Anthropology (ANT)

Through discussions and films, this course is a voyage to discover: 1) When, where and how humans appeared; 2) How they evolved in their understanding and use of nature to develop a wide diversity of cultures within environmental constraints; and 3) The hundreds of different ways they devised for meeting needs for food, sex, courtship, marriage, shelter, communications, tools, child-rearing, medical practices, religious beliefs, and social, political, and economic organization.

Through discussions and films, this course is a voyage to discover: 1) When, where and how humans appeared; 2) How they evolved in their understanding and use of nature to develop a wide diversity of cultures within environmental constraints; and 3) The hundreds of different ways they devised for meeting needs for food, sex, courtship, marriage, shelter, communications, tools, child-rearing, medical practices, religious beliefs, and social, political, and economic organization.

This course focuses on the strategies of identity formation employed amid the global flows of migration, capital, and information. It analyzes the benefits and risks involved in the increasingly rapid and transnational circulation of culture, products, and ideas in the "developed" and the "developing" world. The course introduces students to major anthropological debate on the politics of identity in the face of globalization. It explores the way people develop identities around the globe at the end of the 20th century.

As the oldest institution, the family in all cultures assumes similar major functions. By comparing the world's dominant family types, role structures, and responses to internal as well as external cultural changes, one gains greater self-awareness and appreciation for one's rich ethnic background.

Introduction to the peoples and cultures of the Middle Eastern nations, including background in languages, geography, customs, behavior and thought of Middle Eastern peoples from Morocco in the West to Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan in the East. The course provides a basis for an understanding of the region's history and current events.

In this class we will explore the interaction between sickness, health, culture, and disease. We will examine various biomedical and healing traditions in how they understand and treat disease and look at how illness and health fit into broader ecological, biological, social, political, and economic contexts. Additionally, we will compare our own Western system of medicine with the health systems of other cultures.

An introduction to basic ethnographic research techniques, and uses of the modern city and its various cultural and ethnic enclaves, as subject matter for field investigations. Students will learn to describe systematically the various components of group life using qualitative techniques such as systematic observations and interviews. At the same time, students will develop a solid understanding of principles of modern anthropology.

This course examines and analysis the conceptualization and continuity of African-Atlantic religious traditions. Concepts such as resistance, syncretism, continuity and change, spirit possession, spiritual merchants and commercialization, and non-western models of psychology therapy will be explored-as well as the contradictions and challenges of practicing Old World traditions on contemporary urban settings such as New York.

This course is an interdisciplinary introduction to the establishment, growth, and development of the diverse Latina/o communities in the United States. The course focus is the Latino/a family. Within that context, we will examine the contemporary histories-as well as the experiences of conquest, colonization, radicalization and integration in US society. Students will explore the intersections of race, class, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality, through such topics as identity formation, and generational and socio-cultural change, bilingual education and language rights, economic and political participation, transnational immigration, law and civil rights, and the emergence/evolution of Latina/o social justice movements and their impact on the family.

This course examines the human condition of Africans throughout the diaspora through the use of ethnographic documentaries, feature length films, reality television and methods of social science. Through screenings, the application of ethnographic materials, film theory and discussion, students will: (1) analyze socially and politically significant films that are aesthetically grounded in cultures of the global south; and (2) the role of anthropologist as filmmaker.

An often misunderstood category, gender is a powerful marker in issues of identity, politics and social change. Through cross-cultural settings, this class seeks to bring nuanced understandings to various topics such as violence, nationalism, access to health, and religion. This course will also focus on the boundary formation and maintenance, global flows, the commodification of bodies, and agency.

This course examines violence on the local and global levels through the lens of anthropology. The topic of violence will be explored in its many forms concluding but not limited to physical, economic, intimate, symbolic, structural, political and familial. This course looks at war, terror, domestic violence, police misconduct and imperialism.

This course is an anthropological and comparative study of Black women throughout the Diaspora- as well as the contemporary dynamics that have catapulted their respective brands of feminisms and activisms. Topics to be examined range from colonial rule, economic marginalization and development initiatives-to female genital cutting, human rights and global feminism.

Environmental anthropologists study the relation between people and environment in cultures and societies around the world. This course examines how small-scale communities traditionally adapted to their local environments in diverse regions, including arctic zones, high altitudes, arid lands, grasslands, and tropical rain forests, and how those adaptations changed over time, in particular, how development and globalization contributed to environmental problems in contemporary societies. A survey of anthropological literature on the environment from E.E. Evans-Pritchard, to Marcel Mauss, Julian Steward, Frederik Barth, Marvin Harris, Roy Rappaport, and Clifford Geertz, adds a historical perspective, while case studies add an ethnographic perspective. Students will also have an opportunity to do their own ethnographic fieldwork in New York City.

Economic anthropology is the comparative study of economic activities and cultural values within societies, across cultures, and through time. This course examines classic, substantivist, formalist, and contemporary approaches in economic anthropology. It draws on the rich history of economic thought in social theory from Adam Smith to Emile Durkheim, Karl Marx, Max Weber, and Franz Boas – all of which have profoundly influenced work in economic anthropology to this day – to trace various schools of thought based on different assumptions about human nature, such as self-interest; other approaches, including social economy, political economy, moral economy, and cultural economy will also be discussed. Current work in economic anthropology on topics such as gender, division of labor, childcare, politics, households, death, religion, gifts, commodities, property rights, wealth exchanges, and small producers will be read, as will selected works in economics, in which history, culture, society play an important role. Building on both bodies of work, we will develop anthropological perspectives on contemporary capitalism and its alternatives. Students will also do fieldwork to explore recent developments in our own economy, culture and society.

What do we mean when we use the terms "politics" or "political"? Through a combination of classic and contemporary anthropological readings, this course attends to a range of topics and case studies that address this question. Drawing upon anthropological theory and ethnographic study, the course examines the ways in which social groups enact, contest, reproduce and transform power relations in different contexts. In many cases, anthropological approaches help to complicate our understanding of otherwise familiar political formations and institutions: nation, state, and citizen, for example. In other instances, anthropologists find politics in often overlooked places, such as kinship, ritual, infrastructure, and ordinary life. The course begins by introducing classic anthropological studies that challenged conventional understandings of politics and power. Next, we consider how this approach has been applied to analyze the dynamics between nation, state and citizen. The final half of the course then makes sense of contemporary political formations and power relations emerging under a changing global political order.

This course introduces students to the history and institutions, policy and culture of the European Union, and prepares them to simulate the EU, like Model UN, on a current policy issue. Over the course of a semester, students will research assigned member states, and at the end of the semester, taking on the roles of their alter egos, debate a particular policy in conference-style.

What people choose to eat, how they acquire, prepare, and eat food and how food (or lack of it) relates to cultural beliefs, social organization and disease. These aspects will be examined through films, discussions, and several guest lectures by food and health experts.

An introductory exploration of applied techniques developed in physical anthropology and archeology to medico legal investigations. Discussion covers basic human osteology and important osteological landmarks. The application and limitations of techniques, which are used to determine gender, age, ethnicity, individualization and positive identification of human remains will be discuss. Moreover, the course covers how evidence of trauma on the skeleton can be identified as to ante mortem, perimortem or postmortem intervals. Archeological techniques as used in a medico legal context in the recovery or excavation of human remains and associated evidence are examined.

This course offers the opportunity to study special topics of current interest. Students should consult the latest course schedule for announcement of this course. Since topics vary from year to year, this course may be taken more than once for credit.

War and peace are gendered concepts; specifically, peace is considered "feminine" and war is thought to be "masculine." This course investigates both the validity and ramifications of such assumptions. The reading discuss the impact of war on women as civilians, victims, refugees, widows and combatants. This course provides cross-cultural perspectives on war in its relation to society, major anthropological interpretations of warfare, changing concepts of masculinity and heroism, human rights, theories of sexuality and aggression, and the effects of militarization on society. We will cover a number of warzone areas such as Iraq, Bosnia, Afghanistan, and Israel/Palestine.

This course considers sports from a cross-cultural perspective. Particular interest will be paid to the ways that sports interact with and reflect other aspects of culture, such as economics, politics, religion, identity, gender, and change. These inter-relationships will be examined in case studies. We will analyze these main issues using the theoretical frameworks that help anthropologists understand cultural variation. We will look at how people behave and think within these areas by seeing how other peoples (including ourselves) creatively model their world in a framework thought of as Sport. Students will be expected to apply these issues and theories to their analysis of various cultures in order to understand the variety of ways of being.

This course utilizes the tools of Cultural Anthropology to develop understanding of the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean. The course will focus on several indigenous and modern cultures which predominate in each area; e.g., the Mayas of Middle America, the Quechua and Aymara of Andean South America, the Yanomami of the Brazilian Amazon; the Tainu of Cuba and Puerto Rico. Contemporary issues such as how race, gender and identity are defined in European South America and the Afro-Caribbean will also be explored. A major goal is to familiarize students with the languages, religions, social relations and lifeways of this region's major cultures. Course Rotation: NYC: TBA.

An often misunderstood category, gender is a powerful marker is issues of identity, politics and social change. Through cross-cultural settings, this class seeks to bring nuanced understandings to various topics such as violence, nationalism, access to health, and religion. This course will also focus on the boundary formation and maintenance, global flows, the comodification of bodies, and agency.

This course covers a range of classical and more recent anthropological writings. Through ethnographic readings, the course introduces students to the controversies surrounding conducting ethnographic research and the relationships between anthropologists and their interlocutors. The course concludes by explaining the development of anthropological writings to changes in social theories.

In classic ethnographies chapters on religion consistently appear along with chapters on kinship, social structure, and forms of subsistence. While the latter subject matters in various forms have all remained rather consistent in ethnographic research, religion has had a more contentious presence as anthropology has responded to and reflected society's views on the role and value of religion. This course focuses on anthropology's myriad understandings of religion as it has been approached through the various cannons ranging from functionalism and structuralism to symbolism and socio-cultural linguistics. From ethnographic research on the process of 'witnessing' to essays questioning the appropriateness of using religion as a category, this course explores the potential of the study of religion within an anthropological framework.

This course develops students' understanding of cultures and peoples of the Middle East and North Africa through the medium of film. By analyzing films from several genres in conjunction with anthropology texts, we will examine a range of topics that color the region today: racial, ethnic and religious identity; gender relations, postcolonial conditions; and violent conflict. Additionally, we will address how the Middle East is represented in "Western" media and films.

This course seeks to introduce students to the study of political violence and social change in Latin America, with an emphasis on the contribution of anthropologists and other social scientists working in the region. This course asks: How do individuals and communities rebuild and make sense of their worlds in the aftermath of violence? How do they renegotiate their relationship to the state and to each other? What resources do people use to rebuild their societies?

Sex-books have been written about it. Movies have made it into entertainment. Magazines has mass marketed it. Social scientists have theorized it. Biological scientists have attempted to locate its origins. Theologians have debated it. Parents, teenagers, and most everyone under the sun has at some point in their lives discussed it. Is it a social construction or a biological fact? Why does it elicit so much intrigue, fear, disgust and joy depending upon the subjects involved? This course will explore the topic of sexuality, more specifically attempts to control it through a variety of measures from interpersonal violence to state sponsored oppression. Students will learn about historical and contemporary points of tension surrounding it, from the creation of definitions to legal attempts to control it. They will also learn how it has been used as a mechanism to keep particular social hierarchies in place.

This course reviews past and contemporary social theories and debates that inform anthropological analysis. Through a comparative analysis of the similarities and differences among various social theories, we discuss the ways anthropological methods and theories are shaped by social, political, and economic conditions in the world. Upon completion of this course students will be able to articulate a range of theoretical perspectives that can be used to inform their own research questions.

This course will address how anthropologists understand the mechanisms by which cultures explain uncertainty and events for which there are no rational explanations. It will include discussion of shamanism, taboos, oracles, and other techniques people use to make sense of their worlds. It will also explore the profound reciprocal influences of culture and religion.

This course deals with the intersections of human sexuality and culture. Using anthropological perspectives and ethnography, students will study how sexuality is created through cultural life and examine its important social position and its various manifestations throughout human development.

This course examines anthropological practice in the contemporary world, focusing on how conventional anthropological theory and method can empower people to understand, critique, and even dismantle dominant sociohistorical conditions.

Economic anthropology is the comparative study of economic institutions and behaviors across cultures and through time. The course examines the subsistence strategies of and economic arrangements in hunting and gathering, pastoral, horticultural, and peasant societies, to gain a comparative perspective on agriculture in industrial societies. Topics include market and non-market societies, division of labor, gender, social organization, gifts and commodities, and common property management. The course investigates the cultural bases of economic values and traces economic change in various communities. History of and current theories in economic anthropology will be discussed and an ethnographic case study will be read in depth to show the holism: how the economy is embedded in society. Students will work on a mini-ethnographic project, describing and analyzing economic activities, as well as their underlying cultural values, of individuals living in contemporary households in New York City.

Political anthropology is the comparative study of political systems and everyday life in societies, past and present and around the world. This course examines transformations of political visions and social movements in the Western World. Specifically, it examines everyday life in Europe and America during the twentieth century to understand the role of the state in people's lives, as well as differences and similarities between political systems and social orders. Students will read historical and ethnographic text that are based on fieldwork in the region during the period, and critically examine the making of the political and the social in the context of different cultures.

Welcome to the Anthropocene! It is defined as the most recent and current geological period in which human impact on the earth’s system from climate to soil to water have become measurable. It has become subject to scientific inquiry and to scientific debate. Did the current geological age, the recent age of humans, begin 200 years ago with industrialization in Europe and America? Or did it begin 10,000 years ago with the emergence of agriculture and the state in regions around the world? We know that cows, crops, and carbon all contributed to climate change and environmental change, as did culture. It is the contribution of culture that anthropologists and archeologists seek to understand. This course is a journey into archeology and literature. We will examine artifacts and documents to understand how human-environment relations changed in the last six million years of human evolution and human history.

This course provides Sociology/Anthropology majors and other qualified students with internship placements in agencies dealing with anthropology, archaeology and natural history. Placement is on an individual basis depending upon need, availability and student interest, and will require 120 hours of service (per semester) in the internship site, as well as an academic component (paper, project or other) to be determined between student and faculty member supervising the internship.

With the approval of the appropriate faculty member, the department chairperson, and the academic dean, students may select a topic for guided research that is not included in the regular course offerings. The student meets regularly with the faculty member to review progress. A research project or paper must also be submitted.