Anthropology (ANTH)

An exploration of significant questions and integrative concepts in Anthropology, their grounding in the process of scientific discovery and application, and their broader relevance to society. Designed for first-year students. Although topics vary, the courses also seek to improve students’ communication skills beyond the written word.

An exploration of a specific topic in Anthropology. A grade of C- or better fulfills the COLL 150 requirement. Although topics vary, the courses emphasize academic writing skills, reading and analysis of texts, and discussion.

Anthropology aims to be the holistic, comparative study of human being. In its American configuration, anthropology combines a variety of archaeological, text-analytic, and ethnographic methods that can be used to inquire human social life in virtually any historical and geographic context that we can gather evidence about. This means that anthropology is well situated for providing multifaceted, long-range insights into a wide range of social problems. It also means that self-reflexivity-in other words, the development of awareness of one’s own self and society-is built into the discipline. This course aims to demonstrate what it means to apply anthropological perspectives to some pressing contemporary problems, both globally and in the U.S. context. Our hope is that you emerge from this course with a richer understanding of these problems, a solid overview of anthropology as an academic discipline, and the ability to apply anthropological perspectives to the problems that you encounter beyond this course in a thoughtful way.

Discussion section for ANTH 200

An introduction to the concepts and methods used to understand past societies through their material remains.

An introduction to the study of contemporary human societies and cultures, using anthropological concepts and principles, and focusing on ecology, economic relations, marriage, kinship, politics, law, and religion.

How do biological anthropologists study our own species? This course looks at data and theory on evolution of monkeys, apes, human ancestors, and humans. Origins of bipedalism, technology, language, and religion, and anthropological views on race and human variation, are discussed.

This course, designed to introduce students to the ways in which Anthropological theory and practice intersect with the study of language. Students will conduct fieldwork, work in groups on field-based projects and read model research in the fields to gain a comprehension of the critical role that language plays in cultural beliefs and behavior.

An introduction to archaeological field and laboratory methods through participation in a field archaeological project.  Archaeological survey and mapping, excavation techniques, data collection and recording, artifact processing and analysis and related topics.

Students will be introduced to the history, political experience, cultural, social organization, and artistic expression of indigenous peoples of the western hemisphere. Special attention will be given to issues of sovereignty, self-determination and environmental concerns of Native communities. The course will employ methods and materials from both anthropology, history, film studies and art history.

This seminar addresses the historical development of anthropology and explores major theories, including structural-functionalism, structuralism, cultural ecology, and symbolic anthropology. The position of anthropology and its distinctive contributions within the social sciences will be emphasized.

Starting from premise that the division between “method” and “theory” is an artificial convention, this class explores the nexus between archaeological practice and the interpretive frames driving contemporary archaeology. We focus our attention on the points in the research process where the interpretive frames of social theory meet the often messy and convoluted results of archaeological investigation. The class includes a mix of reading, lecture, student presentations, discussion, and in-class exercises. The in-class exercises allow students to gain practical laboratory experience. Class meetings will typically be organized around thematic topics, such as chronology, geoarchaeology, paleo-diets, and archaeology of war and violence. Hands on lab projects and analysis of datasets will provide you with analytical skills and experience in archaeological field and laboratory analysis. Most of the assigned readings will be written by professional archaeologists for other professional archaeologists. Some are written in the opaque, jargon-laden prose of academia. We will discuss strategies for reading this material which will (hopefully) allow you to hone the skills necessary for understanding challenging, technical discussions.

The 'Anthropocene' is a word that has gained traction in contemporary conversations about the severe problems that threaten life on earth— including environmental decay, atmospheric toxicity, fossil fuel extraction, sustainable living, and global warming— pointing to the irreversible effects of human activities to our planet's existence. This course interrogates the category of the 'Anthropocene': What debates surround it? What are its conceptual and political stakes? What does it say about our notions of 'nature', agency, and accountability? What does anthropological analysis contribute to these conversations? As we engage with the term, we will examine its intersection with a host of related conversations: about temporality, race, gender, poverty, sovereignty and the security-state, the atomic age, late industrialism, as well as environmental disasters.

This course traces the ways anthropologists have studied gender and sexuality in societies around the world and at home, looking at how their findings have contributed to and problematized wider societal understandings of gender and sexuality. The course begins by discussing different perspectives on sex, gender, and sexuality, highlighting the advantages of an anthropologically-oriented approach. With this disciplinary framing built into the course, it is not necessary for students to have taken the Introduction to Cultural Anthropology course as a prerequisite. In order to understand the complexities of sex, gender, and sexuality, this course draws upon black feminist and postcolonial perspectives and centers questions about difference, equity, and justice. We will consider cases from the United States and globally in order to understand how race, class, gender, sex, and sexuality are constructed, experienced, and contested both historically and today. Throughout the course, we will prioritize critical analyses of power, privilege, and inequality.

An introduction to the problem of social order and meaning through a consideration of kinship, social organization, ritual and symbolism. The course focuses on anthropological theories useful for describing the way kinship, gender, and age may be used to organize economic, political, and social institutions.

This course explores the centrality of uneven structures of global power, like colonialism & capitalism, in the making of the modern world. It aims to explore the complex (un)intended consequences of colonial encounters and the effects of conquest and slavery on indigenous and black experiences. Moreover, this course interrogates the enduring legacies these processes have left on our present. To ground these inquiries historically and geographically, this class tackles colonization, slavery, and the emergence of the Atlantic world.

The archaeology of the era since the beginning of exploration by Europeans of the non-European world with major emphasis upon North America. The domestic, industrial and military past of the 17th- 19th centuries will be examined from an anthropological viewpoint through archaeological and documentary evidence.

This course explores our understanding of the place of people in the environment and the role environmental variables play in archaeological models of cultural change. The course consists of three sections: history of environmental studies and social theory, methodologies used to study the environment, and specific case studies of the dynamics of human-environmental relationships from an archaeological perspective.

For many of us, movement is so inherent to our human experience that we take it for granted. "Movement/Mobility/Migration" is a seminar in which we aim to reveal and challenge the assumptions we associate with movement. We examine how anthropologists, historians, philosophers, physicists, artists, and scholars in interdisciplinary fields such as disability studies and indigenous studies have examined movement both as a practice that humans and nonhumans do(or are limited in doing) and also as a concept that we construct. As a practice, we will consider various forms of small and large-scale movement, including migration, pilgrimage, dance, trade, and navigation. As a concept, we will examine both the qualities associated with movement, such as dynamism, fluidity, flexibility, ephemerality, impermanence, rootlessness, vagrancy, etc. and also how these qualities are constructed as positive and/or negative depending on the socio-political, cultural, and historical context.

According to Michel Foucault, our era’s fundamental preoccupation is space (1998 [1967]). Space and spatial practice are key themes in the study of modernity and the academic disciplines of anthropology, sociology, and geography, for example, have been central in driving these research efforts. This course adopts a multidisciplinary perspective to construct a theoretical understanding of alternate, often insurgent, social geographies. Instead of simply focusing on insurgent geographies practiced during extreme conditions or at the “margins” of governmental reach, we will examine divergent and sustainable spatial modalities practiced in everyday life. This course considers how these spatial practices map onto, shadow, and/or challenge official colonial and capitalist conceptual and material cartographies as well as create new site ontologies. Students will think through case studies ranging in time and space and include the experiences of colonial black slaves and undocumented residents of modern nation-states.

Race and racism are critical machines of modern power. This course explores the historical, economic, and political processes that shaped the formation of modern race and its endurance in the present- namely modernity, capitalism, and state governance. Race and racism are historically situated ideological constructs. They are also situations and material constructions. They are conditions that have defined the existence of modern populations, in various reincarnated forms, since the 15th-century. We will examine the perspectives and material experiences of various racialized subjects. Racial technologies have never worked alone, but are intimately tied to other forms of difference and inequalities. As such, this course explores how race is linked to gender, sexuality, and class, for example.

This course traces Native American history from the initial arrival of humans over 14,000 years ago to the colonial era. It compares social changes in different culture areas and highlights interpretive frameworks applied to these histories.

A survey of the major culture areas of aboriginal North America north of Mexico at the time of European contact. The post-contact relations between the Native Americans and the dominant White culture and the present-day situation and problems of Native Americans will be examined.

This course surveys the history and culture of Native peoples of the American Southwest from prehistoric settlement to present-day. These include the Hopi, Zuni, Rio Grande Pueblos, Navajos, Apaches, Akimel O’odham, and Tohono O’odham. Special attention will be given to indigenous perspectives on history, contemporary political life in these communities and their rich traditions of arts and crafts. Issues of continuity, change and revitalization will be considered.

This course introduces students to the culture and social history of selected tribes of the Great Plains. Special emphasis will be placed upon the historical forces and conflicts that developed on the Plains from the 1700s to the present. Special emphasis will be placed on issues of settler colonialism, sovereignty, revitalization movements, treaties and federal legislation pertaining to American Indians.

This course examines issues of social difference in Middle Eastern and North African societies from an anthropological and historical perspective.

This course explores what it might mean to think through Islam anthropologically. We will examine key debates about religion in general and Islam in particular, and will read articles and books exploring Muslim practice in diverse historical and geographic contexts.

An introduction to the diversity of African cultures and societies. This course will focus especially on experiences of colonialism in various African contexts and the many forms of transformation and resistance that characterize that encounter.

This course focuses on the diverse forms of religious practice and experience in various social and cultural contexts in Africa. The symbolic, aesthetic, and political implications of ritual, as well as the transforming significance of religious practice, will be explored.

This course focuses on continuity and change among different lifeways in indigenous communities in the Andean highlands and the Amazonian lowlands. We learn how indigenous institutions and organization, colonialism, economic development, and state-building have shaped contemporary communities and the issues they face. The course uses in-depth ethnographic works that cover, among other topics, kinship, social organization, ceremony and history, so that the lives of specific communities come into focus. The engagement with outside visitors provides an occasion for students to make use of this specific knowledge and reflect on its significance for decision making and accountability in an interdependent world. IR, LAS, ENSP students welcome.

The course approaches the full scope of the archaeology of Ireland, from c. 8,000BCE to the present, from an anthropological standpoint. Students will be introduced to the processes, sites, landscapes and material culture associated with Irish history and culture from the Mesolithic through to the contemporary world, and are encouraged to consider changing interpretations of Ireland’s past. Questions about migration, settlement, external influences, and language politics all impact upon understandings of Irish culture and Irishness in the present day, as they intersect with questions of nationalism and identity, and the commodification of heritage in the 21st century. The course therefore begins by considering the role of heritage in Ireland today, with an overview of the historiography of archaeological interpretation and the practice of archaeology in both jurisdictions (Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland) on the island. Next, each major period in Irish archaeology is considered through the use of case studies and multiple sources of evidence, as well as the changing manner in which archaeological sites have been and continue to be understood, interpreted, and presented.

Ethnographic Fieldwork is a one-credit undergraduate course that prepares students to conduct a guided ethnographic inquiry in a fieldwork setting. Classroom instruction overviews the basics of research design and field methods in cultural anthropology, including techniques in field observation and interviews, fieldnote taking and organization, qualitative data analysis, and approaches to ethnographic writing.

Areas of current research interest presented by resident and visiting faculty.

This course provides an introduction to the environments and cultures of Oceania and the Polynesian Islands, from the earliest peopling to the post-colonial era. We will consider culture histories throughout the region, starting with the earliest Pleistocene settlement of Near Oceania, voyaging and settlement of Remote Oceania, the development of Ancestral Polynesian society, and the eventual settlement of the remote Eastern Polynesian triangle. We will focus on how all Eastern Polynesian societies descended from a common ancestral culture, but how through time, with isolation and adaptation to differing island environments, each Eastern Polynesian society developed their own unique localized identity. Utilizing comparative analyses, we will compare and contrast Eastern Polynesian cultures with respect to degree of socio-political complexity, intensification of production, settlement patterns, demographic change, ritual functions of the polity, material symbols of rank, and methods of political control. Throughout the course we will consider colonial encounters and the consequences for indigenous Polynesian populations, and subsequent adaptations of these societies through time, due to colonial contexts, globalization, and climate change. Weekly lectures and readings will touch upon human induced landscape change, adaptations to marginal island environments, the effects of climate change in the region, as well as modern conservation efforts and their articulation with indigenous land rights and traditional ecological knowledge (TEK).

Environmental anthropology explores cultures, societies, and the environment. We will consider how people experience, use, know, and care for the world differently across collectives and cultures. We will assess how anthropology has approached the environment in relation to race, gender, power, materiality, relations, values, meanings, rituals, and systems of knowledge (including science and technology). Environmental Anthropology is a COLL 200, based in ANTH and cross-listed with CONS and ENSP. Examining the environment cross-culturally, this course is rooted in Culture, Society, and the Individual (CSI). Because you will also be exposed to the multiple values, morals, and norms associated with the environment, the course is also rooted in Arts, Letters, and Values (ALV). Environmental Anthropology is also a COLL 350 course, enhancing your knowledge and facilitating your critical analysis of the workings of power, privilege, and inequity in U.S. society and globally, past and present. Because COLL 350 require critical reflection, be ready to feel slightly uncomfortable and, above all, to engage in respectful dialogue.

A varible (1-3) credit course for underclassmen and non-anthropology majors engaged in projects, readings, or co-requisite labs under the supervision of an instructor.

This course explores anthropological approaches to the production, communication, acquisition, and organization of knowledge in groups outside the European tradition. It investigates such topics as practical reason, cognitive change, educational settings and the way in which culture organizes knowledge systems.

This course explores food and cuisine across diverse historical and ethnographic contexts. Topics will include the ritual and symbolic value of cuisine, food preparation and provisioning as expressions of social relations, and the political economy of food production and consumption.

This course is intended as an introduction to Marxist and related scholarship. We take social and ecological crises as a starting point for developing an encompassing framework to study change. Students will participate in group projects on contemporary issues and two short papers (4-6 pages) requiring the citation of some basic texts by Marx and Engels on capitalism, history, and consciousness are also required. The relation between theory and practice and the utility of some basic features of dialectics is also stressed.

The application of archaeological methods to an individual field project. The course will allow advanced students to work on an individual project within the framework of a supervised archaeological field program.

This course treats the native people of eastern North America as they have been viewed ethnographically, theoretically, and historically. Students will apply anthropological theory to historical and contemporary issues regarding native people of the eastern United States and develop critical skills through reading, research and writing about these people.

This survey and lab course focuses on the application of scientific methods of analysis to archaeological materials, including stone, bone, coral, charcoal, plant remains, and other organic materials. The emphasis will be on the history of archaeological science within the discipline and current advances in physical science applications in archaeology. Topics to be covered include Dating Techniques (Relative and Absolute, with an emphasis on Chronometric techniques); Geomorphology, Soils Analysis, and Environmental Reconstruction; Compositional Analysis, Materials Analysis, and Technology; Microscopy and Provenance Studies; Experimental Archaeology and Use-Wear analysis. At least half of the course will involve hands on learning with archaeological materials and datasets in the lab.There will be 1.5 hours of lecture/class discussion and 1.5 hours of lab/discussion per week. Each week a main category of archaeological science will be presented to the class in a 1.5 hour lecture period by the instructor. As a group, we will spend a portion of class time completing archaeological problem sets on some of the weekly topic. In the 1.5 weekly laboratory sections, students will apply a variety of analytical methods during hands-on activities with diverse archaeological materials. Laboratory sessions will involve recording data both macroscopically and microscopically and use of statistical software packages (Excel) for interpreting results. Laboratory time will include trips to SWEM library and the Herbarium as well as hands-on activities.

The course will deal with selected issues and problems in anthropology, such as war and peace, population, inequality and justice, the environment, ethnic relations, and minorities.

An introduction to the theory and practice of archaeological conservation, including systems of deterioration, treatment, and storage. The first semester emphasizes the material science and technological underpinnings of archaeological artifacts, the nature of the archaeological environment, and the deterioration of artifacts.

An introduction to the design and implementation of quantitative research to address questions about social organization, cultural dynamics, and biological variation. By focusing on the role of statistical methods in anthropology and using examples from archaeology, biological anthropology, and ethnography, this course provides a footing in statistical techniques in the social sciences. The course focuses on descriptive statistics, probability, sampling, hypothesis testing, correlation, and regression. Students learn how to interpret quantitative findings and convey them to a variety of audiences.

This course covers technical aspects of human identification involving skeletal remains. These techniques include bone and tooth identification, age and sex estimation, and methods for the assessment of nutrition and disease in archaeological populations.

The Archaeology of Western Atlantic Islands for the period 1492-1900 AD. Includes the pre-Columbian background, and contact between indigenous and European groups. European settlement and island development will be examined through recent archaeological work on urban settlements, military forts, commercial structures, sugar mills, and others.

This class explores the "deep history" of Native Chesapeake societies by tracing a 15,000-year sequence resulting in the Algonquian social landscape of "Tsenacomoco". We consider Pleistocene-era settlement, hunter-forager cultural ecology, migration, agricultural adoption, chiefdom emergence, and Native responses to colonialism.

A tutorial on a topic agreed upon by the student and instructor.

Eurocentric anthropology, and historiography, often confronted black people with omissions and distortions of African and Diasporic history that belittled them while simultaneously providing tools for reclaiming cultural knowledge of self. Intellectuals from the Diaspora were thusly motivated to write from an anthropological point of view that sought to expose the lie, fill the void, and take control of ideas that empowered societies of African descent. This course explores the debate offered by Diasporans from the 18th-21st century and how its critique of "mainstream" anthropology may help further advance the field.

A variable (1-3) credit practicum for students to engage in anthropological projects, readings, or co-requisite labs that do not entail independent research.

A small, writing intensive seminar for senior majors. Topics will vary, reflecting the research specializations of faculty teaching each section. Students will conduct original research and produce a substantial project. In addition, students will write a 250-word abstract that summarizes their final project for a general audience.

Critical readings of recent works by anthropologists and historians, with an emphasis on cross-disciplinary theory and methods.

This course is designed to explore the relationship between anthropology and museums. Students will consider the changing dynamics of the discipline’s engagement in museum spaces along with present concerns regarding repatriation, conflicts surrounding cultural heritage, and community engagement broadly defined. Each student will curate a virtual exhibition as a final project. Visits to museum spaces in the area will be part of this course.

Recent advances in the study of interactions between human biology and culture are examined. Biocultural anthropology extends beyond the limitations of evolutionary theory, employing political and economic perspectives on variation in the physiology and health of human populations.

Students admitted to Honors in Anthropology will be enrolled in this course during both semesters of their senior year. Each candidate will be responsible for 1) formulating a course of study with a faculty advisor, and 2) preparing a substantial Honors essay, to be submitted two weeks before the last day of classes, spring semester. For College provisions governing the Admission to Honors, see catalog section titled Honors and Special Programs. For departmental requirements, see Anthropology website.

Students admitted to Honors in Anthropology will be enrolled in this course during both semesters of their senior year. Each candidate will be responsible for 1) formulating a course of study with a faculty advisor, and 2) preparing a substantial Honors essay, to be submitted two weeks before the last day of classes, spring semester. For College provisions governing the Admission to Honors, see catalog section titled Honors and Special Programs. For departmental requirements, see Anthropology website.

This course allows students to gain practical experience under the supervision of a faculty advisor. The internship requires readings and a written report. Please see website: http://web. wm.edu/anthropology/internships.php?svr=www Summer Field Schools in Archaeology The Department of Anthropology in conjunction with Colonial Williamsburg will offer two six-week summer field schools in the Williamsburg area. The Department of Anthropology in conjunction with Reves Center for International Studies will offer one session of summer field school in Barbados and one session of summer field school in Bermuda. Anthropology 225: Archaeological Field Methods. No prerequisites. (6) An introduction to archaeological field and laboratory methods through participation in a field archaeological project. Archaeological survey and mapping, excavation techniques, data collection and recording, artifact processing and analysis and related topics. Anthropology 425: Advanced Archaeological Field Methods. Prerequisites: ANTH 225 or equivalent and field experience, or by consent of the instructor. (6) The application of archaeological methods to an individual field project. The course will allow advanced students to work on an individual project within the framework of a supervised archaeological field program.