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Undergraduate Anthropology Courses
Graduate Anthropology Courses

Undergraduate Anthropology Courses

ANTH 100/W Other People's Worlds

A survey of the development, contributions, and contemporary social problems of selected non-Euroamerican peoples and cultures.

ANTH 101W Anthropology Through Film

An introduction to cultural anthropology, approached through the medium of ethnographic film. Particular attention is given to how films represent humans' varied beliefs and behavior. This course will not count toward the 100's requirement of the anthropology major. CA 1. CA 4-INT.

ANTH 102 Great Discoveries in Archaeology

Survey of important discoveries in archaeology spanning the whole of human prehistory across the globe. Current issues, methods, and techniques in the field of archaeology. CA 2. CA 4-INT.

ANTH 106 Introduction to Anthropology

This course is concerned with the biological and cultural development of humans from their origin to the present. A brief survey of human evolution is followed by a comparative study of behavior and beliefs of our own and other societies.

ANTH 193 Foreign Study

Special topics taken in a foreign study program.

ANTH 195 Special Topics Lecture

ANTH 212W The Development of Anthropological Theory

Historical and contemporary theories in social and cultural anthropology.

ANTH 214 Introduction to Archaeology

The concepts, methods and practice of anthropological archaeology.

ANTH 215 Migration

The social, cultural and economic causes and consequences of internal and international migration in the modern era. Topics include migrant selection, social adaptation, effects on home and host societies, and cultural identity.

ANTH 217 Old World Prehistory

The origin of humanity in Africa, hunters and gatherers of the Paleolithic, the origins of agriculture and the transition to settled life, and the emergence of civilizations in Africa, Asia and the Near East.

ANTH 218 New World Prehistory

The entry of early hunters into the New World, the origins of agriculture and sedentary life, and the rise of complex civilization in Mesoamerica and South America.

ANTH 220/220W Social Anthropology

A comparative study of social structure including an analysis of kinship, marriage, community organization, political and economic institutions, and the role of the individual in these institutions.

ANTH 221 Contemporary Latin America

Survey of anthropological contributions to the study of contemporary Mexico, Central America, South America, and the Hispanic Caribbean. Special focus on the comparative analysis of recent ethnographic case studies and local/regional/national/international linkages.

ANTH 222 Peoples and Cultures of South America

The history, ecology, and culture of the native peoples of South America.

ANTH 223 Pre-Colonial Africa

A survey of African society and history prior to and including the Atlantic slave trade.

ANTH 225 Contemporary Africa

Africa since its partition in 1884. Urbanization, social stratification, racial and ethnic conflict.

ANTH 226 Peoples and Cultures of North America

A survey of representative Native American cultures as they existed prior to the twentieth century, together with a view of the changing life of modern Native Americans.

ANTH 227 Contemporary Mexico

Analysis and interpretation of interrelated economic, political and cultural processes in the contemporary social life of Mexico and the U.S.-Mexico borderland. Draws broadly on the social science literature with a special focus on anthropological contributions.

ANTH 228 Indigenous Rights and Aboriginal Australia

An introduction to the study and understanding of Aboriginal ways of life and thought. Social relations, modes of thought and belief that are particularly Aboriginal and which show continuity with the past. Notions of identity and the relationship of various indigenous communities to the non-Aboriginal population of Australia.

ANTH 229 Caribbean Cultures

Peoples and cultures of the Caribbean region.

ANTH 230 Peoples of the Pacific Islands

Survey of the indigenous societies and cultures of the Pacific Islands, from the first settlement to the postcolonial period.Topics include prehistoric canoe voyaging, modes of subsistence, political forms, ritual and religion, ceremonial exchange, gender ideologies, European colonization, and modern indigenous nationalism. Ethnographic examples will be drawn from Polynesia, Melanesia, and Micronesia.

ANTH 231 Anthropological Perspectives on Women
(Also offered as WS 231)

Major conceptual and historical problems in the study of gender in anthropology. Women's roles in different historical and contemporary settings, and new understandings of family, kinship, power, and cultural ideologies.

ANTH 232 Cognitive Anthropology

The study of how the content of thought or knowledge, is created, organized, and distributed in human communities. Topics include cultural models of the mind, emotions, personality, and relationships.

ANTH 233 Human Evolution

The processes and events leading to the origin of human beings. Human physical and cultural development from its beginning to the dawn of settled life, through the approaches of physical anthropology and archaeology.

ANTH 234 Culture and Religion

Religion as a social institution, with emphasis on the social and psychological functions of religious beliefs and practices. Materials are drawn from a wide range of historical and contemporary societies.

ANTH 235 Economic Anthropology

An introduction to the comparative study of economic life in contrasting pre-industrial, tribal and peasant economies.

ANTH 236 Human Behavioral Ecology

The application of the theory of natural selection to the study of human culture and behavior, with emphasis on the interaction between humans and their environment.

ANTH 237 Psychological Anthropology

Cross-cultural overview of critical issues regarding the relationship between individual personality and sociocultural systems, and mental health and illness.

ANTH 238 Peoples and Cultures of the Middle East

Selected social and cultural features of past and contemporary Middle Eastern social forms, and the origins and varieties of Western perceptions of these features.

ANTH 239 Cultural Dynamics

Interrelations among cultural, social and psychological factors influencing the process of cultural growth and change.

ANTH 241 Latin American Minorities in the United States

Emphasis on groups of Mexican, Puerto Rican and Cuban origin, including treatment and historical background, social stratification, informal social relations, ethnic pereptions, relations and the concept of Latino identity.

ANTH 244 Culture, Language, and Thought

Anthropological contributions to the study of language, culture, and their relationship. Topics include the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis and the application of cognitive anthropological methods and theory to the study of folk classification systems.

ANTH 245 Parent-Child Relations in Cross-Cultural Perspective
(Also offered as HDFS 245)

Theory and research on major dimensions of parenting in the U.S.A. and cross-culturally: parental warmth, control, and punishment.

ANTH 246 Illness and Curing

Cross-cultural analysis of ethnomedicine, major medical systems, alternative medical systems, curing and healing illness and social control, gender and healing, and the role of traditional and cosmopolitan medical systems in international health.

ANTH 247 Culture, Power, and Social Relations

Comparative and historical analysis of the sources and consequences of power in human populations.

ANTH 249 Field Research in Social Settings

Methods and techniques of field research in social settings, including observational procedures, interviewing, and the construction and use of questionnaires.

ANTH 252 Native American Arts

A topical survey of the arts of Native American culture in the United States and Canada.

ANTH 253 North American Pre-History

Prehistoric cultures of North America from the earliest traces to European contact, with emphasis on the region east of the Mississippi.

ANTH 254 Archaeology of Eastern North America

Prehistoric cultures of the eastern United States and Canada from their earliest appearances to the arrival of the Europeans. Laboratory and field work projects.

ANTH 257 Near Eastern Pre-history
(Also offered as HIST 212.)

From the earliest hunter-gatherers to the rise of the state: the transition from food gathering to food production and the development of complex societies in the Near East.

ANTH 261 Medical Ecology

Anthropological perspectives on the interrelationships between culture, biology, environment, and disease. Major topics include ecology and adaptation, population dynamics, nutrition, reproduction, disease in sociological context, health seeking behavior, and the complexity of the interaction of western and non-western medical systems.

ANTH 262W Laboratory Techniques in Archaeology

The analysis, interpretation, and presentation of various kinds of archaeological artifacts, floral and faunal remains and sedementary contexts from excavated sites.

ANTH 263W Ethnohistory of Native New England

Combines archaeological and ethnohistorical data to reconstruct lifeways of the Native Americans of southern New England from the prehistoric period to the present.

ANTH 264 African Prehistory

The African archaeological record from first artifacts to historic times. The stone age, the domestication of crops, the ways of life of early herding societies, the development of metal working, and the rise of early African kingdoms.

ANTH 265 Paleoanthropology

Fossil evidence for the evolution of the human family, Hominidae. Anatomical features, behavior, and evolutionary relationships of extinct hominids; the use of biological, geological, and archaeological evidence to reconstruct past hominid adaptations.

ANTH 266 Human Osteology

Human skeletal anatomy from an evolutionary and functional perspective. Identification and interpretation of bones of the human skeleton, methods for aging, sexing, and identifying pathologies.

ANTH 267 Lithic Technology

The properties of stone tools - the primary evidence of human behavior for humanity's first 2.5 million years - and the processes of their manufacture. Analysis of prehistoric tools and tool replication.

ANTH 268 Cultural Research

The theoretical foundations and basic methods used to collect and analyze cultural data.

ANTH 269 World Religions

A survey of religious belief systems, both polytheistic and monotheistic, from around the world.

ANTH 270 Contemporary Native Americans

Analysis of Native American reservations and urban communities and their relationship to the larger U.S. society. Special focus on federal policy and economic development, cultural identity, and politics of Native Americans.

ANTH 273 Women in the Bible

An introduction to Biblical interpretation from a feminist perspective, examining how women are represented in the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament. Issues of authorship, translation, point of view, cultural context and language.

ANTH 274 Women and Religion
(Also offered as WS 270)

Religion has been a source of personal empowerment and social change for women throughout history. This course will examine the various roles women have assumed in religion and its effects on their position in their personal lives and in society.

ANTH 275 Race, Ethnicity, and Nationalism

Popular and scholarly theories of human group identity and diversity, in cross-cultural and historical perspective. Topics include: an overview of "race" and "ethnicity" in Western thought, ethnic group formation and transformation, political mobilizations of group identity, and systems of inequality.

ANTH 277 Medical Anthropology

An introduction to the theory, method, and content of medical anthropology.

ANTH 279 Quantitative Methods for Archaeologists

Quantitative methods appropriate to the analysis of artifacts data, radiocarbon dating, and the spatial distribution of sites.

ANTH 281 Sex and Gender

Cross-cultural and interdisciplinary analysis of biological sex, gender, sex roles, and sexuality.

ANTH 280W Human Rights in Democratizing Countries

ANTH 282 People and the Conservation of Nature

Local communities and their environments, resource use, land tenure and conservation of healthy landscapes.

ANTH 283 Theories of Society

Theories about human culture and society. Attempts to formulate general theories that integrate cultural, social, and psychological factors in the ethnographic investigation of human life.

ANTH 285 Anthropological Perspectives on Art

Approaches to cultural creativity and aesthetics in the graphic and plastic arts of pre-state societies. Examples from North America, Oceania, and Africa.

ANTH 286 Zooarchaeological Method and Theory

Method and theory of archaeological faunal analysis, including training in the identification of skeletal materials, the formation of the zooarchaeological record, and the interpretation of zooarchaeological data.

ANTH 287 The Origins of Agriculture

The origins and spread of agriculture worldwide. Economic, social, and ideological ramifications of the agricultural transition. Processes of plant and animal domestication.

ANTH 288/W Experimental Archaeology

Method and theory of experimental archaeology, including hands-on study of past human behavior through experimentation with modern material cultural, and the execution of an experimental research project addressing an archaeological question.

ANTH 293 Foreign Study

Special topics taken in a foreign study program.

ANTH 295 Variable Topics

ANTH 296 Directed Field Research in Anthropology

The investigation of a sociocultural and/or archaeological problem in some domestic or foreign field location.

ANTH 297 Field Work in Archaeology

Training in the techniques of archaeological site excavation; mapping; recording; field conservation, and preliminary analysis of materials.

ANTH 298 Special Topics

ANTH 299 Independent Study


Graduate Anthropology Courses

 

ANTH 301 Proseminar

Current theories and issues in Anthropology.

ANTH 305 Investigation of Special Topics

ANTH 306 Human Behavioral Ecology

This seminar will apply the theory of natural selection to the study of human behavior in an ecological setting, with particular focus on the adaptive features and biological design of human behavior.

ANTH 308 Human Evolutionary Theory

Evolutionary concepts applied to human body size and shape, diet, disease, group composition, and reproductive behavior.

ANTH 309 Violence, Stress, and Social Support

This seminar surveys theory and observations bearing on the nature, sources and consequences of traumatic stress, stressors, and social support in human populations.

ANTH 311 Seminar: Contemporary Theory in Social and Cultural Anthropology

ANTH 312 Seminar: Contemporary Theory in Social and Cultural Anthropology

ANTH 315 Gender and Culture

Anthropological perspectives on the analysis of gender with special focus on dynamics of gender, culture, and power.

ANTH 321 Ethnographic Methods I

Theoretical foundations and basic tools used to conduct professional field studies in anthropology. Research design; moral and ethical dimensions of field work; designing and conducting informal, semistructured and structured interviews (one-on-one and in groups); managing field notes, questionnaires, and data; computer data management; summary statistics and graphics; identifying and interpreting random variation; modeling and testing explanations.

ANTH 322 Ethnographic Methods II

Theoretical foundations and basic tools used to conduct professional field studies in anthropology. Research design; moral and ethical dimensions of field work; designing and conducting informal, semistructured and structured interviews (one-on-one and in groups); managing field notes, questionnaires, and data; computer data management; summary statistics and graphics; identifying and interpreting random variation; modeling and testing explanations.

ANTH 332 Cognitive Anthropology

The study of how the content of thought or knowledge, is created, organized, and distributed in human communities. Topics include cultural models of the mind, emotions, personality, and relationships.

ANTH 334 Culture and Religion

Theories and problems in the analysis of nonwestern religious systems.

ANTH 335 Psychological Anthropology

The seminar explores theoretical and empirical relationships between the individual and sociocultural systems, and it seeks to identify worldwide principles of human behavior.

ANTH 336 Cultural Ecology

Interrelationships between population organization in contrasting preindustrial societies.

ANTH 337 Economic Anthropology

Issues of scope, method and epistemology. Economic organization and performance in preindustrial societies. Economic development and underdevelopment.

ANTH 339 Cultural Dynamics

An analysis and comparison of contemporary anthropological theories of sociocultural dynamics, with an investigation of selected problems in the study of change and persistence.

ANTH 341 Analysis of Rituals

Examines various theoretical contributions to the anthropological study of ritual. Controversies and ambiguities surrounding the social and symbolic significance of the ritual act for both men’s and women’s experiences and participation are addressed.

ANTH 343 Anthropological Linguistics

Interrelations of language and culture and applications of linguistic theory and techniques to analysis of ethnographic data.

ANTH 350 Physical Anthropology

Critical review of selected topics and current issues in the theory and practice of physical anthropology.

ANTH 352 Medical Anthropology

An over view of current theory and practice in medical anthropology.

ANTH 353 Applied Anthropology

An overview of various applications of anthropology to solve human problems both internationally and within the United States. Emphasis upon history of applied anthropology, ethical considerations, and specific roles of anthropologists in development.

ANTH 354 Contemporary Issues in Archaeology

A critical review of current trends and developments in archaeological method and theory.

ANTH 356. History of Archaeological Theory

A critical review of the development of archaeology, with particular emphasis on the theoretical innovations of the 1960s and 1970s.

ANTH 357 Settlement Systems

Approaches to human systems of settlement, including the applications of locational models and hierarchical analysis of settlement system data.

ANTH 358 Analytical Methods in Archaeology

The use of qualitative and quantitative techniques in the analysis of archaeological data. Topics covered include seriation, sampling, data screening, statistical testing and numerical taxonomy.

ANTH 359 Advanced Analysis in Archaeology

An examination of recent developments in archaeological analysis, with par ticular emphasis on multivariate techniques, new methods of spatial analysis, chronological seriation, and microcomputer applications.

ANTH 361 The Ecology of Human Evolution

Early human ancestors as components of past ecosystems. Recovery of ecological information from fossil sites; reconstruction of ancient behavior; relevance of ethology and the study of contemporary foraging people for reconstruction of the past.

ANTH 363 Archaeological Site Formation

The creation of archaeological sites by human behavior and geological forces. The characteristics of various formation processes and identification of them in the archaeological record.

ANTH 364 New England Prehistory

Topics in the prehistory of New England. Regional chronology and cultural history, early Holocene adaptation, ecology of hunter-gatherers, coastal adaptations, development of horticulture, and the evolution of tribal societies.

ANTH 365 Northeast North American Ethnohistory

Ethnohistory of northeastern North America from the Contact Period through the 20th century. Social and political organization, land use, subsistence, trade and exchange, mortuary ritual, native responses to Christianity and European trade and settlement. Contemporary issues of reburial and repatriation, federal recognition, and federal and state trust responsibilities for Indian tribes.

ANTH 369 Culture and Reproduction

cross-cultural over view of human reproduction. Biological, social, cultural, and behavioral factors; cultural patterning of fertility and perinatal behavior; fertility control; gender and power in reproduction.

ANTH 374 Culture, Power, and Social Relations

Power, cultural evolution, and social change; law, global relations, identity and ethnicity, revolution and revitalization, the power of numbers, parents and children, women and men.

ANTH 375 Ethnographic Methods Laboratory

Intensive study of selected tools for ethnographic data collection and analysis. Design and implementation of specialized ethnographic inter views; protocols, event histories, life histories, censuses, identity construction. OLS and logistic regression, demographic methods, triads tests, consensus analysis, ProFit analysis, multidimensional scaling, cluster and factor analysis, scale construction and validation, and text analysis.

ANTH 376 Ethnomedicine

Medical systems in cultural context. Traditional healers, herbal medicine, culture bound systems, the meaning of illness, curing and disease. Impact of biomedicine on traditional and alternative medical systems.

ANTH 377 International Health

The role of anthropology in international health, morbidity and mortality, population, maternal and child health, nutrition, infectious diseases and epidemiology, health care infrastructure and underdevelopment.

ANTH 381 Sex and Gender

The historical, structural, and personal influences that shape the biocultural phenomena of sex and sexuality. role of anthropology in international health, morbidity and mortality, population, maternal and child health, nutrition, infectious diseases and epidemiology, health care infrastructure and underdevelopment.

ANTH 382 Universals in Human Behavior

Examination of evidence regarding cross-cultural universals in human behavior. Selected topics within the following domains may be reviewed: culture, social and emotional behavior; cognitive behavior and development; language and language acquisition.

ANTH 383 Parent-Child Relations in Cross-Cultural Perspective

Critical analysis of research and theory regarding the antecedents and effects of major dimensions of parental behavior on child development in the U.S.A. and cross culturally. Possible topics include parental warmth, control, punishment and their interactions.

ANTH 389 Population Ecology

This seminar sur veys theory and observations bearing on the causes and consequences of changes in fertility and mortality rates, and in the configuration of causes of mortality and morbidity in human populations.

ANTH 390 Cultural Rights

Politics of culture and cultural rights, minority rights, indigenous rights, multicultural policies, race, difference and law, cosmopolitanism, globalization and human rights.

GRAD 395 Master’s Thesis Research

1-9 credits
GRAD 396 Full-Time Master’s Research

3 credits.
GRAD 397 Full-Time Directed Studies (Master’s Level)

3 credits.
GRAD 398 Special Readings (Master’s Level)

Non-credit.
GRAD 399 Thesis Preparation
Non-credit.
GRAD 495 Doctoral Dissertation Research
1-9 credits.
GRAD 496 Full-Time Doctoral Research
3 credits.
GRAD 497 Full-Time Directed Studies (Doctoral Level)
3 credits.
GRAD 498 Special Readings (Doctoral Level)
Non-credit.
GRAD 499 Dissertation Preparation
Non-credit.

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