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This course introduces basic anthropological concepts and presents the discipline's distinctive perspective on society and culture. The power of this perspective is illustrated by exploring vividly-written ethnographic cases that show how anthropological approaches illuminate contemporary social and political issues in a range of different cultural sites. In addition to class meeting time, a one-hour, once weekly required discussion section will be assigned in the first week of the quarter.

This course introduces basic anthropological concepts and presents the discipline's distinctive perspective on society and culture. The power of this perspective is illustrated by exploring vividly-written ethnographic cases that show how anthropological approaches illuminate contemporary social and political issues in a range of different cultural sites.

This course is a general introduction to archaeology and world prehistory, with additional emphases on the logics, practices, methods and contemporary relevance of archaeological knowledge production. Topics will range from the earliest Homo sapiens to critical considerations of the archaeology of more contemporary contexts and the politics of the past and ancient environments - recognizing that the "past" is not just about the past.

The tiny remote islands of Galapagos have played a central role in the study of evolution. Not surprisingly, they have also been important to theory and practice in biodiversity conservation. The fascinating adaptations of organisms to the unusual, isolated ecosystems of the archipelago have left them particularly vulnerable to perturbations and introductions from the outside. Drawing on lessons learned from Darwin's time to the present, this seminar explores evolution, conservation, and their connection among the habitats and organisms of Galapagos. Using case-study material on tortoises, iguanas, finches, Scalesia plants, penguins, cormorants and more, we will explore current theory and debate about adaptation, speciation, adaptive radiation, sexual selection, and other topics in evolution. Similarly, we will explore the special challenges Galapagos poses today for conservation, owing to both its unusual biota and to the increasing impact of human activity in the archipelago. This course includes an intensive ten-day expedition to Galapagos at no additional cost to students. The goal of the expedition is both to observe firsthand many of the evolutionary adaptations and conservation dilemmas that we have read about, and to look for new examples and potential solutions. A chartered ship named MV La Pinta will serve as our floating classroom, dormitory, and dining hall as we work our way around the archipelago to visit seven different islands (Darwin visited four). For this portion of the class, undergraduates will be joined by a small group of Stanford alumni and friends in a format called a Stanford "Field Seminar." Because our class time on campus is limited to one week before travel, students will be required to complete all course readings over the summer. The course emphasizes student contributions and presentations. Students will be asked to lead class discussions and to carry out a thorough literature review of some aspect of the evolution and/or conservation of one or more Galapagos species. The final assignment for the seminar is to complete an eight- to ten-page paper about that review and to present its main findings in a joint seminar of undergrads and alumni as we travel in Galapagos. The class is also an experiment in intergenerational learning. For a few days on campus, and for all travels, we will be joined by 20+ Stanford alumni and friends who will share in our educational activities. For many alums, this class will be their first experience back in the Quad classrooms since their days as students, and much has changed at Stanford in the meantime. The class requires an attitude of mutual respect and a willingness to learn from each other on the part of each person in both groups, students and alumni. We will ask you to demonstrate that you respect each other's perspectives by listening and sharing what you are learning from each other; and by communicating about...(see complete course description at soco.stanford.edu.)

Tamil Nadu, India's southernmost state, curiously has more Hindu temples than any other Indian state but remains a stronghold against the Hindu nationalist politics of the Bharatiya Janata Party. This course will investigate the political movement to which this state owes both its major political parties as well as its secular, anti-caste, and regionalist reputation: the Dravidian movement. Students will both (a) engage with the history, cultural production, and political economy of the Dravidian movement and (b) apprehend the doctrines of Karl Marx, B.R. Ambedkar, and Periyar E.V. Ramasamy as applied to the ideology of Dravidianism. Students will leave the course with an enhanced understanding of socialism as applied in the Indian context and the complications that caste, class, gender, religion, language, and region play in the development of Indian socialism. No background in Indian politics is necessary. Student-Initiated Course.

The world-famous landscapes of East Africa, including Serengeti National Park, Ngorongoro Conservation Area, and the Rift Valley lakes of Tanzania form the backdrop for this special course on protected area conservation, its impacts on local people, and alternative models that simultaneously promote conservation while creating local community benefits. We take full advantage of the special format of Sophomore College, spending an initial week on campus with lectures and lively discussions on these topics, before flying together on a 12-day expedition to northern Tanzania to witness firsthand the challenges of parks and peoples in this classic setting. Summer reading is designed to help us all prepare for the experience. Students will also undertake research on a related subject of interest to them by drawing on the literature to develop and present a final paper to the class, providing a closer look at key places and issues we'll consider. Joining us for the travel segment of the class, and a few days on campus, will be a group of Stanford alumni who have an interest in these same topics. The course will explore the pros and cons of parks and protected areas as they affect both wildlife and human inhabitants, and to address the dilemma of how to achieve conservation in a manner that creates benefits for local people and promotes social justice. We will look at the history of specific protected areas to ask: What approach to protected area (PA) conservation has been taken in each case? Who are the key proponents and what are their main social and ecological objectives? How successful has the protected area been at achieving its conservation goals? In what ways is climate change affecting that success? What are the benefits of the PA to people and who receives them? What are the costs of the PA to people and who pays them? Where benefits are not commensurate to costs, what, if anything, is being done to address the imbalance? How well is it working? Are there alternative conservation models that would make the interests of parks and people more compatible, and reduce the tradeoffs between them? What is needed to make these alternative models work? The travel portion of the class will help us take an on-the-ground look at these questions. We are scheduled to visit Tarangire, Lake Manyara, Mt. Meru, and Serengeti National Parks, plus the Maramboi Wildlife Management Area, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, and nearby Maasai villages. Please note that students are required to read four books over the summer, to reflect on them in two short essays (2-3 pages each), one due in July and the other in August, and to come to campus in the fall well-prepared to discuss each reading and co-lead a class discussion on at least one of them. A 6- to 8-page final paper will be based on literature research on an approved topic, focused on Tanzania or nearby. Students will be expected to present main findings of that paper during an evening seminar as we travel.

The theory of evolution is one of the most important theories in all the natural and social sciences, and it is crucial to understanding the diversity of life on Earth. This course explores the history of evolutionary thinking from Darwin (and his predecessors) to Dawkins, with an emphasis on the growing tool kit of evolutionary principles for understanding and conserving the Earth's biodiversity. We'll look in detail at key forces of evolutionary change, including natural selection, sexual selection, kin selection, and more, and we'll look at their leading products in adaptation and diversification. Students working singly or in small groups will take on such fascinating challenges as why do hammerhead sharks have a strange front end? Do flying squid really fly? How and why do pistol shrimp generate light underwater? How does the waved albatross thrive without a nest? Among aerodynamic cormorants, why is there one that does not fly? And why do you have a vermiform appendix? These and other peculiarities will help us understand pattern and process in evolution. Far from being an old and esoteric subject, we'll see how evolution offers indispensable tools both for understanding and conserving the wonderful diversity of life on earth.

This course will examine the role of fear in shaping ideas about immigrants, asylum seekers, and refugees. We start from the notion that emotions are social formations with particular histories and political significance. We will refrain from assuming that fear is nothing more than a feeling or an automatic response and instead take it as a site that allows us to examine how psychological and legal experts together define and dispute what is normal, reasonable, credible, plausible, real, appropriate, and timely. The seminar will cover themes such as risk and threat, race and origin, pain and injury, confession and testimony, fiction and figuration, and personhood and representation. We will look at newspaper articles, social media content, legal opinions, case law, court transcripts, and psychological evaluations, as well as texts in politics, anthropology, sociology, philosophy, literature, comics, and films. Students will write a short essay on the politics of fear. Throughout the course, they will develop their toolkit to critically reflect on an emotion of their choice.

This seminar introduces a variety of themes and issues in linguistic anthropology, with a particular emphasis on the link between language and power. The seminar highlights that language is a constitutive of social realities, including social relationships and identities, rather than a passive tool for communication. The seminar delves into subjects such as the linguistic construction of gender, class, and race, hate speech, censorship, and the interplay of language and power unique to various institutions such as social media, and also explores the strategies of challenging the linguistic forms of power and domination. Students are expected to develop their own research project that involves empirical data collection and analysis, and thus gain hands-on linguistic anthropological research experience.