Undergraduate Courses (Meet Major Area Requirements)
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ANTH 2157 Africa through Film [Osotsi]
May 17 - June 10 10:30AM - 12:45PM | This course provides an introduction to the peoples, cultures and histories of various African societis through an examination of a variety of ethnographic and commercial films, ethnographies and literature. The course focuses on how Africa has been represented since the pre-colonial era, how the representations have impacted knowledge about Africa, and explores issues that are relevant to an understanding of contemporary African societies. We will draw on the film to survey pre-colonial Africa, economic and social effects of colonialism, rural-urban migrations, self-representations and violence in African societies. In conjunction with ethnographic readings and literatures, we will explore how popular views have influenced and continue to shape anthropological knowledge, Western representations of Africa, and Africans’ representations of themselves. The course requires the students to question their basic perspectives, assumptions and biases regarding non-Western cultures. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 3050 Fat Famine, and Power [Marshall]
May 17 - June 10 10:30AM - 12:45PM | TBA (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 3559-01 Urban Poverty [Snell-Rood]
May 17 - June 10 10:30AM - 12:45PM | This course opens by examining the political and economic causes of urban poverty in relationship to representations of the urban poor. Using ethnographic examples of the lived experience of varied poor urban peoples, we will assess: How do families survive? What community institutions persist? How do families stay healthy? How are they connected to rural places? How do popular representations misunderstand the lives of those in urban poverty? (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 3050 Fat Famine, and Power [Wattenmaker]
June 14 - July 10 8:00AM - 10:15PM | 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 Middle Eastern Studies and Latin American Studies (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 3559-02 Cinema and the Global City [Nelson]
June 14 - July 10 13:00PM - 15:15PM | This course opens by examining the political and economic causes of urban poverty in relationship to representations of the urban poor. Using ethnographic examples of the lived experience of varied poor urban peoples, we will assess: How do families survive? What community institutions persist? How do families stay healthy? How are they connected to rural places? How do popular representations misunderstand the lives of those in urban poverty? (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 3559-03 Kinfolk in African Diaspora [Chipumuro]
June 14 - July 10 13:00PM - 15:15PM | Families are complex patchworks of relationships collectively stitched, communally appreciated, and crafted for difficult times. This course examines some of the central tensions surrounding representations of Afro-American kinship including: African cultural continuities and disruptions versus Black New World cultural innovations; individual migration versus family rootedness; Black family pathology and Black family strengths; and the debates surrounding the historical and genetic production of African ancestries. Through our perusal of historical, anthropological, popular culture, and documentary texts, as well as class fieldtrips, we will take on the challenge to understand the complexities of Afro-diasporic kinship and to confront their own ideological assumptions about what family is and should be. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 2559 Secrecy and Power [Strohl]
July 24 - August 6 10:00 AM - 12:45PM | Why do people keep secrets? In what ways do relationships of power influence how people share knowledge and information with one another? Is it ever ethical to keep secrets? In this course, we seek answers to these questions in anthropological studies of secrecy and concealment. Students will examine a wide range of ethnographic examples, including religious and social secrecy in Papua New Guinea, practices of concealment in Shi‘a Islam, and the control of information within the U.S. Government during the Cold War and the more recent War on Terror. (3.0 Units)
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ANTH 2858 Fertility and the Future [Singh]
July 24 - August 6 13:00 PM - 15:15PM | TBA (3.0 Units)
Course Number Index
Courses that meet Major Area Requirements:
Prin. of Social AnalysisEthnographyArchaeology
2559,2858,3050,3559-01
2157,3559-02,3559-03
2820