Sociology & Anthropology Courses

Courses in Anthropology

Human Cultures

An introduction to the perspectives, methods and ideas of cultural anthropology. Analysis of human diversity and similarities among people throughout the world, both Western and non-Western, through cross-cultural comparison. Topics include: culture and society; ethnographic research; ethnocentrism vs. cultural relativism; how societies adapt to their environment; different forms of marriage and social relationships; male, female and other forms of gender; the social functions of religion; and processes of socio-cultural change. May not be taken pass/fail.

Human Origins

An introduction to physical anthropology and archaeology, showing how biology and culture enable humankind to survive in many different environments. Topics discussed include primate behavior, fossil humans, tools and society, and the relationships between biology and human behavior. May not be taken pass/fail.

Advanced Placement in Human Geography

Advanced placement credit for entering first-year students in Human Geography.

Off-Campus Extended Studies Course

May or Winter Term off-campus study project with an anthropological theme.

First-Year Seminar

This course, designed especially for first-year students, explores an innovative or timely issue in anthropology. Anthropological perspectives and ways of knowing are used to study a particular topic in depth. Ethical and comparative dimensions to the issue will be examined. Topics might include: Culture and Morality, Women and Work, Culture and Medicine, Human Rights and Cultural Survival, and Culture and Violence. Seminars are small and emphasize writing and class discussion. Prerequisite: first-year students only.

Pro-Seminar in Anthropology and Sociology

This course approaches career exploration and professional development through the values, worldview, and skills framework of what anthropologists and sociologists do and how they do it. This course cultivates a space for sociology and anthropology majors to reflect on the significance of these disciplines' methodologies and then to link this reflection to stronger professional development goals. It offers students an opportunity to engage in personal reflection and assessment activities, to unpack the variety and value of the methods used by sociologists and anthropologists, to work in small groups, to interact with University alumni, faculty and staff, to build connections with people in career fields of interest. Students will identify how their choice of anthropology or sociology as a major shapes and influences their interests, skills, talents, and values; and how to convey them effectively through professional identity documents such as a resume, LinkedIn profile, and application cover letter. No prerequisites. Cross-listed with SOC 240. Course may be taken only once for credit, preferably before the senior seminar.

Latin American & Caribbean Cultures

This courses introduces students to the diverse cultures and societies of Latin America and the Caribbean via a multi-disciplinary approach. Through historical, ethnographic, and literary study, we will explore relations of power, ideology, and resistance from the colonial conquest to the present, including economic dependency, development, political institutions, the military, social movements, religious expressions and ethnic and class relations.

Environmental Anthropology

A study of the relationships between humans and their environment, with special emphasis on how human lifestyles may be understood as responses to environmental challenges. Prerequisite: ANTH 151 or 153 or sophomore standing.

The Anthropology of Gender

This class explores anthropological theories of gender differences and inequalities in cross-cultural contexts. The course examines the role of kinship, reproduction, politics and economic systems in the shifting determinations of gender in various contexts. It also questions the meanings of masculinity, transsexual/transgender issues and the roles of women in global contexts. In this course, the various ways that anthropology has theorized and understood questions of gender are explored and made relevant to contemporary societies. Prerequisite: ANTH 151, sophomore standing or permission of instructor.

Anthropology of Food

This course explores aspects of the cultural uses and symbolic meanings we attach to food and eating. Students explore such questions as: How do we use food? What is changing in our food consumption patterns? What is the relationship between food consumption and the environment? What are some of the politics and the ethics involved in food consumption? What is the significance of eating out, of "ethnic" restaurants? And how do we analyze the smell and taste of food cross-culturally? Prerequisite ANTH 151, sophomore standing or permission of instructor.

Culture, Medicine and Health

What is sickness? What is health? How do these ideas vary across cultures and history? This course investigates how and why people explain what it means to be "well" or "unwell" in society. It examines such topics as: Western biomedicine, the body and gender; access to health care in differing cultural and political contexts, ethics, death and dying, birth and the politics of reproduction, drugs and how we think we "treat" illness or choose not to.

Archaeology

(formerly ANTH 354) Archaeology is much more than digging into the ancient past. It is also a form of detective work that allows us to understand ancient as well as modern societies by uncovering the clues of their material remains. In this course, we see how archaeologists show how and why civilizations rise and collapse. Prerequisite: ANTH 151, ANTH 153 or sophomore standing. Not open to students with credit for ANTH 354.

Anthropology of Death

In this course we explore how various cultures think about the role of death in life. Using a variety of anthropological texts and methods (including ethnographic, archaeological and forensic perspectives), we examine the range of experiences that people have with the dead, what people do with and to their dead and the meanings that those experiences have for the living. This course examines the intersections between the social and physical bodies that human beings inhabit and takes a critical perspective on Western medical assumptions about death and dying.

Wars and Militarism

This seminar is on wars and militarism and how these effect and shape human lives. We discuss whether or not wars and the concomitant militarization of human societies are inevitable aspects of our existence. Do wars and militarism reflect primordial human biological and psychological instincts and are therefore inevitable features of human existence? Or can these be traced to certain social, political, and economic contingencies and processes? Can wars be conceptualized only in terms of armed conflicts between nation-states or do wars encompass much more than is usually accepted or understood? This course is intended to blur several boundaries: normative understandings of wars and peace; differences between legitimate and unjust wars; and wars waged by nation-states and by insurgent and terrorist groups. Through an interdisciplinary lens that brings together insights from anthropology, security-studies, cultural-studies, feminist theory, political-science and history, we will define, identify, and understand the different kinds of wars that are being fought in contemporary times. The focus of the course will be to highlight the lived experience of wars and militarism, the strategies of survival that people employ in sometimes extremely adverse situations; the underlying assumptions of wars and militarism that are reflected in social institutions seemingly little connected to them; and most importantly, the power differences that underpin and drive contemporary wars.

Archaeology of the Body

This course examines archaeological and physical anthropological research on the human body. The course considers how such research is carried out, what it contributes to our understanding of ancient societies, and the ethical issues unique to the study of human remains. Topics discussed include mortuary ritual, the relationship between the living and the dead, prehistoric warfare, and skeletal markers of disease. Prerequisites: ANTH 151, ANTH 153, sophomore standing, or permission of instructor.

African Cultures

In this course, students examine the cultural, political, economic, psychological and social aspects of life in Africa. Through lectures, discussions, films and a variety of readings, students will explore a number of issues, including ancient Egypt, slavery, colonialism, religion, music, art, African cinema and Pan-Africanism. Prerequisite: ANTH 151, sophomore standing or permission of instructor.

Anthropological Perspectives

This course studies innovative, timely and often interdisciplinary topics that are not a formal part of the sociology and anthropology curriculum. Often these courses apply anthropological perspectives and insights to issues that we either take for granted or study in other disciplines. Topics may include Anthropology of Time and Space; Anthropology of the Body; Power and Violence; Men and Masculinity; Judaism and Bible; and other topics. Prerequisite: ANTH 151, sophomore standing or permission of the instructor. The course may be repeated for credit with different topics.

Anthropology of Development

Development is often considered synonymous with progress and economic growth. This course seeks to challenge the framework within which development policies and practices have been conceptualized since the 1940s. How do discourses and practices of development reflect struggles over power, history, and culture? Why has development often been understood as a "neocolonial" endeavor that seeks to maintain the global hegemony of the first world over the third world? How has the trajectory of development shifted in the past five decades to encompass divergent agendas, practices, and meanings? How have these "macro" agendas shaped the lives of millions of men and women living across the globe? Can development be understood as a monolithic category or is it experienced differently by men and women cross-culturally? This course will also highlight some of the most pressing concerns over the merits and limitations of globalization thereby engaging students with ongoing social, political and economic debates. Using anthropological insights, we will explore the connections between colonialism, development, capitalism, and globalization to analyze how "development" is embedded in social inequities, and whether or not a more equitable form of development can be envisioned.

African Diaspora Religions

This course is designed to explore the history, functions, and communities, which encompass religions of the African Diaspora such as Santer'a, Vodou, and Candombl'. Lectures, discussions, films, and a range of ethnographic literature will introduce students to these religious systems. Among the topics and themes to be addressed in relation to religion are issues of identity, ethnicity, gender, performance, and class. Case studies in Brazil, Cuba, and among Latinos in the U.S. will illuminate the multivocality of the religious beliefs and practices found in the African Diaspora.

Performing Latin American Culture

This course focuses on the relationship between cultural performance and identity. Specific case studies include ethnographies on tango, rumba and Mexican corridos. Of particular interest are the interconnected roles of power and politics in the performance of culture--how the two are performed in an attempt at re-forming and sometimes de-forming and mis-informing each other. This course examines the formal aspects of performance, audience/performer relationships as well as social and contextual influences on cultural performance.

Public Health in Africa

This is a seminar style course that examines the intersections between the interrelated perspectives in public health, international health, and global health from the 19th to the 21st centuries. Our attention will be on the relationship between Western and non‐Western forms of scientific practice and health systems as they have emerged in the African continent and Diaspora . Specifically this course will examine the role of health and medicine in mediating the relationships between metropolis and colony, state and citizen, North and South, public welfare and private interest, research practices and human subjects, the commodification of health and the body, and human rights discourse throughout Africa and the Diaspora. The course will be divided chronologically into four parts, tracing imperial health formation formations in the late 19th century, the nascent internationalism of the interwar period, the construction of bureaucracies of development in the postwar and postcolonial era, and contemporary configurations of public and private interests in the new global health of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. In addition to garnering an understanding of the background and politics/policies of public health in Africa, students will become familiar with how to conduct a "hands-on" needs assessment of a particular cultural group in the continent. Students in this class will acquire knowledge of the history and practice of public health in Africa and the Diaspora through a wide range of readings from multidisciplinary and anthropological sources. Students will acquire the practical skills necessary to evaluate contemporary public health issues in an African context utilizing skills in Community Needs Assessment practice. Students will work collaboratively to produce a Needs Assessment document for a community that will be shared with those in the continent and who are actively working in public health. There are no pre-requisites at present for this course although some prior coursework in Anthropology, Global Health and/or Biology is encouraged.

Anthropology of Reproduction in the Americas

This course examines the social and cultural constructions of reproduction, and how power in everyday life shapes reproductive behavior and its cross cultural meanings. Utilizing a hemispheric and ethnographic approach to reproduction, this course engages with examples from throughout the Americas, including but not limited to Brazil, Cuba, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, and the United States. The course is organized to address a reproductive spectrum including fertility, childbirth and parenting, as well as the roles and expectations for women and men in each of these stages of reproduction. Additional topics addressed are state intervention on fertility, technologies of reproduction, the cultural production of natural childbirth, the politics of fetal personhood, and the diverse reproductive health situations influenced by the intersectional nature of gender, race, ethnicity, nationality and class.

Anthropology History and Theory

A survey history of the central theoretical perspectives, questions and data of socio-cultural anthropology. Focusing on significant scholars and case studies, the course explores the development of different ways that anthropologists have formulated and understood fundamental questions concerning human society, culture, change and universals. Prerequisite: Junior or Senior; Anthropology or Sociology-Anthropology major or permission from instructor. This course may not be taken pass/fail.

Topics in Anthropology

An exploration of selected topics in anthropology, culture and society (see Anthropology of the U.S. and topics listed under ANTH 290.) Prerequisite: sophomore standing. May be repeated for credit with different topics.

Readings and Projects in Anthropology

Prerequisite: permission of instructor.

Readings and Projects in Anthropology

Prerequisite: permission of instructor.

Ethnographic Methods

(Formerly ANTH 380) A course designed to introduce students to anthropological methods of qualitative research. Readings and discussion in seminar-like format on participant observation, formal and informal interviewing, research design and interpretation of data will prepare students to carry out their own ethnographic projects. The course will also cover ethics in fieldwork and the current debate on the subjectivity of ethnographic inquiry.

Senior Seminar in Anthropology

A seminar of senior Anthropology majors focused on contemporary theories and issues of culture, change, development, universals and diversity. The actual topic alters each year. Students discuss a common core of readings while researching-writing a senior thesis. Prerequisite: Senior Anthropology major, ANTH 151, ANTH 153, ANTH 383, ANTH 450. May not be taken pass/fail.

Courses in Sociology

Contemporary Society

An introduction to sociology: its questions, concepts and ways of analyzing social life. The focus is on how human societies organize themselves; how culture, socialization, norms, power relations, social institutions and group interaction affect the individual; and how, in turn, societies are transformed by human action. Of particular concern are problems facing contemporary societies. Not open to seniors or for Pass-Fail credit.

Off-Campus Extended Studies Course

May or Winter Term off-campus study project with a sociological theme.

Sociological Perspectives

An exploration of a timely topic in sociology, sometimes interdisciplinary in nature, that is not offered in the formal sociology curriculum. Topics may include: Sociology of Education, Environmental Sociology, Sociology of Immigration, and other topics. The course may be repeated with different topics. Prerequisite: SOC 100 or sophomore standing.

Gender and Society

This course examines the role of gender systems in human societies. How do societies vary in the positions assigned to men and women? In the power and privileges accorded each sex? How do we acquire a gender identity? What are the consequences of sex-typing and sex-stratified societies? The role of religion, intellectual traditions, language, families and schools, economic organization, labor markets and the state is explored. The focus is on contemporary U.S. society and recent changes in gender relations. Prerequisite: SOC 100 or sophomore standing.

Sociology of Family

This course examines issues associated with family life, such as gender role socialization, sexuality, mate selection, the internal dynamics of relationships, domestic violence and marital dissolution. The course also considers the social implications of current trends in family life and the expanding definitions of family that include non-traditional relationships that have until recently lacked institutional legitimacy. Prerequisite: SOC 100 or sophomore standing.

Criminology

The course explores theoretical explanations for criminal behavior, empirical research on crime in diverse contexts and policy debates on crime control and punishment in the U.S. We place particular emphasis on the intersection of race, social class and gender as a conceptual lens through which to analyze street crime, white collar crime and intimate familial crime. Prerequisite: SOC 100 or sophomore standing.

Queer Theory/Queer Lives

An interdisciplinary exploration of the social and historical development of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) categories, identities and communities; the emergence and development of Queer Theory and its ability to deconstruct, de-politicize and extend beyond "LGBT"; the effect of interlocking systems of domination and control on queer lives, including sexism, racism, ethnicity and social class; and LGBT/Queer experiences within social institutions including families, marriage, law and the media. Prerequisite: SOC 100 or sophomore standing. May be crosslisted with W S 250, Queer Theory/Queer Lives.

Sociology of Hip Hop

This course is a socio-historical analysis of hip hop examining the conditions for the creation and continued existence of this genre of music. We approach it through theoretical frameworks such as Marxism and feminism, address questions such as how capitalism and the commodification of hip hop affect our society. In addition, how do artists conceptualize and present masculinity and femininity? Is it really okay to be a P.I.M.P., hustler, or player? Finally, what role does race and ethnicity have in hip hop music? Are white artists such as Eminem really appropriating the culture from minorities? Our intent is to discover how the socially constructed characteristics of race, class, and gender are addressed and conveyed in hip hop music.

Social Deviance

This course is an examination of the changing definitions and explanations of deviance. Conceptions of deviance are looked at within historical, political and cultural contexts. Implications for policies of social control are explored. Prerequisites: SOC 100 or sophomore standing.

Sexuality, Culture and Power

An exploration of the diverse ways in which human sexualities have been conceptualized, molded, policed and transformed in particular cultures, social contexts, moral climates and political terrains. Investigated are how the seemingly personal and natural world of sexual desire and behavior is shaped by larger societal institutions (e.g., law, medicine, religion) and by cultural ideas. Also examined is how social categories that have primacy in a culture,(e.g., gender, race, class and age) are expressed in sexual ideas, behavior and politics. Prerequisites: SOC 100 or sophomore standing.

Racial and Ethnic Relations

This course explores the origins, changes and possible futures of racial and ethnic relations. It is concerned with both the development of sociological explanations of ethnic and racial conflict, competition and cooperation as well as with practical approaches to improving inter-group relations. The course surveys global and historical patterns of inter-group relations but focuses on late 20th-century and early 21st-century United States. Prerequisite: SOC 100 or sophomore standing.

Pro-Seminar in Anthropology and Sociology

This course approaches career exploration and professional development through the values, worldview, and skills framework of what anthropologists and sociologists do and how they do it. This course cultivates a space for sociology and anthropology majors to reflect on the significance of these disciplines' methodologies and then to link this reflection to stronger professional development goals. It offers students an opportunity to engage in personal reflection and assessment activities, to unpack the variety and value of the methods used by sociologists and anthropologists, to work in small groups, to interact with University alumni, faculty and staff, to build connections with people in career fields of interest. Students will identify how their choice of anthropology or sociology as a major shapes and influences their interests, skills, talents, and values; and how to convey them effectively through professional identity documents such as a resume, LinkedIn profile, and application cover letter. No prerequisites. Cross-listed with ANTH 250. Course may be taken only once for credit, preferably before the senior seminar.

Medical Sociology

Are you healthy or ill? How do you know? Can your race, class and gender really affect your health? Is the health care system able to take care of our country's citizens? These and many, many more questions will be explored in Medical Sociology. The course is divided into four parts. In the first, we will explore how macro-level factors affect health. Next, we will address the cultural meanings and interpersonal experiences of illness. We will then shift to looking at health care providers followed by a brief evaluation of health care service and reform in the United States. Prerequisite: SOC 100 or sophomore standing.

Topics in Sociology

An exploration of timely, often policy-oriented and/or interdisciplinary issues in sociology. A specific topic will be addressed each time the course is offered. Topics might include Principles of Population, Social Inequalities, and other topics. May be repeated with different topics. Prerequisite: one course in SOC or permission of instructor.

Social Theory

This course involves the posing and answering of questions about the nature of the self and of social life. It investigates the fundamental issues of how social order is maintained and conversely, how social conflict and change occur. Central theoretical traditions in sociology--modernist and post modernist--are explored: their development, major ideas, research applications and implications for contemporary social life. Prerequisite: SOC 100 and Sociology or Sociology-Anthropology major, or permission of instructor.

Sociology of Madness

An examination of the history and social construction of the concept of mental illness. Explores the social, political, economic, legal and personal implications of the medicalization of madness. Prerequisite: SOC 100 or sophomore standing.

Black Issues and Identity

This course considers how oppressive social realities inform the lives and the study of socially marginal and politically disempowered groups. While emphasis is placed on the experiences of people of African descent, the class covers issues of power, definition, bias, resistance, and resilience that are also prominent in the histories of other marginalized groups in the U.S. Prerequisite: One course in Sociology or permission of instructor.

Social Inequalities

This course examines multiple systems of privilege and oppression, such as gender, race, ethnicity, social class, and sexuality. The course considers how these systems of inequality intersect to influence people's experiences of social processes (e.g., discrimination, stereotyping, and violence) and various social institutions (e.g., family, paid labor, education, and media).

Women, Culture and Identity

Drawing on work in sociology, psychology, and cultural and feminist studies, the course investigates how women from various ethnicities, socio-economic strata, and age groups make sense of gendered expectations, opportunities, and constraints. Particular emphasis is placed on the ways women encounter and resist circumstances they find limiting of their human potential. Prerequisites: W S 140 or permission of instructor. Cross-listed with W S 332.

Intimate Violence

This course examines intimate violence from a historically grounded, cross-cultural and interdisciplinary perspective. We explore the meaning of intimate violence, its relationship to violence in general, its root causes, and its universal and parochial forms. In addition to exposure to various theories of violence, we consider the usefulness of these theories in explaining specific empirical cases of intimate violence (e.g., rape, child abuse, hate crimes, femicide and trafficking in women) with an eye toward understanding these micro-level phenomena in broader social, cultural, economic and political context. Prerequisite: one course in sociology or permission of instructor.

Prison History and Culture

This course focuses on sociological analyses of prisons in the United States from their inception to present day. Racism, poverty and masculinity provide a central analytic frame for understanding this unique and powerful form of social control. We consider the following questions: Why do we incarcerate more people than any other country in the world? Why are poor, young, African-American men disproportionately represented in prison? Was convict leasing simply slavery in a different guise? Why is prison big business, and who benefits from it? Does prison create crime? What does prison do to those who live and work behind bars? What is the future of incarceration? Prerequisites: one course in sociology or permission of instructor.

Sociology of Popular Culture

This course examines what is commonly referred to as popular culture. Of course, popular culture can constitute any number of aspects including, art, soap operas, comic books, sports, music, the clothes we wear, movies we see, the media, and the foods we eat, among other things. We will begin the course defining and dissecting popular culture from a sociological perspective. We will explore whether popular culture is high brow or low brow and who has the power to classify it as such. Also, we will address whether popular culture is created by and for the people, or whether it is created by a dominant or elite group that imposes their will on the masses. Who are the producers and consumers of popular culture? Are they one in the same? Along the way we will examine how various disciplines or groups such as Cultural Studies or the Production of Cultural Studies view and explain popular culture. Finally, no sociology course is complete without exploring how various theorists and theories, such as Marxism, Feminism, or Gramsci's idea of hegemony illuminate our understanding of popular culture.

Women, Health and Social Control

This course focuses on the intersection of health, illness and gender. It combines classic and contemporary feminist ideologies to explore how health and illness have been defined and experienced by different women across historical time and space. Considerable attention is paid to how conceptualization of women (and their bodies) as inferior has led to the medicalization and control of women's bodies. The course especially highlights the role of women's health movements in shaping how women's health is understood, embodied and contested. We start the course addressing theoretical frames for understanding gender and health, then assess contemporary women's health status. The course then loosely follows a life course approach in that we explore women's experiences with menstruation, sexuality, reproductive technologies, childbirth and menopause. Prerequisite: One course in sociology or permission of instructor.

Girls, Women, Deviance, and Social Control

There has been almost a 650% increase in the incarceration of women over the last 30 years in the United States. Not only are women's crimes often different than men's, women's histories and criminal trajectories are often not the same. However, much of the academic and popular discourse has focused on male deviance, crime and incarceration. Over the last few decades, feminist scholars have developed theoretical and empirical work (feminist criminology) on girls and women's participation in crime and deviance and the gendered social control of girls and women. In this course, we will explore this approach through topics such as women working in the international cocaine trade, "gun women", mothering in prison and sex worker activism to gain a better understanding of girls' and women's experiences.

Methods of Social Research

A seminar dealing with elements of the scientific method as they apply to research in sociology and other social sciences. Covers strategies of research design pertaining to several qualitative methods which allows researchers to understand social phenomena. This course also addresses ethical considerations while doing social scientific research. Students will gain experience by writing a research proposal. Prerequisite: junior Sociology major or permission of instructor. This course may not be taken pass/fail.

Senior Seminar in Sociology

A seminar of senior Sociology or Sociology/Anthropology majors focused around a major substantive or methodological area of sociology. The course involves a core of common reading, discussion and the writing and presenting of a senior thesis related to the general focus of the seminar. Topics might include: global struggles for human rights, cultural conflict in American society, social problems in global/historical perspective, and race & ethnicity. Prerequisite: Senior Sociology major, SOC 100, SOC 303, & SOC 401

Readings and Projects in Sociology

Readings and Projects in Sociology