around the world, with hands-on participation. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 2590-02 Meaningful Stuff [Armengol]
TuTh 2:00PM - 3:15PM | We tend to think of stuff — the material world — as concrete, tangible, real. The meaning of something, meanwhile, seems abstract, subjective, somehow “in our heads.” And yet we can only grasp the material world through abstract concepts, and only relay those concepts through stuff: the social production and use of material things. Our bodies, clothes, art, music, temples, books, cell phones, food, and even our voices are made of stuff and with stuff. This course will explore recent research in anthropology that has tried to attend seriously to the stuff of meaning and the meaning of stuff. We will read ethnographic and theoretical work at the intersection of material culture, political economy and semiotics (the study of systems of meaning). How is stuff inscribed with meaning, how is meaning conveyed in stuff, and how, across cultures, is stuff marshaled to sustain and contest those meanings? The work in this course will involve, predominantly, short weekly papers and at least one class presentation. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 2820 Emergence of States and Cities [Wattenmaker]
TuTh 3:30PM - 4:45PM | This course explores the archaeology of early states and cities in both the Old (Mesopotamia and Egypt) and New (Teotihuacan, the Aztecs and the Maya) Worlds. We will discuss the ways that archaeologists learn about complex societies through fieldwork, laboratory research (including artifact analyses), texts, and ethnographic studies. Topics discussed include 1) the problematic concept of "civilization", 2) the origins of agriculture and its effects on society, 3) the shift from egalitarian societies to those with social ranking, 4) theories and evidence for the rise of state societies, 5) urbanism, 6) social, religious, political and economic life in early cities, 7) the beginnings of writing and 8) the collapse of complex societies. By highlighting the wide range of variability in pre-industrial societies, the course emphasizes the role of cultural values in shaping the organization of early societies. This course fulfills the Historical Studies requirement. It has been used in the past to satisfy requirements for Midde Eastern Studies and Latin American Studies (please check with the Program Director for approval). (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 3310 Controversies of Care in Contemporary Africa [Scherz]
TuTh 11:00AM - 12:15PM | In this course we will draw on a series of classic and contemporary works in history and anthropology to come to a better understanding of current debates concerning corruption and patronage, marriage and sexuality, and medicine in Sub-Sahararn Africa. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 3020 Using Anthropology [Hantman]
TuTh 3:30PM - 4:45PM | The theoretical, methodological and ethical practice of an engaged anthropology is the subject of this course. We begin with a history of applied anthropology. We then examine case studies that demonstrate the unique practices and challenges of sociocultural, linguistic, archaeological and bioanthropological anthropology in the areas of contemporary policy and community and civic engagement. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 3129 Marriage, Mortality, Fertility [Shepherd]
TuTh 12:30PM - 1:45PM | 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)
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ANTH 3130 Disease, Epidemics and Society [Shepherd]
TuTh 3:30PM - 4:45PM | Topics covered in this course will include emerging diseases and leading killers in the twenty-first century, disease ecology, disease history and mortality transitions, the sociology of epidemics, the role of epidemiology in the mobilization of public health resources to confront epidemics, and the social processes by which the groups become stigmatized during disease outbreaks. This is a course that seeks to present a holistic view of global health by drawing on work crossing several disciplines, including anthropological demography, epidemiology, public health, disease history, genomic studies of disease pathogens, and medical anthropology. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 3240 Anthropology of Food [Khare]
Th 3:30PM - 6:00PM | This course explores comparative local/global cultural and biocultural studies of the following four interdependent “food and food ways” areas: (a) a biocultural and ecological overview of the diverse human food ways; (b) a biocultural, nutritional and moral-religious study of milk and dairy use in US and India; (c) how America eats—now, compared to its past; (d) experiencing and expressing food eating together as a class; and (e) the cultural politics of dietary and health issues in today’s globalizing world. Accordingly, this course will allow us to learn transnationally and cross-culturally as much about “we are what we eat” as what are the looming larger—ecological, biocultural, mass technological and moral-religious—issues and forces surrounding us. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 3325 Capitalism: Cultural Perspectives [Weston]
MoWe 3:30PM - 4:45PM | Capitalism is a mode of production that has assumed different forms in different cultural and historical settings. This course examines the relationship of capitalism to culture and power by drawing upon material from various parts of the world. Topics may include field studies of work and industrialization; ethnographies of money and "informal economies"; culture and the corporation; financialization; speculation and economic crisis; the relationship of commodification to inequality; the part played by slavery in capital formation; the debate over whether capitalism is compatible with environmental sustainability; and alternatives such as cooperatives and "slow money." (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 3340 Ecology and Society [Damon]
MoWeFr 10:00AM - 10:50AM | 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)
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ANTH 3370 Power and the Body [Mentore]
MoWe 2:00PM - 3:15PM | "This course is designed for those students interested in how and why anthropology arrives at its own peculiar paradigms of identity about the Other from its own deeply embedded western cultural understandings of body and Self." (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 3395 Mythodology [Wagner]
TuTh 12:30PM - 1:45PM | Mythodology: A participatory crash-course in the obviation skill set: how to “solve” a myth or story as if it were a topological mind-puzzle. All the student is required to do is furnish a myth or story of their own choosing, analyze it in class presentation, and prepare a final paper on the subject. Class attendance mandatory. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 3450 Native American Languages [Danziger]
MoWe 3:30PM - 4:45PM | 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)
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ANTH 3870 Archaeology of Virginia [Hantman]
MoWe 3:30PM - 4:45PM | This course provides an overview of the insights gained into Virginia's history and prehistory through archaeological research. The course explores cultural diversity and culture change over more than 10,000 years. In this vast time frame, we will focus on a number of selected topics for which Virginia provides a unique perspective on Native American culture and history: the timing of the initial settlement of the Americas, long-term sustainable foraging economies, the adoption of domesticates, and colonial-era entanglements. We also look at archaeological research on the lives of enslaved and free African-Americans in 19th century Virginia. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 3890 Archaeology of the American Southwest [Plog]
TuTh 9:30AM - 10:45AM | The northern section of the American Southwest offers one of the best prehistoric contexts for examining the evolution of ritual, social organization, economics, technology, and trade from the prehistoric to the historic period. Readings and discussion focus on both archaeological and ethnographic studies of the desert (Hohokam), mountain (Mogollon), and plateau (Ancestral Pueblo) cultures. We will consider the initial colonization of the region by Paleo-indian groups at the end of the Pleistocene up to the Spanish entry into the region in the mid-16th century. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 4591-01 Social Inequalities & Disaster [Khare]
Th 3:30PM - 6:00PM | This seminar considers globalizing social inequalities comparatively, especially with applied anthropology and human rights issues in focus for how different cultures and nations view them “from within” and the “outside.” We will particularly discuss (a) hierarchy, stratification and individualism under regional variations in modernity and globalization; (b) the changing middle class life in India and U.S.; (c) Subaltern group and the gender issues amid the identity issues and power politics; and (d) health and human rights issues among the Mexican migrant farm workers in US. The class students will have opportunities to choose and lead some self-selected projects for directed discussions and as main class assignments. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 4591-02 Philosophical Anthropology [Mentore]
MoWeFr 11:00AM - 11:50AM | "Brings to the awareness of students the not often considered view that the theories used by anthropologists comedirectlyfromdeeplyembeddedwesternphilosophicalknowledge. Itwillnotonlyintroducesomeof these knowledge forms to students, but also demonstrate how they have been applied in the anthropological project and, indeed, how they frequently end-up hindering the project of understanding cultural others." (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 5220 Economic Anthropology [Damon]
TuTh 9:30AM - 10:45AM | Considers Western economic theories and their relevance to non-Western societies. Overviews include introductory readings for Marxism, World-System Analysis, Exchange Theory and Historical Ecology and Materiality. The course is designed for first and second year graduate students but is appropriate for mature 3rd and 4th year undergraduates, especially Anthropology and History Majors. For undergraduates permission from instructor is encouraged. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 5360 World Mental Health [Merkel]
We 6:30PM - 9:00PM | 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)
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ANTH 5401 Linguistic Field Methods [Contini-Morava]
Mo 5:00PM - 7:30PM | In this course we will work with a native speaker of an "exotic" language (i.e., a language that is not commonly taught in the U.S., hence likely not to be familiar to any of the students in the class). We try to figure out the phonological and grammatical structure of the language based on data collected from the native speaker consultant in class. Attendance is therefore mandatory. Assignments include one paper on phonology, one on morphology, and one on syntax (the nature of the assignment may vary depending on the particular language being studied). (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 5440 Morphology [Dobrin]
Tu 3:30PM - 6:00PM | In this course we approach the study of morphology theoretically. The issues covered fall mainly into two broad groupings: those that relate word structure to phonology (such as allomorphy and word formation), and those that relate it to syntax (e.g., inflection, distinguishing compounds from phrases). Throughout the course we will be mindful of whether there exists a core set of phenomena having to do with word structure which motivates a distinct morphological component of grammar. Coursework involves biweekly problem sets and active participation in class problem solving and discussion. Some familiarity with linguistic analysis (such as LNGS 3250) is strongly recommended. Course fulfills the Theory requirement for Linguistics. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 5590-01 Markets and Moralities [Armengol]
Th 6:00PM - 8:30PM | Whenever people get together to exchange goods they have to agree on how to interact — the rules of the game. In that sense, all markets are moral. This course will examine the variable moral systems through which market exchange occurs, whether your local farmers markets or the global financial market. We will challenge the assumption that such phenomena are driven by universal human instincts or economic principles that transcend ethical questions. Ethnographic work analyzing diverse forms of exchange across the world will guide our study. They will situate markets — and “the market” concept — within particular histories, ideologies, discourses and spaces. Our readings will include some classical texts as well as contemporary rereadings of such work; news coverage and analysis of global market crises and conflict; and work in anthropology on the intersection of money, politics and corporate interests. Students will spend time studying and analyzing a market of their choosing. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 5590-02 African Ethnography [Igoe]
Th 4:30PM - 7:00PM | TBA (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 5590-03 Spirituality [Turner]
Th 5:00PM - 7:30PM | The seminar will explore the cross-cultural commonalities of spirituality and the variations in spiritual practice. To better understand these, we will experimentally try out viewpoints from the cultures concerned. While including the First Americans' religions in the "Great Religions," we will eschew theologies and use ethnographies--accounts of human action--for our material. We will use primary sources (where non- philosophical) from active seers and spiritual leaders, examining the relevant history and context for their spiritual activity, including spiritual contexts as well, such as the presence of spirits. The work of anthropologists who have been involved in crossing such boundaries will be available, those by Steven Friedson, Ter Ellingson, Duncan Earle, Suchitra Samantha, and others. We will invite religious activists in for dialogue and will practice empathy, and we will respectfully enact rituals. Class members will conduct local field research to engage in spirituality in milieus suggested in the class, while recognizing that the phenomenon transcends psychological and sociological limits of discussion. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 5590-04 Ideology, Cultural Identity, and Survival Issues [Khare]
TBA | An exploration of how competing/conflicting ideological values, identity issues and practical interest-action strategies today surround the major human survival issues, with a focus on the Asian/Southern Asian religious-moral, socioeconomic and environmental issues. Pursuing comparative theory-ethnography- practice axis, we will open by discussing (1) Louis Dumont and Steven Lukes (on hierarchy, individualism and cultural relativism); (2) Mary Douglas (religious values and social classification, and cultural boundaries and institutional environmental risk management); (3) James Scott (“seeing it like a state” and the increasing “survival pressure” on the marginalized); and (4) Talal Asad (the colonial, postcolonial religious and secular forces today). Next, the participants, whether in pre- or post-field work stage, will approach the above readings for developing their own distinct research topics/issues/problem areas. We will conclude the seminar with critiques of both the old and the new ideas and approaches. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 5808 Method and Theory in Archaeology [Wattenmaker]
We 6:30PM - 9:00PM | An intensive investigation of theory and method in anthropological archaeology, with particular attention paid to the evolution of archaeological theory in the last fifty years, and to the diversity of modern approaches in archaeology (sic). (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 5885 Archaeology of Colonial Expansions [Laviolette]
Th 4:30PM - 7:00PM | This seminar explores the comparative archaeology of colonialism in its changing theoretical landscape, examining the structural similarities and differences between European colonialism and many other archaeologically known examples, as well as the task of representing the human experience of being colonized. When we think about colonialism we typically focus on Western European expansions from the 15th century onwards, especially in the context of competitive mercantile economies that fueled the power of the colonizers, and we will certainly study them here. But archaeological and historical examples go well beyond these contexts; they are available, for example, in ancient Mesopotamia, the Andes, in Iron Agesub-SaharanAfrica,andofcourseintheClassicalMediterranean. Mygoalistoexposeyoutomultiple theoretical paradigms that archaeologists have developed to understand colonial expansions, and a wide range of case studies employing these paradigms that illustrate the broad commonalities underlying the colonial process—including the exercise of power and responses to it—without losing the historical/archaeological particulars or the human experience. (3.0 Units)
Course Number Index
Courses that meet Major Area Requirements:
Prin. of Social AnalysisArchaeologyLinguistics
1050, 2280, 2310, 2320, 2360, 2365, 2500, 2590-01, 2590-02, 3129, 3240, 3270, 3325, 3340, 3395, 3370, 3590-01, 5220, 5360, 5590- 01, 5590-02, 5590-03, 5590-04
2559, 2589, 2820, 3870, 3890,
5808, 5885
2410, 2420, 3450, 5401, 5440, 5490
Major Requirements
1010, 3020, 4591-01, 4591-02
Beyond the West
(for the major: note that some of these courses do not meet the College's Nonwestern requirement)
1050, 2360, 2365, 2500, 2589, 3340, 3450, 3590-02, 5360, 5590-02
Senior Seminars
4591-01, 4591-02
Graduate Courses
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ANTH 5220 Economic Anthropology [Damon]
TuTh 9:30AM - 10:45AM | Considers Western economic theories and their relevance to non-Western societies. Overviews include introductory readings for Marxism, World-System Analysis, Exchange Theory and Historical Ecology and Materiality. The course is designed for first and second year graduate students but is appropriate for mature 3rd and 4th year undergraduates, especially Anthropology and History Majors. For undergraduates permission from instructor is encouraged. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 5360 World Mental Health [Merkel]
We 6:30PM - 9:00PM | 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)
Expand content
ANTH 5401 Linguistic Field Methods [Contini-Morava]
Mo 5:00PM - 7:30PM | In this course we will work with a native speaker of an "exotic" language (i.e., a language that is not commonly taught in the U.S., hence likely not to be familiar to any of the students in the class). We try to figure out the phonological and grammatical structure of the language based on data collected from the native speaker consultant in class. Attendance is therefore mandatory. Assignments include one paper on phonology, one on morphology, and one on syntax (the nature of the assignment may vary depending on the particular language being studied). (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 5440 Morphology [Dobrin]
Tu 3:30PM - 6:00PM | In this course we approach the study of morphology theoretically. The issues covered fall mainly into two broad groupings: those that relate word structure to phonology (such as allomorphy and word formation), and those that relate it to syntax (e.g., inflection, distinguishing compounds from phrases). Throughout the course we will be mindful of whether there exists a core set of phenomena having to do with word structure which motivates a distinct morphological component of grammar. Coursework involves biweekly problem sets and active participation in class problem solving and discussion. Some familiarity with linguistic analysis (such as LNGS 3250) is strongly recommended. Course fulfills the Theory requirement for Linguistics. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 5590-01 Markets and Moralities [Armengol]
Th 6:00PM - 8:30PM | TBA (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 5590-02 African Ethnography [Igoe]
Th 4:30PM - 7:00PM | TBA (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 5590-03 Spirituality [Turner]
Th 5:00PM - 7:30PM | The seminar will explore the cross-cultural commonalities of spirituality and the variations in spiritual practice. To better understand these, we will experimentally try out viewpoints from the cultures concerned. While including the First Americans' religions in the "Great Religions," we will eschew theologies and use ethnographies--accounts of human action--for our material. We will use primary sources (where non- philosophical) from active seers and spiritual leaders, examining the relevant history and context for their spiritual activity, including spiritual contexts as well, such as the presence of spirits. The work of anthropologists who have been involved in crossing such boundaries will be available, those by Steven Friedson, Ter Ellingson, Duncan Earle, Suchitra Samantha, and others. We will invite religious activists in for dialogue and will practice empathy, and we will respectfully enact rituals. Class members will conduct local field research to engage in spirituality in milieus suggested in the class, while recognizing that the phenomenon transcends psychological and sociological limits of discussion. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 5590-04 Ideology, Cultural Identity, and Survival Issues [Khare]
TBA | An exploration of how competing/conflicting ideological values, identity issues and practical interest-action strategies today surround the major human survival issues, with a focus on the Asian/Southern Asian religious-moral, socioeconomic and environmental issues. Pursuing comparative theory-ethnography- practice axis, we will open by discussing (1) Louis Dumont and Steven Lukes (on hierarchy, individualism and cultural relativism); (2) Mary Douglas (religious values and social classification, and cultural boundaries and institutional environmental risk management); (3) James Scott (“seeing it like a state” and the increasing “survival pressure” on the marginalized); and (4) Talal Asad (the colonial, postcolonial religious and secular forces today). Next, the participants, whether in pre- or post-field work stage, will approach the above readings for developing their own distinct research topics/issues/problem areas. We will conclude the seminar with critiques of both the old and the new ideas and approaches. (3.0 Units)
Expand content
ANTH 5808 Method and Theory in Archaeology [Wattenmaker]
We 6:30PM - 9:00PM | An intensive investigation of theory and method in anthropological archaeology, with particular attention paid to the evolution of archaeological theory in the last fifty years, and to the diversity of modern approaches in archaeology (sic). (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 5885 Archaeology of Colonial Expansions [Laviolette]
Th 4:30PM - 7:00PM | This seminar explores the comparative archaeology of colonialism in its changing theoretical landscape, examining the structural similarities and differences between European colonialism and many other archaeologically known examples, as well as the task of representing the human experience of being colonized. When we think about colonialism we typically focus on Western European expansions from the 15th century onwards, especially in the context of competitive mercantile economies that fueled the power of the colonizers, and we will certainly study them here. But archaeological and historical examples go well beyond these contexts; they are available, for example, in ancient Mesopotamia, the Andes, in Iron Agesub-SaharanAfrica,andofcourseintheClassicalMediterranean. Mygoalistoexposeyoutomultiple theoretical paradigms that archaeologists have developed to understand colonial expansions, and a wide range of case studies employing these paradigms that illustrate the broad commonalities underlying the colonial process—including the exercise of power and responses to it—without losing the historical/archaeological particulars or the human experience. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 7020 History of Anthropological Theory II [Igoe]
Mo 5:00PM - 7:30PM | Analyzes the main schools 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 7040 Ethnographic Research Design and Methods [Bashkow]
TuTh 2:00PM - 3:15PM | TBA (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 7129 Marriage, Mortality, Fertility [Shepherd]
TuTh 12:30PM - 1:45PM | 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)
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ANTH 7130 Disease, Epidemics and Society [Shepherd]
TuTh 12:30PM - 1:45PM | Topics covered in this course will include emerging diseases and leading killers in the twenty-first century, disease ecology, disease history and mortality transitions, the sociology of epidemics, the role of epidemiology in the mobilization of public health resources to confront epidemics, and the social processes by which the groups become stigmatized during disease outbreaks. This is a course that seeks to present a holistic view of global health by drawing on work crossing several disciplines, including anthropological demography, epidemiology, public health, disease history, genomic studies of disease pathogens, and medical anthropology. The written work for this course will fulfill the second writing requirement; the requirement is not completed, however, until you submit a completion form with your final paper (the form is available at Monroe Hall or on-line). (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 7370 Power and the Body [Mentore]
MoWe 2:00PM - 3:15PM | "This course is designed for those students interested in how and why anthropology arrives at its own peculiar paradigms of identity about the Other from its own deeply embedded western cultural understandings of body and Self." (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 7395 Mythodology [Wagner]
TuTh 12:30PM - 1:45PM | Mythodology: A participatory crash-course in the obviation skill set: how to “solve” a myth or story as if it were a topological mind-puzzle. All the student is required to do is furnish a myth or story of their own choosing, analyze it in class presentation, and prepare a final paper on the subject. Class attendance mandatory. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 7450 Native American Languages [Danziger]
MoWe 3:30PM - 4:45PM | 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)