Anthropology Course Descriptions

Survey of the study of the human species: biocultural, evolution, prehistory, language, and comparative social and cultural systems.

Issues related to the human condition illustrate principles of evolutionary biology, human variation, and behavioral biology. Over-population, disease, pollution, racism, sexism, and violence are analyzed from a biocultural perspective. Satisfies general education requirement II.B.2.

Seminar or Lecture series on topics of anthropological interest at an introductory level. May be repeated for credit when topic varies.

Seminar on various anthropological topics. Satisfies general education requirement I.C.1.

(Same as Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology 201.) An overview of behavioral biology and evolution. The biological bases of behavior are examined in light of evolutionary processes and ecological pressures, emphasizing human and primate examples. Satisfies general education requirement II.B.2.

Evolution of the human species, fossil populations, human variation, and primate behavior. Techniques of archaeological excavation and analysis, survey of the prehistoric evolution of cultures, contemporary issues in archaeology. Weekly lab in biological anthropology and archaeological methods. Satisfies general education requirement II.B.1.

Basic concepts and theories of cultural anthropology and linguistics. Comparative economic and political systems, social organization and the family, belief systems, and modes of communication. Diverse levels of sociocultural complexity from primitive tribes to industrial societies.

(Same as Linguistics 201.) Introduction to the systematic study of human language, surveying the fields of phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, sociolinguistics, child language acquisition, and historical linguistics.

Principles of archaeological analysis and field excavation.

Human biology from conception to senescence, in an evolutionary and cross-cultural context, emphasizing neural and neuroendocrine processes underlying behavior and reproduction. Conception, fetal development, birth, infant growth, puberty, pregnancy, adult sexuality, and aging. Satisfies general education requirement II.B.2.

Comparative study of disease ecology and medical systems of other cultures; roles of disease in human evolution and history; sociocultural factors affecting contemporary world health problems; cultural aspects of ethnomedicine and biomedicine; ethnicity and health care.

(Same as Linguistics 330.) Study of language in context, focusing on relations between language and culture, thought, social identity, and political process.

Course surveys cultural diversity in the contemporary world through current ethnographies from different world areas.

Cultural influences on personality development, culture and personality theory, and problems in cross-cultural psychological research.

The aim of this course is to show how anthropologists (biological, cultural, and archaeologists) structure their research hypotheses, organize their data, select and run statistics, and describe their written results and discussions.

Application of principles of evolutionary biology to animal reproductive strategies and their application to modern humans. A review of cross-cultural sexual practices and occurrence of commonalities is included.

This course surveys the social behavior, behavioral ecology, and adaptations of nonhuman primate species, the extant prosimians, monkeys, and apes.

This course will examine the origins of modern humans, their unique cultural abilities, and their relationships to more archaic beings, such as Neanderthals. What makes us human and how this evolved will be explored in French and English literature.

This course is an upper-level introduction to the basis of complex human behavior in the brain, focused on human brain structure and function. It gives significant attention to brain evolution and comparative neuroanatomy. The overall goal is to master the anatomy underlying higher human capacities, keeping in mind how our brain's evolutionary past can inform our understanding of how the brain works now.

Prerequisite: Anthropology 302. Comparative study of primate mating strategies and sexual behavior.

This class aims to integrate data and theory from genetics, geology, and paleoanthropological evidence. Opposing theories regarding the interpretation of data will be the focus of student evaluation.

Prerequisite: Anthropology 201 or Biology 142. Application of evolutionary theory to social behavior of a variety of animals, including humans.

Prerequisite: Anthropology 101, 201, or 210. Relationship between ecology and individual and social behavior, dominance relations, intelligence, and communication.

(Same as Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology 470.) This course examines human as well as non-human primate communication systems from an evolutionary perspective. Topics covered include signal structure and function, information content of signals, honesty, deceit, and the evolution of language in humans.

(Same as African Studies 311.) Introduction to the evolution, diversity, and social significance of human diet and nutrition.

This course focuses on theory and method for understanding variation in prehistoric skeletal populations. Determination of age and sex activity, disease and demography will be undertaken.

This course examines theories of development and applies them to analysis of human anatomy in several dimensions: biological, behavioral, psychological, and sociocultural. Cross-cultural case studies allow exploration of the dynamic interplay of biology and society in human development.

The social construction of race relies on differences that lack biological significance. The social and biological cast of racism from the continued entrenched concept of race in America is considered.

Explores the variety of forms childcare can take, and examines human family formation and cross-cultural patterns of childcare. Employs perspectives including anthropology, zoology, nutrition, and international health to explore the evolved needs of children and parents.

This course is concerned with identifying evolutionary modifications of the human brain that support modern human cognitive and emotional specializations.

Neurobiological substrates supporting human social cognition and behavior. Review and synthesis of relevant research in neuropsychology, psychiatry, neuroimaging, and experimental animal research.

This course examines biological, cultural, and behavioral determinants of human fertility and emphasizes interaction of sociocultural context with biology in reproduction and sexuality. Further topics: infertility, deviance, demographic transition, and population policy.

(Same as Women's Studies 322 and Interdisciplinary Studies 315.) This course is an introduction to the study of same-sex desire, behavior, and identity across cultures and through time. It demonstrates the ways in which forms of sexuality are interconnected with other axes of difference such as gender, race, and class. Questions posed include the following: Is homosexuality biologically determined? Or is homosexuality¿ a social role created only by some Western societies? Can we say that Socrates was gay? Did Native American societies have more than two genders? Satisfies general education requirement III.

Examination of the biological bases of sex differences and their development.

(Same as Women's Studies 340.) Cross-cultural study of gender and women's lives in diverse cultures, including the United States; comparative study of work, child-rearing, power, politics, religion, and prestige.

(Same as Linguistics 333 and Women's Studies 333.) Cross-cultural examination of how language reflects, maintains, and constructs gender identities.

Cross-cultural ethnographic study of women's religious lives, including ritual and leadership roles, forms and contexts of religious expression, and negotiations between dominant cultural representations and women's self-representations.

Focuses on cultural approaches to mental health and illness. Topics include alcoholism, depression, schizophrenia, and the culture-bound syndromes.

(Same as International Health 557.) Cultural, epidemiological, historical, and economic analyses of the health problems of contemporary third-world societies. Emphasizes the socioeconomic complexity of problems and the need for culturally and technologically appropriate solutions.

Biological and cultural adaptations to disease, the role of specific diseases in evolution, social epidemiological patterns related to culture, contemporary issues in disease control, and economic development. Considers a variety of diseases including malaria, tuberculosis, AIDS, and malnutrition.

Biological and cultural adaptations to disease, the role of specific diseases in evolution, social epidemiological patterns related to culture, contemporary issues in disease control, and economic development. Considers a variety of diseases including malaria, tuberculosis, AIDS, and malnutrition.

(Same as Women's Studies 335.) Exploration of issues pertaining to women's bodies and health, juxtaposing Western women¿s health problems with those faced by women in the non-Western (i.e., developing) world. The disciplinary/analytical perspectives of medical anthropology and feminist scholarship will be compared.

Disease emerges as humans disrupt their environment, exposing them to novel pathogens. Students will examine this pattern from the Paleolithic to the present pattern of globalization of antibiotic-resistant pathogens.

(Same as Religion 358R.) This class explores issues such as what makes for a healthy self or person, the role of religious practices and belief in healing, and the relationship of body and mind.

(Same as Linguistics 340R.) Studies relations between language and society, relations between language and sociocultural context. Topics may include: language variation, dialects, registers, and styles; language attitudes; speech communities; multilingualism; and verbal interaction.

(Same as Linguistics 334.) Examines the social, cultural, and linguistic features of modern media technologies and explores their implications for far-reaching transformations in the ways we talk, think, and interact.

Explores the sociocultural dynamics of media institutions and the everyday use of different media in diverse societies.

(Same as African Studies 370 and Interdisciplinary Studies 370.) Students will think critically about African popular culture as a means through which people reflect on diverse issues in their lives.

Anthropological perspectives on social change and economic development in the Third World today. Population growth, agricultural development, political instability, colonialism, imperialism, and urban problems in cultural context.

(Same as Women's Studies 342.) This course explores the changing shape of the global economy and its relationship to local culture and gendered identities. Through transnational flows of capital, labor, tourism, media, consumer goods, etc., students will study local cultural practices and question whether a global economy implies global culture.

The cross-cultural study of traditional markets and exchange patterns, social relations surrounding production, and urban diverse patterns of consumption. Western economic theory contrasted with other approaches to the study of economic customs.

Prerequisite: Anthropology 101. Food plays a central role in the biocultural adaptation of human population. The politics and economy of food will be studied from an evolutionary perspective from foraging to industrial societies.

History, culture, ecology, and politics of pastoral nomads, with special reference to sub-Saharan Africa.

Culture is viewed as distinctive symbolic patterns through which a worldview is built. Human behavior as symbolic action; human knowledge as partly a creation of cultural patterns.

(Same as Religion 370.) A detailed study of selected primitive religious systems to be complemented by theoretical readings on primitive religion.

Survey of the significance and functions of ritual in human life. Ethnographic accounts of sacred ritual followed by more theoretical readings dealing with the structure and function of human ritual, viewed as a special and primitive form of communication.

Close reading of selected plays of Shakespeare in which ritual and other performance genres become central issues and problems. Readings in performance theory parallel reading of the plays.

An examination of the relations among child play, ritual, and sport as related dimensions of human culture.

An exploration of the complexity and diversity of African American culture in the United States from the perspectives of twentieth century anthropologists. Major themes include: (i) the influence of African culture on the populations of the Caribbean and the United States, (ii) the legacy of slavery throughout the Diaspora, and (iii) the extent to which racism and sexism as systems of inequality affect everyday life in African American communities.

This course is about the writing of fieldwork-based case studies as a central practice anthropology. Students learn to read classical and contemporary ethnographic texts critically for content, method and style, as well as to produce ethnographic writing by combining description with analysis.

This course reviews the local human and biological impact of conservation programs that affect primate communities in five areas of the world. Students discuss: methods, primate/plant interactions, forest fragmentation, historical perspectives on conservation and land use, agroforestry, ecotourism, and reintroductions. Students will become more aware of how conservation issues affect behavior and ecology of primates in nature.

Adopting an ecological perspective, this class will address the basic question of why and how humans evolved. This will involve a scrutiny of both biotic and abiotic factors that may have influenced the evolution of early hominids in East Africa, including local and regional climatic change over the last 5 million years, aspects of past hominid ecosystems (such as vertebrate and botanical turnovers), and tectonic upheavals.

This course focuses on the biological and ecological processes that have influenced primate anatomy, behavior, distribution, evolution, and extinction, as evidenced in the fossil record.

Credit, one to four hours. May be repeated for credit when topic varies. Seminar or lecture series of topics of anthropological concern.

Credit, one to four hours. May be repeated for credit when topic varies. Seminar or lecture series of topics of anthropological concern.

Credit, one to four hours. May be repeated for credit when topic varies. Seminar or lecture series of topics of anthropological concern.

Credit, one to four hours. Consultation with faculty prior to registration required.

Prerequisite: Anthropology 202. Intellectual history of anthropology and major theories of culture. Scientific and philosophical approaches to the study of human diversity.

Advanced seminar on selected topics pertaining to current research questions in biological anthropology. Seminar format: topics will vary.

Advanced seminar on selected topics pertaining to current research questions in cultural anthropology. Seminar format: topics will vary.

Prerequisite: Anthropology 201. Hypothesis testing and the statistical analysis of data. Theoretical and methodological problems in biological anthropology. The study of human and nonhuman primate skeletal biology, human growth and development, and the observation of nonhuman primates.

A new science of health is emerging. The evolutionary background for generic processes will be discussed and the challenges posed by modern lifestyles will be the focus of this class.

Prerequisite: Anthropology 202. Design of research strategies for the study of human cultures. Data collection techniques including participant observation, interviewing, genealogies, hypothesis testing, and the qualitative and quantitative analysis of data.

Departmental invitation to Honors Program necessary before registration.

Departmental invitation to Honors Program necessary before registration.

Credit, one to four hours. Consultation with faculty prior to registration required.