ANTH-Anthropology

Survey of the position and roles of women in African societies with different social, political, and economic organizations.

Introductory level course in basic analysis of human remains for the medico-legal profession. Course covers development of the field of forensic anthropology, introduction to human osteology, how age, sex, ancestry, and stature are determined from skeletel material, and how skeletel trauma is evaluated.

Present-day values and social life of selected sub-Saharan African people examined using anthropological studies and African literature.

Uses anthropological concepts and skills to critically interrogate the ways in which people and social groups are involved in creating, critiquing, and negotiating various aspects of science and technology.

Explores exotic (including extreme, adventure, ethnic, and eco) tourism and journalism using writings, photography, and web sites. It is, in effect, a series of virtual exotic tours, each one centered around an itinerary drawn from actual tours. Will be offered in the 2008-09 academic year.

Introduces key issues in the anthropology of Latin America, with emphasis on identity formation, cultural practices, and power. Major themes include race, class, and gender as intersecting forms of oppression, violence, and terror and indigenous social movements.

Introduces current issues in cultural anthropology using film as a medium with which to explore culture. Raises questions about visual representations and the portrayal of cultural difference in the context of global inequalities.

Addresses cross-cultural attitudes to the human body and its everyday biological concerns—sleeping, eating, breathing, sex, and defecation.

Examines traditional medicine, ethnomedicine, alternative healing, and biomedicine as cultural systems in both local and transnational contexts.

Introduces anthropological concepts and approaches to historical and contemporary globalizations. Using ethnographies, films, and other cultural productions, raises questions about the impacts of transnational capitalism, colonialism, migration/movement, and media on local and global identities, cultures, and communities.

A survey course on anthropological approaches to environmental questions that covers the history of anthropology's engagement with environmental politics. Considers the various ecologies, cultural, symbolic, historical, political, and the types of analyses these have enabled.

Explore cultures and politics of drug use, development, and science. Analyze the deeply racial and national character of drug science as well as ways that licit and illicit drugs construct bodies and body-politics.

Examines contemporary American religious rhetorics and narratives as they register and constitute the transition to late modern capitalist culture. Topics vary each year and include born-again Christianity, apocalypticism, New Age, UFOs, and alien abductions.

Examines the many ways in which organized groups engage in political protest against those whom they understand to dominate them. The course first establishes the framework for the discussion of power, politics, and protest, and then examines a variety of forms taken by political protests worldwide.

Examines cultural constructions of meaningful living, with emphasis on ethnographic analysis, through comparative studies of how societies assign value to different formations of everyday life. Topics include: cultivation of taste; pleasure; hierarchies of values; social justice; and distinctions between work and leisure.

Devoted to the culture and dance of Bollywood, a popular genre of film representation of cultures and peoples of India. The course combines both theory and practice by showing films on selected themes and having students learn this dance style and music.

Students submit petition to sponsoring agency.

This video production lab trains students in the techniques of ethnographic filmmaking. Through lectures, demonstrations, hands-on instruction, and a continuous review of the students' work in progress, students learn the fundamentals of video pre-production, production, and post-production techniques.

Laboratory focuses on the locomotor, dental, facial-cranial anatomy of hominids. Meets weekly, with exercises designed around primate and human skeletal materials and casts of fossil hominids. Will be offered in the 2008-09 academic year.

Introduces the analysis of human remains from forensic or archaeological contexts. Covers the whole range of morphological, morphometric, histological, genetic, and biochemical methods applied in bone-based anthropological analyses. Prerequisite(s): course 102A. Enrollment by permission of instructor.

Focuses on locomotor and dental-cranial anatomy and skeletal/dental development of primates. Weekly meetings, with exercises designed around primate materials.

Homo sapiens neanderthalensis (neanderthals), once considered brutish, are increasingly seen as behaviorally modern. This course uses primary academic research to explore the social behaviors, technology, anatomy, and genetics of neanderthals, gaining a holistic understanding of our closest ancestor.

Comparative and evolutionary anatomy of human performance. Examines locomotor systems and their underlying structure and evolution through videos, skeletons, and dissections in a variety of mammals, primates, and humans. (Formerly Anthropology of Movement.)

Draws on contemporary theory and ethnographies to understand infrastructures as cultural phenomena for addressing everyday human needs, as well as an analytical tool for addressing concepts such as materialism, inequality, structure and resistance, history, and potentiality.

Globalization has become a fashionable concept. How is globalization related to development promoted by every nation-state in the world? Course explores such questions through a diverse body of literature and service learning conducted in urban and rural Odisha, India.

Students learn about and participate in each project offered at Centurion and write a weekly two-page report on each week's assignment.

Religion, culture, and change in the Middle East with emphasis on the Arab world.

Introduces scholarship that rethinks the conventional wisdom about colonialism and modernity in China, Japan, and Korea. Emphasis on the production of colonial knowledge about Asian others and genealogies of nationalism, tradition/modernity, history/memory, race and gender. Will be offered in the 2005–06 academic year.

Provides students with an opportunity to critically analyze various ethnographic accounts of Mexican communities on both sides of the border. Uncovers how anthropologists in this century have approached Mexican culture by examining the methodologies, theories, evidence, and conclusions employed and/or produced in these works.

Addresses matters of postcolonialism, transnationalism, and sovereignty in the context of the U.S.'s changing status at the turn of the 21st century. Will be offered in 2011–12 academic year.

Moving historically from woodcuts and paintings to the World Wide Web, but emphasizing the invention and development of documentary photography, this course explores the world of images depicting society and culture. Major theoretical approaches to reading pictures will be emphasized, and students must produce a final project incorporating visual images.

Focuses on developing countries, those countries experiencing fast deruralization and ecological crises. Students learn the reach of entropic interconnectiveness given the fact that forms of inequality organize the system. Readings illustrate the theories and methods anthropologists use to approximate cultural realities to readers, scholars, and activists.

Trains students in the techniques of ethnographic filmmaking. Through lectures, demonstrations, hands-on instruction, and review of students' work in progress, students learn the fundamentals of film/video pre-production, production, and post-production skills. Concurrent enrollment in course 149 required.

Students learn the fundamentals of photography or video production and audio recording in order to create mini-ethnographies.

Designed to instruct in aesthetics and technical production of a short digital slideshow. Using iMovie3 editing program, produce a digital slideshow incorporating sound (narration, music, and sound effects) and still images.

Designed to provide students with a demonstrated interest or background in folkloristics an opportunity to develop a project that integrates folkloristic theory and ethnographic practice. Will be offered in the 2006–07 academic year.

Examines anthropological treatments of self and identity with attention to the related topics of consciousness and agency. Surveys theories, key debates, and important ethnographic case studies. Will be offered in the 2004–05 academic year.

Archaeological history of Africa from the first 2.5 million-year-old artifacts to the emergence of African pastorialism and farming. Disciplinary models and assumptions critically examined in their historic and political contexts. Students cannot receive credit for this course and course 275A. (Formerly African Archaeology: 2.5 Million BP to Farming.)

Introduces the African diaspora from an archaeological perspective. Focuses on examining the cultural, social, economic, and political lives of Africans and their descendants in the New World and West Africa from the 15th through 19th centuries. Students cannot receive credit for this course and Anthropology 275C.

An introduction to the use of statistics and other formal methods in solving archaeological problems. Teaches basic interests, terms, and concepts important in quantitative archaeological thought through lectures, assigned readings, problem sets, and in-class discussions. Will be offered in 2010–11 academic year.

Introduces practical skills in archaeological materials identification of stone, shell, bone, and other materials; curation; and database management. Students receive entry-level training with once-weekly class meetings and 5 hours per week of hands-on instruction.

Explores tropical forest ecology with emphases on plant-life history variation and patterns of diversity. Topics include: photosynthesis, competition, and plant-animal interactions, such as pollination, herbivory, and seed dispersal. Special focus on neotropical forests and adaptations to life in humid environments. Students cannot receive credit for this course and course 290A. Competitive selection based on application and interview during previous fall quarter. Will be offered in 2011-12 academic year. Prerequisite(s): satisfaction of the Entry Level Writing and Composition requirements; concurrent enrollment in courses 190B and 190C is required.

Field-oriented course in primate behavioral ecology. Combines lectures on approaches and methodologies with practical field studies. Students complete field project in primate ecology and behavior and learn natural history of the plants and animals of Costa Rica. Students cannot receive credit for this course and course 290B. Competitive selection based on application and interview during previous fall quarter. Will be offered in 2011-12 academic year. Prerequisite(s): satisfaction of the Entry Level Writing and Composition requirements; concurrent enrollment in courses 190A and 190C is required. Students are billed a materials fee.

Students carry out substantial field projects at two locations in Costa Rica under the supervision of course instructors. Students develop research proposals, analyze data, and prepare final research papers and oral presentations. Students cannot receive credit for this course and course 290C. Competitive selection based on application and interview during previous fall quarter. Will be offered in 2011-12 academic year. Prerequisite(s): satisfaction of the Entry Level Writing and Composition requirements; concurrent enrollment in courses 190A and 190B is required.

Introduces archaeological field methods and approaches by which archaeology and heritage are interpreted. Students obtain a working understanding of survey and excavation, artifact sampling, and laboratory analysis. Enrollment by permission of instructor. Students are billed a course fee.

Teaching of a lower-division seminar under faculty supervision. (See course 42.) Students submit petition to sponsoring agency.

Students submit petition to sponsoring agency.

Introduces fieldwork methods and problems in medical anthropology. Students spend six weeks conducting field work through volunteer activities with local health organizations, and prepare a final ethnographic paper.

Outlines development of Native cultures in the American Southwest from Paleo-Indian times through early European contact. Students must enroll in courses 196A and 196B. Students cannot receive credit for courses 196A-B and 194I.

Outlines development of Native cultures in the American Southwest from Paleo-Indian times through early European contact. Students must enroll in courses 196A and 196B. Students cannot receive credit for courses 196A-B and 194I.

Focuses on human dentition, exploring development, morphology, identification of teeth and tooth fragments and thin-section microanatomy. Dental anomalies and pathology will be reviewed. The archaeological and forensic context for interpretation of information from the dentition will be addressed.

Provides training in techniques used in identifying biological profile from the skeleton, assessing the trauma, and estimating time since death. Impact of legal context in which these assessments are made paramount to this course.

Graduate-level advanced seminar in ethnographic practice. Practice and critique of ethnographic research methods; analysis of how research sites are constructed. Topics and themes change yearly. Requirements include ethnographic fieldwork and writing. Will be offered in the 2004–05 academic year.

Examines biological and social markers of infant to mature and aged adult stages through life history. Compares and discusses timing and pattern of life history in humans across species, with examples from contemporary and historical societies.

Comparative and evolutionary anatomy of human performance examines locomotor systems and their underlying structure and evolution through videos, skeletons, and dissection in a variety of mammals, primates, and humans with applications to the fossil record. Will be taught in 2010–11 academic year.

Examines the production of ethnographies in the colonial period through critical interpretations of the structure of colonial authority, imagination, and communities built on asymmetries of race, class, gender, and sexuality. The role of nationalism in shaping the postcolonial response to this literature is also examined.

Seminar analyzing life history narratives in anthropology. Requires students to collect life history materials through fieldwork. Constructions of concepts in the history of anthropology, such as individual, self, person, subjectivity, and identity are discussed.

Explores classic and contemporary works on Mexicans in the U.S. and Mexico by putting into dialogue scholars on both sidees of the border. Examines other approaches to culture including feminist and cultural studies. Ability to read in Spanish highly desirable.

This seminar examines various approaches to narrative culture—myths, metanarratives, narrative fields, cultural narratives, stories, storytelling, and narrative enactments—from anthropology, cultural studies, and literary studies. Will be offered in the 2004–05 academic year.

This course traces an ongoing dialogue between poststructuralist theories and texts and the disciplines of anthropology. The course will pay particular attention to the philosophy of Michel Foucault; in addition, the influences of Derrida, Levinas, Barthes, and Bourdieu will be discussed. Will be offered in the 2005–06 academic year.

Seminar examines ethnography as a genre of writing and as a workshop of cultural production. Looks at changes in the anthropological genre of ethnography over the last 100 years and compares the anthropological genre with related genres.

Engages in critical studies of medicine, science, and technology from an anthropological perspective. Recent ethnographic research will examine configurations of knowledge and practice with special attention to social justice, community interventions, and the study up of institutions. Will be offered in the 2006–07 academic year.

Examines theoretical intersections of anthropology and psychology. Topics include psychoanalytic and cognitive approaches to culture theory, the psychic unity debate, language and cognition, cultural models, and current controversies in psychological anthropology. Will be offered in the 2005–06 academic year.

Trains students in the use of electronic and photographic media for the acquisition of field data. Through lectures, demonstrations, field exercises, and review of students' media exercises, students will learn the fundamentals of photography, video production, and audio recordings in the field.

Course devoted entirely to the process of writing a dissertation. Students work on their dissertations, post-fieldwork, at various stages, ranging from beginning stages of making an outline to middle stages of drafting chapters to final stages of revision. Emphasis placed upon initial stages of organizing field materials into themes for chapters. Will be offered in the 2004–05 academic year.

Explores theoretical and ethnographic analysis of globalization and transnationalism as processes that shape conditions of struggle around livelihood, culture, and identity in the Americas. Focuses on key themes of production, consumption, transnationalism, and social movements. Will be offered in the 2006–07 academic year.

Explores theoretical and methodological issues in the field of international development, with an emphasis on ethnographic analysis. Topics include hierarchies of value, altruism and philanthropy, geographies of dependency and responsibility, ethics of compassion, and public anthropology. Will be offered in 2011–12 academic year.

What makes the anthropology of science particular? To pose this question and seek answers, course considers early and contemporary ethnographies of science, medicine, and technology alongside contributions by philosophers of science. Will be offered in 2011–12 academic year.

Cross-disciplinary examination of death and the dead person in various cultures, past and present. Topics include cultural constructions of death, dead bodies and dead persons in contemporary and archaeological perspectives, rights pertaining to dead bodies in the U.S. legal system, use of cadavers in education, forensics of dead persons in mass disasters and human rights cases, indigenous rights and repatriation. Will be offered in the 2006–07 academic year.

Tutorial on archaeology of Africa, from 2.5 million years ago to emergence of African pastoralism and farming. Weekly examination of disciplinary models and assumptions in historic context, emphasizing overarching themes in prehistoric archaeology. Students cannot receive credit for this course and course 175A. (Formerly Tutorial on African Archaeology.)

Graduate tutorial on African diaspora archaeology. Focuses on the cultural, social, economic, and political lives of Africans and their descendants in the New World and West Africa from the 15th through 19th centuries. Students cannot receive credit for this course and course 175C. Will be offered in the 2009–2010 academic year.

Advanced readings and discussion in Africanist archaeology. Focus to be guided by the needs of advanced students. This course does not replace the 275-series and should only be taken by students who have successfully completed at least one of these courses. Will be offered in the 2009–2010 academic year.

Using a multidisciplinary approach, examines physical geology, paleoenvironment, human biology, linguistics, and culture history of Americas at end of last Ice Age. Particular emphasis on reconstructing timing, routes, and context of first peopling of the American continents. Taught in conjunction with Earth Sciences 276. Students cannot receive credit for both courses.

Uses ethnographic, archaeological, and historical sources to examine clash of cultures between Native Americans and Europeans during the 15th through 19th centuries. Emphasizes critical analyses of social, political, and demographic impacts of contact on Native American societies. Will be offered in the 2009–2010 academic year.

Seminar on research design in zooarchaeology using archaeological monographs and clusters of related research papers. Students produce a research design in the form of a draft NSF research proposal based on the use of archaeofaunal materials. Will be offered in 2011–12 academic year.

Seminar on the use of concepts of gender, sex, and sexuality in archaeological analysis and sociopolitics, reviewing antecedents in the general anthropological literature, the first critiques of androcentrism, and more recent research incorporating gender in analysis, as well as the impacts of archaeological sociopolitics on persons of different genders and sexual preferences. Will be offered in the 2008–2009 academic year.

Worshop on writing styles in anthropological sciences, including specialized, general anthropological, and mainstream scientific journals, monographs, and public education pieces. Cultivates flexible writing skill through comparative analysis of data presentation and rhetoric, with drafts in different formats. Will be taught in 2010–11 academic year.

Tropical forest ecology with emphases on plant-life history variation and patterns of diversity. Topics include: photosynthesis, competition, and plant-animal interactions, such as pollination, herbivory, and seed dispersal. Special focus on neotropical forests and adaptations to life in humid environments. Students cannot receive credit for this course and course 190A. Competitive selection based on application and interview during previous fall quarter. Will be offered in 2011–12 academic year. Enrollment restricted to graduate students. Concurrent enrollment in courses 290B and 290C required.

Field-oriented course in primate behavioral ecology. Combines lectures on approaches and methodologies with practical field studies. Students complete field project in primate ecology and behavior and learn natural history of the plants and animals of Costa Rica. Students cannot receive credit for this course and course 190B. Competitive selection based on application and interview during previous fall quarter. Will be offered in 2011–12 academic year. Enrollment restricted to graduate students. Concurrent enrollment in courses 290A and 290C required. Students are billed a materials fee.

Students carry out substantial field projects at two locations in Costa Rica under the supervision of course instructors. Students develop research proposals, analyze data, and prepare final research papers and oral presentations. Students cannot receive credit for this course and course 190C. Competitive selection based on application and interview during previous fall quarter. Will be offered in 2011–12 academic year. Enrollment restricted to graduate students. Concurrent enrollment in courses 290A and 290B required.

History of ideas about evolution as a process, with a focus on human evolution from Darwin's methods and contributions through genetics, paleontology, and the modern evolutionary synthesis, concluding with the impact of molecular data on understanding of evolution today. Students cannot receive credit for this course and course 194A. Will be offered in the 2008–2009 academic year.

Advanced overview of Native cultures in the American Southwest from Paleo-Indian times through early European contact. Completion of undergraduate course in North American archaeology is strongly recommended. Students cannot receive credit for this course and course 194L. Will be offered in the 2008–2009 academic year.

Focuses on origins, diversity, and accuity of primate senses with emphasis on field techniques, primate evolution and morphology, and cultural innovations in modern human society. Students cannot receive credit for this course and course 194W.

Covers the first 2.49 million years of the archaeological evidence for hominid life in Africa and Eurasia, emphasizing archaeological data as indirect evidence for the ecological and social context of hominid evolution. Students cannot receive credit for this course and course 194Y.