Class Schedules

The cultural perspective on human behavior including case studies, often illustrated by ethnographic films and slides, of non-Western and American cultures. May include some field interviewing. Includes the cross cultural treatment of economic, legal, political, social and religious institutions and a survey of major approaches to the explanation of cultural variety and human social organization. Prerequisite(s): Not open to students who've taken ANTH 101.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WP
Internationalism OR U.S. Identities and Differences

Distribution Requirements:
Social science

Course Materials

The origin and development of prehistoric peoples and cultures. The concepts, methods, and theories of prehistoric archaeology, human paleontology, and human biology as a framework for examining the fossils and artifacts left by humans. Course includes films and the use of casts and slides to illustrate concepts.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Natural science and mathematics

Course Materials

This class is a broad survey covering topics such as genetics, evolutionary mechanisms, adaptation, primate studies, the human fossil record, and human variation. All of these areas will be placed within the framework of the interaction of humans within their environment. The course is divided into three sections: human genetics, human ecology and primatology, human evolution and adaptation.

General Education Requirements:
Quantitative Thinking Q1

Distribution Requirements:
Natural science and mathematics

Course Materials

An introduction to ethnographic field interviewing learned in the context of individually run student field projects. Focuses on the anthropologist-informant field relationship and the discovery of cultural knowledge through participant observation and ethnosemantic interviewing techniques. Prerequisite(s): ANTH 101 or ANTH 111 or permission of instructor.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA

Distribution Requirements:
Social science

Course Materials

This course examines issues of health, illness, and healing from a variety of anthropological perspectives. From a cross-cultural perspective, we will examine the diversity of beliefs about human health and sickness, and a variety of healing practices by which people treat them. From the perspective of critical epidemiology, we will wrestle with recurrent problems of socioeconomic inequalities, ecological disruptions, and their impact upon the differential distribution, prevention, and treatment of human diseases.

General Education Requirements:
Internationalism

Distribution Requirements:
Social science

Course Materials

The study of the human skeletal system is basic to the disciplines of biological anthropology, forensic science, medicine and even archaeology. This class will examine the fundamentals of osteology. It will also explore numerous pathological conditions associated with both infectious and non-infectious diseases in addition to those caused by traumatic events. Students will learn to identify and analyze human bone and pathological conditions of the skeleton to aid in the reconstruction of life histories from human remains. Prerequisite(s): One of the following: ANTH 101, ANTH 112, ANTH 115, ANTH 223, BIOL 112, BIOL 190, or BIOL 200.

General Education Requirements:
Quantitative Thinking Q1

Distribution Requirements:
Natural science and mathematics

Course Materials

This course explores the relationship between self, culture and society. We will examine and discuss critically the broad array of methods and theories anthropologists use to analyze personality, socialization, mental illnes and cognition in different societies. Our aim is to address questions related to the cultural patterning of personality, the self and emotions and to understand how culture might shape ideas of what a person is. We will also seek to understand how cultures define behavior as abnormal, pathological or insane, and how they make sense of trauma and suffering. Prerequisite(s): ANTH 101 or ANTH 111.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA
Internationalism

Distribution Requirements:
Social science

Course Materials

This course uses the lens of cultural anthropology to examine witchcraft and magical traditions around the world. Major topics include psychosomatic healing, the social roles of shamans and possession mediums, recurring themes in witchcraft accusations, and the psychoanalysis of Harry Potter. Throughout these topics, we will wrestle with the distinctions between science, religion, and magic while gaining an appreciation of historically marginalized beliefs and practices.  The course employs a combination of lecture and film as well as small group discussions and research presentations.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Social science

Course Materials

Birds are among the most visible and colorful members of the natural world. Across societies and over time, that fact has generated considerable human engagement with and awareness of birds, which have been utilized for both utilitarian and symbolic purposes.  This course introduces you to the knowledge that different cultures have of birds, and to their formal scientific study in modern times. The topics we will examine include the place of birds in myth and religion; indigenous ways to classify birds; how local traditions relating to birds can serve as models for conservation; the relationship of local and traditional knowledge to the development of modern ornithology; the colonial roots of ornithology; and the part played by amateur birders and other non-professionals in the emergence of ornithology as a science. The course includes a number of field trips, to birding sites to develop our own engagement with birds as wild things, and to museum collections, to understand the scientific value of birds as dead things.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA
Internationalism

Distribution Requirements:
Social science

Course Materials

This course introduces students to critical perspectives in museum studies. We will begin byexamining the historical setting within which these institutions evolved, considering therelationship with anthropology and how the discipline contributed to the construction of the“exotic” objects contained within the “cabinets of curiosities” that filled museums. In this course,we will engage in both theoretical and practical terms with museums as a public culture. Thus, we will pay close attention to the processes of collection, archives, and exhibits to examine howcuratorial practices and the gazes of visitors also contribute to making museum sites forcontestation, reconciliation, dialogue, fragmentation, and community. The critical aspect of thiscourse also includes perspectives of groups that are critical of museums but propose alternative “post-museum” and “anti-museum” experiences that enable multi-vocality and defy themonumentality of Western museum practices.

General Education Requirements:
Internationalism

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

Cultural heritage sites, including libraries, archives and museums, have existed in some shape or form for a very long time. Computers, on the other hand, have only been a part of these institutions for about sixty years. Although technologies offer more efficient and cost-effective ways to store and disseminate information and promise greater accessibility to materials, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they successfully facilitate the missions of these cultural heritage sites or the needs of their visitors. Why is this the case? Do digital technologies truly have the potential to decentralize and democratize these spaces? What can they tell us about what we value, as a culture? In this interdisciplinary course, we will reflect on the impact of digital technologies on cultural heritage sites, and museums in particular, starting in the 1960s and continuing through the present. Interwoven throughout the course, we will discuss decolonization, digital repatriation, obsolescence, cultural heritage and AI, and collective remembering. You will come out of the class with a focused digital project.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Social science

Course Materials

From Italian Mafia dons to famous American philanthropists; from the knitting of "trauma teddies" in Helsinki to gift shopping in London; and from ceremonial exchange rings in Melanesia to the present day global refugee crisis: this course will investigate how generosity is understood and practiced in global perspective. We'll begin the semester by examining key debates surrounding reciprocity, gifts, and exchange, theories of altruism and generosity, and patron-client relations. We'll then explore the birth of the "humanitarian spirit," and the complicated ethics and politics of humanitarian intervention. We will compare diverse religious traditions' approaches to giving, including Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, and Jainism. And we'll explore contemporary debates surrounding volunteerism within sectarian and neoliberal political regimes.

General Education Requirements:
Internationalism

Distribution Requirements:
Social science

Course Materials

This course introduces students to the broad range of explanations for social and cultural phenomena used by anthropologists since the emergence of the discipline in the 19th century. The course focuses on the development of three broad theoretical approaches: The American school of cultural anthropology, British social anthropology, and the French school that emerged from the work of Durkheim and his followers. The course also examines theoretical approaches such as cultural materialism, and symbolic and interpretive approaches to the study of culture. Prerequisite(s): Junior or senior standing.  Students should have at least two courses in anthropology including ANTH 101 or ANTH 111, or the permission of the instructor.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA

Distribution Requirements:
Social science

Course Materials

This course is an introduction to the discipline of anthropology as a whole. It presents students with a theoretical grounding in the four major subfields: archaeology, biological anthropology, cultural anthropology, and linguistics. In this class the emphasis is on the holistic nature of the discipline. Students will be challenged with some of the countless links between the systems of biology and culture. They will explore key questions about human diversity in the past, present, and future. Prerequisite(s): Not open to students who've taken ANTH 111.

General Education Requirements:
Internationalism

Distribution Requirements:
Social science

Course Materials

The cultural perspective on human behavior including case studies, often illustrated by ethnographic films and slides, of non-Western and American cultures. May include some field interviewing. Includes the cross cultural treatment of economic, legal, political, social and religious institutions and a survey of major approaches to the explanation of cultural variety and human social organization. Prerequisite(s): Not open to students who've taken ANTH 101.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WP
Internationalism OR U.S. Identities and Differences

Distribution Requirements:
Social science

Course Materials

This class is a broad survey covering topics such as genetics, evolutionary mechanisms, adaptation, primate studies, the human fossil record, and human variation. All of these areas will be placed within the framework of the interaction of humans within their environment. The course is divided into three sections: human genetics, human ecology and primatology, human evolution and adaptation.

General Education Requirements:
Quantitative Thinking Q1

Distribution Requirements:
Natural science and mathematics

Course Materials

This course introduces students to archaeology, the study of the material remains of human culture. Students will explore the history of the discipline and profession, its basic methods and theories, and the political and ethical dimensions of modern archaeological practice. Students learn to examine and interpret evidence using specific examples, from artifacts to sites to regions.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

Human beings have an unprecedented ability to shape the environment around them, yet the environment powerfully shapes both individuals and species. Two main questions run throughout this course: 1. How does language influence the way we think about and perceive nature, which in turn influences the way we interact with and shape nature? 2. How has our environment shaped the Language faculty and individual languages? To answer these questions, we'll start by asking, what is language and what is nature? Then we'll turn to the way that our environment has impacted the evolution of Language. Next we'll look at indigenous knowledge as it is encoded by language and the Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis, which says that language influences the way we perceive the world. With this as background, we'll look at the language of environmental discourse. Next, using the metaphor of ecology, we'll examine languages as if they were organisms and analyze the ecosystems that sustain them. Knowing what makes a healthy language, we'll look at endangered languages and the connections between linguistic diversity and biodiversity.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

An introduction to ethnographic field interviewing learned in the context of individually run student field projects. Focuses on the anthropologist-informant field relationship and the discovery of cultural knowledge through participant observation and ethnosemantic interviewing techniques. Prerequisite(s): ANTH 101 or ANTH 111 or permission of instructor.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA

Distribution Requirements:
Social science

Course Materials

This course examines the dying process and the ways that humans beings come to terms with their mortality in different societies. We will learn how people die in major illnesses and critically analyze controversial issues regarding brain death, suicide, and euthanasia. We will survey funerary traditions from a variety of cultures and compare the social, spiritual, and psychological roles that these rituals play for both the living and the dying. We will examine cultural attitudes towards death; and how the denial and awareness of human mortality can shape social practices and institutions. Finally, we will consider issues regarding the quality of life, the opportunities and challenges of caregiving, and hospice traditions around the world.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Social science

Course Materials

This course examines the Qur'an and hadith, and other authoritative texts that ground Islamic jurisprudence, and explores the diverse ways in which Muslims have understood and interpreted these teachings in locations across the world (i.e. Indonesia, the Middle East, South Asia, Europe and the United States) and at various points in history.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WP
Internationalism OR U.S. Identities and Differences

Distribution Requirements:
Social science

Course Materials

In the early days of the internet, many people predicted that the increased speed and scale of communications would make for a more homogenous world. Now, decades later, we see something different: a proliferation of cross-fertilizing cultures, sub-cultures, and counter-cultures online. This course explores some of this rich variety, studying online social worlds (from influencers to hacktivists) and the ways in which IT-informed ways of being seep into social life offline (from ideologies of innovation to algorithmic oppression). Critically deploying the concept of culture and the tools of ethnography to understand these emergent formations, this course will pay particular attention to difference and power while situating "the digital" in international context.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Social science

Course Materials

This course will explore political life in the Middle East through recent ethnography, poetry, andfilm. Our focus is on the everyday interactions where power is negotiated, resisted, andreproduced: managing surveillance; navigating bureaucracy; building intimate relationshipsunder occupation; sustaining hope amid protracted conflict. Topics include: foreign aid, charity,education, gender, peacemaking, love, hope, and activism.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Social science

Course Materials

Forensic anthropology, an applied subfield of biological (physical) anthropology, is a socialscience that uses methods developed in skeletal biology, archaeology, cultural anthropologyand forensics to solve cases of medico-legal significance. This course provides an overview ofthe techniques that forensic anthropologists use in the laboratory for human identification andtrauma analysis of individuals who died as a result of war, suicide, homicide, accident, or massdisaster. Students will learn scientific methodology covering human variation, basic humanosteology and odontology, assessment of age at time of death, sex, ancestry, trauma analysis,pathology, crime scene analysis, animal scavenging, and identification procedures. Classdiscussions, reading assignments, writing assignments, labs, films, and popular media (websites, tv shows, etc.) will enhance students’ understanding of forensic anthropology.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Natural science and mathematics

Course Materials

The word "ritual" is used in many contexts to refer to types of practice that are considered centrally important, as well as formalistic and repetitive. This seminar-style course concentrates on the concept of ritual as a central component of social practice, within and without religious groupings. Focusing on developing the concept of ritual, we will focus on ritual across traditions. This requires students to 'work with' concepts - forming a conception of what they mean by ritual, and be willing to change that conception when faced with contradictory evidence.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

The goal of this course is to develop an anthropological understanding and critique of development. It aims to examine both the discourse of development and its practice. The course focuses on the construction of the Third World as an "underdeveloped" area, and discusses the dominant theoretical paradigms of development and modernization. It assesses the reasons for the general failure of development programs based on these models to bring about meaningful and substantive change in societies in Asia, Africa and Latin America, and discusses possible alternatives to "development" as it is currently practiced. Prerequisite(s): ANTH 101 or ANTH 111.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Social science

Course Materials

This course will focus on the social practice of genocide in the Global North and the Global South comparatively and in historical perspective, and from an anthropological lens. We will critically examine how the category of genocide was constructed and its application to different case studies (Jews, Indigenous Peoples in North America, Rwandan Tutsis, Bosnians, Cambodians, Guatemalan Mayans, Sudanese Darfurians, and Palestinians). The aim is to examine under what conditions societies engage in genocide, what sectors of a society become victims and victimizers and why. We will also discuss the role the state plays in the development and justification of genocide; and what has been done and whose responsibility it is to stop and prevent genocide. In the last part of the course, we will engage with questions related to the aftermath of genocide to understand how societies remember and recover from such a traumatic experience.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Social science

Course Materials

This course explores the human determinants of infectious diseases ranging from Paleolithic parasites to 21 st Century pathogens. Yet even as we examine the latest disease threats, we will find that their evolution and emergence in human populations are largely based on ancient and recurring themes – i.e. the ways that people have interacted with, and disrupted, their natural and social environments. These lessons will help us gain further understanding into current issues such as animal- human spillover events, the evolution of virulence, and the inevitable rise of antibiotic resistance. This course is especially geared for students who enjoy making connections between the social and natural sciences. Previous courses in biology and anthropology are recommended but not required.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Social science

Course Materials

The senior seminar is for Anthropology majors who are working on their senior capstone project and is designed to help students develop that project for presentation. The seminar will also include reading of Anthropological works, guest speakers and discussion of current controversies in the discipline. Prerequisite(s): ANTH 111 or ANTH 101, and either ANTH 387 or ANTH 487.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Social science

Course Materials