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Course Criteria
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3.00 Credits
Advances made in our understanding of evolution, biology, and medicine have influenced the way that biological anthropologists conduct research. Furthermore, as studied communities become more aware and involved in the research done with them, ethical, legal, and social issues are now more present within an anthropologist's research agenda. Throughout this seminar, students will explore the challenges surrounding the use of humans as subjects in biological anthropology.
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3.00 Credits
Death has become a burgeoning business for television and cable networks, publishing houses and entrepreneurs. While some purport an increased scientific sophistication among the viewing public as a result, most recognize that unrealistic expectations for instant answers and seemingly omnipotent investigators often nullify any benefits. Therefore, students will be introduced to basic procedures employed by forensic anthropologists during the recovery and analysis of human remains. They will learn how biological anthropologists apply expertise in human osteology, skeletal variation and plasticity, pathology, archaeological recovery of evidence, and medicolegal issues of chain-of-custody, courtroom testimony, and human rights policy. While the course will focus on anthropological contributions to the forensic sciences, the importance of a multidisciplinary approach will be emphasized through a survey of allied fields. Students will develop analytical skills through the application of anthropological theory and methods, understand the scientific method through research requirements and in-depth case studies, improve collaborative skills with group projects, increase cross-cultural awareness by studying how social problems and social movements affect minority groups, and explore the possibility that forensic science might indeed be shaped by "opinion." Professional ethics will be discussed, students will engage in structured debates, and will be expected to complete a group research project.
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3.00 Credits
This course explores the latest developments in social-cultural anthropology including, but not limited to, nationalism and transnationalism; colonialism and post-colonialism; political-economy; gender; religion; ethnicity; language; and medicine and the body. Emphasis will be on social and cultural transformations in specific historical contexts.
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3.00 Credits
This course explores the economic, state, and national conditions of multiculturalism as a social relation and semiotic form. Seminal questions include the issues of difference deployed in debates over multiculturalism and anthropology's location in them as a study of human diversity.
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3.00 Credits
This seminar interrogates the intersections among male, female, violence, and nonviolence. How is gender related to war and peace across cultures? We explore the biological, psychological, ritual, spiritual, social, political, and military entanglements of sex, gender and aggression in this course. We examine the lived realities of women and men in zones of conflict as both survivors and perpetrators of violence, and consider the potential of each as peace builders.
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3.00 Credits
This course focuses on images of Native Americans and how popular and scientific writing, fine art, advertisement, and film may have shaped these images. Using an anthropological perspective, the student reads fictitious and factual accounts of Native Americans and their cultures, both past and present, allowing them to build a more accurate image of Native Americans. The course uses books and film to broaden the understanding of Indian stereotypes, and the student will compare them to ethnographic studies that use a scientific approach to Native American beliefs, life styles, and material culture. Some of the literature will be from Native American authors and the art from contemporary Native American artists. Together the readings, artworks, and films will also reveal the great diversity of both people and ideas that all too often are lumped under one category which we label "Native American." Writing intensive course for the College of Arts and Letters.
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3.00 Credits
This course explores race and ethnicity as biological, social, legal, and cultural constructs and lived experiences. Its underlying objective is to understand how relations of power affect racial and ethnic affiliations, categorizations, and experiences. Rather than merely learning a collection of facts on specific racial and ethnic groups, we will examine race and ethnicity as they intersect with dynamics of social class, gender, mass media representation, racism, immigration, and everyday life in urban settings. We will focus on the diversity of U.S. recent, real life experiences -from problems of inequality to the flourishing of "ethnic" food and music - but also look at postcolonial and European locales. This will enable us to compare racial and ethnic understandings, practices, and identities across geopolitical settings, and in global and transnational context.
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3.00 Credits
This course is a survey of the anthropological study of politics. This advanced course will be of interest to students with some background in anthropology or in political science or political theory. We draw on theoretical, ethnographic, and archaeological readings to examine the kinds of political systems that have existed in human history, the transnational politics of the present, and the possible politics of the human future.
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3.00 Credits
Anthropology attempts to make sense of an infinitely complicated world by organizing its observations, inquiries, and explanations. Some of these are grand, while others are modest. Still, all anthropological work involves some kind of analysis. All analysis stems from a view of what is basic and of what is related most centrally. This course introduces the most powerful analytic perspectives in the four subdisciplines of anthropology, preparing students to encounter and situate anthropological works of all sorts. The seminar format encourages student involvement not only in reading and writing but also in discussion and analysis of the works under consideration. Written and spoken assignments will permit students to try their hand at a wide range of anthropological practice. Required of all Anthropology majors.
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3.00 Credits
Religion and ritual have been part of humanity since the Upper Paleolithic and possibly earlier. In this class, we will use the archaeological record to explore the deep history, richness, and diversity of religious practice throughout the world. The first issue to grapple with is the extent to which we can learn about religion through material culture and how this perspective adds to our understanding of the role religion plays in the human experience, how religions are organized, and how they change through time. These issues will be explored using examples from the Upper Paleolithic, Egypt, U.S. Southwest, Maya, and the Andes, to name a few, and we will also investigate the origins of Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism.
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