Courses
FALL 2013-14 Courses
- GENERAL ANTHROPOLOGY
- ARCHAEOLOGY
- BIOANTHROPOLOGY
- LINGUISTIC ANTHROPOLOGY
- SOCIAL-CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
- COLL Critical Approaches Courses
GENERAL ANTHROPOLOGY
A107 Becoming Human: Evolution
Sept (32668)
RH 100
2:30-3:20pm MW
NEW COURSE
Above class carries N&M Distribution Credit
This course replaces Anth-A 105 Human Origins and Prehistory
This course will introduce you to the interdisciplinary science of human evolution. Paleoanthropology is a branch of anthropology which seeks to understand human uniqueness by studying the human past. The story of our past can be found in clues from a wide range of
sources -- everything from details of DNA to Ice Age art. This is why the scientific quest for human origins requires the curiosity of a philosopher coupled with the skepticism of a forensic detective.
We will begin with an introduction to evolutionary principles, and a discussion of the nature of scientific reasoning. While people often think of themselves as very different from other animals, you will discover that we can learn a lot about ourselves by studying the genes, bodies and behavior of our closest living relatives, chimpanzees and other primates, and apply this knowledge to help interpret ancient evidence. During the second half of the class we will dig into the past, to look at ancient environments, fossils and archaeological sites for the evidence revealing when and where humans first began to behave like "odd animals." When did our ancestors begin to walk upright? Where were tools and art invented? Who were the “cave men”? What do we know about the origins of language, or the roots of human bio-cultural diversity today?
Throughout the semester we will examine examples of how researchers define and compare different kinds of scientific evidence and how scientific hypotheses about human evolution can be tested with data from a variety of sources. We will look at examples of contrasting interpretations of scientific evidence for the human past, and study why some arguments have stood the tests of time, and are more convincing than others.
Sitting at the beginning of a new millennium, our goal is to help you appreciate how a knowledge of the scientific evidence of the human past is relevant to your own life, whether as a student at IU today, or as a future parent, medical patient, consumer.... or IT professional!
Lectures will include digital media presentations and discussions using interactive student response systems (clickers) to model problem-solving and help explore student understanding of difficult concepts. Weekly labs and discussions will give students the chance to examine different types of paleoanthropological evidence for themselves (e.g., casts of fossils, artifacts) and to learn about the strengths and weaknesses of each approach to interpreting our past. Weekly quizzes will be administered online, and students will also be graded on their lab exercises and several short written take-home essay assignments and projects.
E105 Culture and Society
Gilley (1079)
WH 101
10:10-11:00am MW
E105 Anthropology seeks to study the diversity of human societies in time and space, while looking for commonalities across them. In this course, our emphasis will be the sub-field of socio-cultural anthropology. Socio-cultural anthropology is the branch of anthropology that deals with the study of contemporary populations and underlying patterns of human culture derived from cultural comparison. By looking at human societies in a holistic manner, anthropology offers a series of tools for applied contemporary problems. We will see anthropologists working in the US and abroad, in villages and communities as well as in large urban centers, industries, and other settings. Important topics include cultural diversity and cultural relativism, ethnicity and race, human and environmental interaction, consumption, globalization and development. The course combines weekly lectures (2) and discussion sessions (1). We will use examples of various types of applied anthropological work. We will also learn from ethnographic films and invited speakers to share their experiences while covering their areas of expertise.
A200 Bad Language
Suslak (13892)
BH 137
02:30-03:45pm TR
Above section has Intensive Writing Credit
Clearly we have much to learn by studying the classic works of literature, most eloquent speeches and greatest wits. But what can we learn about our society by investigating its dark linguistic underbelly? How is it possible that certain strings of sounds, uttered in just the right social context, have the power to offend, hurt feelings, ruin careers and even spark wars?
This course provides a broad introduction to the field of linguistic anthropology, its key concepts, and its methods through an exploration of “bad language.” In it we investigate a range of speech types -- curses, oaths, insults, gossip, argument, taboo words, obscenities, blasphemy, slang -- and the essential roles they play in our lives. At the same time, we develop a cross-cultural perspective by comparing our own notions of what counts as bad language with ways of speaking that others cultural groups consider rude, vulgar, and even dangerous. We will also explore how different societies set standards for pronunciation, word choice, spelling, speaking and writing, how those standards are enforced, and how/why they sometimes get contested or resisted. Under this heading we consider such issues as plagiarism, libel, hate speech, and the policing of bad grammar.
A200 2012: End of World/New Age/Maya
Castaneda (33259)
BH 148
05:45-07:00pm MW
This course explores the western fascination with “the Maya,” specifically focusing on New Age spiritual appropriations of the Maya and New Age prophesies of a Maya doomsday or apocalypse. Where do these ideas of a Maya prophesy of the end of the world come from? Who believes in this and why? What does all this have to do with ethics, belief, morality, and self?
This course brings together several approaches and perspectives in order to better understand our own place in the world today. Participants should note that this course is not an archaeology course or a course on Maya archaeology or Mesoamerican civilization. This is an ethnography course that puts into historical and anthropological perspectives the 2012 phenomena. Briefly, this is the idea that according to New Age interpretations of Anthropological interpretations of Maya interpretations of calendrical interpretations of astronomical phenomena, the world is going to end on the day December 24, in the year of the current Christian calendar two thousand and twelve “After Death” of Jesus Christ.
A399 Honors Tutorial
Cook (1070)
Arranged
The Honors Tutorial (3 cr.) involves research and writing, culminating in an Honors Thesis.
A403 Introduction to Museum Studies
Kirk (6387)
MTHR 110
2:30-3:45pm TR
This course provides a general overview of the museum profession, with particular emphasis on museums in American society. The first half of the course explores the history and philosophy of museums; the second half examines museum functions.
Although the class is not restricted to students seeking careers in museums, it does serve as the first step in the training needed by aspiring museum professionals. Students who have completed the course will be prepared to enroll in more advanced course such as A408/Museum Practicum, or to take advantage of other opportunities for experience in museum work.
A406 Fieldwork in Anthropology
Tucker (1071)
Arranged
Arranged
Fieldwork designed and carried out by the student in consultation with faculty members.
A408 Museum Practicum
Jackson (1072)
Arranged
Arranged
The Museum Practicum (1-4 cr.) provides students with the opportunity to gain hands-on work experience in museums while earning academic credit through Indiana University's Department of Anthropology. Practica require prior agreement and must be arranged with museum personnel and the course instructor, Professor Jason Baird Jackson, director of the William Hammond Mathers Museum (jbj@indiana.edu or phone 812-855-6873).
Practica may be arranged at any museum. If you wish to arrange a practicum at a museum other than the Mathers Museum, you must obtain written permission from a designated supervisor at that institution. General guidelines require that you and your supervisor agree upon the number of credit hours to be awarded, the number of hours to be worked per week, and the specific work schedule. Your designated supervisor will be responsible for assessing your performance and assigning a grade. Please bring a copy of the supervisor's statement of permission to Professor Conrad when you request authorization to enroll. Students interested in arranging practica at the Mathers Museum should visit http://www.indiana.edu/~mathers/A408.pdf for detailed information regarding a specific practicum. Practica may involve collections research, conservation, education/programs, the museum store, exhibits, and photography.
To apply for a practicum at the Mathers Museum, please review the information on the website, then contact the appropriate departmental supervisor (noted at the top of each listing) to request an application and arrange an interview. Acceptance of students is limited. The required number of practicum hours worked per week at the Mathers Museum varies according to the number of credit hours of A408 the student is enrolled in, and the semester of enrollment.
A420 UGRD Teaching Practicum
Scheiber (8988)
Arranged
Students assist in preparation and implementation of undergraduate courses, especially those involving hands-on laboratory work. Students prepare materials, implement laboratory activities, and maintain educational collections. Students enrolled in A420 do not assist in grading. Students will need to contact individual faculty members directly.
A495 Individual Readings in Anthropology
A496 Field Study in Anthropology
Tucker (1073,1074)
Arranged
These courses provide opportunities for students to work on independent projects, create their own courses, and combine fieldwork, lab work, or other kinds of research in creative ways, under faculty supervision.
Individual Readings in Anthropology (1-4 cr.) allows the student to work with a particular professor on a specific topic chosen by the student and agreed to by the professor. Field Study in Anthropology (3-8 cr.) gives the student a chance to earn academic credit for work "in the field."ARCHAEOLOGY
P200 Intro to Archaeology
King (1089)
SB 150
11:15am-12:05pm MW
This course is an introduction to the methods and theories of archaeology. Archaeology is the study of human societies based on material remains left behind by people. We will explore the kinds of questions that archaeologists ask about past human societies, and the different ways that archaeologists use archaeological data to interpret social organization, subsistence, environment, architecture, trade, economic systems, interpersonal relations and political life. You will learn about the goals of archaeology as a subfield of anthropology, the development of archaeology as a scientific discipline and the wide range of methods archaeologists use to collect and analyze material remains.
Throughout the semester, we will draw on examples of archaeological research from across the globe, discuss major transitions in world history and evaluate how archaeologists reached those conclusions. Examples include the transition from hunting and gathering to sedentary lifestyles, the development of cities and complex societies, and interpretations of everyday life, identity, burial customs, and community membership. We will also discuss contemporary issues including museums, site preservation, looting, and use of the archaeological past in nation building and ethnic politics. Students should come away from this class with a solid background in how archaeologists do their work, what kinds of things we have learned and can learn about ancient human societies, and how archaeological research is relevant in our modern lives.
Students will be evaluated based on attendance, participation in discussion sections, section assignments and exams.
P240 Archaeology and the Movies
AI (33120)
SB 015
05:45-08:45pm W
The popular cinema abounds with films depicting swashbuckling characters such as Indiana Jones and Lara Croft, as well as fictionalized prehistoric and ancient people. This is a course for students who are drawn to films about archaeologists or Egyptian mummies, but who question the interpretations of ancient people and of archaeologists that the movies present. We will look at how archaeologists are depicted (usually as glamorous adventurers) and compare this with the work that archaeologists actually do. We will address modern issues such as looting, exploitation, and antiquities trade, and see how artifacts can have lives of their own. One theme that recurs in such films is the romance of discovery as archaeologists retrieve ancient materials from archaeological sites. Where does this impression derive from, and how does it compare to the actual activities of real (not reel) archaeologists?
Film producers make movies that cater to our curiosity about so-called forgotten cultures. How realistic are the interpretations that film producers present? We will examine movies that depict ancient people and places, including Egypt. Film genres include romantic comedy, drama, sci fi, and even animé. A series of e-reserve writings by and about archaeologists augment the films and provide a basis for discussion, which we will do both in class and via Oncourse discussion forums.
P310 Prehistory of Europe and Asia
Sept (29472)
SB 220
09:30-10:45am MW
Europe and Asia were first colonized almost 2 million years ago, by early members of our genus, Homo. They used simple stone tools, and seem to have been much more biologically diverse than human populations today. Through time these proto-human populations colonized and adapted to a huge range of habitats – from the dry perimeters of the Mediterranean, to the edges of northern glaciers, to the tropics of SE Asia, New Guinea and Australia. They became dependent upon increasingly sophisticated and specialized technology and more complex social organizations and settlement strategies. Ultimately many of these populations adopted modes of food production that led to the domestication of plants and animals, and urban ways of life.
This class will survey the prehistory of Europe and Asia, including Australia. We will focus on the archaeological record of the stone age, and trace cultural developments from the first colonization of different regions to the emergence of more complex, settled ways of life in the Neolithic. We will explore evidence for changing ecological, socio-economic and cultural patterns through topics such as the impact of the ice ages, the relationship of neanderthals and modern humans, paleolithic art, the origins of agriculture, trading networks, and the emergence of early urban centers. We will selectively focus on case studies of sites from different times and places, and emphasize the methodological and theoretical approaches archaeologists have used to interpret the ancient evidence.
Course readings will be extensive, and grades will be based on a combination of written assignments – assigned essays, a case-study project, and an independently researched term paper.
While there are no prerequisites for this class, students would benefit from having had an introduction to archaeology course such as P200. (Note: graduate students can enroll in P310 for graduate credit, but have a different workload and academic expectations compared to undergraduates in the course.)
P390 Geoarchaeology and Taphonomy
Hung (12674)
SB 050
04:40-06:55pm T
Geoarchaeology and taphonomy are critical for understanding how human societies interact with their diverse environmental settings. This interdisciplinary field incorporates the application of theoretical concepts and analytical methods from the earth sciences to study archaeological record. With hands-on opportunities, this course is designed to equip students with the knowledge and skill to effectively obtain and use geo-physicochemical data to study human behavior. Topics covered in this course include the dynamic processes involved in archaeological site formation, the analysis of soils and sediments relevant to archaeology, landscape evolution and paleoclimatic reconstruction, remote sensing of the physical environment, and geological sourcing of artifact proveniences.
P399 Material Culture of Early East Asian Community
Hung (11404)
SB 050
04:40am-6:55pm R
This course investigates prehistoric and early historic East Asian communities through the study of their rich material cultural remains, such as pottery, jade, bronze, textiles/silk, and porcelain, and etc. We will examine the social acts involved from the acquisition of raw material to the final abandonment of objects, with a specific focus on how objects were used to construct social relations and mark differences between individuals and groups. Data discussed in this course are primarily yielded from archaeological excavations, while students will have opportunities to study East Asian collections at the Indiana University Art museums and the Mathers museum of World Cultures.
P399 Archaeology of Religion
Alt (29495)
SB 131
02:30-03:45pm TR
Archaeological investigations often call upon religion, rites and ritual to explain the past. The saying, “if you don’t know what it is call it ritual” is in fact a common, cynical, archeological quip. In this class we investigate what a responsible archaeology of religion might look like. We will first familiarize ourselves with how anthropologists approach and understand religion and then will look at how religion can be located in the past, and what we can do to best understand the meanings of cosmological or religious principles of past peoples. In this course we will examine topics such as perspectives on religion, origins of religion, burial practices, the materiality of religion, and revitalization movements. We will utilize case studies to examine the role that religion has played in human societies from the deepest past to the present. We will investigate how important, or not important, religion might have been in the development of different societies through time. We will inquire how separable the cosmological, ritual, mythological and divine really is from the mundane. We will explore diverse religious practices, and try to historically situate those practices to evaluate how much the religious, the social and political interact to create specific histories. This course does not promote a particular point of view but rather will provide students with a broad exposure to anthropologies and archaeologies of religion.
P399 Archaeology of Sex & Gender
Pyburn (29503)
SB 050
11:15am-01:30pm M
This is a course on the human past, but it is not just a history course. Instead this is an archaeology course which means that you will be studying some history, some anthropology, and some material culture.
For much of the history of western thought, the study of people has been the study of MAN; this was not an inclusive history. Although it has always been stated that the term MANKIND refers to all people, in practice it never has. Any time women or children were actually included in a study or a history they were identified as being included. Studies purporting to investigate humans were all investigations of the lives and doings of men, or at least what people thought pertained to men. The study of MANKIND has also always been the study of heterosexual men; people of alternative gender identities were considered irrelevant or as deviations from the “norm” with no relation to the history of MANKIND.
In this class we will consider how ignorance about gender and assumptions about what it means to be a woman or a man who is gay or straight have given us a skewed picture of the human past.
Curiously, our vision of the past skewed by the bias of our present world experience is at the same time used as a justification for the way things are in the present world. The reality of the past, insofar as we can know it, is much more varied than most people realize, and the implications of this variability for what we know about ourselves as human beings and how we justify our actions in the present day are very important to consider.
We will begin with ideas about humans that come from studies of animals that have been used to recreate human ancestors. We will go on to studies of hominids (early proto-people) to see how archaeologists have envisioned our ancestors and what data they use for these purposes. We will then move through human history ending with some discussion of very early civilizations. Much of the discussion will center on the lives of women, because it is the consideration of ancient women that most easily shows what we do not really know about ancient men, ancient women and ancient people of other genders.
P399 Public Archaeology
AI (32680)
SB 050
09:30-10:45pm TR
Much recent conversation about public archaeology, heritage, archaeological heritage management, cultural resource management, and other terms referring to public archaeological practice has revealed a certain ambiguity about what the term "public archaeology" means. Is all archaeology inevitably public? Or, are there individual areas of expertise (educational, commercial, legislative, technological, political, journalistic, performative, concerned with museums, tourism, etc.) that are beginning to form a legitimate area of specialized archaeological practice, analogous to geographic, technical, temporal, and other specializations? If this is so, what are the implications of this growing specialization, both within archaeology and in terms of public awareness? Students will explore the different goals pursued under the rubric "Public Archaeology." They will also attempt to provide critical and self-reflexive assessments of what we actually do with our publics, and, perhaps more importantly, critical examinations of what this work with our publics does , in terms of archaeology as a discipline and in social life more generally. While it is true that archaeology characterized as "public" is often limited to narrow descriptions of how-tos of engaging the public, the reality is that, worldwide, practitioners of public archaeology (however they define themselves) are increasingly conducting and writing theoretically informed scholarship that goes far beyond the practical. This course will highlight the nature of this recent work in public archaeology, and will also discuss difference national and regional styles of doing public archaeology (or Heritage, CRM, etc.).
P409 Archaeological Ethics
Pyburn (29511)
AN 101
01:00-03:15pm T
This class will focus on the ethical issues raised by archaeological research. Recent political and cultural developments in the United States have lead to a spate of new laws and new ethical codes affecting archaeology as a profession. Other developed and developing nations have begun to make similar new demands on archaeologists and archaeological information. The causes of these changes, as well as the consequences, are transforming archaeology into a very new field for some archaeologists. Other archaeologists continue to productively define their field in terms of a modernist agenda that they identify with responsible science.
The class will begin with a discussion of the ethical principles developed by the Society for American Archaeology and other related societies and organizations. From this groundwork we will move to a discussion of the concept of culture, and how the critique of this concept foregrounds the ethical dilemmas of archaeological research. Next we will consider the causes and consequences of the looting of archaeological sites and the theft of artifacts. Then the class will focus on the perspective and experience of people affected by archaeological research and archaeological claims about the past, including African Americans, women, Native North Americans, and Native Central Americans. In this section we will discuss the repercussion of NAGPRA for the future of archaeology.
CLASS PROJECT
The class will choose a group project. Participants will vote on their choice at the beginning of the second class. Possibilities include:
A. Help make IU the center for ethical resources through construction of a WEB page that provides a comprehensive resource on archaeological ethics, including links to as many relevant sites and topics as possible.
B. Present a co-authored paper at the American Anthropological Association meetings in Washington, DC next year.
C. Develop a series of research projects to be used to teach undergraduates ethical principles along with regular topics of archaeological investigation, i.e. ethics with survey, stewardship with museum display, public outreach with stratigraphic recording.
D. Write a series of press releases to inform the local community about the ongoing research of archaeologists in the area, to raise awareness of the field generally.
CLASS REQUIREMENTS (no late papers!)
Attendance & participation = 40% Usually class will consist of a general discussion of readings during the first hour and a structured debate during the second hour; if you do not do the assignment and come to class you cannot participate. I will notice if you do not do the readings. You will fill out a 3 x 5 card every class with your name, the date, and the answer to a question. I will determine your participation grade by attendance and by evaluating your contribution to the discussion. Readings are listed below.
Group Project = 40% This will be democratically chosen at the start of the Thursday class (see below).
Book Review = 20% During the 2nd week a book will be assigned to each student for review, reviews will be 3 to 5 pages in length.
P425 Faunal Osteology
Scheiber (29521)
SB 025
09:30am-12:00pm MWF
This course is designed to introduce students to the method and theory of zooarchaeology, through a comprehensive practicum in archaeological faunal analysis. Zooarchaeology is the study of animal remains to help answer questions about past cultural and natural processes, and is a standard component of archaeological analyses. This course will address various topics in zooarchaeology, such as creating reference collections, vertebrate anatomy, identification of bone elements, methods of quantification, and social practices such as food sharing and preparation. Students will explore these issues through laboratory analyses, lectures, readings, and discussions. Course requirements will include bone quizzes, in-class presentations, specimen preparation, and a report based on the analysis of specimens from a North American archaeological site. The primary goal of the course is to teach students to identify bones of several larger mammal species of North America, plus other selected species. Students will be considered active researchers in the William R. Adams Zooarchaeology Laboratory. Students will conduct hands-on research on animal food remains from North American archaeological sites, process a specimens for the permanent comparative collection, and participate in several field exercises. Monday and Wednesday class periods will be divided between lecture and/or discussion and hands-on work with the collections. Friday class periods will emphasize studying for quizzes, prep work, and independent lab projects. This course carries N&M distribution credit.
P440 Archaeology of Space & Place
Alt (29529)
SB 138
11:15am-12:30pm TR
This course is intensive look at different ways of thinking about space and place. We will engage with ideas from philosophy, geography, architecture, critical theory, anthropology and more to develop understandings of how interactions of people, places and the built environment both intentionally and unintentionally create specific sensibilities. Although we will have an archaeological view point the concepts are applicable to many different consideration of the spatiality of human experience. We ask how space shapes us, and how we shape space, what are architectures of power, or what constitutes sacred spaces? Can the built environment encode inequality, or foster communalism? Can space ever really be empty?
This course is a seminar; therefore we will read widely and discuss ideas and theories. Although there will be a small lecture component, this class is specifically developed to encourage understanding through group discussion and the evaluation of the theories of space, place and architecture. We will also take a few short excursions on campus to experience the effects of place and space ourselves, and we will watch and evaluate films to put our new spatial understandings into practice. Our focus then, is on critical thinking, and the exploration of multiple points of view. This class will not tell you how to think about space, but will provide you with the foundations to develop your own framework of understanding.
Readings: PDFs available on Oncourse
BIOANTHROPOLOGY
B200 Bioanthropology
Kaestle (1077)
FA 105
12:20-01:10pm MW
B200 is an introductory course in bioanthropology. It is required for the undergraduate major in anthropology, and it is a prerequisite for many advanced courses in bioanthropology. B200 carries N&M credit toward the COAS distribution requirements. In B200 we will survey the field of bioanthropology, emphasizing the ways in which ideas about human evolution are tested using evidence from the fossil record, from living non-human primates, and from contemporary human groups. There will be an emphasis on understanding the underlying principles and science of evolution. By the end of this course, students will be able to demonstrate knowledge of basic evolutionary theory and the patterns and causes of human and nonhuman primate evolution and variation. Grades are based on four objective exams (each worth 12% of the final grade), as well as several short essays and weekly sections/laboratories, making up the remainder of your grade (a total of 52%). Exams and other assignments will be based on lectures, videos, section/laboratory activities, assignments from your textbook, and on short, article-length readings. THERE WILL BE NO MAKE-UP LABS
B200 Bioanthropology
AI (6386)
SB 131
7:00-8:15pm TR
This course is the same as the class above regarding course content; however, grading procedures assignments and text may differ.
B260 Biocultural Medical Anthropology
Wiley (32678)
MO 103
09:30-10:45am MW
In this course we will explore health and disease from a biocultural perspective, which incorporates the evolutionary, ecological, and socio-cultural context of health and disease in trying to answer the general questions: why do we get sick, and, why is there variation in risk of getting sick and getting/staying well. Our level of analysis will constantly shift from the macro-level of evolutionary theory and political economy to the micro-level of genetics and microbes to understand how these act on human biology in the production of ill health. We will be concerned with how these different types of analysis have implications for the clinical practice of medicine. A variety of health topics will be covered, including childhood, reproductive, infectious, chronic and stress-related disease. This course does require that you not be afraid of learning some basic human biology, which will be elaborated as relevant throughout the semester.
Overall Objectives: To understand the determinants of health within an evolutionary and ecological perspective and the clinical implications of such a perspective, the major sources of ill-health, the historical roots of the distribution of contemporary diseases, and how variation in social, cultural, and economic forces produces variation in disease and well-being.
This course is an excellent companion to Anthropology E260, which takes a more socio-cultural approach to health and illness.
B301 Laboratory in Bioanthropology
AI (1078)
SB 060
08:55-10:45am MW
This course is designed to provide students with an understanding of the basic research techniques used by biological anthropologists through hands-on experience and an introduction to the literature of the field. The course is divided into two main sections. The first focuses on human skeletal anatomy, and the second covers methodologies used in forensic anthropology, paleontology, primatology, human growth and development, and population genetics. This course counts for the NMNS distribution requirement.
This course is designed to provide students with an understanding of the basic research techniques used by biological anthropologists through hands-on experience and an introduction to the literature of the field. The course is divided into two main sections. The first focuses on human skeletal anatomy, and the second covers methodologies used in forensic anthropology, paleontology, primatology, human growth and development, and population genetics. This course counts for the NMNS distribution requirement.
B301 Laboratory in Bioanthropology
AI (11396)
SB060
06:50-8:40pm MW
Same as above class.
B464 Human Paleontology
Hunt (32695)
SB 332
01:00-02:15pm TR
Humans are the dominant primate on the planet now, but 20 million years ago our ape ancestors were hardly distinguishable from any of the dozen apes alive then. B464/524, Human Paleontology, aims to survey the fossil record beginning with the human lineage that survived the great ape die-off around 10 million years ago and continuing up to the present. The class will examine the course of human evolution and the evidence paleontologists bring to bear when interpreting morphology of our lineage, and the selective pressures that created it. We will examine the relevant fossils in detail, discuss basic functional anatomy and investigate the inferred behavioral ecology of fossil species. We will also study evolutionary theory, and what it can tell us about why humans evolved and why we're still evolving. In the course of learning the anatomy and chronology of critical fossils, students will learn why humans became bipedal, why we shifted from a principally vegetarian diet to one that includes animals, why we came to have large brains, and what the impact of tools and other technology has had on our bodies. B464 has four required labs and three exams, including a cumulative final exam. B524 students will be required to complete three additional labs and a term paper.
B472 Bioanthropology of Aboriginal America
Cook (29257)
SB 060
04:00-05:15pm TR
Above class approved for Intensive Writing Credit
This course will review the demography, epidemiology, and variability that physical anthropologists and other scientists have documented in New World peoples, both prehistoric and modern. Research on Indian and Inuit-Aleut peoples has shaped physical anthropology as a discipline in the Americas, and we will spend some time looking at this historical context. Probably the most interesting and consistent scientific issue throughout this history has been the isolation of the American continents from the Old World as a force in human adaptation and variation. We will examine theories of the peopling of the New World, the effects of diverse life ways on human biology, and the massive biological and social changes that followed European colonization.
B472 is an intensive writing course. We will stress clear, concise presentation of ideas in all written work. Students will gain experience in using the writing style that anthropology journals require. We will spend about 10 percent of class time discussing your written work.
Grades will be based on four papers (90%), and on participation in class discussions (10%). The first 3 papers are 5-8 page exercises aimed at developing writing and critical skills. They are worth 20% each. You may revise and resubmit any of these papers if the initial grade is B or less.
The last paper is a longer critical review worth 30%
LINGUISTIC ANTHROPOLOGY
L200 Language and Culture
Graber (13460)
SB 150
04:00-05:15pm TR
This course provides an introduction to the field of linguistic anthropology, the social scientific study of language. We will examine how the languages that people speak reflect their cultural traditions, how the use of language reproduces those traditions, how categories of language are related to categories of thought, and how linguistic variation both reflects and helps shape social categories such as gender, class, race, and ethnicity. While this is primarily a lecture course, class sessions integrate discussion, as well as individual and partnered exercises practicing the methods of linguistic anthropology. In addition to in-class examinations assessing your understanding of the material, work for the course includes brief weekly reading responses, a series of problem sets that will give you experience with the methods of formal linguistic analysis, and two short papers in which you will engage critically with readings for the course in a more structured essay format.
L310 Elementary Lakota (Sioux) Language I
Parks (29424)
SB 138
04:00-05:15pm MWF
This course is the 1st in a four-semester sequence designed to introduce students to the language and culture of an American Indian people, the Lakota (Western Sioux) of North and South Dakota. Study is designed around an introductory Lakota language textbook, weekly lessons, tape recordings, and readings on Lakota culture. The course requires both oral and written exercises (inside and outside the classroom), and will teach both speaking and reading.
The four semester sequence fulfills the COAS foreign language requirement.
L320 American Indian Languages
LeSourd (29833)
SB 138
01:00-02:15pm TR
The languages of Native North America are highly diverse, representing more than 60 distinct families. This course provides an introduction to North American languages, considering them in their cultural contexts. Topics to be covered include the classification of the languages, relationships between linguistic areas and culture areas, the relevance of linguistic relationships to hypotheses concerning the peopling of the Americas, and the oral literatures of Native American groups. Work for the course will include problems in linguistic analysis, two response papers, and midterm and final exams.
SOCIAL-CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
E101 Ecology and Society
Tucker (11398)
AC C102
04:00-05:15pm TR
What can we do to help create a sustainable world? Almost every day we hear news about degradation or pollution of the air, water, soils, forests, and other natural resources on which people and all living things depend for survival. We hear little about what can be done to mitigate or reverse these processes. This class will examine human interactions with natural resources, and explore the cultural ideas and values that shape challenges and potential for environmental, economic and social sustainability. We will take an interdisciplinary perspective to explore concrete examples from Indiana and around the world, on issues such as growing energy demands, water scarcity, waste management, soil erosion and degradation, deforestation, and changing weather patterns. Readings, films, discussion and class activities will encourage critical thinking about contradictions and conundrums related to sustainability. For example, why is it that apples grown in Indiana sometimes cost more than apples produced half a world away? Students will carry out research projects to gain an understanding of what is happening on the Indiana University campus and in Bloomington to address local environmental issues, and examine progress and shortcomings. In the process, we will endeavor to envision a sustainable world, understand the challenges, and think about ways to make wise changes. Course evaluation will be based on individual and team activities, writing exercises, exams, and regular attendance.
E200 Social and Cultural Anthropology
Buggenhagen (1086)
SB 150
02:30-03:45pm TR
This course will introduce students to cultural anthropology, which involves the study of social, cultural and historical processes in their local, comparative and global dimensions. Students will be asked to think both critically and comparatively about the ways in which we create meaning through the analysis of human institutions such as kinship, politics, economies, ritual and religion, art, race, gender, the nation and globalization. Throughout the course we will consider what anthropologists do. While historically anthropologists have engaged in fieldwork that involved the long term study of a place many anthropologists also conduct fieldwork in corporate offices, urban streets, stock market floors and in international organizations.
Classes will integrate lecture, discussion and often lively debate. Occasionally we will break into small groups as a sort of practicum where you can engage in a more in depth discussion of the issues. You will read ethnographies, the mode of anthropological writing, and conduct your own ethnographic fieldwork, the primary method in anthropology. Readings will be oriented toward a history of anthropological thought and current ethnographies, some of which will focus on Africa and globalization.
E206 Chanting Down Babylon
Sterling (29284)
BH 214
09:30-10:45am MW
"Chanting Down Babylon" explores Afro-Caribbean popular culture as political dissent, such as against colonialism and its legacies, the failures of local government, and global political and economic power. Course goals include (1) providing a broad historical, political, economic and cultural context for understanding contemporary Caribbean society. The course (2) investigates religious, musical and other forms of popular cultural production according to four themes: “Spatializing Resistance”; “‘Dictating’ Resistance”; “Voicing Resistance”; and “Writing Resistance”. The course finally considers (3) the ways in which these cultural politics play themselves out across global sites to which Afro-Caribbean peoples have immigrated. While the course primarily explores “popular culture” on a local, grassroots level, mass-media production (music, writing, film) made in and outside the region will also be considered.
E300 Photography and Ethnography
Buggenhagen (32756)
WH 009
11:15am-12:30pm TR
How has photography circulated as a medium of representation of self and others globally and historically? In this course we will consider the history of photography within the field of anthropology, as primary data, as documentation for colonial projects, evidence of fieldwork, as material objects for museum exhibitions, and as works of art. We will discuss the relationship between photography and truth, art photography, ethnographic documentation, and the social and ethical practice of taking pictures. The objective of this course is to move away from seeing photography as a European art in the service of colonialism toward an analysis of the ways in which photographers have turned their cameras on their own societies.
The course emphasizes visual as well as textual approaches to the material; and will include a variety of media including literature, films, Internet sites, exhibitions and photography with the aim of encouraging students to think critically about the media of representation and communication (art, literature, internet sites, film, exhibitions and ethnography). The course format is based on a seminar combining classic theoretical readings and ethnographic studies globally.
E321 Peoples of Mexico
Royce (11401)
SB 150
09:30-10:45am TR
Mexico: After Canada, Mexico is the United States’ most important trading partner in terms of exports and imports; After Tokyo, Mexico City is the biggest city in the world with more than 21 million people; Mexico, with 112 plus million people, ranks #eleven in the most populated countries in the world; Before the Spanish came to the New World, Mexico had three of the world’s greatest civilizations--the Maya, the Aztec, and the Zapotec, a population of about 25 million living in cities and rural areas, with trade networks that connected the entire country, arts, astronomy and mathematics, a complex calendrical system, religions and a priesthood, sophisticated laws, courts and judges; Mexico’s indigenous population today is 11% of the total and represents some 60 different groups.
Behind these facts, lie the stories of Mexico’s people--who they are, what they do, what their dreams are. We will learn about the lives of Mexicans living in the second largest city in the world. We will follow the story of the Zapatistas as they seek justice and land and we will look at similar movements of resistance and strategies for political reform. The old stories of indigenous belief, art, and survival will teach us about Mexico’s indigenous peoples. Individual stories of emigrating to El Norte will help us understand better the realities of immigration and its effect on people of both countries. Stories of ingenuity and imagination, of change and continuity, of family and community, of becoming an active partner in globalization while recognizing ancient roots--these are the paradoxes of contemporary Mexico.
Course requirements will include:
*two unannounced quizzes
* midterm examination.
*class participation
*a final examination
E322 Peoples of Brazil
Brondizio (32679)
SB 220
11:15am-12:30pm TR
Brazil is a nation of contrasts and colors, richness and poverty, diversity and unity. This introductory course aims to introduce you to contemporary Brazil by focusing on its political and economic history, geography, socio-demography and socio-cultural diversity. The course is primarily based on lectures, readings and discussions (through essay books, articles, and ethnographic accounts), while incorporating films, guest lectures, and a bit of music (as it expresses the “soul” of the Brazilian people). I expect you to leave this course with an understanding of landmark issues characterizing Brazilian history and geography, the socio-cultural diversity and daily life in contemporary Brazil, and an understanding of Brazil's current development challenges and dilemmas. Grading include class participation, mid-term and final exams.
E381 Ethnography of Family, Work, Power
Clark (29297)
LH 019
01:00-02:15pm TR
Above class approved for Intensive Writing Credit
This course teaches ethnographic analysis as a set of intellectual and practical tools students can use to define and answer questions about the implications of economic and social changes in their own lives and the world at large. Students will learn to identify and debate the patterns of loyalty, authority, and conflict established by specific relations in families and workplaces whether these are described in readings or presented in actual situations.
E382 Memory and Culture
Bahloul (29303)
SY 108
03:35-05:50pm W
In the first decade of the 20th century, Maurice Halbwachs, a disciple of Durkheim, put forward the concept of "collective memory", a direct product of the sociological reflection on "collective consciousness". In the following decades, remembrance was to be analyzed as a learned process, and as a cultural phenomenon expressed within the individual's membership in a given social group. A century later, these theoretical contributions have gained a new interest in light of the recent creation of new independent nation-states and as various forms of ethnic and national identities are thriving around the world. Collective memory is now in action in defining new social and national entities as they acquire global recognition, in peace or in armed conflicts. In this course, students will discuss the theoretical and ethnographic literature on collective memory, as it applies to recent political, social and cultural situations, and as it unfolds in diverse social and cultural formats such as written narrative, visual and audio-visual art, architecture and monuments, in private and public ritual and religion, in genealogy, national identity, and in the social experience of the body.
Requirements:
A. For undergraduate students
- Reading annotations in 4 submissions (40%)
- Research paper or fieldwork exercise (45%)
- Class attendance and participation (15%)
B. For graduate students
- Reading annotations in 4 submissions (40%)
- Fieldwork project (40%)
- Two oral presentations (20%)
Required readings:
Bahloul, J., The Architecture of Memory, Cambridge Univ. Press, 1996
Connerton, P., - How Societies Remember, Cambridge Univ. Press, 1989
- How Modernity Forgets, Cambridge University Press, 2009
Diner, Hasia, Lower East Side Memories: A Jewish Place in America, Princeton
University Press, 2000
Halbwachs, Maurice, On Collective Memory, University of Chicago Press, 1992
E387 The Ethnography of Europe
Bahloul (29311)
BH 315
01:00-02:15pm TR
In addition to being a place on the map and a large variety of peoples and cultures, Europe is also an idea, an identity and a specific historical consciousness. This seminar will explore this idea and its meaning in the development of recent national and global situations. 21st century Europe has acquired a new status in world affairs, new forms of cultural identity and a whole lot of new populations attracted by the very idea of Europe. Students will attempt to define the cultural and social boundaries of "Europe", and they will discuss such issues as regional identities, gender and the family, religion, politics, ethnicity, migration and nationalism, rural vs. urban society.
Course requirements:
A. For undergraduate students:
1. Reading annotations in 4 submissions (40%);
3. Research paper or fieldwork exercise (45%);
4. Class attendance and participation (15%).
B. For graduate students:
1. Reading annotations in 4 submissions (40%);
2. Two orals presentations (20%);
3. Research paper or fieldwork project (40%).
Required reading:
Beriss, David, 2004, Black Skins, French Voices: Caribbean Ethnicity and Activism in Urban France, Westview Press.
Herzfeld, Michael, 1997, Cultural Intimacy: Social Poetics in the Nation-State, Routledge. (Only for graduate students)
Herzfeld, Michael, 2009, Evicted from Eternity: The Restructuring of Modern Rome, U.of Chicago Press.
Mintz, Jerome R., 1997, Carnival Song and Society: Gossip, Sexuality and Creativity in Andalusia, Berg.
Parman, Susan, 1998, Europe in the Anthropological Imagination, Prentice Hall.
Silverstein, Paul, 2004, Algeria in France: Transpolitics, Race, and Nation, IU Press
E397 Peoples & Cultures of Mid East
Shahrani (29319)
SB 131
09:30-10:45am TR
The principal objective of this course is to acquaint students with the anthropological contributions to the study of the peoples and cultures of the Middle East. It is an ethnographic survey course which examines the unity and diversity of social institutions and cultural forms in contemporary Middle Eastern societies--i.e., the Arab countries of North Africa and the Near East, Israel, Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan. Topics discussed include: ecology, the rise and development of Islam and Muslim empires; traditional adaptive strategies (pastoral nomadism, rural agriculture and urban mercantilism); pre-colonial ties with Europe, consequences of colonialism, political independence and the rise of nation states; changing conceptions of tribalism, kinship, ethnicity, gender, personal and collective identities; and the consequences of modernization, oil wealth, poverty, labor migration, political conflicts and social unrest.
E421 Food and Culture
Wilk (29731)
SB 220
01:25-2:15pm MW
Discusses the political economy of food production, trade and consumption on a global basis. Gives a cross cultural and historical perspective on the development of cooking and cuisine in relationship to individual, national, and ethnic identity. Relates cuisine to modernity, migration and forms of cultural mixing and Creolization.
E436 The Politics of Marriage
Friedman (29326)
BH 245
02:30-03:45pm MW
Marriage is a topic familiar to us all. It is something we associate with adulthood and maturity, with love, and, in some cases, with family. Scholars have studied marriage as one of the major building blocks of human society, intrigued by its variation in form and content across cultures. This course will examine marriage as a political institution, one that facilitates alliances between groups, produces systems of inequality between men and women and among different classes of people, and creates exclusionary boundaries through political and legal regulation. The course will introduce students to various feminist and anthropological theories of marriage and will apply those theories to specific case studies from around the world and across time periods. We will discuss such topics as evolutionary theories of marriage, arranged marriage, the racial politics of marriage, marriage and welfare reform, marital citizenship and transnational marriages, and current legal struggles over same-sex marriage.
E455 Seminar-Medical Anthropology
Phillips (29335)
SB 050
09:30-11:45am W
The meanings of "health" and disease, and the experience of one's body, are often taken for granted. However, our ideas about and experiences of health, "dis-ease," and medicine are profoundly shaped by culture, transnational flows of people, ideas, and resources, histories of colonialism and structural inequalities, and the development of new technologies. An informed understanding of a person or group's health and illness trajectories must begin by exploring the multiple contexts-cultural, geopolitical, and socio-economic-from which those experiences are generated. In this course, students will learn to think about issues of health, disease, and medicine in cross-cultural and global terms.
Learning Objectives
After taking this course, students should be able to
1) talk about how the methods and theories of anthropology can be applied to issues of health, illness, disease, and medicine in cross-cultural contexts;
2) think and write about their own illness experiences utilizing anthropological principles and modes of analysis;
3) question accepted knowledge about mind-body dualism, medical authority, and the desirable effects of new medical technologies;
4) recognize and question social inequalities of health within the U.S. and other societies, and in students' own communities;
5) recognize the links between globalization and international public health, and the epidemiological effects of the widening gap between the "haves" and "have-nots" in global contexts.
E456 The Anthropology of Race
Sterling (29343)
BH 208
01:00-02:15pm MW
“The Anthropology of Race” explores the idea of race in cultural anthropology with focus on three main themes. First, it considers the status of this idea within anthropology and a number of other disciplines. It secondly explores the global dissemination of the idea of race and the social realities that have come to be constructed around it; this phase of the course incorporates historical and anthropological literature on Africa, Europe, Asia, the Caribbean and South America. The third concern is with exploring the uneasy play between the supposed “demise” of race as an intellectual paradigm among many social scientists and its resilient but shifting status as “fact” in society at large. The course is focused here on the West and particularly the United States, incorporating a range of social issues and interdisciplinary readings that inform, or potentially inform the anthropology of race today. In addition to anthropology, these readings will be largely drawn from sociology and cultural studies; the issues include the question of racial representation on college campuses, (re-)imaginations of racial, religious and national others in the wake of 9/11, and the production, commodification and global traffic of racial symbolization.
E460 Arts: Creativity & Collaboration
Royce (29352)
SB 138
10:10am-12:15pm F
How artists create, whether in performing, visual, or literary arts, is one of the perennial questions for anyone interested in the arts or humans at play. Relationships between technical mastery and the ability to create and innovate; the notion of "inspiration" and its origins or development; the challenge of working with someone else, especially one who does not share the same technique or background--all these have been the subject of scholarly inquiry as well as modes of exploration on the part of artists. Collaborative play or creativity is more recently examined but may be central to both the generation of new forms and ideas and a sense of communal responsibility. We will look at these concepts through the examples of the collaborative play philosophy of the Pilobolus Dance Theatre; the collaborative creative efforts of Diaghilev's Ballet Russes; the relationship of knowledge and innovation in Irish music sessions; writers' workshops; the pottery traditions of related women in the pueblos of the American Southwest; other examples that come from the interests and experience of the class participants. Wherever possible, we will observe/participate in offerings available in the Bloomington area. These will include the Lotus Music Festival, a hurdygurdy workshop, a series of events around the theme of tango including dance, music, poetry, and culture history. We will have a Visiting faculty here from the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance who will work with us on Irish music sessions and in a workshop on Irish sean-nos dance and song. Students final projects may be a research paper or a work of art in performance, literature, or visual art.
COLL Critical Approaches Courses
C104 People and Animals
Scheiber (11632)
WH 101
01:25-02:15pm MW
In this course, students explore how other cultures have addressed relationships between people and animals, using archaeology, ethnography, historical texts, and literature. We consider how people’s interactions with animals are varied and unique across cultures and through time, and how anthropologists specifically have tried to address these issues. Course topics includes food and identity; hunting and herding; domestication; pets as companions; symbolism in art and culture; use of animals as laborers, in captivity, and on display; origins of the American conservation movement; ethics of medical research; animals as pathways of disease; and human interactions with living primates. This course includes contemporary examples from across the globe, as well as historical examples in Native North America, Native South America, and Southeast Asia. The course is interdisciplinary in focus and introduces students to perspectives on human interactions with animals within anthropology, anthrozoology, archaeology, biology, zoology, history, and the humanities. Discussions sections include discussions, debates, and hands-on laboratory components. As a critical approaches class, students will ask why animal domestication occurred on some continents but not on others. They will ask why dogs are or were sacred in China, cattle in India, and primates in Bali. They will question the validity of the opinions of various stakeholders involved in American buffalo ranching and in wolf re-introduction in the contemporary western U.S. This course will be a gateway to a College education by helping first- and second-year students to understand how universities (Indiana University) organize knowledge within multiple disciplines (anthropology, history, biology, critical studies). We will help put the students in a position to choose a methodological/critical approach within different disciplinary discourses revolving around the topic of anthrozoology. For example, student will read and evaluate very different case studies. By taking methodologies from several books, students will be encouraged to emphasize commonalities and disparities across time and space in the ways people of the New World revered or honored or consumed different animal bodies.
This course will appeal to students interested in anthropology, archaeology, ethnography, ecology, conservation, zoology, animal behavior, medical sciences, and animal welfare. It is has broad appeal for anyone interested in the different ways that people and animal interact and perceive of each other in a cross-cultural context. In some cultures, there is a definite separation or boundary between people and animals and in others this boundary is more fluid. There isn’t anything inherently different about the animals, it is the human condition that leads to different scenarios involving the natural world around them. Students will gain a better appreciation of this wide diversity and be able to critically evaluate the role of animals in human societies through time and place.
Students will learn that the relationships between people and animals in any particular culture can be seen as a metaphor for the ways that people treat each other and how they relate to the world around them. They will learn about different subsistence strategies around the world, how to identify hunter-gatherers, farmers, and herders, and how to interpret the archaeological record (animal bones) to determine subsistence strategies in the past. They will see how people’s long term relationships with animals caused some animals to be domesticated thousands of years ago, a process that continues today. They will see that animals were not domesticated in all contexts, and discuss why that may be. They will discuss the benefits of animal domestication within different kinds of societies, and how to recognize if an animal has been domesticated by examining differences in behavior and morphology. They will learn that some of these domesticated animals became something more than beasts of burden or food resources, as some smaller mammals (dogs and cats) provided people with other perhaps non-tangible life benefits. The way this process happened in different cultures and with different animals will be explored in relative perspective. They will learn that there are psychological benefits to having animals around as well. They will learn that just as people in western society became less likely to see animals in the world due to industrialization and urbanism, children started playing with facsimiles of the real things (books and children toys) and visiting them in artificial surroundings (zoos). They will see the ways animals enter our lives today in shared motifs and symbols that have antecedents to the past but is also unique in contemporary society. They will discuss the role of animals in the spread and transmission of disease, and how this is a cultural as well as biological construct. They will end by considering the relationships between people and their nearest biological neighbor (non-human primates) and how these relationships may be the same or differ from other animals in the animal kingdom.
C105 Sister Species
Hunt (11417)
BH 109
09:30-10:45am TR
Sister Species: Lessons from the Chimpanzee surveys of the natural sciences by reviewing research on our closest relative, the chimpanzee. In the course of examining chimpanzee behavior, ecology, morphology, physiology, "language," intelligence, genetics and systematics we will learn how the scientific method helps us understand the natural world. Chimpanzees are a particularly informative species to anthropologists because they are far enough removed from humans that we can study them without the emotional baggage we sometimes carry when we study ourselves. At the same time, they are so closely related to us that much of what we learn about our sister species applies to us, as well. Through lectures, labs, films and writing assignments we will get an intimate look at every aspect of chimpanzee biology and behavior. Among our interests will be, why do animals use — or not use — tools? Why are animals aggressive? What are the roots of war? What is the chimpanzee body “designed” to do? How does physiology influence what chimpanzees can eat — and what's healthy to eat? Can chimpanzees use language? Do chimpanzees use of medicine? Just how different are chimpanzee bones, muscles and brains from our own? Labs and lectures will give students a detail-oriented look at these issues. Students will be encouraged to eat a chimpanzee diet for a day and to write about what they experience on that diet, and what their experiences mean for evolution. Students will keep a diary of their communication patterns and comment on the uses and meaning of language. The similarity of human and chimpanzee disease will be investigated, and students will find out how they'd fare without modern medicine. Throughout the class we will turn to research on chimpanzees to better understand of all of nature — including ourselves.
C105 Biology & Culture of Women's Bodies
Vitzthum (32992)
MY 130
02:30-03:20pm MW
As members of the same species, all human females share a similar morphology and physiology. But similarity is not identity. This course considers the extent and causes of variation among women and across populations in biological form and functioning from menarche through menopause, and the consequences of this variation for women's health and well being. Students gain a solid foundation in the physiology of women's bodies and an appreciation of the influence of cultural traditions and practices in modifying biology and shaping a woman's experience of her own body. Specific topics include the roles of diet (especially fat intake) and eating disorders, activity patterns and exercise, breastfeeding, religion, mass media, sexuality, poverty, violence, and medical practices in women's biology and health.
