Course Offerings

313/513. The Family and Kinship in Cross-Cultural Perspective. Comparative and historical study of the family and kinship systems in cross-cultural perspective, discussion of the structure, cycle, and functioning of family and kinship systems in ethnography, including the family in Western culture; theoretical issues in contemporary family and kinship studies.

315/515. Archaeology of North America. Prehistory and early history of North America as reconstructed from archaeological evidence; peopling of the New World; culture-historical sequences of major culture areas; linkages of archaeological traditions with selected ethnohistorically known Native American groups.

319/519. Skeletal Biology. Comprehensive study of the skeletal anatomy, physiology, genetics, growth, development and population variation of the human skeleton. Applications to forensic anthropology, paleopathology and bioarchaeology are introduced.

321/521. World Prehistory. An introduction to archaeological sites from around the world including the Near East, Africa, Europe, Mesoamerica, and North and South America. Emphasis is on the interpretation of material cultural remains in reconstructing past societies.

322/522. Peoples and Cultures of Native North America. Origin, distribution, and traditional life of native peoples of North America. Survey of culture areas; ecology and subsistence, language, kinship, life cycle, political, economic, and religious systems; impact of European contact.

323/523 Peoples and Cultures of Latin America. Origin and distribution of native populations; blending of Old and New World cultures; theoretical problems of peasant and tribal societies; discussion of economic, social, political, and religious systems; processes of change.

325/525. Peoples and Cultures of Africa. Origins and distribution of peoples of Africa; geographical characteristics as related to culture types, including early civilizations; a comparative examination of economic, subsistence, language, social and political organization, and religious systems throughout the continent; change processes, the impact of colonialism, and the nature of contemporary African societies.

326/526. Peoples and Cultures of East and Southeast Asia. Origin and development of early civilizations on the western rim of the Pacific Ocean, including China, Japan and mainland and insular Southeast Asia. Survey of current issues among these societies in ecological, historical, and ideological contexts.

327X/527X. Peoples and Cultures of South Asia. Provides a historical, cultural and political-economic understanding of the people of the South Asian region comprising the countries of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and Maldives. Covers issues such as ancient roots, colonialism and its impacts, caste and class, development, religions and communalisms, gender, social movements, and the issue of South Asians in diaspora.

333/533. African American Ethnology. Ethnographic approaches to the study of African Americans in a cross-cultural and historical perspective; race relations in the Americas.

335/535. Peoples and Cultures of the Middle East. Anthropological approaches to the study of Middle East cultures. Survey of major culture areas. Discussion of economic, political, and social and religious issues and systems. Examination of contemporary social movement.

337/537. Andean Archaeology. Survey of prehistoric Andean cultures of Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador; the archaeology of the Incas and their ancestors. Emphasis on prehistoric economic, religious, and political organization, the rich material culture recovered through archaeological records; and the use of ethnohistoric texts and modern ethnographies to reconstruct the prehistory of Andean societies.

340/540. Magic, Witchcraft, and Religion. Origin and development of indigenous magico-religious systems; myth and ritual; therapeutic aspects; symbols and meanings; religion and sociocultural change, including acculturation, nativistic and revitalization movements.

411/511. Culture Change and Applied Anthropology. Theoretical and practical considerations of human cultural development. Examination of theories of cultural change, culture contact and acculturation. Dynamics of directed change in contemporary world cultures. Principles, theories, and ethics of international development projects from a sociocultural perspective.

412/512. Psychological Anthropology. Relationship of cultural, social, and personality factors in human behavior. Cross-cultural comparisons of child rearing practices, cognitive development, mental health, deviancy, ethno-psychiatry, altered states of consciousness, and psychological dimensions of culture change.

414/514. Southwestern Archaeology. Prehistory of the American Southwest as reconstructed from archaeological evidence. Includes an introduction to the intellectual frameworks of Southwestern archaeology and surveys the Paleoindian and Archaic cultural periods, the adoption of agriculture, and the emergence of pueblo societies and regional cultures.

416/516. Environmental Archaeology. Examination of relationships between the biophysical environment and socio-cultural organization in the archaeological record. Survey of methods used in environmental sciences by archaeologists to understand the human ecosystem.

418/518 Global Cultures, Consumption and Modernity. Cross-cultural study of the impact of globalization, with an emphasis on economic consumption and the movement of goods, ideas and peoples across cultural and national boundaries.

420/520. Cultural Continuity and Change in the Prairie-Plains. Ecological adaptations, sociocultural changes, and continuities of traditions among Prairie and Plains Indian groups through time; impacts of Euro-American society and technology on Indians of the Great Plains; perspectives from ecology, archaeology, ethnology, history and contemporary literary sources.

424/524. Forensic Anthropology. Comprehensive study of forensic anthropology, a specialized subfield of biological anthropology. Emphasis is placed on personal identifications from extremely fragmentary, commingled, burnt, cremated and incomplete skeletal remains. All parameters of forensic study are included as they pertain to anthropology, including human variation, taphonomy, entomology, archaeology, pathology, epidemiology; genetics and the non-biological forensic disciplines. An appreciation for the wide range of medicolegal and bioethical issues will also be gained.

428/528. Archaeological Laboratory Methods and Techniques. Laboratory processing and analysis of archaeological materials, experiments in technologies such as stone tools and ceramics, the organization and interpretation of archaeological data. Laboratory sessions emphasize the methods and techniques of analyzing and recording various categories of material culture.

429/529. Archaeological Field School. Summer field school for training in archaeological reconnaissance and excavation techniques; documentation and interpretation of archaeological evidence.

432/532. Current Issues in Native North America. Conditions and issues of contemporary Native Americans, historical background of eighteenth and nineteenth century Indian-White relationships; examination of legal status, the reservation system, treaty violations, Indian militancy, education and urbanization, self-determination, social impact of resource development, and other current concerns.

436/536. Development Anthropology. Historical and theoretical basis of the practices of development, applied and economic anthropology. Covers a wide range of topics such as the role of aid and institutions of development, indigenous knowledge, rural development projects, organization of production, migration, health, and environment.

438X/538X. Primate Evolutionary Ecology and Behavior. Primate behavior and ecology in evolutionary perspective:
biological and social adaptations of prosimians, monkeys, and apes. Introduction to the Order Primates, basic evolutionary concepts, and techniques of behavioral observation. Focus on theory and methods current in Primatology, including applied conservation biology.

439/539. Medical Anthropology. Study of human health in cultural and environmental context; comparison of health and disease patterns of western and non-western populations; healing systems; use of epidemiological models in understanding illness and disease etiologies cross-culturally; interrelationship between diet and culture.

442/542. Ecological Anthropology. Human interactions with the physical environment; Western and non-Western theories and methods of natural resource use and management; institutional, scientific, and linguistic views of nature; contemporary issues of global significance.

444/544. Sex and Gender in Cross-Cultural Perspective. Cross-cultural examination of the social construction of genders out of the biological fact of sex. Emphasis on non-western societies. Topics, presented through examination of ethnographic data, will include the range of gender variation, status and roles, the institution of marriage, and symbols of gender valuation.

445/545. Biological Anthropology Field School. Summer field school for training in behavioral and ecological methods for primatologists. Proposal, collection and analyses, and presentation of research topic in primatology.

465X/565X. Conflict, Civil Society and Development. Theories of ethnic or regional conflict and conflict management or resolution practices; outcomes of intergroup peacemaking negotiations; approaches to cultural transformation in civil society; and development issues of access and control, governance, engagement strategies, processes and implementation.

500. Language and Culture. Approaches to the study of the relationship between language structure, world view, and cognition; social and structural linguistic variation; cross-cultural aspects of verbal and non-verbal communication; linguistic change; contemporary applications of linguistic anthropology.

503. Biological Anthropology. Survey of the history of biological anthropology, current developments and theoretical issues in evolution, human variation and adaptation, population studies, primates and primate behavior and paleoanthropology.

509. Agroecosystems Analysis. Field study of commercial farming systems within the context of global energy flows and biogeochemical cycles, including ecological, economic and social perspectives.

510. Theoretical Dimensions of Cultural Anthropology. Survey of historical and current developments in topical and theoretical approaches to sociocultural anthropology. Examination and assessment of controversies, new research directions and theoretical approaches.

530. Ethnographic Field Methods. Field training experience in ethnography. Problems emphasizing field studies in the contemporary societies of the world. Focus on techniques of data gathering and analysis.

555. Seminar in Archaeology. Examination of the history of anthropological archaeology and current issues and debates concerning methods, theories and the ethics of modern archaeology.

590. Special Topics.

591X. Orientation to Anthropology. Introduction to the Anthropology program, including the requirements for a successful degree completion and the future trends in the four subfields.

597X. Global Seminar: Environment and Sustainable Food Systems. Analysis and discussion of global issues of sustainability of the environment and food systems, including ecological, social, cultural, economic, political, ethical and technological aspects. Students collaborate with peers at several universities around the world using interactive communication technologies to examine case studies.

610. Economy, Society and Technology in Sustainable Food Systems. Interrelationships between economic theories, human social and political organization and agriculture technologies. Emphasis on strategies and ethics for evaluating existing and emerging options.

699. Research