Anthropology Courses
ANT 100 Introduction to Cultural Anthropology (3) s/cs1
Examination of the enormous cultural diversity within and between the world's peoples. and the political importance of this diversity today. Subsistence methods, kinship patterns, power relations, linguistic variations, cultural conflicts, and forms of inequality around the world are explored. Focus of the course is to enable students to grasp “Culture” as a historically dynamic process that is both creative and constantly undergoing transformation. Graded ABCDD->N. Also listed as INT 100.
ANT 105 Human Origins and Prehistory (4) n
Introduction to physical anthropology and human prehistory. Foundations in molecular and population genetics , and human variation. Primate anatomy and behavior as a model for early hominids. Evidence and processes of human evolution and sociocultural change. Archaeological methods and approaches to interpreting human prehistory. Lecture and Laboratory.
ANT 110 Introduction to Archaeology (3) s/cs1
Contribution of archaeology to understanding past cultures and the process of cultural change; the relationship of archaeology to anthropology; survey of concepts and methods of investigating the human past.
ANT 203 Origins of Modern Racism (3) h/wc1
Survey of the development of modern Western ideas of racism in the period 1492-1800, with particular attention to moral and political philosophies that developed in conjunction with the colonization and enslavement of African and Native American peoples in the New World. Figures studied may include Columbus, Las Casas, Montaigne, Locke, Rousseau and Jefferson. Also listed as AFA 203 and PHL 203.
ANT 215 Islamic Civilization (3)s/cs2 Graded ABCDD->N
ANT 240 (310) Cultures of the Middle East (PR: ANT/INT 100 or consent of instructor) (3) s/cs2
Ethnographic survey of urban, peasant, and nomadic regional cultures and their interrelationships. Ecology, culture, institutions, history, social change, and contemporary issues.
ANT 250 African Cultures (3) s/cs2
Introduction to the African continent as a geographic, political and symbolic entity juxtaposing territories, histories and cultures. Anthropological emphasis on West Africa, including matriliny and other lineage systems, polyrhythmic music, gender, religion (e.g., Vodu), economic and political organization, and colonial impact, from the viewpoints of Africans themselves, as subjects and agents. Also listed as AFA 250.
ANT 260 African Diaspora in the Americas (PR: ANT/INT 100 or consent of instructor) (3) s/cs3
African cultural continuities in the New World, with a focus on the Caribbean and Brazil. Survey of literature on the precise ethnic identities of victims of the Atlantic slave trade, where they were taken, what remains today of their values and practices, and how African cultures continue to be central to the formation of American identities. Also listed as AFA 260.
ANT 271 Native Americans (3) s/cs3
Survey of the First Nations of North American from an anthropological perspective. Diversity and complexity of traditional culture; specific Nations representing wide range of geographic regions and socio-political organization. Understanding traditional culture in order to understand relationships among First Nations and colonialists from the 16th to 20th centuries.
ANT 284 (314) Cultures and Peoples of Latin America (PR: ANT/INT 100) (3) s/cs2
Survey of the cultures and political economy of Latin America and Latin American peoples. Emphasis on regional diversity and national specificities. Processes and events that have had a decisive influence on the region will be discussed. These include colonialism, mestizaje, authoritarianism and state violence, land reform, machismo, religious transformations, U.S. foreign policy and migration. Focus on the relationship between tradition and conflict as manifested across the region and its impact on contemporary cultures in Latin America and among Latin Americans in the U.S.
ANT 290 Language and Culture (PR: ANT/INT 100) (3) s
Analysis of the relationship between linguistic categories and patterns of culture. Also listed as LIN 290.
ANT 295 Cultures of South Asia (PR: ANT/INT 100) (3) s/cs2
Survey of traditions, peoples, and cultural diversity in the Indian sub-continent. Nation-formation, the caste system, religious conflict, social inequalities, population, popular culture, and diasporas. Impact of British colonialism; struggles for independence; cultural politics of post-colonial social formations in the area. Focus on agrarian and rural issues.
ANT 299 Third World Cultures Through Film (3) s/cs2
Focus on ways in which social and cultural themes surrounding the “Third World” are represented in fictional and non-fictional films, important cultural documents and social commentaries which help establish a cross-cultural framework for exploring the politics of cultural conflict and transformation. Through films, associated readings, and class discussions, students learn to critically interrogate and analyze shifting meanings of the concept of “Third World." Also listed as INT 299.
ANT 302 History of Social Thought (PR: ANT/INT 100 or SOC 100) (3) s/wc1
Development of sociological-anthropological theory from its origins to the present. Selected major theorists; readings chosen from original works. Also listed as SOC 302.
ANT 303 Contemporary Social Theory (PR: ANT/INT 100 or SOC 100) (3) s
Critical review of classical and contemporary social theory; problems concerning nature of sociological and anthropological explanations of society and inequality; significance of theoretical concepts in relationship to practice. Survey and comparison of recently articulated theoretical orientations. Also listed as SOC 303.
ANT 305 Topics in African Languages and Cultures (PR: AFA 201 or consent of instructor) (3) cs2. Also listed as AFA 305.
ANT 311 Historical Archaeology (PR: ANT 110) (3)cs3
Consideration of the relationship between the documentary record of the historical period and empirical evidence of social and political behavior and events in North America. Exploration of potential for gaining information about aspects of American history not well documented in written records for which archaeology can contribute a different source of data and perspective.
ANT 318 Mesoamerican Archeology (PR: ANT 110) (3) s/cs2
Pre-contact cultures of Mexico, Central America, and western South America outlined from earliest presence of people in the region through the civilization of the Aztec, Maya, Inca, and others. Consideration of development of food production; the origin and collapse of complex socio-political organizations; impact of early European contact.
ANT 322 Eastern North American Archaeology (PR: ANT 110) (3) s
Precontact history of cultures of Eastern North America addressed through consideration of artifacts and other empirical evidence, tracing changes in technology, style, and by implication, social, political, and religious realms of past cultures from the Great Lakes to the Southeast. Changes in the relationship between people and their environment, changes in food, production strategies, and intercultural relationships.
ANT 325 Culture and Personality (PR: ANT/INT 100 or PSY 100 or SOC 100) (3) s/cs1
Cross-cultural examination of the construction of personhood and relationships between individuals and culture. Critique of psychological interpretations in anthropological texts and of universalizing tendencies in the field of psychology; the basic Freudian model in contrast with models of self in African, Asian, and Native American cultures. Also listed as SOC 325.
ANT 330 Medical Anthropology (PR: A course in anthropology or HCR 300) (3) s/cs1
Anthropological perspective on the relationship and interaction of biological, environmental, and socio-cultural factors in health, disease, and illness. Man's health behavior in both traditional and contemporary cultures as encountered in health care delivery by the medical systems and medical institutions. Also listed as HCR 330.
ANT 335 Language Variation in Society (PR: ANT/INT 100 or ENG/LIN 200) (3) s/cs1
Study of language variation within the same language community, the circumstances under which it occurs, and its relationship to group interaction. Regional dialects, ethnic dialects, sex-related language differences, pidgins and creoles, and languages in mutual contact. Also listed as LIN 335.
ANT 340 Urban Anthropology (PR: ANT/INT 100) (3) s/cs1
Anthropological interpretation of the rise and development of urbanism: analysis of urban life with emphasis on its diversity, social complexity, poverty, and inequality.
ANT 351 Political and Legal Anthropology (PR: ANT/INT 100 or consent of instructor) (3) s/cs1
Study of comparative political systems, forms of authority, legitimacy and power in societies at different levels of social complexity and in different ecological contexts. Political organization and process analyzed in terms of their relationships to economics, religion, kinship, and other aspects of culture and society. Also listed as POL 351.
ANT 352 Culture and Economy in Cross-Cultural Perspective (PR: ANT/INT 100) (3) s/cs1
Exploration of different economic systems that have emerged around the world and the relationship between cultural dynamics and economic transformations. Critical analysis of concepts used to describe the “economy,” emphasizing elements of production, distribution, consumption, and social reproduction. Primary focus on the “non-Western” world, how anthropologists analyze economic issues, and relevance to understanding capitalism and world systems.
ANT 355 World Religions (PR: ANT/INT 100 or SOC 100) (3) s/cs1
Examination of Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Vodu, and other religious forms as time permits. Central values, cultural contexts, and interpretive frameworks of world religions, including ethnographic considerations of non-orthodox forms; religion as reinforcement of political/cultural hegemonies and as resistance to such domination.
ANT 369 African Religions (PR: AFA 201 or ANT 100 or consent of instructor) (3) vi1
Examination of African religions through anthropological and literary texts, including consideration of West African religions and central African indigenous practices . Also listed as AFA 369.
ANT 370 Museum Techniques (PR: ANT/INT 100; ANT 110 or 271; or consent of instructor) (3) s
ANT 375 Social and Cultural Change (PR: ANT/INT 100 or SOC 100) (3) s
Institutions and social change. Emphasis on theories, ideologies, social movements and revolutions. Study of colonialism, economic crisis, peasant struggles, nationalism, indigenous rights, independence movements, and struggles over development and underdevelopment. . Also listed as INT 375 and SOC 375.
ANT 376 Sex, Work, and International Capital (PR: SOC 100 or consent of instructor) (3)
Analysis of significance of women's labor to international capital in a cross-cultural perspective. Examination of social construction of “third world” and “development," and potential and limits of these categories in understanding ideological and material conditions of lives of women across race, class and national boundaries in the world of work. Also listed as INT 376, SOC 376 and WGS 376.
ANT 378 Sex and Gender in Cross-Cultural Perspective (PR: ANT/INT 100) (3) s/cs2
Comparison of gender divisions in various societies; social roles of men, women and other categories. African, Asian, and Native American conceptualizations of gender, in comparison with data from Western cultures. Cultural construction of femaleness, maleness, and sexual behaviors and their relationships (or lack of relationship) to gender stereotypes. Also listed as WGS 378.
ANT 380 Field Work in Archaeology (PR: ANT 110 or consent of instructor) (3-6) s
Introduction to reconnaissance and excavation of sites; preparation and cataloguing of museum specimens.
ANT 385 Japanese Society and Culture I (PR: Enrollment in Japan Center Program) (4) s/cs2
Exploration of Japanese culture from a variety of viewpoints and including such topics as the family, women's roles, education, religions, politics, architecture and economics. Also listed as INT 385.
ANT 386 Japanese Society and Culture II (PR: Enrollment in Japan Center Program) (4) s/cs2
Continuation of ANT/INT 385. Also listed as INT 386.
ANT 391 Directed Readings/Research in Anthropology (PR: Consent of instructor, at least junior standing) (1-3)
Directed reading or research study by qualified students under instructor's supervision. By special arrangement only. Also listed as SOC 391.
ANT 400 Ethnographic Methods (PR: ANT 100 or SOC 100) (3) s
Seminar focused on weekly readings of early and recent ethnographies and relationships between practices of fieldwork, writing, and theory. Relationships between ethnographers and the people they write about; ethical grounding of anthropology and its impact on the world in terms of local politics and dangers and broader human rights issues; critiques of methods of research and writing.
ANT 405 Anthropological Theory (PR: SOC/ANT 302 or 303) (3) s
Seminar on the twentieth century history of anthropological theory, including critical examination of orientations: functionalism, diffusion, cultural evolution, structural-functionalism, structuralism, political economy, cultural materialism, symbolic anthropology (interpretivism), discourse analysis, deconstruction, feminist approaches and postmodernism.
ANT 415 Seminar on Contemporary Global Issues (PR: SOC/ANT 302 or 303) (3) s
Issue-based course linking recent social theory, empirical research, and predicaments of public policy within a comprehensive global framework. Focus on globalization and issues of social and political importance central to recent debates within and outside the academy. Multi-disciplinary approach; materials drawn from the U.S., Europe, and developing world that highlight recent global socio-economic transformations. Designed to serve students majoring in a number of different fields, especially those engaged in specific research projects and/or preparing for graduate school. Also listed as INT 415.
ANT 455 Anthropological Interpretation of American Socio-Cultural Systems (PR: Senior standing or consent of instructor) (3) s
ANT 470 American Ethnic and Cultural Diversity (PR: ANT/INT 100 and senior standing, or consent of instructor) (3)s
ANT 495 Honors Thesis I (PR: Consent of Department Chair. Open only to Honors Program students in anthropology) (4) Credit and grade for ANT 495 is not given until successful completion of ANT 496. Also listed as HON 495.
ANT 496 Honors Thesis II (PR: Prior or concurrent election of ANT 495 and consent of Department Chair. Open only to Honors Program students in anthropology) (4) Also listed as HON 496.
ANT 499 (399) Senior Seminar (PR: Consent of instructor) (3)
Critical review of the sociological and anthropological literature with attention to the interaction of theory and research. Also listed as SOC 499.
Graduate Courses in Anthropology
ANT 515 Seminar on Contemporary Global Issues, Graduate standing; SOC/ANT 302 or 303. (3)
See ANT 415 for description. Not open to students with credit for ANT 415. Also listed as INT 515.
ANT 555 Anthropological Interpretation of American Socio-Cultural Systems, Graduate standing or consent of instructor. (3) Not open to students with credit for ANT 455.
ANT 570 American Ethnic and Cultural Diversity ANT/INT 100, graduate standing; or consent of instructor. (3) Not open to students with credit for ANT 470.