102 ANTHROPOLOGY: HUMAN
ORIGINS AND CULTURE (4 hrs)
Dr. Steve Leigh Office: 109 Davenport Hall PH: 333-3616
sleigh@uiuc.edu
Dr. Stanley Ambrose Office: 381 Davenport Hall PH: 244-3504
ambrose@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, two quizzes, two 3-5
page article reviews, and discussion section assignments.
Required Texts
TBA
*APPROVED FOR SOCIAL PERSPECTIVES GEN ED REQUIREMENT.
103 Anthropology in a Changing World (3 hrs)
Dr. Ellen Moodie Office: 391 Davenport Hall PH: 244-7849
moodie@uiuc.edu
This course will introduce you to sociocultural anthropology through a
series of stories, situations and case studies.
During the semester you will discover the enormous scope of this field
of study, from long-term links across the globe to close contacts among friends
and family members. You’ll learn about
diverse people and their ways of engaging with the particular worlds around
them, (and helping to create the
worlds around them through their ideas and actions). The thrust of the class is globalization of those worlds (even as
we challenge the concept). In an increasingly “globalized,” multicultural
world, anthropology is a good base on which to build careers in law, medicine,
business, journalism, public policy, politics, public health, social work,
international development, education, activism, adventure travel, novel
writing, theater, art … almost anything!
*THIS COURSE FULFILLS THE SOCIAL PERSPECTIVES GEN. ED. REQ.
104 TALKING CULTURE (3 hrs)
Dr. 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. London and New York:
Routledge.
Bauer, Laurie and Peter Trudgill (eds.) 1998. Language Myths. London
and New York: Penguin.
Schaller, Susan 1991. A Man Without Words.
Berkeley: University of California Press.
105 WORLD ARCHAEOLOGY (3 hrs)
Dr. Timothy Pauketat Office: 123 Davenport Hall; PH: 244-8818
pauketat@uiuc.edu
Using archaeological data, this class traces a world of archaeological
discoveries and the processes which led to the development of agriculture,
settled villages, and civilizations. We
touch on archaeology's basic philosophy, methods, and theories in lectures but
focus on specific problems, people, and places to get a big picture
understanding of ancient world history.
Lectures range from the earliest Homo sapiens to ancient Sumeria, Egypt,
Mexico, Europe, Peru, China, subcontinental Africa, and the United States. Grades are based on exams, quizzes, and two
short papers.
*THIS COURSE FULFILLS THE HUMANITIES AND ARTS GEN. ED. REQ.
143
BIOLOGICAL BASES OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR. (3 hrs.)
Dr. Rebecca Stumpf Office:189 Davenport Hall PH: 333-8072
rstumpf@uiuc.edu
Dr. Charles Roseman Office: 209G Davenport Hall PH: 244-3513
croseman@uiuc.edu
What makes us act the way we do?
Is our behavior a product more of our biology or our upbringing? In this course, we critically consider
current controversies and ideas on the origin and development of human
behavior, and the extent to which human behavior is influenced by nature versus
nurture. We investigate the bases of
human behavior by drawing on evidence from the evolutionary record (primate and
human evolution), comparative ethology (especially non-human primates),
neuroanatomy and psychology. Specific
topics include basic genetics, natural and sexual selection, hormones and
reproduction, growth & development, sociobiology, genetic bases of behavior,
language, the human brain, intelligence, 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.
199
BIOLOGICAL BASES OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR (HONORS SECTION FOR JAMES SCHOLARS ONLY!)
Dr. Rebecca Stumpf Office: 189 Davenport Hall PH: 333-8072
rstumpf@uiuc.edu
Dr. Charles Roseman Office: 209G Davenport Hall PH: 244-3513
croseman@uiuc.edu
This honors section for ANTH/HDFS 143 is designed to supplement the
course lectures and create an opportunity to discuss the theories, empirical
evidence, and controversial ideas presented in lectures. The honors section is limited to 15 students.
This small discussion format will permit more in-depth consideration and more
hands-on examination of the evolution of human behavior.
150 NOVEL ARCHAEOLOGY (3 hrs)
Dr. Olga Soffer Office: 309H Davenport Hall PH: 333-2100
o-soffer@uiuc.edu
This course is designed for non-anthropology majors and is a brief
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 past and present.
This class will be run in a lecture/discussion format. Students will be divided into teams - with
each team responsible for leading us in the discussion of the feature films or
assigned novels on dates indicated on the syllabus.
Tentative Texts:
1 EITHER : A. Auel, J. THE MAMMOTH
HUNTERS, New York: Crown Publishing.OR B. Auel,
J. PLAINS OF PASSAGE, New York, Crown Publishing
2. Fagan, B. 2005 WORLD PREHISTORY, 6th ed.
New Jersey: Prentice Hall
3. Gear, W.M. and K. Gear PEOPLE OF THE
RIVER, New York: Tor
4. Kurten, B. DANCE OF THE TIGER.
Berkeley: U. of California Press.
5. Michner, J. THE SOURCE, New
York: Fawcett Paperbacks
6. Von Daniken, E. CHARIOTS OF THE GODS,
Berkeley : Berkeley Paperbacks
*THIS COURSE FULFILLS THE HUMANITIES AND ARTS GEN. ED. REQ.
182 LATIN AMERICAN CULTURES
Dr. Andrew Orta Office: 382 Davenport Hall PH: 244-7108
andyorta@uiuc.ed
This class presents an introduction to the peoples and cultures of
Latin America. Although the focus of the
course is contemporary Latin America, we will also learn about important
moments in the region’s history examining, for instance, the early moments of
Spanish invasion and colonization in the 15th and 16th centuries, and relations
between the region and the United States in the 19th and 20th centuries as
these reveal enduring themes and issues relevant to the understanding of Latin
America today. We will approach the
broad and diverse area of Latin America through a set of regional case studies
intended to provide some comparative perspective on similarities and
differences across the region. The
regional case studies will also present opportunities to learn about a set of
contemporary social and political issues relevant to the region and its
connections to the United States. These
include: the rise of left wing governments in the region; drug trafficking;
religious change and conflict; environmental politics; and legal and illegal
immigration.
*THIS COURSE FULFILLS THE SOCIAL SCIENCES AND NON-WESTERN CULTURES GEN.
ED. REQ.
199 ANCIENT MAYA RELIGION (3 hrs)
Dr. Lisa Lucero Office: 191 Davenport Hall PH: 244-7896
ljlucero@uiuc.edu
This course explores the archaeology of Classic and Postclassic
southern Mesoamerica (Maya) and Postclassic central Mexico (Aztec). Excavation data,
iconography, and inscriptions recovered at sites in those areas is used to reconstruct political and social organization,
ideology, subsistence activities, and inter-regional interactions. We will also explore similarities and
differences between the Maya and Aztecs; both are Mesoamerican societies, yet are
found in different places and rose to power in different time periods. The problems of historical preservation,
cultural resource management, and national patrimony will be discussed
throughout the course. We will also
discuss the impact of the Spanish conquest and colonialism in the Maya and
Aztec areas.
220 INTRODUCTION TO ARCHAEOLOGY
(3 hrs)
Dr. Chris Fennell
Office: 296 Davenport Hall PH:
244-7309
cfennell@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 two
in-class exams, two section quizzes, and weekly assignments.
224 TOURIST CITIES AND SITES (3 hrs)
(CAMPUS HONORS)
Dr. Helaine Silverman Office:
295 Davenport Hall PH: 333-1315
helaine@uiuc.edu
Tourism, in its modern Western iteration, is closely associated with
colonialism, imperialism, and capitalism.
Beginning in the seventeenth century the sons of the
European elite, notably the British, made a lengthy "Grand Tour" of
the continent as part of their cultural and educational training. In the
nineteenth century wealthy young women, appropriately chaperoned, set off as
tourists as well. As empires grew, so
did opportunities for tourism, with Egypt becoming particularly popular among
the upper classes in the second half of the nineteenth century into the early
twentieth. With technological advances
(trains and steam ships, automobiles, planes and jets) the mass movement of
people was facilitated, opening up travel to the middle classes both nationally
and internationally. Today the tourism
industry is global in scope, transnational in economic organization, and still
strongly colonialist in cultural practice.
This course is a critical examination tourism's social, political,
economic, and physical aspects over time and
across the world. We draw on
perspectives from anthropology, architecture,
landscape architecture, art, advertising, geography, history, cultural studies,
and literature.
Assignments:
travel memoir, film critique, marketing campaign, a project. There are no exams.
Readings: a
selection of articles on e-reserve plus these books: Paradise News by
David Lodge (Penguin, 1993); A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid (Farrar,
Straus, Giroux, 2000); The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
(Vintage, 2003); Deconstructing Travel by Arthur Asa Berger (AltaMira,
2004).
230 SOCIALCULTURAL
ANTHROPOLOGY (3 hrs)
Dr. F.K. Lehman Office: 209H Davenport Hall PH: 333-8423
f-lehman@uiuc.edu
Introduction t the anthropological study of contemporary human
societies; emphasis on the comparative study of social organization,
interpersonal relations, cultural ecology, and processes of sociocultural
change, but also includes some consideration of the method and theory of
ethnological field research.
Prerequisite: ANTH 103 or consent
of the instructor.
241 HUMAN VARIATION AND RACE (3 hrs)
Dr. Ripan Malhi Office:
185 Davenport Hall PH: 265-0721
malhi@uiuc.edu
This course surveys the patterns of biological variation within and
between human populations. After
covering the basic principles of genetics and evolutionary theory, we will
examine the genetic, physical, and behavioral traits found in our species. We will consider these traits from an
anthropological and scientific perspective, and will discuss both the
micro-evolutionary and cultural processes that have shaped these traits. We will also explore how culture can
influence our understanding of human biology, and we will discuss how studies
of human variation have impacted society in the past and present. We will pay particular attention to the
history and impact of the race concept. We will use the genetic ancestry of students in the class as a tool to
understand the genetic structure of human populations.
249 EVOLUTION AND HUMAN
DISEASE (3 hrs)
Dr. Thomas Gillespie Office: 187 Davenport Hall PH: 244-3836
trg@uiuc.edu
From plagues of prehistory to pandemics of disease emergence today,
pathogens have played a central role in our existence. This course will provide insights into why we
get sick and how we heal. This course
will introduce students to the evolutionary perspective of human disease using
the principles of natural selection, adaptation, and co-evolution to answer
such questions as: How do diseases originate? What factors lead to
epidemics? What capacity does the
human body have to respond to infection? What can medicine and technology
offer to mitigate the affects of disease?
259 LATINA/O CULTURES (3 hrs)
Dr. Alejandro Lugo Office: 385 Davenport Hall PH: 333-0823
a-lugo@uiuc.edu
In this class, we will examine the cultures of U.S. Latinas and
Latinos. We will focus on recent
ethnographic studies about AND by Latinos and Latinos. Topics to be discussed include: ethnic and
racial identity, language, racial discourse, gender inequality, sexuality,
power, class hierarchies, cultural citizenship, and popular culture--all from
an anthropological perspective. In the
process, we will critically examine the imagined, the intended, and the
invented communities constituting the Latina/o population of this country. In particular, we will explore (though not
exclusively) the experiences of Mexican Americans, Chicanas/os, Puerto Ricans,
Cuban Americans and Dominicans in the United States.
260 WORLD ENTHNOGRAPHY (3 hrs)
Dr. 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.
266 AFRICAN FILM AND SOCIETY. (3 hrs)
Dr. Mahir Saul Office: 309J Davenport Hall PH: 244-3502
m-saul@uiuc.edu
A course on recent feature films produced in African countries. These films are used to provide an
introduction to contemporary Africa.
Some of these films have received prestigious international awards. The films shown in the class are treated as
entertainment, as art, and as documents revealing social issues in contemporary
Africa. The course will include readings
on Africa, on the countries where the films were made, and on the topics that
they deal with. After the first two introductory weeks the students will
watch one film per week. Attendance of
these screenings and of the period of lecture and discussion is obligatory. There will be exams and weekly writing
assignments.
Texts:
I. Bakari & M. Cham, African Experiences of Cinema
M. Diawara, African Cinema, Politics & Culture
N. Thiong’o, Decolonizing the Mind
* THIS COURSE FULFILLS THE NON-WESTERN CULTURES FOR GEN.ED. REQ.
267 MEMOIRS OF AFRICA (3 hrs)
Dr. Alma Gottlieb Office: 386C Davenport Hall PH: 244-3515
ajgottli@uiuc.edu
If you've read little or nothing about the continent that is the cradle
of humanity, this course will offer you a user-friendly introduction to Africa,
which is so often (mis-) represented in stereotypic terms in Western mass
media. The texts are a set of
beautifully written memoirs written by African men and women (about their
experiences growing up and living in various regions of Africa--and in some
cases, as adults in Europe), sometimes written in conjunction with a Western
visitor to the continent. In looking
back at their engagements with Africa, the authors of these books weave
individual, society and history in complex tapestries, affording multiple
windows into what might appear as distant historical eras and cultural
settings, making the exotic approachable while still retaining a sense of the
extraordinary. In encountering these
works, the class offers you approaches into the lives
of individuals whose political leaders may make newspaper headlines but whose
own daily struggles and joys alike are largely invisible to the wider world.
Readings will include the following, among others:
• Camara Laye, Dark Child
• Buchi Emecheta, Head above
Water: An Autobiography
• Marjorie Shostak, Nisa: The
Life and Words of a Kung Woman
• Mark Mathabane, Kaffir Boy: The
True Story of a Black Youth's Coming of Age in Apartheid South Africa
Hans Lans, ed., The Story of My Life: South
Africa Seen through the Eyes of Its Children
Assignments:
Through your writings you'll be challenged to think through the
material and, in so doing, to confront previous stereotypical images that you
may have held, and that popular Western media images regularly reproduce, about
Africa. Assigned work will include
several genres, including media drop files and commentaries; a final media
poster; three short essays; and a potluck African dinner at the instructor’s
home.
290 JEWISH CULTURES OF THE WORLD
Dr. Matti Bunzl Office: 386B Davenport Hall PH: 265-4068
bunzl@uiuc.edu
This course is an introduction to the approaches of cultural
anthropology as applied to the great diversity of Jewish experience across
space and time. We will pay particular
attention to geographical diversity, exploring how Jews in different parts of
the world, including the non-Western world, have negotiated the cultures they
have encountered. We will move from the Caribbean to South Asia, from North
Africa to North America, and from the Middle East to Europe. In the process, we will study such issues as
the persistence of Jewish cultural specificity, the social effects of cultural
displacement, the interaction of Judaism with other religious systems, the
place of memory in Judaism, the intersection of racial, ethnic, and gendered
identities, and the place of Jews in the global system.
THIS COURSE FULFILLS THE NON-WESTERN CULTURES FOR GEN ED. REQ.
326 CIVILIZATION IN ANCIENT
PERU (3 hrs)
Dr. Helaine Silverman Office: 295 Davenport Hall; PH: 333-1315
helaine@uiuc.edu
This course explores the basic factors and processes leading to the
rise of civilization in ancient Peru (Central Andes). We begin with the peopling of the Americas
and quickly move up to the threshold of civilization at approximately 3000 BC
in the Late Preceramic Period/Late Archaic Period. We then consider the rise of sedentary,
agriculturally-based communities and the evolution of some of these into
multi-valley polities. We finish the course with an examination of Andean
states. Throughout the course we will
try to identify the distinctly Andean features that define this culture
area. The approach will be cultural
ecological, evolutionary, social structural, and culture historical. The course goal is to provide students with a
solid understanding of the different major pre-Columbian societies of ancient
Peru as variations on a basic Andean theme, and to give students the
intellectual tools with which to get deeper into the literature and,
potentially, the field itself. Lectures are abundantly illustrated with
slides. There are four exams, spaced
throughout the semester,
required textbooks
People of the Andes by
James B. Richardson III (St. Remy Press, 1994)
Andean Archaeology edited by Helaine Silverman (Blackwell, 2004)
Cities of the Ancient Andes by Adriana von Hagen and Craig Morris (Thames and
Hudson, 1998)
Incas and Their Ancestors, revised ed. by Michael E. Moseley (Thames and Hudson,
2001)
402 TRANSNATIONAL ISLAM,
EUROPE-US (3 or 4 hrs)
Dr. Mahir Saul Office: 309J Davenport Hall PH: 244-3502
m-saul@uiuc.edu
This course deals with communities of Islamic origin or converts to
Islam in Europe and the USA. In the case
of Europe these communities are the result of immigration and the course
addresses how decolonization and changes in world economy shaped this movement
and how Islam, either as faith or as perceived identity, now is influencing
national identities and issues of citizenship.
In the US the course deals with conversion among African-Americans,
relations with Asian immigrants, race, religion, and the impact of recent
geopolitical policies on domestic perception of Islam.
411 METHODS
OF CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY. (3 hrs)
Dr. Nancy Abelmann Office:
230A Intl Studies Bldg,. 910 S. Fifth, PH: 333-7273
nabelman@uiuc.edu
This course understands that fieldwork is an analytically motivated
process. Ethnographers enter their
"fields" with -- and conduct their research in constant dialogue with
-- research questions and hypotheses. In this spirit, this course will
take up the methods of anthropological research, namely the articulation among
the research question, field research, and data analysis. Required readings
will examine interviews; observation; textual analysis; ethics; archival
research (including popular/political
discourse); fieldnotes; surveys; and film and digital media. The course will include many ethnographic
exercises as well as a mini ethnography conducted through EUI (The Ethnography
of the University Initiative, www.eotu.uiuc.edu). Texts include selections from: Pierre
Bourdieu et al, The Weight of the World: Social Suffering in Contemporary
Society; Mitchell Duneier, Sidewalk; and Emerson, Fretz, and Shaw, Writing
Ethnographic Fieldnotes. Partner and group work will be required.
439 ANTHROPOLOGY THEORY AS
SCIENCE (3 or 4 hrs)
Dr. F.K. Lehman Office: 209G Davenport Hall PH: 333-8423
f-lehman@uiuc.edu
An examination of past and current theory in
anthropology, mainly social and cultural. Emphasis is placed upon
examining theories in the light of contemporary ideas on the nature of
plausible theories about empirical domains, criteria of adequacy for theories
and the evaluation of argumentation both within particular theories and about
the nature of theory in general. This is
done with especial regard to the historical development of anthropological and
social thought. Designed
especially for undergraduate concentrators in anthropology and anthropology
graduate students.
443 PRIMATE FORM AND BEHAVIOR (3 or 4 hrs)
Dr. Paul Garber Office: 309K Davenport Hall PH: 333-0075
p-garber@uiuc.edu
This course focuses on the interactions between social behavior,
feeding ecology, diet, and anatomical structure in nonhuman primates. Emphases are placed on the social and
ecological challenges nonhuman primates face in exploiting their environment,
and the evolutionary and adaptive solutions and behavioral tactics different
species and
individuals use to solve these challenges. Readings include field studies of primates in
their natural habitat, and discussions are directed to evolutionary and
ecological perspectives.
Required Texts:
Primate Behavioral Ecology, 3rd Edition. Karen B.
Strier, Allyn and Bacon, Boston, 2007 .
Primates in Perspective. CJ Campbell,
A. Fuentes, K.C. MacKinnon, M. Panger, and SK Bearder (eds).
Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK., 2007
Reserve Reading
Ecology and Behavior of Nocturnal Primates. P. Charles-Dominique, Columbia University Pres, 1977.
448 THE PREHISTORY OF AFRICA (3 hrs)
Dr. Stanley Ambrose Office: 381 Davenport Hall PH: 244-3504
ambrose@uiuc.edu
Africa is the cradle of humanity, the sole source of evidence for the first six million years of hominid evolution and cultural development, and the place where many of the most significant advances in cultural evolution and innovations in technology occurred. For the most recent periods the archaeological record is a major source of evidence for the precolonial history of modern African populations. This course surveys the fossil and archaeological evidence for the evolution of human behavioral patterns from the earliest ho