16 courses with the subject ANTH, each shown exactly as we captured it from the college's catalog, with every element we hold. Where the wording looks broken, that is our reading of the catalog, not the college's text.
ANTH 100Introduction to Sociocultural Anthropology
Sociocultural anthropology is one of four subfields in anthropology. This course will emphasize sociocultural anthropology but will also briefly look at the other subfields: physical, prehistoric archaeology, and linguistics. Our main focus will be placed on family patterns, kinship relationships, political organization, economic systems, religion, the arts, and social change. Prerequisites: None. Four hours per week. Four semester hours. (GN, SS.)
Archaeology is the subdiscipline of anthropology that seeks to understand cultures of the past on the basis of their material remains. This course provides basic instruction in methods and theory in archaeology, followed by a survey of world prehistory that focuses on the development of societal complexity, as interpreted through archaeological data. Prerequisite: ANTH-100, SOC-100, or permission of the instructor. Three hours per week. Four semester hours. (SS.) ANTH/GWSS-212. Anthropology of Sexuality Sexual desires and practices are often naturalized in popular discourse, imagined as reflections of pre-cultural biological drives. In this course, we consider the cultural forces that shape these desires and practices into diverse forms across the globe. We use anthropological theories of sexuality to understand the ways in which even our most private thoughts and acts enact and/or resist cultural norms. Ethnographic readings from a range of geographic and subcultural settings provide an opportunity to explore erotic and sexual diversity in depth. Three hours per week. Four semester hours. (GN, SS.)
In this course, we will explore a number of themes central to contemporary life in Mexico, including migration; drug trafficking and related violence; tourism; race and ethnicity; gender; and agriculture. We will analyze the lived experiences of Mexicans, as presented in ethnography, in the context of local, national, and global cultures. Prerequisite: SOC-100, ANTH-100, LAS-200, or permission of the instructor. Three hours per week. Four semester hours. (GN, SS.)
Though the continents of the Americas had been peopled for over ten thousand years before Columbus’ fateful arrival in the Caribbean, there were no “Indians” in the New World before 1492. Disparate native groups, with distinctive cultures and languages lived by a diversity of subsistence methods. Agropastoralist empires with cities expanded and collapsed contemporaneously as small, mobile bands carried out their hunting-gathering lifestyles in the diverse cultural and ecological landscape of South America. All these peoples across the Atlantic would be “Indian” after European contact. For indigenous groups and individuals, however, “Indian-ness” was never a fixed category of identity. We will delve deeper than essentialist classification of indigenou ANTH/ENVS-230. Food and Culture The human need for food is a biological fact. Yet humans have a relationship with food that is at once highly intimate-requiring its ingestion into their bodies-and utterly cultural-rooted in learned processes that make obtaining, preparing, and consuming food possible. Through the lens of anthropology, this course will examine a variety of issues inspired by this human-food relationship, including hunger, inequality, gender, morality, and nationalism. Prerequisite: SOC-100, ANTH-100, or permission of the instructor. Three hours per week. Four semester hours. (GN, SS.)
(3) Two courses from the following list (or from among the remaining courses under Requirement (2)), where one of the two is either a Humanities (‘H’) or Science (‘S’) course: ANTH/HSOC-283 (‘SS’), BIO/HS-205 (‘S’), 206 (‘S’); BIO-305 (‘S’), 306 (‘S); ECON-311; ENGL-330 (‘H’); ENVS/SOC-220 (‘SS’); ENVS-332; HIST/HSOC-104 (‘H’); HIST-304 (‘H’); HS-203 (‘SS’), 334 (‘S’); NEUR-100(‘S’); 350 (‘S’); NEUR/PSYC-330 (‘S’), 332 (‘S’); POL-343 (‘SS’), 336 (‘SS’); PSYC-311, 312 (‘SS’); SPAN-119, 219 (‘H’); STAT-243W (‘S). Note: Courses marked with an asterisk (*) may be counted in semesters when the topic is approved by the coordinator. At least 12 of the 20 credits for the minor must be in addition to credits already counting toward the student’s major(s) and/or another minor. Capstone courses, special topics courses, and independent study courses may also count toward the minor when the topic is appropriate and with prior approval from the coordinator.
Human beings are culture-bearing animals but also biological ones. What effect do cultural systems have on the biological and vice versa? This course deals with this question for the evolution and adaptations of ancient and modern humans. Students in this course explore the theories of human evolution and evolutionary theory, comparing humans with our ancient precursors and our closest non-culture bearing cousins, the Great Apes, the class investigates the clues to the evolution of our own species. Students will also come to understand variation in modern humans in various climates and regions and explain how variation in biological form-skin color, body form, eye shape, variation in growth patterns, menarche, disease, sexual behavior, and “race”-is
The course will study differing conceptions of health and healing in the African subcontinent. Students will critically examine how western medicine became embedded in efforts to subdue and manage colonized peoples. The course will also study contestations over health in relation to postcolonial transformation, in particular how these contestations play out in global efforts to mediate and contain the spread of infectious diseases including AIDS, Ebola, drug resistant tuberculosis, and COVID-19. Students will gain exposure to digital archives in African settings and the Global North and create several digital projects. Prerequisites: Either ANTH-100, SOC-100, or HSOC-100; or permission of instructor. Three hours per week. Four semester hours. (GN, O,
Forensic anthropology is a distinct subfield of biological anthropology that applies the techniques of osteology and biomechanics to questions in forensic science. It is a diverse and growing field of anthropology that has practical implications for criminal justice. Class topics include human osteology, crime scene investigation, search, recovery and taphonomy of human remains, laboratory analysis, postmortem interval (or time since death), trauma analysis (cause and manner of death), and the development and application of innovative and specialized techniques. Three hours per week. Four semester hours. (SS.)
An occasional course focusing on a special topic in anthropology. Prerequisite: ANTH-100, SOC-100, or permission of the instructor. Three hours per week. Four semester hours. (Possible GN or SS, depending on the topic)
Declaring a practice to be “witchcraft”, “profane”, “superstition”, or a group to be “a cult” is often a pejorative shorthand used to label and dismiss groups and individuals who believe or behave radically differently (and therefore wrongly) from the speaker’s group. While many hold a fascination for spiritual practices from around the globe or a commitment to building cross-faith dialogue, religious-based genocide and persecution and subjugation are also present. Students gain exposure to the many universal themes of human belief and religious experience by exploring ethnographic texts from a range of cultures. We will examine themes of rites of passage, social control, sacrifice, atonement, pilgrimages, and sacred sites and landscapes through the
An opportunity for students to read about an anthropological topic of their choice. Before the course starts, the supervising faculty member must approve the student’s preliminary bibliography. A final paper is required. Prerequisite: ANTH-100, SOC-100, or permission of the instructor. Six to eight hours of reading per week. Two semester hours.
A continuation of ANTH-271. Before the course starts, the supervising faculty member must approve the student’s preliminary bibliography. A final paper is required. Prerequisite: ANTH-271. Six to eight hours of reading per week. Two semester hours.
This course will review the origins of agriculture, urban life and state level societies. Theories, processes and the archaeological evidence for changes in human economic and social organization will be discussed. The essential relationship between economy, environment and society provides the subtext for the more detailed presentation of the case studies. Readings will emphasize the Old World, but New World developments will be included for comparison. The geographic areas in which primary states developed and have been intensively studied archaeologically are the Near East (Anatolia, Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Indus Valley) and Mesoamerica. These regions will be the focus of the course, with some discussion of the emergence of state level societi ANTH/HSOC-283. Contemporary Issues in Public Health in the Yucatán Students will explore matters related to health and healing in Mexico with a particular focus on the Yucatán Peninsula and Maya peoples. This faculty-led program will enable students to receive credit for a four-credit course, as well as complete their XLP. The course offers an examination of Mexico’s medical system, structural factors that impact wellbeing in the region, and healers and healing approaches from biomedicine and indigenous traditions. Drawing on multiple academic disciplines we connect contemporary health and healing practices with national and local history, and wider transformations in global health. Topics of study include health inequity, traditional health beliefs and practices, reproductive health, mental health, and foodways and ANTH/HIST-385 Historical Archaeology Field School A four-week summer archaeology course offered in conjunction with The Speaker’s House, a non-profit that owns and is restoring the Frederick Muhlenberg house and property in Trappe, Pennsylvania. The field school course in Historical Archaeology will combine instruction in archaeological methods and theory with hands-on excavation training and experience at an important historical site. Through assigned readings and classroom discussions, on-site training and experience, and weekly laboratory study, field school students will learn historical archaeology techniques and develop the ability to identify and interpret discovered artifacts and place archaeological information within a cultural/historical framework. Six semester hours. (XLP.)
An opportunity to engage in independent empirical research on a topic of your choice. Before the course begins, the student’s faculty supervisor must approve the student’s research proposal. A final progress report is required. Prerequisite: ANSO-200. Four semester hours. (XLP.)
