ANTH

Subject

ANTH

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

through ethnographic case studies of particular societies. In the holistic approach of anthropology, the interrelations of kinship, economics, politics, and religion are stressed. Special emphasis is also placed on anthropological theo- ries of human behavior and the wide range of creative solutions to the problem of social living devised by various cultures of the world. (Staff, offered each semester)

Subject

ANTH

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

non and as a human creation. Different approaches to the analysis and study of language as a social and symbolic system are presented. Topics include the Sapir Whorf hypothesis (the idea that language determines how and what we think), the relationship between language and gender, how social forces alter the shape of language, and what HWS.EDU/CATALOGUE 88 2023 - 2024 CATALOGUE

Subject

ANTH

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

ANTH 296/AFS 296 Africa: Beyond Crisis, Poverty, and Aid

Subject

ANTH

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

Subject

ANTH

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

Subject

ANTH

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course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

Subject

ANTH

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

area greater than the USA, Europe, and China combined? Did you know that while East African merchants sailed to India and Asia, African empires in the Western Sahara were building libraries, universities, and funding the European Renaissance with caravans of gold? Or that Ethiopia is one of the oldest continuous Christian states in the world, and has preserved Biblical texts long thought lost by the rest of the world? If not, you are not alone: great minds from Hegel to Hugh Trevor-Roper pointed to their own ignorance as proof that Africa had ‘no historical part of the world.’ This course will dispel such ignorance. Using research from oral historical studies, archaeology, anthropology, and history, we will explore the great cultures and civilizations of Africa that flourished before the Colonial Period. Emphasizing Africa’s unique contributions to world history, anthropological theory, and the study of global systems. Simultaneously, we will also examine how scholarly knowledge of this period has been produced, beginning with the bias introduced by colonial-era scholars and the work of current scholars to ‘decolonize’ the work of their predeces- sors. (Clark. offered occasionally) ANTH 218 “It belongs in a museum!” Or does it? Controversy in Collecting Anthropological Objects In the famous cinematic showdown between the “archaeologist,” Dr. Indiana Jones, and an unnamed treasure hunter, Indy delivers the famous line “It belongs in a museum!” While the franchise uses archaeology as a conceit for swashbuckling ad- ventures among exotic ruins, it inadvertently hints at many contemporary questions circulating around the posses- sion and study of archaeological and ethnographic subjects. Is it right that a private collector can hoard artifacts, and how does this encourage looting and forgery? Do foreign archaeologists have any right to claim the products of past civilizations “for the world” against the wishes of their contemporary descendants? Who gets to tell the history of those people, the western “expert” or the very people whose history forms an integral part of their identity? Should museums return artifacts stolen in colonial wars? Is it okay to tum human remains into public spectacles or research subjects without their consent? (What should HWS do with the Egyptian mummy in their possession?) In this course, we will survey a number of these and other questions currently vexing many stakeholders in the world of archaeological and ethnographic museums, research institutes, and collectors. Students will learn the origins of these debates in the legacies of colonialism, racism, and academia, and together we will examine many specific case studies like the Elgin marbles and Benin bronzes. Students will then be asked to take sides in moderated debates, deploying the arguments of each side to defend their positions and negotiate with others. After the class, students will be prepared to engage in similar debates and exercise due diligence and ethical consideration in future con- tacts with historical objects, whether it be as collector/sellers, museum staff social scientists, or merely as eager museum patrons. (Clark, offered occasionally) ANTH 220 Sex Roles What do “sex,” “sexuality” and “gender” mean, and how have anthropologists dealt with these concepts? This course will explore ethnographic approaches to sexuality and gender, and the complex relations be- tween sexual and gendered practices, identities, and roles. We will focus our studies on ways that sex and sexuality have intersected with traditional anthropological concerns about the developmental process and rites of passage as related to kinship, family, and community. We will examine ethnographic studies, both US and non-US focused, to assess how cross-cultural studies of sexuality and gender have contributed to more complex understandings of these areas of human experience. A focus on ethnographic studies will be complemented by films and readings in other bodies of literature that have informed sexuality and gender studies.

Subject

ANTH

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

Subject

ANTH

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

Subject

ANTH

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

Subject

ANTH

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

knowing, and creating in diverse historical and contemporary culture/contexts. Indigenous views and practices are studied as a groundwork for interpretative and theoretical formulations about the role of Native American religion, history, culture, and language. Native American religious traditions are further comprehended as dynamic modes of survival, empowerment, and renewal in the face of Euro-American domination, past and present. Upon these under- standings, indigenous, anthropological, and Euro-American domination perspectives on religion are brought into balanced dialogue and exchange. (Anderson, offered alternate years) HWS.EDU/CATALOGUE 89 2023 - 2024 CATALOGUE

Subject

ANTH

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

Primate Order). This course provides an overview of the three major divisions of physical anthropology: anatomical and behavioral characteristics of living non-human primates; the fossil evidence for human evolution, including dis- cussion of the origins of culture as a major adaptive characteristic of humankind; and examination of human variabili- ty today, including a discussion of race. (Clark, offered alternate years) ANTH 260 Medical Anthropology This course explores the interconnected cultural, social, political, historical, and economic dimensions of illness, health, and healing in diverse human contexts. The first phase of the course involves study of the way anthropologists research and understand human practices, meanings, and experiences related to illness and medical treatment in diverse sociocultural contexts. A second facet is an inquiry into how anthropo- logically informed models and field methods can enhance biomedical approaches to knowing about and healing physical and mental illnesses. The third phase of the course is an in-depth critical analysis of the structural conditions that deny access to health care and vital resources to billions of people in the world today. Fourth, the course turns to appreciating the ways individuals and communities actively create meaning, purpose, and value in confronting suffering and structural violence. The course culminates with close study of the ways medical anthropologists today are actively addressing global and local public health inequalities by providing adaptively emerging health care programs that can comprehensively improve the lives of individuals and contribute to the long-term well-being of communities. ANTH 273 Field Methods This course considers the practice, problems, and analysis of field and library research in social and cultural anthropology. It examines the theoretical background and social and political role of ethnogra- phers, and gains an understanding of the basic skills and qualitative methods of inquiry, including participant obser- vation, interviewing, photography, life history, ethnohistory, and network and structural analysis. Students conduct research projects locally. Students must have taken at least a 100-level anthropology course, or have declared an anthropology major or minor, sociology major, or anthropology-sociology major, or have permission of the instruc- tor. Majors should plan to take this course at the earliest opportunity in order to complete their programs. (Maiale,

Subject

ANTH

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

Subject

ANTH

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

HWS.EDU/CATALOGUE 239

Subject

ANTH

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

Subject

ANTH

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

HWS.EDU/CATALOGUE 157

Subject

ANTH

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

HWS.EDU/CATALOGUE 274 2023 - 2024 CATALOGUE

Subject

ANTH

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

Subject

ANTH

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

Subject

ANTH

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

dustrialize independently, Japan now has the third largest economy in the world. This course looks at contemporary Japanese society from the perspective of cultural anthropology. In addition to considering anthropologists’ overall interpretations of Japanese culture, personality, and ways of thinking, it explores Japanese society through ethnog- raphies or in depth case studies of changing Japanese families, schools, businesses, religious groups, villages, cities, and towns. (Henry-Holland, offered alternate years) ANTH 306 Theorizing Culture This course explores the range of anthropological theory by reviewing works identi- fied with different theoretical perspectives: 19th century evolutionism, Boasian empiricism, British social anthropol- ogy, structural idealism, cultural ecology, neo-evolutionism, practice theory, and post modernism. The emphasis is on developing the student’s own ability to evaluate and use theory. Prerequisites: Several anthropology courses or permission of instructor. This is ideally a junior year course for majors and students from related fields. (offered every

Subject

ANTH

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

depictions, survival strategies and technological innovations of our early ancestors were complex and often chal- lenging. This course will introduce students to the field of ‘experimental archaeology,’ the scientific replication of HWS.EDU/CATALOGUE 90 2023 - 2024 CATALOGUE

Subject

ANTH

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

performances, and artifacts. In this course students will explore the history and development of anthropology’s relationship to visual practices, focusing on, but not limited to, photography and film, both as a mode for represent- ing culture and as a site of cultural practice. Our central goal will be to move away from concepts of objectivity or subjectivity toward the use of deeply situated spaces to investigate the making of reality. Critical theory, methods, and ethical concerns are all part of the current refashioning of visual anthropology and as such will be critical com- ponents of the class. Students must have declared an anthropology major or minor, sociology major, or anthropolo- gy-sociology major, or have permission of instructor. (Maiale, offered annually)

Subject

ANTH

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

Subject

ANTH

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

Subject

ANTH

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

with a special focus on cities viewed in their ecological and cultural contexts. Cities studied include Monte Alban, Teotihuacan, Tikal, Tula, Chichen Itza, Mayapan, Tenochtitlan, and others. The course familiarizes students with vari- ous descriptive and theoretical models of ancient urbanism and discusses the relationship between these theoret- ical models and the data from Mesoamerica (as well as the relationship between theory and research design). No prerequisites, but ANTH 102 or ANTH 206 provide helpful background. (Clark, offered alternate years)

Subject

ANTH

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

with spontaneity, novelty, and unfolding meaning. The course offers a survey of various anthropological perspec- tives on the power of individuality, interpretation, resistance, and imagination in the aesthetic process of creation. Considered are music, poetics, literature, and graphic arts in various historical and contemporary cultural contexts, with special attention to creolization and hybridization in the process of globalization. Students must have taken at least one anthropology course, or have declared a major or minor in anthropology, a major in sociology, or a major in anthropology-sociology, or have permission of the instructor. (Anderson, offered annually)

Subject

ANTH

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

(CPRs) and civic associations around the globe. These include questioning conventional assumptions about how humans manage CPRs, meaning cooperatively owned or commonly accessed environmental resources such as pas- tures, fisheries, and the earth’s atmosphere. We will also investigate how people associate in groups by studying a long celebrated thesis that declares (U.S.) Americans to be civically minded and naturally oriented toward the dem- ocratic process. Students must have declared a major or minor in anthropology, or have permission of the instructor. (Annear, offered occasionally)

Subject

ANTH

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

reproduction is so strongly associated with biology in our society, viewing it through a cultural lens poses significant challenges to some of our most basic beliefs. In this course we will examine cross-cultural representations of fertility and conception, delve deeply into comparative ethnography of reproductive practices and meanings, and analyze changes in cultural constructions of pregnancy wrought by new reproductive technologies. Topics include ultra- sound imaging, sperm and egg donation, surrogacy, frozen embryos, designer babies, and cyborgs. This seminar will approach these issues from a critical theory perspective, pursuing themes such as nature/culture, personhood, kinship, hegemony, and human rights.

Subject

ANTH

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

Subject

ANTH

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

Anthropologist Jack Goody notes that cuisine like music is not hampered by language and is able to easily cross cultural barriers. So food communicates within language and can also communicate like language. Food speaks. But what does food have to say? This course explores anthropological approaches to the study of food and cuisine. In our readings and writings, we will examine the way food is produced, prepared, exchanged and given meaning in cultures around the world. Food plays an important part in identity construction, religion, and socialization, and we will explore the communicative significance of foodways in past and present societies as expressed through sym- bols, rituals, everyday habits, and taboos. Course readings will investigate the way that cultural ideas about gender, ethnicity, national identity, class, and social value are communicated through activities such as cooking, consuming special diets, feasting, and fasting. Prerequisite: Students must have declared a major or minor in anthropology, or have permission of the instructor. (Annear, offered alternate years) HWS.EDU/CATALOGUE 91 2023 - 2024 CATALOGUE

Subject

ANTH

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

Archaeology and Physical Anthropology

Subject

ANTH

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

Subject

ANTH

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

Subject

ANTH

Credits (min)

2

Credits (max)

2

Credit unit

Credit

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

ing, critical reading, oral presentation, and media application for conveying and analyzing anthropological knowl- edge. Students will conduct original research culminating in a substantial portfolio of work. The topic will vary with the research specialization of the faculty member teaching the seminar each year. Prerequisite: Students must be senior anthropology majors or senior anthropology-sociology majors, or have permission of the instructor. (Staff, offered annually)

Subject

ANTH

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

Subject

ANTH

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

anthropology faculty advisor. Students are expected to keep a reflective journal and to produce a paper that relates their experience to more general issues in anthropology. The length and scope of the paper shall be determined in consultation with the internship faculty advisor. Internship advisor permission is required to take this course, and prior departmental approval is required for any students who wish to repeat ANTH 499. Permission of the instructor. HWS.EDU/CATALOGUE 92 2023 - 2024 CATALOGUE

Subject

ANTH

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu