This course introduces students to the concepts, contributions, and methods of cultural anthropology, stressing the insights they offer into contemporary social issues, both in the US and abroad. The study examines the holistic perspective that anthropologists use in their discipline which is based primarily on the participant observation research method. The student will explore a variety of human societies and cultures around the world. Topics may include: kinship and social organization; beliefs, ritual, and religious systems; family and marriage; political and economic systems; science, technology, and digital ethnography; and systems of social stratification (race, ethnicity, gender, etc.). This course was previously SOC-282224 Introduction to Cultural Anthropology.

Attributes: Other World Civilization Gn Ed, Social Science Gen Ed, Liberal

This course examines biological (or physical) anthropology, or the evolution of the human species and the nature of contemporary human variation. To establish a framework for the study of human evolutionary biology, principles of evolutionary theory, inheritance, population biology and genetics will be examined. As humans are classified within the Order Primates, we will also study the evolution, ecology, and behavior of our closest living relatives: prosimians, monkeys and apes. Fossil evidence for human evolution will then be considered through comparisons with non-human primate ecology and evolution to reconstruct prehistoric hominid evolution.

Cross-listed with BIOL 1402.

Attributes: Natural Science Gen Ed, Liberal

Students have the opportunity to develop individualized studies with their mentor in Anthropology (ANTH). Please contact your mentor/advisor for more details.

This study utilizes applied anthropology and media arts to analyze the use of digital artifacts in online cultures. Students will explore specific topics including the role of online gaming, the impacts of Web 2.0 on modern culture and society, and the role the Internet has overall. Students will examine various forms of digitally-based artifacts and associated practices anthropologically, in order to understand the social orders and cultural assumptions that sustain them. Throughout the course we’ll be attentive to issues of gender, race and other marks of sameness and difference as they operate among humans, and between humans and machines.

Attributes: Liberal

Learn to consider food and/or drink as examples of cultural practice and cultural expression at an introductory level. Important Note: students should not include Food and Drink in Cultural Context twice in an ESC degree program. This course can only be taken once, either at the lower-level or at the upper-level. This course was previously CUL-222604 Food and Drink in Cultural Context: Introductory.

Cross-listed with CUST 2025.

Attributes: Humanities Gen Ed, Liberal

Students have the opportunity to develop individualized studies with their mentor in Anthropology (ANTH). Please contact your mentor/advisor for more details.

How do we define nature, ecology and environment? How do we understand the relationship between humans and the environment and how does this impact local and global communities? How do social structures such as race, ethnicity, gender and class influence who gets access to what? What is the role of state and governmental 'Scientific' agencies in deciding how the 'environment' is defined and responded to?

Attributes: Liberal

This course engages students in a cross cultural study of the family. If we understand kinship and family to be among the central structuring and organizing features in any society, it is clear that to understand families in any society we must also understand the society's distinctive history, culture, economy and institutions. Looking at family and kinship holistically, within the broader context of culture, this course examines the cultural construction of families and the roles of males, females, old and young within families across several different non-Western cultures. This course was previously SOC-284434 Families in Global Perspective.

Attributes: Other World Civilization Gn Ed, Liberal

This course explores an intertwined relationship between language and culture. It is designed to help students become familiar with the theory and research related to issues such as the ways in which language behavior reflects diverse cultural patterns; the role of language in the processes through which children and adolescents become members of particular groups in society; and the relationship between class, race, gender. This course was previously CUL-224364 Language and Culture. Prerequisites: Advanced writing skills.

Cross-listed with LING 3020.

Attributes: Humanities Gen Ed, Liberal

This course explores key concepts and issues pertaining to human health, illness, and medicine through an interdisciplinary perspective that includes biocultural and medical anthropology, the sociology of medicine, global public health, and other sources. It addresses issues of current interest, such as the health effects of modernization, development and globalization, the social determinants of health, the social construction of disease and suffering, the medicalization of reproduction and aging, and the formative role of cultures in health, illness and healing experiences. A holistic anthropological approach is used to discuss healing practices and experiences in several cross-cultural contexts, while taking a critical look at Western biomedicine as well. Medical practices are viewed as cultural systems and their relationships with other social domains and institutions are examined in comparative perspective. This course was previously SOC-283164 Health, Illness and Society.

Attributes: Other World Civilization Gn Ed, Liberal

Millions of people move to make their livelihood in a country that is not their birthplace; transnational migration is the movement of such people across national boundaries. Focusing on non-Western cultures, students will examine how contemporary migration affects family life both for those who migrate and for those left behind. Gender is a central feature shaping who migrates, how they migrate, and where they migrate (their destination country). Migration also changes gender relations, expectations, and intimacy among migrant men and women. In examining theories of migration, this course also considers the role of global economics in fostering and shaping contemporary mobilities. This course was previously SOC-283214 Immigration Today: Gender & Family.

Attributes: Other World Civilization Gn Ed, Liberal

This course explores the cultural and historical diversity of the Caribbean and Latin American region from pre-colonial civilizations to the present. Throughout the course we will appraise the impact of the blending of Native American, African, and European cultures in the region. Students will analyze some of the characteristics and forces (geographic, demographic, cultural, historical, etc.) that both tie these nations together, and at the same time mark them as distinct.

Attributes: Other World Civilization Gn Ed, Liberal

This course explores tourism, one of the world’s largest and fastest growing industries, from an anthropological perspective. We will examine the meanings and consequences of international tourism from both the tourist and toured/host views. Students will be exposed to diverse theories on travel, tourism and the tourist experience. The course will probe the differences among these various types of tourists and tourist sites, and analyze their impacts. Focusing on a variety of non-western cultures, we will analyze the processes of shaping and marketing culture, identity, history and nature for tourist consumption, and the implications of this growing type of global encounter. This course was previously SOC-283244 Travel and Tourism: A Critical Perspective.

Attributes: Other World Civilization Gn Ed, Liberal

This study will explore the comparative study of gender and sexuality across different non-western cultures. Topics may include how different societies define femininity and masculinity, and how work, play, language, appearance and sexual expression come to be marked as 'appropriate' or even 'natural' for women and men. The course will examine non-binary gender systems, the variations in the sexual division of labor and economic organization, and the impact of forces such as colonialism and globalization on gender issues. This course was previously SOC-283324 Sex and Gender in Cross-Cultural Perspective: Advanced.

Cross-listed with GSST 3030.

Attributes: Liberal

Biological anthropology is a subfield of the larger discipline that studies humankind as a zoological species. As biological anthropology is firmly rooted in evolutionary theory, the evolutionary biology of humans is the central focus of the course. This is an advanced study of concepts in biological anthropology including genetics, evolutionary theory, paleontology, comparative anatomy & morphology, primate biology/behavioral ecology and hominid variability provide the foundation for understanding humanity’s place in nature. Prerequisite (must complete before registering): Biology II with Lab (BIOL 1201) or Evolution & Ecology (BIOL 1400) or Intro to Biological Anthropology (BIOL 1402), or equivalent

Cross-listed with BIOL 3408.

Attributes: Liberal

Students have the opportunity to develop individualized studies with their mentor in Anthropology (ANTH). Please contact your mentor/advisor for more details.

Students have the opportunity to develop individualized studies with their mentor in Anthropology (ANTH). Please contact your mentor/advisor for more details.