Contents
Additional Information
Ann M. Hill, Professor of Anthropology, Chair Kjell I. Enge, Associate Professor of Anthropology Heather Merrill, Associate Professor of Anthropology and GeographyKaren J. Weinstein, Associate Professor of Anthropology James G. Ellison, Assistant Professor of AnthropologyMegan K. Moore, Visiting Assistant Professor of Anthropology (Fall 2008)Eleven courses including 100, 101, 240 (or 244 or 396), 241, 331 or 336, one ethnographic course (222, 223, 231, 232, 234 or 235), 400 and four additional courses, two of which may be Classical Studies 221 or 224.
Six courses, including 100 and 101 and four additional anthropology courses. Students who are interested in a minor should consult with the department.
The anthropology program is a unique major characterized by an emphasis on understanding the cultures, meanings, and practices of various social groups in the context of a rapidly changing world. Fieldwork, the hallmark of anthropological inquiry, is built into the department's methods courses and is encouraged and supported in student work abroad.
For information, see the Director of Teacher Education, or visit the
Education Department web site.
The departmental honors program is linked to an independent study or a fieldwork experience undertaken before the end of the junior year and culminates in a paper or other project written for the senior colloquium. Eligibility for honors candidacy requires a minimum overall GPA of 3.6. Before the end of their junior year, students wanting to be considered for honors in anthropology must identify themselves to the department faculty and submit a two-page proposal for an honors project to the department chair. In the senior year, the prospective honors student participates in the senior colloquium. The quality of the senior colloquium project, judged "exceptional" by the anthropology faculty, is the primary basis for awarding honors to graduating seniors at the end of the spring semester.
Participation in summer field schools in cultural anthropology and archaeology, as well as internships at local museums and other sites, provides unique, hands-on experience. The Field School in Cultural Anthropology (ANTH 396) is for six weeks every summer in Tanzania, Africa or Querétaro, Mexico.
100 Introduction to Biological Anthropology This course provides a comprehensive introduction to the field of biological anthropology. We will examine the development of evolutionary theory. We will then apply evolutionary theory to understand principles of inheritance, familial and population genetics in humans, human biological diversity and adaptations to different environments, behavioral and ecological diversity in nonhuman primates, and the analysis of the human skeleton and fossil record to understand the origin and evolution of the human family.
Three hours classroom and three hours laboratory a week. Offered three semesters over a two-year period. This course fulfills the Div. III lab-science distribution requirement.101 Anthropology for the 21st Century The primary focus is on cultural anthropology, or the comparative study of human diversity across cultures. Guest lecturers will also contribute perspectives from other subfields within anthropology, namely archaeology, biological anthropology, and linguistic anthropology. The goal is to demonstrate how anthropological perspectives enlighten our understanding of contemporary social phenomena and problems, highlighting the relevance of anthropology to everyday lives and especially to issues of human diversity.
Open to first year students and sophomores; others by permission. Offered every semester.210 Language and Culture This course examines the relationship of language to culture and society. It includes the study of sociolinguistics, language acquisition, cognition, and descriptive linguistics. The student is introduced to major perspectives on language from Whorf, Hymes, de Saussure, and Levi-Strauss.
211 Sociolinguistics Sociolinguistics is the branch of linguistics which studies language as social and cultural phenomena. Language is inseparably associated with members of a society where it is spoken, and thus social factors are inevitably reflected in those members' speech. This course surveys topics on language and social class, language and ethnicity, language and gender, language and context, language and social interactions, language and nation, and language and geography. These topics show how language unites speakers as much as it divides speakers within a society and/or across societies. The topics are approached through lectures, class discussions, readings, as well as social surveys.
Offered every other year.212 Development Anthropology Sociocultural change, development, and modernization in both Western society and the Third World are examined in terms of theory and practice. Emphasis is on the planning, administration, and evaluation of development projects in agriculture, energy, education, health, and nutrition. The increasingly important role of professional anthropologists and anthropological data is examined in the context of government policies and international business.
Offered every other year.214 Ecological Anthropology An examination of human adaption to changing environments with an emphasis on systems analysis. Special attention to development and current environmental problems.
This course is cross-listed as ENST 214. Offered every other year.216 Medical Anthropology Comparative analysis of health, illness, and nutrition within environmental and socio-cultural contexts. Evolution and geographical distribution of disease, how different societies have learned to cope with illness, and the ways traditional and modern medical systems interact.
Offered every other year.217 Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Gender Use of comparative method to understand variations in the patterning and content of gender roles and status across cultures. Although focused primarily on non-Western cultures, the course will also examine gender among U.S. ethnic groups. Emphasis is on placing gender roles and status in the broad, holistic context of interrelations among cultural ideologies, social institutions, and material conditions.
This course is cross-listed as WOST 217. Offered every other year.218 Biosocial Aspects of Female Sexuality This course explores the biological and cultural aspects of being female. We first examine ecology and reproduction in nonhuman primates, and anatomy and physiology of the reproductive system. We then explore biological and social aspects of being female throughout the human life cycle, including sexual differentiation, infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood and senescence. Finally, we discuss important issues related to female sexuality from a cross-cultural perspective, such as sex and gender roles, sexual orientation, birth control and family planning, sexually transmitted diseases, body image, and violence against women.
This course is cross-listed as WOST 218. Offered every other year.219 Gender, Space and Identity Feminist geographers have recently expanded the field of geographical analysis to include the study of ways we think about and act out gender and other differences in relationship to material and metaphorical space. Throughout history and across cultures, architectural and geographic spatial arrangements and ideas have helped produce and reinforce various gendered and other intersecting forms of social power. Rather than taking the social organization of space for granted, in this course we examine the centrality of social space to form of power, difference, and resistance. Women and colonized or marginalized peoples will be at the center of our explorations.
This course is cross-listed as WOST 219. Offered every other year.220 Fundamentals of Archaeology: Theory and Field Archaeology Introduction to archaeology: a survey of the history, aims, methodology, theory, and practice of archaeology. The evolution of archaeology from amateur treasure quest and collecting to a complicated science, dedicated to the discovery and study of material remains as well as the exploration and theoretical reconstruction of the past; great discoveries, persons, and factors that shaped this transformation in the 19th and 20th century; theories, issues, and trends in archaeological interpretation; application of archaeology towards a greater understanding of our past and present. An introduction to field archaeology and practice: site location, topographical and survey techniques, archaeological excavation techniques for different types of sites; stratigraphy, spatial distribution, seriation; correlation, phasing, absolute and relative chronology; data recording, archaeological drawing (sections, plans, artifacts) and photography; computer applications (including artifact data-base, archaeological matrix, plans and maps, 3-D monument and site reconstructions); relationships bewteen archaeology and related sciences, between material and non-material culture, evidence interpretation and theoretical reconstruction of material remains. Simulated Excavation Field (SEF) practical training; summer field training opportunities at Mycenae (excavation and Museum research) and Scotland.
Prerequisite: one Archaeology course (ARCH 120, 130, 210) or previous field experience. This course is cross-listed as ARCH 201. Offered every spring.222 Contemporary Peoples of Latin America An examination of the life of present-day primitive and peasant peoples of Middle and South America. These societies are seen holistically, and as they relate to urban and state centers.
Offered every other year.223 Native Peoples of Eastern North America See course description with
History 389 listing.
225 Human Osteology This course offers an intensive examination of human biological diversity as revealed through the study of human skeletal remains. We will focus on techniques used to identify skeletal remains in archaeological, paleontological, and forensic contexts, as well as examining human skeletal responses to environmental stress and human growth and development throughout the life cycle.
Prerequisite: 100 or 229 or permission of the instructor. Offered every other year.229 Principles of Human Variation and Adaptation This course explores anthropological perspectives on modern human biological diversity. We examine genetic variation, biological and cultural responses to environmental stressors, including climate, altitude, nutrition, infectious and chronic diseases, and population growth and demography. We use our understanding of human biological diversity to examine the notion that race is a social phenomenon with no true biological meaning.
Offered every other year.230 Ethnography of Postcolonial Africa This course is intended as both an introduction to the ethnography of Africa and an examination of postcolonial situations in Africa. We will learn a great deal about the cultural, social, political, and economic diversity of the continent while avoiding the typological thinking that once characterized area studies. Through ethnography we will learn about African cultures, their historical contingencies, and their entanglements in various fields of power. We will assess the changing influences of pre-colonial traditions, colonialism, postcolonial states, and the global economy.
Offered every fall.231 Nation, Culture, and Migration in Contemporary Europe This course introduces students to the rapidly changing world of contemporary Europe, focusing on particular countries with membership in the European Union. In recent years, the internal borders between members of the European Union have begun to fade away, while new forms of localism, and ethnonationalism have appeared, sometimes with violent results. There is an effort to link the member states into a unified economic and political whole, but there is also an intensified presence of immigrant populations from all over the globe, and a growing sense of "multi-culturalism." This course examines some of the identity issues that have emerged around the unification of European countries, including nationalist and ethnic conflicts, the "new racism," new social movements such as youth, anti-racist, feminist and environmental movements, and growing social and cultural heterogeneity.
Offered every other year.232 Modern China and Its Diaspora Communities This is a comparative course that examines contemporary Chinese communities in the PRC, as well as Chinese immigrant cultures located in Southeast Asia and the U.S. The focus is on both the structure of these communities and the processes of identity formation and re-imagining the "home" country or "native place" in the midst of considerable flux. The course explicitly uses comparison to deconstruct staid truths about "the Chinese" and monolithic "Chinese culture."
Offered every other year.233 Anthropology of Religion A cross-cultural survey of the functions of religion, magic, and myth in simple and complex societies. Religion and communication. Myth and social structure. A historical summary of the scientific study of religion.
Offered every other year.234 African Diaspora This course examines the presence and contributions of people of African descent outside the African continent. While we generalize about the Black diasporic experience across continents, we also pause to examine the ways that stories unfold in particular places and at specific historical moments. Because most representations of Africa and her descendants have left Africans on the margins of world history, in this course we pay particular attention to alternative ways of understanding Black diaspora. We draw upon case studies from the United States, the Caribbean, Brazil and Europe during different historical periods.
Cross-listed with American Studies and Sociology. Offered every other year.235 State and Ethnicity in Upland Asia This course examines the borderlands shared by states in upland Southeast Asia, such as Thailand, Burma and Laos, with China. It looks at dimensions of contemporary migrations and transnationalism among populations historically marginalized, such as the Hmong, and among populations that have a strong identification with states. Linked to political economies and global markets, nationalism and other ideologies defining peoples and their cultures are explored with an eye toward understanding how ideas about race and the other take shape.
Offered every other year.240 Qualitative Methods This course introduces students to the theory and methods of social science research, beginning with an examination of the philosophies underlying various research methodologies. The course then focuses on ethnographic field methods, introducing students to the techniques of participant observation, structured and informal interviewing, oral histories, sociometrics, and content analysis. Students design their own field projects.
Prerequisite: At least one course in Sociology, Anthropology, or American Studies. This course is cross-listed as SOCI 240.241 Measurement and Quantification in the Social Sciences This course focuses on quantitative data analysis. Students learn how to design, code, and analyze interviews and surveys. Selected databases and statistical programs are used to analyze current social issues and compare samples.
Prerequisite: At least one course in Sociology, Anthropology or American Studies.244 Fieldwork This course introduces students to fieldwork in anthropological research, a set of methodological practices informed by a number of theoretical assumptions. The course focuses on the fundamental techniques of field work in ethnographic inquiry and writing, including participant observation, structured and unstructured interviewing, designing a project, taking and coding field notes, locating archival sources, interpreting and analyzing data, and writing an ethnographic story. Students will conduct field projects in the local area.
Cross-listed with Sociology. Prerequisite: at least one course in Anthropology, Sociology or American Studies. Offered every year.245 Selected Topics in Anthropology Courses offered on an occasional basis that cover special topics such as African women in development, theories of civilization, anthropology and demography, or anthropological genetics.
255 Global Eastern Africa This course examines global connections in the intersections of culture and power that underlie contemporary issues in eastern Africa. The globally marketed indigenous cultures and exotic landscapes of eastern Africa, like current dilemmas of disease and economic development, are products of complex local and transnational processes (gendered, cultural, social, economic, and political) that developed over time. To understand ethnicity, the success or failure of development projects, the social and economic contexts of tourism, responses to the AIDS crisis, the increasing presence of multinational corporations, and other contemporary issues, we will develop an ethnographic perspective that situates cultural knowledge and practice in colonial and postcolonial contexts. While our focus is on eastern Africa, the course will offer students ways to think about research and processes in other contexts.
Offered every two years.310 Nutritional Anthropology Food is a biological necessity, yet food preferences and dietary practices are culturally determined and highly variable across time and space. This course examines nutrition and dietary variation from an anthropological perspective. We will first study the basics of food and nutrition, including the nutritional composition of food, nutritional requirements across the human life cycle, and standards for assessing dietary quality in individuals and populations. We will then examine the evolution of human dietary practices and we will explore how dietary variation is at the interface of biology, health, culture, and the environment. We will also learn about the effects of globalization and the commoditization of food on dietary choices, the health consequences of under- and over-nutrition, and the social and historical constraints on food production and consumption in different societies.
Prerequisite: At least one course in anthropology or health studies, or permission of instructor.331 Principles of Human Evolution This course offers an intensive examination of the evolution of the human family, from our earliest ancestors to the origin and dispersal of modern humans. We use skeletal biology, geology, and archaeology to understand the human evolutionary record.
Prerequisite: Any of the following: 100, 216, 218, 229 or Biology 100-level course. Offered every spring.334 Gender, Race, and Globalization This course examines some of the social and cultural effects of economic and political restructuring, otherwise known as "globalization," that have been occurring around the world since at least the 1970s and have accelerated during the past decade. We will focus on the increasing participation of women in the international division of labor, expanding migrations, growing economic and political polarization within and between countries, the racialization of certain populations, commodification and the spread of consumerism, the relationship between the "local" and the "global," and various forms of social resistance. Our explorations will include examination of the historical and theoretical discussions of globalization, gender, and race, and ethnographic examples from various parts of the world, including, but not limited to, parts of Europe, Thailand, Malaysia, Mexico, the United States, and parts of Africa.
Prerequisite: at least one course in Anthropology or Women's Studies. Offered every other year.336 Social Distinctions This course covers anthropological theories of social hierarchy and stratification. Both the material and ideological bases of social distinction are examined. Gender, class, race, ethnicity, kinship, and slavery are some of the specific topics covered in the course.
Prerequisite: 101. Offered every fall.345 Advanced Topics in Anthropology Courses offered on an occasional basis that cover special topics such as African women in development, theories of civilization, anthropology and demography, or anthropological genetics.
Prerequisite dependent upon topic.395 Archaeological Field Studies Application of the fundamentals of excavation and the analysis of artifactual materials from the excavation of a site in the Carlisle area. Sites will be located within daily commuting distance of the College.
Prerequisite: permission of the instructor and one previous course in Anthropology. Offered in summer school only. 396 Field School in Cultural Anthropology Ethnographic field study of selected anthropological problems in Cameroon or Mexico. Analysis of cultural, social, economic, and environmental systems using participant observation, interview protocols, and other appropriate methodologies. Pre-departure workshops, six-week field study, and post-fieldwork write-up. Two course credits.
Prerequisite: ANTH/SOCI 240. Offered in summer school only.400 Senior Colloquium This course is based on student independent research projects, supervised by the faculty colloquium coordinator, with special advisement from faculty colleagues. Students taking the course are encouraged to build on previous fieldwork experience or to develop new, community-based projects. In some cases, archival research may be substituted for fieldwork. The course can accommodate honors projects begun with faculty mentoring and aimed at publication.
Prerequisite: 240, 241, or 244. Offered every year.
