For major requirements, see the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences section of this Catalog.
100. Other People's Worlds
Either semester. Three credits.
A survey of the development, contributions, and contemporary social problems of selected non-Euroamerican peoples and cultures.
106. Introduction to Anthropology
Either semester. Three credits. Two class periods and one 1-hour discussion. Students should ordinarily take this course in the fall semester.
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.
212W. The Development of Anthropological Theory
Either semester. Three credits. Prerequisite: ANTH 220. Recommended for seniors.
Historical and contemporary theories in social and cultural anthropology.
214. Introduction to Archaeological Methods
First semester. Three credits. Open to sophomores. Dewar, McBride
The concepts, methods and practice of anthropological archaeology.
217. Old World Prehistory
First semester. Three credits. McBrearty
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.
218. New World Prehistory
Second semester. Three credits.
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.
220. Social Anthropology
Either semester. Three credits. Open to sophomores. Not open for credit to students who have passed ANTH 200.
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.
220W. Social Anthropology
(Formerly offered as Anthropology 200.) Open to sophomores.
221. Contemporary Latin America
Either semester. Three credits.
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.
222. Peoples and Cultures of South America
Either semester. Three credits.
The history, ecology, and culture of the native peoples of South America.
223. Pre-Colonial Africa
First semester. Three credits.
A survey of African society and history prior to and including the Atlantic slave trade.
225. Contemporary Africa
Second semester. Three credits.
Africa since its partition in 1884. Urbanization, social stratification, racial and ethnic conflict.
226. Peoples and Cultures of North America
Either semester. Three credits. Bee
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.
227W. Contemporary Mexico
Either semester. Three credits.
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.
228. Australian Aborigines
Either semester. Three credits. Recommended preparation: ANTH 220. Dussart
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.
229. Caribbean Cultures
Either semester. Three credits. Berleant-Schiller, Martinez
Peoples and cultures of the Carribean region.
230. Peoples of the Pacific Islands
Either semester. Three credits. Linnekin
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.
231. Anthropological Perspectives on Women
First semester. Three credits. Open to sophomores. Dussart
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. (Crosslisted with Women's Studies 231)
232. Cognitive Anthropology
Either semester. Three credits. Recommended preparation: ANTH 244. Boster
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.
233. Human Evolution
Second semester. Three credits. Open to sophomores. McBrearty
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.
234W. Culture and Religion
Either semester. Three credits. Prerequisite: ANTH 106 or consent of instructor. Dussart
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.
235. Economic Anthropology
Either semester. Three credits.
An introduction to the comparative study of economic life in contrasting pre-industrial, tribal and peasant economies.
236. Human Behavioral Ecology
Either semester. Three credits. Sosis
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.
237. Psychological Anthropology
Either semester. Three credits.
Cross-cultural overview of critical issues regarding the relationship between individual personality and sociocultural systems, and mental health and illness.
238. Peoples and Cultures of the Middle East
Either semester. Three credits.
Selected social and cultural features of past and
239. Cultural Dynamics
First semester. Three credits. Bee
Interrelations among cultural, social and psychological factors influencing the process of cultural growth and change.
240. Cross-Cultural Perspectives in Education
First semester. Three credits.
Implications of anthropology for education, with emphasis on the relationship between the learning process and the cultural setting.
241. Latin American Minorities in the United States
Either semester. (Also offered as PRLS 241.) Three credits.
Emphasis on groups of Mexican and Puerto Rican origin, including treatment and image in various media, historical background, social stratification, informal social relations, ethnic perceptions and relations.
242W. African-American Culture
Either semester. Three credits.
Sociological and anthropological analysis of the development and persistence of Afro-American culture.
243W. The American in Foreign Cultures
Second semester. Three credits. Prerequisite: SOCI 107 (required for sociology majors) or ANTH 106. Not open for credit to students who have passed SOCI 225.
The nature of the foreign situation encountered by past and present overseas Americans and their responses to it.
244. Culture, Language, and Thought
Either semester. Three credits. Boster
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.
245. Parent-Child Relations in Cross-Cultural Perspective
(Also offered as HDFR 245.) Offered every third semester. Three credits. Not open for credit to students who have passed HDFR 245.
Survey of theory and research on major dimensions of parenting in the U.S.A. and cross-culturally, including parental warmth, control and punishment.
246W. Illness and Curing
Either semester. Three credits. One 3-hour class period. Erickson
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.
247. Culture, Power, and Social Relations
Either semester. Three credits.
Comparative and historical analysis of the sources and consequences of power in human populations.
248. Urban Anthropology
(Also offered as Urban Studies 248.) Either semester. Three credits. Not open for credit to students who have passed URBN 248.
A general course on urbanization, emphasizing contrasts between "developed" and "developing" countries.
249. Field Research in Social Settings
(Also offered as HDFR 249.) Either semester. Three credits. Not open to students who have passed HDFR 249.
Methods and techniques of field research in social settings, including observational procedures, interviewing, and the construction and use of questionnaires.
251W. The Status of Women in Evolutionary Perspective
Either semester. Three credits.
A cross-cultural analysis of the status of women from a biosocial and cultural evolutionary perspective.
252. Native American Arts
(Also offered as Art History 256.) Either semester. Three credits. Not open for credit to students who have passed Art History 256. One three-hour class period. Valentino
A topical survey of the arts of Native American culture in the United States and Canada.
253W. North American Pre-History
Either semester. Three credits. McBride
Prehistoric cultures of North America from the earliest traces to European contact, with emphasis on the region east of the Mississippi.
254. Archaeology of Eastern North America
Second semester. Three credits. Prerequisite: ANTH 253 or consent of instructor. McBride
Prehistoric cultures of the eastern United States and Canada from their earliest appearances to the arrival of the Europeans. Laboratory and field work projects.
255. Archaeology of Mesoamerica
Either semester. Three credits.
An archaeological survey of the ancient cultures of Meso-America, from the earliest evidence through the emergence of agricultural village life, chiefly societies and the high civilizations, including the Zapotec, Teotihuacan, Toltec, Maya, and Aztec.
256. Archaeology of South America
Either semester. Three credits.
The prehistoric cultures of South America, including the Inca and other high civilizations of ancient Peru, as well as the complex chiefdoms of Colombia, Venezuela and the Caribbean.
257W. Near Eastern Pre-History
(Also offered as History 212W.) Either semester. Three credits. Not open for credit to students who have passed 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.
258. Archaeology of Eastern Asia
First semester, alternate years. Three credits. Dewar
The development of cultures in China, Japan and Southeast Asia from their earliest beginnings until the historical period.
259W. Primitive Technology
Second semester. Three credits.
Technology of pre-industrial and non-industrial societies from the first evidence of tool-making to the present, emphasizing materials, processes, and products of simple crafts.
261. Medical Ecology
Either semester. Three credits. One 3-hour class period. Erickson
Anthropological perspectives on the interrelationships between culture,
biology,
environment, and disease. Major topics include ecology and adaptation,
population dynamics, nutrition, reproduction, disease in sociocultural
context, health seeking behavior, and the complexity of the interaction
of western and non-western medical systems.
262. Laboratory Techniques in Archaeology
Second semester. Three credits. Prerequisite: ANTH 214. McBride
The analysis, interpretation, and presentation of various kinds of archaeological artifacts, floral and faunal remains and sedementary contexts from excavated sites.
263. Ethnohistory of Native New England
Either semester. Three credits. McBride
Combines archaeological and ethnohistorical data to reconstruct lifeways of the Native Americans of southern New England from the prehistoric period to the present.
264. African Prehistory
Either semester, alternate years. Three credits. McBrearty
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.
265. Paleoanthropology
Either semester, alternate years. Three credits. Recommended preparation: ANTH 214, 217, or 233. McBrearty
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.
266. Human Osteology
Either semester. Three credits. Recommended preparation: ANTH 233. McBrearty
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.
267. Lithic Technology
Either semester. Three credits. McBrearty
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.
268. Cultural Research
Either semester. Three credits. Boster, Handwerker, Linnekin
The theoretical foundations and basic methods used to collect and analyze cultural data.
270. Contemporary Native Americans
Either semester. Three credits. Bee
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.
271. Social Change and Development
Second semester. Three credits. Bee
Developmental change in western and non-western societies, focusing on theories, processes, and sociocultural contexts of development.
274. Women and Religion
Either semester. Three credits. Linnekin
The theological standing and ritual activities of women in a cross-cultural sample of the world's
275. Race, Ethnicity, and Nationalism
Either semester. Three credits.
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.
276. Human Reproductive Ecology
Either semester. Three credits. Sosis
The influence of ecology on the evolution of the human life course, with emphasis on men's and women's reproductive decisions.
277. Medical Anthropology
First semester. Three credits. Erickson
An introduction to the theory, method, and content of medical anthropology.
281. Sex and Gender
Either semester. Three credits.
Cross-cultural and interdisciplinary analysis of biological sex, gender, sex roles, and sexuality.
285. Anthropological Perspectives on Art
Second semester. Three credits.
Approaches to cultural creativity and aesthetics in the graphic and plastic arts of pre-state societies. Examples from North America, Oceania, and Africa.
293. Foreign Study
Either or both semesters. Credits and hours by arrangement. May be repeated for credit. Consent of Department Head required, normally to be granted prior to the student's departure. May count toward the major with consent of the advisor.
Special topics taken in a foreign study program.
295. Variable Topics
Either semester. Three credits. With a change in topic, may be repeated for credit. Prerequisites, required preparation, and reccomended preparation vary.
296. Directed Field Research in Anthropology
Either semester. Course may be repeated, but credits may not exceed 12 by graduation. Hours by arrangement. Prerequisite: ANTH 249 or consent of instructor.
The investigation of a sociocultural and/or archaeological problem in some domestic or foreign field location.
297. Field Work in Archaeology
Summer session. Variable credits. Open only with consent of instructor. McBride
Training in the techniques of archaeological site excavation; mapping; recording; field conservation, and preliminary analysis of materials.
298. Special Topics
Either semester. Credits and hours by arrangement. Open only with consent of instructor. With a change of content, may be repeated for credit.
299. Independent Study
Either semester. Credits and hours by arrangement. Open only with consent of instructor. With a change in content, may be repeated for credit.