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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 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.

This course examines the life of places as shaped by environmental events and projects aimed towards rural or urban development. Drawing methodological insights from anthropology, cultural geography and environmental studies, we examine the forces that generate place problems for humans and nonhumans. Each encounter with place and displacement sets up a particular issue for us to grapple with: How would we address issues created by natural disasters, the seizure of land through legal means that fall under eminent domain or gentrification projects? Through a critical dialogue with interdisciplinary fields that inform the readings, the seminar aims to bring theoretical and methodological insights to inform our practical suggestions for how to address placeness and displaceness at different scales.

In recent decades genes have increasingly become endowed with the cultural power to explain many aspects of human life: physical traits, diseases, behaviors, ancestral histories, and identity. In this course we will explore a deepening societal intrigue with genetic accounts of personal identity and political meaning. Students will engage with varied interdisciplinary sources that range from legal cases to scientific articles, medical ethics guidelines, films, and anthropological works (ethnographies). We will explore several case studies where the use of DNA markers (as proof of heritage, disease risk, or legal standing) has spawned cultural movements that are biosocial in nature. Throughout we will look at how new social movements are organized around gene-based definitions of personhood, health, and legal truth. Several examples include political analyses of citizenship and belonging. On this count we will discuss issues of African ancestry testing as evidence in slavery reparations cases, revisit debates on whether Black Freedman should be allowed into the Cherokee and Seminole Nations, and hear arguments on whether people with genetic links to Jewish groups should have a right of return to Israel. We will also examine the ways genetic knowledge may shape different health politics at the individual and societal level. On this count we will do close readings of how personal genomics testing companies operate, we will investigate how health disparities funding as well as orphan disease research take on new valences when re-framed in genetic terms, and we will see how new articulations of global health priorities are emerging through genetic research in places like Africa. Finally we will explore social implications of forensic uses of DNA. Here we will examine civil liberties concerns about genetic familial searching in forensic databases that disproportionately target specific minority groups as criminal suspects, and inquire into the use of DNA to generate digital mugshots of suspects that re-introduce genetic concepts of race.

This undergraduate seminar offers students the foundations of theory in social and cultural anthropology. Each section begins with a close reading of the work of a contemporary anthropologist and then traces the intellectual legacies that have shaped it. This is a required course for Anthropology majors. The course also fulfills the requirement for Writing in the Major (WIM). To sharpen students' critical writing skills, there will be several writing and rewriting assignments.

Methodological issues related to the investigation of archaeological sites and objects. Aims and techniques of archaeologists including: location and excavation of sites; dating of places and objects; analysis of artifacts and technology and the study of ancient people, plants, and animals. How these methods are employed to answer the discipline's larger research questions. Significant work outside of class time is expected of the student for this course.

Practicum. Students develop independent research projects and write research proposals. How to formulate a research question; how to integrate theory and field site; and step-by-step proposal writing.

Independent research conducted under faculty supervision, normally taken junior or senior year in pursuit of a senior paper or an honors project. May be repeated for credit.