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Undergraduate Courses Fall 2008/09General Anthropology | Bioanthropology | Ethnography and Ethnology | Linguistics | Archaeology | COLL Topics Courses General Anthropology
This course will introduce you to the study of human evolution - paleoanthropology--a branch of anthropology which seeks to understand human uniqueness by studying the human past using scientific methods. The story of our past can be found in clues from a wide range of sources -- everything from details of DNA to evocative murals in Ice Age caves. This is why the scientific quest for human origins requires the curiosity of a philosopher coupled with the skills of a skeptical detective.
Meets 2nd 8 weeks onlyThis course is the same as the above class regarding course content; however, grading procedures, assignments and text may differ. This section meets twice a week and requires no additional discussion sections.
This course introduces students to the full scope of Social and Cultural Anthropology. Anthropology studies humans with a very special lens: one that includes a humanistic perspective, a social scientific perspective, and an evolutionary perspective. Such an approach uses distinct theories and methods from these areas to examine the complexity represented by our species. In the course we learn how anthropologists observe humans, study how humans communicate in verbal and non-verbal ways, how they make a living and make decisions (economic, political, religious, environmental), and how they assign meaning to every bit of their world. Students in the course will gain an appreciation of human cultural, social and biological diversity; learn in depth a few cultures, and in great breadth about many more. By gaining an appreciation of cultural, social and biological differences students will gain an appreciation for the value of these differences evolutionarily, their reasons for coming into being locally, and how to interpret the complex ways we express "being human."
E105 Cultures and Societies Above class meets 2nd eight weeks only This course is an introduction to the ethnographic and comparative study of contemporary and historical human society and culture. This section meets twice a week and requires no additional discussion sections.
A208 Topics: Anth Arts & Expressive Behavior Course Content: TBA A399 Honors Tutorial The Honors Tutorial (3 cr.) involves research and writing, culminating in an Honors Thesis. A400 Culture in Corporations: Corporations in Culture Introduction A403 Introduction to Museum Studies This course provides a general overview of the museum profession, with particular emphasis on museums in American society. The first half of the course explores the history and philosophy of museums; the second half examines museum functions. A406 Fieldwork in Anthropology Fieldwork designed and carried out by the student in consultation with faculty members. A408 Museum Practicum The Museum Practicum (1-4 cr.) provides students with the opportunity to gain hands-on work experience in museums while earning academic credit through Indiana University's Department of Anthropology. Practica require prior agreement and must be arranged with museum personnel and the course instructor, Professor Geoffrey Conrad, director of the William Hammond Mathers Museum (conrad@indiana.edu or phone 812-855-6873). Practica may be arranged at any museum. If you wish to arrange a practicum at a museum other than the Mathers Museum, you must obtain written permission from a designated supervisor at that institution. General guidelines require that you and your supervisor agree upon the number of credit hours to be awarded, the number of hours to be worked per week, and the specific work schedule. Your designated supervisor will be responsible for assessing your performance and assigning a grade. Please bring a copy of the supervisor's statement of permission to Professor Conrad when you request authorization to enroll. Students interested in arranging practica at the Mathers Museum should visit http://www.indiana.edu/~mathers/edu/A408.pdf for detailed information regarding a specific practicum. Practica may involve collections research, conservation, education/programs, the museum store, exhibits, and photography. To apply for a practicum at the Mathers Museum, please review the information on the website, then contact the appropriate departmental supervisor (noted at the top of each listing) to request an application and arrange an interview. Acceptance of students is limited. The required number of practicum hours worked per week at the Mathers Museum varies according to the number of credit hours of A408 the student is enrolled in, and the semester of enrollment. A495 Individual Readings in Anthropology These courses provide opportunities for students to work on independent projects, create their own courses, and combine fieldwork, lab work, or other kinds of research in creative ways, under faculty supervision. Bioanthropology
B200 is an introductory course in bioanthropology. It is required for the undergraduate major in anthropology, and it is a prerequisite for many advanced courses in bioanthropology. B200 carries NMNS credit toward the COAS distribution requirements. You will NOT be able to count this course toward the S & H requirement. We recommend B301, a three credit lab course that also carries NMNS credit, concurrent with or following B200 for anyone who plans a career in anthropology, and for significant hands-on experience in bioanthropology. In B200 we will survey the field of bioanthropology, emphasizing the ways in which ideas about human evolution are tested using evidence from the fossil record, from living non-human primates, and from contemporary human groups.
This course is the same as the class above regarding course content; however, grading procedures assignments and text may differ.
This course is the same as the class above regarding course content; however, grading procedures assignments and text may differ.
This course is designed to provide students with an understanding of the basic research techniques used by biological anthropologists through hands-on experience and an introduction to the literature of the field. The course is divided into two main sections. The first focuses on human skeletal anatomy, and the second covers methodologies used in forensic anthropology, paleontology, primatology, human growth and development, and population genetics. This course counts for the NMNS distribution requirement.
This course will examine physiological variation within and between human populations in reference to ecological and evolutionary principles such as adaptation and evolution by natural selection. The course will provide introductions to life history theory and reproductive ecology, which will allow us to critically analyze the genetic and environmental sources of physiological variation in contemporary human populations. Although the foci of this course are based on evolutionary biology, readings are selected to reflect thegeneral interests of natural and social scientists alike.
In this course we will explore the evolutionary roots of human behavior, and more broadly, seek to understand human behavior from an evolutionary perspective. We will first review Darwin’s contributions to evolutionary theory, and link them to modern understandings of heredity. Then we will consider current theoretical models that are have been developed to explain the evolution of behavior across animals. These include kin selection, group selection, sexual selection, and life history theory. We will consider evolutionary models of behavior that elucidate a biological basis for behavior (which makes it subject to natural selection); those that argue from what is predicted by evolutionary theory; and those that make use of data from primate studies and the fossil record to argue for the adaptive significance of contemporary human behavior. Throughout the course we will make use of data derived from the fossil record, genetics, studies of non-human primates, cross-cultural comparisons, and surveys of contemporary human behavior. The scope of human behavior will be inclusive, and range from morality to bipedalism. We will also maintain an open critical stance toward evolutionary hypothesizing about human behavior.
This advanced-level seminar will explore the theoretical models and empirical evidence regarding the extent and causes of variation in human reproductive functioning. The principal focus is on the physiological and behavioral mechanisms that link variation in reproductive traits with variation in the physical, biological and social conditions that an individual must accommodate and exploit for survival and reproduction. Reproductive traits include age and size at puberty, at first live birth, and at peak reproductive maturity; mating strategies; number, size, quality, spacing and sex ratio of offspring; probability of conception; probability of pregnancy loss; offspring provisioning including lactation; and age at menopause. Although the focus is on women, we will also examine what is known of reproductive variation in men and draw upon the relevant literature on non-human primate.
This course will review the demography, epidemiology, and variability that physical anthropologists and other scientists have documented in New World peoples, both prehistoric and modern. Research on Indian and Inuit-Aleut peoples has shaped physical anthropology as a discipline in the Americas, and we will spend some time looking at this historical context. Probably the most interesting and consistent scientific issue throughout this history has been the isolation of the American continents from the Old World as a force in human adaptation and variation. We will examine theories of the peopling of the New World, the effects of diverse life ways on human biology, and the massive biological and social changes that followed European colonization.
This course is designed to fulfill a requirement within the bioanthropology graduate program pertaining to research methods. As such, it will cover basic methodologies associated with research investigations that relate genetics to bioanthropology. Principle areas include the theory and practice of Mendelian genetics, human/medical genetics, forensic genetics, molecular genetics, and human population genetics. The particular field within bioanthropology referred to as anthropological genetics will be stressed. This means that there will be an emphasis on microevolutionary processes that serve to explain current and recent past gene distributions and genetic structure of human populations. This course is organized into both seminar discussions of assigned readings and exercises, some of which will be carried out in class, in addition to wet laboratory work, to be carried out in the anthropology department's genetic anthropology teaching lab. There will be no textbook for this course. Rather, the readings will be excerpted from existing textbooks and will also include published research papers, all of which will be available in PDF format. In addition, there will be a laboratory manual with directions for and explanations of the wet laboratory procedures used in this course, as well as hints for the exercises. Each student will need a scientific calculator, a lab notebook, and a 3-ring binder. We will discuss what qualifies as a ‘lab notebook’ on the first day of class. One half of the course grade will be based on in-class and take-home exercises and lab analyses, one quarter on discussion participation, and one quarter on a take-home final project.
This course deals with the identification and description of disease in ancient populations. Analysis of human skeletal remains is stressed, but we will also discuss comparative pathology, paleodemography, mummified tissues, and analysis of visual and textual representations of disease. B200, B301, and permission are required for undergraduates registered in this course. Ethnography and EthnologyUnder Construction LinguisticsUnder Construction ArchaeologyUnder Construction COLL Topics Courses taught by Anthropology FacultyUnder Construction Other Courses Taught by Anthorpology Faculty: Under Construction |
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