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ARCHIVED 2019-2020 Undergraduate Catalog 
    
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ARCHIVED 2019-2020 Undergraduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Course Descriptions

The courses listed herein  have been approved by the faculty as authorized by the Board of Trustees.  Prerequisites (if any) and the General Education Requirement(s) which each course fulfills (if any) are noted following each course description.

Current course offerings are available in Merlin.
 

Anthropology
  

  • ANTH 145 - Language and Culture in Community: Linguistics and Cultural Anthropology

    4.00 credit hours
    An introduction to the anthropological subfields of cultural anthropology and linguistics. Consideration of human cultural and linguistic diversity. Introduction to theories that attempt to explain human cultural and linguistic diversity and commonality. Exploration of identity, economy, political life, religion, kinship, phonology, morphology, syntax, sociolinguistics, linguistic and cultural change and continuity in global context. Intensive examination of the ethnography of a particular community designated by the professor.

    Cardinal Directions Designation(s): Social Science, Global Understanding.
    iCon(s): Being Human, Experiencing Place.


    Click here for the schedule of classes.
  

  • ANTH 165 - Stones and Bones: Introduction to Archaeology and Biological Anthropology

    4.00 credit hours
    An introduction to the anthropological subfields of archaeology and biological anthropology. Concepts, principles and methods used to reconstruct human evolution, human prehistory, sequences of socio-political development and particular cultural histories. Continuity and change over long arcs of time. Humankind as a member of the primate order and contemporary human biodiversity. How human societies adapt and change and how human culture intersects with human biology and the natural environment. Case studies by instructor.

    Cardinal Directions Designation(s): Science.
    iCon(s): Being Human, Innovating Our World.


    Click here for the schedule of classes.
  

  • ANTH 235 - Field Methods: Digging in the Earth

    4.00 credit hours
    A field school on methods used in anthropology and other social sciences. Ethnographic methods including participant observation, structured observation, interview and survey. Archaeological methods including site survey, mapping and basic excavation. When offered on campus, the course examines U.S. college life. When offered abroad, the course examines life in a community designated by the instructor. Note: 20 hours of fieldwork across four projects is required for the course.

    Cardinal Directions Designation(s): Social Science, Ethical Dimensions.


    Click here for the schedule of classes.
  

  • ANTH 295 - Research Practicum

    1.00-4.00 credit hours
    Students work in collaboration with faculty on ongoing research. Activities vary according to project needs and student background, but may include ethnographic fieldwork, data coding, data entry, transcription, excavation, artifact sorting, artifact processing, statistical analysis, bibliography construction, literature review and so forth. This course is graded pass/no pass. May be taken more than once for up to four total credit hours.

    Prerequisite(s): Instructor consent.


    Click here for the schedule of classes.
  
  
  

  • ANTH 305 - Cultural Ecology

    4.00 credit hours
    (Same as: ENVI 305 .) Examines human engagements with the physical environment from early homo sapiens to the present. Topics include major adaptive strategies (foraging, horticulture, intensive agriculture, pastoralism and industrialism) and their social correlates and environmental consequences. Factors that lead to collapse of complex societies in the archaeological past. Colonial engagements and resulting resource use changes. Traditional ecological knowledge. Contemporary resource conflicts between small-scale societies, states and corporate interests.

    Prerequisite(s): One of ANTH 145 , ANTH 165   or ENVI 120 .
    Cardinal Directions Designation(s): Social Science, Global Understanding.
    iCon(s): Sustaining Our World, Innovating the World.


    Click here for the schedule of classes.
  

  • ANTH 310 - Cultural Psychology

    4.00 credit hours
    (Same as: PSYC 310 .) An examination of how definitions of culture shape knowledge about topics in psychology, such as human development, self-concept and mental illness. The focus is on psychological and anthropological approaches to studying culture.

    Prerequisite(s): PSYC 100 ; ANTH 145  or one 200-level Psychology course, excluding PSYC 293 ; Junior standing.
    Cardinal Directions Designation(s): Community Engaged Learning.


    Click here for the schedule of classes.
  

  • ANTH 315 - Applied Economic Anthropology

    4.00 credit hours
    Exploration of the application of anthropological data, methods and approaches to contemporary economic problems and challenges. Topics include poverty and marginalization, global inequality, economic development, retail anthropology, anthropology in governmental and nongovernmental agencies, anthropology and entrepreneurship, anthropology in the private sector. Requires at least 20 hours of community engaged learning in collaboration with an indigenous community development group or organization.

    Prerequisite(s): One of ANTH 145 , ANTH 165 , ECON 200  or ECON 240 .
    Cardinal Directions Designation(s): Community Engaged Learning, Writing Intensive.
    iCon(s): Challenge Inequity.


    Click here for the schedule of classes.
  

  • ANTH 325 - Indigenous Peoples, State and Order

    4.00 credit hours
    Examination of the multi-dimensional clash of cultural values, attitudes and ideologies that commonly occurs in global encounters and relationships between state systems and native peoples. Topics include: colonial expansion, genocide, ethnocide and ecocide; the emergence of “indigenous” as a globalized category of identity; movements for cultural, political, economic and ecological autonomy and state responses.

    Prerequisite(s): ANTH 145  or ANTH 165 .
    Cardinal Directions Designation(s): Social Science, Global Understanding.
    iCon(s): Challenge Inequity, Thinking Globally.


    Click here for the schedule of classes.
  

  • ANTH 332 - Forensic Anthropology

    4.00 credit hours
    Introduction to and examination of the methods and techniques used to identify and recover skeletonized human remains and establish circumstances of death. Topics include: skeletal biology; age/sex/ancestry identification; trauma and pathology evident through skeletal analysis; and the ethical concerns that arise when working with human remains in a medicolegal context.

    Prerequisite(s): ANTH 165   or BIOL 201 .
    Cardinal Directions Designation(s): Science.


    Click here for the schedule of classes.
  

  • ANTH 345 - Religion, Spirituality and Community

    4.00 credit hours
    An examination of the interplay of religion, culture and society. Special emphasis on religion and spirituality in context of social inequality. Theoretical approaches to explain religious change including revitalization theory and secularization theory. Contemporary religious diversity in the U.S. and globally. Participant observation fieldwork required for the course. Related study abroad experience offered occasionally.

    Prerequisite(s): One of ANTH 145 , SOCI 100  or RELG 100 .
    Cardinal Directions Designation(s): Social Science, Global Understanding, U.S. Power Structure.
    iCon(s): Being Human, Engaging Civic Life.


    Click here for the schedule of classes.
  

  • ANTH 352 - Law and Order in Cross-Cultural Perspective

    4.00 credit hours
    Systems of conflict resolution, resource and property rights and social control and punishment in cross-cultural perspective. Correlation of legal systems with sociopolitical organization across time and space. Examination of classic ethnography from legal anthropology and of cases of contemporary indigenous customary law systems. Development of cultural competency for criminal justice professionals. Opportunities for related field study experience offered occasionally through ANTH 445 .

    Prerequisite(s): One of ANTH 145 , PHIL 240  or SOCI 220 .
    Cardinal Directions Designation(s): Social Science, Ethical Dimensions.
    iCon(s): Engaging Civic Life.


    Click here for the schedule of classes.
  

  • ANTH 355 - Native Nations of North America: Homelands, Reservations and Urban Indian Communities

    4.00 credit hours
    The archaeology, ethnohistory and ethnography of selected indigenous nations with homelands north of Mesoamerica. Exploration of tensions among continuity and change, diversity and commonality. Examination of cultural and linguistic revitalization in response to imposed cultural and social change. Changing relationships with various landscapes that result from colonial, removal, reservation and assimilationist policies. Concentration on native nations of the upper Midwest.

    Prerequisite(s): One of ANTH 145 , ANTH 165 , HIST 114  or HIST 120 .
    Cardinal Directions Designation(s): Humanities, U.S. Power Structure.
    iCon(s): Experiencing Place, Sustaining Our World.


    Click here for the schedule of classes.
  

  • ANTH 365 - Mayas, Aztecs and Their Neighbors: Heart of the Earth

    4.00 credit hours
    The archaeology, ethnohistory and ethnography of selected indigenous nations of Mesoamerica with a special emphasis on the Aztec Empire and ancient and contemporary Maya peoples. Continuity and change, diversity and commonality among selected Mesoamerican indigenous peoples. Examination of contemporary indigenous efforts and movements for political, economic and cultural autonomy.

    Prerequisite(s): ANTH 145  and ANTH 165 .
    Cardinal Directions Designation(s): Humanities, Global Understanding.
    iCon(s): Challenging Inequity, Experiencing Place.


    Click here for the schedule of classes.
  

  • ANTH 372 - Culture, Illness and Wellness: The Anthropology of Medicine

    4.00 credit hours
    Introduces students to the subfield of Medical Anthropology. The role of disease and nutrition in understanding the archaeological record. Human adaptation to endemic diseases. Ethnomedical practitioners and their correlations to sociopolitical organization. Varied ways that peoples ascribe meaning to states of wellness and sickness. Classification of illnesses, their causes and treatments. Varied epistemologies of being well. Applied medical anthropology, including dimensions and complexities involved in caring for people from diverse cultural backgrounds.

    Prerequisite(s): ANTH 165   or BIOL 104 .
    iCon(s): Examining Health.


    Click here for the schedule of classes.
  

  • ANTH 375 - Urban Anthropology

    4.00 credit hours
    Draws on anthropological approaches, theories and methods to examine urbanism and city life across time and space. Examination of theories to explain appearance and disappearance of urbanism in the archaeological record. Contemporary urban centers and urban neighborhoods in transnational context. Extensive ethnographic field study required. Emphasis on an urban center determined by the instructor.

    Prerequisite(s): ANTH 145 , ANTH 165 , HIST 120  or SOCI 223 .
    iCon(s): Experiencing Place.


    Click here for the schedule of classes.
  

  • ANTH 380 - Music As Social Life: The Field of Ethnomusicology

    4.00 credit hours
    (Same as: MUSI 380 .) Investigates the role of music in human sociability through engagement with ethnographic readings and recordings of global music scenes and practices. Students conduct their own field research to explore hands-on the links between music and politics, religion, sexuality and many other aspects of social life.

    Prerequisite(s): One of the following: ANTH 145 , ANTH 235  or MUSI 302 .
    Cardinal Directions Designation(s): Writing Intensive.
    iCon(s): Experiencing Place.


    Click here for the schedule of classes.
  

  • ANTH 382 - “The Naked Ape:” Human Evolution

    4.00 credit hours
    Explores human evolution from the emergence of the order Primates through anatomically modern Homo sapiens. The relative importance of distinctive primate and hominin adaptive features in human evolution including bipedalism, heat regulation, cranial capacity, stereoscopic vision, prehensile hand morphology and the role of tool making in the development of early hominins. Debates regarding the classificatory relationship among various hominin species. Examples of modern human variation (malaria resistance, lactase persistence, variation in skin color) and the relevance of Evolutionary Theory to understand continued human evolution.

    Prerequisite(s): ANTH 165   or BIOL 104 .
    Cardinal Directions Designation(s): Science.
    iCon(s): Being Human.


    Click here for the schedule of classes.
  

  • ANTH 385 - Anthropology of Place

    4.00 credit hours
    The archaeology, ethnohistory, ethnography and/or linguistics of a culture area or region as designated by the instructor. An example would be Anthropology of Place: Amazonia.

    Prerequisite(s): ANTH 145  or ANTH 165 .


    Click here for the schedule of classes.
  

  • ANTH 390 - Topics in Anthropology

    4.00 credit hours
    An in-depth consideration of current topics in anthropology, such as recent developments in archaeology and ethnography, transnationalism, specific areas of applied anthropology and so forth.

    Prerequisite(s): ANTH 145  or ANTH 165 .


    Click here for the schedule of classes.
  
  
  

  • ANTH 445 - Interdisciplinary Field School

    2.00 credit hours
    Students explore topics relevant to their disciplines through fieldwork in San Miguel Totonicapn, Guatemala during May Term. Enrollment requires field school director approval. Approval of research topic and fieldwork design by professor in student’s major is required for non-anthropology majors.

    Prerequisite(s): ANTH 235 .


    Click here for the schedule of classes.
  

  • ANTH 485 - Theory and Practice in Anthropology

    4.00 credit hours
    In-depth consideration of the principal thinkers and scholars of anthropology. How anthropological theory is applied and how field data are understood through theoretical tools. Emphasis on the tension between cultural relativism and social science generalization. Substantial written assignments that incorporate data collected by the student in ANTH 295 , ANTH 445  or ANTH 499 . Intensive consideration of ethical issues.

    Prerequisite(s): SOCI 350 ; Junior or Senior Standing; Anthropology major.


    Click here for the schedule of classes.