Professors: Colleen B. Cohen (Chair), Judith L.
Goldsteina, Lucy Lewis Johnson; Associate
Professors: Martha Kaplan, Anne Pike-Tay; Assistant
Professor: Thomas Porcello; Visiting Assistant
Professor: Barbara Bianco.
The field of anthropology seeks to promote a holistic
understanding of social life by offering complex accounts of
human histories, societies and cultures. Anthropologists
undertake ethnographic, archival, and archaeological
research on the varied aspects of individual and collective
experience in all time periods and parts of the world. The
Department of Anthropology offers a wide range of options
for majors and for nonmajors in recognition of the broad
interdisciplinary nature of the field. Nonmajors from all
classes may choose courses at any level
with permission of the instructor and without introductory
anthropology as a prerequisite.
Requirements for Concentration: 12 units including
201 and 301. Students are required to take courses in at
least three of the four fields of anthropology; those being
archaeology, biological anthropology, cultural anthropology,
and linguistics. The remaining courses are to be chosen from
among the departmental offerings in consultation with the
adviser in order to give the student both a strong focus
within anthropology and an overall understanding of the
field. Students are required to achieve familiarity with the
peoples and cultures of at least two areas of the world. Of
the 12 required units, three must be taken at the 300-level.
With the consent of the adviser, students may petition the
department to take up to 2 of the 12 required units in
courses outside the department which are related to their
focus. Once a course plan has been devised, it must be
approved by the department faculty.
NRO: One introductory course taken NRO may count
towards the major if a letter grade is received. If a
student receives a PA for an introductory course taken under
the NRO option, that student must complete 13 courses for an
anthropology major. No other required courses for the major
may be taken NRO.
Requirements for a Correlate Sequence: 6 units to
include 1 unit at the 100-level and 2 units at the
300-level. Courses should be chosen in consultation with an
anthropology department adviser in order to a) complement
the student's major and b) form a coherent focus within
anthropology. Possible concentrations include cultural
studies, field work, evolution, archaeology, language. One
introductory course taken NRO may count towards the
correlate sequence if a letter grade is received. If a
student receives a PA for an introductory course taken under
the NRO option, that student must complete seven courses for
an anthropology correlate sequence. No other required
courses for the correlate sequence may be taken NRO.
Recommendations: The field experience is essential
to the discipline of anthropology. Therefore, majors are
urged to take at least one field work course or engage in
field work during the summer.
Advisers: The department.
Vassar Program in Anthropological Experience
The department offers students the opportunity for
fieldwork/research projects abroad in conjunction with
established programs and in consultation with members of the
department.
I. Introductory
100a. Archaeology (1)
In this course students learn how archaeologists dig up
physical remains, tools, and houses and use these data to
reconstruct and understand past cultures. The methods and
theory behind archaeological recovery, problem solving, and
interpretation are learned through the use of selected site
reports, articles from all over the world, and hands on
experimentation. Ms. Johnson.
This course introduces current and historical debates in
the study of human evolution. Primate studies, genetics, the
fossil record and paleoecology are drawn upon to address
such issues as the origins of nature of human cognition,
sexuality, and population variation. Ms. Pike-Tay.
140a or b. Cultural Anthropology (1)
An introduction to central concepts, methods, and
findings in cultural anthropology, including culture,
cultural difference, the interpretation of culture, and
participant-observation. The course uses cross-cultural
comparison to question scholarly and commonsense
understandings of human nature. Topics may include
sexuality, kinship, political and economic systems, myth,
ritual and cosmology, and culturally varied ways of
constructing race, gender, and ethnicity. Students undertake
small research projects and explore different styles of
ethnographic writing. Ms. Cohen, Ms. Goldstein.
150a or b. Linguistic Anthropology (1)
This course provides the student with a practical
introduction to structuralist methods of linguistic
analysis. There is a focus on both theoretical discussions
about, and practical exercises in, the phonology,
morphology, and syntax of natural human languages. In
general, the course explores the way in which languages
provide a shared means for representing the surrounding
world. The different ways languages do this are explored in
theory and practice. The course is intended both as a
general introduction to linguistics and as a foundation for
more advanced courses in related areas. Mr. Porcello.
180a. The Body, Sex and Style in American Popular
Culture (1)
This writing intensive seminar supplies students with a
strong background in the theory and modes of criticism which
apply to the study of popular culture. By examining specific
research techniques and critical strategies, we analyze the
various approaches and practices used to assess the content,
structure, and context ( including effect) of significant
cultural artifacts in American society. In surveying
contemporary American popular culture, we focus on the
changing roles, attitudes, and values associated with
cultural conceptions of the body, sex, and style. Background
readings, examinations of current criticism, and beginning
practice in media criticism are employed.
Open to freshman only: satisfies college requirement for
a Freshman Course.
II. Intermediate
201a. History of Anthropological Theory (1)
The aim of this course is to provide a broad overview of
anthropological theory from its origins in the Enlightenment
to the present day, and to explore the ways in which theory
is integrally related to method, data and modes of
ethnographic representation. Ms. Kaplan.
(Same as Music 212)
Not offered in 2000/01.
231a. Topics in Archaeology (1)
An examination of topics of interest in current
archaeological analysis. We examine the anthropological
reasons for such analyses, how analysis proceeds, what has
been discovered to date through such analyses, and what the
future of the topic seems to be. Possible topics include
tools and human behavior, lithic technology, the archaeology
of death, prehistoric settlement systems, origins of
material culture.
May be repeated for credit if the topic has changed.
Topic for 2000/01a: Tools and Human Behavior. This
course provides an introduction to theories of technological
change in prehistory and the recent past. It draws upon
scholarship in the history of technology, economic history,
evolutionary theory, and anthropology. It critically
examines the popular notion that technology advances by the
efforts of a few heroic individuals who produce
revolutionary inventions owing little or nothing to the
technological past. Finally, it emphasizes the relationship
between invention and art, by focusing on human abilities
such as spatial visualization and the use of metaphor. Ms.
Pike-Tay.
232a or b. Topics in Biological Anthropology
(1)
This course covers topics within the broad field of
biological (or physical) anthropology ranging from
evolutionary theory to the human fossil record to the
identification of human skeletal remains from crime scenes
and accidents. Bioanthropology conceptualizes cultural
behavior as an integral part of our behavior as a species.
Topics covered in this course may include human evolution,
primate behavior, population genetics, human demography and
variation, or forensic anthropology.
May be repeated for credit if the topic has changed.
Topic for 2000/01a: Function and Evolution of the
Human Skeleton. The skeleton is the most useful single
structure in the body as an indicator of general body form
and function. Muscles, tendons and ligaments leave marks
where they attach to bones, and from such marks we can
assess the form and size of the body's soft anatomy and
function. Studies of fossil bones and teeth are direct
behavioral indicators; providing information regarding diet,
locomotor patterns, and health status of the animals of
which they were a part. In this course we compare the
anatomy and physiology of living animals especially monkeys
and apes-with that of living humans to enhance our
understanding of the relationship between form and function.
In addition, the evolution of the skeletal functional
morphology of the primate order is emphasized throughout the
course. Ms. Johnson.
Prerequisites: Anthropology 120, Biology 226, or
permission of the
instructor.
Topic for 2000/01b: Primates. Since the early part
of this century, monkeys and apes have been given special
status as natural objects that can show humans our
pre-rational and pre-cultural origins. The objective of this
course is to introduce students to major theoretical issues
and methodological approaches in the anthropological study
of nonhuman primates and how these have changed over time.
Topics considered include theories of domination and of
production and reproduction in primate behavior studies,
along with their relevance to "human nature". Ms.
Pike-Tay.
Prerequisites: Courses in anthropology, geology, or
biology or by permission of instructor.
235b. Area Studies in Prehistory (1)
This course is a detailed, intensive investigation of
archaeological remains from a particular geographic region
of the world. The area investigated varies from year to year
and includes such areas as Eurasia, North America, and the
native civilizations of Central and South America.
May be repeated for credit if the topic has changed.
Topic for 2000/01b: Native American Civilizations.
In three areas of prehistoric America, cultures
developed to the state of complexity recognized as
civilization: Highland Mexico, the Mayan Area, and the
Central Andes. This course examines the development of
civilization in each of these areas, various hypotheses
concerning these developments, and the influence of each one
upon the other two. Ms. Johnson.
240a. Area Studies in Ethnography (1)
The detailed, intensive study of societies within a
particular geographic region of the world. The regions
covered vary from year to year, and include such areas as
Europe, Africa, the American Southwest, Central America, and
Oceania.
May be repeated for credit if the topic has changed.
Topic for 2000/01a: Ethnography of American Society.
This course examines American society through an
ethnographic lens. It is organized around case studies
dealing with kinship and community, religion, medicine,
immigration, and popular culture. Questions are raised about
the ways Americans have imagined and "invented" themselves,
their neighborhoods, and their nation. Ms. Bianco.
[242b. High Latitude Anthropology] (1)
The High Latitudes presented humanity with an unusual
challenges when they were settled in the late Pleistocene.
Characterized by extreme cold, a dearth of plants and rich
fauna on the land and in the seas, they called forth
biological and cultural adaptations from their human
inhabitants. This course concentrates on peoples of the far
north, with comparative materials from the far south,
looking at the myriad adjustments in technology, material
culture, social structure, and ideology necessary to compete
with this extreme environment. Ms. Johnson.
Not offered in 2000/01.
245b. The Ethnographer's Craft (1)
(Same as Urban Studies 245) This course introduces
students to the methods employed in constructing and
analyzing ethnographic materials by combining readings,
classroom lectures, and discussions with regular field
exercises. Students will gain experience in
participant-observation, fieldnote-taking, interviewing,
survey sampling, domain analysis, symbolic analysis,
quantitative analysis, the use of archival documents and
contemporary media in ethnographic work, and how to
formulate field problems. Attention is also be paid to
current concerns with interpretation and modes of
representation. Required for students intending to enroll in
Anthropology 345. Ms. Cohen.
247a. Modern Social Theory: Marx, Durkheim, and Weber
(1)
[250b. Topics in Language and Culture]
(1)
This course draws on a wide range of theoretical
perspectives in exploring a particular problem, emphasizing
the contribution of linguistics to issues that bear on
research in a number of disciplines. Mr. Porcello.
May be repeated for credit if the topic has changed.
Not offered in 2000/01.
[253a. Language and Society] (1)
This course surveys the analytical methods and
substantive findings of research which explores the
relations between language, society and the individual. At
issue are the complex ways in which society and the
individual are interrelated in the act of using language in
particular speech communities. Topics explored, for example,
include standard and nonstandard registers, code switching,
and "biased" language. More generally, the course explores
the origins and uses of socio-linguistic practices and
beliefs as they relate to both the politics of a society and
the related political nature of social interactions in that
society. Critical consideration is furthered by careful
attention to cross-cultural variation and to the ways in
which the uses of language are ideologically reinforced by
different social institutions (such as the mass media). Such
cross-cultural comparisons attempt to interpret materials
taken from contemporary America. Mr. Porcello.
Prerequisite: Anthropology 150 or by permission of
instructor.
Not offered in 2000/01.
255b. Language and Gender (1)
This course focuses on language as a cultural means of
communication. Gender is approached both as a grammatical
category and as a social category of person linked to
different kinds of language use. The course explores the way
in which language use and ideologies about language use both
inform and are informed by gender. The investigation of
language and gender and of gender-related social movements
are explored from a cross-cultural perspective. Mr.
Porcello.
270a or b. Current Themes in Anthropological Theory
and Method (1)
The focus is upon particular cultural subsystems and
their study in cross-cultural perspective. The subsystem
selected varies from year to year. Examples include: kinship
systems, political organizations, religious beliefs and
practices, verbal and nonverbal communication.
May be repeated for credit if topic has changed.
Topics for 2000/01a: Public Health . This course
examines the world of public health through a cultural lens.
It is organized around case studies dealing with epidemic
and infectious disease, environmental disasters and
workplace maladies, and campaigns to improve health and
eradicate social ills. Questions are raised about the
imagery of disease and the evocation of suffering, the
structural and ideological underpinnings of scientific
authority, the rise of medical surveillance and the dynamics
of state intervention into the "private" aspects of peoples'
lives, and the rhetorics of responsibility that enable and
constrain the efforts of individuals and groups to respond
to public health predicaments. Ms. Bianco.
Culture, Power and History. This course examines
the turn to historical questions in current anthropology.
What are the implications of cultural difference for an
understanding of history, and of history for an
understanding of culture? Recent works which propose new
ways of thinking about western and non-western peoples and
the power to make history are read. Theoretical positions
include structure and history, world system, hegemony and
resistance, and discourse approaches.
Historical/ethnographic situations range from New Guinea
cargo cults to the English industrial revolution, from the
history of sugar as a commodity to the colonizing of Egypt,
from debates about the sexuality of women and Hindu gods in
Fiji to the role of spirit mediums in the struggle for
Zimbabwe. Ms. Kaplan.
Topic for 2000/01b: Anthropology Goes to the Movies:
Film Video & Ethnography. This course examines how
film and video are used in ethnography as tools for study
and as means of ethnographic documentary and representation.
Topics covered include history and theory of visual
anthropology, issues of representation and audience,
indigenous film, and contemporary ethnographic approaches to
popular media. Ms. Cohen.
Prerequisite: permission of instructor.
Two 75-minute periods, plus 3-hour preview
laboratory.
272b. Anthropological Approaches to Myth, Ritual and
Symbol (1)
What is the place of myth, ritual, and symbol in human
social life? Do symbols reflect reality, or create it? This
course considers answers to these questions in social theory
(Marx, Freud, and Durkheim) and in major anthropological
approaches (functionalism, structuralism, and symbolic
anthropology). It then reviews current debates in
interpretive anthropology about order and change, power and
resistance, and the role of ritual in the making of history.
Ethnographic studies include Fiji, Indonesia, Papua New
Guinea, sixteenth-century Italy, the Seneca, and the U.S.
Ms. Kaplan.
[274a. Anthropology of Art] (l)
This course develops a cultural framework for the
investigation of artistic expression by drawing upon
anthropological approaches, semiotics and aesthetics to
examine art and culture. Topics such as the origins of art
and symbolic expression in human prehistory; Western
representations of nonWestern art; connoisseurship; the
market economy, and the categories of "fine art," "tourist
art," and "graffiti art" are addressed. Ms. PikeTay.
Not offered in 2000/01.
282a. Technology and the American Music Industry
(1)
(Same as American Culture 282) Mr. Porcello, Mr.
Moore.
290a or b. Field Work (1/2 or
1)
Individual or group field projects or internships. May be
elected during the college year or during the summer. Open
to all students. The department.
297a or b. Reading Course in Archaeological Field
Methods (1/2)
298a or b. Independent Work (1/2
or 1)
Individual or group project of reading or research. May
be elected during the college year or during the summer. The
department.
III. Advanced
300a or b. Senior Thesis (1)
A close examination of current theory in anthropology,
oriented around a topic of general interest, such as history
and anthropology, the writing of ethnography, or the theory
of practice. Students write a substantial paper applying one
or more of the theories discussed in class. Readings change
from year to year. Ms. Goldstein.
305a. Topics in Advanced Biological Anthropology
(1)
An examination of such topics as primate structure and
behavior, the Plio-Pleistocene hominids, the final evolution
of Homo sapiens sapiens, forensic anthropology, and
human biological diversity.
Prerequisite: Anthropology 232 or by permission of
instructor.
May be repeated for credit if topic has changed.
Topic for 2000/01a: Seminar in Forensic Anthropology
and Paleopathology. This course is an advanced
introduction to the subfields of Forensic Anthropology, the
application of osteological and anthropological techniques
to the law; and of Paleopathology, the investigation of
incidences of trauma, infectious diseases, nutritional
deficiencies, and other conditions that leave evidence on
human bones. Prominent case studies such as the
identification of members of the Russian imperial family; of
missing American soldiers in East Asia; and of recent
war-crime victims from Latin America, Africa, and the
Balkans, all of which have required the analyses of forensic
anthropologists and paleopathologists are reviewed. Ms.
Pike-Tay.
[310a. Consumer Culture] (1)
An examination of classic and recent work on the culture
of consumption. Among the topics we study are gender and
consumption, the creation of value, commodity fetishism, the
history of the department store, and the effect of Western
goods on non-Western societies. Ms. Goldstein.
Not offered in 2000/01.
331b. Seminar in Archaeological Method and Theory
(1)
(Same as Science, Technology and Society 331) The
theoretical underpinnings of anthropological archaeology and
the use of theory in studying particular bodies of data. The
focus ranges from examination of published datacovering
topics such as architecture and society, the origin of
complex society, the relationship between technology and
ecologyto more laboratory-oriented examination of such
topics as archaeometry, archaeozoology, or lithic
technology.
Prerequisites: 200-level work in archaeology or by
permission of instructor.
May be repeated for credit if the topic has changed.
Topic for 2000/01b: Technology and Ecology.
Examines the interactions between human beings and their
environment as mediated by technology from stone tools up to
but not including machine technology. Includes some
experimentation with primitive technologies. Ms.
Johnson.
[345a or b. Anthropological Experience]
(21/2)
Ethnographic work in selected areas of the world under
approved supervision. The student spends six months under an
approved field supervisor in a location selected in
conjunction with his/her supervisor and with the approval of
the department. The student learns how to record and order
data, interview informants, reformulate field problems,
devise suitable methodologies, write field reports and field
summaries. Field work may be undertaken either from June to
January or from January to June, the option chosen depends
on the area of the world to which the student is going, the
field plans of the supervisor, and the course plan of the
student. The department.
Permission of the department.
Not offered in 2000/01.
[346a or b-347a or b. Field Reports]
(1/2)
Upon return to campus from the Anthropological Experience
(345a or b), a brief Preliminary Report (346a or b) must be
submitted one week after commencement of classes. The Final
Report (347a or b) will consist of a detailed ethnographic
description and analysis of the field data. The
department.
Prerequisite: Anthropology 345a or b.
Permission of the department.
Not offered in 2000/01.
351a. Linguistic Seminar (1)
This course provides the advanced student with an
intensive review of theoretical issues and practical
problems in specific areas of linguistic research.
Emphasizing linguistic modes of analysis and argumentation,
each topic culminates in independent research projects. Mr.
Porcello.
Prerequisites: Previous coursework in linguistics or by
permission of instructor.
May be repeated for credit if the topic has changed.
Topic for 2000/01a: Sound. Taking advantage of the
Department of Anthropology's new sound analysis laboratory,
this seminar centers on the examination of acoustic,
perceptual, and cultural dimensions of aural phenomena.
Linguistics is one focal area of the course, in which we
pursue both qualitative and quantitative analyses of
paralinguistic and prosodic features (pitch, intonation,
rhythm, timbre, formants), acoustic phonetics, and
especially issues of sound symbolism (onomatopoeia,
iconicity, metaphor, and synaesthesia). Additional topics of
discussion include relationships between sound structure and
social structure as investigated by anthropologists and
ethnomusicologists, the cultural history of sound (as
encoded in regulatory practices such as public noise
ordinances, as well as in architectural and technological
designs), and the computer-assisted transcription of
linguistic, musical, and other aural phenomena. Students are
encouraged to use the lab as a resource for their final
research project. Mr. Porcello.
362b. Male and Female in Anthropological Perspective
(1)
The course begins with an overview of the position of men
and women according to recent anthropological theory, and in
so doing examines how including women affects mainstream
anthropological theory. The course compares the
classification of sex differences and images of men and
women with their social roles. Representations of women in
popular culture are studied. Ms. Bianco.
Topic for 2000/01b: Women in Medicine. This course
examines the gendered dimensions of medicine, with
particular emphasis on women. It uses ethnographies and
historical studies to explore "women's" health issues and
the changing roles of women within the field of medicine and
its allied occupations. Questions will be raised about the
cultural construction and experience of illness, treatment,
and medical knowledge. Ms. Bianco.
366b. Problems in Cultural Analysis (1)
(Same as Asian Studies 366b) Covers a variety of issues
current in modern anthropology in terms of ongoing
discussion among scholars of diverse opinions rather than a
rigid body of fact and theory.
May be repeated for credit if the topic has changed.
Topic for 2000/01b: Colonial and Post-Colonial
Societies. This course examines recent scholarship on
colonial and post-colonial societies. Beginning with classic
critiques of Western colonialism, the course also considers
non-Western imperial projects, and examines increasingly
attentive scholarship on experiences of colonization, and
the rise of anti-colonial and nationalist movements, turning
finally to works on decolonization and post-coloniality. The
course reviews analytic paradigms from world system to
discourse theories, and considers cases drawn from Asia, the
Pacific, and Latin America. Ms. Kaplan.
386b. The Languages of Media Culture (1)
The major issues and methods in this course dissect,
reflect and amplify the practices and artifacts of
contemporary media culture. Required readings, lectures and
discussions emphasize the varying ways scholars have
approached the subject of media and culture. Students
develop research in particular areas of media culture.
Topics include: media codes, media forms and media content;
media as language, culture, epistemology and technology; the
biases of media; media and communication; media literacy;
technological phenomena; media affects/effects; and
propaganda. Mr. Lipton.
399a or b. Senior Independent Work
(1/2 or 1)
Individual or group project of reading or research. May
be elected during the college year or during the summer. The
department.
For curricular offerings see page 189.
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