ANTH 214 - Race and Human Variation

Institution:

Wellesley College

Subject:

Description:

Van Arsdale NOT OFFERED IN 2009-10. This is a course about race concepts and human biological variation, viewed from historical and biological perspectives. This course thus has two intertwined emphases. One is placed on the historical connection between science and sociopoliti-cal ideologies and policies. The other is on the evolutionary origin of human biological and cultural diversity. Through lecture and discus-sion section, topics explored include the role of polygenism, historically and in current scientific thought; biological determinism and scien-tific racism; the Holocaust and other examples of ?applied biology?; and the role of the race concept in current scientific debates, such as those over the place of the Neanderthals in human evolution, as well as those over the boo k The Bell Curve . The course seeks to guide students through a critical exercise in studying the evolutionary origins of contemporary human biological variation and its close relation-ship with scientific and popular concepts of race . Prerequisite: None Distribution: Social and Behavioral Analysis Semester: N/O Unit: 1.0

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.wellesley.edu

Phone Number:

(781) 283-1000

Regional Accreditation:

New England Association of Schools and Colleges

Calendar System:

Semester

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