CRN |
94261 |
Distribution |
A/C |
Course No. |
ANTH 101 |
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Title |
Introduction to Cultural Anthropology |
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Professor |
Alan Klima |
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Schedule |
Tu Th 1:30 pm - 2:50 pm OLIN 201 |
A course in "culture," or, the social power of imagination. This course will trace the historical development of anthropological theories and visual studies of culture from the Nineteenth Century to the present, with special emphasis on how the concept of culture functions critically in understanding group and personal symbolism, in understanding different economic systems, and how culture effects understandings of race, gender, and sexuality. The course begins with basic analytical readings on the relation of language to the cultural construction of reality. This sets the framework for understanding how culture studies can function to unsettle certainties and provide a basic method for critical thinking and reflection. Visual anthropology and ethnographic film will be explored for the additional dimensions in method which they may provide. Then, we look at the political meaning of "culture" in relation to the historical encounter between Euro-America and its "others." We will examine the interplay between the representation of selves and cultural others within inter-cultural spheres of exchange, particularly tourism and representational media, which share certain characteristics with anthropology itself. Finally, we examine the cultural construction of gender and sexuality and explore the limits of human imagination in the study and performance of these... "things."
CRN |
94538 |
Distribution |
A/C |
Course No. |
ANTH 111 |
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Title |
Field Methods in Archaeology |
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Professor |
Chris Lindner |
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Schedule |
Fri 9:00 am - 3:00 pm Field Station & Grouse Bluff site, and as needed |
Cross-listed: American Studies, CRES
This course concentrates on excavation and initial lab procedures used in archaeology. We continue the long-term dig at Grouse Bluff, the 7,000-year-old site overlooking the Hudson in Bard's woods, focusing on hearths and pits--areas that have indications of the use of fire for cooking or some other purpose. Two digging techniques are emphasized: stratigraphy and small-scale cartography. The fieldwork involves painstaking measurements. These data permit study of the distribution of debris throughout the site, description of deposit formation over time, and comparison with other sites. Such methods increase the strength of inferences about the activities that took place and their roles in the evolution of cultural ecosystems in our area. The excavation and lab sessions take place for six hours on Fridays, with a break for discussion of readings over lunch. Participants will devote additional time to an on-going project in the local schools, training young students in archaeological techniques at the excavation and in their classrooms. Enrollment limited to eight, by permission.
CRN |
94535 |
Distribution |
B/C |
Course No. |
ANTH 115 |
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Title |
Introduction to Linguistics |
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Professor |
Paul Manning |
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Schedule |
Mon Wed 1:30 pm - 2:50 pm LC 115 |
A broad introduction to linguistics, the study of language, this course provides sufficient background in the various aspects of the discipline to enable students to pursue more specialized courses and to read independently in the field. The course employs readings and empirical problems in a wide range of the world's languages. Topics introduced include the nature of language and the aims of linguistic description; historical linguistics; phonetics, phonology, morphology, and syntax, among other topics.
CRN |
94278 |
Distribution |
C/D |
Course No. |
ANTH 201 |
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Title |
Ethnography of Brazil |
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Professor |
Diana Brown |
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Schedule |
Mon Wed 3:00 pm - 4:20 pm OLIN 204 |
Cross-listed: AADS
Related interest: Gender Studies
This course will approach the understanding of contemporary Brazil through a focus on issues of identity. We will explore how Brazilian and non-Brazilian anthropologists and other writers have constructed identities for Brazil as a nation and have created and debated the identities of particular segments of its population. Close attention will be given to the location and positioning of the authors of these accounts. Beginning with representations of Brazil's national identity at significant moments in its history, we will then consider specific identities -- of region, class, gender, race, ethnicity, and religion. Ethnographies and other texts will examine identity within the context of the struggles of indigenous Amazonian peoples, the experiences of affluent and impoverished urban dwellers in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, discussions of Brazil's much debated racial situation, practitioners of its vital Catholic, Afro-Brazilian and Protestant religious milieu, participation in national rituals such as soccer and Carnaval, and within Brazilian immigrant communities. Ethnographies will be selected to provide a variety of theoretical approaches, and will be supplemented by an evening film program. Prerequisite: Anthropology 101 or permission of the instructor.
CRN |
94318 |
Distribution |
A/C |
Course No. |
ANTH 208A |
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Title |
History of Anthropology: Anthropology and How the Victorians Put the "Others" in Their Place |
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Professor |
Mario Bick |
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Schedule |
Mon Wed 10:00 am - 11:20 am OLIN 304 |
Cross-listed: Victorian Studies
Confronted by their sudden control of much of the world, Europeans and Americans in the nineteenth century sought to both know and understand the subordinated and exotic "other." Anthropology developed in the nineteenth century primarily to provide such an understanding. This course will explore how the Victorians sought to know the "other" through ethnographic, missionary, government and travel encounters, through the science of race, through the objects of archaeology and museum collections, and through photography. How the "other" was then related to the Europeans will be examined within the framework of evolutionary and diffusionary theories.
CRN |
94536 |
Distribution |
C |
Course No. |
ANTH 225 |
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Title |
Culture, Colonialism and Imperial Peripheries |
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Professor |
Paul Manning |
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Schedule |
Tu Th 1:30 pm - 2:50 pm OLIN 305 |
Using a mixture of literary, ethnographic and historical sources, this course will explore two very different colonial encounters, British colonialism (especially in India and Egypt) and Tsarist colonialism (in the Caucasus, Siberia and Central Asia). This comparison of colonialisms will access the significance of important differences between the nature of the colonizers (a central European power, Britain, versus an Eurasian power, the Tsarist empire) and especially the paradoxical position of the Tsarist empire representing 'colonized' Asia to a colonizing Europe (Britain) and at the same time representing 'colonizing' Europe to its own colonies in Asia. The British colonial experience will be introduced primarily as a exemplary model for comparison with a detailed exploration of the neglected 'derivative' colonial experience of the Tsarist empire. We will explore differences the ethnographic and literary depiction of diverse and neglected regions of Asia under Tsarist rule, such as Crimea, Central Asia, Siberia and the Caucasus, including the colonial origins of many current ethnic and religious conflicts in regions like Chechnya, Armenia, Azerbaijan, among others. Particular attention will be paid to the varying local cultural and social consequences of differing imperial policies in each region, ranging from co-optation of local elites to mass deportations of entire populations, as well as the Islam under Tsarism, the Ottoman slave trade, and the rise of colonial and post-colonial elites and discourses of resistance to colonialism both before and after the Russian revolution.
CRN |
94537 |
Distribution |
C |
Course No. |
ANTH 317 |
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Title |
Traditional Oratory and Practice |
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Professor |
Paul Manning |
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Schedule |
Wed 10:30 am - 12:50 pm LC 115 |
This course will survey the relationship between the forms and functions of discourse in traditional society, paying special attention to the intimate relationship between poetry and persuasion in many kinds of traditional oratory, especially that found in 'segmentary' political systems, but also in gendered poetic genres such as death laments in the Mediterranean region. We will attempt to address not only the questions of 'how', but also 'why', poetic form is often associated both with political persuasiveness and issues of power in such societies. The course will serve as a broad introduction to anthropological approaches to poetics and oratory more generally. The course
will have as its particular ethnographic focus the relationship between poetics and persuasion, power, and gender, in a number of recent Middle Eastern and Mediterranean ethnographies (with examples drawn from elsewhere as
appropriate).
CRN |
94458 |
Distribution |
C |
Course No. |
ANTH 323 |
||
Title |
Colonial Evangelization and Native Responses in Central Mexico and Peru |
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Professor |
David Tavarez |
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Schedule |
Tu 1:30 pm - 3:50 pm OLIN 303 |
Cross-listed: LAIS
This seminar is designed as a forum for the analysis and discussion of recent ethno-historical and anthropological scholarship about the evangelization of colonial subjects, with a regional emphasis in Central Mexico and the Andes. Using a comparative approach to the study of colonial evangelization projects, this course will examine native responses to such projects, ecclesiastical attempts to eliminate what was seen as idolatry, and the dynamics of conversion to Christianity. The theoretically-oriented readings will range from Evans-Pritchard and Tambiah to works by the Comaroffs and Rafael. For the sake of weekly discussions, students will be divided into Groups A and B. During discussion, Group A will pose several questions about the assigned readings, and Group B will provide answers before we all proceed to a broader discussion. Group A and B will alternate their roles every other week. Students will also complete a critical review of one of the reading assignments, and a research paper. While no Spanish reading knowledge is expected, students who read Spanish will be encouraged to use original primary sources.
CRN |
94260 |
Distribution |
A/C |
Course No. |
ANTH 342 |
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Title |
Multimedia and Social Science Workshop |
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Professor |
Alan Klima |
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Schedule |
Wed 1:30 pm - 3:50 pm HNDRSN 106 LAB: Mon 1:30 pm - 3:30 pm HNDRSN 106 |
Cross-listed: Integrated Arts
This course will explore methods for using multimedia to enhance visual literacy in the social sciences, with emphases both on "reading" and "writing." The course will survey methods of composition in varied genres of public media. With digital editing, and perhaps also web building, the class will practice using and reversing those methods through original re-compositions. These skills will then be applied to the conduct of visual ethnographic investigations. Taking a cue from Walter Benjamin's "Arcades Project" and its precursors, the class will articulate what it means to think, investigate, and comment in the medium of imagery and with the ethical and political aspirations of social theory. Readings will be drawn from theories of vision and modernity, public culture, and ethnographic film. Limit 10, with priority for moderated social studies students and integrated arts students.