Catalogue 2013-2014 [ARCHIVED CATALOG]
Anthropology Department
|
|
|
|
Chair: David Tavárez;
Professors: Colleen Ballerino Cohen, Judith L. Goldstein, Lucy Lewis Johnson, Martha Kaplan, Anne Pike-Tay, Thomas Porcello (and Associate Dean of Strategic Planning and Academic Resources);
Associate Professor: David Tavárez;
Assistant Professors: April M. Beisaw, Candice M. Lowe Swift;
Visiting Assistant Professor: Benjamin K. Smith;
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.
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.
Recommendations: The field experience is essential to the discipline of anthropology. Therefore, majors are urged to take at least one fieldwork course, to engage in field research during the summer, and/or to undertake independent fieldwork under a study away program.
Anthropological Research Experience: The department also offers students the opportunity for independent fieldwork/research projects through several of its courses and in conjunction with on-going faculty research projects. Opportunities for laboratory research, which is also critical to anthropological inquiry, are available in our archaeology, biological anthropology, sound analysis, and digital video editing labs.
Advisers: The department.
Major
Correlate Sequence in Anthropology
Anthropology: I. Introductory
-
ANTH 100 - Archaeology Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
Popular media depicts archaeology as a search for lost treasures of an explicit or implied monetary value. In reality, an artifact’s value lies not in its gold or gemstone content but in the information that object provides about the past. This academic archaeology is a scientific pursuit with artifacts, things made or modified by people, as the primary data source. Instead of searching for ancient astronauts and the lost city of Atlantis, academic archaeologists are searching for evidence about how past communities were organized and how they dealt with cultural or environmental change. The answers to such questions allow us to learn from the past as we face our own challenges. This is the true value of archaeology. This course examines both popular and academic archaeology, critiquing them against the scientific method. Ms. Beisaw.
Two 75-minute periods.
-
ANTH 120 - Human Origins Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
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 and nature of human cognition, sexuality, and population variation. Ms. Pike-Tay.
Two 75-minute periods.
-
ANTH 140 - Cultural Anthropology Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
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. Lowe Swift.
Two 75-minute periods.
-
ANTH 150 - Linguistics and Anthropology Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
1 unit(s)
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, syntax, and semantics of natural human languages. Additional topics include: the acquisition of linguistic and communicative competence; the relationship between human language and other animal communication systems; and cultural and social dimensions of language variation (including the study of regional and social dialects, code switching and mixing, speaking styles, registers, and idiolects). The course is intended both as the College’s general introduction to formal linguistics and as a foundation for more advanced courses in related areas. Mr. Smith, Mr. Tavárez.
Two 75-minute periods.
-
ANTH 170 - Topics in Anthropology
1 unit(s)
Introduction to anthropology through a focus on a particular issue or aspect of human experience. Topics vary, but may include Anthropology through Film, American Popular Culture, Extinctions, Peoples of the World. Open only to freshmen. Satisfies requirement for a Freshmen Writing Seminar. The department.
Two 75-minute periods.
Not offered in 2013/14.
-
ANTH 180 - Ethnography and Detective Fiction Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
This course teaches concepts of cultural anthropology through the lens of detective fiction. It studies detective fiction from the development of the nineteenth century classic detective story to its most recent forms, focusing on novels in which indigenous detectives solve mysteries through their knowledge of their cultures. This particular genre of detective fiction can be considered “ethnographic” because of its reliance on local detectives operating as participant observers in their surrounding cultures. Detective novels are paired with relevant readings from the anthropological canon. Satisfies the requirement for introductory-level cultural anthropology. Ms. Goldstein.
Two 75-minute periods.
-
ANTH 182 - Bones, Bodies, and Forensic Cases
1 unit(s)
The accidental discovery of an isolated human bone or entire human body occurs more frequently than most people think. How these discoveries are dealt with is often a decision that involves local law enforcement, medical officials, archaeologists, and physical anthropologists. This course examines several such cases, following them from initial discovery to final conclusion. What clues do bones and bodies reveal? What evidence was found on or near these individuals? How do we piece together a narrative? Who decides what happens next? Contrary to what we see on television and in the movies, these cases require patience and cultural awareness and do not always lead to a clear happy ending. Open only to freshmen; satisfies college requirement for a Freshman Writing Seminar. Ms. Beisaw.
Two 75-minute periods.
Anthropology: II. Intermediate
-
ANTH 201 - Anthropological Theory Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
In this course we explore the history of intellectual innovations that make anthropology distinctive among the social sciences. We seek to achieve an analytic perspective on the history of the discipline and also to consider the social and political contexts, and consequences, of anthropology’s theory. While the course is historical and chronological in organization, we read major theoretical and ethnographic works that form the background to debates and issues in contemporary anthropology. Ms. Kaplan.
Prereq/Corequisite(s): ANTH 140 .
Two 75-minute periods.
-
ANTH 212 - Advanced Topics in World Music Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
(Same as LALS 212 and MUSI 212 ) Topic for 2013/14b: Music of Latin America. This course takes a broad view of music from across Latin America. Through case studies of various popular, folk, art, and roots music, the course examines the role that music plays in past and current social life, political movements, economic development, international representation and identity formation. It also considers the transnational nature of music through demographic shifts, technological adaptation and migration. Mr. Patch.
Prerequisite(s): MUSI 136 is highly recommended, or permission of the instructor.
Two 75-minute periods
-
ANTH 231 - Topics in Archaeology Semester Offered: Fall and Spring
1 unit(s)
(Same as STS 231 ) 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.
Topic for 2013/14b: Tools and Human Behavior. Humans are obligate tools users. For the last 2 million years humans have evolved in concert with tools and all human interactions with the environment are mediated by technology. This course will examine theories of technological change, drawing upon scholarship in anthropology, the history of technology, economic history, and evolutionary theory. Also considered will be the ways in which people, individually and in groups, interact with raw materials to transform them into artifacts, use these artifacts and then redeposit them in the natural environment. May be repeated for credit if the topic has changed. Ms. Johnson.
Prerequisite(s): previous coursework in Anthropology or permission of the instructor.
Two 75-minute periods.
-
ANTH 232 - Topics in Biological Anthropology Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
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.
Topic for 2013/14a: Primates. This course reviews past and present theoretical and methodological approaches in the anthropological study of monkeys and apes and introduces students to the behavioral ecology and evolution of non-human primates. May be repeated for credit if the topic has changed. Ms. Pike-Tay.
Prerequisite(s): ANTH 100 , ANTH 120 , or permission of the instructor.
Two 75-minute periods.
-
ANTH 235 - Area Studies in Archaeology
1 unit(s)
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.
Prerequisite(s): previous coursework in Anthropology or permission of the instructor.
Not offered in 2013/14.
-
ANTH 240 - Cultural Localities Semester Offered: Fall and Spring
1 unit(s)
(Same as LALS 240 ) Detailed study of the cultures of people living in a particular area of the world, including their politics, economy, worldview, religion, expressive practices, and historical transformations. Included is a critical assessment of different approaches to the study of culture. Areas covered vary from year to year and may include Europe, Africa, North America, and India.
May be repeated for credit if the topic has changed.
Topic for 2013/14a: Mesoamerican Worlds. An intensive survey of the culture, history, and politics of several neighboring indigenous societies that have deep historical and social ties to territory now located in Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and Honduras. This course explores the emergence of powerful Mesoamerican states with a cosmology tied to warfare and human sacrifice, the reconfiguration of these societies under the twin burdens of Christianity and colonial rule, and the strategies that some of these communities adopted in order to preserve local notions of identity, and to cope with or resist incorporation into nation-states. The course also introduces students to a selection of historical and religious texts produced by indigenous authors. After a consideration of socio-religious hierarchies, and writing and calendrical systems in Precolumbian Mesoamerica, the course focuses on adaptations resulting from interaction with an evolving colonial order. The course also investigates the relations between native communities and the Mexican and Guatemalan states, and examines the representation of indigenous identities, the rapport among environmental policies, globalization, and local agricultural practices, and indigenous autonomy in the wake of the EZLN rebellion and transnational indigenous movements. Students proficient in Spanish will be encouraged to use original sources for course projects. Mr. Tavárez
Topic for 2013/14a: The Indian Ocean. This course is an introduction to the multiple cultures and peoples of the Indian Ocean. Using historical works, ethnographies, novels and film, we explore the complex trade networks and historical processes that have shaped the contemporary economies, cultures, and social problems of the region. Although the course concentrates on the southwest Indian Ocean, we approach the region as a cultural, economic, and political sphere whose various regions were closely interconnected. Topics include: colonialism, labor and trade migrations, religion, race, gender, and creolization. Ms. Lowe Swift
Topic for 2013/14b: Indigenous Social Movements: Andes/Amazon. This course examines the way that native groups of South America have appropriated “indigeneity” as a way to advance their political and social interests in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. We first briefly trace the history of earlier mobilizations (e.g., the colonial revolts of Tupac Amaru and “Taki Unquy”) as a way of grappling with the specificities of contemporary indigenous movements. We then consider these contemporary social movements as a way to illuminate some broad themes about indigenous political mobilization: their character as responses to neoliberalism and globalization, their transnational, pan-indigenous character, their goals of decolonization and pluralism, etc. An ongoing theme throughout the class will be the relationships between Andean and Amazonian forms of indigenous political mobilization. Mr. Smith
Prerequisite(s): previous coursework in Anthropology or Latin American and Latino/a Studies or permission of the instructor.
Two 75-minute periods.
-
ANTH 241 - The Caribbean
1 unit(s)
An overview of the cultures of the Caribbean, tracing the impact of slavery and colonialism on contemporary experiences and expressions of Caribbean identity. Using ethnographies, historical accounts, literature, music, and film, the course explores the multiple meanings of ‘Caribbean,’ as described in historical travel accounts and contemporary tourist brochures, as experienced in daily social, political, and economic life, and as expressed through cultural events such as calypso contests and Festival, and cultural-political movements such as Rastafarianism. Although the course deals primarily with the English-speaking Caribbean, it also includes materials on the French and Spanish speaking Caribbean and on diasporic Caribbean communities in the U.S. and U.K. Ms. Cohen.
Prerequisite(s): previous coursework in Anthropology or permission of the instructor.
Not offered in 2013/14.
-
ANTH 245 - The Ethnographer’s Craft Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
(Same as URBS 245 ) This course introduces students to the methods employed in constructing and analyzing ethnographic materials through readings, classroom lectures, and discussions with regular field exercises. Students gain experience in participant-observation, fieldnote-taking, interviewing, survey sampling, symbolic analysis, the use of archival documents, and the use of contemporary media. Attention is also given to current concerns with interpretation and modes of representation. Throughout the semester, students practice skills they learn in the course as they design, carry out, and write up original ethnographic projects. Ms. Lowe Swift.
Two 75-minute periods.
-
ANTH 247 - Modern Social Theory: Classical Traditions Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
(Same as SOCI 247 ) This course examines underlying assumptions and central concepts and arguments of European and American thinkers who contributed to the making of distinctly sociological perspectives. Readings include selections from Karl Marx, Emile Durheim, Max Weber, Georg Simmel, W.E.B. Du Bois and Erving Goffman. Thematic topics will vary from year to year. Ms. Harriford.
Two 75-minute periods.
-
ANTH 250 - Language, Culture, and Society Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
This course draws on a wide range of theoretical perspectives in exploring a particular problem, emphasizing the contribution of linguistics and linguistic anthropology to issues that bear on research in a number of disciplines. At issue in each selected course topic are the complex ways in which cultures, societies, and individuals are interrelated in the act of using language within and across particular speech communities.
Topic for 2013/14a: Language as Social Action. This class offers an advanced introduction the sense in which language usage can serve as a form of social action. After a brief consideration of the basic semiotic properties of human language, we will go on to consider the following theoretical topics: the text-like character of language-mediated social interaction, the way that interaction articulates with systems of social differentiation, and the special utility of ethnographic or “cultural” approaches to language-mediated interaction. We will then explore how these concepts reveal specific sociocultural contexts, drawing on extended case studies of language usage in a Native American context and in the context of globalization. Students will also be trained in distinctive methodology of scholars interested in language as a form of social action: the recording, transcription, and analysis of naturally occurring talk. May be repeated for credit if the topic has changed. Mr. Smith.
Prerequisite(s): ANTH 150 or permission of the instructor.
Two 75-minute periods.
-
ANTH 255 - Language and Gender Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
How do gender identities influence language use, language and power, and ideas about language? This course presents a systematic survey of anthropological and linguistic approaches to this set of questions. The course is organized as a cross-cultural survey of several approaches-from ground-breaking feminist linguistic anthropology to contemporary debates on gender as performance, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual/transgender identities, and gender, class and hegemony-that investigate the multiple rapports among gender identities, socialization, language use in private and public spheres, social norms, and gendered forms of authority. Students have an opportunity to learn about linguistic anthropology methods and design a research project. Mr. Tavárez.
-
ANTH 259 - Soundscapes: Anthropology of Music Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
(Same as MUSI 259 ) This course investigates a series of questions about the relationship between music and the individuals and societies that perform and listen to it. In other words, music is examined and appreciated as a form of human expression existing within and across specific cultural contexts. The course takes an interdisciplinary approach to the social life of music, addressing historical themes and debates within multiple academic fields via readings, recordings, and films. Mr. Patch.
Prerequisite(s): previous coursework in Anthropology or Music, or permission of the instructor.
-
ANTH 260 - Current Themes in Anthropological Theory and Method Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
The focus is upon particular cultural sub-systems and their study in cross-cultural perspective. The sub-system selected varies from year to year. Examples include: kinship systems, political organizations, religious beliefs and practices, verbal and nonverbal communication.
Topic for 2013/14a: Virtually Mediated Social Worlds. This is a class designed to explore a set of emerging questions about the virtual- or computer- mediated character of contemporary social worlds. The class will consider three broad themes in the literature: 1) the significance for human social life of the possibility of living in multiple, parallel social worlds; 2) the relationships that obtain between computer-mediated “virtual worlds” and other forms of sociability (e.g., “actual worlds” characterized by social differentiation and local forms of cultural imagination); and 3) methodological questions about the proper ethnographic or discourse-based ways to study virtually-mediated social worlds. Students will complete a research project in which they participate in and make observations about some online, virtual world. May be repeated for credit if the topic has changed. Mr. Smith.
Prerequisite(s): previous coursework in Anthropology or permission of the instructor.
Two 75-minute periods.
-
ANTH 262 - Anthropological Approaches to Myth, Ritual and Symbol Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
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, the enchantments of capitalism, and the role of ritual in the making of history. Ethnographic and historical studies may include Fiji, Italy, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, the Seneca, and the U.S. Ms. Kaplan.
Prerequisite(s): previous coursework in Anthropology or permission of the instructor.
-
ANTH 263 - Anthropology Goes to the Movies: Film, Video, and Ethnography Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
(Same as MEDS 263 ) 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(s): previous coursework in Anthropology or Film or Media Studies or permission of the instructor.
Two 75-minute periods, plus 3-hour preview laboratory.
-
ANTH 264 - Anthropology of Art
1 unit(s)
The Anthropology of Art explores the origins of art and symbolic behavior in human evolution as well as the practices of producing and interpreting art. The course moves from a survey of the earliest art of the Paleolithic (Stone Age) including cave paintings, engravings, body decoration and small portable sculptures to analyses of the form and function of art by early prehistorians and anthropologists through ethnoaesthetics, to the developing world market in the art objects traditionally studied by anthropologists. Among the topics explored in the course are connoisseurship and taste, authenticity, “primitive art,” and the ethnographic museum. Ms. Pike-Tay.
Prerequisite(s): previous coursework in Anthropology or permission of the instructor.
Two 75-minute periods.
Not offered in 2013/14.
-
ANTH 266 - Indigenous and Oppositional Media
1 unit(s)
(Same as MEDS 266 ) As audiovisual and digital media technologies proliferate and become more accessible globally, they become important tools for indigenous peoples and activist groups in struggles for recognition and self-determination, for articulating community concerns and for furthering social and political transformations. This course explores the media practices of indigenous peoples and activist groups, and through this exploration achieves a more nuanced and intricate understanding of the relation of the local to the global. In addition to looking at the films, videos, radio and television productions, and Internet interventions of indigenous media makers and activists around the world, the course looks at oppositional practices employed in the consumption and distribution of media. Course readings are augmented by weekly screenings and demonstrations of media studied, and students explore key theoretical concepts through their own interventions, making use of audiovisual and digital technologies. Ms. Cohen.
Two 75-minute periods, plus one 3-hour preview lab.
Not offered in 2013/14.
-
ANTH 286 - Food in its Cultural and Social Contexts Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
Food exists at the intersections of culture, power, and history. This course explores a variety of frameworks for understanding food choices and constraints. We consider industrialized systems of food production and their implications for social life, and how responses to these systems have shifted not only dietary patterns, but also social relations and ideas about what counts as “good” food. We also focus on how the ritualized or politicized consumption of particular foods can affirm connections between invisible worlds and peoples of the past on the one hand, and contemporary life, place, and status in the physical present, on the other. Topics and issues to be addressed include food justice and problems of unequal access; “sustainable” farming and “local” foods; food practices in the construction of identity; and the links between slavery, colonialism, and the emergence of the industrial food system. Ms. Lowe Swift.
Two 75-minute periods.
-
ANTH 290 - Field Work Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
1/2 or 1.5 unit(s)
Individual or group field projects or internships. May be elected during the college year or during the summer. The department.
Open to all students.
-
ANTH 297 - Reading Course in Archaeological Field Methods Semester Offered: Spring
1/2 unit(s)
Ms. Johnson.
-
ANTH 298 - Independent Work Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
1/2 or 1 unit(s)
Individual or group project of reading or research. May be elected during the college year or during the summer. The department.
Anthropology: III. Advanced
-
ANTH 300 - Senior Thesis Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
1 unit(s)
The department.
-
ANTH 301 - Senior Seminar Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
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. Cohen.
-
ANTH 305 - Topics in Advanced Biological Anthropology
1 unit(s)
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. May be repeated for credit if the topic has changed.
Prerequisite(s): ANTH 232 or permission of the instructor.
One 3-hour period.
Not offered in 2013/14.
-
ANTH 331 - Topics in Archaeological Theory and Method Semester Offered: Fall and Spring
1 unit(s)
(Same as STS 331 and ENST 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 data covering topics such as architecture and society, the origin of complex society, the relationship between technology and ecology to more laboratory-oriented examination of such topics as archaeometry, archaeozoology, or lithic technology.
May be repeated for credit if the topic has changed.
Topic for 2013/14a: Archaeology of Disaster. This course examines how archaeology can be used to understand the cultural elements of natural disasters, such as hurricane Katrina, as well as cultural disasters, such as terrorist attacks. Natural and cultural disasters often leave us wondering why the event happened and how we can either prevent it from happening again or be better prepared when it does. These questions are hard to answer without the perspective of time. The archaeological record is replete with examples of how cultures have dealt with disaster in the past and affords us the ability to see how their decisions played out over time. Archaeological methods also provide us with a means of learning from the remains of a disaster to piece together the events that led up to it and unfolded during it. In this course special attention will be paid to mass disasters but smaller scale ones will also be considered through the archaeology of crime scenes. Ms. Beisaw.
Prerequisite(s): previous coursework in Anthropology, or permission of the instructor.
One 3-hour period.
Topic for 2013/14b: Technology, Ecology, and Society. Examines the interactions between human beings and their environment as mediated by technology, focusing on the period from the earliest evidence of toolmaking approximately up to the Industrial Revolution. Student research projects often bring the course up to the present. Includes experimentation with ancient technologies and field trips to local markets and craft workshops. Ms. Johnson.
Prerequisite(s): previous coursework in Anthropology, Environmental Studies, or Science, Technology, and Society, or permission of the instructor.
One 2-hour period; plus 4 hour lab.
-
ANTH 351 - Language and Expressive Culture Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
This seminar provides the advanced student with an intensive investigation of theoretical and practical problems in specific areas of research that relate language and linguistics to expressive activity. Although emphasizing linguistic modes of analysis and argumentation, the course is situated at the intersection of important intellectual crosscurrents in the arts, humanities, and social sciences that focus on how culture is produced and projected through not only verbal, but also musical, material, kinaesthetic, and dramatic arts. Each topic culminates in independent research projects.
Topic for 2013/14b: Discourse & Subjectivity. This class introduces students to research and theory about the relationship between divergent patterns of language usage (i.e., “discourse”) and culturally local forms of thinking, feeling, and identifying (i.e., “subjectivity”). After a brief introduction to the origins of this question (in particular, its origins in the work of the anthropological linguist Benjamin Whorf), we take up a series of topics that illuminate the variety of ways in which discourse gets implicated in subjectivity: the relationships between language and affect, person reference and identity, narrative and self, and reported speech and social identity, among other topics. Students will write a major research paper in which they explore some issue related to the relationship between discourse and subjectivity. May be repeated for credit if the topic has changed. Mr. Smith.
Prerequisite(s): previous coursework in linguistics or permission of the instructor.
One 3-hour period.
-
ANTH 360 - Problems in Cultural Analysis Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
(Same as INTL 360 ) Covers a variety of current issues in modern anthropology in terms of ongoing discussion among scholars of diverse opinions rather than a rigid body of fact and theory.
Topic for 2013/14b: Global Diasporas. This course highlights aspects of globalization that put waves of people, ideas and money on the move, paying specific attention to diaspora and migration. Theories of globalization, diaspora, and transnationalism provide students with frameworks for analyzing what happens when people move across state boundaries, and for considering the “push and pull” factors influencing movements from the South to North, and from East to West and vice versa. The use of ethnography, film, and the novel help students better understand how such flows are experienced locally, how connections across space and time are sustained, and how “culture” is continually (re)made in and through movement and as a consequence of contact rather than isolation. The question that animates and organizes our inquiries is: How do global flows of human interaction challenge or complicate our understandings of such constructs as “culture”, “race” and “nation-state?” May be repeated for credit if topic has changed. Ms. Lowe. Swift. The department.
Prerequisite(s): previous coursework in Anthropology or International Studies, or permission of the instructor.
One 3-hour seminar.
-
ANTH 361 - Consumer Culture
1 unit(s)
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.
Prerequisite(s): previous coursework in Anthropology or permission of the instructor.
Not offered in 2013/14.
-
ANTH 363 - Nations, Globalization, and Post-Coloniality
1 unit(s)
(Same as INTL 363 ) How do conditions of globalization and dilemmas of post-coloniality challenge the nation-state? Do they also reinforce and reinvent it? This course engages three related topics and literatures; recent anthropology of the nation-state; the anthropology of colonial and post-colonial societies; and the anthropology of global institutions and global flows. Ms. Kaplan.
Prerequisite(s): previous coursework in Anthropology or permission of the instructor.
Not offered in 2013/14.
-
ANTH 364 - Travelers and Tourists
1 unit(s)
The seminar explores tourism in the context of a Western tradition of travel and as a complex cultural, economic and political phenomenon with profound impacts locally and globally. Using contemporary tourism theory, ethnographic studies of tourist locales, contemporary and historical travel narratives, travelogues, works of fiction, post cards and travel brochures, we consider tourism as a historically specific cultural practice whose meaning and relation to structures of power varies over time and context; as a performance; as one of many global mobilities; as embodied activity; as it is informed by mythic and iconic representations and embedded in Western notions of self and other. We also address issues pertaining to the culture of contemporary tourism, the commoditization of culture, the relation between tourism development and national identity and the prospects for an environmentally and culturally sustainable tourism. Ms. Cohen.
Prerequisite(s): previous coursework in Anthropology or permission of the instructor.
One 3-hour period.
Not offered in 2013/14.
-
ANTH 365 - Imagining Asia and the Pacific
1 unit(s)
(Same as ASIA 365 ) Does “the Orient” exist? Is the Pacific really a Paradise? On the other hand, does the “West” exist? If it does, is it the opposite of Paradise? Asia is often imagined as an ancient, complex challenger and the Pacific is often imagined as a simple, idyllic paradise. This course explores Western scholarly images of Asia (East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia) and of the island Pacific. It also traces the impact of Asian and Pacific ideas and institutions on the West. Each time offered, the seminar has at least three foci, on topics such as: Asia, the Pacific and capitalism; Asia, the Pacific and the concept of culture; Asia, the Pacific and the nation-state; Asia, the Pacific and feminism; Asia, the Pacific and knowledge. Ms. Kaplan.
Prerequisite(s): previous coursework in Asian Studies/Anthropology or permission of the instructor.
Not offered in 2013/14.
-
ANTH 366 - Memoirs, Modernities, and Revolutions Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
(Same as JWST 366 ) Autobiographical narratives of growing up have been a popular way for Jewish and non-Jewish writers of Middle Eastern origin to address central questions of identity and change. How do young adults frame and question their attachments to their families and to their countries of birth? For the authors and subjects of the memoirs, ethnographies and films we consider in this class, growing up and momentous historical events coincide, just as they did for young people during the recent revolutions in the Middle East. In this seminar, the autobiographical narratives - contextualized with historical, political, and visual material - allow us to see recent events through the eyes of people in their twenties. A major focus of the course will be post-revolutionary Iran (readings include Hakkakian, Journey from the Land of No; Khosravi, Young and Defiant in Tehran, Sofer, The Septembers of Shiraz, and Varzi, Warring Souls). Ms. Goldstein.
Prerequisite(s): previous coursework in Anthropology or Jewish Studies.
One 2-hour seminar.
-
ANTH 384 - Indigenous Religions of the Americas Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
(Same as LALS 384 ) The conquest of the Americas was accompanied by various intellectual and sociopolitical projects devised to translate, implant, or impose Christian beliefs in Amerindian societies. This course examines modes of resistance and accommodation, among other indigenous responses, to the introduction of Christianity as part of larger colonial projects. Through a succession of case studies from North America, Mesoamerica, the Caribbean, the Andes, and Paraguay, we analyze the impact of Christian colonial and postcolonial evangelization projects on indigenous languages, religious practices, literary genres, social organization and gender roles, and examine contemporary indigenous religious practices. Mr. Tavarez.
Prerequisite(s): prior coursework in Anthropology or Latin American Latino/a Studies or permission of the instructor.
One 2-hour period.
-
ANTH 399 - Senior Independent Work Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
1/2 or 1 unit(s)
Individual or group project of reading or research. May be elected during the college year or during the summer. The department.
|
Print this Page