Stanford University Explore Courses

ANTHRO 102A: Ancient Civilizations: Complexity and Collapse (ANTHRO 202A)

How archaeology contributes to understanding prehistoric civilizations. How and why complex social institutions arose, and the conditions and processes behind their collapse. The development of monumental architecture, craft specialization, trade and exchange, and social stratification using examples from the archaeological record. (HEF II, III; DA-B)

| UG Reqs: GER:DB-SocSci, GER:EC-GlobalCom

ANTHRO 106: Incas and their Ancestors: Peruvian Archaeology (ANTHRO 206A, ARCHLGY 102B)

The development of high civilizations in Andean S. America from hunter-gatherer origins to the powerful, expansive Inca empire. The contrasting ecologies of coast, sierra, and jungle areas of early Peruvian societies from 12,000 to 2,000 B.C.E. The domestication of indigenous plants which provided the economic foundation for monumental cities, ceramics, and textiles. Cultural evolution, and why and how major transformations occurred.

Terms: Win | Units: 3-5 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-SocSci, GER:EC-GlobalCom, WAY-EDP, WAY-SI

Instructors: Rick, J. (PI)

ANTHRO 112: Public Archaeology: Market Street Chinatown Archaeology Project (ANTHRO 212, ASNAMST 112)

This internship-style course centers on the practice and theory of historical archaeology research and interpretation through a focused study of San Jose's historic Chinese communities. The course includes classroom lectures, seminar discussion, laboratory analysis of historic artifacts, and participation in public archaeology events. Course themes include immigration, urbanization, material culture, landscape, transnational identities, race and ethnicity, gender, cultural resource management, public history, and heritage politics. The course includes required lab sections, field trips, and public service. Transportation will be provided for off-site activities.

Last offered: Summer 2014 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-SocSci, GER:EC-AmerCul, WAY-EDP

ANTHRO 114: Prehistoric Stone Tools: Technology and Analysis (ANTHRO 214)

Archaeologists rely on an understanding of stone tools to trace much of what we know about prehistoric societies. How to make, illustrate, and analyze stone tools, revealing the method and theory intrinsic to these artifacts.

| UG Reqs: GER:DB-SocSci

ANTHRO 116: Data Analysis for Quantitative Research (ANTHRO 216)

This course allows graduate and advanced undergraduate students in archaeology and anthropology to acquire practical skills in quantitative data analysis. Some familiarity with basic statistical methods is useful but not assumed; the structure of the course will be flexible enough to accommodate a range of student expertise and interests. Topics covered include: statistics and graphics in R; database design, resampling methods, diversity measures, contingency table analysis, and introductory methods in spatial analysis.

Last offered: Winter 2013 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-SocSci

ANTHRO 126: Urban Culture in Global Perspective (URBANST 114)

Core course for Urban Studies majors. We will study urban space both historically and cross-culturally. Urban Studies, by definition, is an interdisciplinary field, where the methodological approaches draw upon a diverse set of analytic tools. Disciplines that occupy a prominent place in this class are geography, cultural anthropology, sociology, history, media studies, and literature. In this context, we will discuss the importance of cities around the world to the economic, cultural, and political well-being of modern societies and examine how forces such as industrialization, decentralization, and globalization affect the structure and function of cities.

Terms: Aut | Units: 5 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-SocSci, WAY-EDP, WAY-SI

Instructors: Hansen, T. (PI)

ANTHRO 128: Visual Studies

Drawing on anthropology, art history, cultural studies, and other fields, this course explores how and why one might want to think critically about the politics of visuality, social imagination, the politics of making and consuming images and things, iconophonia and iconophilia, the classification of people and things into 'artists' and 'art', and cultural production more generally.

Last offered: Autumn 2013 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-SocSci, WAY-A-II

ANTHRO 132: Religion and Politics in the Muslim World

This course provides an ethnographic examination of religion and politics in the Muslim world. What is the role of Islam in the political life of modern Muslim societies? Conversely, how do modern political powers shape and constrain the terms of religious life? This course takes an anthropological perspective on the study of Islam: our investigations will not focus on the origins of scriptures and doctrines but rather on the use of religious texts and signs in social context and on the political significance of ritual and bodily practices. A major aim of the course is provide students with analytical resources for thinking critically about the history and politics of modern Muslim societies, with a particular focus on issues of religious authority, gender and sexuality, and the politics of secularism.

Last offered: Winter 2013 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-SocSci, WAY-EDP, WAY-SI

ANTHRO 147: Nature, Culture, Heritage (ANTHRO 247)

Seminar. Shared histories of natural and cultural heritage and their subsequent trajectories into the present. How thought about archaeological sites and natural landscapes have undergone transformations due to factors including indigenous rights, green politics, and international tourism. The development of key ideas including conservation, wilderness, sustainability, indigenous knowledge, non-renewability and diversity. Case studies draw on cultural and natural sites from Africa, the Americas and Australia.

Last offered: Autumn 2013 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-SocSci, WAY-EDP, WAY-SI

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.