DIVISION OF SOCIAL STUDIES
ANTHROPOLOGY
ANTH 101 Intro to Cultural Anthropology
Professor: M. Dominy
CRN: 91640 Distribution: A/C
Time: W F 10:30 am 12:00 pm OLIN 201
Cross-listed: CRES, MES
Adopting a crosscultural, historical and interpretive perspective we will explore the idea that anthropology is an attempt "to understand how human beings understand themselves and see their actions and behavior as in some ways the creations of those understandings." We examine the core of the anthropological approach in our conceptualization of the concept of culture as negotiated, dynamic and contested, in our method of ethnographic fieldwork and participant observation, and in our spatial and historical comparativist approach. Topics cover: subsistence and economic systems, social organization, political systems, ideological and religious systems; gender systems; the politics of nationalism and cultural identity formation; environmental transformation; and postcolonialism and the evolving world system.
ANTH 201 A Ethnography of Latin America
Professor: D. Brown
CRN: 91641 Distribution: C/D
Time: M W 1:20 pm 2:40 pm OLIN 304
Cross-listed: LAIS
of related interest: MES
This course will explore contemporary anthropological perspectives on societies and cultures of Latin America. A series of ethnographic texts will provide a lens through which we will examine such topics as the colonial encounter, constructions of gender, class and racial/ethnic identities, political mobilization, religious change, strategies of craft production and tourism, indigenous struggles for land rights, environmental conservation, urban poverty, and internal and international migration. Readings are selected to provide a range of anthropological approaches to the study of Latin American societies, from semiotic analysis of colonial texts to political economy. Texts will be drawn from the literature on Brazil, Peru, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Latin American populations in the U.S. Prerequisite: Anthropology 101 or permission of instructor.
ANTH 201 B Ethnography of West Africa
Professor: M. Bick
CRN: 91642 Distribution: C/D
Time: M W 10:30 am 12:30 pm OLIN 304
of related interest: MES
This course will begin with an exploration of the lives and cultures of the peoples of the West African countries of Sierra Leone and Liberia. Ethnographies of rural and urban life, the worlds of men and women, elites, farmers, traders and proletariats, secret societies and churches will provide an intimate sense of these countries. How this knowledge provides insights into the violent political collapse of these states constitutes the final and central question raised by this course.
ANTH 208A Anthropology & How the Victorians Put the "Others" in their Place
Professor: M. Bick
CRN: 91643 Distribution: A/C
Time: Tue Th 10:30 am 12:30 pm OLIN 304
Cross-listed: Victorian Studies
of related interest: MES
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.
ANTH 212 Historical Archaeology
Professor: C. Lindner
CRN: 91647 Distribution: C/E
Time: W 1:20 pm 2:40 pm
(Field) Tue 9:00 am 3:00 pm Field Station
Cross-listed: American Studies, CRES, History
Material remains are useful
to complement or challenge historical information written after
their time of deposition. Archaeology can also uncover transformations
of the environment that were unintentionally irresponsible or
planned to create illustrations of power over nature. We will
focus on change in the urban and rural landscapes of the Middle
Atlantic states and New England respectively. Our field project
will concentrate on ethnic diversity in domestic structures of
the Hudson Valley. Class size limited to eight for equipment and
transportation reasons.
ANTH 216 Environmental Archaeology
Professor: C. Lindner
CRN: 91648 Distribution: C/E
Time: W 2:50 pm 4:10 pm
(Field) Th 9:00 am 3:00 pm Field Station
Cross-listed: American Studies, CRES
The course focuses on cultural activities that left remains in or shaped the Hudson Valley landscape, especially the riverine area around Bard and the mountains near Woodstock. The analytic framework of physical geographer Karl Butzer enables us to examine the anthropogenic alteration undergone by the ecosystem in this millenium. From the perspective of archaeological resource management, how can future development occur in an appropriate manner? The course entails excavation at several sites to gather unusual kinds of historical information. These data will be combined with studies of local maps and texts to interpret the cultural ecology of several time periods. Students write essays on the readings and keep detailed notebooks on field activities. Class size limited to eight for equipment and transportation reasons.
ANTH 301 Seminar in Contemporary
Theory: The Anthropology of Place
Professor: M. Dominy
CRN: 91649 Distribution: LC 206
Time: F 1:30 pm 3:30 pm OLIN 301
Cross-listed: CRES
of interest: Asian, American, Gender, Irish & Celtic Studies
Drawing on cultural geography,
the anthropology of place, environmental history and political
ecology, the course explores the physical, emotional and experiential
(social, political, economic) realities places hold for their
inhabitants at particular times. We approach places not simply
as geographical locales, nor as inert containers for human activity
but as "politicized, culturally relative, historically specific,
local and multiple constructions" (Rodman 1992). We focus
our work by considering the following: How does our affective
and physical bond with a particular environment influence our
sense of identity and give meaning to our lives? What is the
relationship between the built environment and social structure?
How do people assert claims to place in the face of a landscape
sharply altered by recent growth and development and in so doing
maintain a strong sense of local identity and continuity in a
landscape to which they are deeply attached. How have rural/urban
cultural hierarchies changed over time, and how have they been
expressed in a variety of cultural mediums such as literary traditions,
popular representations, and political-economic differentials.
Finally how are localized versions of identity constructed in
and by the nation state? Concentrating on the concepts of bioregionalism,
ecologically sustainable management, and landscape and cultural
heritage preservation, the seminar draws on case studies from
alpine Europe and other mountainlands habitats such as Appalachia,
economically and politically marginalized British and American
rural cultures, and the evolution of frontier pastoral societies
(Australia, New Zealand, the United States). Particular attention
is given to case studies focusing on competing interests in public
lands and their implications for policy. Permission of instructor
required.