A PDF of the course list is available for download HERE.

ANTH 201

INTRODUCTION TO CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY

5032-201-01    MWF   1:00-1:50              DA111     Burnet

3935-201-02    TTh     1:00-2:15              DA207     O’Connor

8359-201-50                DISTANCE ED                    Segal                            

This course introduces cultural anthropology and surveys its fundamental questions, concepts, methods, and data.  The overall question it seeks to answer: what does it mean to be human? To answer this question and many related ones involves learning concepts such as culture, cultural relativism, universalism, evolution, race, gender, and class. The course explores the ways cultural anthropologists develop their research questions and the methods and data they use to answer them.GEN ED SB CD2

ANTH 202

INTRODUCTION TO BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY

3268-202-01     MWF       9:00-9:50        LU232         Purifoy

4149-202-02     TTh         11:00-12:15    DA111          Crespo

This course provides a general introduction to biological anthropology through an examination of the place of humans in the animal kingdom, the human evolutionary past, a comparative examination of hominid fossils, and the dynamics of human variation. Specifically, students will demonstrate their ability to relate findings from paleoanthropology  to general principles of evolution and biological diversity, and to apply these principles toward explaining questions of hominid evolution,  contemporary human biological adaptation, and health.GEN ED S

ANTH 203

INTRODUCTION  TO WORLD PREHISTORY

8005-203-50           DISTANCE ED              Hoefer

Introduction to World Prehistory is a global survey of the first 2 million years of human existence for which there are few written records and most of our knowledge comes to us via archaeological investigations.  We will trace the evolution of human culture through time, focusing on well-known archaeological sites.  Some of the most famous sites in Africa, Asia, Europe, and North and South America will be discussed.  Images and films are frequently used so that you may gain a better perspective on these places.  In addition, we will cover the major changes in human physical and cultural evolution, such as hunting, the capacity for abstract thought, the domestication of plants and animals, the rise of state level society and urbanization.  Causes for these changes will be considered in detail.

ANTH 204

INTRODUCTION TO ARCHAEOLOGY – SBCD1

4136-204-01      TTh       8:00-9:15        HM205          DiBlasi

6957-204-50                   DISTANCE ED                       DiBlasi

From Heinrich Schleimann’s discovery of Troy to Lara Croft’s adventures, archaeology has sparked the imagination of people all over the world. Archaeology enhances people’s lives and society through the many great discoveries about the human past. This course introduces students to the discipline of archaeology and seeks to explain the processes through which archaeologists investigate the past. We will cover the kinds of questions archaeologists ask, how we design and execute research, and how we analyze archaeological materials and data. In this course we will examine a diverse range of topics, present case studies from around the world and give students the tools to critically evaluate many ideas about the past. GEN ED SB CD1

ANTH 205/MUH 205

MUSIC IN WORLD CULTURES

4662-205-75       MW    5:30-6:45         MB263         Mulhall

Explores musical styles from various non-Western cultures in their own social, cultural, and historical contexts. Cross-listed with MUH 205. GEN ED SB CD1

ANTH 303

HUMAN ORIGINS

3880-303-01      TTh    2:30-3:45           LU232       Crespo 

Prerequisite ANTH 202 or consent of instructor. This course examines the origins and biological evolution of the human species as seen through the fossil record of human and non-human primates and a comparative review of the behavior and biology of non-human primates.

ANTH 313/MUH 313

STUDIES IN ETHNOMUSICOLOGY

3269-313-01      TTh        2:30-3:45              MB263      Mulhall

This course offers an introduction to different styles and genres of nonwestern music and to the cultural contexts in which these are practiced. Among the topics to be covered are Japanese puppet theatre, Indian Kathakali dance-drama, Indonesian gamelan music, Chinese opera, Native American stomp dances, African drum languages, Middle East santour performance, Scottish bagpiping, a Peruvian mestizo fiesta. Prior experience in music is not necessary to enroll in the course. Cross-listed with MUH 313.

ANTH 317

ANTHROPOLOGY OF CHINA

5033-317-01       TTh    11:00-12:15           DA103      Zhao

Introduction to diverse aspects of contemporary Chinese culture and society. Topics include family, gender, religion, sports, education, politics, and economics among others. CD2

ANTH 319

CULTURES OF THE MIDDLE EAST

7527-319-01       TTh    9:30-10:45         LU232      Peteet

An introduction to the basic anthropological concepts and categories of analysis of society, polity, and culture in the Middle East. Focus will be on local level social and cultural processes within a regional and global framework.

ANTH 321

AMERICAN INDIAN WOMEN

3936-321-01      TTh    11:00-12:15          NS128           Wiche

This course analyzes the issues effecting contemporary American Indian women living and working on reservations and in rural and urban communities throughout North America.  In reading about the lives, achievements, and contributions of American Indian women, often in their own words, we will see how they traveled the road to where they find themselves today and how their origins and traditions helped to shape their lives.  This course will look at issues dealing with the roles of American Indian women within their societies, in education, in tribal politics, health issues, and stereotypes that persist in non-Indian societies.

ANTH 325

ANTHROPOLOGY OF LATIN AMERICA

5575-325-01  MW     2:00-3:15         LU232     Markowitz

This course is meant as an introduction to the vast and complex social terrain that makes up contemporary Latin America. It surveys general trends and features of the region, emphasizing their historical development, and, through case studies, examines the ways these broader tendencies have affected and are affected by different cultural groups. Such issues as class, community life, religion, gender, racism, ecology, imperialism, and human rights will be addressed.

ANTH 329

ZOOARCHAEOLOGY

7528-329-01    TTh      1:00-2:15          LU232      Haws

This course will provide basic instruction in the identification of animal remains commonly recovered from archaeological sites.  It will follow a taphonomic approach to zooarchaeology with an emphasis on understanding and interpreting the formation of archaeological faunal assemblages. We will examine approaches to using bone data to construct and investigate archaeological questions.

ANTH 330

URBAN / HISTORIC ARCHAEOLOGY

7530-330-01    MW      2:00-3:15          DA208B      Stottman

An examination of the history of North America through archaeological remains. Includes historic artifacts, architecture, and settlement patterns as related to cultural history.

ANTH 332

ECOLOGY-POLITICS-CULTURE

7524-332-01    MWF      11:00-11:50          LU232      Purifoy

This class focuses on the complex interactions between people and their environment. It will look at 1) the varying ways that human populations have interacted with, adapted to, and shaped their environments in the past, 2) how elements of the environment have affected variation in socio-cultural, economic, and political organizations, 3) how these reciprocal relationships between human culture and environment are manifest in human societies today, and 4) what the future holds for human-environmental relationship.

ANTH 334

CONFLICT, LAW, AND CULTURE

6260-334-75    T     5:30-8:15          HM217      Coleman

Cross-cultural analysis of law as an arena of cultural production where identities and power are produced, upheld, and challenged.

ANTH 361

EVOLUTIONARY ANTHROPOLOGY

7522-361-01     MW      4:00-5:15            LU232           Tillquist

An evolutionary anthropologist works to understand human biology and genetics using the framework of evolutionary theory to test explicit hypotheses regarding human variation. The scope of the discipline is rather broad, ranging across forensic anthropology, infectious and non-infectious disease, population genetics, reproductive ecology, and the human life cycle. This course will review basic evolutionary theory and provide an introduction to the field of evolutionary anthropology. Special emphasis will be placed on the importance of hypothesis testing and developing a scientific skepticism useful for detecting "just-so" stories and other such unsupported conjectures found in the literature and popular press.

ANTH 361

ETHNOGRAPHIC FILM

8362-361-75        MW     5:30-6:45              DA204           Harris

In this course, students learn how motion picture is used for ethnographic/qualitative research in cultural studies, sociology, anthropology, and beyond. The class will also discuss the moral, ethical, and aesthetic issues that arise for the ethnographic filmmaker and audience/reader. A variety of ethnographic, documentary, and experimental films that reflect, criticize, and innovate the field of anthropology and filmmaking are screened. Students participate in video documentary exercises to gain a practical understanding of the dilemmas that ethnographic filmmakers face. Authors and filmmakers include: Robert Flaherty, Judith and David MacDougall, John Marshall, Timothy and Patsy Asch, Jean Rouch, Peter Loizos, Rea Tajiri, and Sadie Bennings.

ANTH 410

SKELETAL FORENSICS

3937-410-01     TTh          9:30-10:45               HM106           DiBlasi

Prerequisite: ANTH 327. This course provides additional details in understanding the human skeleton to estimate the age, sex, race and stature to aid in identifying deceased individuals from skeletal remains.  Additional emphasis is made on determining cause of death based upon various forms of trauma as evidence on the human skeleton.  

ANTH 503

CENTRAL AFRICA AND POLITICS OF DEVELOPMENT

7526-503-75        M     5:30-8:15              HM221             Burnet

Prerequisite: Graduate status or consent of instructor. This course examines the politics of development with a focus on anthropological critiques of development. We will use Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Burundi as case studies to understand the legacies of Belgian colonial rule and the divergent postcolonial development policies of each country in the postcolonial period have traced different trajectories for each nation. Throughout the course we will trace the links between this region and the rest of Africa and the world. We will study the roles of various actors of the postcolonial complex, including non-governmental organizations (humanitarian, human rights, and political organizations), inter-governmental organizations (such as the United Nations bodies, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank), foreign governments (including international development assistance, diplomacy, intelligence activities, and military intervention), and non-state and quasi-state actors (primarily militias, rebel movements, and external political parties and organizations.) Throughout the semester we will discuss the changing relationships between state and social institutions in the region.

ANTH 507

SPACE, PLACE AND CULTURE

7525-507-75        W     5:30-8:15              LU232             Parkhurst

Prerequisite: Graduate status or consent of instructor.  “Where” we are and “who” we are: Is there really a difference?  The course proposes that the answer is a complex one. It examines how different spaces – such as continents, nation-states, regions, mountain areas, river valleys, towns, neighborhoods, houses, classrooms – inform cultural difference, cultural commonality, and identity formation. Treating culture a matter of space and place means approaching it as something people both enter and leave, like a labyrinth, rather than as something they simply acquire, like a grocery item, or learn, like a school lesson. Such an approach delivers surprising results when we examine (as we will) everyday power relations, economic organization, “racial” conceptions, gender differences, landscapes and the production of such items as songs, books, and dreams. Some of the case material will be drawn from the Portuguese-speaking world (the instructor’s area of specialization).

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ANTH 508

HISTORY OF ANTHROPOLOGY - WR

4236-508-01      TTh    4:00-5:15             LU232             Parkhurst

Prerequisite: Senior Status and 18 hrs. in Anthropology. This course is about a labyrinth: the “history” that constitutes anthropological research and theorizing. We are all already in the labyrinth. We are all, that is, history. The task is to chart it out, get a feel for it, and find our ways through its surface mainstreams and subterranean channels. It is hard to distinguish “it” from “ourselves.” Using a conceptual judo move, the course argues that this apparent weakness is actually a strength. The argument is based on various writings in the social sciences from the last 250 years. The course is reading- and writing-intensive. WR Course.

ANTH 510

METHODS IN BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY

6254-510-75       M        5:30-8:15              LU232           Tillquist

Prerequisite: Anth 202. Biological anthropologists study human variation. This course is an introduction to the methods and techniques of measuring human population variation. In this course, you will learn basic anthropometrics and select molecular techniques. Collecting data is the first step in understanding distributions of human variation, analyzing the data is the second step. You will learn to organize data in a spreadsheet, calculate summary statistics and perform some simple statistical analyses. The fundamental goals of the course are to begin to understand what biological data are and how anthropologists use data to better inform us of characteristics of the human species.

ANTH 511

ETHNOGRAPHIC METHODS - WR

8201-511-01      TTh    2:30-3:45                  DA314       O’Connor

Prerequisite: Junior or Senior status and 18 hours of Anthropology. Graduate students may not enroll. This class explores the range of qualitative research methods and techniques. Emphasis is on designing and developing a research project and conducting ethnographic framework.

ANTH 532

CULT HERITAGE, TOURISM AND GLOBALIZATION

8360-532-01      MW    4:00-5:15                  DA204          Harris

This course explores tourism as a major industry and popular human activity. It also examines the impact of globalization on touristic practices, heritage site, and cultural performances. Students will also learn about various types of tourism.

ANTH 548

TOPICS—CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY

8006-548-01      M     4:00-6:45                  DA208B         Peteet

Prerequisite: Consent of instructor. In this seminar students will read a selection of contemporary ethnographies on the Middle East, accompanied by films, on topics such as cities, gender, displacement, the body, Islam, art, conflict, security, education, and the media.

ANTH 611

RESEARCH: SOCIAL CULTURE

7529-611-75     Th    5:30-8:15              LU232       Zhao

Prerequisite: Graduate status. Course focuses on developing a substantive research project in cultural anthropology; students will integrate a literature review, theoretical and methodological approaches, and data collection strategies to produce a research proposal.

ANTH 612

CONT ISSUES: ANIMALS & HUMANS

7523-612-75      T    5:30-8:15               LU232     Haws

Prerequisite: Graduate status. This course explores the complex and often contradictory ways that humans interact with animals. We will cover a wide range of topics emerging from a multidisciplinary perspective including the origins of hunting and domestication; modern animal economies; cross-cultural attitudes towards animals; symbolic representations of animals in art, literature, religion and folklore; animals as companions; and the status of animals, both wild and domestic, in contemporary society.

ANTH 672

THESIS

5748-672-01             TBA                         TBA       Tillquist

Prerequisite: Graduate status. Reading, research, and writing of thesis under the supervision of a faculty member.

INDIVIDUAL INSTRUCTION:

401            CO-OP INTERNSHIP: ANTHROPOLOGY          Burnet

450            READINGS AND RESEARCH              Markowitz    

451            INDEPENDENT STUDY                                          Markowitz

499            SENIOR HONOR THESIS                                       Markowitz                                     

Internships

Gain real work experience! Internships in anthropology and archaeology allow one to explore the world of anthropology and work in an environment where classroom knowledge is applied to practical learning skills.

Internships in archaeology include but are not limited to working with Riverside Farnsley-Moremen Landing, US Army Corp of Engineers, and our very own Archaeology lab.

Students of Cultural Anthropology have worked with local organizations such as Americana Community Center, the Center for Women and Families, Community Farm Alliance, as well as Kentucky Refugee Ministries.

Students can participate in other internships that are not directly sponsored by the Department.  In the past, students have done internships with the UNHCR in India, a Middle East development organization in Washington D.C. and with activist groups in Louisville.

If you have a specific internship you would like to do, please contact Dr. Jennie Burnet in the Anthropology Department at: j.burnet@louisville.edu