University Bulletin (2023-2024)

• Minor
• Major (BA)
• Master of Arts
• Doctor of Philosophy

Undergraduate Major

Anthropology is a broadly based discipline concerned with the dynamics and diversity of humankind. Subjects of study include social relations, political organization, economics, religion, medicine and illness, gender and sexuality, human biology and evolution, languages, aesthetics, and both contemporary and ancient societies. This diversity of topics is linked by the common thread of "culture," a concept which is at the heart of anthropological studies. Anthropology considers why and how people from every part of the world and with diverse cultures are different and the same, how the human species has evolved over millions of years, and the ways people make sense of and order their lives.

The Department of Anthropology offers courses covering the discipline's four major subfields: sociocultural anthropology, linguistic anthropology, biological anthropology, and archaeology. The major is structured to provide an introduction to the key concepts, methodologies, and theoretical issues of anthropology, while permitting each student sufficient latitude to pursue their own special interests.

Graduate Program in Anthropology

The graduate program in anthropology, leading to the MA and PhD degrees, is designed to produce scholars and professionals who will broaden our knowledge of culture and society. Graduate training is based on required courses in the history, theory, and methods of anthropology and on elective courses in topics in the four subfields of anthropology. Intensive training for independent research is stressed, with particular emphasis on fieldwork, research design and writing, and anthropological and related social theory. Graduates of the program accept appointments at colleges and universities, government and private organizations, and foundations.

Undergraduate Major

Anthropology explores the dynamics and diversity of humankind. It asks a most difficult and most important question: What does it mean to be human? The discipline ranges from the study of culture and social relations, to human biology and evolution, to economics and politics, to religion and world views, to languages and the connections between language and social dynamics, to visual cultures and architecture, to medicine and illness, and to what we can learn about past societies mostly through the study of material culture and organic remains.

This diversity of topics is linked by the common thread of "culture," that uniquely human capacity or endowment which is at the heart of anthropological studies. As a discipline, anthropology begins with a simple yet powerful idea: any detail of our behavior can be understood better when it is seen against the backdrop of the full range of human behavior. By focusing on human diversity, the anthropologist learns to avoid "ethnocentrism," the tendency to interpret seemingly strange practices on the basis of preconceptions derived from one’s own cultural background. Moreover, this same process helps us see our own society through fresh eyes. By thus making "the strange familiar and the familiar strange," anthropology pushes forward understandings of ourselves and others, as well as of the nature of humanity as a whole.

The Department of Anthropology offers courses in social-cultural, archaeological, biological and linguistic anthropology. The major is structured to provide an introduction to anthropology’s core concepts, methodologies, and theoretical issues, while permitting each student sufficient latitude to pursue their own special interests.

Knowledge

Students completing the major in anthropology will come away with a strong understanding of:

1. The diversity of human cultures and the interdependence of people around the world;
2. The inequality in relations of power within and among the world’s societies and nations in the past and present;
3. What it means to be a human being: who we are, how we came to be that way, and what major challenges we face for the future;
4. The major questions, concepts, theories, ethical issues and methodologies of anthropology as a professional discipline.

Core Skills

The anthropology major also emphasizes core skills in data collection, critical thinking, analysis and synthesis, and communication. Anthropology majors from Brandeis will be well prepared to:

1. Conduct scholarly, professional, and original research using a variety of published sources as well as core anthropological research methodologies, including interviews, participant observation, excavation and laboratory analysis;
2. Evaluate information critically, with particular attention to examining taken-for-granted assumptions using the lens of culture; and
3. Clearly convey facts, ideas, opinions and beliefs in a variety of written and oral formats, such as traditional, web-based, visual and other media.

Social Justice

The anthropology curriculum provides students with the knowledge and perspectives needed to participate as informed citizens in a global society. Anthropology emphasizes tolerance and respect for other cultures’ ways of conceptualizing the world. Anthropological approaches oriented toward social and political engagement, collaborations with local communities, applied work, and public dissemination of research (through publishing, oral presentations, film, the internet and museum exhibits) also provide specific tools and opportunities for those committed to Brandeis’s ideal of learning in service of social justice.

Upon Graduating

A Brandeis student with an anthropology major will be prepared to:

1. Pursue graduate study and a scholarly career in anthropology; or
2. Use the knowledge and perspectives gained from the sustained study of humanity to pursue professional training and a range of careers in any field dealing with people—including healthcare, government, business, law, journalism, education, and human rights work—in local and international settings.

Many of our graduates go on to graduate school in law, medicine, public health, public policy, social work, museum studies, education, and business, as well as anthropology.

Graduate Programs in Anthropology (Doctorate in Anthropology, MA in Anthropology, Joint MA in Anthropology & Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies) 

1. Expertise in the key current debates in anthropology and ability to relate their research to these debates.
2. An understanding of the depth of anthropological research in a particular geographic region.
3. Mastery of the research methods appropriate to their field of research. This includes the ability to translate a scholarly question into on-the-ground research and using data gathered through this process to refine and elaborate this research question.
4. The ability to carry out research that takes into consideration relations of power as well as the ethical guidelines set by the American Anthropological Association, and a critical perspective on the historical roots of the discipline.
5. Acquisition of the writing skills necessary to convey effective scholarly arguments in anthropology.
6. Expertise in conveying anthropological thought and modes of analyses to undergraduate students.
7. Training in professionalization for academic jobs in anthropology as well as opportunities provided to learn about and pursue training for careers outside of anthropology.
8. Consideration of the potential role of anthropology in relation to diverse publics inside and outside the academy.
9. For additional Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies learning goals, visit the WGS department Bulletin.

Students who wish either to major in anthropology or to study for a minor in anthropology should see the undergraduate advising head, who will discuss specific interests and assign an adviser. Students may wish to study within the general anthropology program or focus on linguistic or archaeological anthropology. ANTH 1a (Introduction to the Comparative Study of Human Societies) and ANTH 5a (Human Origins) should be taken early in the academic career. Majors are encouraged to select honors research projects, particularly those students considering graduate study in anthropology or other professional training.

The department sponsors credit-bearing internships (ANTH 92a and b) for junior and senior majors and minors. Internships combine off-campus and on-campus work that provides a significant anthropological learning experience and academic study supervised by a departmental faculty sponsor. Majors may substitute one internship for the ninth elective course option. Students doing summer internships register for course credit in the following fall semester. A minimum of a B+ grade point average in anthropology courses is required for eligibility. For information, see Guidelines for Anthropology Internships, available from the undergraduate advising head.

The general requirements for admission to the Graduate School, specified in an earlier section of the Bulletin, apply to candidates for admission to graduate study in anthropology.  For information about the program’s specific requirements and decision criteria, please visit the department website.

MA Programs

Applicants to the Master's program in Anthropology or in Anthropology & Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies need not have completed an undergraduate major in anthropology. Students enrolled in the MA program in Anthropology or Anthropology & Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies may, after having completed the equivalent of their first semester's course work, apply for admission to the doctoral program.

PhD Program

Applicants to the doctoral program must demonstrate that their anthropological interests are well defined and that these interests are congruent with those of Brandeis anthropology department faculty.

Sarah Lamb, Chair
Gender; aging; self and person; medical anthropology; religion; migration and transnationalism; ethnographic writing. South Asia, United States.

Patricia Alvarez Astacio
Visual anthropology; documentary/ethnographic filmmaking; indigeneity; capitalism; the senses. Latin America.

Jonathan Anjaria
Urban anthropology; mobility; ethnographies of citizenship and the state; political ecology. South Asia.

Elizabeth Ferry
Mining; finance; materials and substances; value; political economy; metrics and indicators; ethnographic practice and writing. Mexico, Colombia, United States.

Charlie Goudge
Anthropological Historical Archaeology; Indigenous archaeology; contact and communication; environment/environmental change; Intersections of imperialism, colonialism, capitalism, consumerism, and commodities with slavery, race, and freedom in the Atlantic World; landscape archaeology; industrialism and industrial societies; adaptation and resilience; material approaches to identity, individual and group memory, and time; the Caribbean and North America.

Brian Horton
Queer anthropology; queer of color critique/queer theory; popular culture; queer nightlife; global Blackness; performance/performativity; digital anthropology; virtual subjectivities; social media. South Asia.

Janet McIntosh
Linguistic anthropology; language ideology; psychological anthropology; personhood; essentialism; colonialism and postcoloniality; whiteness studies; military studies; nationalism.  East Africa, United States.

Pascal Menoret
Urban Anthropology; infrastructure; religion; Youth politics; Islamic movements. Arabian Peninsula, Middle East.

Ellen Schattschneider
Religion; war and memory; anthropology of the body; commodification; psychoanalytic theory. East Asia, Japan.

Javier Urcid 
Archaeology; bioarchaeology; complex societies; writing systems; comparative aesthetics; material culture. Mesoamerica.

Affiliated Faculty (contributing to the curriculum, advising, and administration of the department or program)
V Varun Chaudry (Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies)
Cornelia Kammerer (Heller)
Elanah Uretsky (International and Global Studies)

Five semester courses are required, including the following:

1. ANTH 1a and ANTH 5a.
2. Three courses in anthropology, to be chosen in consultation with the student's adviser in the department.
3. A minimum of three of the five courses required for the minor must be taken from Brandeis anthropology faculty.
4. No course with a final grade below C- can count toward fulfilling the requirements for the minor in Anthropology. No course taken pass/fail may count toward the minor requirements.

1. Required of all majors: A minimum of nine semester courses in anthropology from among the ANTH and cross-listed offerings, to include ANTH 1a and ANTH 5a.
2. A minimum of five of the nine courses required for the major must be taken from Brandeis anthropology faculty.
3. Foundational Literacies: As part of completing the Anthropology major, students must:
   • Fulfill the writing intensive requirement by successfully completing one of the following: Any ANTH course approved for WI.
   • Fulfill the oral communication requirement by successfully completing one of the following: Any ANTH course approved for OC.
   • Fulfill the digital literacy requirement by successfully completing one of the following: Any ANTH course approved for DL.
4. A student may petition to receive anthropology credit for the major for one semester course completed at the university outside of the anthropology department and its cross-listed courses, provided that the course is clearly related to the student’s program of study. The petition will be reviewed by the Undergraduate Advising Head, who may consult with other faculty members in the department as appropriate. Students focusing on biological or linguistic anthropology may take up to two courses outside of the anthropology department, to be selected in consultation with the Undergraduate Advising Head or the student’s advisor, and to be approved by petition through the registrar’s office. Cross-listed courses do not require special approval to be counted toward the anthropology major.
5. Students may apply an anthropological internship course (ANTH 92a) only once toward the requirements for the major.
6. No course with a final grade below C- can count toward fulfilling the requirements for the major in Anthropology. No course taken pass/fail may count toward the major requirements.

Honors Candidates

Admission to the honors program in anthropology requires completion of at least five courses in anthropology and a cumulative GPA in anthropology of 3.5 or higher by the end of the junior year. Students submit a thesis proposal to the departmental faculty during the first week of the fall semester for consideration by the department faculty. If accepted to the program, students enroll in ANTH 99a and ANTH 99b. Honors candidates must complete ten courses for the major, including ANTH 99a and ANTH 99b.

General Anthropology

Anthropology majors need not focus on any one of the four main subfields of anthropology (social-cultural, archaeological, biological and linguistic), and can select a range of courses that fit their interests, mastering a "four-fields" approach to the discipline. Alternatively, students may choose to focus their coursework to specialize their training in one or more of the anthropological subfields.

Social-Cultural Anthropology Focus: Exploring Cross-Cultural Diversity and the Human Experience

Social-cultural anthropologists examine contemporary societies and cultures in all their remarkable diversity and complexity. The majority of courses in the department's anthropology curriculum relate to social-cultural anthropology, a subfield that examines important dimensions of human life such as social inequalities and identities, political economies, gender systems, kinship and families, value and exchange, medicine and illness, religion, semiotic systems, visual cultures, migration and transnationalism, the cultural dimensions of globalization, understandings of the body and personhood, and the ways human beings interpret their worlds and make meaning in their lives. Social-cultural anthropologists study both their own and other societies as a means of better understanding both, and investigate vital questions about what it entails to be human.

Archaeology Focus: Digging into Material Culture

The goal of archaeology is to provide an anthropological perspective on societies from the appearance of human beings through to the present mostly via the study of material culture and organic remains. Archaeologists recover, document, analyze and interpret materials including architecture, landscapes, pottery, stone tools, inscriptions, funerary goods, plant remains, and human and faunal skeletons. Patterns in and of material culture provide insight into the nature of political orders, social arrangements, belief systems, the shift from foraging to agricultural economies, the inception of urban life, environmental transformations, and the rise and collapse of ancient polities among many other subjects. Archaeologists often make use of materials science studies, remote imagery (as from satellites), and geographic information systems (GIS), among other tools to facilitate anthropological interpretation. The archaeology curriculum is particularly recommended to those students considering the study of archaeology at the graduate level, or careers in conservation, heritage and museum studies, and cultural resource management.

Students may also take a sequence of two half semester courses HS 263f and HS 297f on geographic information systems (GIS) in the Heller School and count this as one full course towards the major.

Biological Anthropology Focus: Human Evolution and the Biocultural Dimensions of Humanity

Biological anthropology looks at the intersection of humans as cultural and biological beings. This subfield examines topics such as the long evolutionary history of the human species, and the intersecting biological and cultural dimensions of humanity in domains such as gender, human development and aging, psychology, mental illness and medicine.

As stated above, students in this track can also petition to take up to two courses in other disciplines, in consultation with the UAH or their advisor.

Linguistic Anthropology Focus: Language, Culture and Communication

Linguistic anthropology focuses on language, the hallmark of the human species and the foundation of culture. Linguistic anthropologists explore the nature of language itself; the relationship between language, thought and behavior; how ethnic, national and gendered identities are fashioned linguistically; and the ways in which language and all other aspects of human culture interrelate.

In addition to the two courses required for the anthropology major, students focusing on linguistic anthropology may also petition to count a maximum of two courses from Language and Linguistics as anthropology electives. Students are encouraged to take LING 100a early in their academic career.

Program of Study

Students admitted to the MA program in anthropology must complete 8 courses (32 credits), which is equivalent to one year of in-person residency. The terminal master’s degree can be achieved in one year, but students may benefit from the rich array of course offerings by extending their studies into a second year, including summer research. Degree requirements are as follows: 

A. ANTH 203b Contemporary Anthropological Theory. This foundational course is required for all MA students and is normally taken in the first semester.

B. Seven elective courses designed around their anthropological interests, selected with the approval of a faculty adviser to be assigned to each student upon matriculation. 

C. Master’s students also must also enroll in the anthropology graduate proseminar (ANTH 340a), a year-long, non-credit requirement.

D. A master’s research paper of professional quality and length (normally twenty-five to forty pages). The paper will be evaluated by two faculty members in the department. See Anthropology Program Handbook for details.

There is no foreign language requirement for the Master's degree in Anthropology, and language courses do not count toward the course requirements.

Readings and Research Courses

Students may register for readings and research courses after their first semester with the approval of the course instructor. A student may take no more than one readings course per semester. 

Students pursuing the joint MA in Anthropology & Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies combine their interests in anthropology and the study of women, gender, and/or sexuality. Candidates may undertake a freestanding terminal joint master’s degree or complete the joint master’s as they work toward a doctoral degree.

The terminal master’s degree can be achieved in one year of in-person residency, but students may benefit from the rich array of course offerings by extending their studies into a second year. Doctoral students in the anthropology program may enroll in the joint master’s degree program at any time during their graduate studies with the approval of their adviser and of the Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies program.

Program of Study

Candidates for the joint MA in Anthropology & Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies must complete 8 courses (32 credits) as follows:

A. ANTH 203b Contemporary Anthropological Theory (or ANTH 201a History of Anthropological Thought, by petition).

B. ANTH 244a Gender and Sexuality Seminar (or ANTH 144a Anthropology of Gender, or 166b Queer Anthropology by petition). 

C. WGS 205a or another course designated as a graduate foundational course in women's, gender, and sexuality studies.

D. A course in feminist research methodologies (WGS 208b or the feminist inquiry course offered through the Consortium for Graduate Studies in Gender, Culture, Women, and Sexuality (GCWS)).

E. Four elective graduate courses, including one in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies from a field other than anthropology, selected with the approval of the student's faculty adviser. Normally only one of these courses may be a Directed Reading course.

F. Students also must also enroll in the anthropology departmental graduate proseminar (ANTH 340a), a year-long, non-credit requirement.

G. Joint MA paper requirement: Completion of a master's research paper of professional quality and length (normally twenty-five to forty pages) on a topic related to the joint degree. The paper will be read by two faculty members, one of whom is a member of the anthropology department, and one of whom is a member of the women's, gender, and sexuality studies’ core or affiliate faculty. In consultation with the primary adviser, a student may register for WGS 299 (Master's Project). However, this course does not count toward the eight required courses.

H. The program may take an additional one or two semesters to complete as an Extended Master's student.

Language Requirement

There is no foreign language requirement for the joint master's degree, and language courses do not count toward degree requirements.

Readings and Research Courses

Students may register for readings and research courses after their first semester with the approval of the course instructor. A student may take no more than one readings course per semester. 

Program of Study

Flexibility in the curriculum allows doctoral students to organize a program of study around their particular anthropological interests. At the same time, the program is structured so that a broad familiarity with the anthropological discipline is achieved. 

Students in the doctoral program must complete the following requirements: 

Coursework Stage (Years One and Two)

A.  Twelve four-credit courses (48 credits), normally taken at a rate of three or four per semester, with a grade of B- or better. Course requirements include:

• ANTH 203b Contemporary Anthropological Theory (taken in the first semester)
• ANTH 201a History of Anthropological Thought
• ANTH 202b Advanced Ethnographic Research Methods or ANTH 204a Advanced Seminar in Archaeological Theory
• ANTH 206a Anthropological Writing
• Eight elective courses. Students are encouraged but not required to take ANTH 208a Documenting Culture: Visual and Multimodal Ethnography and ANTH 215b Practical Ethnography, if relevant to their interests.
• ANTH 340a Graduate Proseminar is a non-credit requirement taken by  doctoral students during their coursework years.

Examination and Proposal Stage (Normally Year Three)

B.  Two twelve-credit courses (24 credits)

• ANTH 399a Comprehensive Exam: The comprehensive examination must be successfully completed before beginning the fourth year in the program. Students may not sit for the examination if they have not completed their 48-credit course requirements or have outstanding incompletes.

• ANTH 399b Dissertation Proposal: The dissertation proposal should be completed in the third year of the program, or in some circumstances, such as the need for specialized language or other study, by September of Year 4.  

Dissertation Stage (Years Four to Six)

C.  Dissertation Fieldwork

D.  Write-up

E.  Dissertation Defense

Please refer to the department’s handbook for additional details. 

Teaching Requirement

The development of college-level teaching competency is an integral part of the department's professional training for the PhD. Please see the GSAS section on Teaching Requirements and the program handbook for more details.

Residence Requirement

Candidates for the PhD in anthropology are required to meet the three-year in-person residence requirement as set forth by the Graduate School.

Dissertation and Defense

The completed dissertation must be successfully defended in an oral examination, as required by university regulations, before it can be formally accepted. Students must electronically deposit their dissertation to ProQuest ETD. For instructions on how to do this, visit the Thesis and Dissertation Guide.

Every student, whether or not currently in residence, must register at the beginning of each term. All graduate students will be evaluated by the program each spring. At this evaluation the records of all graduate students will be carefully reviewed with reference to the timely completion of coursework and non-course degree requirements, the quality of the work and research in progress and the student’s overall academic performance in the program.

ANTH 1a Introduction to the Comparative Study of Human Societies
[ djw nw ss ]

Examines the ways human beings construct their lives in a variety of societies. Includes the study of the concept of culture, kinship, and social organization, political economy, gender and sexuality, religion and ritual, symbols and language, social inequalities and social change, and globalization. Consideration of anthropological research methods and approaches to cross-cultural analysis. Usually offered every semester.
Jonathan Anjaria, Elizabeth Ferry, Sarah Lamb, or Janet McIntosh

ANTH 5a Human Origins
[ ss ]

Studies major evolutionary transformations of humanity from early hominins to fully modern Homo sapiens, and offers an introduction to the theoretical frameworks and biological processes that explain these transformations. Fossils and archaeological evidence serve to highlight the origins of bipedalism, and symbolic practices including art and language, and the shift from foraging to agricultural and pastoral societies. Usually offered every year.

Charles Golden, Charlie Goudge, or Javier Urcid

ANTH 7a Great Discoveries: Introduction to Archaeology
[ nw ss wi ]

Introduces archaeology as the anthropological study of humans in the past. Considers foundational theories and methods in archaeology and delves into the origins of great civilizations in the ancient world- Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, Africa, the Americas, and others by exploring the archaeology of economy, warfare, art, systems of power, and politics, science, and more. Usually offered every year.

Charles Golden or Charlie Goudge

ANTH 26a Communication and Media
[ dl ss ]

A wide-ranging exploration of the human communicative capacity, starting with verbal and visual communicative modalities and culminating in the study of communication through mass and social media. Usually offered every second year.
Janet McIntosh

ANTH 42a Sages and Seekers: A Fieldwork Practicum in the Life Course across Generations
[ oc ]

Corequisite: ANTH 1a, ANTH 111a, ANTH 127a, ANTH 144a, ANTH 165b, ANTH 182b, or PSYC 37a. Course may be taken as a prerequisite within the past year with permission of the instructor. Yields half-course credit. Formerly offered as EL 42a.

Students participate in a 9-week Sages and Seekers program designed to bridge the generational gap between seniors and youth in order to foster the exchange of wisdom and dissolve age-related segregation. Each student also designs and carries out an individual fieldwork and/or community service project. Hands-on experiences complement concepts and questions explored through the base classes, regarding aging, gender, and generational change in socio-cultural context. Usually offered every second year.
Sarah Lamb

ANTH 55a Anthropology of Development
[ nw ss ]

Examines efforts to address global poverty that are typically labeled as "development." Privileging the perspectives of ordinary people, and looking carefully at the institutions involved in development, the course relies on ethnographic case studies that will draw students into the complexity of global inequality. Broad development themes such as public health, agriculture, the environment, democracy, poverty, and entrepreneurship will be explored. Usually offered every second year.
Staff

ANTH 60a Archaeological Methods
[ ss ]

Focuses on the exploration of archaeological sites on and near campus to offer a practice-oriented introduction to field methods, including surface-survey, mapping, and excavation of archaeological features. Other topics include principles of stratigraphy and relative/chronometric dating methods. Usually offered every second year.
Charles Golden or Javier Urcid

ANTH 60b Archaeological Analysis
[ dl ss wi ]

Introduces archaeological laboratory methods and analyses, emphasizing hands-on experience and research design. Students engage in practical materials analysis and research working with genuine archaeological artifacts. Course participants will build their project management skills and consider archaeological methodologies, including artifact recovery, analysis, conservation, and eventual publication. Students will also explore vital archaeological dialogues and theoretical approaches comprising the archaeological process, such as the challenges of interpreting human behavior from material remains, the ethical quandaries of cultural heritage, and the questions of who narrates and owns the past. Usually offered every second year.

Charlie Goudge

ANTH 61b Language in American Life
[ deis-us oc ss ]

Examines both language-in-use and ideas about language varieties in the United States from an anthropological perspective. Explores how language-in-use emerges from and builds relationships, social hierarchies, professional authority, religious experience, dimensions of identity such as gender and race, and more. Usually offered every second year.
Janet McIntosh

ANTH 62a Archaeology in Politics, Film and Public Culture
[ oc ss ]

Examines the use of archaeology in national politics, popular culture, and continued international debates revolving around issues of cultural patrimony. After a brief look at the history of the field and its inception within colonialism, this course centers on the contemporary uses of archaeology, including archaeology in totalitarian Nazi Germany and Mussolini's Italy, nationalist projects and the establishment of nation-building narratives (such as in Israel, Egypt, China and Mexico), and portrayals of archaeology in popular films and modern hoaxes. Importantly, this course also focuses on national and international laws concerning cultural objects and sites, and the ethical dilemmas of stewardship, repatriation, and looting. Usually offered every third year.
Javier Urcid

ANTH 70a Business, Culture and Society
[ ss ]

In a diverse and rapidly changing global marketplace, it is crucial to understand local traditions, customs and cultural preferences. In this course, we adopt anthropological approaches to understand their impact on business practices, products, services, clients and ideas. Usually offered every second year.

Patricia Alvarez Astacio or Elizabeth Ferry

ANTH 80a Anthropology of Religion
[ nw ss ]

Introduces the anthropological study of religious experience and practices across diverse contexts. Studies rituals, from initiation to conversion to pilgrimage, and examines the relationship between religion, society, and politics in a variety of societies. Usually offered every second year.
Sarah Lamb, Pascal Menoret or Ellen Schattschneider

ANTH 81a Conducting Ethnographic Fieldwork: Methods and Practice of Anthropological Research
[ oc ss wi ]

Formerly offered as ANTH 181aj.

Examines principal issues in ethnographic fieldwork and analysis, including research design, data collection, and ethnographic representation. Students will develop a focused research question, design field research, and conduct supervised fieldwork in a variety of local settings. Usually offered every second year.

Staff

ANTH 92a Internship and Analysis

Students may take no more than one departmental internship for credit.

The department sponsors internships for junior and senior majors and minors. Internships combine off-campus and on-campus work that provides a significant anthropological learning experience and academic study supervised by a departmental faculty sponsor. Majors may substitute one internship for the ninth elective course option. Students doing summer internships register for course credit in the following fall semester. A minimum GPA of B+ in anthropology courses is required for eligibility. For additional information, see the Guidelines for Anthropology Internships, available from the undergraduate adviser. Usually offered every year.
Staff

ANTH 95a Anthropology Research Lab

Corequisite: Varies by section. See the schedule of classes. Course may be taken as a prerequisite within the past year with permission of the instructor. Yields half-course credit.

Provides firsthand experience conducting anthropology research on a topic related to the base course. Activities may include the following: participate in data collection and analysis (including fieldwork, interviewing, and digital research), conduct literature searches through the library and internet, learn analysis and data management skills, help to prepare a research report or poster for a professional meeting, journal or blog, and develop and pursue your unique research questions. May be taken concurrently with the base course or within one year after completing the base course. Usually offered every second year.
Staff

ANTH 98a Individual Readings and Research in Anthropology

Individual readings and research under the direction of a faculty supervisor. Usually offered every year.
Staff

ANTH 98b Individual Readings and Research in Anthropology

Individual readings and research under the direction of a faculty supervisor. Usually offered every year.
Staff

ANTH 99a Senior Research

Seniors who have a 3.5 or higher GPA in anthropology courses and who wish to be considered for honors submit a thesis proposal to the department faculty and, if accepted, enroll in this course with permission of the instructor. Usually offered every year.
Staff

ANTH 99b Senior Thesis

Prerequisite: Satisfactory completion of ANTH 99a. Does not count toward the major in anthropology.

Seniors who wish to complete a senior honors thesis normally enroll in this course. Usually offered every year.
Staff

ANTH 105a Myth and Ritual
[ nw ss ]

Studies myth and ritual as two interlocking modes of cultural symbolism. Evaluates theoretical approaches to myth by looking at creation and political myths. Examines performative, processual, and spatial models of ritual analysis through study of initiation, sacrifice, and funerals. Usually offered every second year.
Ellen Schattschneider

ANTH 107a Value, Wealth, and Power in a World without Money
[ djw nw ss ]

Examines the relationships of value, wealth, power, and authority in the Aztec Empire, Inka Empire and Classic period Maya kingdoms of the Prehispanic Americas. In so doing it raises questions about the origins of these relationships in modern states. Usually offered every third year.
Charles Golden

ANTH 109a Children, Parenting, and Education in Cross-Cultural Perspective
[ ss ]

Examines childcare techniques, beliefs about childhood and adolescence, and the objectives of school systems in different areas of the world, in order to illuminate cross-cultural similarities and differences in conceptions of personhood, identity, gender, class, race, nation, and the relationship between the individual and society. Usually offered every third year.
Keridwen Luis

ANTH 110b Discipline, Rules, and Power
[ ss ]

In this course, we will consider these three key terms—discipline, rules, and power (and perhaps also violence)—by engaging thinkers across critical philosophy, anthropology, Black studies, postcolonial studies, ethnic studies, and queer-feminist studies. From prisons to schools to fashion to art, we will explore different theories of discipline, rules, and power, considering how our conception of life and death and survival are shaped by these theoretical insights. Usually offered every second year.

Brian Horton

ANTH 111a Aging in Cross-Cultural Perspective
[ djw nw ss wi ]

Examines the meanings and social arrangements given to aging in a diversity of societies, including the U.S., India, Japan and China. Key themes include: the diverse ways people envision and organize the life course, scholarly and popular models of successful aging, the medicalization of aging in the U.S., cultural perspectives on dementia, and the ways national aging policies and laws are profoundly influenced by particular cultural models. Usually offered every second year.
Sarah Lamb

ANTH 112b Bison, Berries and Banquets: The Social Archaeology of Food and Drink
[ nw ss wi ]

Some of our strongest values and beliefs -- about the cosmos, the world, other people, our culture, and ourselves -- are expressed in the ways we use, consume, think about, and talk about food. In this class, we will consider the theoretical and methodological approaches that archaeologists use to study food and eating in society from a global anthropological perspective; we will identify and analyze the material processes of food production, preparation, and consumption, the cognitive models that define our food choices, and the ways power and inequality drive global feast and famine. Usually offered every third year.
Charlie Goudge

ANTH 113b Race and Ethnicity: Anthropological Perspectives
[ ss ]

Examines theories and ethnographies of race and ethnicity through three units: literary and social scientific theories of race and othering; the race system in the U.S. today; and a comparative look at the American racial system to explore ways in which America's race system varies cross-societally and cross-historically. One goal of the course is to understand changing ideas of race and ethnicity that have emerged from anthropologists and cultural critics. Usually offered every fourth year.
Patricia Alvarez Astacio

ANTH 114a Anthropology of the Military and Policing
[ oc ss ]

Explores cultural dimensions of military and policing organizations, including institutional, embodied, linguistic, and ritualistic instantiations of military and policing ideologies. Topics include experiences of military and police service, social and cultural dynamics in military and policing organizations, gender and LGBTQ issues, and the Human Terrain Team controversy. Usually offered every third year.

Staff

ANTH 115b Borderlands: Space, Place, and Landscape
[ ss ]

Studies human behavior framed by and creating the spaces and landscapes in which we live. This seminar examines archaeological and ethnographic understandings of the relationships between culture, space, and landscapes with a particular focus on the political and social dynamics of borderlands. Usually offered every second year.
Charles Golden

ANTH 116a Human Osteology
[ sn ss ]

Anthropology majors have priority for enrollment. Students wishing to enroll during early registration should waitlist themselves.

Skeletal anatomy and application of forensic techniques to archaeological problems. Hands-on laboratory sessions focus on methods of estimating age at the time of death, determining sex, assessing skeletal variability, detecting instances of bone remodeling, and identifying cultural and natural modifications to bony tissue. Case studies exemplify bioarchaeological approaches. Usually offered every second year.
Javier Urcid

ANTH 118b Culture and Power in the Middle East
[ ss ]

Examines the peoples and societies of the Middle East from an anthropological perspective. Explores problems of cross-cultural examination, the notion of the Middle East as an area of study, and the role of anthropology in the formation of the idea of the 'Middle East.' To this end, the course is divided into sections devoted to understanding and problematizing key concepts and themes central to our understanding of the region, including tribe and state, family and kinship, gender and sexuality, honor and shame, tradition and modernity, and religion and secularism. Course materials will include critical ethnographies based on field work in the region as well as locally produced materials such as literature, music, film and other visual arts. Usually offered every fourth year.
Pascal Menoret

ANTH 119a Conquests, Resistance, and Cultural Transformation in Mexico and Central America
[ djw nw ss wi ]

Examines the continuing negotiation of identity and power that were at the heart of tragedy and triumph for indigenous peoples in colonial Mexico and Central America, and which continue in the modern states of Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and Honduras. Usually offered every second year.
Charles Golden

ANTH 120b Ecology and Society in the Middle East and the Arabian Peninsula
[ ss ]

Examines how humans interact with the world around them. The course covers the main theories of the relationship between ecology and society, and explores issues related to the environment and agriculture in the Middle East, with a focus on the Arabian Peninsula. Usually offered every third year.

Pascal Menoret

ANTH 121b Archaeology and Environment
[ dl nw ss ]

Provides an introduction to archaeological approaches to the environment. Explores how human history and prehistory have been defined by moments when political, cultural, economics, and ecological systems collide. Topics include climate change, food systems, plant and animal relations, and natural resources. Usually offered every second year.

Charlie Goudge

ANTH 122b We Are All Ears: The Power, Politics, and Ethics of Storytelling
[ deis-us oc ss ]

ANTH 123b Lost Voices: The Historical Archaeology of Oppression and Exploitation
[ djw ss wi ]

Historical archaeology utilizes written records and oral traditions to contextualize places, things (cultural materials), and critical dialogues, past and present. This course introduces the primary tools and techniques historical archaeology uses to analyze past histories and material culture through a social lens, connecting archaeology with an exploration of the complex relationships between colonialism, consumerism, capitalism, slavery, race and freedom, structural racism, and the past, present, and future. Usually offered every three years.
Charlie Goudge

ANTH 124a Maritime Archaeology: The Salty Relationship Between Society and The Sea
[ dl ss ]

Provides an introduction to maritime archaeology, exploring the entangled relationships between human history, society, and the sea. Utilizing theoretical and technical methods from maritime, nautical and marine/underwater archaeology, this class will provide a practical approach to examining maritime archaeology methods and topics such as trade, boat and ship development and construction, navigation, submerged landscapes, maritime culture, climate and climate change, and legislative issues regarding underwater and coastal heritage. Usually offered every third year.
Charlie Goudge

ANTH 126a U.S. Policing in Context: Past, Present, Future
[ deis-us ss ]

An interdisciplinary analysis of policing in the United States, which considers policing narratives, training, culture, representation, and technology. Case studies include Black Lives Matter protests and the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol. Theoretical frameworks utilized include anthropology of power, critical race theory, and criminal justice. Usually offered every third year.

Ariel Ludwig

ANTH 127a Medicine, Body, and Culture
[ djw nw ss ]

Examines main areas of inquiry in medical anthropology, including medicine as a sociocultural construct, political and economic dimensions of suffering and health, patients and healers in comparative medical systems. Usually offered every year.
Staff

ANTH 128a Meaning and Material Culture
[ ss ]

Whether indexing identities, exchange valuables, or representations of cultural meanings, objects are seen as means to mediate social interaction and practices. This course focuses on how materials that express culturally coded meanings (whether contextual, formal, or conventional) can be adequately studied in the relative absence of indigenous interpretation. The course has a hands-on component based on the artifact collection in the department's Material Culture Research Center. Usually offered every second year.
Javier Urcid

ANTH 129a Culture in 3D: Theory, Method, and Ethics for Scanning and Printing the World
[ dl ss ]

Designed to train students in the methods needed for the successful application of 3D modeling and printing for the documentation, conservation, and dissemination of cultural patrimony. Students will acquire the technical skills and engage in the ethical debates surrounding ownership and reproduction of such patrimony. Usually offered every second year.
Charles Golden and Ian Roy

ANTH 130a Filming Culture: Ethnographic and Documentary Filmmaking
[ djw dl nw ss ]

Introduces the history, theory and production of ethnographic and documentary filmmaking. This course traces how ethnographic and culturally-inflected filmmakers have sought to depict cultural difference, social organization, and lived experiences. Students will learn the basics of non-fiction film production. Usually offered every second year.
Patricia Alvarez Astacio

ANTH 130b Visuality and Culture
[ dl ss ]

Introduces students to the study of visual, aural, and artistic media through an ethnographic lens. Course combines written and creative assignments to understand how culture shapes how we make meaning out of images and develop media literacy. Topics include ethnographic/documentary film, advertising, popular culture, viral videos and special effects, photography, art worlds, and the technological development of scientific images. Usually offered every second year.

Patricia Alvarez Astacio or Ellen Schattschneider

ANTH 131b Latin America in Ethnographic Perspective
[ djw ss wi ]

Anthropology and LACLS majors and minors have priority for enrollment.

Examines issues in contemporary Latin America and the Spanish Caribbean from the perspective of sociocultural anthropology, based primarily on books and articles drawing on long-term ethnographic research. Topics may include: the Zapatista Rebellion in Mexico; tin mining and religion in Bolivia; mortuary cannibalism in the Amazon; the role of the Virgin of Guadalupe in Mexican national identity; love and marriage among young migrants from Mexico and the United States; weaving, beauty pageants, and jokes in Guatemala; and daily life in revolutionary Cuba. Usually offered every second year.
Patricia Alvarez Astacio or Elizabeth Ferry

ANTH 136a Archaeology of Power: Authority, Prestige, and Inequality in the Past
[ nw ss ]

Anthropological and archaeological research and theory provide a unique, long-term perspective on the development of inequality and rise of hierarchical societies, including the earliest ancient states such as the Moche, Maya, China, Sumerians, Egyptians, and others through 5000 years of human history. A comparative, multidisciplinary seminar examining the dynamics of authority, prestige, and power in the past, and the implications for understanding the present. Usually offered every second year.
Charles Golden

ANTH 137a GIS: Mapping Culture from Land, Air and Space
[ dl ss ]

An introduction to the Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sense (RS) technologies that are fundamental for mapping and analyzing spatial data. This course is grounded in  archaeological applications, but provides training and research pathways for exploring urban landscapes, environmental dynamics, and more in modern settings. No previous knowledge of GIS or RS is required. Usually offered every third year.
Charles Golden

ANTH 138a Digital Cultures
[ dl ss ]

Examines the complex and often fraught relationships between digital technologies and human cultures. By thinking through digital technology’s relationships to structures like race, gender, sexuality, class, and ability, this course helps us explore the human components in the creation, circulation, and experience of digital technologies. What this class spotlights is that though digital technologies may seem materially new and technically innovative, they are built on longstanding power relations that structure both their construction and their circulation. Involves participatory research projects and group work. Usually offered every third year.
Patricia Alvarez Astacio or Brian Horton

ANTH 140a Human Rights in Global Perspective
[ djw ss ]

Explores a range of debates about human rights as a concept as well as the practice of human rights work. The human rights movement seeks the recognition of universal norms that transcend political and cultural difference while anthropology seeks to explore and analyze the great diversity of human life. To what extent can these two goals--advocating for universal norms and respecting cultural difference--be reconciled? The course examines cases from various parts of the world concerning: indigenous peoples, environment, health, gender, genocide/violence/nation-states and globalization. Usually offered every third year.
Elanah Uretsky

ANTH 140b Critical Perspectives in Global Health
[ deis-us djw nw ss ]

What value systems and other sociocultural factors underlie global public health policy? How can anthropology shed light on debates about the best ways to improve health outcomes? This course examines issues from malaria to HIV/AIDS, from tobacco cessation to immunization. Usually offered every third year.
Elanah Uretsky

ANTH 141a Islamic Movements
[ ss ]

Examines the social and cultural dimensions of contemporary Islamic movements from an anthropological perspective. It starts by critically engaging with such fundamental concepts as Orientalism, colonialism, and nationalism. Topics to be discussed include the difference between the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafism, Islamist feminism, Islamic public arguments, Al-Qaeda and ISIS, victimization and martyrdom, and the relationship between humanitarianism and terrorism. Usually offered every second year.
Pascal Menoret

ANTH 141b Engendering Archaeology: Exploring Women's and Men's Lives in the Past
[ ss ]

Explores people's pasts through archaeology. Topics include theoretical foundations of creating engendered pasts, methodological aspects of "doing" engendered archaeology, and intersections between political feminism, knowledge production, and the politics of engendered archaeology. Usually offered every fourth year.
Staff

ANTH 142b Global Pandemics: History, Society, and Policy
[ nw oc ss ]

Takes a biosocial approach to pandemics like HIV/AIDS, SARS, and Ebola as shaped not simply by biology, but also by culture, economics, politics, and history. Discussion focuses on how gender, sexuality, religion, and folk practices shape pandemic situations. Usually offered every fourth year.
Elanah Uretsky

ANTH 144a The Anthropology of Gender
[ djw nw ss wi ]

Anthropology majors have priority for enrollment.

Explores gender, sexuality, and cultural systems from a comparative perspective. Topics may include rituals of masculinity and femininity, the vexing question of the universality of women's subordination, culturally-specific classifications of sexual orientation and gender identity, transnational feminisms, sex work, migrant labor, reproductive rights, and much more. Usually offered every year.
Sarah Lamb or Keridwen Luis

ANTH 145a Anthropology of the Body
[ dl ss ]

Explores a range of theories that use the body to understand society, culture, and gender. Topics include how social values and hierarchies are written in, on, and through the body; the relationship between body and gender identity; and experiences and images of the body cross-culturally. Usually offered every third year.
Staff

ANTH 147b Archaeology of Indigenous Mesoamerica
[ djw nw ss ]

Traces the development of social complexity in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, from initial colonization in the Late Pleistocene to the Spanish conquest in the sixteenth century. Reviews major societal transformations like food production, the role of competitive generosity and warfare in promoting social inequalities, and the rise of urban societies. It also examines indigenous social movements against Spanish colonialism, and considers the legacies and role of indigenous peoples in the contemporary nations of Middle America. Usually offered every third year.
Javier Urcid

ANTH 151b Nature, Culture, Power: Anthropology of the Environment
[ ss ]

Examines the relationships among human and natural worlds. Topics include: the politics of food insecurity and famine, forest, hurricanes and disaster capitalism, forest fires and theories of degradation, climate injustice, and environmental justice/racism. Ethnographies based on research in the United States, Africa and Asia will enable students to explore how anthropology offers insight into the pressing environmental issues of today. Usually offered every second year.
Jonathan Anjaria

ANTH 152a The Social Fabric: An Anthropology of Fashion
[ ss ]

An ethnographic exploration of fashion as industry and cultural practice. This course addresses how fashion shapes our gendered, ethnic and individual identities. Understanding how much seemingly personal processes unfold within larger economic structures illuminates linkage between power, modernity and capitalism. Usually offered every second year.
Patricia Alvarez Astacio

ANTH 153a Writing Systems and Scribal Traditions
[ nw ss ]

Explores the ways in which writing has been conceptualized in social anthropology, linguistics and archaeology. A comparative study of various forms of visual communication, both non-glottic and glottic systems, is undertaken to better understand the nature of pristine and contemporary phonetic scripts around the world and to consider alternative models to explain their origin, prestige, and obsolescence. The course pays particular attention to the social functions of early writing systems, the linkage of literacy and political power, and the production of historical memory. Usually offered every second year.
Javier Urcid

ANTH 154a Culture and Mental Illness
[ ss wi ]

Without underestimating the importance of biological causes and treatments, this course challenges the hegemony of bio-medical models in psychiatry by seeking to conceptualize emotional problems and mental illness as historically situated and culturally constructed. Examines how factors related to political circumstances, social institutions, religious belief systems, socio-economic status, and ethnic background participate in shaping forms of distress and the ways they are dealt with in various socio-cultural settings. The course will also consider alternative therapies such as art therapy, community-based treatments, and culturally specific approaches to emotional healing and accommodation. Usually offered every third year.
Ellen Schattschneider

ANTH 155b Psychological Anthropology
[ ss ]

An examination of the relationship between sociocultural systems and individual psychological processes with a critical evaluation of selected theories and studies bearing on this problem. Usually offered every second year.
Janet McIntosh

ANTH 156a Power and Violence: The Anthropology of Political Systems
[ deis-us dl nw ss ]

Political orders are established and maintained by varying combinations of overt violence and the more subtle workings of ideas. The course examines the relationship of coercion and consensus, and forms of resistance, in historical and contemporary settings. Usually offered every second year.
Elizabeth Ferry

ANTH 158a Urban Worlds
[ dl ss ]

Explores some of the essential concepts of urban theory and conducts an in-depth study of urban experiences around the world. Topics include the city and marginality, urban modernity, gender and public space, gentrification, suburbanization, transgression, and urban nature. Case studies may be from cities such as Mumbai, Lagos, New York, Paris, Dubai, and Rio de Janeiro. Usually offered every second year.
Jonathan Anjaria

ANTH 159a Museums and Public Memory
[ oc ss ]

Explores the social and political organization of public memory, including museums, cultural villages, and memorial sites. Who has the right to determine the content and form of such institutions? Working with local community members, students will develop a collaborative exhibition project. Usually offered every second year.
Ellen Schattschneider

ANTH 160a Dreams, Visions, and Prophecy
[ ss ]

The meanings and interpretation ascribed to dreams and related visionary experiences vary dramatically across cultures and historical periods. Dreams may be understood as messages from ancestors, divinities, or demons; as gifts of foretelling; or, as private experiences born of internal longing and conflict. Dreams may inspire new developments in religion, arts, and political struggle. This course gives particular attention to the significance of dreams in the shaping of culture and history: How, paradoxically, do powerful experiences outside of conventional consciousness help constitute or generate new frameworks for self and society? Usually offered every third year.

Ellen Schattschneider

ANTH 161a Anthropology of Infrastructure
[ dl ss ]

There's a problem with infrastructure--electricity networks, water supply systems, pipelines, ports, roads, and railroads. Most of us would agree that infrastructure should be a public thing, serve society, and allow for better life, communication, and activity. Yet infrastructures are often hidden, subterranean, and therefore prone to exploitation and hijacking. The anthropology of infrastructure aims in part at making it more visible and at deciphering the complex interaction between things, society, and politics. But anthropologists end up unearthing more than utility networks and urbanism plans. They stumble upon the very power of inanimate things to orient our experiences, from the most intimate (having sex) to the least material of them (browsing the internet). From politics to ethics and back, this course will explore our relationship to infrastructure. Usually offered every second year.
Pascal Menoret

ANTH 163a Work and Labor in Global Context
[ djw nw ss ]

Takes an ethnographic approach to the study of work and labor in the context of the global economy. By looking at various industries and work cultures, we will explore the changing nature of labor and unpack how global processes affect workers in different economic sectors and regions of the world. Usually offered every second year.
Patricia Alvarez Astacio

ANTH 163b Economies and Culture
[ djw nw ss ]

Prerequisite: ANTH 1a, ECON 2a, ECON 10a, or permission of the instructor.

We read in newspapers and books and hear in everyday discussion about "the economy," an identifiably separate sphere of human life with its own rules and principles and its own scholarly discipline (economics). The class starts with the premise that this "common sense" idea of the economy is only one among a number of possible perspectives on the ways people use resources to meet their basic and not-so-basic human needs. In the course, we draw on cross-cultural examples, and take a look at the cultural aspects of finance, corporations, and markets. Usually offered every second year.
Elizabeth Ferry

ANTH 164a Medicine and Religion
[ djw nw ss ]

Considers the convergence of two cultural spheres that are normally treated as separate: medicine and religion. The course will examine their overlap, such as in healing and dying, as well as points of contention through historical and contemporary global ethnographies. Usually offered every second year.
Staff

ANTH 164b Cancer and Community
[ djw oc ss ]

Addresses the biophysical and sociocultural dimensions of cancer: how can this dreaded disease be both alienating and associated with new forms of solidarity and social connection? We also consider how vulnerability to cancer is mediated by structures of social inequality. Usually offered every second year.
Ellen Schattschneider

ANTH 165b Anthropology of Death and Dying
[ djw nw ss wi ]

Explores how different societies, including our own, conceptualize death and dying. Topics include the cultural construction of death, the effects of death on the social fabric, mourning and bereavement, and medical issues relating to the end of life. Usually offered every second year.
Anita Hannig

ANTH 166b Queer Anthropology: Sexualities and Genders in Cross-Cultural Perspective
[ djw ss ]

When held together, “Queer Anthropology” might name something akin to a systematic way of cross-culturally studying human sexuality, gender, and desire that runs against the grain of dominant, socially held beliefs of normalcy (or what we now call normative/heteronormative). Sitting with this definition, we will chart the different worlds that Queer Anthropology might enable us to see and imagine. From transfeminine women who claim to experience pregnancy to sex between straight white Frat brothers to lesbian women finding community through anonymous love letters, this course moves between different scales and registers for talking about sexuality, gender, bodies, and difference. Together, we will trace Queer Anthropology's origins, examine its present moments, and speculate on its potential futures. Usually offered every second year.
Brian Horton

ANTH 169a Museum Practices
[ dl ss ]

Prerequisite: Instructor permission.

Intended to give students experience in the core set of museum practices, both in the domains of collection management and curation. It is a hands-on, experiential internship that uses the extensive archaeological and ethnographic collections of the Anthropology Department (some 5000 objects) in order to train students in the proper handling and transport of artifacts, design and preparation of adequate storage conditions, maintenance of records and databases, inventorying of un-accessioned objects, photographic documentation, 3D scanning, and computerized illustration of artefacts, virtual reconstruction of fragmented objects, research on individual or sets of related objects, and the exhibition of researched materials. Usually offered every third year.

Javier Urcid

ANTH 171b Cities and Bodies: Mapping the Boston Metropolitan Trail
[ deis-us dl ss ]

Introduces urban design anthropology that takes the Boston suburbs as its prime object of investigation. Students will participate in the design of the Boston Metropolitan Trail (BMT), a projected grid of eight trails connecting sixteen bus, subway, and commuter rail stations around Boston. The BMT is an art installation that critiques and displaces the image of Boston, still dominated today by settler colonial fantasies centered on the Boston peninsula. The BMT is therefore an anti-Freedom Trail. It is also a slow transportation infrastructure that connects some of the main public transit nodes of the greater Boston area. Usually offered every third year.
Pascal Menoret

ANTH 178b Culture, Gender and Power in East Asia
[ nw ss wi ]

Examines the role of culture in changing gender power relations in East Asia by exploring how the historical legacy of Confucianism in the region influences the impact of changes such as the constitutional proclamation of gender equality and rapid industrialization. Usually offered every third year.
Elanah Uretsky

ANTH 180b Playing Human: Persons, Objects, Imagination
[ ss ]

Examines how people interact with material artifacts that are decidedly not human and yet which, paradoxically, deepen and extend experiences of being human. Theories of fetishism; masking and ritual objects across cultures; play and childhood experience; and objects of imagination, memory and trauma. Usually offered every second year.
Ellen Schattschneider

ANTH 182b Applied Anthropology
[ oc ss ]

This course is about using anthropology to solve real-world problems. We will explore how anthropological research and approaches are used to address practical issues related to the environment, urban planning, government services, healthcare, cultural heritage, and user experience in industry. The course gives students the skills in using anthropological concepts and theories in a variety of settings, an understanding of the ethics of applied qualitative research and hands-on experience doing ethnographic research oriented towards solving problems. Usually offered every second year.
Jonathan Anjaria or Ellen Schattschneider

ANTH 184b Art in the Ancient World
[ nw ss ]

A cross-cultural and diachronic exploration of art, focusing on the communicative aspects of visual aesthetics. The survey takes a broad view of how human societies deploy images and objects to foster identities, lure into consumption, generate political propaganda, engage in ritual, render sacred propositions tangible, and chart the character of the cosmos. Usually offered every second year.
Javier Urcid

ANTH 185a Archaeological Science
[ ss ]

Prerequisites: One year of college-level chemistry, biology, and physics, or the equivalent. Signature of the Brandeis liaison, required. Topics vary from year to year. May be repeated for credit.

A lecture course in which leading experts from the faculty of the seven major Boston-area universities and the Museum of Fine Arts that comprise the Center for Materials Research in Archaeology and Ethnology (CMRAE) consortium discuss how they apply scientific technology and engineering methods to archaeological analysis. Deals with topics such as radioactive and other methods of age determination, archaeological site formation and soil micromorphology, and the study of materials used in ancient building construction. Usually offered every second year.
Staff

ANTH 187a Materials Research in Archaeology, I
[ ss ]

Enrollment limited to advanced undergraduate and graduate students. Topics vary from year to year, and the course may be repeated for credit.

A series of courses, each focusing on a specific topic, such as archaeological analysis of animal or plant remains; the analysis of lithic materials, pottery, or metals; GIS; and statistical analysis. Courses are offered each semester, taught by faculty from the Center for Materials Research in Archaeology and Ethnology, a consortium that includes Brandeis, Boston University, Harvard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Museum of Fine Arts, Tufts, University of Massachusetts, Boston, and Wellesley College. Usually offered every year.
Staff

ANTH 188b Materials Research in Archaeology, II
[ ss ]

Enrollment limited to advanced undergraduate and graduate students. Topics vary from year to year, and the course may be repeated for credit.

See ANTH 187a for course description. Usually offered every year.
Staff

ANTH/WGS 176a Queer/Trans Theories from Elsewhere
[ deis-us djw ss ]

Centers the notion of 'elsewhere' in relationship to studies of gender, sexuality, power, and desire. 'Elsewhere' refers not only to place, but also to body and method. While terms like 'queer' and 'transgender' have become useful analytics for exploring gender, sexuality, feeling, space, place, relationality, and time, the academic theories that focus on these categories have remained mostly within white, US- and European academic spaces. We invite students to trouble these analytics - that is, the categories themselves, the bodies that these analytics center, and the methods deployed in relation to these analytics - by reading diverse approaches to gender and sexuality. The semester's engagement with 'elsewhere' is divided into three units: body, place, and method. Our objective is to teach students to cultivate new ways of seeing and ultimately new theories of gender and sexuality through engaging with non-canonical perspectives. Usually offered every third year.
Brian Horton and V Varun Chaudhry

ANTH 201a History of Anthropological Thought
[ ss ]

A historical examination of major ideas and perennial problems in social thought that have led to the development of contemporary theory and method in anthropology. Usually offered every second year.
Elizabeth Ferry or Ellen Schattschneider

ANTH 202b Advanced Ethnographic Research Methods

An intensive study of anthropological research and ethnographic practice, with particular attention to topic formation, field notes and evocative writing. Combines discussions ethnography with writing workshops. Readings include essays on research methodology and critiques of ethnographic practice, as well as ethnographic monographs that demonstrate sophisticated fieldwork practices. Writing workshops cover issues such as taking notes in the field and describing scenes, speech in action, characters, language and affect. Usually offered every second year.
Jonathan Anjaria or Sarah Lamb

ANTH 203b Contemporary Anthropological Theory
[ ss ]

Intensive survey of the major theoretical trends in contemporary anthropology. Examination of comparative, semiotic, materialist, Marxist, feminist, poststructuralist, post-colonial and phenomenological approaches, as well as core concepts: culture, social change, practice, power, materiality, personhood, and other themes of contemporary importance. Usually offered every year.
Staff

ANTH 206b Anthropology Graduate Writing Seminar

Designed to be a writing seminar for graduate students at both the MA and PhD levels, this course will provide graduate students with guided academic writing instruction in order to help students to cultivate the necessary writing skills to develop their research agendas, complete key steps towards completion of their degree program, and to produce strong academic writing samples. Throughout our time together, we will focus on learning the genres and styles of academic social science writing. Through weekly opportunities to write together, writing check-ins, comprehensive goal setting, and a consistent peer review process, students will also get a chance to solidify their research interests and to practice sharing those interests with a wider audience. Usually offered every year.
Brian A. Horton or Janet McIntosh

ANTH 207b Trauma: Theory and Experience

Explores the intellectual history of the concept of trauma and considers the salience of the concept for contemporary social and cultural theory and for research on the aftermath of mass violence, state terror, genocide, and torture. Offered every fourth year.
Ellen Schattschneider

ANTH 208a Documenting Culture: Visual and Multimodal Ethnography

Introduces graduate students to methods and theories central to carrying out visual and multimodal ethnographic fieldwork. We will consider the roles of various forms of media as methodological and analytic tools, and products of research. Graduate students will be introduced to the theory and history informing documentary approaches in ethnography. Throughout the semester students will become learn diverse non-textual methods, familiarizing themselves with how non-textual methods become part of research design, data collection, analytic processes, and ethnographic representation. Class is designed as an intensive theory-practice graduate seminar where students will both think through theories of representation, the particularities of media forms, and the relationship between non-textual methods and analytic approaches while developing hands-on production skills for a variety of multimodal tools encompassing but not limited to film, audio, digital media, photography, installation, archival material, etc. Usually offered every third year.
Patricia Alvarez Astacio

ANTH 209b Linguistic Anthropology for Ethnographers

This graduate-level seminar is designed to introduce budding practitioners of sociocultural anthropology to select tools and theories from linguistic and semiotic anthropology that they can readily draw on to enhance their scholarship. Some classic linguistic anthropological concepts will be included, but a portion of the syllabus readings will be selected in response to students’ interests and research agendas. Final presentations and papers will allow students to apply tools from linguistic anthropology to their sociocultural projects. Usually offered every third year.

ANTH 210a Power, State, and Biopolitics

Explores the origins of state power and the ways it extends into and is operationalized in institutions such as courts, prisons, the military, and medicine. It also considers the functioning of bureaucracies in disciplinary institutes and encourages students to closely investigate the arbitrary ways in which state and non-state actors negotiate with, challenge and co-opt state power in areas of law, politics, and healthcare. The course also moves beyond disciplinary institutes to consider the ramifications of power in family, cultural and religious life. Usually offered every third year.

ANTH 213a Advanced Topics in Medical Anthropology

Examines recent theoretical debates and disciplinary conversations in medical anthropology. Topics include the cultural authority and construction of medical knowledge; biopolitics; citizenship, and sovereignty; the ontological turn; and birth and death. Students will develop their own research projects. Usually offered every third year.
Staff

ANTH 214a Citizenship and Belonging

Explores citizenship as experience and claim, focusing on how it articulates with aspects of identity (gender, race, class and sexuality) and is produced through encounters with place, law, and language. Is citizenship a fact of legal recognition or belonging in a community of value? Is it a condition of being unmarked in social space? How is the framework of citizenship challenged through practices of mobility and the valorization of the global? Usually offered every third year.

Margarite Blignaut

ANTH 215b Practical Ethnography

Students will learn how to do ethnographic research and writing in applied contexts. Students will learn about the life of anthropological research outside of academia, gain experience using advanced ethnographic and qualitative research methods geared towards solving problems and learn how to translate the skills and theory of anthropology and related disciplines in a variety of professional contexts (including industry, medical/public health contexts, non-profits and city government). The teaching methodology for this course emphasizes practical, hands-on work, collaboration and real world examples. Throughout the semester, students will work as a team doing research for a specific 'client.' They will learn how to understand the client's needs and context, refine the problem through a participatory design model, use the appropriate research methodology and visually represent or write the results in a way that is useful for the client. In this course, we will read important texts in the fields of applied, practical and design anthropology, however the emphasis of the course is acquiring concrete skills that show the power of ethnography to solve problems, enable organizations to achieve their goals and improve peoples' lives. Usually offered every year.
Jonathan Anjaria

ANTH 218a Readings and Research in Anthropology

Elizabeth Ferry

ANTH 219b Readings and Research in Anthropology

Jonathan Anjaria

ANTH 220a Readings and Research in Anthropology

Charles Golden

ANTH 221a Readings and Research in Anthropology

Staff

ANTH 222a Readings and Research in Anthropology

Sarah Lamb

ANTH 223a Readings and Research in Anthropology

Janet McIntosh

ANTH 224b Readings and Research in Anthropology

Pascal Menoret

ANTH 225b Readings and Research in Anthropology

Ellen Schattschneider

ANTH 226b Readings and Research in Anthropology

Javier Urcid

ANTH 227a Readings and Research in Anthropology

Keridwen Luis

ANTH 227b Readings and Research in Anthropology

Patricia Alvarez Astacio

ANTH 228a Readings and Research in Anthropology

Brian Horton

ANTH 229a Readings and Research in Anthropology

Elanah Uretsky

ANTH 229b Readings and Research in Anthropology

Charlie Goudge

ANTH 230a Readings and Research in Anthropology

Staff

ANTH 239a "Burning Questions:" The Work of Michel-Rolph Trouillot

Explores the anthropology and theory of the Caribbean, political economy, and history, power and epistemology through the work of acclaimed anthropologist Michel-Rolph Trouillot and those whom he influenced. Usually offered every second year.
Elizabeth Ferry

ANTH 244a Gender and Sexuality Seminar

Examines gender constructs, sexuality, and cultural systems from a comparative perspective, and major theoretical trends in feminist and queer anthropology. Usually offered every second year.
Sarah Lamb

ANTH 257b Cosmologies of Capital: Political Economy in Anthropology

If we define 'success' as growth, power and longevity, capitalism is the world's most successful economic system. It has spread across the planet and drawn multiple other economies and polities into its logics. Yet it is not the same everywhere, nor has it erased geographically distributed differences. This course examines how capital and capitalisms are both shaped by and help to shape the cosmologies and lifeways of particular places and people. We will explore how the cosmologies of capital and its institutions of plantations, mines and markets link the world in particular ways and provoke historically-conditioned ecologies, political formations, forms of difference (such as race, caste, gender, and class), and movements of resistance or interruption. Usually offered every third year.
Elizabeth Ferry

ANTH 297a Internship

Staff

ANTH 300a Directed Research for MA Students: Master's Paper

Does not count toward 8 course requirement for degree.

Semester-long research project culminating in a Master's paper. Students select a specific research topic in consultation with the adviser. Usually offered every semester.
Staff

ANTH 340a Anthropology Graduate Proseminar

A bi-weekly seminar focusing on professional development and presentations of new research by invited scholars, faculty, and students. MA and PhD students enroll in this required non-credit course during their coursework phase. Offered every year.
Jonathan Anjaria

ANTH 398a Pre-Dissertation Research

Specific sections for individual faculty member as requested. Usually offered every semester.
Staff

ANTH 399a Comprehensive Exam

An independent study class for doctoral students focusing on the preparation and execution of the comprehensive exam. Specific sections for individual faculty members as requested. Usually offered every semester.

ANTH 399b Dissertation Proposal

An independent study class for doctoral students focusing on the preparation and execution of the dissertation proposal. Specific sections for individual faculty members as requested. Usually offered every semester.

ANTH 400d Dissertation Research

Specific sections for individual faculty member as requested. Usually offered every semester.
Staff

ANTH 26a Communication and Media
[ dl ss ]

A wide-ranging exploration of the human communicative capacity, starting with verbal and visual communicative modalities and culminating in the study of communication through mass and social media. Usually offered every second year.
Janet McIntosh

ANTH 60b Archaeological Analysis
[ dl ss wi ]

Introduces archaeological laboratory methods and analyses, emphasizing hands-on experience and research design. Students engage in practical materials analysis and research working with genuine archaeological artifacts. Course participants will build their project management skills and consider archaeological methodologies, including artifact recovery, analysis, conservation, and eventual publication. Students will also explore vital archaeological dialogues and theoretical approaches comprising the archaeological process, such as the challenges of interpreting human behavior from material remains, the ethical quandaries of cultural heritage, and the questions of who narrates and owns the past. Usually offered every second year.

Charlie Goudge

ANTH 121b Archaeology and Environment
[ dl nw ss ]

Provides an introduction to archaeological approaches to the environment. Explores how human history and prehistory have been defined by moments when political, cultural, economics, and ecological systems collide. Topics include climate change, food systems, plant and animal relations, and natural resources. Usually offered every second year.

Charlie Goudge

ANTH 124a Maritime Archaeology: The Salty Relationship Between Society and The Sea
[ dl ss ]

Provides an introduction to maritime archaeology, exploring the entangled relationships between human history, society, and the sea. Utilizing theoretical and technical methods from maritime, nautical and marine/underwater archaeology, this class will provide a practical approach to examining maritime archaeology methods and topics such as trade, boat and ship development and construction, navigation, submerged landscapes, maritime culture, climate and climate change, and legislative issues regarding underwater and coastal heritage. Usually offered every third year.
Charlie Goudge

ANTH 129a Culture in 3D: Theory, Method, and Ethics for Scanning and Printing the World
[ dl ss ]

Designed to train students in the methods needed for the successful application of 3D modeling and printing for the documentation, conservation, and dissemination of cultural patrimony. Students will acquire the technical skills and engage in the ethical debates surrounding ownership and reproduction of such patrimony. Usually offered every second year.
Charles Golden and Ian Roy

ANTH 130a Filming Culture: Ethnographic and Documentary Filmmaking
[ djw dl nw ss ]

Introduces the history, theory and production of ethnographic and documentary filmmaking. This course traces how ethnographic and culturally-inflected filmmakers have sought to depict cultural difference, social organization, and lived experiences. Students will learn the basics of non-fiction film production. Usually offered every second year.
Patricia Alvarez Astacio

ANTH 130b Visuality and Culture
[ dl ss ]

Introduces students to the study of visual, aural, and artistic media through an ethnographic lens. Course combines written and creative assignments to understand how culture shapes how we make meaning out of images and develop media literacy. Topics include ethnographic/documentary film, advertising, popular culture, viral videos and special effects, photography, art worlds, and the technological development of scientific images. Usually offered every second year.

Patricia Alvarez Astacio or Ellen Schattschneider

ANTH 137a GIS: Mapping Culture from Land, Air and Space
[ dl ss ]

An introduction to the Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sense (RS) technologies that are fundamental for mapping and analyzing spatial data. This course is grounded in  archaeological applications, but provides training and research pathways for exploring urban landscapes, environmental dynamics, and more in modern settings. No previous knowledge of GIS or RS is required. Usually offered every third year.
Charles Golden

ANTH 138a Digital Cultures
[ dl ss ]

Examines the complex and often fraught relationships between digital technologies and human cultures. By thinking through digital technology’s relationships to structures like race, gender, sexuality, class, and ability, this course helps us explore the human components in the creation, circulation, and experience of digital technologies. What this class spotlights is that though digital technologies may seem materially new and technically innovative, they are built on longstanding power relations that structure both their construction and their circulation. Involves participatory research projects and group work. Usually offered every third year.
Patricia Alvarez Astacio or Brian Horton

ANTH 145a Anthropology of the Body
[ dl ss ]

Explores a range of theories that use the body to understand society, culture, and gender. Topics include how social values and hierarchies are written in, on, and through the body; the relationship between body and gender identity; and experiences and images of the body cross-culturally. Usually offered every third year.
Staff

ANTH 156a Power and Violence: The Anthropology of Political Systems
[ deis-us dl nw ss ]

Political orders are established and maintained by varying combinations of overt violence and the more subtle workings of ideas. The course examines the relationship of coercion and consensus, and forms of resistance, in historical and contemporary settings. Usually offered every second year.
Elizabeth Ferry

ANTH 158a Urban Worlds
[ dl ss ]

Explores some of the essential concepts of urban theory and conducts an in-depth study of urban experiences around the world. Topics include the city and marginality, urban modernity, gender and public space, gentrification, suburbanization, transgression, and urban nature. Case studies may be from cities such as Mumbai, Lagos, New York, Paris, Dubai, and Rio de Janeiro. Usually offered every second year.
Jonathan Anjaria

ANTH 161a Anthropology of Infrastructure
[ dl ss ]

There's a problem with infrastructure--electricity networks, water supply systems, pipelines, ports, roads, and railroads. Most of us would agree that infrastructure should be a public thing, serve society, and allow for better life, communication, and activity. Yet infrastructures are often hidden, subterranean, and therefore prone to exploitation and hijacking. The anthropology of infrastructure aims in part at making it more visible and at deciphering the complex interaction between things, society, and politics. But anthropologists end up unearthing more than utility networks and urbanism plans. They stumble upon the very power of inanimate things to orient our experiences, from the most intimate (having sex) to the least material of them (browsing the internet). From politics to ethics and back, this course will explore our relationship to infrastructure. Usually offered every second year.
Pascal Menoret

ANTH 169a Museum Practices
[ dl ss ]

Prerequisite: Instructor permission.

Intended to give students experience in the core set of museum practices, both in the domains of collection management and curation. It is a hands-on, experiential internship that uses the extensive archaeological and ethnographic collections of the Anthropology Department (some 5000 objects) in order to train students in the proper handling and transport of artifacts, design and preparation of adequate storage conditions, maintenance of records and databases, inventorying of un-accessioned objects, photographic documentation, 3D scanning, and computerized illustration of artefacts, virtual reconstruction of fragmented objects, research on individual or sets of related objects, and the exhibition of researched materials. Usually offered every third year.

Javier Urcid

ANTH 171b Cities and Bodies: Mapping the Boston Metropolitan Trail
[ deis-us dl ss ]

Introduces urban design anthropology that takes the Boston suburbs as its prime object of investigation. Students will participate in the design of the Boston Metropolitan Trail (BMT), a projected grid of eight trails connecting sixteen bus, subway, and commuter rail stations around Boston. The BMT is an art installation that critiques and displaces the image of Boston, still dominated today by settler colonial fantasies centered on the Boston peninsula. The BMT is therefore an anti-Freedom Trail. It is also a slow transportation infrastructure that connects some of the main public transit nodes of the greater Boston area. Usually offered every third year.
Pascal Menoret

ANTH 42a Sages and Seekers: A Fieldwork Practicum in the Life Course across Generations
[ oc ]

Corequisite: ANTH 1a, ANTH 111a, ANTH 127a, ANTH 144a, ANTH 165b, ANTH 182b, or PSYC 37a. Course may be taken as a prerequisite within the past year with permission of the instructor. Yields half-course credit. Formerly offered as EL 42a.

Students participate in a 9-week Sages and Seekers program designed to bridge the generational gap between seniors and youth in order to foster the exchange of wisdom and dissolve age-related segregation. Each student also designs and carries out an individual fieldwork and/or community service project. Hands-on experiences complement concepts and questions explored through the base classes, regarding aging, gender, and generational change in socio-cultural context. Usually offered every second year.
Sarah Lamb

ANTH 61b Language in American Life
[ deis-us oc ss ]

Examines both language-in-use and ideas about language varieties in the United States from an anthropological perspective. Explores how language-in-use emerges from and builds relationships, social hierarchies, professional authority, religious experience, dimensions of identity such as gender and race, and more. Usually offered every second year.
Janet McIntosh

ANTH 62a Archaeology in Politics, Film and Public Culture
[ oc ss ]

Examines the use of archaeology in national politics, popular culture, and continued international debates revolving around issues of cultural patrimony. After a brief look at the history of the field and its inception within colonialism, this course centers on the contemporary uses of archaeology, including archaeology in totalitarian Nazi Germany and Mussolini's Italy, nationalist projects and the establishment of nation-building narratives (such as in Israel, Egypt, China and Mexico), and portrayals of archaeology in popular films and modern hoaxes. Importantly, this course also focuses on national and international laws concerning cultural objects and sites, and the ethical dilemmas of stewardship, repatriation, and looting. Usually offered every third year.
Javier Urcid

ANTH 81a Conducting Ethnographic Fieldwork: Methods and Practice of Anthropological Research
[ oc ss wi ]

Formerly offered as ANTH 181aj.

Examines principal issues in ethnographic fieldwork and analysis, including research design, data collection, and ethnographic representation. Students will develop a focused research question, design field research, and conduct supervised fieldwork in a variety of local settings. Usually offered every second year.

Staff

ANTH 114a Anthropology of the Military and Policing
[ oc ss ]

Explores cultural dimensions of military and policing organizations, including institutional, embodied, linguistic, and ritualistic instantiations of military and policing ideologies. Topics include experiences of military and police service, social and cultural dynamics in military and policing organizations, gender and LGBTQ issues, and the Human Terrain Team controversy. Usually offered every third year.

Staff

ANTH 122b We Are All Ears: The Power, Politics, and Ethics of Storytelling
[ deis-us oc ss ]

ANTH 142b Global Pandemics: History, Society, and Policy
[ nw oc ss ]

Takes a biosocial approach to pandemics like HIV/AIDS, SARS, and Ebola as shaped not simply by biology, but also by culture, economics, politics, and history. Discussion focuses on how gender, sexuality, religion, and folk practices shape pandemic situations. Usually offered every fourth year.
Elanah Uretsky

ANTH 159a Museums and Public Memory
[ oc ss ]

Explores the social and political organization of public memory, including museums, cultural villages, and memorial sites. Who has the right to determine the content and form of such institutions? Working with local community members, students will develop a collaborative exhibition project. Usually offered every second year.
Ellen Schattschneider

ANTH 164b Cancer and Community
[ djw oc ss ]

Addresses the biophysical and sociocultural dimensions of cancer: how can this dreaded disease be both alienating and associated with new forms of solidarity and social connection? We also consider how vulnerability to cancer is mediated by structures of social inequality. Usually offered every second year.
Ellen Schattschneider

ANTH 182b Applied Anthropology
[ oc ss ]

This course is about using anthropology to solve real-world problems. We will explore how anthropological research and approaches are used to address practical issues related to the environment, urban planning, government services, healthcare, cultural heritage, and user experience in industry. The course gives students the skills in using anthropological concepts and theories in a variety of settings, an understanding of the ethics of applied qualitative research and hands-on experience doing ethnographic research oriented towards solving problems. Usually offered every second year.
Jonathan Anjaria or Ellen Schattschneider

ANTH 7a Great Discoveries: Introduction to Archaeology
[ nw ss wi ]

Introduces archaeology as the anthropological study of humans in the past. Considers foundational theories and methods in archaeology and delves into the origins of great civilizations in the ancient world- Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, Africa, the Americas, and others by exploring the archaeology of economy, warfare, art, systems of power, and politics, science, and more. Usually offered every year.

Charles Golden or Charlie Goudge

ANTH 60b Archaeological Analysis
[ dl ss wi ]

Introduces archaeological laboratory methods and analyses, emphasizing hands-on experience and research design. Students engage in practical materials analysis and research working with genuine archaeological artifacts. Course participants will build their project management skills and consider archaeological methodologies, including artifact recovery, analysis, conservation, and eventual publication. Students will also explore vital archaeological dialogues and theoretical approaches comprising the archaeological process, such as the challenges of interpreting human behavior from material remains, the ethical quandaries of cultural heritage, and the questions of who narrates and owns the past. Usually offered every second year.

Charlie Goudge

ANTH 81a Conducting Ethnographic Fieldwork: Methods and Practice of Anthropological Research
[ oc ss wi ]

Formerly offered as ANTH 181aj.

Examines principal issues in ethnographic fieldwork and analysis, including research design, data collection, and ethnographic representation. Students will develop a focused research question, design field research, and conduct supervised fieldwork in a variety of local settings. Usually offered every second year.

Staff

ANTH 111a Aging in Cross-Cultural Perspective
[ djw nw ss wi ]

Examines the meanings and social arrangements given to aging in a diversity of societies, including the U.S., India, Japan and China. Key themes include: the diverse ways people envision and organize the life course, scholarly and popular models of successful aging, the medicalization of aging in the U.S., cultural perspectives on dementia, and the ways national aging policies and laws are profoundly influenced by particular cultural models. Usually offered every second year.
Sarah Lamb

ANTH 112b Bison, Berries and Banquets: The Social Archaeology of Food and Drink
[ nw ss wi ]

Some of our strongest values and beliefs -- about the cosmos, the world, other people, our culture, and ourselves -- are expressed in the ways we use, consume, think about, and talk about food. In this class, we will consider the theoretical and methodological approaches that archaeologists use to study food and eating in society from a global anthropological perspective; we will identify and analyze the material processes of food production, preparation, and consumption, the cognitive models that define our food choices, and the ways power and inequality drive global feast and famine. Usually offered every third year.
Charlie Goudge

ANTH 119a Conquests, Resistance, and Cultural Transformation in Mexico and Central America
[ djw nw ss wi ]

Examines the continuing negotiation of identity and power that were at the heart of tragedy and triumph for indigenous peoples in colonial Mexico and Central America, and which continue in the modern states of Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and Honduras. Usually offered every second year.
Charles Golden

ANTH 123b Lost Voices: The Historical Archaeology of Oppression and Exploitation
[ djw ss wi ]

Historical archaeology utilizes written records and oral traditions to contextualize places, things (cultural materials), and critical dialogues, past and present. This course introduces the primary tools and techniques historical archaeology uses to analyze past histories and material culture through a social lens, connecting archaeology with an exploration of the complex relationships between colonialism, consumerism, capitalism, slavery, race and freedom, structural racism, and the past, present, and future. Usually offered every three years.
Charlie Goudge

ANTH 131b Latin America in Ethnographic Perspective
[ djw ss wi ]

Anthropology and LACLS majors and minors have priority for enrollment.

Examines issues in contemporary Latin America and the Spanish Caribbean from the perspective of sociocultural anthropology, based primarily on books and articles drawing on long-term ethnographic research. Topics may include: the Zapatista Rebellion in Mexico; tin mining and religion in Bolivia; mortuary cannibalism in the Amazon; the role of the Virgin of Guadalupe in Mexican national identity; love and marriage among young migrants from Mexico and the United States; weaving, beauty pageants, and jokes in Guatemala; and daily life in revolutionary Cuba. Usually offered every second year.
Patricia Alvarez Astacio or Elizabeth Ferry

ANTH 144a The Anthropology of Gender
[ djw nw ss wi ]

Anthropology majors have priority for enrollment.

Explores gender, sexuality, and cultural systems from a comparative perspective. Topics may include rituals of masculinity and femininity, the vexing question of the universality of women's subordination, culturally-specific classifications of sexual orientation and gender identity, transnational feminisms, sex work, migrant labor, reproductive rights, and much more. Usually offered every year.
Sarah Lamb or Keridwen Luis

ANTH 154a Culture and Mental Illness
[ ss wi ]

Without underestimating the importance of biological causes and treatments, this course challenges the hegemony of bio-medical models in psychiatry by seeking to conceptualize emotional problems and mental illness as historically situated and culturally constructed. Examines how factors related to political circumstances, social institutions, religious belief systems, socio-economic status, and ethnic background participate in shaping forms of distress and the ways they are dealt with in various socio-cultural settings. The course will also consider alternative therapies such as art therapy, community-based treatments, and culturally specific approaches to emotional healing and accommodation. Usually offered every third year.
Ellen Schattschneider

ANTH 165b Anthropology of Death and Dying
[ djw nw ss wi ]

Explores how different societies, including our own, conceptualize death and dying. Topics include the cultural construction of death, the effects of death on the social fabric, mourning and bereavement, and medical issues relating to the end of life. Usually offered every second year.
Anita Hannig

ANTH 178b Culture, Gender and Power in East Asia
[ nw ss wi ]

Examines the role of culture in changing gender power relations in East Asia by exploring how the historical legacy of Confucianism in the region influences the impact of changes such as the constitutional proclamation of gender equality and rapid industrialization. Usually offered every third year.
Elanah Uretsky

CLAS 133a The Art and Archaeology of Ancient Greece
[ ca hum ]

Surveys the main forms and styles of Greek art and architecture from the Bronze Age through the Hellenistic period in mainland Greece and on the islands of the Aegean. Archaeological remains and ancient literary evidence help explore the relationships between culture, the visual arts, and society. Usually offered every second year.
Alexandra Ratzlaff or Staff

CLAS 134b The Art and Archaeology of Ancient Rome
[ ca hum ]

Surveys the art and architecture of the ancient Romans from the eighth century BCE to the end of the empire in Sicily, mainland Italy (with focus on Rome, Ostia, Pompeii, and Herculaneum), and in the Roman provinces. Usually offered every second year.
Staff

CLAS 144b Archaeological Ethics, Law and Cultural Heritage
[ djw hum ]

The material culture of the past is imbued with a multitude of meanings and values for different groups, often at odds with each other. This class explores the ethical and legal context of heritage as well as the conservation, protection, or stewardship of our shared human experience. Usually offered every second year.
Alexandra Ratzlaff or Staff

CLAS 156b Living and Dying in Roman and Byzantine Egypt
[ djw hum wi ]

Examines the lived experiences of the Roman and Byzantine inhabitants of Egypt from the Nile valley to the desert oases. Topics include bioarchaeology, childhood, education, religious life, papyrology, important archaeological discoveries/collections, colonial archaeology, mortuary arts, and the journey from childhood to death in antiquity. Class will visit area museums to also examine the artifactual evidence of Roman and Byzantine Egypt. Usually offered every second year.

Darlene Brooks-Hedstrom

IGS 136b Contemporary Chinese Society and Culture
[ nw ss wi ]

May not be taken for credit by students who took ANTH 136b in prior years.

Introduces students to contemporary Chinese society, with a focus on the rapid transformations that have taken place during the post-Mao era with a focus on family, gender, sexuality, migration, ethnicity, and family planning. Usually offered every third year.
Elanah Uretsky

LACLS 152a Race and Nation in the Caribbean
[ deis-us djw hum ]

The Caribbean is an emblematic site for understanding the origins of modern forms of capitalism, globalization, and trans-nationalism. In this course, we will explore how academics and people in the Caribbean deploy ideas about 'race' and 'nation' to make sense of these transformations and impacts in the region. In particular, we will discuss the founding moments of Caribbean history, including colonialism, the genocide of Native populations, the enslavement of African people, the rise of plantation economies, and the development of global networks of goods and peoples. We will also examine tourism and debt as the continuation of long- extractive colonial practices that continue to generate stark inequalities and racial hierarchies in the region. Special one-time offering, spring 2021.
Isar Godreau