Anthropology (ANTH)

Subject-area course lists indicate courses currently active for offering at the University of Louisville. Not all courses are scheduled in any given academic term. For class offerings in a specific semester, refer to the Schedule of Classes.

500-level courses generally are included in both the undergraduate- and graduate-level course listings; however, specific course/section offerings may vary between semesters. Students are responsible for ensuring that they enroll in courses that are applicable to their particular academic programs.

Course Fees

Some courses may carry fees beyond the standard tuition costs to cover additional support or materials. Program-, subject- and course-specific fee information can be found on the Office of the Bursar website.


ANTH 111. Applied Mathematics for Understanding Science and Evolution - QR, S4 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall Only

Prerequisite(s): Appropriate placement score or equivalent coursework.

Description: Any understanding of human evolution requires knowing how each fact is supported by verifiable data, and mathematics is a primary tool for any scientific investigation of the evolution of human variation. This class will develop and apply mathematical techniques and models used to investigate and describe the distribution of human biological variation.

Note: Cross-listed with MATH 106.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 201. Introduction to Cultural Anthropology - D2, SB3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer

Description: 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, universal-ism, evolution, race, gender, and class. The course explores the way cultural anthropologists develop their research questions and the methods and data they use to answer them.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 202. Biological Anthropology - S3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer

Description: This course provides a general introduction to biological anthropology through an examination of humans in the animal kingdom, the human evolutionary past, anthropological genetics, a comparative examination of primate and hominin fossils, and the dynamics of human variation and human adaptation.

Note: Credit is not allowed for both ANTH 202 and ANTH 207.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 203. Archaeology of Human History - SBH, D23 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer

Description: A global survey of the first 2 million years of human existence. We will trace the evolution of human culture through time, focusing on well-known archaeological sites in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas, examine long-term change in human societies focusing on the major developments in human physical and cultural evolution, such as tool-making, hunting, art, music, religion, the domestication of plants and animals, the rise of cities and states. Causes for these changes will be considered in detail.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 204. Archaeology - D2, SB3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer

Description: Archaeology is about discovery and learning how and why people of the past made things, what people ate, where they settled, how they used the land and sea, how they organized their societies and economies, and the nature of their religious practices and ideologies. This course emphasizes the history of archaeological endeavors, the theories that guide archaeological research and the methods and tools used by archaeologists to study the lifeways of the past.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 205. Music in World Cultures - D2, SB3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer

Description: General introduction to the world of music covering basic elements of music along with the socio-cultural aspects of music and music-making from an ethnomusicological perspective.

Note: Cross-listed with MUH 205.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 206. Principles of Archaeology - B4 Units

Description: This course introduces students to the science of archaeology. We will cover the practical ways in which various sciences and technologies that contribute to our knowledge of how the world works also make possible our interpretation of the archaeological record. In addition to lecture, students will have the opportunity to actively explore and better understand archaeological methods in a laboratory setting.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 207. Principles of Biological Anthropology - B4 Units

Description: 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 primate and hominid fossils, and the dynamics of human variation and human adaptation. In addition to lecture, students will have opportunity to actively explore and better understand the methods of biological anthropology in a laboratory setting.

Note: Credit is not allowed for both ANTH 202 and ANTH 207.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 252. People and Their Food-SBD2 - SB, D23 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall Only

Description: Everyone eats but we eat such different things. This course examines the reasons why, across the globe, we meet our common nutritional needs in so many different ways. We explore food and foodways as products of soil, politics, and culture.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 303. Human Origins3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Spring Only

Description: Study of the forces of evolution that shape both genetic and phenotypic human variability and exploration of the fossil record related to the evolution of modern humans.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 304. Prehistoric Archaeology of Europe - SBH3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Spring, Fall Odd Years

Description: Prehistory of Europe from the earliest occupation around a million years ago to the Iron Age; includes peopling of Europe, Neanderthals' ecology, Upper Paleolithic creative explosion, spread of farming, trade, and rise of complex societies.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 306. Human Biological Variation3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Occasionally Offered

Prerequisite(s): ANTH 202 or 3 hours of Biology.

Description: Course explores biological diversity in terms of evolutionary origin and adaptive significance.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 307. Darwin3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall Only

Description: Darwin's work in its historical and intellectual milieu; his commitment to empirical support for his theory of evolution. The social controversy associated with misunderstanding evolution today.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 308. Primates3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Spring Only

Description: Survey of primate behavior, ecology, and culture. Focus on violence and aggression, kin selection, altruism, evolution and sex, the developmental cycle, language, cognition, and male and female social behavior.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 309. Sex, Gender and Culture3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer

Description: A cross-cultural perspective on the interactions among sex, gender, and culture, including feminist/gender theory, the socially-constructed aspects of biological sex, intersex and gender-non-binary, masculinity studies, sexuality, and heteronormativity, with emphasis on US and non-U.S. cultures. Course work will include independent reading and writing assignments.

Note: Cross-listed with WGST 300.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 310. Race, Culture, Identity3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Occasionally Offered

Description: The course focuses on the concept of race--a key element in the social science and historical literature as well as a primary marker in the organization of American life. The course considers race as a historically constructed and defined concept and considers the way it is constructed in various societies. The course examines the use of racial categories over the last 200 years and their links to gender, political and social trends, ethnicity and nationalism.

Note: Cross-listed with PAS 368.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 311. Emergence of Human Culture - SBH3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall Only

Description: Origins and development of human culture from Paleolithic to 10,000 years ago; early hominid evolution, peopling of the world, Neanderthal behavior and replacement by modern humans; emergence of modern culture.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 312. Rise of Civilization3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Occasionally Offered

Description: Focuses on sedentarization and rise of agriculture; resource intensification and domestication; emergence of inequality, complex societies, and states.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 313. Studies in Enthnomusicology - D2, SB3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer

Description: General introduction to the world of music and field of Ethnomusicology. Students will learn basic elements of music and various socio-cultural aspects of music and music-making from ethnomusicological perspective.

Note: Cross-listed with MUH 313.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 314. Introduction to Japanese Society - D2, SB3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Occasionally Offered

Description: This course introduces students to contemporary Japanese society through the lens of cultural anthropology. It examines a broad range of topics including demography, kinship and family, education, gender, minority and ethnicity, popular culture, and environmental issues.

Note: Cross-listed with AST 314.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 315. The Anthropology of Europe - SB3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Occasionally Offered

Description: This course is an examination of how European cultural, social, political and economic systems vary across space and through time. It focuses attention on ethnography and historical ethnology, and draws on other social science resources, as well. The varying relationships between political, economic and cultural cores and edges are given special emphasis. Overall the course challenges a number of assumptions about what Europe is and has been.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 317. Contemporary Chinese Society - D2, SB3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall, Spring

Description: It is widely acknowledged that China is a rising power in the global political economy. However, with the coexistence of tradition and modernity, the nature of Chinese culture and society remains heavily debated. This course introduces students to a wide range of topics and issues that constitute the socio-cultural fabric of contemporary mainland Chinese society. These topics include, but are not limited to, family, gender, ethnicity, religion, education, politics, and economics. Our investigation will focus on two broad themes: 1) the unity and diversity of Chinese society, and 2) the continuity and change that took place from late traditional China to the present. The goal of this course includes learning various aspects of Chinese culture and society, examining diverse anthropological approaches to the study of China, and exploring the political dimensions of representation.

Note: Cross-listed with AST 317.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 318. African-American Cultural Traditions3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall Only

Description: This course is an intensive examination of the life and culture of people of African descent in the Americas. Drawing from historical and socio-cultural literature, students are introduced to the African origins of the Diaspora in North and South America, to their socio-cultural development in the American context including cultural traditions, urbanization and kinship, and to their contributions to the development of the history and culture of American countries.

Note: Cross-listed with PAS 318.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 319. Cultures of the Middle East3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall Only

Description: The term "Middle East" refers to a geopolitical and cultural area. This course examines the anthropological literature on the region to identify, probe, and analyze socio-cultural patterns and processes across a broad region of considerable complexity. The course explores what shared patterns of cultural and social life make this a region and promote cultural integration and what are the factors that produce difference and complexity. Focus is on local-level social and cultural processes contextualized within a regional and global framework.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 320. Indigenous Peoples of North America - D1, SBH3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall Only

Description: Survey of North American indigenous people before and after European contact with a focus on the impact of colonialism on Indian nations and their relationships with the American state.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 321. American Indian Women3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Spring Only

Description: This course analyses issues effecting contemporary American Indian women living and working in rural and urban communities throughout North America. In reading about 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. The 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.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 322. Archaeology of North America - SBH3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Spring Only

Description: North America was home to many dynamic prehistoric and historic cultural traditions expressed in the diversity of social, religious, and economic life ways. We will use archaeological and ethnohistorical data in a cross-cultural comparative examination of Native North American cultures from the initial peopling to European contact. More generally, we will explore ways in which the Native North American past has served as a laboratory for the development of anthropological theories of human behavior.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 323. Cultures of Africa - D2, SB3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Spring Only

Description: This course provides an introduction to the ethnography of postcolonial cultures in sub-Saharan Africa. We will examine cultural, historical, political, and socio-economic factors that shape life in several countries, specifically exploring the complexity and diversity of everyday life in urban areas. The course will be centered upon a series of ethnographic readings, films, and case studies meant to introduce students to the diversity of social worlds and experiences across this broad region. We will focus on a series of core concepts and topics across the semester, including post-coloniality, development and economics, globalization, migration and mobility, activism and politics, informality, and urban space.

Note: Cross-listed with PAS 383.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 324. Iberian Anthropology3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Occasionally Offered

Description: Iberia's ambiguous status regarding Europe and North Africa, analyses of cultural, social, political, economic and ecological variation and continuities within Iberia and between the peninsula and other areas.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 325. The Anthropology of Latin America - D2, SB3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Occasionally Offered

Description: Exploration of culture and society in South and Central America, Mexico, the Caribbean, and the U.S. An overview featuring in-depth case studies highlighting topical themes.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 326. African Archaeology3 Units

Description: African hosts the oldest record of human biological and cultural evolution. This course provides a general survey of the African Archaeological record, covering the time span from 3.3 million years ago to the beginning of complex societies. Archaeological relics and hominin fossil remains from different parts of the continent will be considered in order to demonstrate how early human life-ways have changed over time in terms of cultural innovations, subsistence behavior and social organizations. An overview of major ancient African civilizations and their main achievements will be discussed in the concluding segment.

Note: There is no prerequisite to enroll in this course.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 327. The Human Skeleton3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Spring Only

Description: The scientific and ethical use of human skeletal remains to determine specific information about a deceased individual. Emphasis will be placed on the musculo-skeletal system, bone identification, and bone development.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 328. Environmental Archaeology3 Units

Prerequisite(s): Sophomore standing or above.

Description: This course addresses climate history and long-term patterns of change in human adaptation throughout the past 130,000 years, a time span that saw important milestones in human evolution. Common sources of data for reconstructing ancient climate and environments (such as botanical, faunal, geological and isotopic approaches) will be considered to demonstrate how archaeologists study past human relationship with the natural environment. Other topics to be discussed include causes and consequences of past glaciations, past human diet, and conditions that fostered the inception of food production. The course concludes with an overview of environmental disasters, global warming and the impacts of colonialism and industrialization on the environment.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 329. Zooarchaeology3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Occasionally Offered

Description: Identification of animal remains at archaeological sites, examines approaches using bone data to construct and investigate archaeological questions.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 330. Urban and Historic Archaeology3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Occasionally Offered

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

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 331. Anthropology of Religion3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Occasionally Offered

Description: This course in the anthropology of religion explores religious systems from a comparative and holistic perspective. We will look at how anthropologists approach the topic conceptually using case studies and examples from around the world. The course examines the psychology of religion, myths and symbols, rituals and art, religious language and beliefs, ethics, social behavior, and the effects of globalization and culture change on religious systems.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 332. Ecology, Politics and Culture3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall Only

Description: Examines the interaction between natural environments, sociocultural systems and power relations. Uses case studies from around the globe to illustrate this interaction.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 333. Globalizing Inequalities - WR3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Occasionally Offered

Prerequisite(s): ANTH 201, or SOC 201, or SOC 202, or faculty consent.

Description: One popular story about globalization holds that human beings have been like boats all rising together on a globalizing tide. The course uses data and perspectives from across the social sciences to develop a more realistic story-one that understands that people are not boats and that tides can alternately lift them up or beat them down, refresh them or drown them depending on the circumstances. Questions about those circumstances structure the course. Another question addressed by the course; how can knowing more about globalization and in/equality help us develop the human career in different possible directions? The readings and other materials vary greatly by period, by geographical focus, and by analytical perspective.

Note: Approved for the Arts and Sciences upper-level requirement in written communication (WR).
Note: Cross-listed with SCHG 333.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 337. Nationalism, Violence, and the State3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Spring Only

Description: This course examines the development of the modern nation-state and its connections to violence. The course considers the processes, ideologies, and mechanisms of state-sanctioned violence, interethnic/racial violence, pogroms, massacres and warfare in historical and contemporary contexts. The course also considers the efforts of international agencies in the establishment of courts and the allocation of punishments and formal mechanisms countries have utilized to resolve conflict.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 338. Anthropology of Refugees3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Spring Only

Description: The course addresses forms of forced migration, including refugees, internally displaced persons, and those displaced by development and disasters. The course is organized around four broad themes; defining and conceptualizing refugees and forms of international intervention; anthropological theory of mobilities and displacement; and applied anthropology. The course covers theoretical implications of displacement central to the anthropological concern with transnational movements, mobility, identity, and belonging and the notion of the ethnographic field.

Course Attribute(s): CBL - This course includes Community-Based Learning (CBL). Students will engage in a community experience or project with an external partner in order to enhance understanding and application of academic content.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 339. The Anthropology of Space and Place3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Occasionally Offered

Description: Does where you are have anything to do with who you are? Course examines whether different spaces such as nation-states, regions, towns, and neighborhoods have anything to do with cultural difference and similarity.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 342. Museums, Culture and Nationhood3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Occasionally Offered

Description: Examines the historical and cultural dimensions of museums; explores representations of ethnic groups in museum settings and public culture.

Note: Cross-listed with PAS 345.

Course Attribute(s): CBL - This course includes Community-Based Learning (CBL). Students will engage in a community experience or project with an external partner in order to enhance understanding and application of academic content.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 343. Language and Culture - D1, AH3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer

Description: An ethnographic perspective to the study of language, investigating how it is used to create and maintain social institutions and rituals, and how it is differentiated across genders and ethnicities.

Note: Cross-listed with ENGL 330 and LING 330.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 344. Anthropology of Clothing3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall Only

Description: Class will study how fashion and clothing are a means of understanding culture and identity; explores meaning of production and consumption of clothing globally.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 346. Sustainability: Anthropological Perspectives3 Units

Description: Decision makers often target growth, mostly measured by economic indicators, as the cure-all solution to a myriad of economic, ecological, and social challenges. However, growth without consideration of the environment or social equity often leads to recurring crises. This course considers environmental, social, and economic challenges that we face from a different angle: How can we meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs? The goal of this course is to foster systems thinking and take a holistic approach to explore theoretical and practical issues and solutions related to environmental, social, and economic sustainability.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 347. Global Capitalisms3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Spring Only

Description: The course adopts an interdisciplinary approach to explore how capitalism is organized, practiced or resisted. It seeks to understand capitalism as historically situated and culturally-informed practices in different world regions.

Note: Cross-listed with AST 347.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 348. State & Empire3 Units

Description: The argument: that states and empires lie at the heart of the social sciences, of the humanities, and of our everyday lives. The devil lies mainly in the details. Different states and empires serve as examples, with specific foci depending on the instructor's expertise. Stressed: how older empires haunt newer ones. Also emphasized: colonization and empire work as much "at home" as they do "abroad". The course is organized to keep problematical character of states and empires in our sights. It is organized, that is, to suggest that states and empires may often present where we ordinarily do not look for them.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 349. Modes of Consciousness3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Occasionally Offered

Description: This course is devoted to examining how consciousness mediates between humans and the wider material world. While all of the concepts central to anthropology and the other social sciences--culture, society, evolution, history, mind, politics, economics--are premised in consciousness, the premise receives attention only sporadically. The attention that has been paid reveals that consciousness is not uniform. It has various modes. Thus the course focuses on these.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 351. Medical Anthropology3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Spring Only

Description: The study of health in cultural and environmental context, and cultural diversity in beliefs and behavior relating to health and healing.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 352. Food and Body Politic3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall Only

Description: This course takes an interdisciplinary approach to the study of food. The course examines food and food-ways as products of soil, culture and politics. The study of food reveals much about social relations (family, gender and work) as well as national and international health, economic and environmental policy. Students will consider the forces that have shaped the food system and our daily food choices, or lack there of. In particular, the course traces the evolution of the industrial food system in America and the impact this system has on our health, identity, environment, worker's rights, natural resources, animals, crop diversity and more.

Course Attribute(s): CBL - This course includes Community-Based Learning (CBL). Students will engage in a community experience or project with an external partner in order to enhance understanding and application of academic content.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 353. Evolutionary Anthropology3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Occasionally Offered

Description: An evolutionary anthropologist works to understand human biology and genetics using the framework of evolutionary theory to test explicit hypotheses regarding human variation. This course will review basic evolutionary theroy and provide an introduction to the field of evolutionary anthropology. Special emphasis will be placed on the importance of hypothesis testing.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 354. Anthropology of Infectious Disease3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall Only

Description: Anthropology helps us understand our species across time and space from cultural and biological perspectives, and when investigating how infectious disease affects our species we must use the same perspectives. A bio-cultural approach on past and present infectious disease creates a more comprehensive and holistic scenarios when reconstructing the impact of pathogens on human populations. The course covers four paradigmatic infectious diseases: plague, leprosy, tuberculosis, and cholera.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 355. Black Death: The Pandemic that Changed Human History3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall Even Years

Description: The Black Death of the fourteenth century is, perhaps, one of the most studied and discussed pandemics in human history, but still we are trying to answer different questions such as: Where did it start? How accurate is retrospective diagnosis? How did different societies and countries react against the Black Death? What were the religious and social responses to the Black Death? How did the Black Death change human populations and lifestyles? The interplay and dialogue among disciplines such as history, anthropology, and biology help us to understand how infectious diseases affect our species, and a bio-cultural approach will create a more comprehensive and holistic scenario when reconstructing the impact of epidemics on human populations.

Note: Cross-listed with ANTH 555.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 361. Special Topics in Anthropology3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Spring Only

Description: Intensive study of a particular area of either archaeology or sociocultural anthropology, to be announced in the schedule.

Note: May be repeated as topics vary, but no more than two courses will be accepted toward the major.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 362. Special Topics in Cultural Anthropology1-3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall, Spring

Description: An examination of one or more specific areas of social-cultural anthropology. Details announced each semester.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 363. Special Topics in Biological Anthropology1-3 Units

Description: An examination of one or more specific areas of biological anthropology. Details announced each semester.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 364. Special Topics in Archaeology1-3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall, Spring

Description: An examination of one or more specific areas of archaeology. Details announced each semester.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 374. Forensic Anthropology Field School3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer

Prerequisite(s): ANTH 327 or ANTH 410 or ANTH 512.

Description: Students will receive experimental training in survey, excavation, documentation, and analysis of a forensic crime scene.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 376. Quantitative Analysis in Anthropology3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall Even Years

Description: This course provides an introduction to the use of quantitative analysis methods in anthropological research. Topics will include descriptive statistics, hypothesis testing, and multivariant statistics. The course will focus on choosing the appropriate statistical tests to answer specific research questions, proper interpretation of results, and visual and graphical methods for displaying results. This course is not intended to be an advanced math class, and derivation of statistical tests will not be covered in detail. However, students will be expected to gain an understanding of the logic and assumptions behind each test, when it should be used, and how results should be interpreted.

Note: Cross-listed with ANTH 576.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 377. Field Methods in Archaeology2-6 Units

Term Typically Offered: Occasionally Offered

Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor.

Description: A field course in which students participate in site survey and excavation. Requires 35 hours a week in the field and a paper.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 378. Lithic Technology3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Occasionally Offered

Prerequisite(s): Sophomore standing or above.

Fee: An additional $25.00 is charged for this course.

Description: This course provides an introduction to the study of stone tool technology. Topics to be covered include broad examination of major changes in stone tool technology during the course of human prehistory (~3.3 million-10,000 years ago), analytical approaches commonly employed by archaeologist to interpret the lithic record, and experiential learning through knapping and lab exercises. In addition to the hands-on exercises, the course material is supported by films, and required readings from the textbooks and journal articles.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 379. Ceramic Analysis3 Units

Description: Pottery is abundant in many archaeological sites, and the study of pottery has a long history in archaeology. Analysis and interpretation of ceramics has been used by archaeologists to accomplish varied ends: to establish a time scale, to document interconnections between different areas, sites or groups of people,and to suggest what activities were carried out at particular sites. Archaeologists also use ceramics as a basis to understand the organization of ceramic production itself as an important activity. The varied means that archaeologists use to bridge the gap between the recovery of ceramics and their interpretation is the focus of this course.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 380. Ice Age People: Colonization of the Americas - SB3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall Only

Description: It is widely accepted that the first Americans came into the New World sometime before 12,000 years ago, when the earth was in an Ice Age. Beyond this, little is certain. Anthropologists use artifacts to piece together the story of who the initial colonists were, where they originated, when and how they got here, and how they adopted to their new landscape. The goal of this course is to explore the contributions of archaeology, human genetics, paleoanthropology, linguistics, vertebrate paleontology, and paleogeography in peopling of the Americas research. We will discuss how the evidence provided by these disciplines is used in the search for Ice Age Americans. In other words, how researchers use prehistoric artifacts to build ideas about the prehistory of America.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 381. Geoarchaeology3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Spring Even Years

Description: A firm grasp of geologic principles is essential for interpreting prehistoric archaeological sites, and this course provides students with a basic understanding of geoarchaeology. No prior geologic or archaeological knowledge is required to take this course. The course begins with the basics of sediments, soils, stratigraphy, and dating. This is followed by discussion of different depositional environments and their impacts on the archaeological record. Key topics include site formation processes, landscape reconstruction, and interpretation of climate change.

Note: Cross-listed with ANTH 581.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 401. Cooperative Internship in Anthropology3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer

Prerequisite(s): Permission of the Anthropology department faculty internship coordinator or department chair.

Description: An assignment with a public agency or business. A written report or project is required.

Note: May be repeated.
Note: Three hours may apply to Anthropology major or minor.

Course Attribute(s): CBL - This course includes Community-Based Learning (CBL). Students will engage in a community experience or project with an external partner in order to enhance understanding and application of academic content.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 410. Skeletal Forensics3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Spring Only

Prerequisite(s): ANTH 327.

Description: Details advanced recovery methods, the use of anthroposcopic and metric traits to estimate race, age, sex and stature. Various forms of trauma and postmortem changes to bone are highlighted. Specific aspects of individualization and positive identification are assessed.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 430. Practicum in Anthropology Education1 Unit

Term Typically Offered: Occasionally Offered

Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor required.

Description: A practical learning experience in active learning pedagogy and practices in anthropology education. This course includes experiential learning as a peer educator/undergraduate teaching assistant.

Note: Must be selected by instructor for anthropology UTA to enroll.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 450. Readings and Research1-3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer

Prerequisite(s): 9 hours in Anthropology or related areas and department chair consent.

Description: Supervised readings and research centered around a specific region or topical field of the student's choice.

Note: May be repeated for a maximum of 6 hours.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 451. Independent Study1-3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer

Prerequisite(s): Minimum grade point average of 3.0 overall; minimum grade point average of 3.5 in the department, and at least 18 semester hours credit in the department.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 475. Engaged Anthropology - CUE3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Spring Only

Prerequisite(s): Junior standing and 15 credits in Anthropology or permission of instructor.

Description: In this course, students will explore anthropology as a profession and discipline that engages the public and contemporary issues and examine how majors use the knowledge and skills of an anthropology degree in the professional world. The purpose of this course is to enable students to make connections across sub fields, synthesize their understanding of anthropology, and think critically about its place in our communities and the world. The course will be team-taught and will cover the three sub-fields in the department: Cultural Anthropology, Biological Anthropology, and Archaeology. Course activities will include field trips, engagement with local organizations, and guest lectures. This course will also include a practicum intended to prepare anthropology majors for a successful job search or graduate school application in which students will learn to articulate the knowledge and skills they have acquired during their undergraduate degree.

Course Attribute(s): CUE - This course fulfills the Culminating Undergraduate Experience (CUE) requirement for certain degree programs. CUE courses are advanced-level courses intended for majors with at least 90 earned credits/senior-level status.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 499. Senior Honors Thesis3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall, Spring

Prerequisite(s): Senior class standing, major in anthropology; admission to Anthropology Department honors program.

Description: To be taken only with consent of a member of the departmental faculty who agrees to act as thesis adviser.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 507. Space, Place and Culture3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Occasionally Offered

Prerequisite(s): Graduate status, or consent of instructor.

Description: This course is organized around the question of how culture is spatially distributed. How are specific spaces and places constructed, connected, and interpreted through cultural practices?

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 508. History of Anthropology - WR, CUE3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall, Spring

Prerequisite(s): Senior status, and 18 hours of Anthropology credits.

Description: The course provides an integrated introduction to a history of theory and practice in anthropology. Interleaving examples from cultural, archaeological, and biological anthropology, the course delves into understanding anthropological work as the production of knowledge. Encountering elements from the traditional corpus of anthropological literature, as well as contrarian pieces, students will refine their abilities to hold an informed anthropological perspective, even as they reconcile and come to understand inconsistencies in the past practice of anthropology. This course is designed to furnish a strong basis for postbaccalaureate study and applied anthropological practice.

Note: Anthropology graduate students cannot enroll in this class.
Note: Approved for the Arts and Sciences upper-level requirement in written communication (WR).

Course Attribute(s): CUE - This course fulfills the Culminating Undergraduate Experience (CUE) requirement for certain degree programs. CUE courses are advanced-level courses intended for majors with at least 90 earned credits/senior-level status.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 509. Archaeological Theory and Methods - WR3 Units

Prerequisite(s): Junior or senior status, and 18 hours of Anthropology credits.

Description: Archaeological theory and methods emphasizing basic practices and procedures in research skills and writing in archaeology.

Note: Approved for the Arts and Sciences upper-level requirement in written communication (WR).
Note: Anthropology graduate students cannot enroll in this class.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 510. Methods in Biological Anthropology - WR3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Occasionally Offered

Prerequisite(s): ANTH 202, and either ANTH 303 or ANTH 353.

Description: Bio-anthro methods, general approaches to research, and data management skills. Covers anthropometric variation and analysis of molecular data.

Note: Anthropology graduate students may not enroll in this course.
Note: Approved for the Arts and Sciences upper-level requirement in written communication (WR).

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 511. Ethnographic Methods - WR3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Occasionally Offered

Prerequisite(s): Junior or senior status, and 18 hours of Anthropology credits.

Description: Explores the range of qualitative research methods and techniques. Emphasis is on designing and developing a research project and conducting ethnographic fieldwork.

Note: Approved for the Arts and Sciences upper-level requirement in written communication (WR).
Note: Anthropology graduate students cannot enroll in this class.

Course Attribute(s): CBL - This course includes Community-Based Learning (CBL). Students will engage in a community experience or project with an external partner in order to enhance understanding and application of academic content.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 512. Methods in Skeletal Forensics - WR3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Occasionally Offered

Prerequisite(s): ANTH 202 or ANTH 204, and ANTH 327, and ANTH 410.

Description: This course trains students in the methods for documenting and preparing a skeletal forensics analysis report. Students will analyze a set of skeletal remains of an "unknown" individual or individuals, catalog and enter each element into a database for analysis, analyze the results, and write a report of the unknown individual(s) including species, age, ancestry, stature, sex and any trauma or pathologies present. Students will produce a documented report of the remains that could be entered as evidence and stand scrutiny of a court or coroner's rendering.

Note: Approved for the Arts and Sciences upper-level requirement in written communication (WR).

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 517. Anthropology of China3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall Only

Prerequisite(s): Graduate standing or permission of the instructor.

Description: It is widely acknowledged that China is a rising power in the global political economy. However, with the coexistence of tradition and modernity, the nature of Chinese culture and society remains heavily debated. This course explores a wide range of topics and issues that constitute the socio-cultural fabric of contemporary mainland Chinese society. These topics include, but are not limited to, family, gender, ethnicity, religion, education, politics, and economics. Our investigation will focus on two broad themes: 1) the unity and diversity of Chinese society, and 2) the continuity and change that took place from late traditional China to the present. The goal of this course includes learning various aspects of Chinese culture and society, studying diverse anthropological approaches to the study of China, and examining the political dimensions of representation.

Note: Cross-listed with AST 517.
Note: Students may not receive credit for this course and ANTH 317 or AST 317.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 522. Ecology, Politics and Culture3 Units

Description: This course examines the relations between ecology, economic system, culture, ideology and power relations. The focus moves back and forth between theoretical synthesis and case studies. The case studies are both ethnographic and historical. A few of the themes treated in detail: the role of religious ritual in regulating certain environments; the mutual influences of ecology and political economy in the making of "the Third World"; the local and global politics of national parks; combined and uneven development. Stress is laid on political ecology as a complex, shifting, analytical framework. Questions of sustainability weave in and out of the proceedings. Also emphasized: the story of ecological analysis over the last seventy years is a story about changing relations between anthropology and other social sciences.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 526. Archaeology as Practice3 Units

Prerequisite(s): ANTH 204.

Description: This course focuses on the analytical techniques that archaeologists use to study the past. Students will learn the practice of archaeology emphasizing modern methods of survey, excavation and analysis used to investigate the past. By the end of the course, students will have learned how to construct their own research plan, collect and analyze their data and draw inferences about the past.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 528. Animals and Humans3 Units

Description: This course explores the complex and often contradictory ways that humans interact with animals. We cover a range of topics emerging from a multidisciplinary perspective including the origins of hunting and domestication: modern animal economies; cross-cultural attitudes toward 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. Students will gain a broad, cross-cultural perspective on the relationship humans have with the rest of the animal kingdom, focused mainly on other mammals.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 529. Zooarchaeology3 Units

Prerequisite(s): Graduate student status.

Description: The 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. The course examines approaches to using bone data to construct and investigate archaeological questions. Students will engage in hands-on identification and interpretation of animal remains commonly found in archaeological sites.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 530. Human Impacts on Past Environments3 Units

Prerequisite(s): Graduate status, or consent of instructor.

Description: This course is about the archaeological and paleoecological record of past human impacts on Earth. We will explore a number of concepts regarding socio-natural systems including land degradation, perception, resilience and sustainability. The course will provide a background for understanding the ways archaeologists and paleoecologists reconstruct past environments and recognize human impacts. We will examine a number of global case studies and discuss the possible lessons for current and future decision-making in human land-use.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 531. Anthropology of Water3 Units

Description: Explores the political ecology of water from prehistory to present; integrates the archaeological and historical record with contemporary examples of water management; emphasis on privatization, globalization, and health.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 534. Food and Farm Movements in the Americas3 Units

Description: An overview of social and political activism associated with agriculture and food.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 535. Nutritional Anthropology3 Units

Description: This course provides students with a broad overview of topics in nutritional anthropology; an area of study that is highly multidisciplinary. Students will learn to critically think about the impact of culture concerning the current understanding of nutrition in a biocultural context. The course will range over nutritional aspects of human evolution, federal perspectives on nutrition, aspects of nutritional epidemiology, food and ethnicity, food and self, and obesity as culture bound syndrome.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 540. Health and Civilization3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Occasionally Offered

Prerequisite(s): Graduate status, or consent of instructor.

Description: The central goal of this course is to understand how at multiple bio-cultural levels human populations (past and present) respond to their surroundings and social contexts, and how their responses can affect human health, the environment, and their own adaptation. To achieve this goal, the course will be focused on human lifestyle changes, the emerging of new diseases, and epidemiological transitions developed after the agricultural revolution and after the rise of complex, interdependent, and crowded societies.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 549. Modes of Consiousness3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Occasionally Offered

Description: This course is devoted to examining how consciousness mediates between humans and the wider material world. While all of the concepts central to anthropology and the other social sciences-culture, society, evolution, history, mind, politics, economics-are premised in consciousness, the premise receives attention only sporadically. The attention that has been paid reveals that consciousness is not uniform. It has various modes. Thus the course focuses on these.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 555. Black Death: The Pandemic that Changed Human History3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall Even Years

Description: The Black Death of the fourteenth century is, perhaps, one of the most studied and discussed pandemics in human history, but still we are trying to answer different questions such as: Where did it start? How accurate is retrospective diagnosis? How did different societies and countries react against the Black Death? What were the religious and social responses to the Black Death? How did the Black Death change human populations and lifestyles? The interplay and dialogue among disciplines such as history, anthropology, and biology help us to understand how infectious diseases affect our species, and a bio-cultural approach will create a more comprehensive and holistic scenario when reconstructing the impact of epidemics on human populations.

Note: Cross-listed with ANTH 355.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 562. Special Topics in Cultural Anthropology3 Units

Prerequisite(s): Consent of instructor.

Description: An examination of one or more specific areas of social-cultural anthropology. Details announced each semester.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 563. Special Topics in Biological Anthropology1-3 Units

Description: An examination of one or more specific areas of biological anthropology. Details announced each semester.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 564. Special Topics in Archaeology1-3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Occasionally Offered

Prerequisite(s): ANTH 202 and ANTH 204.

Description: An examination of specific areas of archaeology. Details announced each semester.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 576. Quantitative Analysis in Anthropology3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall Even Years

Description: This course provides an introduction to the use of quantitative analysis methods in anthropological research. Topics will include descriptive statistics, hypothesis testing, and multivariant statistics. The course will focus on choosing the appropriate statistical tests to answer specific research questions, proper interpretation of results, and visual and graphical methods for displaying results. This course is not intended to be an advanced math class, and derivation of statistical tests will not be covered in detail. However, students will be expected to gain an understanding of the logic and assumptions behind each test, when it should be used, and how results should be interpreted.

Note: Cross-listed with ANTH 376.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 578. Lithic Technology3 Units

Prerequisite(s): Graduate status or consent of instructor.

Fee: An additional $25.00 is charged for this course.

Description: This course provides an introduction to the study of stone tool technology. Topics to be covered include broad examination of major changes in stone tool technology during the course of human prehistory (~3.3 million - 10,000 years ago), analytical approaches commonly employed by archaeologists to interpret the lithic record, and experiential learning through knapping and lab exercises. In addition to the hands-on exercises, the course material is supported by films, and readings from the textbooks, and journal articles. Students are required to submit a literature based term paper focusing on ethnographic or archaeological case studies that incorporate lithic datasets.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 579. Ceramic Analysis3 Units

Description: Pottery is abundant in many archaeological sites, and the study of pottery has a long history in archaeology. Analysis and interpretation of ceramics has been used by archaeologists to accomplish varied ends: to establish a time scale, to document interconnections between different areas, sites or groups of people,and to suggest what activities were carried out at particular sites. Archaeologists also use ceramics as a basis to understand the organization of ceramic production itself as an important activity. The varied means that archaeologists use to bridge the gap between the recovery of ceramics and their interpretation is the focus of this course.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ANTH 581. Geoarchaeology3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Spring Even Years

Description: A firm grasp of geologic principles is essential for interpreting prehistoric archaeological sites, and this course provides students with a basic understanding of geoarchaeology. No prior geologic or archaeological knowledge is required to take this course. The course begins with the basics of sediments, soils, stratigraphy, and dating. This is followed by discussion of different depositional environments and their impacts on the archaeological record. Key topics include site formation processes, landscape reconstruction, and interpretation of climate change.

Note: Cross-listed with ANTH 381.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes