Catalogue 2021-2022 [ARCHIVED CATALOG]
Anthropology Department
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Chair: April Beisaw;
Professors: Colleen Ballerino Cohenb, Martha Kaplanb, Thomas Porcello, David Taváreza;
Associate Professors: April M. Beisaw, Candice M. Lowe Swiftb;
Assistant Professors: Zachary Cofrana;
Visiting Associate Professor: Kaushik Ghosh;
Visiting Assistant Professors: Aviva Cormier, Louis Philippe Römera;
Adjunct Instructor: Daniel Schniedewind.
a On leave 2021/22, first semester
b On leave 2021/22, second semester
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 12.5 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 Community-Engaged Learning 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, and Language, Culture and History labs.
Advisers: The Department.
Major
Correlate Sequences in Anthropology
Anthropology: I. Introductory
Anthropology: II. Intermediate
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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. Louis Römer.
Prerequisite(s): ANTH 140 .
Corequisite(s): ANTH 140 .
Two 75-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS -
ANTH 202 - Anthropological Approaches Semester Offered: Spring
0.5 unit(s)
This six-week intensive supplements ANTH 201, History of Anthropological Theory, with an overview of the methods of cultural anthropology, linguistic anthropology, biological anthropology, and archaeology. Through readings, discussion, and weekly projects, students become familiar with major approaches and analytical tools used in each of the subfields of anthropology, as well as with some of the principal methodologies that connect the subfields today. Thomas Porcello.
Prerequisite(s): ANTH 201 .
Corequisite(s): ANTH 201 .
First six-week course.
One 1.5 hour period.
Course Format: INT -
ANTH 210 - The Dead Semester Offered: Spring
0.5 unit(s)
Directed studies of dead populations and the anthropological information contained within their passing and/or memorialization. The Dead may be those who died from natural or unnatural causes, including genocide, homicide, infanticide, suicide, disease, or accident. Exploration of local cemetery populations are encouraged, as those buried nearby include individuals who died from a variety of causes but whose deaths were memorialized in relatively similar ways. Alternatively, patterns of those who are most susceptible to a specific cause of death can be explored. Weekly meetings bring together students who are pursuing independent research projects. Course readings provide some commonality to the group’s analyses and ground this intensive in anthropological questions and approaches. April Beisaw.
Prerequisite(s): Previous coursework in Anthropology or permission of the instructor.
Course Format: INT -
ANTH 211 - Virtual Anthropology Semester Offered: Spring
0.5 unit(s)
The Digital Age opened exciting new possibilities for the study of human evolutionary anatomy. Imaging technologies such as laser scanning and computed tomography (CT) put high resolution physical data in a computer-based environment, allowing powerful visualizations and unprecedented analyses. This Intensive gives students experience with the types of questions, data and methods used in Virtual Anthropology. Students conduct hands-on research using virtual methods, learning the pros and cons of computer-based analysis of recent and fossil human anatomy. Intensive may be taken for up to two semesters. Zachary Cofran.
Prerequisite(s): Permission of the instructor.
Course Format: INT -
ANTH 212 - Ethnographic Understanding
0.5 unit(s)
In this intensive, students recently returned from study abroad engage in closely mentored, collaborative work, reviewing and framing their experiences abroad through related ethnographic studies. The ethnographic studies may be regionally or topically focused, and students may use the intensive to develop thinking for a thesis and to gain increased familiarity with the area in which they studied, for example. Engaging with each other, students in this intensive also consider what their cross-cultural experiences suggest regarding policy, global citizenship, ethical and epistemological issues surrounding how we know what we know. This intensive is open to all majors. Students intending to use their study abroad experience as the basis for a senior thesis or for senior independent work are especially encouraged to participate. Anthropology majors must take this intensive in order to count their study abroad experience as one of the two required regional familiarity courses. Candice Lowe Swift.
Prerequisite(s): Students have to have studied abroad, or done some other form of study abroad, e.g., a summer study abroad program.
Not offered in 2021/22.
Course Format: INT -
ANTH 213 - Indigenous Environmental Activism
0.5 unit(s)
(Same as ENST 213 ) This intensive experience challenges us to consider who generates knowledge about the environment and how cultural perspectives define what “climate change” and “sustainability” look like. Students research and interact with indigenous environmental activists, review tribal climate action plans, and follow ongoing efforts to change policies and educate publics. Grand Challenges grant funding facilitates one or more field trips and guest lectures that students arrange. Therefore, enrollment is by special permission with preference going to those who are already involved in the Grand Challenges program. Insights gained are shared with the greater Vassar community through a weekly blog and podcast. April Beisaw.
Prerequisite(s): Permission of the instructor – open to students who are enrolled in or have taken other courses in the Grand Challenges learning community on climate change.
Not offered in 2021/22.
Course Format: INT -
ANTH 214 - Scholarly Development Semester Offered: Fall
0.5 unit(s)
For students considering a scholarly or research future, this Intensive opens a window onto activities of scholarship including proposal writing, workshopping , scholarly communication and sharing research findings, peer review, and critique. This is a supportive group for sophomores, juniors and seniors in Anthropology and related departments and programs to write grant, fellowship applications (for example, Cornelison, Fulbright, Luce, Marshall, Watson) and graduate school applications (for MA and PhD programs) and/or to submit proposals and craft posters and papers for participation in scholarly conferences (for example, American Anthropological Association or New York Conference on Asian Studies). Classes alternate between “Works and Lives” discussions of the nature and goals of scholarship and the potential for Academia to contribute to social change, and “Practical Sessions” providing supported time for each student to work on the applications of their choice. Participants become familiar with a range of summer and post-graduate fellowships, conference opportunities and graduate programs and read examples of successful proposals. Panels of Vassar alums share insights about their fellowship and graduate applications. Faculty and administrators with experience as grant and fellowship reviewers provide group and individualized consultation. Martha Kaplan.
Prerequisite(s): Recommended for Sophomores, Juniors and Seniors.
One 2-hour period and individual conferences with the instructor.
Course Format: INT -
ANTH 220 - 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 2021/22a: Diet and Disease in the Human Past. Diet and disease are key forces that have shaped what it means to be human. This course uses anthropological research to examine human subsistence and illness from a biocultural perspective, drawing upon case studies that highlight how scientific methods can answer anthropological questions about life in the past. We investigate how multiple lines of evidence—including plant and animal remains, chemical analyses, and studies of teeth—illuminate past human diets, incorporating case studies that range from the Paleolithic diets of prehistory circa 300,000 years ago to the “Paleo Diet” of the 21st century. We also explore how skeletal, pathological, and genetic evidence are being used in concert to understand how humans confront challenges posed by diseases such as leprosy and tuberculosis. Overall, this course introduces students to anthropological approaches to biocultural adaptation at both evolutionary and historical time scales. Aviva Cormier.
May be repeated for credit if the topic has changed.
Two 75-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS -
ANTH 223 - Primate Behavior and Ecology
1 unit(s)
This class examines biology, social systems, and behavior of our closest living relatives, the primates. This diverse group provides evolutionary background for understanding human society and behaviors. The first part of the course focuses on the evolution, anatomy, and diversity of modern primates, including an examination of how different primates have served as models for human evolution. In the second part of the course, we examine reasons for variation in primate social behavior including spacing, mating and grouping patterns. The course concludes by reviewing selected topics of primate behavior, such as vocal communication, cognition and conservation. Students gain first-hand experience by conducting an original behavioral study on primates at the Bronx Zoo. Zachary Cofran.
Two 75-minute periods.
Not offered in 2021/22.
Course Format: CLS -
ANTH 224 - Race and Human Variation
1 unit(s)
This course examines the nature of human variation, in the contexts of genetics, anatomy, history, and society. The course begins with an historical overview of the study of human biological variation, and what Dorothy Roberts has called the “fatal invention” of the concept of race. We then move on to survey biological variation, both adaptive and selectively neutral, in humans. Moving from biology and genetics, we examine psychological and historical origins of racial thinking in the United States. This history provides a context for critique of how racial categories are used in modern arenas such as biomedicine and ancestry testing. Through the framework of the developmental origins of health and disease, we review the biological mechanisms whereby social inequality results in health disparity. Over the course of the semester, students learn about why humans vary, what this variation does and does not tell us about people, and the ways in which the social reality of race becomes manifest in biology. Zachary Cofran.
Two 75-minute periods.
Not offered in 2021/22.
Course Format: CLS -
ANTH 229 - Skeletal Anatomy: Humans and Animals Semester Offered: Spring
0.5 unit(s)
This six-week lecture course develops knowledge of human skeletal anatomy for both anthropologists and biologists. The skeletal anatomy of select non-human mammals provides context for demonstrating the functional morphology of each bone. At the end of this course, students are able to identify individual bones (complete and fragmentary), identify bone landmarks, describe normal and abnormal bone growth processes (including common mutations), and assess bones for signs of pathology at the macroscopic level. Aviva Cormier.
First six-week course.
Two 75-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS -
ANTH 230 - Topics in Archaeology Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
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 2021/22a: Archaeological Lab Methods. Archaeological practice is about documenting material remains across space and time. Much of this work takes places in the laboratory, not in the field. Objects need to be counted, weighed, and described, then researched to understand when, where, and how they were manufactured, where else they have been used or found, and what they mean given the context of this site in particular and the other artifacts, ecofacts, and features they were found among. This project-based course provides students with hands-on experience analyzing artifacts, creating site distribution maps, and reaching data-driven conclusions. We analyze the data contained in other site reports and write our own site reports. April Beisaw.
May be repeated for credit if the topic has changed.
Two 75-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS -
ANTH 233 - Museums, Collections, Ethics Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
(Same as AMST 233 ) Collecting Native American objects and human remains was once justified as a way to preserve vanishing cultures. Instead of vanishing, Native Americans organized and asked that their ancestors be returned, along with their sacred objects. Initially, museums fought against the loss of collections and scientists fought against the loss of data. Governments stepped in and wrote regulations to manage claims, dictating the rights of all parties. Thirty years after the passage of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) repatriation remains a controversial issue and few are satisfied with the process. This course examines the development of American museums and the ethics of collecting cultures to anchor our study of repatriation. Perspectives of anthropology, art, history, law, museum studies, Native American studies, philosophy, and religion are considered. Recent U.S. cases are contrasted with repatriation cases in other parts of the world, for repatriation is not just a Native American issue. April Beisaw.
Two 75-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS -
ANTH 235 - Region 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. April Beisaw.
May be repeated for credit if the topic has changed.
Two 75-minute periods.
Not offered in 2021/22.
Course Format: CLS -
ANTH 236 - Native North America Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
(Same as AMST 236 ) Native Americans have been in North America for at least the last 10,000 years. From the earliest archaeological record we can see how they farmed in the scorching desert, hunted in the frozen tundra, and traded resources over thousands of miles. From the more recent record, we can see how homelands relate to reservation lands and how lifeways changed but culture persists. Now, indigenous archaeologists and community archaeology programs are changing how archaeology is done, who it is done by and for, and what questions are asked of the past. This course surveys the archaeology of two distinct geographical culture areas, the Southwest and the Northeast. This contrast allows us to examine how knowledge of the past is constructed by archaeologists, museum professionals, descendant communities, and public interest. April Beisaw.
Two 75-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS -
ANTH 239 - Forensic Anthropology & Bioarchaeology Semester Offered: Spring
0.5 unit(s)
Forensic anthropology is the application of physical anthropology to medical or legal issues, such as crimes. This course introduces students to the basic methods of forensic anthropology, including how age, sex, race, and height of an individual can be determined from their bones. Recognition of skeletal anomalies can also reveal past health conditions and the cause and manner of death. Students gain experience in applying these methods by working with real and synthetic human bones. Readings also cover bioarchaeology, the analysis of human remains that are older than or outside of the medico-legal context. Aviva Cormier.
Prerequisite(s): ANTH 229 .
Corequisite(s): ANTH 229 .
Second six-week course.
Two 75-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS -
ANTH 240 - Cultural Localities Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
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, India and the Pacific.
May be repeated for credit if the topic has changed.
Topic for 2021/22b: The Making of Postcolonial India. (Same as ASIA 240 ) The processes which went into the formation of distinct modernities in the Indian subcontinent continue to inform and instigate present societies in that region. The first half of this course is a historical and anthropological introduction to some of the events and imaginations which were crucial to the formation of modern India (approximately the period of 1818-1947). Central to these were debates about religious reform, nationalism, caste hierarchies and the question of women in modernity. This part of the course uses primary texts (autobiographies, speeches, dialogues) as well as use literary, ethnographic and historical writings and films. The second half of the course brings the understanding of this earlier crucial period to bear on some of the key processes of contemporary India, including the rise of Hindu nationalism, caste and indigenous social movements, environmental challenges and the question of the Indian diaspora. Kaushik Ghosh.
One 2-hour period plus one 50-minute period.
Course Format: CLS -
ANTH 243 - Mesoamerican Worlds
1 unit(s)
(Same as LALS 243 ) A survey of the ethnography, history, and politics of indigenous societies with deep historical roots in regions now located in Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and Honduras. This course explores the emergence of Mesoamerican states with a vivid 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. After a consideration of urbanization, socio-religious hierarchies, and writing and calendrical systems in pre-contact Mesoamerica, we will focus on the adaptations within Mesoamerican communities resulting from their interaction with an evolving colonial order. The course also investigates the relations between native communities and the Mexican and Guatemalan nation-states, and examines current issues—such as indigenous identities in the national and global spheres, the rapport among environmental policies, globalization, and local agricultural practices, and indigenous autonomy in the wake of the EZLN rebellion. Work on Vassar’s Mesoamerican collection, and a final research paper and presentation is required; the use of primary sources (in Spanish or in translation) is encouraged. David Tavárez.
Two 75-minute periods.
Not offered in 2021/22.
Course Format: CLS -
ANTH 244 - Indian Ocean Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
(Same as AFRS 244 ) This course re/introduces alternative modalities of belonging through a focus on multiple cultures and peoples interacting across the Indian Ocean. Using historical works, ethnographies, travel accounts, manuscript fragments, and film, we explore the complex networks and historical processes that have shaped the contemporary economies, cultures, and social problems of the region. We also critically examine how knowledge about the peoples and pasts of this region has been produced. Although the course concentrates on northern Africa, eastern Africa, southwest India, the Arabian Peninsula, and islands are included in our consideration of the region as a cultural, economic, and political sphere whose coastal societies were especially interconnected. Topics include: imperialism, globalization, temporality, cosmopolitanism, labor and trade migrations, religious identification, and gender. Candice Lowe Swift.
Two 75-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS -
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. Daniel Schniedewind.
Two 75-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS -
ANTH 247 - Modern Social Theory: Classical Traditions
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 vary from year to year. Diane Harriford.
Two 75-minute periods.
Not offered in 2021/22.
Course Format: CLS -
ANTH 250 - Language, Culture, and Society Semester Offered: Spring
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.
May be repeated for credit if the topic has changed. Louis Romer.
Topic for 2021/22b: Language and Power. How can the study of language and its use advance our understanding of power and political action? This course analyzes how language and rhetorical prowess are essential for the distribution and exercise of power through the discussion of readings on political oratory, rumor and scandal, and satire. Readings on mass media and the public sphere illustrate the role of language in political mobilization, the formation of collective identities, and the enforcement of social inequalities and exclusion. Readings on campaigns and electoral politics explore the use of language for the performance of civility and moral virtue, as well as the covert mobilization of class, racial, gender, and ethnic stereotypes. Finally, readings on democracy promotion campaigns in post-colonial settings explore the use of language in the affirmation and contestation of ideals of secularism, liberal democracy, and modernity. Students apply methodological and theoretical tools of linguistic anthropology to analyze the structural features and the political effects of real world examples of political satire, scandal, and oratory. Louis Römer.
Two 75-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS -
ANTH 255 - Language, Gender, and Media
1 unit(s)
This course offers a systematic survey of anthropological and linguistic approaches to the ways in which gender identities are implicated in language use, ideas about language, and the dynamic relationship between language and various forms of power and dominance. It is organized as a cross-cultural and cross-ethnic exploration of approaches that range from ground-breaking feminist linguistic anthropology and the study of gender, hegemony, and class, to contemporary debates on gender as performance and on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual/transgender identities. An important topic is the representation of gender identities in various forms of media. However, we also investigate the multiple rapports among gender identities, socialization, language use in private and public spheres, forms of authority, and class and ethnic identities. Students learn about transcription and analysis methods used in linguistic anthropology, and complete two conversation analysis projects. Thomas Porcello.
Two 75-minute periods.
Not offered in 2021/22.
Course Format: CLS -
ANTH 259 - Soundscapes: Anthropology of Music
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. Justin Patch.
Recommended: but not required that students have one unit of the following: Music, Anthropology, Sociology, or Media Studies.
Not offered in 2021/22.
Course Format: CLS -
ANTH 260 - Current Themes in Anthropological Theory and Method
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.
May be repeated for credit if the topic has changed.
Two 75-minute periods.
Not offered in 2021/22.
Course Format: CLS -
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. Martha Kaplan. Martha Kaplan.
Two 75-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS -
ANTH 268 - Religion, Repression, and Resistance in Latin America
1 unit(s)
(Same as LALS 268 and HIST 268 ) What was it like to live in a society where crimes of thought and religious transgressions were prosecuted and punished? How did various populations confront and resist inquisitorial activities? What is the legacy of the Inquisition in the Americas? This course addresses these and other questions through a focus on the Latin American Inquisition and Extirpation (ecclesiastic attempts to reform or destroy Precolumbian indigenous religions). The course tracks the emergence of Inquisition tribunals in Mexico City, Lima, and Cartagena after 1571, and the Catholic Church’s prosecution of indigenous idolatry and sorcery. It focuses both on trends in prosecution, torture, and punishment, and on the dynamic responses of those who were either targets or collaborators: indigenous peoples, Jews, Africans, female healers, people of mixed descent, and Protestants. Towards the end of the course, based on students’ interests, we also review other select case studies of religious control and resistance in Latin America. Students proficient in Spanish or Portuguese are encouraged to work with primary sources. David Tavárez.
Two 75-minute periods.
Not offered in 2021/22.
Course Format: CLS -
ANTH 285 - Anthropology and The Environment Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
(Same as ENST 285 ) The question of climate change forces a revisiting of the traditions of anthropology’s engagements with the environment. This course introduces students to historical patterns and recent developments in approaches to the study of the environment across anthropology and other disciplines. Attention is paid to both empirical studies and to theoretical frameworks environmental anthropologists have brought to their research. Students will also learn about environmental anthropology’s relationships to race, power, colonialism and questions of justice. Kaushik Ghosh.
Two 75-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS -
ANTH 286 - Intensive on Global Indigenous Film Semester Offered: Fall
0.5 unit(s)
(Same as AMST 286 ) This intensive acquaints students with some of the documentary, experimental, and narrative films/videos of indigenous filmmakers from North America, Australia, and New Zealand. Screenings include films by Rachel Perkins, Tracey Moffatt, Sherman Alexie, Victor Masayesva, Alanis Obamsawin, and Zacharias Kunuk. Discussions of films engage the notion of visual sovereignty, and the use of film/video to document indigenous lives and concerns, and to reframe stories told about them and to tell new stories. Colleen Cohen.
Prerequisite(s): Permission of the instructor.
First six-week course.
One 2-hour period plus outside screenings.
Course Format: INT -
ANTH 290 - Community-Engaged Learning Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
0.5 to 1.0 unit(s)
Individual or group field projects or internships. May be elected during the college year or during the summer. Open to all students. The department.
Course Format: INT -
ANTH 298 - Independent Work Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
0.5 to 1 unit(s)
Individual or group project of reading or research. May be elected during the college year or during the summer. The department.
Course Format: INT
Anthropology: III. Advanced
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ANTH 300 - Senior Thesis Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
1 unit(s)
The department.
Course Format: INT -
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. Martha Kaplan.
Prerequisite(s): ANTH 201 .
One 3-hour period.
Course Format: CLS -
ANTH 320 - Seminar in Biological Anthropology Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
An examination of such topics as primate structure and behavior, the Plio-Pleistocene hominins, the final evolution of Homo sapiens, and human biological diversity. May be repeated for credit if the topic has changed.
Topic for 2021/22b: Disability, the Body, and Culture. Like gender and race, disability is a cultural and social formation that identifies particular bodies and minds as different, regularly as undesirable, and rarely as extraordinary. This seminar uses a biocultural lens to explore the lived experiences of persons with disabilities across time and within different social contexts. Through a discussion of scholarly readings, literature, film, photography, art, and archaeology, this seminar considers disability in relation to: identity; impairment; stigma; monstrosity; marginalization; discrimination; beauty; power; media representations; activism; intersectionality; and gender and sexuality. Aviva Cormier.
Prerequisite(s): ANTH 120 or ANTH 223 or ANTH 224 or ANTH 229 , or permission of the instructor.
One 3-hour period.
Course Format: CLS -
ANTH 322 - Human Evolutionary Developmental Biology
1 unit(s)
What literally makes us human? This seminar examines how growth and development were modified over the course of human evolution, to create the animals that we are today. Human anatomy is placed in an evolutionary context by comparison with living primates and the human fossil record. Advanced readings and classical papers provide the bases for in-class discussion and activities. Through lab activities and a term project, students may draw on different types of data to test hypotheses about evolution and development. Zachary Cofran.
Prerequisite(s): ANTH 120 or ANTH 223 or 224 .
Two 75-minute periods.
Not offered in 2021/22.
Course Format: CLS -
ANTH 330 - Seminar in Archaeology
1 unit(s)
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 archaeological perspectives on topics such as historical ecology, conservation biology, institutionalization of certain peoples, and feminist perspectives on past cultures. April Beisaw.
Prerequisite(s): ANTH 130 or 233 or 236 .
May be repeated for credit if the topic has changed.
One 3-hour period.
Not offered in 2021/22.
Course Format: CLS -
ANTH 332 - Ruins and Haunting Heritage
1 unit(s)
Landscapes hold the tangible remains of cultural heritage in preserved buildings, erected monuments, and documented archaeological sites. But the ignored places are often those with the most interesting stories to tell. To an archaeologists, ruins are places where the past permeates into the present and asks to be remembered. Every town has its own ruins, whether it be the abandoned buildings of a once-bustling downtown or industrial district, an overgrown cemetery, or a road that simply ends. Such places may hold the more subversive histories of a place, This course considers the sanctioned and unsanctioned histories of places through intentionally preserved sites, persistent ruins, local lore, and ghost tourism. We use the National Register of Historic Places criteria of significance to evaluate such heritage sites within the Hudson Valley. April Beisaw.
Prerequisite(s): ANTH 130 or 233 or 236 .
One 3-hour period.
Not offered in 2021/22.
Course Format: CLS -
ANTH 351 - Language and Expressive Culture
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.
May be repeated for credit if the topic has changed.
Prerequisite(s): ANTH 150 or ANTH 250 or permission of the instructor.
One 2-hour period.
Not offered in 2021/22.
Course Format: CLS -
ANTH 352 - Indigenous Literatures of the Americas Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
(Same as AMST 352 and LALS 352 ) This course addresses a selection of creation narratives, historical accounts, poems, and other genres produced by indigenous authors from Pre-Columbian times to the present, using historical, linguistic and ethnographic approaches. We examine the use of non-alphabetic and alphabetic writing systems, study poetic and rhetorical devices, and examine indigenous historical consciousness and sociopolitical and gender dynamics through the vantage point of these works. Other topics include language revitalization, translation issues, and the rapport between linguistic structure and literary form. The languages and specific works to be examined are selected in consultation with course participants. They may include English or Spanish translations of works in Nahuatl, Zapotec, Yucatec and K’iche’ Maya, Quechua, Tupi, Aymara, and other indigenous languages of Latin America. David Tavárez.
One 2-hour period.
Course Format: CLS -
ANTH 360 - Problems in Cultural Analysis Semester Offered: Fall and Spring
1 unit(s)
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.
May be repeated for credit if topic has changed.
Topic for 2021/22a: The Postcolonial and the Indigenous. (Same as INTL 360 ) This course compares two overlapping but different critiques of colonialism and modernity: the postcolonial and the indigenous. In the past two decades we have seen the resurgence of indigeneity, the political and cultural claims of sovereignty by the First Nations. In this resurgence, an entire set of cherished categories of modern life have been out under renewed scrutiny. Ideas of progress, development, nation, land, territory, belonging, human, nature and even those of rights, democracy and citizenship, have been questioned by this expanding wave of indigenous intellectuals and activists. Many of these same categories were also under siege from within an older postcolonial body of critical thinking. Born out of an experience of and (im)possible life-making after the event of colonialism, Caribbean, African and Asian scholars developed a trenchant critique of some the same categories as above. Just like indigenous critique, postcolonialism also forced a rethink of the certitudes of the pos-Enlightenment world. Alternate theories of consciousness, freedom, temporality and race emerged with a great fierceness. In what ways are these two bodies of critical thought similar to each other? What is the nature of their differences? Why are those differences crucial? Finally, we ask whether we can imagine new cosmologies of freedom or sovereignty that take into account these entangled histories. Kaushik Ghosh.
Topic for 2021/22b: Political Anthropology. Taking an anthropological position on emotions as culturally and linguistically elaborated in ways that are historically specific, this seminar interrogates the emotional attachments between people, places, and things that make various political, economic, and social formations possible. Readings explore capitalist consumer cultures where advertising and marketing generate emotional attachments between people, commodities, and brands, examine the role of emotion in state-formation and nation-building, as well as focus on state officials, politicians, and social movements that harness emotional attachments to construct coalitions, loyalties, hierarchies, and enmities. Through a succession of case studies on nostalgia, place-attachment, happiness, resentment, hate, hope, contempt, suffering, pain, compassion, grief, disgust, and disregard in locations such as 19th century Southeast Asia, Russia during Perestroika, and indigenous communities in the late 20th century American Southwest, students gain an understanding of the role of emotions in the configuring of relationships between people, things, and places at interpersonal as well as broader national and transnational scales. Louis Römer.
One 3-hour period.
Course Format: CLS -
ANTH 364 - Travelers and Tourists Semester Offered: Fall
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. Colleen Cohen.
Prerequisite(s): Previous coursework in Anthropology or permission of the instructor.
One 3-hour period.
Course Format: CLS -
ANTH 367 - Indigenous Cultures and Languages of Latin America
1 unit(s)
(Same as LALS 367 ) This intensive offering focuses on closely mentored, collaborative work on Mesoamerican, Andean, or Amazonian languages and cultures. Students develop and execute a concise research project based on their own interests, qualifications, and previous coursework. Possibilities include intensive study, work with material culture in Vassar’s museum and rare book collections or elsewhere, and digital humanities projects, including those under development by the instructor. One previous course in Latin American and Latino/a Studies, Anthropology, History or the social sciences is recommended, but not required. David Tavárez.
NRO allowed for Juniors and Seniors only.
One 2-hour period.
Not offered in 2021/22.
Course Format: INT -
ANTH 376 - Asian Diasporas: from empires to pluralism
1 unit(s)
(Same as ASIA 376 and GEOG 376 ) Focusing on Asian Diasporas, this course engages discourses in diaspora studies and pluralism from the Vassar campus to the wider world. Our goal is both to introduce theories of migration, diaspora, cultural transformation, world system, transnationalism, and globalization, and examine some of the complex history of movements of people from Asia to other parts of the world and their integration in diverse communities. Organized chronologically, the course begins by considering the deep history of movement and interconnection in Asia and beyond with particular focus on the Asia-centered world system of the 13th and 14th centuries. We then study the movements and experiences of indentured laborers and of merchants during the era of European colonial domination. Here we engage a range of topics including the role of religion in plantation life, the role of diasporic communities and racial politics in creating post-colonial nations, the emergence, conflicts and coalitions of ethnic identities in the United States and elsewhere, and key political and cultural moments in the history of Asian-America. We then examine recent forms of nationalism and transnationalism of Asian diasporas in the context of post WWII decolonization, late capitalism, disjunctive modernity, and identity politics in the contemporary era. The principal cases are drawn from East Asian and South Asian communities in Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands and the United States.
As a seminar, the course material is multi-disciplinary, ranging from political-economic to cultural studies and engages material at a high level of sophistication. We have also tried to include diverse geographical regions. Asia and Diaspora are vast topics and not every topic can be covered in the course. You have further opportunity in your research paper to discuss topics and areas of your interest. Martha Kaplan and Yu Zhou.
Prerequisite(s): 200-level work in Asian Studies, Anthropology or Geography, or permission of the instructor.
One 3-hour period.
Not offered in 2021/22.
Course Format: CLS -
ANTH 399 - Senior Independent Work Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
0.5 to 1 unit(s)
Individual or group project of reading or research. May be elected during the college year or during the summer. The department
Course Format: INT
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