Current Undergraduate Courses

Field | Cultural Anthropology

In this course students examine the nature of cultural variation of populations in the present and recent past. Its subjects include social, political, economic, and ideological aspects of human cultures.

Field | Biological Anthropology

This lecture and accompanying laboratory course examine fundamental aspects of the biological nature of humans. Course content is divided into topics devoted to explaining the scientific method, evolutionary theory, genetics, speciation, variation and adaptation, nonhuman primates, and human evolution.

Field | Archaeology

This lecture and accompanying laboratory course examine the basic principles of archaeology. It includes a study of the kinds of sites; classification of stone artifacts; methods of archaeological survey and excavation; methods of dating by geological, faunal, and radiometric means; and the theoretical approach to archaeology.

Field | Cultural Anthropology

This course offers tutelage in professional scholarly writing, word processing software, library research, scientific and ethnographic writing styles, and effective use of anthropological literature. Because it provides core skills presupposed by advanced anthropology courses, students should enroll in it alongside their first writing-intensive anthropology electives.

Field | Cultural Anthropology

This course surveys the breadth of careers open to people holding anthropology degrees. Issues discussed include professional ethics, specialized skill sets, the transferable skills of liberal arts degrees, broad trends in the labor market, and steps toward pursuing relevant careers.

Field | Archaeology

An examination of magic and religion in cultures of the world with an emphasis on recent works dealing with mysticism and the occult.

Field | Biological Anthropology

This course presents a survey of the prehistoric human record throughout the world. It focuses upon the achievements of early and modern humans, world colonization events, and the development of complex societies.

Field | Cultural Anthropology

Through films, lectures, and discussions, students explore the various ways that ethnographic film interprets the cultural environment and social interactions of small-scale cultures around the world. We will also discuss anthropological interpretations of how historically U.S. (American) culture has dealt with concepts of the “other” and supernatural phenomena through film. 

Field | Biological Anthropology

In this course students examine infectious diseases and the effect they have on human societies. The course is organized into case studies of specific infectious diseases, which focus on the biology and epidemiology of a disease as well its social impact.

Field | Cultural Anthropology 

This course examines different aspects of Latin American indigenous cultures from a variety of theoretical perspectives in anthropology. Emphasis is on the Maya, and different theoretical perspectives provide different interpretations of data.This course examines different aspects of Latin American indigenous cultures from a variety of theoretical perspectives in anthropology. Emphasis is on the Maya, and different theoretical perspectives provide different interpretations of data.

Field | Archaeology 

An examination of the prehistory and early cultures of the Greater Southwest from the first arrival of humans as early as 20,000 years ago to the coming of the Spaniards in the 16th century. The course covers several mammoth kill sites at the end of the Pleistocene; the emergence of Archaic hunters and gatherers and the appearance of agriculture about two thousand years ago, leading to the three major cultures in the southwest-the Mogollon, the Hohokam and the Anasazi, the last in multistoried pueblos and cliff dwellings. 

Field | Cultural Anthropology 

This course focuses on how illness identities are culturally constructed, how adaptations or maladaptations to local environments affect health, how political and economic forces influence health and health behaviors, and how the practice of medical anthropology can contribute to solving urgent health issues around the world.

Field | Cultural Anthropology 

This course explores the role of law as an instrument of social change, justice, and human rights. Topics include law as a social system, understanding legal reasoning, identifying key actors, how law influences change, how law is depicted in popular culture, and how law influences anthropological research.

Field | Archaeology 

Students in this course explore kinds of violence in past societies considered especially shocking or controversial in the contemporary, developed West: human sacrifice and the consumption of the human dead. Avoiding exoticism and suspending moral evaluation in favor of anthropological inquiry, we will consider cannibalism and sacrifice as cultural expressions of universal human drives and preoccupations and as historically specific solutions to common problems in social organization. We will examine archaeological and ethnohistoric case studies drawn from a wide range of time periods, cultures, and regions in an effort to identify and explain diversity and commonalities among such practices.

Field | Cultural Anthropology 

This course will provide students the opportunity to conduct hands-on anthropological research on a variety of topics in local communities.

Field | Biological Anthropology 

This course examines the physical variation observable within and between human populations. It emphasizes a functional approach whereby variation is examined in relation to biological adaptation. It explores the biological mechanisms responsible for change and evaluates the potential of biological components in human behavior.

Field | Archaeology
Term | Fall 2024

This course describes human settlement of North America from the end of the Pleistocene to European discovery. It considers early occupation of arctic, plains, and forested regions and development during archaic times of Adena, Hopewell, and Mississippian societies in the Southeast and Mogollon, Hohokam, and Anasazi in the Southwest.

Field | Cultural Anthropology 

This course explores historical and contemporary issues related to gender and sexuality from cross-cultural perspectives. It will focus on cultural constructions of gender and sexuality and explore key themes in queer anthropology as well as US minority and Global South feminisms through expressive and documentary forms including music, film, art and performance. 

Field | Biological Anthropology 

This course is designed to give students an anatomical background to the study of human evolution with a focus on the comparative anatomy of apes, living humans, and fossil hominins.

Field | Archaeology

In this course students will learn about planning, organizing, and carrying out archaeological field investigations from survey to excavation to specialized data recovery. The focus is on the research strategies, techniques and logistics necessary to design and accomplish successful field research. 

Field | General Curriculum 

This course will teach students basic statistical concepts through an anthropological lens. Students will learn to engage with data and statistics in everyday topics related to anthropology, the foundations of statistical analysis, and how to use the statistical programming language and software to explore and communicate data to the public.

Field | Biological Anthropology

Forensic Anthropology is the recovery and analysis of human skeletal remains for modern legal inquiry. This course is an overview of the field of Forensic Anthropology illustrated with real forensic cases.

Field | Biological Anthropology

The foundation of biological anthropology is the study of the human skeleton. This is a lab-intensive course in which students will learn how to identify skeletal elements, both whole and fragmentary.

Field | Cultural Anthropology 

This course explores major theoretical and historical developments in anthropology, highlighting the discipline’s unique four-field perspective that includes archaeology, biological and cultural anthropology, and anthropological linguistics. Topics stress the importance of anthropological thought in key scientific discoveries and cultural debates. 

Field | Archaeology

This course will train students to describe and analyze artifacts commonly recovered from archaeological sites. Current theories covering the production and analysis of chipped and ground stone tools, ceramics, bone and other materials will be presented, and scientific analytical methods discussed. 

Field | Biological Anthropology

In this course students will learn how to locate, excavate and recover human remains, associated personal effects, and other materials in order to ensure legal credibility for all recoveries. 

Field | Biological Anthropology 

This course focuses on the study of diseases and maladies of ancient populations, and will survey the range of pathology on human skeletons from trauma, infection, syphilis, tuberculosis, leprosy, anemia, metabolic disturbances, arthritis, and tumors. 

Field | Biological Anthropology

This course is for students who wish to advance their osteological skills. Students will learn how to identify isolated and fragmentary skeletal remains to estimate age, sex, ancestry, stature, and health of an individual in past and present contexts.