102 ANTHROPOLOGY: HUMAN ORIGINS AND CULTURE
(4 hrs)
Professor Steve
Leigh Office: 209J Davenport Hall, PH: 244-3503
s-leigh@uiuc.edu
Professor
R.Barry Lewis Office: 209F Davneport Hall, PH: 244-3501
blewis@uiuc.edu
This class explores the fossil and archaeological evidence for human biological and cultural evolution. We examine the fossil and artifact record of the last several million years in order to develop an understanding of why we are interesting animals and a somewhat unique species. The first part of the course considers our biological heritage. We learn the biological bases of human life and carefully evaluate the human fossil record. The second part of the course introduces students to archaeology, the evolution of cultural behavior, and world prehistory. Final grades will be based on two examinations, discussion section assignments, and two 3-5 page article reviews.
Texts:
Turnbaugh, William, et al. (2002)
Understanding Physical Anthropology and Archaeology. Eighth Edition.
Lewin, R. (2005) Human
Evolution: An Illustrated Introduction. Fifth Edition. Blackwell Scientific
Publications,
*THIS COURSE
FULFILLS THE SOCIAL PERSPECTIVES GEN. ED. REQ.
103 INTRODUCTION TO CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY (3
hrs)
Professor Ellen Moodie Office: 187
moodie@uiuc.edu
This course will
present the foundational areas of anthropological analysis though a series of
cases that emphasize social and cultural relations in global contexts. It will direct attention to the
anthropological history of global empires, colonial states, and neoliberal
global networks. We shall study
transnational family and kinship relations, the exchanges that sustain them,
and new forms of marriage. We’ll
consider the cultural formations entailed in the development of modern nation
states and track the transformations such states undergo in contemporary
globalization as both poor and rich countries retract services and rearrange
the social and cultural experiences of their citizens. We’ll examine these transformations through
case studies of religious fundamentalism, medical emergency, ecological crisis,
changing musical and artistic practices, and ethnic violence. We’ll study cases from indigenous
In Fall 2005
this course will be limited to first year undergraduate students. The course will be connected to 6 other
Freshmen-only courses (in history, economics, world literature, geography,
religion, and sociology) that relate the discipline introduced to global
issues. All the students in these
courses will attend 6 lectures given by guest speakers that deal with global
themes of interest to the subject matter of all these introductory courses. Students are encouraged to take more than one
of these courses during Fall semester 2005.
*THIS COURSE
FULFILLS THE SOCIAL PERSPECTIVES GEN. ED. REQ.
104 TALKING CULTURE (3 hrs)
Professor Brenda
Farnell Office: 209E Davenport Hall; PH: 244-9226
bfarnell@uiuc.edu
This
course provides an introduction to linguistic anthropology, focusing on
language as a means to understand self and society; demonstrating the role of
language in the development of a person’s concept of self and in the creation
and maintenance of society and culture; emphasizing language use within
community as key to the analysis of cultural practices. We examine how talk and gestures actually
work in different cultural contexts, look at problems of cross-cultural
communication, and explore difficulties among people who speak the same
language, especially when differences of class, age, gender, sexual
orientation, and/or ethnicity are involved.
Texts
include the following books plus articles on e-reserve:
Thomas, Linda
and Shan Wareing et al. 2004. Language, Society and Power. 2nd
Edition.
Bauer, Laurie and Peter Trudgill (eds.)
1998. Language Myths.
Schaller, Susan 1991. A Man
Without Words.
105 WORLD ARCHAEOLOGY (3 HRS)
Professor
Timothy Pauketat Office: 123
pauketat@uiuc.edu
Discusses the major discoveries of
archaeology and its relevance to the world today through an introductory survey
of the archaeology of the Near East, Asia, Africa, Europe, and the
*THIS COURSE FULFILLS
THE SOCIAL PERSPECTIVES GEN. ED. REQ.
143
BIOLOGICAL BASES OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR. (3hrs.)
Dr. Charles
Roseman Office: TBA
This course
presents a broadly based survey of the biological components of human
behavior. Course content draws on
evidence from the evolutionary record (primate and human evolution), comparative
ethnology (especially non-human primates), neuroanatomy and psychology. Specific topics include hormones and
reproduction, aggression, sociobiology, genetic bases of behavior, sensory
system, language, the human brain, and the evolution of human behavior. The course should be of interest to students
in a wide variety of disciplines including biological and social sciences and
humanities as well as anyone interested in the study of human behavior.
*THIS COURE
FULFILLS THE LIFE SCIENCES GEN. ED. REQ.
150 NOVEL
ARCHAEOLOGY 3 HRS) (Discovery)
Professor Olga
Soffer Office: 309H Davenport Hall, PH: 333-3100
o-soffer@uiuc.edu
This course is designed
for non-anthropology majors and is a survey course of prehistory as seen
through the eyes of novelists, science fiction writers, videos, and films. In this course we will learn something about
what happened in the past - during roughly 2,500,000 years of our prehistory,
as well as examine the interface between fact and fiction and the present and
the past. Course requirements include
reading a lot of novels, viewing films, as well as active participation in the
class discussions. Exams include a
midterm and a final as well as a term paper/project.
TENTATIVE TEXTS:
Auel, J. The Mammoth Hunters.
Bishop, M. Ancient of Days.
Christie, A. Murder in
Fagan, B.M. World
Prehistory. 6th ed. Little, Brown and
Gear, W.M. and K. Gear
People of the River,
Kurten, B. Dance of the
Tiger.
Michner, J. The Source.
Von Daniken, E. Chariots of the Gods.
*THIS COURSE FULFILLS THE HISTORICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVES GEN. ED.
REQ.
175 ARCHAEOLOGY AND POP CULTURE (3 HRS)
Professor Helaine Silverman Office: 295
helaine@uiuc.edu
Throughout history, thinkers, writers, scholars, and
charlatans have attempted to cast the past in an image either they or the
public desire or find comforting. Through
multiple case studies we examine the ways in which the ancient past has been
interpreted, appropriated, represented, used and manipulated in the present for
a variety of reasons by people, political parties, national governments and
others. We use the past as a vehicle for
exploration of very contemporary issues such as racism, nationalism, ethnicity,
memory, immigration, Afrocentrism, pseudo-scientism, feminism, orientalism,
tourism, primitivism, the exhibitionary complex, and the rights of indigenous
peoples. Archaeology -- the study of the past -- is a very relevant
contemporary intellectual and social undertaking. We watch excerpts of Hollywood films and
television documentaries with archaeological themes that are themselves
examples of popular culture in the
182 PEOPLES
AND CULTURES OF
Professor Ellen Moodie Office: 187
moodie@uiuc.edu
This
class will introduce you to the diversity of Latin American and
*THIS
COURSE FULFILLS THE
184
ASIAN AMERICAN CULTURES (3 hrs)
Professor Martin
Manalansan Office:
387
Asian Americans have increasingly become a visible part of
the American national landscape in recent years. While images of exotic
220 INTRODUCTION TO
ARCHAEOLOGY
(3hrs)
Professor Barry Lewis Office: 209F Davenport
Hall, PH: 244-3501
blewi@uiuc.edu
This
course provides an introduction to theory and methods in archaeological
research, data collection, and analysis.
The objective is to familiarize the student with the strategies that are
employed in the investigation of archaeological remains and how these
strategies further the aims of an anthropological archaeology. Grades will be based on 2 in-class exams, 2
section quizzes, and weekly assignments.
Text:
Renfrew,
Colin and Paul Bahn (2004) Archaeology: Theories, Methods, and Practice. 4th edition. Thames & Hudson.
230 SOCIALCULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY (3 hrs)
Professor
Andrew Orta Office: 382
andyorta@uiuc.edu
This course is
an advanced introduction to sociocultural anthropology. Through the systematic study of human
diversity (and similarity), sociocultural anthropologists study fundamental
dimensions of the human condition and their multiple expressions across space
and time. We will discuss the basic
concepts and analytic approaches of the field through a combination of case
studies focused on specific societies and an historical overview of the
development of the discipline. We will
also discuss the research methods of sociocultural anthropology and engage in
some ethnographic exercises of our own.
For those students interested in pursuing further work in sociocultural
anthropology, this course will provide the key terms, and concepts necessary to
continue work in the field. For all
students, the course will present a glimpse of a range of human societies and
the contemporary challenges they confront, and encourage a comparative and
critical awareness of other societies, of our own, and of the complex
connections and histories that link us together.
243 SOCIALITY OF THE GREAT APES (3 hrs)
Professor
Rebecca Stumpf Office: 189
rstump@uiuc.edu
This course examines the biology and
behavior of our closest living relatives, the great apes. Beginning with an overview of the taxonomic
relationship between the great apes and humans, we will then cover the
locomotion, feeding ecology, social organization, mating patterns, and behavior
of chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, and orangutans. Lecture material
focuses on topics such as social cooperation, mating strategies, inter-and
intrasexual social interactions, infanticide, tool use, diet, food sharing,
reproductive behavior, cognition and conservation. We will evaluate the
appropriateness of the great apes as models for understanding human behavior
and evolution.
260 WORLD ENTHNOGRAPHY (3 hrs)
Professor
F.K. Lehman Office: 209H Davenport Hall; PH: 333-8423
f-lehman@uiuc.edu
This
course serves as an introduction to the classical and more recent forms of
ethnography, the descriptive and analytical literature of the subject. First, it is intended to give anthropology
students an introduction to the range of actual/possible cultural and social
systems, as a basis for understanding what it is that anthropological theory is
supposed to account for. Secondly, it is
intended as an introduction to the development of theory and method on the
basis of the history of how field work has been done and reported. Finally, it is intended to show how the
development of how ethnography is done has depended upon the development of
theory and upon the nature of the main issues and problems, both theoretical
and pragmatic that anthropologists have been concerned with at different
periods. The materials presented will be
chiefly books and monographs, but some use will also be made of ethnographic
films.
268 IMAGES OF THE OTHER (3hrs)
Professor
Alma Gottlieb Office: 386C Davenport Hall, PH: 244-3515
ajgottli@uiuc.edu
Are racism,
sexism, homophobia, anti-Semitism, and
other stereotypical ideologies of "the Other" inevitable and
universal, or do they have local histories and alternatives? In comparing a broad array of images of
"Others," the course will challenge you to interrogate the cultural
and historical foundations of the widespread ideologies that define
"other" populations. We
deliberately examine many kinds of "other" groups as defined by
ethnicity, "race," gender, health, religion, and sexual
orientation. After briefly exploring
some conceptual models that will help us think about and understand notions of
"the Other"—including a mixture of symbolic, historical, political
and economic perspectives-- we will survey some mainstream Western images of
"other" groups from classic Greek times to the contemporary
period. At the end of the semester, we
will reverse our gaze to look at Western social traditions as "Other"
when seen from the perspective of non-Western groups, as well as some
non-Western people’s images of each other.
In taking a broad sweep both historically and cross-culturally, the
course aims to demonstrate the contingent nature of ideologies of "other"
groups, and their embeddedness in social institutions ranging from family
structure and religion to economy and polity.
Students will do
a variety of written assignments including several short papers as well as
either a diary-based paper or a short-term local fieldwork project on toys.
William
O'Barr, Culture & the Ad
George
Frederickson, Racism: A Short History
Robert
Murphy, The Body Silent
Keith
Basso, Portraits of the "Whiteman"
Prerequisites: a prior
course in cultural anthropology or one of the other social sciences would be
helpful.
**THIS COURSE FULFILLS
THE "CULTURAL STUDIES: WESTERN/COMPARATIVE CULTURES" GENERAL
EDUCATION REQUIREMENT FOR THE CAMPUS
** THIS COURSE ALSO
FULFILLS THE
"HUMANITIES AND THE ARTS: HISTORICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVES"
REQUIREMENT FOR THE CAMPUS AS WELL AS THE
326
THE RISE OF CIVILIZATION IN ANCIENT
Professor Helaine Silverman Office: 295
This course surveys the rise of civilization in
ancient
The requirements for undergraduates are an in-class midterm and final.
Graduate students will do a take-home exam.
399 NEW
DIRECTIONS IN BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY (3 hrs)
Professor TBA
PLEASE CONTACT THE
DEPARTMENT AT 333-3616
456
HUMAN OSTEOLOGY (3or 4 hrs)
Professor TBA
This course will allow
students to develop proficiency in the identification of human osteological
remains, and the methods used for discriminating age, sex, stature and signs of
pathology in human skeletons. Additional
emphasis will be placed on the growth and development of bone as a tissue and
the ways in which bone responds to mechanical/environmental factors.
477
POTTERY ANALYSIS (3 or 4 hrs)
Professor
Timothy Pauketat Office: 123
pauketat@uiuc.edu
How
do anthropological archaeologists analyze ancient earthenwares, and why? This grad level course covers the basics of
pottery manufacture, use, disposal, style, practice, and standardization as
integral components of archaeological interpretation. The basics of formal analysis, excluding
archaeometric techniques, are covered in a hands-on manner: experimental
pottery making, cooking in earthenware jars, reconstruction, profiling,
attribute-based analysis, and seriation. Emphasis is on understanding assemblages and
how to construct inferences
480
INTREPRETIVE ANTHROPOLOGY (4 hrs)
Professor
Alma Gottlieb Office: 386C Davenport Hall, PH: 244-3515
ajgottli@uiuc.edu
“The
Chief”—the American flag—the cross—the swastika. . . as humans, we think in
symbols, argue over symbols, exhibit symbols, pledge allegiance to symbols,
faint at symbols, even die for symbols.
Why are symbols so powerful? And
what about other phenomena that have deeply symbolic significance beyond such
empirical objects—religious ideas such as God, economic models such as The
American Dream, scientific concepts such as facts and numbers? How do such
notions convince us to care about them, and how do we come to take their
importance for granted? This course
explores a range of theoretical tools that symbolic and interpretive
anthropology offer us to understand how we humans go about thinking about and
interpreting the world we create. Ought
we be called Homo symbolicus?
In the first
section we read some precursors of symbolic and interpretive anthropology,
including early French symbolist and surrealists, Freud, Weber, Cassirer,
Langer, Durkheim and Mauss, and Maurice Halbwachs. Then we jump to the first wave of
contemporary symbolic and interpretive anthropologists, focusing on Berger and
Luckmann, Mary Douglas, Victor Turner, Clifford Geertz, Roy Wagner and Sherry
Ortner. During the remainder of the
course we concentrate on works by more recent and contemporary authors. Throughout, we will consider such topics as:
the cultural construction of memory; the cultural constitution of space and
place; the symbolics of power/representing the colonial encounter; the efficacy
of ritual and performance; the politics and art of writing the ethnographic text;
and, throughout, the powers and limitations of symbolic and interpretive
approaches to human life.
PREREQUISITES:
All students should have some background in cultural anthropology. Undergraduates students should have already
taken ANTH 103 or ANTH 230 plus one of the following: 268, 362, 363,
414, 421, 430, or 470 (or equivalent elsewhere). Students interested in enrolling in the
course without prior background in cultural anthropology should consult with
the instructor to see if their background is optimal before registerng for this
course.
v
Emile
Durkheim and Marcel Mauss, Primitive Classification
v
Maurice
Halbwachs, On Collective Memory
v
Peter
L. Berger and Thomas Luckmann, The Social Construction of Reality
v
Roy
Wagner, The Invention of Culture
v
James
Clifford and George E. Marcus, eds., Writing Culture: The Politics and
Poetics of Ethnography
v
Barbara
Myerhoff, Remembered Lives: The Work of Ritual, Storytelling, and Growing
Older
v
Erik
Mueggler, The Age of Wild Ghosts: Memory, Violence, and Place in
v
Rosalind
Shaw, Memories of the Slave Trade: Ritual and Historical Imagination
487
ETHNICITY IN
Professor Hairong Yan Office: TBA
Explores ethnic diversity and ethnic realtions
in
4991 Current
topics in anthropological genetics (4 hrs)
Professor Charles Roseman Office: TBA
This seminar provides a survey of contemporary
issues in anthropological genetics. Topics covered in the seminar will include
molecular evolution in the primate order, modern human origins, human
biological diversity, and rates of phenotypic evolution from an evolutionary
quantitative genetic perspective. A
central goal of the class is to explore how population genetics and molecular
evolution can compliment other approaches to a large number of research
problems in anthropology.
Requirements:
Graduate status or instructor’s approval and a basic understanding of evolution
and genetics
499M
FILIPINO AMERIANS (4 hrs)
Professor Martin
Manalansan Office:
387
Filipinos occupy a vexed relationship in histories of the American nation, of global migration and of postcolonial cultures. This course seeks a critical understanding this problematic location through an examination of texts such as ethnographies, historical accounts, cinema, fiction and other genres. Looking at issues of gender, sexuality, youth, nationhood, and immigration, the course “travels” both through time and space between America, the Philippines and the global “elsewhere” to look at the multivalent positions and meanings behind being “Filipino.”
Tentative
list of books:
Choy, Catherine Ceniza. Empire of Care: Nursing and Migration in
Filipino American History.
Espiritu,
Yen Le. 2003. Home Bound:
Filipino American Lives Across Cultures, Communities, and Countries.
Linmark,
R. Zamora. 2001. Rolling the R’s.
Manalansan,
Martin IV F. Global Divas: Filipino Gay Men in the Diaspora.
Roley, Brian Ascalon. American
Son.
499S
HORMONES AND BEHAVIOR (2 or 4
hrs)
Professor
Rebecca Stumpf Office: 189 Davenport Hall; PH: 333-8072
rstump@uiuc.edu
This course is
intended to introduce students to the field of behavioral endocrinology, with
particular focus on primates, including humans. We will examine the
relationship between hormones and behavior using an evolutionary and
comparative approach and consider both how hormones influence behavior as well
as how behavioral interactions regulate endocrine physiology. The first part of the course will cover basic
endocrine system physiology and function. The second part of the course will
focus on hormonal influences on primate social behaviors, such as male and
female reproductive behaviors, courtship, parental care, bonding and
attachment, as well as aggression and territoriality. Other topics that will be
covered include the endocrine regulation of biological rhythms, energy balance,
stress, as well as learning and memory.
Prerequisites: Anth. 102, 143, 240,
243 or 443 or an equivalent course in animal behavior.
499T
AFRO-LATIN
Professor Arlene Torres Office: 510 E. Chalmers; PH: 265-0370
atorres2@uiuc.edu
This course focuses on
the experiences of Afrodecendientes in Latin America, the Caribbean and
the
512
LANGUAGE AND CULTURE (4 hrs)
Professor Janet Keller Office: 395
jdkeller@uiuc.edu
This course offers
advanced students an introduction to theoretical foundations and practical
methods of anthropological linguistics. An historical review of seminal ideas
and debates provides the initial groundwork for understanding contemporary
issues. Transcription techniques and
analytical approaches to meaning will be explored with a linguistic consultant
(assuming we can make arrangements for someone to join us), following the discussions
of intellectual history. The final third
of the course is devoted to an overview of active research arenas and detailed
study of two or more current problem areas. Student evaluations are based on 3 take home
examinations. The first and last
sections will each be followed by essays requiring critical review of the
theoretical literature. The practicum section of the course will be concluded
with an assignment based on methodologies and analytical techniques.
Texts:
Blount, Ben (ed.) 1995 Language, Culture and
Society. A Book of
Chomsky, Noam 1984 Knowledge of Language: Its Nature, Origin and Use.
NY: Praeger.
Hanks, William 1996 Language and Communicative Practices.
Duranti, Alessandro 1999 Language Matters in Anthropology: A Lexicon
for the Millenium. Journal of Linguistic Anth. 9:1 and 2.
Lyons, John L. 1981 Language and Linguistics: An Introduction.
Jakobson, Roman 1978 Six Lectures on Sound and Meaning.
Bauman, Richard and Briggs, Charles 2003 Voices of Modernity.
Saussure, Ferdinand de [1959] 1966 Course in General Linguistics.
NY" McGraw-Hill Book Co.
Austin, J. L. 1962 How to Do Things with Words.
These will be augmented by on-line reserve readings.
515IA
Professor Paul Garber Office: 109B Davenport Hall, PH: 333-3616
p-garber@uiuc.edu
This course meets once a week to introduce
first-year graduate students to the anthropology faculty at the
515B
NATION AND THE POLITICS OF FERTILITY AND SEXUALITY (2 or 4 hrs)
Professor Laura Bellows Office: 391
lbellows@uiuc.edu
This course explores the impact of
feminist scholarship on studies of nationalism in
We will examine the particular attention
states and state-like groups pay to sexuality within projects designed to shape
nations through control of subjects' fertilities, such as in pro-natalist
movements or family-planning campaigns. This focus on sexuality and
fertility entails considerable scholarly attention to the impact on women's
reproductivity of particular nationalist projects. In this course, we
expand our view of what counts as sexuality to include an examination of how
explicit rejections of conjugality play into nationalist debates, specifically
monastic vows of celibacy, rejections of marriage, and preservation of
virginity.
This course situates these conceptions of
nation and nationalism within the context of scholarship devoted to colonial
genealogies of race and nation and their deployment, expressed through the
policing of gendered ethnic relations and modes of sexuality. In addition
to working through the multiple ways sexuality and fertility are implicated in
the construction and delineation of nation in these discourses, this course
takes a critical look at the place in these debates of erotic desire.
Following Anne Stoler's exploration of how particular desires are created
through forecasts of the consequences of certain kinds of couplings and sexual
behaviors, we will attend to the question of desire for the potential it has to
augment our appreciation of post-colonial states' and religious groups' efforts
to create nations and maintain control of subjects, but more than that, to
determine who counts as a subject and how subjects will be (re)produced.
Over the course of the semester, students
will be required to turn in a critical paper (1-2 pages) each week based on the
readings. At the end of the term, each student will complete a research
paper (20-25 pages) on an approved topic of the students choosing.
Students may be asked to work in small groups to do an in-class presentation on
one book from the recommended reading list and to collaborate on a one page
overview to be handed out to the class during the presentation and used to
prompt discussion. Students may engage in short fieldwork projects under
the rubric of the Ethnography of the University Project, results from which
will contribute to their research papers.
515F
BODY, PERSON AND CULTURAL THEORY (2 or 4
hrs)
Professor Brenda
Farnell Office: 209E Davenport Hall; PH: 244-9226
bfarnell@uiuc.edu
During the past twenty-five years there has been
a virtual explosion of interdisciplinary literature on ‘the body’. The immediate theoretical background to this
interest lies in a tension between Freudian theory and Merleau-Ponty’s
existential phenomenology. Foucault,
Bourdieu and Giddens are three social theorists who have attempted to respond
to this tension. Growing out of this, in anthropology,
515FKL
THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF SOUTH ASIA. ( 2 or
4 hrs)
Professor
F.K. Lehman Office: 209H Davenport Hall; PH: 333-8423
f-lehman@uiuc.edu
This is a survey of
issues in the anthropology of India (and also Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri
Lanka). In many ways, professional
anthropology ad its start under the British colonial regime there with the
establishment of the Anthropological Survey of India. This is intended to be an introduction to the
vast anthropological literature of this region, both culture-historical and
ethnographical. The purpose is to characterize
the region as a domain of anthropological study and to deal with the special
issues for cultural and social anthropological theory raise by specifically
South Asian sociocultural phenomena. Not
least is a re-examination upon rigorous grounds, of the nature of Caste, and of
questions about the cultural relativity of notions of Self/Individuality.
515L
ARCHAEOLOGY OF WAR. (2 or 4 hrs)
Professor
R.Barry Lewis Office: 209F Davneport Hall, PH: 244-3501
blewis@uiuc.edu
This
seminar examines archaeological perspectives on war and draws on a wide range
of case studies from prehistoric village raids to the Little Big Horn, the
Battle of the Somme, and the recent invasion of Iraq. We will consider the
contributions and objectives of conflict archaeology, battlefield archaeology,
and forensic archaeology, and evaluate archaeology’s potential contributions to
the understanding and interpretation of human conflicts that transcend the
level of individual violence. Final
grades will be based on a term paper, in-class presentations, and active
informed participation in seminar discussions.
515P
INTEGRATED FOUR FIELDS SEMINAR IN ANTHROPOLOGY (4 hrs)
Professor Matti Bunzl Office: 386B Davenport Hall, PH: 265-4068
bunzl@uiuc.edu
Professor
Steve Leigh Office: 209J Davenport Hall; PH: 244-3503
Professor
Olga Soffer Office: 309H Davenport Hall; PH:
333-2100
osoffer@uiuc.edu
This course --
co-taught by an archaeologist, a biological anthropologist, and a cultural
anthropologist -- is designed to explore the nature of anthropology as an
integrated discipline. To do so, faculty
and students will engage in an ongoing dialogue across sub-disciplinary lines,
examining the theoretical, conceptual, and empirical domains that unite and
divide us as practitioners of anthropology.
We will pay particular attention to some of the discipline's
"classic" issues; and in probing how the different sub-disciplines
approach them, we will seek new avenues of integration. Specific topics that will be covered include:
the culture/nature problem; language, gesture, and communicative strategies;
spirituality, religion, and ritual; ecology; kinship and the genetic basis of
behavior; the relationship of behavior to practice and prehistory to history;
evolutionary theory and its uses in each subfield; the cultural concept of race
and the biology of human variation; social hierarchy, cooperation, and
aggression in human and non-human primates; cognition, decision making, and
space; sex, gender, and mating/marriage systems, etc. Evaluation is based on 1) class discussion
and 2) a term paper that explores a contemporary topic in anthropology from a
multidisciplinary perspective. The
course is open to graduating seniors and graduate students in anthropology.
First-year graduate students are required to enroll in the course.
515S
HORMONES AND BEHAVIOR (2 or 4
hrs)
Professor
Rebecca Stumpf Office: 189 Davenport Hall; PH: 333-8072
rstump@uiuc.edu
This course is
intended to introduce students to the field of behavioral endocrinology, with
particular focus on primates, including humans. We will examine the
relationship between hormones and behavior using an evolutionary and
comparative approach and consider both how hormones influence behavior as well
as how behavioral interactions regulate endocrine physiology. The first part of the course will cover basic
endocrine system physiology and function. The second part of the course will
focus on hormonal influences on primate social behaviors, such as male and
female reproductive behaviors, courtship, parental care, bonding and
attachment, as well as aggression and territoriality. Other topics that will be
covered include the endocrine regulation of biological rhythms, energy balance,
stress, as well as learning and memory.
Prerequisites: Anth. 102, 143, 240,
243 or 443 or an equivalent course in animal behavior.
543
SEMINAR IN PRIMATE ECOLOGY (2 or 4
hrs)
Professor Paul Garber Office: 109B Davenport Hall; PH: 333-3616
p-garber@uiuc.edu
Virtually all species of diurnal primates
live in bisexual social groups composed of individuals of all age classes.
Group living requires that individuals form predictable social relationships,
explore a common set of resources, defend a common range, and develop
affiliative social bonds. Although several theories exist concerning the costs
and benefits to individuals of group living, most of these focus on concepts of
feeding competition and aggression and the costs to individuals of living in
social groups. These theories are not generally supported by the
empirical data. In this seminar we will explore current models of primate
socioecology, and develop alternative models that highlight the importance of
cooperation and affiliation in understanding primate social life. Each
student will focus on a particular aspect of these models and explore recent
theorical ideas and empirical data to critique and test the models. The
goal of this seminar is to draft a paper for publication that furthers our
understanding of primate socioecology.
564
MUSEUM THEORY AND PRACTICE (4hrs)
Professor Helaine Silverman Office: 295 Davenport Hall; PH:
333-1315
We will examine the history and social life of
museums and how museums have been studied by anthropologists. We will consider early collecting activities
and the development of the museum in the 19th and 20th centuries and into the
postmodern present. We will examine the
relationship between museums and evolutionary ethnology, cultural relativism,
physical anthropology, archaeology, natural history, as well as relationships
between museums and communities (e.g., issues of repatriation, diversity,
multiculturalism). We will seek to
understand the cultural and political contexts of building ethnographic
collections and displays and education programs. We will examine changes in the roles of
museums, notably as the museum has become part of the culture industry. We will examine the emergence of the museum
as a focus of anthropological and theoretical inquiry and as a subject of
ethnography itself. We also will pay
attention to legal and ethical issues surrounding the development and use of
collections. Assignments include: (1) a critical analysis of the articles that
have appeared in the Museum Anthropology section of American Anthropologist
since the beginning of this section in the journal (1999); (2) study visit to
Krannert Art Museum, Spurlock Museum and Champaign County Historical Museum
with write-up of comparative analysis of the two museums; (3) development of a
proposal for an exhibition and accompany it with textual explanations, diagrams
of the layout of the exhibit, photocopies of the pieces you will exhibit and
where they go in the exhibition, etc.
445 RESEARCH IN BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY: Introduction to
Conservation Medicine and Ecosystem Health (meets w/ vp 640)
Professor Thomas Gillespie(vstl asst prof in
Anthropology and Veterinary Medicine)
trg@express.cites.uiuc.edu
The goal of this course is to provide veterinary
professional students and graduate students with an introduction to the use of
medical reasoning and technology in the investigation of problems related to
conservation biology and ecosystem health. The course is an interactive,
distance-based, video-conference-based seminar series , jointly hosted
by the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine,
Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine
and the Chicago Zoological Society/Brookfield Zoo.
Together, these institutions comprise the Conservation
Medicine Center of Chicago. Topics
include such issues as the biology and evolutionary origins of emerging viral
pathogens, vector-borne disease ecology and control, global amphibian
population declines, and wildlife and zoological medicine.
http://www.cvm.uiuc.edu/courses/vp640/