Section 026. This introductory course exposes and explores the structures of inquiry characteristic of anthropology and surveys the field's four subdisciplines (biological, archaeological, cultural, and linguistic anthropology), providing a first glimpse of the field's overall context, history, present status, and importance. The principal aim of the course is to help students develop a coherent view of the essential concepts, structures, and intellectual methods that typify the discipline. It stresses unifying principles that link the subdisciplines and thereby create anthropology's comprehensive, holistic world view. It teaches students various ways of learning and thinking about the world's many designs for living in time and space. It prepares them to integrate and interpret information, to evaluate conflicting claims about human nature and diversity, and to think critically. Topics covered include: the nature of culture, human genetics, evolution and the fossil record, the concept of race, primate (monkey and ape) behavior, language and culture, systems of marriage, kinship and family organization, sex and gender roles, economics, politics, and religion in global perspective, the cultural dimension of economic development and contemporary social change, and the emergence of a world system. Required readings may include an introductory text and various paperbacks. Lectures and discussion. Two objective exams (multiple choice and true or false questions) cover the two halves of the course. The second exam is given on the last day of class. There is no final exam and no term paper. Section leaders require quizzes and, perhaps, a short paper. Cost:2 WL:1,3,4 (Peters-Golden)
222. The Comparative Study of Cultures. No credit granted to those
who have completed or are enrolled in 101 or 426. Students with credit for
Anthro. 101 should elect Anthro. 327. (4). (SS).
This course explores non-western and western societies and the methods,
poetics, and politics of representing of cultural difference and historical
change. We will examine the significance of conceptions of time and space,
the role of fieldwork and archives in the formation of knowledge, the procedures
that distinguish between factual and fictional accounts, and the effects
of power in the formation of societies in the context of colonizing and
globalizing processes. Our goal is to develop a historical anthropological
perspective that will enable us to appreciate the richness of human diversity
and the human potential for transformation. Our texts will include anthropological
and historical works, fiction, films, visual art, and travel accounts. Classes
will involve lectures and discussions. Course requirements include class
participation and presentations, quizzes, and several papers and/or take-home
examinations. Cost:3 WL:3 (Coronil)
256(Biol. Anthro. 256)/NR&E 256. Culture, Adaptation, and Environment.
(3). (Excl).
This course provides an introduction to anthropological perspectives
on the relationships of human societies to their environments. The methods
and perspectives of ethnology, systems ecology and behavioral ecology will
be explored through the use of case studies. Topics include the behavioral
ecology of homo sapiens; comparative studies of foraging, tribal,
nomadic and peasant societies; ethnoscience; the management of common property
resources, and contemporary problems in resource management such as the
Green Revolution in agriculture, and the impending extinction of salmon
on Native Amercian lands in the Pacific Northwest. (Lansing)
282. Introduction to Prehistoric Archaeology. (4). (SS).
This course will combine a presentation of the techniques, methods,
and theories of anthropological archaeology with a general survey of world
prehistory. Discussion of method and theory will cover field and laboratory
techniques for acquiring information about past cultures, methods for using
that information to test ideas about past cultural organization and evolution,
and current theoretical developments in anthropological archaeology. The
survey of world prehistory will focus on four major topics: (1) the emergence
in Africa of the first proto-humans, between two and six million years ago;
(2) the appearance of the first anatomically and behaviorally "modern"
humans; (3) the origins of domesticated plants and animals and the development
of the first village farming communities; and (4) the rise of more complex
stratified "state-level" societies. The course will be oriented
as much toward students with a general curiosity and interest in the human
past as toward students who will become eventual concentrators. There will
be three one-hour lectures plus one discussion section per week. Requirements:
three in-class hourly exams and a final examination, plus 3-4 take-home
exercises that give students firsthand experience with the analysis and
interpretation of archaeological data. Required readings: Archaeology,
by David Hurst Thomas, and Images of the Past, by G. Feinman and
D. Price. Cost:3 WL:2 (Sinopoli)