ANTHROPOLOGY 1000
Introduction to Social/Cultural Anthropology
The history, goals, methods and ethics of anthropological inquiry; culture and social organization in comparative perspective, including gender, kinship, equality and inequality, economics and subsistence, religion, language and symbolism; anthropology and contemporary social issues.
Basic approaches to the understanding of social and cultural organization in societies of varying complexity. From a comparative perspective, students examine networks of social relations, forms of association, and standardized modes of behaviour within historically and culturally specific social practices.
Prerequisite: Anthropology 1000 or a previous course (3.0 credit hours) in Anthropology.
The historical development of ethnography as both method and textual representation. Classic and contemporary ethnographies. Ethnographic practice and writing as the products of social relations.
Prerequisite: Anthropology 1000 or a previous course (3.0 credit hours) in Anthropology.
Basic approaches to the study of language, symbols, and communication. The relation between communication and cultural context; cultural differences in the use of oral, literate and electronic media.
Prerequisite: Anthropology 1000 or a previous course (3.0 credit hours) in Anthropology.
Women and men in cross-cultural perspective, including variations in gender roles and interpersonal relations, socialization and enculturation, and access to power; gendered conceptions of self, others and the social order.
Prerequisite: Anthropology 1000 or a previous course (3.0 credit hours) in Anthropology.
17th- and 18th-Century intellectual thought about society, culture, human nature and 'the other'; central issues in the rise of professional anthropology during the 19th Century; the development of significant schools of thought in social and cultural anthropology since the turn of the century.
Prerequisites: Anthropology 2010, 2510, and two other courses (6.0 credit hours) in Anthropology.
The variety of methods and settings of anthropological research. The relationships between methodology and the production of anthropological knowledge. Shifting ethical concerns that relate to diverse power configurations between anthropologists and anthropological subjects.
Prerequisite: Anthropology 2010 or 2510.
Recommended background: Two additional courses (6.0 credit hours) in Anthropology at or above the 2000 level.
This series focuses on the use of a specific cultural area as an analytic device to interpret coherence and change in particular life styles. Each course, such as South Asia or the Andes, considers issues of theory, method and data that arise from this approach to ethnography.
Prerequisite: Anthropology 1000 or a previous course (3.0 credit hours) in Anthropology.
Authority and political processes in small-scale societies; the political dimensions of kinship, religion and other social institutions; the social organization of violence and dispute, factions and feuds; the colonial experience and political problems of emerging nations; class and ethnic conflict; analysis of legitimation, hegemony and ideology.
Prerequisite: Anthropology 2010 or 2510.
The description and analysis of kinship systems and forms of marriage; theories of incest and exogamy; bride-wealth, dowry and inheritance; kinship terminologies and kinship roles; the influence of urbanization and industrialization.
Prerequisite: Anthropology 2010 or 2510.
The phenomenon of urbanism; processes and patterns of urbanization in developing and developed countries; rural-urban migration; history, theories, methods and contemporary topical interests of the field.
Prerequisite: Anthropology 1000 or a previous course (3.0 credit hours) in Anthropology.
The cross-cultural study of human livelihood from various theoretical perspectives; the influence of social values, political constraints and environmental parameters upon economic decisions; social and cultural aspects of economic development and underdevelopment; contrasts between Western economic theory and local economic models.
Prerequisite: Anthropology 2010 or 2510.
Inter-group relations in cross-cultural and historical perspective; anthropological issues, theories and approaches concerning race and ethnic relations; class and gender as they impact on ethnicity and race; ethnicity, nationalism and processes of nation state formation; race, ethnicity and science.
Prerequisite: Anthropology 1000 or a previous course (3.0 credit hours) in Anthropology.
Religious and secular ritual from a cross-cultural perspective and anthropological theories that have been developed to explain it.
Prerequisite: Anthropology 2010 or 2510.
Folk models of disease and healing, the social roles and relationships of healers and patients, and community health care in various Western and non-Western cultures. The impact of Western medical concepts and health care on non-Western cultures.
Prerequisite: Anthropology 1000 or a previous course (3.0 credit hours) in Anthropology.
Rationality and the supernatural; limits, contradictions and transformations of belief; the social uses of beliefs such as witchcraft, spirit possession, faith healing, ritual performances and messianism; examples are drawn from Western and non-Western societies.
Prerequisite: Anthropology 1000 or a previous course (3.0 credit hours) in Anthropology or Religious Studies.
The historical development of applied anthropology; applied anthropology in developing and developed countries and the role of 'native' anthropologists; the application of anthropology to contemporary social issues; professional ethics; applied research methodologies.
Prerequisite: Anthropology 2010 or 2510.
This series highlights current trends in the anthropological analysis of cultural activities, images and beliefs, persons, groups and institutions, such as play, ritual or the family. A special emphasis is placed upon the capacity of major social forces, such as commodification, nationalism, gender or ethnic consciousness, religious inspiration or the mass media to transform life styles and experience in the modern world.
Prerequisite: Anthropology 2010 or 2510.
This series examines the influence of theory in modern anthropology, as well as the significance of the construction of theoretical models for empirical and applied analysis. Students will review a single theory or a related cluster of theories in substantial depth, and learn to present coherent and effective arguments from that point of view. Examples might include feminism, structuralism or postmodernism.
Prerequisite: Three courses (9.0 credit hours) in Anthropology.
This series develops students' methodological abilities to address the world of lived experience from an anthropological perspective. Each course requires the student to become involved in some of the complex issues which arise from particular methodologies such as field work, quantitative methods, archival research or analysis of ethnographic texts. Students will perform their own research under faculty supervision and present it for general critique by the class.
Prerequisite: Three courses (9.0 credit hours) in Anthropology.
These courses offer an intensive study of a current debate or newly developing area of interest in anthropology. Students will examine a wide range of perspectives in the debate or area in question, and consider their broader implications for the discipline of anthropology and for the human sciences as a whole. Examples might include women and development, culture as performance, symbolism, or refugees.
Prerequisite: Three courses (9.0 credit hours) in Anthropology.
This is a research-oriented course in which students will conduct fieldwork, text or library-based research, submit a report in the form of an undergraduate thesis which will be made publicly available, and report orally on the work. In consultation with their Thesis Supervisor, students will define a research problem and formulate a research plan.
Prerequisites: Fourth-year standing (a minimum of 90.0 credit hours), with a cumulative GPA of 3.30 or higher.
A minimum of eight courses (24.0 credit hours) in Anthropology.
Recommended background: Anthropology 4500.
Note: Contact hours will vary. Students should be aware that this course involves regular contact with the Thesis Supervisor as well as considerable independent work.
See Part 7 - Arts and Science, Sections 5.c. (p. 90), 6.c. (p. 92), and 7.c. (p. 93).