Lower-Division Courses
ANTH 1: Introduction to Socio-cultural Anthropology [4]
Introduction to human culture and cultural diversity, including the methods by which anthropology via the study of social institutions, shared practices, and collective meanings; seeks to understand how people adapt to, make sense of, and transform their worlds. [Offered annually during Spring semester]
ANTH 3: Introduction to Anthropological Archaeology [4]
Survey of theory, field and analysis methods, and objectives of anthropological archaeology. Examines how intellectual perspectives guide the ways in which archaeologists undertake their work and the types of materials they collect and analyze to study issues such as technology, exchange, subsistence, settlement, social organization, and ideology. [Offered annually during Spring semester]
ANTH 5: Introduction to Biological Anthropology [4]
Introduction to evolution and how natural selection has shaped modern human variation. Examination of non-human primate behavior and how analogous it might to that of early humans. Discussion of culture, the fossil evidence, genetics, and inheritance. [Offered annually during Fall semester]
ANTH 10: Quantitative Methods in Anthropology [4]
Introduces students to quantitative methods used in the field of anthropology. Students learn the fundamentals of study design, descriptive statistics and statistical testing, and sampling strategies. Students also learn to use software tools used in quantitative methods including spreadsheets, statistical analysis software, and computer programming. These concepts and tools are brought together to analyze anthropological data throughout the course. Prerequisite: ANTH 1, ANTH 3, or ANTH 5.
ANTH 90X: Freshman Seminar [1]
Examination of a topic in Anthropology.
ANTH 92: Internship in Anthropology [1-4]
Provides oversight and structure for a student’s internship in a field related to anthropology in community organizations, professional research projects, etc. connected to the study of anthropology. Students are required to write an original research paper or relevant product that demonstrates how the internship advanced their knowledge of anthropology. Permission of instructor required. Pass/Fail only. Course may be repeated 2 times for credit.
ANTH 95: Lower-Division Undergraduate Research [1-5]
Supervised research. Permission of instructor required.
ANTH 98: Lower-Division Directed Group Study [1-5]
Permission of instructor required. P/NP grading only.
ANTH 99: Lower-Division Individual Research [1-5]
Permission of instructor required. P/NP grading only.
Upper-Division Courses
ANTH 100: History of Anthropological Thought and Practice [4]
Historical overview of key individuals and ideas influencing the practice of anthropology and the production of anthropological knowledge. Topics may include the disciplining of anthropology into related subfields; social evolutionism, historical particularism; British structural functionalism; French structuralism; cultural ecology; sociobiology; symbolic and interpretive anthropology; feminist and other critiques of anthropology. Prerequisite: ANTH 1 and (ANTH 3 or ANTH 5); or consent of instructor. [Offered annually during Fall semester]
ANTH 110: Migration, Diaspora, and Transnational Belonging [4]
Exploration of modern, global movements of people with a focus on the conditions, processes, and practices of contemporary national and transnational belonging. Topics include globalization, migration, immigration, Diaspora, the nation-state, national identities and cultural citizenship. Prerequisite: ANTH 1; or junior/senior standing; or consent of instructor.
ANTH 111: The Anthropology of Globalization [4]
This course introduces students to anthropological approaches to the phenomenon known as “globalization.” It explores the political, social, cultural and subjective processes that accompany neoliberal economic globalization by exploring weekly research themes and case studies carried out by anthropologists. Prerequisite: ANTH 1; or consent of instructor.
ANTH 112: Political Anthropology [4]
Political anthropology involves the study of formal political institutions as well as the manifestation of power in everyday life. Topics may include: the state and other forms of political authority; social inequality; political competition and conflict; indigenous responses to colonialism; social movements; citizenship; nationalism and ethnicity; genocide; governmentality; and globalization. Prerequisite: ANTH 1; or junior/senior standing; or consent of instructor.
ANTH 113: Urban Anthropology [4]
The course examines the development of urban anthropology and major themes and research questions in the field of urban anthropology. Three core frames include the possibilities and limits of cities as global and local ethnographic sites; the past, present and future of cities; and issues of scale. Prerequisite: ANTH 1; or consent of instructor.
ANTH 114: Social Memory [4]
Introduction to the practices, spaces, artifacts and media through which social memory is formed, maintained and reproduced. Topics may include: how societies remember; how the past and its representation is bound up with national or other shared identities; commemoration; heritage; and the link between history, memory and social justice. Prerequisite: ANTH 1; or junior/senior standing; or consent of instructor.
ANTH 116: Indigenous Activism in the Americas [4]
Focusing on the contemporary struggles of Indigenous peoples for rights; self-determination; social, political, and environmental justice and/or increased nation-state participation. Examines how the mobilization of indigenous peoples is strengthened through regional, hemispheric and global solidarities; and how international law, media, and technology support indigenous actions for change. Prerequisite: ANTH 1; or junior/senior standing; or consent of instructor.
ANTH 117: The Anthropology of Citizenship [4]
This course introduces students to anthropological approaches to citizenship. It explores how citizenship and belonging take place at scales beyond the juridico-legal definition of nationality. Students will examine the multiple ways of being a citizen and belonging to a place, particularly in the context of contemporary neoliberal economic globalization. Prerequisite: ANTH 1; or consent of instructor.
ANTH 120: Introduction to Medical Anthropology [4]
This course provides knowledge about medical anthropology, how different cultures understand human physiology and health, definitions of sickness, types of medical systems and practitioners, how cultural practices affect health, issues in gender environmental health, and how medical anthropology influences health policy. Prerequisite: ANTH 1 or ANTH 5; or junior/senior standing; or consent of instructor.
ANTH 121: Ethnomedicine [4]
Provides knowledge of medical systems cross culturally including the three ancient literary systems (Chinese, Ayurvedic, Greco-Arabic), shamanism, folk medicine, and biomedicine. Readings focus on the beliefs and organization of each system, types of practitioners, types of sicknesses treated, and how anthropologists research and understand these phenomena. Prerequisite: ANTH 1; or junior/senior standing; or consent of instructor.
ANTH 122: Anthropological Perspectives on Religion and Healing [4]
This course introduces students to religion from a cross cultural perspective, and provides them with analytical techniques to understand religious phenomena. Course includes fundamental constituents such myth, symbol, and ritual; consideration of how religions differently define bodies and spirits; and religion as personal and political identity. Prerequisite: ANTH 1; or junior/senior standing; or consent of instructor.
ANTH 124: Ethnopsychology [4]
This course covers anthropological perspectives on mental states, experience of emotions, and concepts of mental normality in a variety of cultural settings. Lectures and readings will focus especially on the relationship between individual and society, the role of emotions, and the definition of psychological phenomena cross culturally. Prerequisite: ANTH 1 or 120; or junior/senior standing; or consent of instructor.
ANTH 126: Anthropological Approaches to Gender [4]
This course will examine gender and sexuality cross-culturally: cultural aspects of gender, sexuality, reproduction, and gender identity. Readings will explore definitions of male and female roles, sexual mores, issues in human reproduction, variations in definitions of sexual identity, and cultural, economic and religious aspects of gender, marriage, and family. Prerequisite: ANTH 1; or junior/senior standing; or consent of instructor.
ANTH 129: Topics in Sociocultural Anthropology [4]
Explores a timely topic in socio-cultural anthropology. Topics will vary. Any iteration will include: 1) historical background on the subject, 2) its relevance to anthropology and other disciplinary contexts and the public, 3) in-depth study of current primary literature on the topic, and 4) case studies. Students will consider the larger social and disciplinary contexts, intellectual perspectives employed, the ethnographic and other methods utilized, and analyze case study findings and implications. Topics vary and course may be repeated for credit if topics differ. Prerequisite: ANTH 1; or junior/senior standing; or consent of instructor.
ANTH 130: Material Culture [4]
This course examines the role that material objects play in human social relations, identity, and economy, including archaeological application of such knowledge to past societies. This course explores the range of production and use of material objects, including theories of material culture, technology, style, meaning, memory, and agency. Prerequisite: ANTH 3; or junior/senior standing; or consent of instructor.
ANTH 131: Space and Place: An Anthropological Perspective [4]
This course examines how space is theorized in anthropology, archaeology, and geography. Students learn multiple perspectives in thinking about spaces including how histories and identities are attached to places and landscapes, thus creating powerful or sacred symbols. Prerequisite: ANTH 3; or junior/senior standing; or consent of instructor.
ANTH 132: History of Archaeological Interpretation [4]
Course is a survey of the history of archaeological interpretation and the schools of thought from which they were derived. Students develop an appreciation of the close relationship between method, theory, and interpretation in archaeological practice. Prerequisite: ANTH 3; or consent of instructor.
ANTH 134: Dynamics of Small-scale Societies [4]
This course examines ethnographic and archaeological literature on small-scale hunter-gatherer-fisher societies, and explores how these data contribute to study of subsistence and settlement strategies, technology, exchange, demography, and social relations in the past and present. Prerequisite: ANTH 3; or junior/senior standing; or consent of instructor.
ANTH 140: Cultural Heritage Policy and Practice [4]
Critical examination of the legal, practical, and ethical aspects of cultural heritage management in the United States and abroad. Topics include cultural resource management in public and private contexts, participation of stakeholders, the application of anthropological knowledge, and public outreach. Prerequisite: ANTH 3 or WH1; or junior/senior standing; or consent of instructor.
ANTH 141: Writing Narrative for Archaeology [4]
Course integrates archaeological knowledge with narrative and analytical writing. Students develop research and writing skills while learning to use and disseminate knowledge gained by producing creative, culturally sensitive, and factually supported texts. Cross-listed with WRI 141. Prerequisite: ANTH 3 and WRI 10; or consent of instructor.
ANTH 142: Archaeology of Colonialism [4]
This course examines theoretical perspectives, issues, and interpretations in archaeological study of the interaction between indigenous peoples, European colonists, and enslaved Africans. Topics include disease, power, resistance, colonial institutions, multi-ethnic communities, and gender relations in diverse native engagements with colonists and others from a variety of homelands. Prerequisite: ANTH 3; or junior/senior standing; or consent of instructor.
ANTH 144: Archaeology of Religion [4]
Course examines ritual, religion, and cosmology in the archaeological record and explores theories that inform research and contribute to archaeological inferences. Takes a broad comparative approach and holistic perspective for the investigation of their historical, environmental, and social contexts. Prerequisite: ANTH 3 and ANTH 122; or consent of instructor.
ANTH 149: Topics in Anthropological Archaeology [4]
In-depth exploration of a timely topic in anthropological archaeology. Topics will vary. Any iteration will include: (1) historical background on the subject; (2) its relevance to anthropology and other disciplinary contexts and the public; (3) in-depth study of current primary literature on the topic; and (4) case studies. Students will consider the larger social and disciplinary contexts, intellectual perspectives employed, archaeological field and laboratory methods utilized, and case study findings and implications. Topics vary and course may be repeated for credit if topics differ. Prerequisite: ANTH 3; or junior/senior standing; or consent of instructor.
ANTH 150: Race and Human Variation [4]
This course investigates how human biological variation is studied and how the definition of such variation differs between the scientific community and the public. Topics include historical perspectives on race and eugenics, how scientific racism has shaped national policy, and how genetic diversity and the Human Genome Project have informed such issues. Prerequisite: ANTH 5; or junior/senior standing; or consent of instructor.
ANTH 151: Human Adaptability [4]
This course examines how humans live in marginal environments, such as extremely hot, extremely cold, or high altitude areas. Evolutionary, genetic, ecological, demographic, and cultural explanations for human biological adaptability are explored. Students consider case studies from the high Andes, Siberia, equatorial South America, and the International Space Station. Prerequisite: ANTH 5; or junior/senior standing; or consent of instructor.
ANTH 152: Dying, Death, and Dead Persons [4]
This course examines the multiple cultural meanings of death and the dead person, including hospice, reactions to death, memorial gestures, rights to and constructions of the dead body in the U.S. legal system, cadavers in education and research, dead persons in mass disasters and human rights cases, archaeological examples, and repatriation issues. Prerequisite: ANTH 5; or junior/senior standing; or consent of instructor.
ANTH 155: Paleodemography [4]
Exploration of human population growth and decline, fertility and mortality, and population age and sex structure in the past without benefit of written records. Topics include the interplay of demography and hominid evolution, migration, environmental stress, the transition to agriculture, and the rise and fall of complex societies. Prerequisite: ANTH 3, ANTH 5; or junior/senior standing; or consent of instructor.
ANTH 160: Human Origins [4]
This course explores the biological heritage of humans by providing students with a rigorous grounding in modern evolutionary theory and undertaking detailed study of the phylogeny, morphology, and paleoecology of the Hominini. In addition, this course uses the fossil record to reveal the truly unique features of Homo sapiens. Prerequisite: ANTH 5; or junior/senior standing; or consent of instructor.
ANTH 162: Growth, Development, and Human Evolution [4]
This course applies modern life history theory to understand how evolution of growth patterns contributed to divergence in adult morphology among human ancestors, as revealed by the fossil record of hominin species. We also examine the uniquely human phenomenon of childhood, and the geographic diversity observed among modern human beings. Prerequisite: ANTH 5; or junior/senior standing; or consent of instructor.
ANTH 169: Trends in Biological Anthropology [4]
Explores current trends in biological anthropology. Course material will vary. Possible topics may include: isotopic analysis of human nutrition; genetic studies of human variation and adaptability; life history and population studies of health and disease; studies of the interaction of the environment, human behavior, and human biology; and ethics. Prerequisite: ANTH 5; or junior/senior standing; or consent of instructor.
ANTH 170: Ethnographic Methods [4]
Introduction to the methods of ethnographic research and the process of writing ethnography. Focus is on participant-observation, interviewing, the recording of ethnographic field notes, and visual anthropology. Issues include: objectivity, insider/outsider status, human subjects protection, multi-sited ethnography, the politics of fieldwork and ethnographic representation, and changing definitions of “the field.” Prerequisite: ANTH 1; or junior/senior standing; or consent of instructor. [Offered annually during Spring semester]
ANTH 171: Human Population Studies: Data and Mapping [4]
Introduces students to large-data and survey approaches to contemporary human population dynamics, mobility, and studies of human identity and culture change. Students learn to approach issues of cultural variability, human migration, identity, and inequality through basic quantitative data analysis and visualization, and to reflect on the limits of such approaches and how they fit within a broader range of anthropological approaches to sociocultural issues. Prerequisite: ANTH 1 or HS 4.
ANTH 172: Ethnohistory [4]
This course examines the critical use of historical documents, journals, and visual images; archives; and oral history to understanding past cultures and culture change. Analysis of case studies and original archival research demonstrate how these sources complement data collected through ethnographic, archaeological, or biological methods. Prerequisite: ANTH 1, ANTH 3; or junior/senior standing; or consent of instructor.
ANTH 174: Lithic Artifact Analysis [4]
Systematic consideration and practical application of analytical laboratory and data recording techniques used to study stone tools and manufacturing debris. Topics include procurement; production and reuse; style and function; the organization of technology with respect to settlement and gender; and craft specialization. Prerequisite: ANTH 3; and ANTH major/minor only or consent of instructor.
ANTH 175: Ceramic Analysis [4]
Introductory course in ceramic analyses that includes a laboratory component. Students will learn theory and methods as they are applied to ceramic artifacts and will conduct a hands-on research project using an in-house collection. Prerequisite: ANTH 3; and ANTH major/minor only or consent of instructor.
ANTH 176: Archaeological Field Methods [4]
Introduction to the goals and methods of archaeological surface survey, excavation, and various forms of field documentation. The integration of research issues and methods is addressed through both classroom and field activities. Prerequisite: ANTH 3; and ANTH major/minor only or consent of instructor.
ANTH 177: Forensic Anthropology [4]
Provides an introduction to the practice of forensic anthropology. Forensic anthropology is an applied subfield of biological anthropology. Forensic anthropologists are often crucial in identifying victims of mass fatalities resulting from both natural and human-made disasters, homicides (both historic and recent), human rights abuses, and war deaths. Introduces the underlying theory and the applied techniques that forensic anthropologists use to recover and identify individuals and assess what happened to the individual before and after death. Through both lecture and lab sessions, topics will include skeletal biology, disease and trauma that can be seen on bone, methods used by forensic anthropologists, and the ethical concerns that arise when working with human remains in a medicolegal context. Prerequisite: ANTH 5.
ANTH 178: Human Osteology [4]
This course allows students to develop a basic familiarity with human skeletal remains, including the identification of the bones of the skull, dentition, and axial and appendicular skeletons. Identification of side (i.e., left, right) and element of both intact and fragmentary remains will be considered. Prerequisite: ANTH 5; and ANTH major/minor only or consent of instructor. [Offered Spring semester every odd academic year]
ANTH 179: Bioarchaeology [4]
Study of human skeletal remains from archaeological contexts. Theoretical and thematic approaches in contemporary research. In-depth consideration of bioarchaeological methods used to explore pathology, occupation, geographic origins, etc. from human skeletal remains. Anthropometrics, disease, and trauma are considered, preparing students for anthropological study of both individual remains and skeletal populations. Prerequisite: ANTH 5; and ANTH major/minor only or consent of instructor. [Offered Spring semester every even academic year]
ANTH 190: Topics in Anthropology [4]
Exploration of a special topic or problem within or between fields in anthropology. Topics vary and course may be repeated for credit if topics differ.
ANTH 192: Internship in Anthropology [1-4]
Provides oversight and structure for a student’s internship in a field related to anthropology in community organizations, professional research projects, etc. connected to the study of anthropology. Students are required to write an original research paper or relevant product that demonstrates how the internship advanced their knowledge of anthropology. Open only to standing(s): Junior, Senior. Permission of instructor required. Pass/Fail only. Course may be repeated 2 times for credit.
ANTH 195: Upper Division Undergraduate Research [1-5]
Supervised Research. Permission of instructor required. Letter grade only.
ANTH 198: Upper Division Directed Group Study [1-5]
Permission of instructor required. P/NP grading only.
ANTH 199: Upper Division Directed Individual Study [1-5]
Permission of instructor required. P/NP grading only.
Updated 2021
