Anthropology (ANTH)
Introduces the student to various societies around the world in comparison to western societies and in the context of contemporary global trends. It focuses on the sources of human diversity, and addresses fundamental questions about what it means to be human.
Explores why popular and scientific understandings of 'race' diverge so dramatically. Looks at the long history of scientific (mis)understandings of human biological diversity. Examines racialist thinking in Western and other cultural contexts.
The anthropological approach to gender: cultural definition and social status of female and male; other genders; theories of gender definition and gender hierarchy.
Co-requisite: ANTH 299. An exploration of the methods of anthropological research and discursive styles of the presentation anthropological materials. An introduction to the practices of cultural anthropology.
Co-requisite: ANTH 298. Examines the way the discipline of anthropology changes as it enters into arguments about what it means to be human and about what are the purposes and goals of the discipline. Explores how ethnographic data are used, evaluated, and contested in these arguments. An introduction to the theories of cultural anthropology.
The anthropological exploration of art from a comparative perspective. Combines studies of art in non-western societies with a studies of how art is produced and consumed in the West. Explores the rise of modern museums and collecting nonwestern art; aesthetics; how art produces meaning and affect.
A survey of the anthropological contribution to a comparative political science. Focuses on politics and political structures in non-state societies as well as in nation-states. Includes an overview of anthropological studies of nationalism, colonialism, post-colonialism, globalization, and political ritual and protest movements.
Comparative study of the cultural logic and moral principles of the major economic systems of the world. Includes barter, trade, and gift exchange, early and late capitalism. Special attention to global expansion of capitalism into nonwestern societies.
A cross-cultural study of the production and consumption of food; cultural attitudes and meanings of food, food-sharing, and eating; body image and ideal body types; food in a global context. Theoretical concerns include the definition of food and the edible, the conceptual relationship between food and health, and the raw and the cooked. Satisfies the "field-research intensive" requirement for the anthropology major.
Prerequisite: ANTH 101 or 298 and 299 or permission of the instructor. This course examines how human beings use our capacity for symbolic thought to create and share in worlds of meaning. An in-depth study of how symbols operate in ritual and myth, with examples from cultures and religions around the world. Students will learn about both the semiotic and experiential aspects of ritual and myth, which are our most ancient and persistent tools as human beings for building relationships, creating identities, and experiencing the transcendent or sacred dimensions of our existence.
Cultural memory plays a vital role in group identity and in the way present events are understood. This course examines how societies remember and forget through shared narratives, rituals, memorials, museums, films, and other media.
In this course we examine cultures of tourism, including interactions between tourists, local residents, and institutions, and the ways people, places, and historic periods are produced and packaged for tourist consumption.
Prerequisites: ANTH 101 or 298 and 299 or permission of the instructor. The economic and political intergratioin of Europe has been justified by the idea of a common European cultural heritage or "civilization." In this course we will read and discuss a range of ethnographic texts to consider changing cultural forms in Europe as well as identities focused on class, gender, ethnicity, and race. We will also examine attempts to define the boundaries of Europe, European citizenship, and European culture - attempts made all the more significant and complex by immigration and cultural diversity as well as the ambiguity of "Europe" and "European."
Cities are now more than ever the primary setting of human habitation, social life and economic and cultural production. This course seeks to expand students' fluency in anthropological and other social-scientific theories of urban life, as well as their familiarity with the historical and social dynamics urbanization and suburbanization. Students will be asked to apply and extend theoretical insights by conducting and ethnographic study of their own design.
This course highlights examples of how anthropology is applied outside of academia, ranging from business management and marketing to public policy and conflict resolution. Students will learn and refine research methods by working collaboratively on a project for a client.
Examines the intersection of anthropology and psychology by considering the ways culture and society create varying conceptions and experiences of self and personhood, emotion, thought, perception, mental states, and mental health diagnosis and treatment.
In-depth study of ethnographic literature on Amazonian societies, including kinship, economics, politics, gender, shamanism and other main themes. Western preconceptions about humanity, power and morality are put in comparative context alongside indigenous theories.
This course examines Western, modernist notions of the environment and development, and how they are often at odds with Indigenous Ecological Knowledge in global conservation and development projects. Western, modernist discourses about nature and progress are world-shaping, dominant cultural narratives that can be effectively analyzed as myth.
Application of ethnographic research methods including observation, interviews, transcription, interpretation, and analysis.
Prerequisites: ANTH 350 or permission of instructor. Faculty-led, Six-week study abroad course entailing ethnographic field research in an indigenous community in Guyana, South America. Students participate in community life and develop a research project based on their interests. Advanced instruction in ethnographic/qualitative research methods and indigenous cultures of Amazonia.
Individual work under the guidance of the instructor.
Individual work under the guidance of the instruct or. May not be counted as Sociology credit.
Supervised off-campus experience developed in consultation with the instructor. Cannot be counted in the major program.