ANTHR 101 introduces the concepts, methods of inquiry, and scientific explanations for biological evolution and its application to the human species. Issues and topics will include, but are not limited to, genetics, evolutionary theory, human variation and biocultural adaptations, comparative primate anatomy and behavior, and the fossil evidence for human evolution. The scientific method serves as foundation of the course. The course may include a lab component.

ANTHR 102 explores how anthropologists study and compare human culture. Cultural anthropologists seek to understand the broad arc of human experience focusing on a set of central issues: how people around the world make their living (subsistence patterns); how they organize themselves socially, politically and economically; how they communicate; how they relate to each other through family and kinship ties; what they believe about the world (belief systems); how they express themselves creatively (expressive culture); how they make distinctions among themselves such as through applying gender, racial and ethnic identity labels; how they have shaped and been shaped by social inequalities such as colonialism; and how they navigate culture change, and processes of globalization that affect us all. Ethnographic case studies highlight these similarities and differences and introduce students to how anthropologists do their work, employ professional anthropological research ethics, and apply their perspectives and skills to understand humans around the globe.

ANTHR 102H explores how anthropologists study and compare human culture. Cultural anthropologists seek to understand the broad arc of human experience focusing on a set of central issues: how people around the world make their living (subsistence patterns); how they organize themselves socially, politically and economically; how they communicate; how they relate to each other through family and kinship ties; what they believe about the world (belief systems); how they express themselves creatively (expressive culture); how they make distinctions among themselves such as through applying gender, racial and ethnic identity labels; how they have shaped and been shaped by social inequalities such as colonialism; and how they navigate culture change, and processes of globalization that affect us all. Ethnographic case studies highlight these similarities and differences and introduce students to how anthropologists do their work, employ professional anthropological research ethics, and apply their perspectives and skills to understand humans around the globe. The honors course presents students with the opportunity to complete an original, individual research project or paper and present the findings to the class.

ANTHR 103 is an introductory course in which students interpret archaeological materials and information to see how archaeologists can reconstruct and inform our understanding of prehistory and periods of early history. Stress is placed on sampling worldwide prehistoric cultural sequences and exploring the transformative processes and cultural changes leading into the historic periods of developing civilizations. The course specifically addresses early and significant examples of domestication, urbanization, developing social stratification, social conflict, manifestations of religious activities and advances in technological development. Note: This course is eligible to be taken on a Pass/No Pass basis.

ANTHR 104 is a cross-cultural survey of religion and the supernatural. The course includes an examination of magic, witchcraft, and forms of religious expression in a wide variety of cultures around the world. The course considers the forms and functions of supernatural beliefs and rituals in various societies to derive insight into the roles of religious beliefs and institutions in human life. The course covers ritual, witchcraft, magic, symbolism, altered states of consciousness, and religious change.

ANTHR 105 is an introductory course that serves as a foundation for understanding language from an anthropological perspective, addressing such core questions as how, what, when, where, why and with whom we communicate. This course surveys three core areas in linguistic anthropology--structural linguistics: phonetics, phonology, morphology and syntax, as well as the biocultural basis of language; historical linguistics: origins and evolution/change, dialects, and language families; and sociocultural linguistics: language acquisition in cultural context, emphasizing the relationship between language and culture, and issues of language conservation and loss.

ANTHR 114 examines how people identify and experience gender, sex, and sexuality in a variety of cultural and historical contexts. The course considers the construction and performance of gendered identities and sexual practices from the holistic perspective of anthropological theories and methodology. Students will consider the interplay of the biological with the cultural. Comparative materials from indigenous, non-Western, non-industrial cultures as well as Western and globalized societies will be used to illustrate course concepts. Cultural institutions are framed as fundamental in creating, defining, and reinforcing categories of gender and sex. Economy, politics, nation/ state, ethnicity, religion, kinship, worldview, language, and other categories of identity and difference will be explored as they relate to gender, sex, and sexuality. 

ANTHR 150 is an introduction to the study of concepts, theories, data and models of anthropological archaeology that contribute to our knowledge of the human past. The course includes a discussion of the nature of scientific inquiry; the history and interdisciplinary nature of archaeological research; dating techniques; methods of survey, excavation, analysis, and interpretation; cultural resource management; professional ethics; and selected cultural sequences.