printer friendly pageANTHRO 140: Ethnography of Africa
This course is an exploration of some central themes and issues in contemporary African society through close readings of a selection of recent ethnographies. It aims to understand Africa as a place where many of the most challenging issues of a modern, globalized world are being thought about in exciting and creative ways, both by ethnographers and by the people about whom they write. Among the key issues that the course seeks to address are: the history and politics of colonial domination; the ways that medicine and government intersect; the increasing use of humanitarian frames of reference in understanding African realities; the changing meanings of HIV/AIDS, sex, and love; and the role of mass media in enabling cultural and imaginative production to take form.
Last offered: Autumn 2015
ANTHRO 141A: Science, Technology, and Medicine in Africa (AFRICAST 141A)
Africa is often depicted as a place simply in need of science, technology, andnmedicine. This class will introduce students to the culture and politics of science innsub-Saharan Africa: to the diverse and rich traditions, histories and contemporarynpredicaments of knowledge practices on the continent. We will consider the rolenof science in the colonial period, covering the expansion of European empires intonAfrica and the forms of technical knowledge that colonial governments encountered, especially as they relate to health and the environment. We will examine the role of science at African independence and in international development work. Finally, we will discuss the techno-politics of medical training and research, resource extraction, and the internet in contemporary Africa. This course will provide some important background for those with an applied interest in Africa as well as provide an introduction to a growing area of scholarship. Course materials include historical and ethnographic works, as well as primary sources and films emphasizing scientific practice in the context of geopolitical relations of power and inequality.
Last offered: Autumn 2013
ANTHRO 147A: Folklore, Mythology, and Islam in Central Asia (REES 247A)
Central Asian cults, myths, and beliefs from ancient time to modernity. Life crisis rites, magic ceremonies, songs, tales, narratives, taboos associated with childbirth, marriage, folk medicine, and calendrical transitions. The nature and the place of the shaman in the region. Sources include music from the fieldwork of the instructor and the Kyrgyz epoch
Manas. The cultural universe of Central Asian peoples as a symbol of their modern outlook.
Last offered: Autumn 2012
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-SocSci
ANTHRO 171: The Biology and Evolution of Language (ANTHRO 271, HUMBIO 145L)
Lecture course surveying the biology, linguistic functions, and evolution of the organs of speech and speech centers in the brain, language in animals and humans, the evolution of language itself, and the roles of innateness vs. culture in language. Suitable both for general education and as preparation for further studies in anthropology, biology, linguistics, medicine, psychology, and speech & language therapy. Anthropology concentration: CS, EE. No prerequisites.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: GER: DB-NatSci, WAY-SMA
Instructors:
Bautista, S. (PI)
;
Fox, J. (PI)
ANTHRO 175: Human Skeletal Anatomy (ANTHRO 275, BIO 174, BIO 274, HUMBIO 180)
Study of the human skeleton (a. k. a. human osteology), as it bears on other disciplines, including medicine, forensics, archaeology, and paleoanthropology (human evolution). Basic bone biology, anatomy, and development, emphasizing hands-on examination and identification of human skeletal parts, their implications for determining an individual¿s age, sex, geographic origin, and health status, and for the evolutionary history of our species. Three hours of lecture and at least three hours of supervised and independent study in the lab each week.
Terms: Win
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: GER: DB-NatSci, WAY-SMA
Instructors:
Klein, R. (PI)
ANTHRO 176: Cultures, Minds, and Medicine (ANTHRO 276)
This workshop aims to bring together scholars from the social sciences, humanities, medicine and bio-science and technology to explore the ways that health and illness are made through complex social forces. We aim for informal, interactive sessions, full of debate and good will. Dates of meetings will be listed in the notes section in the time schedule.
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr
| Units: 1
| Repeatable
6 times
(up to 6 units total)
Instructors:
Luhrmann, T. (PI)
ANTHRO 178A: Culture, Narrative, and Medicine (HUMBIO 177C)
This course examines the ways in which medicine is practiced in diverse cultural contexts with narrative skills of recognizing, interpreting and being moved by the stories of illness. It is an examination of the human experience of illness and healing through narratives as presented in literature, film, and storytelling. We explore how cultural resources enable and empower healing and how narrative medicine can guide the practice of culturally competent medical care.
Last offered: Autumn 2013
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-SocSci, WAY-CE, WAY-EDP
ANTHRO 179A: Health, Illness, and Healing in South Asia (ANTHRO 279A)
This course has three related goals pertinent to medicine and healing in South Asia. The first is to understand the experiences of illness, and therapy in ordinary South Asian communities. How do social and economic inequality, religious commitments, available healing traditions, and community and family contexts shape the experience of illness and healing? The second goal is to think about South Asian medical systems using a broad historical perspective. How had biomedicine been used during the colonial period to manage the health of native populations? What is the legacy of this colonial history on current practices? What happens when South Asian medical traditions (such as Ayurveda) become global? Third, we will explore crucial health problems in South Asia from the perspective of medical anthropology. Possible topics for the third portion of the course include: child birth and maternal health, sex-selection technologies, malnutrition, metabolic diseases, the selling of organs, medical tourism, tuberculosis, HIV, suicide, and schizophrenia.
Last offered: Spring 2013
ANTHRO 182A: Down and Out: Marginal Lives and Institutional Technologies (ANTHRO 282A)
This course examines the neglect and management of socially marginalized persons including the mentally ill, youth runaways, child wards of the state, drug addicts and prisoners. In this course, we will approach the concept of marginality by investigating the spaces and institutions of decay, neglect and rehabilitation to which unwanted and indigent individuals are relegated. Readings are focused on qualitative research conducted within institutions of health, welfare, and reform. There will be two comparative public mental health sections in this course: one focused on South Asia and the second on Africa. This course is relevant for students interested in medical anthropology, applied anthropology, public health policy, or clinical careers in medicine, psychology, or social work.
Last offered: Winter 2013
ANTHRO 184: Spirituality and Healing (HUMBIO 179S)
The puzzle of symbolic healing. How have societies without the resources of modern medicine approached healing? Why do these rituals have common features around the world? Shamanism, spirit possession, prayer, and the role of placebos in modern biomedicine. Students do ethnographic work and practical explorations along with more traditional scholarly approaches to learning.
Last offered: Winter 2013
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-SocSci
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