Undergraduate Courses
Graduate Courses
MWF 11:45-12:35 Max: 100 Neumann
Content: Anthropology is the systemic study of all that is human, biologically and culturally, past and present. It is the ultimate natural history of people. Anthropology is the Western Intellectual Tradition’s unifying field. Each discipline in Emory’s liberal-arts setting explores some aspect -- in fascinating detail -- of the human experience. Anthropology just happens to go after the whole of that human experience, and recognizes that it needs must call upon each of those disciplines to make any sense of what our species does. Because that is how humans live. And this is why Anthropology is such a delight: It takes the whole of human knowledge and applies it to the knowledge of all that is human. Interested?
This course is organized around the traditional subfields of Anthropology: Biological/physical anthropology (the study of humans as culture-bearing biological creatures, along with subjects that would concern the evolution and physiology of such creatures); archaeology (the study of how people lived in the past, and how and why they changed over time); sociocultural anthropology (the comparative study of contemporary and historically known cultures and their societies); and anthropological linguistics (the study of how humans communicate within and amongst their cultures). The information contained in the course -- human biology and evolution, emergence of civilizations, how different cultures work, how languages work -- is considered the substance and sign of the well-educated person. Further, it is essential for understanding cultural diversity. The ultimate goal of the course, then, is to provide you as student with an understanding of the anthropological perspective and its application in the modern world.
Texts: TBA, one general introductory text and one general reader/collection of articles
TTH 2:30-3:45 Max: 25/1- Konner
Content: This course will introduce the major Jewish populations and cultures through the four fields of anthropology: biological anthropology, archeology, cultural anthropology, and linguistics. It will define the Jewish populations in space and time and then take up their origins and major movements using the evidence of demography, genetics, archeology, history, and ethnology. Jewish cultures considered include the tribal and Temple periods, the Jewish context of the life of Jesus, the Talmudic and medieval eras, the Central European Diaspora (especially the shtetl), the Jews of Spain and Islam, the modern Yiddishists, the Jews of the United States, the kibbutz, and the millennium-old Jewish communities of Ethiopia, India, and China. The primary Jewish languages will be briefly examined and placed in context among the languages of the world. Use of these languages for Biblical exegesis and troubadour poetry, prophetic declamation and modern comic fiction, prayer, curse, contract, song, and magic, will be touched upon. Please note: While respectful to all faiths, this course takes an anthropological, not a religious, perspective. Very religious students, whether Jewish, Christian, or Muslim, may find some material objectionable.
Prerequisites: None.
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Requirements: Two hour examinations and a final examination.
Note: This course may be used to satisfy the requirement for a world culture area course for anthropology majors.
TTH 4:00-5:15 Max: 25/10 Lindland
Content: Sub-Saharan Africa is a geographically massive territory distinguished by a tremendous diversity of cultures, customs, languages, histories, identities, and experiences. In this course, we will explore this wealth of diversity, alongside a survey of some of the broad historical and contemporary trends and movements that have characterized the subcontinent. A brief introduction to African geography is followed by an overview of African history in the pre-colonial, colonial, and post-colonial eras. The remainder of the course is devoted to the study of present-day Africa, including readings on social organization, religion, music, art, popular culture, politics, economics, as well as on the contemporary crises and challenges of warfare, poverty, and HIV/AIDS and other diseases. Readings will include historical, ethnographic, literary, and autobiographical texts, and will be supplemented by a number of African-directed films.
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MWF 10:40-11:30 Max: 12/6 Junge
Content: This course provides an introduction to contemporary cultural, political and economic issues in Latin America from an anthropological perspective. For the Spring 2006 semester, our theme will be "democracy and citizenship" and we will consider how ordinary people understand their own rights and citizenship, and make sense of the democratic societies in which they live. We will approach democracy not simply as a form of government, but as a powerful ideology used by governments, by social movements, and by ordinary citizens. Readings and other course materials will bring us face-to-face with individuals and groups from different regions, social classes, political affiliations, and economic circumstances. We will consider eight countries which have undergone transitions to democracy after periods of authoritarian rule (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, and Nicaragua) and examine these case studies: indigenous populations, urban squatters, landless peasants, Afro-Latinos, the Women’s Movement, and the Lesbian & Gay Rights Movement. Course readings will draw from ethnography, history, and theories of democracy. This course will provide a firm foundation for further study of Latin America or of anthropology, for travel, and for being an informed citizen able to understand the issues behind newspaper accounts of current events.
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Particulars: This course will feature a combination of lectures, films, student presentations, and open discussions. Grades are based on class participation, short reflection papers, exams and a final paper.
W 2:00-4:00 Max: 15 Knauft
Content: This freshmen seminar explores what it is like to live in alternative cultural environments, including in foreign countries, amid the cultural diversity of the U.S., and in the experience of migrant or diasporic communities here and abroad. The course combines reading and classroom exposure to different cultural experiences with independent projects through which students experience some of the international diversity of the metropolitan Atlanta area and on campus.
Following a general overview concerning cultural diversity and contemporary social change, the course considers the following issues and themes: (a) cultural diversity in Western and non-Western societies; (b) migration and diasporic experience; (c) the international world of Atlanta; (d) the future of global experience; (e) the life of contemporary peoples and cultures in: (i) Melanesia; (ii) Africa; (iii) Asia; (iv) Latin America.
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Particulars: No prerequisites required; Freshmen only. Evaluation based on reading quizzes, reflection papers, participation and either a final exam or research project.
TTH 10:00-11:15 Max: 10/130 Gouzoules/Rilling
Content: This course presents an introduction to evolutionary processes and biological bases of behavior. Lectures and readings will be organized around a developmental and life history perspective and will emphasize the importance of context in biological mechanisms and the interaction of social life, behavior, and cognition. Examples drawn especially from humans and nonhuman primates will be used to place human behavior in the context of other species and to illustrate the dual inheritance of biology and culture in our species. Topics covered will include: evolutionary mechanisms, adaptation, phylogenetic constraints, neural and neuroendocrine mechanisms of behavior, life history theory, developmental programs, principles of allometry, sexual selection and alternative reproductive strategies, social bonds and socialization, and the cognitive bases of social interaction.
Texts: To be announced.
Particulars: Grade will be based on two hourly exams and a final. Prerequisite: Biology 141.
TTH 10:00-11:15 Max: 100 Kingston
Students must enroll in a lab section:
Lab Sections: Freed
201L-A: Monday 2:30-5:30
201L-B: Tuesday 2:30-5:30
201L-C: Wednesday 2:30-5:30
201L-D: Thursday 2:30-5:30
Content: Biological Anthropology offers a broad perspective for studying the adaptation and evolution of the human species. Lectures and laboratory examine the role of evolutionary theory in biological anthropology, and study such topics as primate biology and behavior, primate evolution, the fossil evidence for human evolution, history of race and racism, genetic evidence for biological variability, physiological evidence for adaptation to climate and altitude, the role of infectious disease in human evolution, and the role of nutrition and dietary preferences in human evolution. We will discuss the evidence used to interpret human adaptation in the past. How do anthropologists interpret behavior from an artifact of fossil remains? Why do some biochemists search for our ancestral "Eve"? What can we learn about ourselves from the study of nonhuman primates? Does evolutionary biology tell us anything about human behavior? The course emphasizes the integration of a biological and cultural approach to the study of variability in Homo sapiens.
Particulars: There will be two hourly exams and a final. In addition, quizzes will be given in the laboratory sections at regular intervals.
TTH 1:00-2:15 Max: 35 Davidson
Content: Students in this course will learn key concepts and approaches in cultural anthropology, read and discuss ethnographies about people living in a number of different countries, and explore central anthropological research methods. Students will develop their knowledge and skills in anthropology and ethnographic analysis through class discussion, writing papers, and conducting original research. This course provides a foundation for students in fields that emphasize cultural analysis, including those majoring or minoring in Anthropology.
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TTH 8:30-9:45 Max: 18 Demian
Content: The concept of "culture" has become overwhelmingly popular in recent years, but in the process has become reduced to a mode of explanation for behavior. This class represents an introduction to anthropological studies of culture, taken here as a system of knowledge and meanings through which the social life of a people is rendered. We will cover some of the primary areas of anthropological inquiry, shifts in theoretical orientation during the history of the discipline, and the practices, methodologies and ethical concerns of anthropologists themselves. The backbone of the course will be a fine-grained study of ethnographic material from three very different societies. These will provide concretization of the theoretical issues raised, an illustration of changing approaches to anthropological writing over the past sixty years, and an opportunity for interrogation of the decisions made by anthropologists, both implicit and explicit, in their representations of culture.
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Particulars:: This is a writing-intensive class. As such there will be no examinations, but students will instead be assessed on the basis of regular writing assignments in reponse to our films and ethnographic texts, as well as a final ethnographic interview project.
TTH 11:30-12:45 Max: 8/12 Tuten
Content: What is "language" and how do world languages differ? How do linguists investigate the basic building blocks of human languages? This course introduces students to linguistics, the scientific study of human language systems. We will emphasize the fundamentals of descriptive linguistics, the diversity of world languages, and the culturally-specific functions of speech. We will examine speech sounds (the field of phonetics), the sound systems of languages (phonology), word and sentence formation (morphology and syntax), how language expresses meaning (semantics), and how context influences the interpretation of meaning (pragmatics). Additional topics include historical linguistics, language typology, sociolinguistics, and multilingualism. The course is a core course for the Linguistics Minor, and should be of interest to students of psychology, anthropology, sociology, philosophy, english and foreign languages.
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Particulars: Grades will be based on attendance and participation, weekly homework assignments, 5 quizzes, and final exam.
MWF 2:00-2:50 Max: 35 Neumann
Content: Archaeology is the subdiscipline of Anthropology that is concerned with the nature and causes of culture change. An Introduction to Archaeology presents an overview on how archaeological data addressing these topics are collected, analyzed, interpreted, and disseminated. The course focuses on what questions archaeology can and cannot answer, and how information about earlier cultures applies to the modern world. In the United States, archaeology is one of the main fields involved with cultural and environmental resource managed; it is a regulated profession. Approximately 80 percent of all archaeologists -- who make a living as archaeologists -- work in private-sector archaeology or engineering firms, or as government regulators for the archaeology done by those firms. This kind of class is an expected pre-requisite for archaeology field courses
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Particulars: Three semi-comprehensive, problem-oriented tests are required to receive credit for the course. Each test will count for one-third of the final grade. One day-trip to a local excavation/private-sector firm is possible; if that does not work out, we will go to Etowah.
TTH 1:00-2:15 Max: 18 Freed
Content: How do scientists analyze data? The aim of this course is to show how anthropologists (biological, cultural, and archaeology) structure their research hypotheses, organize their data, select and run statistics, and describe their written results and discussions. Using relevant real data sets each student will apply spreadsheet and statistical software to learn the data methods, exploratory and descriptive statistics, confirmatory statistics, and computer-intensive techniques that anthropologists commonly use. Students should become proficient in data analysis. More importantly, students will become capable of providing more thorough criticism and insight into the work of researchers within anthropology.
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Additional journal readings.
Particulars: Class participation, five assignments, one written project, and one final exam.
TTH 1:00-2:15 Max: 35 Gouzoules
Content: This course uses a multimedia approach to provide a comparative survey of the behavior and ecology of the nonhuman primates. Topics to be considered include demography and life-history patterns, feeding behavior and competition, social organization, sexual behavior and reproductive strategies, infant development, communication and cognition. Emphasis will be placed on the ecological and evolutionary factors that have shaped the behavior of different primate species. Classes will consist of both lectures and discussions.
THIS COURSE ALSO COUNTS AS AN ELECTIVE IN THE NBB MAJOR.
Course Readings:
Particulars: Grades will be based on two class exams, a final exam, and class participation.
MWF 12:50-1:40 Max: 18 Whitten
Content: This course will focus on primate mating behavior from the perspectives of sexual selection, evolution, and ecology. Mating systems and patterns of sexual activity in a variety of primate species will be reviewed and compared in light of current theories on intrasexual competition and mate choice. Genetic success will be compared to evidence for mating success and mate selection. Alternative strategies and tactics will be compared within and among species.
Prerequisites: ANT 302 or by permission of instructor.
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Course Requirements: Requirements include several oral presentations on assigned readings, a 15 page term paper, and reaction papers. Attendance and participation is required.
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MWF 10:40-12:35 Max: 12/2 Armelagos
Content: Skeletal remains are a silent witness to the past. The analysis of skeletal populations has been used to determine the impact of the transition of agriculture on health (it resulted in an increase in infectious and nutritional diseases) and to measures the biological cost of slavery that has been obscured from historical records. In this class, you will receive thorough instruction in the practical and theoretical foundation of human skeletal biology. You will learn basic human skeletal anatomy, the forensic techniques for identifying fragmentary remains, methods for determine the sex and age-at-death of a skeleton, the diseases such as arthritis, trauma, neoplasms, nutritional deficiency and osteoporosis that affect the skeleton (paleopathology). Methods for determining population structure (paleodemography), histological and chemical techniques, morphology and human activity will also be studied. Student’s projects will involve the analysis of some aspect of the biology of a skeletal population.
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Particulars: There will be weekly practical quizzes for the first nine weeks. A short term paper in the style of a publishable article will be required. The paper must include original research on a skeletal indicator. The results will be presented to the class as a poster session or as a paper in a simulated meeting during last week of class. You will be expected to maintain a laboratory notebook. Grade will be determined by weekly quizzes (40%), term paper (45%), and poster or presentation (15%). The class hours will be used for lecture, demonstration and quizzes.
MWF 11:45-12:35 Max: 25 Worthman/Dudgeon
Content: This course examines human reproduction and reproductive health at the intersection of biological and social processes: it investigates how cultural context interacts with biology to influence how individuals and social groups behave and reproduce. Basic reproductive physiology is reviewed, along with some biology of reproductive behavior. Then, social components of reproduction (sexuality, gender, marriage and kinship) are discussed. Finally, health and illness as they relate to human reproduction are discussed, focusing on maternal-child health, STDs and HIV, contraception, and new reproductive technologies. Case studies in each topical area further demonstrate interactions of cultural context with biology to shape individual behavior, reproductive life history, and reproductive health. Demographic as well as ethnographic levels of analysis are presented. Implications for national and international trends and policies are considered.
Particulars: Prerequisite - Anthropology 201 or 210, or equivalent. Exams - Take-home midterm and final. Papers - Three case study analyses, ranging from 2-6 pp.
TTH 10:00-11:15 Max: 6/ 12 Tamasi
Content: This course challenges students to ask questions about the way gender and sexuality are determined by and expressed in language. Some specific questions we will address are: How are sexuality and erotic desire expressed in language? How does language shape our experience and understanding of sexuality and sexual difference? Do gay men and lesbians have a language of their own? Are children socialized into gender-specific speech behaviors? Why do we use euphemism to speak about sex, and what do euphemisms communicate? Are certain languages (including English) inherently sexist? We will also look at miscommunication due to gender differences as well as cross-cultural differences in male and female speech styles.
Students will be expected to engage in scholarly discussion of the topics and readings as well as create and carry out their own research projects.
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Particulars: Grading will be based on class participation, three essays, and a research paper. This course fulfills the GER advanced seminar requirement. There are no prerequisites.
TTH 1:00-2:15 Max: 35 Ozawa-deSilva
Content: This course provides an opportunity to examine issues of health, illness and healing cross-culturally from anthropological perspectives, in particular with critical engagement with our notion of "mental" health. In Western societies, we "know" about our health predominantly through biomedicine. We will discuss the benefits and limitations of biomedicine in how we view, study and construct mental health. Then, using Japan as a case for comparison with the US, we will situate the biomedical model in cross-cultural perspective, examining how pathologies are culturally constructed and dealt with, and addressing such questions as what it means to be mentally ill; what are the differences between Japanese and Western approaches to health, healing, and the mind-body relationship; and the role of religion in concepts of health and healing.
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Particulars: Class discussion and presentation are important aspects of this class and students are expected to actively participate in discussion and lead discussion based on assigned readings. Students are also required to conduct an ethnography. There will also be several papers, a mid-term exam, and a final project based upon the ethnography.
TTH 11:30-12:45 Max: 30/5 Konner
Content: This course will survey a wide range of important human diseases at a level suitable for students with little scientific background but a keen interest in health and illness. Students who plan a career touching on disease in some way but unlikely to become doctors or nurse--for example, in health education, public health services, health care administration, hospital-based social work, medical anthropology, medical sociology, medical economics, or aid to international development--will find that it provides a basic foundation for thinking about all the things that go wrong with the human body. We will spend one class on each of about 24 disorders or syndromes. The choice of diseases for study was motivated, first, by their importance in the experience of either people in the developing world (malaria, diarrhea, tuberculosis, etc.), the developed world (coronary artery disease, stroke, breast cancer), or both (cervical cancer, AIDS, depression). Second, the chosen diseases reflect instructor's desire to touch on most major body systems and, more important, to illuminate all major processes--genetic, physiological, nutritional, infectious, immunological, psychosocial, and cultural--that contribute to disease. Students completing this course should be in a position to approach many other diseases using the principles mastered in relation to those covered in the course.
Texts: A medical dictionary will be required for purchase. Other readings to be determined.
Particulars: Two in-class examinations (30 points each), and a cumulative final (40 points). Prerequisites: None, but a high-school biology course would be very helpful.
MWF 2:00-2:50 Max: 12 Gordon
Content: This course focuses on the analysis of "language above the sentence," with particular attention given to everyday conversations among family members, friends, and co-workers, as well as between unacquainted persons. Through course readings, lectures, in-class discussions, activities, and assignments, students will be introduced to various theories and methodologies of discourse analysis with a focus on interactional sociolinguistics, an approach to discourse based in anthropology, linguistics, and sociology. Students will learn how to collect, transcribe, and analyze naturally-occurring verbal interaction in order to explore how conversations are structured, why people use language the ways they do, the relationship between discourse and diverse aspects of context, and the interactive effects of particular linguistic strategies. Students will be introduced to central theories and concepts of discourse analysis, including conversational involvement, conversational inference, framing, transcription theory and practice, conversational style, intertextuality, politeness, turn-taking, and listenership. The course focuses on the analysis of conversations occurring in English; however, students interested in examining conversations in other languages will be given opportunities to do so (though this will not be a requirement of the course).
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Particulars: This course fulfills the GER advanced seminar requirement. ANT/LING 340R is repeatable (R) from semester to semester if the topic is different.
MWF 10:40-11:30 Max: 35 Spitulnik
Content: The two key goals of this course are (1) to examine our relationships to media as both physical and ideological environments and (2) to explore the possibilities for making positive social change through media. Using an anthropological approach, we will take a close look at media here in our own context, asking how they affect our perceptions and our senses of identity. We will also investigate how different cultures use and respond to modern media such as radio, television, audiocassettes, and movies. We will focus on questions such as: How do we theorize the power of media? How are media producers and media audiences both very similar and very different in different corners of the world? Do media lead to the corruption of indigenous cultures or do they also have liberating effects? Does the global flow of media products lead to a greater homogenization of culture? What role do media play in the formation of national, regional, and ethnic identities?
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Particulars: Grades will be based on class participation, short papers, and a final exam.
MWF 12:50-1:40 Max: 12/6 Freeman
Content: "Globalization" is a concept that has proliferated in popular and scholarly arenas, describing the increasing intensity of flows of capital, labor, commodities, and ideologies across national borders. Electronic highways, the expansion of jet travel, satellite link-ups and trade liberalization have made transnational communication and cultural, political, and economic connections closer and faster than ever before. This course begins by tracing some of the historical underpinnings for the processes we now identify with "globalization" and aims to analyze their meanings and implications for people's everyday lives. We will study workers (white collar, pink collar, and blue collar), consumers, migrants, tourists, as actors on the global stage. What have these transformations of space and time meant for local identities (nationality, gender, class, race, sexuality) and enactments of culture? How as anthropologists might we study these transformations in ways that bring into view both macro level processes and life "on the ground"? Through the reading of ethnographies from several world areas, and theoretical and historical works we will explore the changing shape of local culture, and the gendered underpinnings of global processes as they are enacted across "first" and "third" worlds.
Particulars: As a writing intensive seminar, several short papers and one major research paper will constitute a major part of the course. Students will write three analytical essays based upon course readings, and conduct independent research for their individual final projects. Close attention will be paid to written expression and evidence of analytical skills. Grades will be based upon the quality of class participation and written work.
Prerequisite: Anthropology 202 or permission of the instructor
TTH 10:00-11:15 Max: 35 Lindland
Content: This course offers an introduction to social and psychological theories of religion, framed through the lens of comparative ethnographic readings about religious systems and experiences. The course readings review a sample of religious systems from around the world, with some emphasis on readings from sub-Saharan Africa. The course is structured to explore a diversity of religious beliefs, practices, and experiences in the world, as well as to consider any thematic and practical resemblances that provide a basis for comparison. The course is designed around a series of basic questions about religion, which will serve as useful guides for our readings, discussions, and thinking through the course. These are in addition to your own questions that will develop throughout the class.
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This course has been cancelled.
TTH 11:30-12:45 Max: 12/6 Freed
Content: Most nonhuman primates have become severely threatened, often due to the activities of surrounding human populations. Although many groups have tried to conserve areas of biological interest, few programs have actually reversed the process of extinction in nonhuman primates. The aim of this course is to study the effects of ever-changing habitats on the evolution, behavior, and ecology of primates. In this course, students discuss the local human and biological impact of conservation programs that affect primate communities throughout the world, but extra attention will be placed on specific communities in Africa, including Morocco, West Africa, East Africa, Gabon, Congo, Malawi, South Africa, and Madagascar. This course will survey how conservation researchers apply methods from: primate ecology and behavior, tropical ecology, paleontology, archaeology, satellite imagery, and cultural anthropology. Among the topics to be discussed are: primate/plant interactions, forest fragmentation, historical perspectives on conservation and land use, agroforestry, ecotourism, the role of the zoo community, and re-introductions of nonhuman primates.
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Assorted readings are from project reports, new texts, and the following journals: Human Ecology, Evolutionary Anthropology, Conservation Biology, Biotropica, and Development and Change.
Particulars: Class participation, two six-eight page take-home essays, one oral project, one twenty-page written report.
TTH 1:00-2:15 Max: 5/14/5 Rone
Content: This course aims to explore the interface of education and anthropology. Instruction will illuminate the theoretical and methodological frameworks utilized in studying informal and formal processes of education. This course will draw primarily from ethnographic studies of schooling and learning in the United States , but is not limited to this geographic region. Course materials aim to illuminate the complexity and diversity of learning styles, contexts, and communities. Readings will illuminate a diversity of social identities and experiences as informed by ethnicity and race, social class, and gender.
Possible texts include:
Particulars: Grading will be based on attendance and participation, a series of assignments, a mid-term exam, and a major research project.
TTH 11:30-12:45 Max: 35 Demian
Content: Law is often assumed to stand "outside" of society, either because it is "above" us or even "behind" us, as in "society changes too fast for the law to keep up." This course proposes law as an ethnographic subject, that is, a field of action governed by rather than governing social and cultural sensibilities. If, according to a classic cliché, anthropologists look for relationships while lawyers look for rules, we will examine how social relationships can come to appear rule-like to legal and anthropological studies alike. Since lawyers in fact contributed to the early formation of the discipline of anthropology, anthropology itself may be seen as the product of a legalistic classification of human relations. We will therefore proceed through the history of the relationship between anthropology and law as disciplines, and through ethnographic material from three very different legal environments. In doing so we will consider subjects such as language, gender, class, and religion and their effects upon the experiences of people involved in processes of dispute and its resolution. Finally we will ask how well law "travels" between societies, and between different levels of the same society: how do concepts such as legal pluralism, the cultural defense, and universal human rights affect the theory and practice of law?
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Particulars: Students must already have taken either ANT 202, ANT 150 or other class in cultural anthropology, or be engaged in a pre-law course of study. There will be no examinations. Assessment for the class will be based on class participation, three short pieces written in response to our readings, a case study for presentation to the class, and a final research paper.
W 5:30-8:00 Max: 40/20 Brown/Winskell/Jezequel
Note: One credit hour.
Content: This one-credit course uses film and discussion to examine the complexities of the AIDS epidemic in Africa. We will explore the key social, economic, ethical, cultural, public health and medical issues surrounding this epidemic, and how situations vary in different parts of the continent. The course will meet seven times, primarily in the first part of the semester. These poignant films represent different genres, from documentaries, to feature films, to experimental, to public health communications programs. Films will look separately at Southern Africa, Francophone West Africa and East Africa. All films will be introduced and discussions moderated by faculty and public health experts. This is an excellent way to broaden your course schedule, learn about Africa, and become better acquainted with the global health tragedy of our lifetimes.
Requirements: Attendence at six films, and active participation in class discussion and on Blackboard.
Texts: Recommended background readings available on Blackboard.
TTH 8:30-9:45 Max: 35 Neumann
Content: A North American archaeology class surveys the prehistory of the major culture areas north of Mexico, the primary purpose being to introduce the student to the regional prehistory for various parts of the continent. In providing such a synopsis, a North American archaeology course provides a summary of what the ecological systems in those different parts of the continent were like in the past and what they are like today. In this, it also becomes something of a physical geography course. The class will also show how cultures changed over time in response both to changing ecological conditions as well as to changing energy flows, thus underscoring how human cultures serve as behavioral adaptations.
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Particulars: Three semi-comprehensive, problem-oriented tests are required to receive credit for the course. Each test will count for one-third of the final grade. One day-trip to Etowah is planned.
MWF 2:00-2:50 Max: 65 Brown
Content: This is an interdisciplinary course explores the complex causes of serious health problems in both low-income and rich countries throughout the world, as well as the basic strategies of public health programs aimed at their solution. The will introduce students to the different disciplines within public health, basic concepts of population health and epidemiology, the history of epidemiologic transitions, the history and scope of international health programs, the primary health issues in developing and developed countries, social determinants of health, future challenges to global health improvements, and interdisciplinary approaches to understanding health issues. Students will learn fundamentals of epidemiological methods central to public health research and programs. A substantial focus will be on the intersection of poverty and disease, and the necessity of understanding global health problems in their historical, ecological, cultural and political-economic contexts. Therefore, the course will emphasize health problems including infectious diseases (malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS), undernutrition and obesity, reproductive health and family planning, mental health, refugee health, violence and war relief. Students will learn fundamentals of epidemiological methods central to public health research and programs. The course includes weekly lectures by famous Emory and Atlanta researchers in the field of global health.
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Requirements: Class participation, blackboard participation, midterm and final exams, 3 short papers.
Particulars: (1) This is the inaugural course for a new undergraduate program in "Global Health, Culture and Society." The staged development of this program will begin with a minor (soon to be announced) for which this is a required course. Although it has a focus on global public health, this course is designed for all undergraduate students interested in issues of global poverty, social justice, economic development and practical ways to improve the human condition.
(2) One credit supplementary course: Students enrolling in this course may also consider taking the one credit film-based course:"AIDS in Africa through Film" (ANT 385/AFS 389 - see above).
T 2:30-5:30 Max: 18 Brown/Liburd
Content: Over the past 20 years, U.S. health surveys have documented increasing rates of obesity (BMI>30) among adults. Epidemiologists and health policy experts have noted a striking increase in the incidence of childhood obesity, both in the U.S. and many other countries of the world. Recent epidemiological reports suggest that obesity will overtake tobacco as the leading preventable cause of death in the U.S. These developments have intensified biomedical, policy, and public debates about the influence of obesity in the development of disease and premature mortality. There is a glut of recent books about obesity. This seminar will use a medical anthropological perspective to understand and analyze the global "obesity epidemic" in context human biology and culture. Anthropological perspectives on the obesity "epidemic" provide a critical biocultural framework to consider issues such as: (1) the evolution, genetics and physiology of human fat patterning; (2) the history and cultural construction of definitions of obesity and the medicalization of fatness; (3) the political economy of obesity in relation to industrial food production, physical activity patterns, and the fast-food industry; (4) the social epidemiological distribution of fatness in the context of cross-cultural comparison, nutrition transition, and globalization;(5) anthropological and feminist theories of western cultural constructions of body size at the intersections of "race," social class, ethnicity, and gender, both in the U.S. and other cultures. Course materials will include ethnographies, on-line readings from the biomedical and social sciences literature, relevant texts from the humanities, and guest speakers.
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Particulars: Seminar participation, class presentations, weekly Blackboard posting, 3 reaction papers, and a major research paper.
This course has been cancelled.
M 1:00-4:00 Max: 2/2/2 Gilman
Note: Second semester of two-semester course
Content: This two-semester course will provide students with the scholarly methods of doing cultural and medical historical research and the tools to present this material to a general audience. The content of the course will be the global history of dieting from religious rituals practices in the ancient world to contemporary medical theories and practices. The end product of the course will be a collaborative volume on the history of dieting which has been commissioned by a major publisher. This course will demand real research, real writing, and will have a real product.
By permission only. Obtain form in Room 207 Anthropology. Faculty
TTH 2:30-3:45 Max: 12 Maclean
Content: This intensive course will take as its point of departure articles that have raised productive questions about the value of ethnographic forms of research and knowledge, its conceits, as well as its limits. Different qualitative methods for gathering, recording, interpreting, and analyzing ethnographic "data" will be introduced over the course of the semester. Students will then have the opportunity to participate in exercises, inside and outside of class, to develop some of the skills they will need to carry out ethnographic research across a variety of settings.
The primary goal is not to master a predetermined set of techniques, but to cultivate a critical and reflexive stance vis-à-vis the sensibilities and cultural assumptions that underlie all qualitative methods. Greater awareness of these issues will help students: 1) to develop a research methodology that is context appropriate; 2) to gain the intellectual flexibility to make adjustments as necessary in "the field"; and 3) to hone the skills needed to critically reflect upon the inter-personal dynamics of the research process during the write up phase of their project. Enrollment is limited to twelve students, but overloads will be considered by permission of the instructor.
By permission only. Gouzoules
By permission only. Obtain form in Room 207 Anthropology. Faculty
T 6:30-7:45 p.m./TH 9:00-10:15 p.m. Max: 5 Lindland
Content: This course is an in-depth survey of the development of socio-cultural anthropological theory over the course of the past century-plus, with an emphasis on the North American, British, and French national traditions. The main goals of the course are for students to gain a substantive knowledge of some of the major texts and theories that have shaped the discipline throughout its history, and, in the process, to gain an understanding of the trends, paradigmatic shifts, and competing schools-of-thought that have characterized its emergence. Our goal is to understand and assess these texts within their historical contexts, as well as in relation to contemporary modes of disciplinary knowledge, relevance, and ethics. The course is intended to help students develop their own theoretical frameworks as anthropologists and thereby strengthen their ability to engage in substantive theoretical discussion, debate, and inquiry.
Texts:
TH 2:00-5:00 Max: 15 Kingston
Content: The goal of this course is to develop a theoretical framework in evolutionary biology within which we can explore human evolution and ultimately aspects of modern human biology and behavior. We will begin with a broad, historical survey of the development of evolutionary theory and then focus on a number of key theoretical issues. Before going on to assess the extent to which evolutionary perspectives can shed light on modern human culture and biology, we will briefly examine the extent to which the application of evolutionary concepts can inform interpretations of the adaptive significance of key morphological innovations in early hominins as well as the utility of primate models for developing an evolutionary foundation for human behavior. These studies will provide biological continuity for assessing aspects of modern humans that are unique and allow us to identify specific topics on which we should converge. Towards the end of the course, we will examine aspects of human biology and culture that have been interpreted in an evolutionary context and evaluate the usefulness of applied evolutionary theory in the study of modern humans.
W 1:00-4:00 Max: 15 Spitulnik
Content: This semester we will focus on semiotics, media, and the circulation of culture. The course introduces students to different theoretical and methodological frameworks for investigating (a) how sign systems and communications media are structured and (b) how they operate as part of culture, society, and human interaction. Students will learn theories and methods in semiotics and media studies through close readings of both classic works and more recent ethnographic studies. We will develop an analytical framework for understanding the production, reception, circulation, textuality, and contextually-grounded nature of communication, discourse, texts, and other cultural products. Students will explore issues in their own research within a seminar/workshop format.
Texts: under consideration include:
Particulars: Seminar participation, short papers, and a major research paper. ANT512R is repeatable (R) from semester to semester if the topic is different.
TH 9:00-12:00 Max: 3/6/3 Rone
Content: The goal of this course is to familiarize students with the core theoretical and methodological traditions in the linguistic anthropology of education. Students are introduced to basic concepts in discourse analysis, semiotics, linguistic anthropology, sociolinguistics, and the ethnography of communication. Topics include: the nature of the linguistic sign; discourse and power; the linguistic mediation of social identity; language ideologies and the politics of language; power and agency; the influence of language on thought; and indexicality. Ethnographic examples aim to illuminate a diversity of identities, contexts, and communities. Students will engage in data collection and analysis. Techniques of linguistic description, discourse analysis, and transcription are examined through texts and with recordings of naturally occurring speech collected by students.
Texts:
TH 9:00-12:00 Max: 8/7 Ozawa-deSilva, C./Ozawa-deSilva, B.
Content: Each religion, therapy, and even biomedicine, has its own way of understanding the human condition and its own mode of dealing with suffering and healing. For a long time, religion has been associated with the non-scientific, and secular therapies have been seen as having nothing to do with religion. However, partially due to increasing interest in spirituality, religious practices, and the power of the mind in the medical field, religion and therapy have been coming together more closely, as shown in the increasing level of dialogue between psychoanalysis and Buddhism. Recent studies claiming that the efficacy of psychotherapies and even medical treatment depend significantly on the level of conviction or "faith" on the part of the therapist/doctor and client/patient raise further questions concerning the boundaries between religion and therapy. While biomedical views find it difficult to find a place for the mind in healing, this trend is interesting when viewed in conjunction with Buddhist thought, which has long held that the mind can play a powerful role in bolstering physical and psychological well-being.
Along such lines, this class will explore issues such as what makes for a healthy "self" or person, the role of religious practice and belief in healing, and the relationship of body and mind, by bringing together approaches from contemporary anthropology, neuroscience, biomedicine, psychology, and Buddhist thought.
Texts:
Particulars: Requirements include class presentations, three written assignments, and a final paper.
MWF 10:40-12:35 Max: 2 Armelagos
Content: Skeletal remains are a silent witness to the past. The analysis of skeletal populations has been used to determine the impact of the transition of agriculture on health (it resulted in an increase in infectious and nutritional diseases) and to measures the biological cost of slavery that has been obscured from historical records. In this class, you will receive thorough instruction in the practical and theoretical foundation of human skeletal biology. You will learn basic human skeletal anatomy, the forensic techniques for identifying fragmentary remains, methods for determine the sex and age-at-death of a skeleton, the diseases such as arthritis, trauma, neoplasms, nutritional deficiency and osteoporosis that affect the skeleton (paleopathology). Methods for determining population structure (paleodemography), histological and chemical techniques, morphology and human activity will also be studied. Student’s projects will involve the analysis of some aspect of the biology of a skeletal population.
Text:
Particulars: A term paper in the style of a publishable article will be required. The paper must include original research on a skeletal indicator.
TTH 11:30-12:45 Max: 5 Konner
Content: This course will survey a wide range of important human diseases at a level suitable for students with little scientific background but a keen interest in health and illness. Students who plan a career touching on disease in some way but unlikely to become doctors or nurse--for example, in health education, public health services, health care administration, hospital-based social work, medical anthropology, medical sociology, medical economics, or aid to international development--will find that it provides a basic foundation for thinking about all the things that go wrong with the human body. We will spend one class on each of about 24 disorders or syndromes. The choice of diseases for study was motivated, first, by their importance in the experience of either people in the developing world (malaria, diarrhea, tuberculosis, etc.), the developed world (coronary artery disease, stroke, breast cancer), or both (cervical cancer, AIDS, depression). Second, the chosen diseases reflect instructor's desire to touch on most major body systems and, more important, to illuminate all major processes--genetic, physiological, nutritional, infectious, immunological, psychosocial, and cultural--that contribute to disease. Students completing this course should be in a position to approach many other diseases using the principles mastered in relation to those covered in the course.
M 1:00-4:00 Max: 3/3/3 Gilman
Content: This two-semester course will provide students with the scholarly
methods of doing cultural and medical historical research and the tools to
present this material to a general audience. The content of the course
will be the global history of dieting from religious rituals practices in the
ancient world to contemporary medical theories and practices. The end
product of the course will be a collaborative volume on the history of dieting
which has been commissioned by a major publisher. This course will demand
real research, real writing, and will have a real product.
TH 1:00-4:00 Max: 3/6/3 Lesser
Content: This course will explore the debates over race and ethnicity in twentieth century Brazil within a comparative context, especially with the United States and Africa. The focus will be on how definitions of "nation," "race," and "Brazilianness" (brasilidade) have been contested by both majority and minority groups. While much of the course will focus on Brazilians of African descent, we will also discuss minority groups like Jews, Nikkei (Brazilians of Japanese descent) and Syrian-Lebanese (Brazilians of Middle Eastern descent)
Texts: Possible texts may include (among many others):
Particulars: The course will require substantial reading (both assigned and individual), several short and long papers and weekly discussion.
M 4:00-7:00 Max: 3/9 Grimshaw
Content: This course is an introduction to digital video production. It is designed for students who wish to explore the possibilities of image-based anthropology. The course requires no previous technical training. It consists of a series of video exercises that build towards the development of a short ethnographic documentary. Drawing on their own first-hand experience, students will be expected to address the practical, ethical and intellectual issues associated with ethnographic filmmaking.
Texts:
Particulars: This course is only open to students who have taken Issues in Visual Anthropology.
T 4:00-6:00 Max: 10/10 Ozawa-deSilva/Raison/Logsang Negi
Note: 2 credit hours. Course runs for 6 weeks, beginning January 24, 2006.
Content: This half-semester seminar explores the phenomenology of emotional disorders with a focus on depression from the interdisciplinary approaches of medical anthropology, psychiatry, and the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. Among various mood disorders, depression is commonly understood as a universal disease in western medicine. This seminar will challenge this premise by examining the ways cultural factors and mind-body interaction are involved in the way depression is caused, manifested, represented, and treated. Current medical research conducted at Emory University, the ancient tradition of Tibetan medicine, which is based on Tibetan Buddhism and its understanding of body and mind, and critical medical anthropology all challenge the way we understand depression. This seminar will explore new possibilities for deepening our understanding about, and treatment of, depression based on an integrated mind/body model.
Texts:
Particulars: Requirements include class presentations, and a final project.
By permission only. Obtain form in Room 207 Anthropology. Faculty
By permission only. Obtain form in Room 207 Anthropology. Faculty
By permission only. Obtain form in Room 207 Anthropology. Faculty