FALL 2007 Anthropology Course Descriptions:
Undergraduate:

Course Number: 100 Day: MW Time: 11:15 -12:05 Credits: 3

Course Title: Human Nature Gen Ed: SBG

Professor: Robert Paynter

Description: Lecture, discussion

Human beings have come in an amazing array of forms, live remarkably different lives, and make sense of life in a stunning range of ways. In short, human nature is staggeringly variably; it includes and is not just limited to what we, living in Western Massachusetts, take for granted. This course explores some of this variation by looking at the range of human variation in the past, the range of cultural variation in the past and the range of human and cultural variation in the world today. Along with encountering these many ways of being human, the course also explores some of the reasons for this variation. It thereby provides a firm foundation for anticipating and living with the way the world will change in the future. The course does fulfill General Ed requirements but does not count towards a major in Anthropology.

Course Number: 102 Day: MW Time: 10:10-11:00 Credits: 3

Course Title: Archaeology and Prehistory Gen Ed: SBG

Professor: Eric Johnson

Description: Lecture and Discussion

Introduction to the method and theory of archaeology. Topics include concepts of space, time and culture, preservation, stratigraphy, survey and excavation techniques, dating and the analysis and interpretation of archaeological data. The course also includes a survey of human prehistory up to the rise of complex societies.

Course Number: 102B Day: TuTh Time: 11:15-12:30 Credits: 3

Course Title: Archaeology & Prehistory Gen Ed: SBG

Professor: TBA

Description: Lecture

Introduction to the method and theory of archaeology. Topics include concepts of space, time and culture, preservation, stratigraphy, survey and excavation techniques, dating and the analysis and interpretation of archaeological data. The course also includes a survey of human prehistory up to the rise of complex societies.

Course Number: 103 Day: MW Time: 10:10 – 11:00 Credits: 3

Course Title: Human Origins & Variation Gen Ed: BS

Professor: Lynnette Sievert

Description: Lecture and Discussion

The goal of this class is to achieve a scientific literacy needed to understand human evolution and human variation. The course is divided into 4 major areas: genetics, primate evolution, human evolution and bio-cultural interactions.

Course Number: HO6 Day: F Time: 11:15-12:05 Credits: 1

Course Title: Honors Colloquium for Anthro 103 Gen Ed:

Professor: Lynnette Sievert

Description: Colloquium for Anthro 103 must be enrolled in 103 Lecture/Disc. Reasing and Reviewing the "Singing Neanderthal"

Course Number: 103B Day: TuTh Time: 9:30-10:45 Credits: 3

Course Title: Human Origins & Variation Gen Ed: BS

Professor: TBA

Description: RAP Program students Only

The goal of this course is to achieve an understanding of human evolution and human variation. The course will be divides into 4 major areas: genetics, primate evolution, human evolution and bio-cultural interactions. It is imperative that you read the assigned materials and go to discussion.

Course Number: 104 Day: MW Time: 2:30-3:20 Credits: 3

Course Title: Culture, Society & People Gen Ed: SBG

Professor: Ralph Faulkingham

Description: Lecture and Discussion

This course introduces students to the main themes, methods and intellectual traditions of cultural anthropology. Through the themes of culture and power we explore social structure and stratification, race and ethnicity, language and classification, war and conflict, globalization and personal identity. At the same time as we consider the distinctiveness of cultures, we pay attention to the contemporary connections among societies throughout the world, examining diversity both in places far away and much closer to "home". This course includes lectures, films, discussion sections and hands- on ethnographic assignments, through which you gain a distinctive feel for what cultural anthropology is all about.

Course Number: 104B Day: TuTh Time: 9:30-10:45 Credits: 3

Course Title: Culture, Society & People Gen Ed: SBG

Professor: TBA

Description: RAP Program students Only

Cultural anthropology is concerned with the description and analysis of people's lifeways in different societies and environments: how people make a living from their environment, how families are organized, how they settle their conflicts and make political decisions, how they view the supernatural and natural worlds, how they carry out religious and other rituals, and how they interact with other groups of human beings who are culturally different from themselves. Our most important objective is to enable you to understand the diversity of human life-ways--including our own-- and to better understand the broad range of "normal" human behaviors and ideas found around the globe. The class differs from the usual Anth 104 in that Honors students are expected to research more thoroughly for the major paper/project; include an annotated bibliography for the P/P and to participate in class in a seminar style of discussion.

Course Number: 104C Day: TuTh Time: 1:00-2:15 Credits: 3

Course Title: Culture, Society & People Gen Ed: SBG

Professor: TBA

Description: RAP Program students only.

Cultural anthropology is concerned with the description and analysis of people's lifeways in different societies and environments: how people make a living from their environment, how families are organized, how they settle their conflicts and make political decisions, how they view the supernatural and natural worlds, how they carry out religious and other rituals, and how they interact with other groups of human beings who are culturally different from themselves. Our most important objective is to enable you to understand the diversity of human life-ways--including our own-- and to better understand the broad range of "normal" human behaviors and ideas found around the globe. The class differs from the usual Anth 104 in that Honors students are expected to research more thoroughly for the major paper/project; include an annotated bibliography for the P/P and to participate in class in a seminar style of discussion.

Course Number: 104H Day: TuTh Time: 1:00-2:15 Credits: 3

Course Title: Culture, Society & People Gen Ed: SBG

Professor: Jean Forward

Description: Honors

Cultural anthropology is concerned with the description and analysis of people's lifeways in different societies and environments: how people make a living from their environment, how families are organized, how they settle their conflicts and make political decisions, how they view the supernatural and natural worlds, how they carry out religious and other rituals, and how they interact with other groups of human beings who are culturally different from themselves. Our most important objective is to enable you to understand the diversity of human life-ways--including our own-- and to better understand the broad range of "normal" human behaviors and ideas found around the globe. The class differs from the usual Anth 104 in that Honors students are expected to research more thoroughly for the major paper/project; include an annotated bibliography for the P/P and to participate in class in a seminar style of discussion.

Course Number: 105 Day: MW Time: 12:20-1:10 Credits: 3

Course Title: Language, Culture and Communication Gen Ed: SBG

Professor: David Samuels

Description: Lecture & Discussion

Why do anthropologists study language? What can we learn by studying language as anthropologists that is distinct from what we learn whenwe study language from the perspective of other subjects? In this introductory class we will explore the human capacity for expression and communication by using the insights of linguistic anthropology as our entryway. Many of the pressing social and political issues of our time are framed as questions about language, from the dearth of fluent Arabic speakers in the CIA to the debate over languages sother then English and dialects other than the standard in the United States. This class will prepare students to engage critically with those issues and debates.

Course Number: 106 Day: Tu Time: 5:00-9:00pm Credits: 4

Course Title: Culture, Through Film Gen Ed: SBG

Professor: Enoch Page

Description:

Films, lectures, discussion. Exploration of different societies and cultures, and the theories of cultural anthropology, through films. Ethnographic, documentary and feature films are used to focus on wide array of cultures and to examine such topics as ecological adaptations, sex roles, ethnicity, religion, politics and social change. Cinema as a medium communication and cross-cultural understanding.

Course Number: 197B Day: MWF Time: 11:15-12:05 Credits: 3

Course Title: ST: Intro. to Native American Studies Gen Ed:

Professor: Jean Forward

Description: 5-college interactive distance learning /seminars/guest presentations

Intro to native american indian studies is a cross-disciplinary survey of the many different academic areas involved in understanding about Native American Indians, past and present. Presentations are by many of the 5-college faculty, staff and graduate students on their particular areas of expertise. Fall 2007 will have at least 2 classes - 1 at Umass under Jean Forward, 1 at Hampshire college.

Course Number: 208 Day: TuTh Time: 9:30-10:45 Credits: 3

Course Title: Human Ecology Gen Ed: SBG

Professor: Brigitte Holt

Description: Lecture

This course explores the causes and consequences of environmental problems on human groups from am anthropological, biocultural, perspective. After reviewing basic evolutionary and ecological principles, we will survey the main subsistence systems (foragers, pastoralists, horticulturalists, agriculturalists) and the impact they have on humans and the environment. We will examine the social, political, and ethical values of our own culture and how these values affect the way we use environment resources. The final section of the course will focus on case studies about the relationship between globalization, environmental degradation, poverty and inequality.

Course Number: 270 Day: TuTh Time: 2:30-3:45 Credits: 3

Course Title: North American Indians Gen Ed: SBU

Professor: Jean Forward

Description: Lecture

Survey of the many diverse indigenous cultures of Turtle Island (North America). Focus is on the persistence of tribal nations and their relationships with each other and with the Canadian and U.S. governments. The course relies heavily on information directly from native peoples in both readings and film.

Course Number: 297H Day: TuTh Time: 1:00-2:15 Credits: 3

Course Title: ST: The Good Society Gen Ed:

Professor: Art Keene

Description: Seminar, Instructor Permission Only or Acceptance in to the Citizen Scholars Program

This course provides an opportunity for each student to explore their own vision of how the world ought to be. The class explores the concept of the good society; how it has been imagines during the last century and how these ideas have been put to work. The course is divided into four sections: imagining the good society, service and citizenship, exploring the obstacles to the good society and creating the good society. The course is a community service learning course. Students spend roughly 3 hours/week in direct service to a local community and will use their experiences to enrich their classroom explorations. This course is the entry course for students enrolled in the Citizens Scholars Program and the enrollment priority is given to students in that program.

Course Number: 297K Day: TuTh Time: 2:30-3:45 Credits: 3

Course Title: ST: History of Anthropological Thought Gen Ed:

Professor: Amanda Walker Johnson

Description: Lecture

This course will trace historical developments in anthropological theories, critically examining the foundations, paradigmatic shifts, contradictions, and also social and historical context of those theories. Throughout the course, we will review evolutionary, relativistic, psychological, structural, and symbolic conceptions of culture, grappling with the issues of power, colonialism, sexism, and racism that have faced and continue to shape anthropology.

Course Number: 297L Day: TuTh Time: 9:30-10:45 Credits: 3

Course Title: ST: Mind/Body: Cross-Cultural Perspectives Gen Ed:

Professor: Enoch Page

Description: Lecture

Course Number: 297M Day: TuTh Time: 2:30-3:45 Credits: 3

Course Title: ST: Disease, Famine and Warfare: Intro. To Human Adaptability

Professor: Ventura Perez

Description: Seminar
This course will review various theories regarding how the human body adapts to biological change (reproduction, growth, and development and disease), environmental change (pollution, climate, altitude, and malnutrition) and social change (cultural and political processes of exploitation, violence, and domination). Students will examine the complexities and interconnections between biological adaptability and sociopolitical systems. Students will also explore the adaptive flexibility that allows humans to adjust to changing conditions in the course of their lifetimes. The emphasis of this class will be on the non-genetic processes of human adaptation upon which humans primarily rely, such as morphological and physiological acclimation, learned behavior, technological innovations, and social coping strategies. This perspective on human adaptability will be critically evaluated to understand how people attempt to adjust to adverse environmental and social conditions.

Course Number: 312 Day: TuTh Time: 9:30-10:45 Credits: 3

Course Title: Medical Anthropology Gen Ed:

Professor: Krista Harper **CANCELLED COURSE**              

Description: Lecture

Course Number: 317 Day: TuTh Time: 2:30-3:45 Credits: 3

Course Title: Primate Behavior Gen Ed: BS

Professor: Laurie Godfrey

Description: Lecture

In this course, we will explore the diversity of nonhuman primate behavior in relation to their natural habitats. Topics to be discussed include: feeling strategies; mating systems; life history and development; communication systems; social cognition and the formation of power alliances; and primate conservation. Draws heavily on field studies

Course Number: 320 Day: Th Time: 2:30-5:15 Credits: 4

Course Title: Research Techniques in Physical Anthropology Gen Ed:

Professor: Brigitte Holt

Description: Research Techniques in Skeletal Biology offers a “hands on” introduction to the human skeleton in an evolutionary, functional and bioarcheological context. After learning the bones and features of the skeleton, we will review how skeletal evidence is used to make behavioral inferences about past populations and to answer questions such as: What did people eat? What did they do for a living? Where they healthy or do they show evidence of stress? Did they die young? Who died young? Why did they die? Did they engage in warfare? Were there status differences? Did these status differences affect their chances of survival? Did violence affect women disproportionately? In addition to these questions, we will also discuss the important issues relating to NAGPRA and the ethics of studying human remains.

This course is worth 4 credits and fulfills a “Doing” requirement in the Anthropology Department. However, you will need to spend extra time in the lab on most weeks, particularly during the skeletal identification and project sections of the course. The days/times for “open lab” will be announced later

Course Number: 325 Day: Tu Time: 2:30-5:15 Credits: 3

Course Title: Analysis of Material Culture Gen Ed:

Professor: Bob Paynter

Description: Lab. (Anthro "Doing" course) Pre-Req. of Anth 577 or consent of instructor. This course is designed as a follow-up course to the Summer Field School
in Archaeology.  The UMass Summer Field School or, an equivalent experience else where are necessary background.  You should check with Prof. Paynter if you were not a member of this year's field school.

Course Number: 364 Day: MW Time: 2:30-3:20 Credits: 3

Course Title: Problems in Anthropology I Gen Ed: JYW

Professor: Julie Hemment

Description: JYW Requirement, Lecture and Discussion
Through the theme of “culture and power”, we will examine some of the key theoretical trends that influence and inform contemporary anthropology. The course has two main goals – to foster critical thinking skills within the discipline of Anthropology, and to achieve mastery of composing skills. To this end, you will be required to write in a number of different styles and for a number of different purposes.

Course Number: 369 Day: MWF Time: 1:25-2:15 Credits: 3

Course Title: North American Archaeology Gen Ed: HSU

Professor: Eric Johnson

Description: Lecture, Requisite of Anthro 102 or instructor permission.

This course is a survey of the archaeological evidence for pre-Contact Native American history in North america. We will focus on some of the key issues of the region, including the peopling of the New World more than 12,000 years ago, evidence for Native Aemerican subsistence, settlement, and ceremonial practics, the origins of agriculture, models of social complexity, and the consequences opf European colonization.

Course Number: 397EE Day: MWF Time: 10:10-11:00 Credits: 3

Course Title: ST: Seminar in Social Biology Gen Ed:

Professor: Seamus Decker

Description: Seminar
A great deal of our culture(s) and way(s) of living are founded on ignorance of scientific understanding of human nature. A growing family of epigenetic paradigms of human development, has shown that, for most human “traits” the nature-nurture dichotomy is false and has obfuscated understanding. This course in human social biology engages students in some of the most important and enduring questions of who we are, who we have been, and what we need to understand about ourselves if we are to work effectively to become who we want to be as humans. This course will deal with a number of important bio-psycho-social topics of human nature including the idea that genes fully “determine” physical characteristics such as eye color, but psychological and behavioral characteristics are entirely matters of learning, choice, or free will. For example, my own work has focused on how socio-cultural context moderates species-typical reward-seeking predispositions such as eating and status pursuit. The overall goal being to contribute to understanding and ameliorating chronic illnesses such as, depression, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes through community-based, public health and educational efforts. The course is structured around a limited set of core conceptual issues. Student mastery will be gauged through their ability to independently marshal evidence in support of expositions of core concepts in in-class discussion, written work, and exams. A significant portion of the final grade will be based on re-drafted, and peer-critiqued written assignments.

Course Number: 397J Day: TuTh Time: 11:15-12:30 Credits: 3

Course Title: ST: Archaeology of Us Gen Ed:

Professor: Martin Wobst

Description: Seminar, "Doing" course

A field work course designed to elicit the many simple and complex ways in which the human-made visual scape helps to structure and is inseparably interwoven with or embedded in behavior, and is behavior. How does material (help to) constitute society and people? Much of the world of human artifacts is rarely thought about. It partakes subconsciously in one's social world, it is taken to be tacit, innocent, unproblematic, not worth thinking about. In this course, we want to change that. We want to become conscious about how we are kept on track or in/on line, constrained, trained, constructed and constituted by material artifacts. We will learn that, often, humans are forced to adapt to their material artifacts, rather than adapt their artifacts to make their life easier. We want to observe how this takes place right here, beginning in this class room, with the long range goal of studying the "material culture(s)" of Amherst and its surroundings, now and in the recent past. We will be interested in the university, in the town, in the surrounding towns, in the visual scapes of the valley, in the material shells of people and in the material frames, stages and screens around them, as well as in the material introductions, accompaniments, and conclusions of, thoughts, language, and human motion.

Course Number: 397LL Day: TuTh Time: 11:15-12:30 Credits: 3

Course Title: ST: Testing, Race & Educational Reform (CSL) Gen Ed:

Professor: Amanda Walker Johnson

Description: Seminar

In this course, we will examine the historical development and cultural impact of mass standardized testing as a component of educational reform in the US. Situating testing (and "meritocracy") in the struggles for and against racial (and class) segregation, we will address issues of power, subjectivity, political economy, and production of knowledge, while engaging critical ethnographies of testing and educational reform. Assessing the state of testing in contemporary US society, we will explore our roles as citizens and community members in the politics and policies of testing and educational reform, specifically through a community service learning component. This is a “doing” course with the opportunity to earn 4 credits with 30 service hours

Course Number: 397OO Day: TuTh Time: 1:00-2:15 Credits: 3

Course Title: ST: Gender and Sexuality     CANCELLED COURSE           Gen Ed:

Professor: Jackie Urla

Description: Seminar

This course examines how anthropologists study gender and sexuality in the four subfields of anthropology. The first half of the course focuses on archaeology and the anthropology of the body. The second half is devoted to work in linguistic and cultural anthroplogy where we use ethnographies to analyze gender and sexuality as performance, subversion and resistance.

Course Number: 397PP Day: TuTh Time: 1:00-2:15 Credits: 3

Course Title: ST: Anthropology of Slavery Gen Ed:

Professor: Whitney Battle-Baptiste

Description: Seminar

This seminar is an exploratory effort to provide interdisciplinary methods for students engaged in the research and analysis of African American life and history. This course will also address the meaning and significance of how material culture enhances the interpretation of black cultural production and African Diaspora theory. An interdisciplinary perspective will be employed through readings, exercises, lectures and discussions pertaining to historical archaeology, art history, and African American history. While plantation societies will be covered, the course will concentrate on issues related to society, culture, power, and identity formation from the view of the enslaved. We will ultimately consider the role of African Diaspora archaeology in the broader discussion of African American culture and identity.

Course Number: 397S Day: TBA Time: TBA Credits: 1-4

Course Title: ST: Community Service Learning Gen Ed:

Professor: Art Keene

Description: Instructor Permission needed to register

Course Number: 397W Day: Su Time: 6:00-9:00 PM Credits: 3

Course Title: ST: Critical Pedagogy Gen Ed:

Professor: Art Keene

Description: Seminar, Instructor permission required

 This course introduces us to the theory and the practice of engaged pedagogy – a pedagogy that is holistic, experiential, relational and liberatory. In the words of radical educator bell hooks, engaged pedagogy moves us to “share in the intellectual and spiritual growth of our students” and to “teach in a manner that respects and cares for the souls of our students”. The course thus aims to introduce participants to an approach to teaching and learning that is far more than the transmission and mastery of content. (What Frerie calls the banking model of education). The aim of this engaged teaching/learning is to promote the practice of freedom, liberation, justice and community.

Course Number: 397Z Day: MWF Time: 1:25-2:15 Credits: 3

Course Title: ST: Evolutionary Medicine Gen Ed:

Professor: Lynnette Sievert

Description: Seminar

In this course we will explore the emerging field of Evolutionary Medicine which seeks to provide evolutionary answers to why humans are vulnerable to certain diseases or conditions. Topics to be examined include human anatomy from an evolutionary perspective, “evolutionary obstetrics”, host-pathogen relationships in the evolution of infectious disease, human nutritional needs, the evolutionary context of cancer, and psychiatric conditions. Along the way we will be making comparisons across species, across populations, and between the approaches of evolutionary and clinical medicines.

Course Number: 416 Day: TuTh Time: 11:15-12:30 Credits: 3

Course Title: Primate Evolution Gen Ed:

Professor: Laurie Godfrey

Description: Lecture

Survey of Primate evolution, including the evolutionary history of the prosimians, monkeys, apes, and humans. Emphasis will be on the diversification of nonhuman primate species, and the origins of humans.

Course Number: 499E Day: W Time: 6:30-9:30pm Credits: 3

Course Title: Research Methodology Gen Ed:

Professor: Art Keene

Description: THE ETHNOGRAPHY OF US: AN EXPLORATION OF STUDENT INTELLECTUAL LIFE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS– is a full year intensive course in the ethnography of a modern University – specifically the University of Massachusetts. The course is designed to answer the question: what do faculty need to know about their students (or what do students need to know about their faculty and their peers) in order to create more effective teaching/learning environments. The premise of the course is that the faculty do not know nearly enough about the people who populate their classrooms. . When they teach, they bring assumptions with them about their audience; about who they are and what they know and how they hear what their teachers are telling them and what kind of sense they make out of it. While there have been previous explorations that have looked at campus life – very few have actually looked at the culture inside the classroom – the culture that students and teachers bring to their teaching and learning. This course will aim to remedy that deficit. Our aim is to compile the research projects from the class over the next three years and assemble them into a book that will be a resource to thoughtful faculty and help them better know their students and help thing reflect creatively on their teaching.

In the first semester students will learn about ethnography as a means for knowing a community. They will study the foundations of ethnographic method and practice including the ethics of fieldwork and the fundamentals of human subjects review. Ethnography is now a widely used technique in fields as disparate as education and marketing and knowledge of how to do ethnography may have practical benefits in a wide range of settings after graduation. Students will then practice these methods in research exercises in a variety of settings within the university. Students will conclude the fall semester by designing an ethnographic research project about University life to be executed in the spring term. During the spring term the students will complete their research (under continuous oversight), write it up and present it in a public forum.
( FALL MEETINGS: WED 6:30 PM - 9:30 PM. PERMISSION OF INSTRUCTOR REQUIRED)

Graduate:

Course Number: 578 Day: TuTh Time: 4:00-5:15 Credits: 3

Course Title: Theory & Method in Archaeology Gen Ed:

Professor: Wobst

Description: Lecture. Instructor Permission

A review of anthropological theory as applies to the sub-discipline of anthropological archaeology. The course proceeds to topically, assessing what questions are being asked, what theories and methods are available to answer them, and how to improve our understanding of the human condition in the future (with the help of the material products and material precedents of human behavior). Consent of instructor required to register.

Course Number: 597G Day: TuTh Time: 1:00-2:15 Credits: 3

Course Title: ST: Archaeology of GIS Gen Ed:

Professor:  Eric Poehler

Description: Seminar
In this class students will be introduced to the use of geographic information systems (GIS) as applied today in the field of archaeology. The course will focus on vector-type GIS and will employ the ArcGIS Desktop software system to illustrate the use of GIS. Students will be instructed in a wide range of GID functions, including data query, editing, manipulation, analysis, and display. While the context of the course is the application of GIS in archaeological research, the fundamentals will profit scholars in almost any discipline.

Course Number: 597W Day: M Time: 12:20 -3:20 Credits: 3

Course Title: ST: Archaeology of Gender Gen Ed:

Professor: Elizabeth Chilton

Description: Seminar

In this seminar we will explore how archaeologists explore gender and sex through the lens of archaeological record. We will examine the historical and theoretical underpinnings of an "archaeology of gender," and we will see how some of these underpinnings are put into practice from a methodological perpsective. This requires not only and examination of gender and sex in the past, but also a clear analysis of how contemporary notions of sex and gender affect-and, in fact, help create-the lens through which we view and interpret the past.

Course Number: 597X Day: F Time: 12:20-3:20 Credits: 3

Course Title: ST: Disease Ecology Gen Ed:

Professor: Seamus Decker

Description: Seminar
There are many distinct scientific approaches to understanding human disease ecology including medical anthropology, epidemiology, pathology and medicine. The goal of this course is to combine insights from these and other perspectives (including history, evolutionary biology, psychology, and genetics) into a holistic anthropological approach to disease ecology. We will consider a variety of disease types, including infectious, congenital, degenerative, stress, and behavioral or psychological disorders. The focus of the course is on humans and human ancestors. However we will use case studies of some nonhuman primates which provide insights for specific topics. The intent of the course is to establish general principles and hypotheses about human disease ecology using a limited number of examples and case studies. Student mastery will be gauged through their ability to independently marshal evidence in support of expositions of core concepts in in-class discussion, written work, and exams. A significant portion of the final grade will be based on re-drafted, and peer-critiqued written assignments. It is hoped that such a course may be beneficial not only for anthropologists specialized in medical or biological areas, but also for students from various disciplinary perspectives including cultural anthropology, psychology, or medicine.

Course Number: 597Z Day: MW Time: 10:10-12:05 Credits: 3

Course Title: ST: Theory & Method in Bioarchaeology Gen Ed:

Professor: Ventura Perez

Description: Seminar
In this seminar we will survey the basic field and analytical methods of bio-archaeology and examine the theoretical approaches to topics that are of major concern to the discipline. Special emphasis will be placed on the following subjects: structure and history of the discipline, development of a theoretical framework, approaches to temporal and behavioral reconstructions, and an examination of current issues of bio-archaeological inquiry. The seminar will also focus on several case studies and specialized subjects, such as the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) and ethical considerations in skeletal research, professional ethics, forensic anthropology, taphonomy, mortuary behavior, demography, and interpersonal and institutional forms of violence and trauma.

Course Number: 641 Day: W Time: 12:20-3:20 Credits: 3

Course Title: Theory & Method in Social Anthropology I Gen Ed:

Professor: Jackie Urla

Description: Seminar

This course is an introduction for graduate students in anthropology to foundational theoretical concepts and approaches in socio-cultural theory focusing on the theme of culture and power. It provides a grounding for further study of social theory or more specialized graduate seminars in any area of cultural anthropology. Consent of instructor required.

Course Number: 685 Day: F Time: 1:15-4:15 Credits: 3

Course Title: Seminar in European Anthropology II Gen Ed:

Professor: Krista Harper

Description: Seminar for returning participants of the European Field Program in Anthropology (680). Students analyze field data and prepare written reports on fieldwork projects.

Course Number: 697EE Day: Th Time: 1:00-4:00 Credits: 3

Course Title: ST: Public Anthropology Gen Ed:

Professor: Julie Hemment

Description: Seminar
Public anthropology strives to link research and action, to bring anthropological knowledge to broader audiences, whilst promoting social justice and social change. This graduate seminar explores the content of this project and reflects upon its potential. The course is part survey (what is public anthropology? Who's talking about it and why? What are the key areas of debate?), part up-close investigation of some contemporary public or community-based anthropological scholarship. We will examine a variety of different forms of action-oriented approaches, including feminist anthropology and participatory action research. As we engage these works, we'll be forging our own vision of what a public anthropology can and should be ar the same time as we critically engage the contents of this project and the forces that prompt it. A second, parallel agenda of the course will be to map changes with the academy. The corporatization of the academy is likely to greatly constrain a pulic anthropology, or at least to shift its meaning and content. At the same time, the corporatization of the anthropological profession propels and stimulates applied forms of anthropological engagement. What are the possibilities within this terrain? How does this cause us to rethink the public anthroplogy project? How can ethnographic knowledge contribute both to increasing our understanding of and challenging these corporatizing tendencies? The course is intended for graduate stuents, but is open to advanced undergraduates with the permission of the instructor.

Course Number: 697G Day: Tu Time: 9:30-12:30 Credits: 3

Course Title: ST: Proseminar in General Anthropology Gen Ed:

Professor: Ralph Faulkingham

Description: Seminar, required for –and limited to – all new incoming graduate students in anthropology, introduces the framework of a four-field anthropology. Along the way, it also introduces students to some of the faculty drawing on their expertise to identify how four-field anthropology is practiced at UMass Amherst. The course will consider ways to teach four-field anthropology, brief histories of the sub-fields, and how the sub-fields look at common problems.

Course Number: 775 Day: W Time: 12:20-2:50 Credits: 3

Course Title: Anthropological Research Methods Gen Ed:

Professor: Krista Harper

Description: Seminar
Key concepts, research design, methodological strategies, and the ethics of applied qualitative research. Students design qualitative research projects, conduct field research with a local organization or other community setting, analyze qualitative data, and write up research findings in a paper that explores applications for policy or adminstration. This course is cross-listed with PubP&A 697V: Qualitative Policy Research.