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

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

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

These days, much is made about the changing terms of formal employment. Telecommuters, entrepreneurs, gig workers, and online contractors challenge conventional models of the nine-to-five job. But nine-to-five has hardly been the norm throughout history, nor does it describe the typical work experience around the world today. This course takes an anthropological approach to consider the contemporary diversity of working worlds and worker experiences, as well as important historical shifts that have brought us to this moment and will carry us into new working futures. Gender, race, class, and age are all deeply implicated here, as are powerful economic and political forces. Who has to work? Who gets to work? Who is empowered by it and who is exploited? Why do we work? What work is most valued? …When will the robots come for our jobs? Drawing on examples from around the world, and materials ranging from ethnographic writing and film to popular media and u/dystopian fiction, we will take a comparative approach to these and other pressing questions raised by today's diverse and shifting worlds of work.

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

Distribution Requirements:
Social science

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

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 and permission of instructor. For Anthropology majors only.

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. Previous courses in anthropology are recommended but not required.

General Education Requirements:
Internationalism

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. Prerequisite(s): ANTH 101 or ANTH 111 .

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Social science

Course Materials

With approximately 60% of the population (and over 600 million people) under the age of 25, Africa is undoubtedly the world’s youngest continent. Much has been made of this “youth bulge,” which is alternately referred to as a ticking time bomb of political and economic instability, or a unique advantage for those wishing to tap new markets or accelerate development. Rather than just explaining or evaluating the merits of Africa’s young population, however, this course challenges students to learn from the lived experiences of Africa’s young people, who are important and creative social actors (at home, in school, on the job, and in popular culture, art, and politics!). They are also, however, compelling objects of intensive intervention (especially those efforts aimed at girl children, orphans, and victims of famine and war), and we will consider some of the many ways efforts to “save” African young people variably empower, limit, or otherwise complicate their lives. We will approach children and youth not as fixed categories, but as open questions—fluid designations that differ over time and place, identities that are flexible and strategically claimed. Drawing on ethnographic sources, fictional accounts, film, and popular representations, this course is also designed to help students think critically about the dynamic and problematic connections through which Africa’s young people are shaping and being shaped by the rest of the world. Children and Youth in Africa also counts as a Tier 1 African Studies course.

General Education Requirements:
Internationalism

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:
Writing WA

Distribution Requirements:
Social science

Course Materials

This course examines the human determinants of infectious diseases from the Paleolithic to the present day using the combined frameworks of evolution, human ecology, critical history, and social epidemiology. We will consider the co-evolution of culture and disease: the ways that human subsistence, ecological disruptions, social inequalities, and demographic changes have created selective conditions for new infections, re-emerging infections, and antibiotic resistance. We will also address the social dynamics of current epidemics, and major controversies over biosecurity and bioterrorism. Prerequisite(s): ANTH 101 or ANTH 111.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Social science

Course Materials

This course examines the influence of Charles Darwin on both the discipline of Anthropology and general scientific thought in the 20th century. It begins with an exploration of the emergence of modern evolutionary theory, its role in society, and how it is essential to the field of Anthropology. We consider some of the work of Darwin's predecessors, who laid the intellectual and scientific foundations that Darwin built upon, as well as those who adapted Darwin's concepts to theories of social change. Students also read and discuss some of the bigest debates surrounding the theory of Evolution by Natural Selection, both past and present. Finally, we look at the future of evolutionary theory in light of recent developments in molecular biology and the fossil record. Prerequisite(s): One of the following: ANTH 101, ANTH 111, ANTH 112, ANTH 115, BIOL 112, BIOL 270, or BIOL 285.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WP

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

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