Catalog
Anthropology
Professors Carnegie, Danforth (chair), and Kemper; Associate Professor Eames; Visiting Assistant Professors Barnett and Rubin; Lecturer Miller
Anthropologists investigate cultural variation, with particular attention to race, gender, ethnicity, social change, and human evolution. Anthropology is a comprehensive discipline offering students a broad, comparative, and essentially interdisciplinary approach to the study of human life in all its diversity.
Anthropologists are concerned with understanding human universals, on the one hand, and the uniqueness of individual cultures, on the other. At Bates the program includes archaeological, biological, and sociocultural perspectives.
Anthropology attempts to make sense, in a nonethnocentric manner, of everyday life in both familiar and distant settings. In this way the discipline enables students to achieve cultural competence in the broadest sense of the term—the ability to function effectively in complex environments, to analyze material from their own and other cultures, and to appreciate the value of cultural diversity. Some recent graduates have pursued careers in public health, medicine, community organizing, environmental law, international development, teaching, and museum work; some have gone on to graduate work in anthropology or archaeology.
ANTH 101, 103, and 104 are designed as introductions to the discipline of anthropology and as preparation for more advanced courses. Students may also use AN/RE 134 and AA/AN 151 as introductory courses. The department's 200-level courses also admit first-year students, while reflecting a specific field within anthropology. The 300- and 400-level courses are open to all upperclass students, but the latter are especially designed for majors. More information on the anthropology department is available on the website (bates.edu/anthropology/).
Major Requirements
Students majoring in anthropology study the discipline's history and methodology by taking two types of courses: those that focus on a particular cultural area (such as Africa, the Caribbean, Europe, native North America, or South Asia) and courses that focus on a specific theoretical concern. They also conduct individual ethnographic or archaeological fieldwork and are encouraged to complement their work in anthropology with participation in a study-abroad program. The chair serves as the study-abroad advisor for anthropology students. Some departmental funding is available for student research projects, most notably annual awards from the Hamill Fund for Fieldwork in Anthropology.Students majoring in anthropology must successfully complete the following courses:
1) ANTH 101. Cultural Anthropology.
2) One of the following:
ANTH 103. Introduction to Archaeology.
ANTH 104. Introduction to Human Evolution.
3) One of the following, to be taken during the Short Term of the sophomore year:
ANTH s10. Encountering Community: Ethnographic Fieldwork and Service-Learning.
ANTH s32. Introduction to Archaeological Fieldwork.
4) ANTH 333. Culture and Interpretation, to be taken during the winter semester of the sophomore or junior year.
5) ANTH 339. Production and Reproduction, to be taken during the fall semester of the junior or senior year.
6) ANTH 441. History of Anthropological Theory, to be taken during the fall semester of the senior year.
7) ANTH 458. Senior Thesis, to be taken during the winter semester of the senior year.
8) At least four other courses in anthropology, including courses cross-listed in anthropology, and up to two department-approved study-abroad courses, but not including ANTH 360 (Independent Study).
Minor
A minor in anthropology enables students to develop a basic foundation in the discipline while complementing the perspectives offered in their major area of study. The department has established the following requirements for a minor in anthropology:1) ANTH 101. Cultural Anthropology.
2) One of the following:
ANTH 103. Introduction to Archaeology.
ANTH 104. Introduction to Human Evolution.
3) One of the following:
ANTH 247. New World Archaeology.
ANTH 333. Culture and Interpretation.
ANTH 339. Production and Reproduction.
4) One of the following:
ANTH s10. Encountering Community: Ethnographic Fieldwork and Service-Learning.
ANTH s32. Introduction to Archaeological Fieldwork.
5) Any two other anthropology courses, including courses cross-listed in anthropology and one department-approved study-abroad course.
Pass/Fail Grading Option
Pass/fail grading may not be elected for courses applied toward the major or the minor.Anthropology majors and minors may not use the Culture and Meaning GEC (C026) or the Archaeology and Material Culture GEC (C025) toward meeting General Education requirements. Courses
INDC 100. African Perspectives on Justice, Human Rights, and Renewal.
This team-taught course introduces students to some of the experiences, cultural beliefs, values, and voices shaping contemporary Africa. Students focus on the impact of climatic, cultural, and geopolitical diversity; the politics of ethnicity, religion, age, race, and gender and their influence on daily life; and the forces behind contemporary education policy and practice in Africa. The course forges students' critical capacity to resist simplistic popular understandings of what is taking place on the continent and works to refocus their attention on distinctively "African perspectives." Students design a research project to augment their knowledge about a specific issue within a particular region. Students interested in education issues focus their research on education policy and practice; their research project includes a field placement in a local school or community organization and participation in a twice-monthly seminar-style reflection session. Students who focus on education issues and complete the field placement and project have the course recorded in their academic record as INDS 100A (African Perspectives on Justice, Human Rights, and Renewal in Education), and may use INDS 100A to fulfill the minor in education studies, but not the minor in teacher education. The course is primarily for first- and second-year students with little critical knowledge of Africa and serves as the introduction to the General Education concentration Considering Africa (C022). Cross-listed in anthropology, education, French and Francophone studies, and politics. Enrollment limited to 40. (Community-Engaged Learning.) Normally offered every year. P. Buck, A. Dauge-Roth, E. Eames, L. Hill.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
ANTH 101. Cultural Anthropology.
An introduction to the study of a wide variety of social and cultural phenomena. The argument that the reality we inhabit is a cultural construct is explored by examining concepts of race and gender, kinship and religion, the individual life cycle, and the nature of community. Course materials consider societies throughout the world against the background of the emerging global system and the movement of refugees and immigrants. Enrollment limited to 50 per section. Normally offered every semester. L. Danforth, S. Kemper, J. Rubin.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
ANTH 103. Introduction to Archaeology.
Archaeology is anthropology that looks into the past by examining the remains left by earlier or extinct cultures. This course introduces the theories, methods, and techniques employed by modern archaeologists. It examines such issues as what is left behind, how we find and interpret it, and what it all means to us today. Using hands-on lab exercises, films, computer simulations, and field trips, this course reveals this often-hidden dimension of human culture. Enrollment limited to 32. Normally offered every year. [S] K. Barnett.ConcentrationsInterdisciplinary Programs
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
ANTH 104. Introduction to Human Evolution.
Humans evolved to their modern form under conditions very different from those we live in today. Thus, a well-informed perspective on modern humanity must be based upon an understanding of our deep biological and cultural history. This course explores what we are learning about that history, from the appearance of the primates to modern times. Students look at how biology and culture evolved together, how humans came to dominate the Earth, and at the true nature of our similarities and differences today. Using hands-on lab exercises, films, and computer simulations, this course explores our rapidly developing understanding of these basic human issues. Enrollment limited to 32. Normally offered every year. [S] K. Barnett.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
ANTH 125. Critical Perspectives on Sport and Society.
This course explores the connections between sports and a broad range of anthropological concerns, including colonialism, resistance and domination, race, and gender. Students consider questions such as: Why do we play the sports we do? Why are sporting performances socially significant, and how have groups and political regimes used this significance to suit their needs? What can teams, players, and brands tell us about how we (and others) see the world? Addressing topics from cricket in the Caribbean to boxing in Chicago, students reappraise conventional sporting narratives and use sports to analyze the social and historical conditions in which they occur. In doing so, students think critically about their own sporting experiences and develop a deeper and subtler understanding of the ways that societies make sports and sports make societies. Enrollment limited to 40. J. Rubin.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AN/RE 134. Myth, Folklore, and Popular Culture.
A variety of "texts," including ancient Greek myths, Grimms' folktales, Apache jokes, African proverbs, Barbie dolls, Walt Disney movies, and modern Greek folk dances, are examined in light of important theoretical approaches employed by anthropologists interested in understanding the role of expressive forms in cultures throughout the world. Major emphasis is placed on psychoanalytic, feminist, Marxist, structuralist, and cultural-studies approaches. Not open to students who have received credit for AN/RE 234. Enrollment limited to 60. L. Danforth.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AA/AN 148. Imagining the Caribbean.
One anthropologist writing about the Caribbean asserts: "Nowhere else in the universe can one look with such certainty into the past and discern the outlines of an undisclosed future." Caribbean social systems bore the full impact of Western imperial expansion yet have adjusted to it in resilient and creative ways. The course surveys and interprets aspects of Caribbean life, and the ways in which they have been represented, drawing on a variety of sources—historical, ethnographic, literary, and visual. Not open to students who have received credit for AA/AN 251. Enrollment limited to 20. Normally offered every year. C. Carnegie.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
INDC 177. Caribbean Popular Cultural Insurgency.
Caribbean popular culture exerts influence on the world stage disproportionate to the region's size. This course examines the politics and creolized development of Caribbean popular culture through some of its best-known modes of expression such as music, the Trinidad Carnival, and the game of cricket. Placing these cultural forms in their historical and social contexts reveals their oppositional, dissenting qualities. By applying various critical analytical lenses, however, including gender and sexuality, ethnicity, nationalism, and transnationalism, the course also considers certain conservative undercurrents of these cultural formations. Cross-listed in African American studies, American cultural studies, anthropology, and Latin American studies. C. Carnegie.Interdisciplinary Programs
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
ANTH 206. What Is a Human?.
Humanity is a powerful yet problematic concept. To be "human" is at once a statement of fact, linking members of our species in a common identity, and a category of historically shifting moral judgment from which many have been excluded. What/who is a human? What/who isn't? What are the consequences of such boundaries? Might we imagine and enact collective identities and ethics beyond the human/nonhuman divide? Drawing on perspectives from anthropology, philosophy, and political theory, this course critically and creatively examines contemporary and historical discourses of the human, aiming to open up space for rethinking not only humanity, but nature itself. Enrollment limited to 40. One-time offering. E. Miller.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
INDC 208. Introduction to Medieval Archaeology.
The Middle Ages were a time of major cultural changes that laid the groundwork for Northwest Europe's emergence as a global center of political and economic power in subsequent centuries. However, many aspects of life in the period from 1000 to 1500 C.E. were unrecorded in contemporary documents and art, and archaeology has become an important tool for recovering that information. This course introduces the interdisciplinary methods and the findings of archaeological studies of topics including medieval urban and rural lifeways, health, commerce, religion, social hierarchy, warfare, and the effects of global climate change. Cross-listed in anthropology, classical and medieval studies, environmental studies, and history. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 40. G. Bigelow.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
INDC 219. Environmental Archaeology.
Over the past two hundred years archaeologists, scientists, and humanists in many disciplines have worked together to understand the interactions of past human populations with the physical world, including plants, animals, landscapes, and climates. This course outlines the methods and theories used by archaeologists, geologists, biologists, physicists, chemists, and historians in reconstructing past economies and ecologies in diverse areas of the globe. The course also discusses how archaeology contributes to our understanding of contemporary environmental issues such as rapid climate change, shrinking biodiversity, and sustainable use of resources. Cross-listed in anthropology, environmental studies, and history. Recommended background: ANTH 103. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 40. Normally offered every year. G. Bigelow.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
ANTH 220. Medicine and Culture.
Within the American context and in much of the West, biomedicine prevails as the dominant ethnomedical system. However, diverse systems of belief and practice about health, illness, and treatment exist within and outside the United States. Students examine how concepts such as health, illness/disease, and the body are culturally constructed and socially produced. Through readings, lectures, and assignments, students engage the theories and methods medical anthropologists use to understand the relationship between individual bodies and the social world. Recommended background: course work in anthropology. Enrollment limited to 30. Staff.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
ANTH 222. Archaeology and Colonial Entanglements in North America.
An introduction to the archaeology of North America throughout the past 20,000 years. Students examine current archaeological hypotheses of the "peopling of the Americas," and construct the most likely model based on their command of the literature and an independent critical analysis supporting their own hypothesis. Students review and reconcile the archaeological past with indigenous concepts such as oral histories and origin stories challenging and expanding their world view to include non-Western concepts. The course applies critical theory perspectives, including indigenous-feminist and postcolonial theories, to assess the colonial process that archaeology has at times unwittingly imposed on North American Native peoples. Course reinstated beginning Winter 2017. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 40. K. Barnett.ConcentrationsInterdisciplinary Programs
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
ANTH 224. Anthropology of the State.
Pairing social theory with ethnographic case studies from a range of different places and historical moments, this course introduces students to anthropological perspectives on state power. Students consider the strategies, mechanisms, and technologies that states use to build and sustain their authority as well as the ways that cultural contexts, social and economic relations, structures of privilege, and forms of violence have shaped the everyday operations of regimes. Other course themes include the centers and peripheries of state sovereignty; symbolic politics; and state projects of order, disorder, and terror. Recommended background: prior coursework in anthropology. Enrollment limited to 30. J. Rubin.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AN/RE 225. Gods, Heroes, Magic, and Mysteries: Religion in Ancient Greece.
An anthropological approach to ancient Greek religion in which archaeological, literary, and art-historical sources are examined and compared with evidence from other cultures to gain an understanding of the role of religion in ancient Greek culture and of changing concepts of the relationship between human beings and the sacred. Topics explored include pre-Homeric and Homeric religion, cosmology, mystery cults, civil religion, and manifestations of the irrational, such as dreams, ecstasy, shamanism, and magic. Open to first-year students. L. Danforth.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
ANTH 228. Person and Community in Contemporary Africa.
African societies are often characterized as emphasizing the importance of duties to the group—communal ownership and collective responsibility—rather than individual rights or personal conscience. The course focuses on the many dimensions of tension between communalism and individualism, and in so doing explores indigenous and imported notions of power, corruption, prosperity, and disease as they are lived and understood within contemporary West Africa. How do kin-ordered social systems respond to the incursions of global capitalism and the advent of the nation-state? How have such new organizational forms as political parties, religious congregations, ethnic groups, and occupational associations been constructed under changing historical conditions? Open to first-year students. (Community-Engaged Learning.) E. Eames.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AN/SO 232. Ethnicity, Nation, and World Community.
The course explores the means by which social identities are constructed as ethnicity and nations. It focuses on how representations taken from categories of everyday life—such as "race," religion, gender, and sexuality—are deployed to give these group loyalties the aura of a natural, timeless authority. This inquiry into ethnicity and nation as cultural fabrications allows for exploration of the possibility of global community not simply in its institutional dimensions, but as a condition of consciousness. Enrollment limited to 15. C. Carnegie.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AN/LS 238. Culture, Conflict, and Change in Latin America.
Over 400 million Latin Americans share a common language but their ideas, identities, and practices are manifold. This course surveys anthropological scholarship on the diverse ways if life in South America and the Caribbean. A variety of texts from distinct locales consider how contrasting anthropological perspectives frame the region's peoples, institutions, and challengess. Students gain a deeper appreciation of the region's national, racial, ethnic, and popular cultures including Afro-Latinx, indigenous, deportee, trans, hip hop, and emigrant. New course beginning Fall 2017. Normally offered every year.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
ANTH 240. Individual and Society in South Asia.
A broad survey of the societies of South Asia, focusing especially on India and Sri Lanka. The course considers the genealogical descent of Hindu thinking about society, men and women, young people and old, and the body as well as external forces weighing on these social realities. Open to first-year students. S. Kemper.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AN/ES 242. Environment, Human Rights, and Indigenous Peoples.
For decades environmentalists have used the image of the "ecological native" in their critique of industrialization while indigenous activists have framed their struggles for land rights and self-determination in environmental terms. Why and how have environmental and indigenous concerns merged? How are these connections used strategically? This course examines the struggles of the world's indigenous peoples in the context of an accelerating ecological crisis. Topics include Western ideas of indigenous people, indigenous self-representation, indigenous relations to modern nation-states and the United Nations, and the impacts of oil and mining, bio-prospecting, biodiversity conservation and climate change. Prerequisite(s): one of the following: ANTH 101, ENVR 337, 204, 350, or PLTC 250. Enrollment limited to 30. S. Pieck.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
ANTH 247. New World Archaeology.
A topical survey of New-World archaeology emphasizing the entry of humans into North and South America as well as the later prehistoric cultures of North America, Mesoamerica, and the Andes. Not open to students who have received credit for ANTH 347. Staff.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AA/AN 251. Imagining the Caribbean.
One anthropologist writing about the Caribbean asserts: "Nowhere else in the universe can one look with such certainty into the past and discern the outlines of an undisclosed future." Caribbean social systems bore the full impact of Western imperial expansion yet have adjusted to it in resilient and creative ways. The course surveys and interprets aspects of Caribbean life, and the ways in which they have been represented, drawing on a variety of sources—historical, ethnographic, literary, and visual.Course renumbered as AA/AN 148 beginning Winter 2017. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 20. Normally offered every year. C. Carnegie.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
ANTH 252. The Anthropology of Modernity.
Where anthropologists have traditionally focused on small-scale, self-sufficient societies, this course considers modernity as a cultural system, part of present-day capitalist enterprise, and a global phenomenon. It does so by focusing on three practices central to modern social life: consumption, nationalism and transnationalism, and postmodernism. Open to first-year students. S. Kemper.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
ANTH 255. Cinematic Portraits of Africa.
Most Americans have "seen" Africa only through non-African eyes, coming to "know" about African society through such characters as Tarzan and such genres as the "jungle melodrama" or the "nature show." In this course, films from the North Atlantic are juxtaposed with ethnographic and art films made by Africans in order to examine how to read these cinematic texts. Related written texts help to answer central questions not about "Africa" but rather about the politics of representation: What are the differences in how African societies are depicted? Why are particular issues and points of view privileged? Recommended background: two or more courses from the following fields: anthropology, African studies, cultural studies, or film. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 25. Normally offered every year. E. Eames.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AN/RE 263. Buddhism and the Social Order.
The West looks upon Buddhism as an otherworldly religion with little interest in activity in this world. Such has not been the case historically. The Dhamma (Buddhist doctrine) has two wheels, one of righteousness and one of power, one for the other world and one for this world. Lectures and discussions use this paradigm to consider the several accommodations Buddhism has struck with the realities of power in various Theravada Buddhist societies in ancient India, Sri Lanka, and Southeast Asia. Open to first-year students. S. Kemper.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
ANTH 264. India and Its World: Business, Bhangra, Bollywood, and Buddhism.
India has produced a distinctive civilization of considerable antiquity, a pattern geographers sometimes attribute to the subcontinent's isolation. But a strong argument can be made for the region's economic, social, and religious entanglement with other parts of Asia and the world beyond. This course also considers the dispersal of South Asian people and culture around the globe. Open to first-year students. S. Kemper.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AN/RE 265. Anthropological Approaches to the Study of Religion.
As human societies change, so do the religious beliefs and practices these societies follow. The course examines the symbolic forms and acts that relate human beings to the ultimate conditions of their existence, against the background of the history and rise of science. Students consider both Western and non-Western religions. Open to first-year students. S. Kemper.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AN/WS 275. Gender and Culture.
Comparative analysis of the social construction of gender in a wide range of contemporary societies, focusing on the contrast among African, Asian, and North Atlantic notions of gender identity and gender relations. Students work toward a deeper understanding of gender diversity, confronting their own cultural assumptions. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 30. (Community-Engaged Learning.) Normally offered every year. E. Eames.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
INDC 277. Chanting Down Babylon: Caribbean Popular Cultural Insurgency.
Caribbean popular culture exerts influence on the world stage disproportionate to the region's size. This course examines the politics and creolized development of Caribbean popular culture through some of its best-known modes of expression such as music, the Trinidad Carnival, and the game of cricket. Placing these cultural forms in their historical and social contexts reveals their oppositional, dissenting qualities. By applying various critical analytical lenses, however, including gender and sexuality, ethnicity, nationalism, and transnationalism, the course also considers certain conservative undercurrents of these cultural formations. Cross-listed in African American studies, American cultural studies, anthropology, and Latin American studies. Course renumbered as INDS 177 beginning Winter 2017. Not open to students who have received credit for INDS 374. Enrollment limited to 20. C. Carnegie.Interdisciplinary Programs
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
INDC 305. Art, Power, and Politics.
This course is an anthropological examination of the relationship among art, power, and politics. What can the artistic works of various societies say about their worlds that other creations cannot? What claims can art make about the workings of power, and what artistic techniques does power itself employ? Students consider these and other questions from a number of different perspectives, including the politics of perception, the place of art in modern life, the artistry of terror, the art of protest and propaganda, and the dream of building a beautiful regime. Recommended background: familiarity with classical social theory, especially Marx, is encouraged but not necessary. Cross-listed in African American studies, American cultural studies, and anthropology. Not open to students who have received credit for ANTH s22. Enrollment limited to 15. J. Rubin.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
ANTH 333. Culture and Interpretation.
Beginning with a consideration of symbolic anthropology as it developed in the 1960s and 1970s, this course surveys critiques of the symbolic turn in anthropology and its use of the culture concept. Emphasis is given to history, political economy, and transnational social currents. Prerequisite(s): prior course work in anthropology. Enrollment limited to 20. (Community-Engaged Learning.) [W2] Normally offered every year. J. Rubin.ConcentrationsInterdisciplinary Programs
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
ANTH 339. Production and Reproduction.
Economic anthropology challenges the assumptions of conventional economics by analyzing economic behavior from a cross-cultural perspective. Designed for upper-level economics and/or anthropology majors, this course looks at the relation between economy and society through a critical examination of neoclassical, substantivist, Marxist, and feminist approaches in anthropology. The relative merits of these explanatory paradigms are assessed as students engage ethnographic case material. Such "economic facts" as production, exchange, land tenure, marriage transactions, state formation, and social change in the modern world system are addressed, always in comparative perspective. Economics majors may select this course for major credit and are encouraged to enroll. Prerequisite(s): two courses in economics and/or anthropology. (Community-Engaged Learning.) [W2] Normally offered every year. E. Eames.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
INDC 342. Performance, Narrative, and the Body.
This course examines the politics of the body through the inter/transdisciplinary frames of the narrative and performance, including the specific ways performance and narrative theories of the body and cultural practices operate in everyday life and social formations. Students examine how the "body" is performed and how narrative is constructed in a variety of different contexts such as race, gender, disease, sexuality, and culture. The course places narrative and performance at the center (rather than the margins) of inquiry, asking how far and how deeply performativity reaches into our lives and how performances construct our identities, differences, and our bodies: who we are and who we can become. Cross-listed in African American studies, anthropology, and women and gender studies. Prerequisite(s): WGST 100. Recommended background: course work in African American studies, American cultural studies, anthropology, politics, sociology, or women and gender studies. Enrollment limited to 15. M. Beasley.ConcentrationsInterdisciplinary Programs
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
ANTH 360. Independent Study.
Students, in consultation with a faculty advisor, individually design and plan a course of study or research not offered in the curriculum. Course work includes a reflective component, evaluation, and completion of an agreed-upon product. Sponsorship by a faculty member in the program/department, a course prospectus, and permission of the chair are required. Students may register for no more than one independent study per semester. Normally offered every semester. Staff.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
ANTH 365. Special Topics.
A course or seminar offered from time to time and reserved for a special topic selected by the department. Staff.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
ANTH 441. History of Anthropological Theory.
A consideration of some of the major theories in the development of the field of anthropology, with an emphasis on the fundamental issues of orientation and definition that have shaped and continue to influence anthropological thought. Topics include cultural evolution, the relationship between the individual and culture, the nature-nurture debate, British social anthropology, feminist anthropology, and anthropology as cultural critique. Normally offered every year. L. Danforth.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
ANTH 457. Senior Thesis.
Students participate in individual and group conferences in connection with the writing of the senior thesis. Majors writing an honors thesis register for ANTH 457 in the fall semester and 458 in the winter semester. Prerequisite(s): approval by the department of a thesis prospectus prior to registration. [W3] Normally offered every year. Staff.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
ANTH 458. Senior Thesis.
Individual and group conferences in connection with the writing of the senior thesis. Majors writing an honors thesis register for both ANTH 457 in the fall semester and 458 in the winter semester. One course credit is given for each registration. Majors writing a one semester thesis normally register for ANTH 458. Prerequisite(s): approval by the department of a thesis prospectus prior to registration. [W3] Normally offered every year. Staff.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
ANTH s10. Encountering Community: Ethnographic Fieldwork and Service-Learning.
This course offers students an opportunity to explore cultural diversity in the Lewiston-Auburn community. Students are trained to conduct original ethnographic fieldwork by doing both interviews and participant-observation research. Students may also carry out service-learning projects in conjunction with their fieldwork. In some years, the course has a particular focus such as refugees, ethnicity, or religion. Recommended background: some course work in anthropology. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 15. Instructor permission is required. (Community-Engaged Learning.) Normally offered every year. L. Danforth.ConcentrationsInterdisciplinary Programs
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
ANTH s17. The Bahá’í Faith and Social Renewal.
Described as “the emerging global religion,” the Bahá’í Faith claims to address fundamental concerns of a world ever more closely integrated, yet torn by class, political, religious and other differences. This course introduces the Faith’s history and teachings and examines its claim to be of particular contemporary relevance: analyzing the symbolic mechanisms through which it attempts to nurture both cosmopolitan and local identities, and comparing the democratic consultative processes through which Bahá’ís sustain community with current dominant practices. We review influential approaches to social and economic development, placing them in dialogue with Bahá’í efforts toward community building and social renewal.New course beginning Short Term 2017. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 20. Normally offered every year. C. Carnegie.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
INDC s19. Food, Culture, and Performance.
This interdisciplinary seminar examines the idea of cultural engagement through food. Students explore the meanings of food and eating across cultures, with particular attention to how people define themselves socially, symbolically, and politically through food consumption practices. Students in this community-based course collaborate with Nezinscot Farm exploring themes of gathering, homesteading, and biodynamic farming. The course develops research and writing skills, introduces visual and performance theories of culture, and fosters an understanding of the importance of food and its relationship to identity construction, histories, and cultural literacy. The course culminates in a performative meal. Cross-listed in African American studies, American cultural studies, anthropology, and women and gender studies. Enrollment limited to 20. (Community-Engaged Learning.) M. Beasley.ConcentrationsInterdisciplinary Programs
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
INDC s21. Vikings of the North Atlantic: Explorations and Adaptations.
Vikings are often associated with raiding early Medieval Europe. They were also the first Europeans to sail into the North Atlantic in large numbers. In Scotland they met and mixed with Celtic peoples, but they populated uninhabited landscapes in Iceland and Greenland. Around 1000 C.E. their wave of migration washed up on the shores of North America where they interacted with Native Americans before abandoning the colonization attempt. This course traces this epic movement of peoples, its likely causes, and lasting impacts. The island settlements may be seen as cultural experiments leading to adaptation and resilience, and sometimes extinction. Crosslisted in anthropology, classical and medieval studies, and history. New course beginning Short Term 2017. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 30. One-time offering. G. Bigelow.Interdisciplinary Programs
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
ANTH s27. Decoding Disney: Race, Gender, and Sexuality in the Animated Blockbuster.
This course uses the full-length cartoons so formative for this generation of students as "cultural texts" subject to anthropological analysis. Students learn to discern America's contested beliefs and values by unearthing cultural politics embedded in Disney Corporation's mainstay, feature-length animated motion pictures. Such demystification entails delving beyond surface messages to reveal underlying tensions, recurring contradictions, even counter-hegemonic themes. With respect to the particular intersections of race, class, gender, sexuality, ability, and nation, what distinguishes millennial popular culture from animated productions of the early twentieth century? What continuities do we detect? What are the implications of Disney's increasingly global reach? Enrollment limited to 30. E. Eames.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
ANTH s28. Worlds and Temporalities: Anthropologies of Time.
Social and political relations, economic conditions, and cultural formations may sometimes feel stable and consistent, but they are never fully static. Rather, they change over time, sometimes slowly and nearly imperceptibly and, at other times, rapidly and dramatically. But what precisely does it mean to say that our worlds "change over time"? Do all people share the same sense of time? Do all people experience time identically? In what ways might time itself "change over and across" a broad range of social and political relations, economic conditions, and cultural formations? This course undertakes an anthropological investigation of these questions, and pays special attention to the temporal dimensions of 1) forms of everyday social interaction, 2) work, 3) revolutions and social change, and 4) ethnographic research. Enrollment limited to 30. J. Rubin.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
ANTH s29. Global Maine: Documentary Production in Community.
Students in this course contribute to the ongoing development of a Bates-Bowdoin-Colby program called "Global Maine," an interactive web-based documentary exploring immigration and social transformation in the state. Collaborating with local immigrant communities, students help produce short video building blocks for this multimedia production, focusing on sites of interaction between Maine's new populations and the communities in which they have settled or through which they move for work. Students learn how to creatively interact with members of Maine's mobile populations as, together, they invent an interactive digital experience. In addition, students help fashion accompanying curricular material for future use by classroom teachers and workshop leaders. Skill-building in cinematic production is central to the course. Recommended background: migration and/or filmmaking experience. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 15. (Community-Engaged Learning.) Normally offered every year. E. Eames.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
ANTH s32. Introduction to Archaeological Fieldwork.
This field course offers basic training in archaeological survey, excavation, analysis, and community engagement through work on prehistoric sites in Maine. The course requires a fee to cover transportation costs, room, and board. Enrollment limited to 15. (Community-Engaged Learning.) Normally offered every year. [L] [S] K. Barnett.ConcentrationsInterdisciplinary Programs
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
INDC s34. Place, Community, and Transformation: Kingston, Jamaica.
The course evaluates the feasibility of green space development in Kingston, Jamaica, a city marked by class disparities, political polarization, and the impoverishing impact of neoliberal economic policies. Through assigned texts students explore the city's physical and demographic development under colonial and postcolonial rule. They examine development initiatives, challenges, and failures through guest lectures and tours led by practicing architects, engineers, planners, environmentalists, and community workers. Students undertake ethnographic research in neighborhoods, parks, and public spaces on the use of outdoor recreational space, perceived needs, and food gardening practices to gather data that might guide future community-building green initiatives. Cross-listed in African American studies, anthropology, environmental studies, and Latin American studies. Enrollment limited to 15. Instructor permission is required. (Community-Engaged Learning.) C. Carnegie.ConcentrationsInterdisciplinary Programs
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
ANTH s50. Independent Study.
Students, in consultation with a faculty advisor, individually design and plan a course of study or research not offered in the curriculum. Course work includes a reflective component, evaluation, and completion of an agreed-upon product. Sponsorship by a faculty member in the program/department, a course prospectus, and permission of the chair are required. Students may register for no more than one independent study during a Short Term. Normally offered every year. Staff.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations