Graduate Courses
FALL Semester 2013-14
- GENERAL ANTHROPOLOGY
- ARCHAEOLOGY
- BIOANTHROPOLOGY
- LINGUISTIC ANTHROPOLOGY
- SOCIAL-CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
- HISTORY OF ANTHROPOLOGY
GENERAL ANTHROPOLOGY
A403 Introduction to Museum Studies Above class carries Graduate Credit
Kirk (6387)
MTHR 110
2:30-3:45pm TR
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.
Although the class is not restricted to students seeking careers in museums, it does serve as the first step in the training needed by aspiring museum professionals. Students who have completed the course will be prepared to enroll in more advanced course such as A408/Museum Practicum, or to take advantage of other opportunities for experience in museum work.
A406 Fieldwork in Anthropology
Tucker (15815)
Arranged
Arranged
Fieldwork designed and carried out by the student in consultation with faculty members.
A408 Museum Practicum
Jackson (1072)
Arranged
Arranged
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 Jason Jackson, director of the William Hammond Mathers Museum (jbj@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
Tucker (1073)
Arranged
Individual Readings in Anthropology (1-4 cr.) allows the student to work with a particular professor on a specific topic chosen by the student and agreed to by the professor. Field Study in Anthropology (3-8 cr.) gives the student a chance to earn academic credit for work "in the field."
A521 Internship-Teaching Anth
Sievert (1075)
SB050
5:15-7:30pm M
Required for new AIs. This seminar/workshop has two goals. The first is to provide some foundation in educational theory with a focus on perspectives in anthropology education. You will read material that examines how undergraduates learn, along with results of some studies of college teaching. The second is to provide practical information about what to expect as an AI, and what to expect as a future professor of anthropology. There will be some teaching tips, workshops and applications dealing with testing, grading, assessment, and other topics. We will monitor how the classes you are working with are proceeding throughout the semester, and provide information regarding problem solving and course development. We will also draw on the experience and expertise of individuals in other facets of the university, such as the Campus Writing Program, who will offer workshops and discussions with our group. Near the end of the semester we will move toward broader discussions of anthropology programs, how they are framed, and what they need. This should get you thinking about how to construct courses from scratch, and how to develop new course ideas.
Each week there will be time for problem-solving and discussion based on what you may be doing at any particular moment in your class, followed by directed topical discussions. You will observe classes in areas other than your subfield. Depending on what courses you are involved in, there will be peer observations. Later in the course you will develop microteachings (short lessons on a specific topic), and teach the rest of us.
As a final project, there will be course development, in which you will create course outlines, pick readings and devise assessment techniques for a course of your own. Response papers, a textbook review, and a lecture evaluation will also be included among the assignments.
Readings:
Curzan, Anne and Lisa Damour. 2000. First Day to Final Grade: A Graduate Student's Guide to Teaching.
And other readings
G599 Thesis Research
Tucker (5745)
Arranged
Arranged
Above section for Master’s students only who have enrolled in 30 or more hours of graduate coursework applicable to the degree and who have completed all other requirements of the degree except the thesis or final project or performance.
A800 Research
G901 Research
Tucker (1076, 1087)
Arranged
ARCHAEOLOGY
P310 Prehistory of Europe and Asia
Sept (29472)
SB 220
09:30-10:45am MW
Above class carries Graduate Credit.
Europe and Asia were first colonized almost 2 million years ago, by early members of our genus, Homo. They used simple stone tools, and seem to have been much more biologically diverse than human populations today. Through time these proto-human populations colonized and adapted to a huge range of habitats – from the dry perimeters of the Mediterranean, to the edges of northern glaciers, to the tropics of SE Asia, New Guinea and Australia. They became dependent upon increasingly sophisticated and specialized technology and more complex social organizations and settlement strategies. Ultimately many of these populations adopted modes of food production that led to the domestication of plants and animals, and urban ways of life.
This class will survey the prehistory of Europe and Asia, including Australia. We will focus on the archaeological record of the stone age, and trace cultural developments from the first colonization of different regions to the emergence of more complex, settled ways of life in the Neolithic. We will explore evidence for changing ecological, socio-economic and cultural patterns through topics such as the impact of the ice ages, the relationship of neanderthals and modern humans, paleolithic art, the origins of agriculture, trading networks, and the emergence of early urban centers. We will selectively focus on case studies of sites from different times and places, and emphasize the methodological and theoretical approaches archaeologists have used to interpret the ancient evidence.
Course readings will be extensive, and grades will be based on a combination of written assignments – assigned essays, a case-study project, and an independently researched term paper.
While there are no prerequisites for this class, students would benefit from having had an introduction to archaeology course such as P200. (Note: graduate students can enroll in P310 for graduate credit, but have a different workload and academic expectations compared to undergraduates in the course.)
P425 Faunal Osteology
Scheiber (29521)
SB 025
09:30am-12:00pm MWF
Above class carries Graduate Credit
This course is designed to introduce students to the method and theory of zooarchaeology, through a comprehensive practicum in archaeological faunal analysis. Zooarchaeology is the study of animal remains to help answer questions about past cultural and natural processes, and is a standard component of archaeological analyses. This course will address various topics in zooarchaeology, such as creating reference collections, vertebrate anatomy, identification of bone elements, methods of quantification, and social practices such as food sharing and preparation. Students will explore these issues through laboratory analyses, lectures, readings, and discussions. Course requirements will include bone quizzes, in-class presentations, specimen preparation, and a report based on the analysis of specimens from a North American archaeological site. The primary goal of the course is to teach students to identify bones of several larger mammal species of North America, plus other selected species. Students will be considered active researchers in the William R. Adams Zooarchaeology Laboratory. Students will conduct hands-on research on animal food remains from North American archaeological sites, process a specimens for the permanent comparative collection, and participate in several field exercises. Monday and Wednesday class periods will be divided between lecture and/or discussion and hands-on work with the collections. Friday class periods will emphasize studying for quizzes, prep work, and independent lab projects. This course carries N&M distribution credit.
P600 Geoarchaeology and Taphonomy
Hung (13462)
SB 050
04:40-06:55pm T
Geoarchaeology and taphonomy are critical for understanding how human societies interact with their diverse environmental settings. This interdisciplinary field incorporates the application of theoretical concepts and analytical methods from the earth sciences to study archaeological record. With hands-on opportunities, this course is designed to equip students with the knowledge and skill to effectively obtain and use geo-physicochemical data to study human behavior. Topics covered in this course include the dynamic processes involved in archaeological site formation, the analysis of soils and sediments relevant to archaeology, landscape evolution and paleoclimatic reconstruction, remote sensing of the physical environment, and geological sourcing of artifact proveniences.
P600 Material Culture of Early East Asian Community
Hung (13463)
SB 050
04:40-6:55pm R
This course investigates prehistoric and early historic East Asian communities through the study of their rich material cultural remains, such as pottery, jade, bronze, textiles/silk, and porcelain, and etc. We will examine the social acts involved from the acquisition of raw material to the final abandonment of objects, with a specific focus on how objects were used to construct social relations and mark differences between individuals and groups. Data discussed in this course are primarily yielded from archaeological excavations, while students will have opportunities to study East Asian collections at the Indiana University Art museums and the Mathers museum of World Cultures.
P600 Archaeology of Religion
Alt (29737)
SB 131
02:30-03:45pm TR
Archaeological investigations often call upon religion, rites and ritual to explain the past. The saying, “if you don’t know what it is call it ritual” is in fact a common, cynical, archeological quip. In this class we investigate what a responsible archaeology of religion might look like. We will first familiarize ourselves with how anthropologists approach and understand religion and then will look at how religion can be located in the past, and what we can do to best understand the meanings of cosmological or religious principles of past peoples. In this course we will examine topics such as perspectives on religion, origins of religion, burial practices, the materiality of religion, and revitalization movements. We will utilize case studies to examine the role that religion has played in human societies from the deepest past to the present. We will investigate how important, or not important, religion might have been in the development of different societies through time. We will inquire how separable the cosmological, ritual, mythological and divine really is from the mundane. We will explore diverse religious practices, and try to historically situate those practices to evaluate how much the religious, the social and political interact to create specific histories. This course does not promote a particular point of view but rather will provide students with a broad exposure to anthropologies and archaeologies of religion.
P600 Archaeology of Sex & Gender
Pyburn (32692)
SB 050
11:15am-01:30pm M
This is a course on the human past, but it is not just a history course. Instead this is an archaeology course which means that you will be studying some history, some anthropology, and some material culture.
For much of the history of western thought, the study of people has been the study of MAN; this was not an inclusive history. Although it has always been stated that the term MANKIND refers to all people, in practice it never has. Any time women or children were actually included in a study or a history they were identified as being included. Studies purporting to investigate humans were all investigations of the lives and doings of men, or at least what people thought pertained to men. The study of MANKIND has also always been the study of heterosexual men; people of alternative gender identities were considered irrelevant or as deviations from the “norm” with no relation to the history of MANKIND.
In this class we will consider how ignorance about gender and assumptions about what it means to be a woman or a man who is gay or straight have given us a skewed picture of the human past.
Curiously, our vision of the past skewed by the bias of our present world experience is at the same time used as a justification for the way things are in the present world. The reality of the past, insofar as we can know it, is much more varied than most people realize, and the implications of this variability for what we know about ourselves as human beings and how we justify our actions in the present day are very important to consider.
We will begin with ideas about humans that come from studies of animals that have been used to recreate human ancestors. We will go on to studies of hominids (early proto-people) to see how archaeologists have envisioned our ancestors and what data they use for these purposes. We will then move through human history ending with some discussion of very early civilizations. Much of the discussion will center on the lives of women, because it is the consideration of ancient women that most easily shows what we do not really know about ancient men, ancient women and ancient people of other genders.
P600 Archaeology of Space & Place
Alt (13461)
SB 138
11:15am-12:30pm TR
This course is intensive look at different ways of thinking about space and place. We will engage with ideas from philosophy, geography, architecture, critical theory, anthropology and more to develop understandings of how interactions of people, places and the built environment both intentionally and unintentionally create specific sensibilities. Although we will have an archaeological view point the concepts are applicable to many different consideration of the spatiality of human experience. We ask how space shapes us, and how we shape space, what are architectures of power, or what constitutes sacred spaces? Can the built environment encode inequality, or foster communalism? Can space ever really be empty?
This course is a seminar; therefore we will read widely and discuss ideas and theories. Although there will be a small lecture component, this class is specifically developed to encourage understanding through group discussion and the evaluation of the theories of space, place and architecture. We will also take a few short excursions on campus to experience the effects of place and space ourselves, and we will watch and evaluate films to put our new spatial understandings into practice. Our focus then, is on critical thinking, and the exploration of multiple points of view. This class will not tell you how to think about space, but will provide you with the foundations to develop your own framework of understanding.
Readings: PDFs available on Oncourse
BIOANTHROPOLOGY
B301 Laboratory in Bioanthropology
AI (1078)
SB 060
08:55-10:45am MW
Above section carries Graduate Credit
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 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.
B301 Laboratory in Bioanthropology
AI (11396)
SB 060
06:50-08:40pm MW
Above section carries Graduate Credit
Same content as above B301 section.
B500 Pro-Seminar in Bioanthropology
Kaestle (13455)
SB 060
05:45-08:00pm R
This seminar is intended to give graduate students training in critical analysis of theoretical models of evolution and their application to biological anthropology, as well as a historical perspective on evolutionary theory in our field. We will focus on topics of evolutionary theory that are particularly relevant to anthropology. These include, but are not limited to, classification and phylogenetics, form and function (including heterochrony, critical periods, canalization and related topics), life history theory and reproductive ecology, game theory, species concepts, concepts of adaptation and human adaptability, the action of evolutionary forces, cooperation (including kin selection and reciprocal altruism), sexual selection, coevolution, tempo and mode of evolution, level of selection (gene, individual, group, species), and race concepts. Emphasis will be placed on student development of critical thinking and reading skills, especially in assessments of primary literature, as well as academic writing skills, including grant writing. I will assume a good knowledge of bioanthropology as well as basic biology. This course is required for first year bioanthropology graduate students. Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.
B524 Human Paleontology
Hunt (32696)
SB 332
01:00-02:15pm TR
Humans are the dominant primate on the planet now, but 20 million years ago our ape ancestors were hardly distinguishable from any of the dozen apes alive then. B464/524, Human Paleontology, aims to survey the fossil record beginning with the human lineage that survived the great ape die-off around 10 million years ago and continuing up to the present. The class will examine the course of human evolution and the evidence paleontologists bring to bear when interpreting morphology of our lineage, and the selective pressures that created it. We will examine the relevant fossils in detail, discuss basic functional anatomy and investigate the inferred behavioral ecology of fossil species. We will also study evolutionary theory, and what it can tell us about why humans evolved and why we're still evolving. In the course of learning the anatomy and chronology of critical fossils, students will learn why humans became bipedal, why we shifted from a principally vegetarian diet to one that includes animals, why we came to have large brains, and what the impact of tools and other technology has had on our bodies. B464 has four required labs and three exams, including a cumulative final exam. B524 students will be required to complete three additional labs and a term paper.
B528 Dental Anthropology
Cook (29736)
SB 260
02:30-05:00pm F
This course is meant for graduate students with a strong interest in dental anthropology and for undergraduates who want to specialize in this topic. We will learn the descriptive and functional morphology of primate dentitions, stressing the nomenclature of crown features.Topics in human dentition will include enamel microstructure, development, wear, occlusion, odontometrics, discrete variability, and pathology. We will practice several methods,including drawing, formal description, replication, microscopy, metrics, and radiography. Each student will carry out a research project on some aspect of dental anthropology. We will discuss these informally as they develop during the semester. Written versions are due by the last day of exam week. They must be prepared in the style of an appropriate journal, for example Science in Archaeology or AJPA. We will have a seminar session of 15 minute summaries of your research in our last class session. Grades are based on this paper (50%) and weekly assignments and exercises (50%).
TEXT: Hillson, Dental Anthropology
B544 Women's Bodies
Vitzthum (29273)
SE 009
03:35-05:50pm W
As members of the same species, all human females share a similar morphology and physiology. But similarity is not identity. Using evolutionary and anthropological approaches (life history theory, biocultural models, demography), this course will consider the extent and causes of variation among women and across populations in biological form and functioning from menarche through menopause, and the consequences of this variation for women’s health and well being.
Students will gain a solid foundation in the physiology of women’s bodies and an appreciation of the influence of cultural traditions and practices in modifying biology and shaping a woman’s experience of her own body.
The course is suitable for graduate students of all academic backgrounds and makes no assumptions about prior courses in biology or other disciplines. The first part of the course focuses on fundamentals (female human biology and theoretical frameworks for explaining variation in this biology). The second part comprises exploration of a selected set of topics based on specific student interests. Topics may include puberty, dietary practices, eating disorders, activity patterns and exercise, sports, motherhood, reproductive technologies, contraceptive technologies, breastfeeding, mass media, sexuality, western and non-western medical practices, violence, work, military service, menopause, poverty, disease, cancer, and many others.
Several required readings (typically articles and book chapters) will be assigned each week. Each student is expected to lead one discussion on a topic of her/his choice, and all students are expected to be prepared each week to participate in discussion. Short essays may be assigned based on these readings. There are no tests; 50% of the grade is based on demonstrated knowledge of readings, and leading and participating in discussions. Each student is also expected to write a major paper (or grant proposal or project) and to make a brief presentation of their findings in class (40% of grade based on paper, 10% on presentation). The paper topic should be agreed upon in consultation with the instructor.
LINGUISTIC ANTHROPOLOGY
L500 Proseminar in Language & Culture
Suslak (29442)
WY 111
05:45-08:00pm T
This graduate-level seminar is an intensive introduction to the anthropological study of language. In it we examine language as a cultural system and speech as a socially embedded communicative practice through which social relations and cultural forms are constituted. We pay particular attention to the key concepts of text and context. What exactly is a text? What do we really mean when we talk about sociocultural context or when we claim to be contextualizing ethnographic knowledge? Other topics include the relation of language to other sign systems, speech acts and performativity, speech genres, ritual language, oratory, language and politics, and ideologies of language. This seminar has several goals: (1) to help students develop a critical awareness of the place of language in the constitution of social relations; (2) to provide them with a comprehensive understanding of theory and practice in the field of linguistic anthropology; and (3) to equip them with the analytic tools needed to understand and evaluate contemporary research in this field.
L510 Elementary Lakota (Sioux) Language I
Parks (29451)
SB 138
4:00-5:15pm MWF
This course is the 1st in a four-semester sequence designed to introduce students to the language and culture of an American Indian people, the Lakota (Western Sioux) of North and South Dakota. Study is designed around an introductory Lakota language textbook, weekly lessons, tape recordings, and readings on Lakota culture. The course requires both oral and written exercises (inside and outside the classroom), and will teach both speaking and reading.
L520 American Indian Languages
LeSourd (32694)
SB 138
01:00-02:15pm TR
The languages of Native North America are highly diverse, representing more than 60 distinct families. This course provides an introduction to North American languages, considering them in their cultural contexts.
Topics to be covered include the classification of the languages, relationships between linguistic areas and culture areas, the relevance of linguistic relationships to hypotheses concerning the peopling of the Americas, and the oral literatures of Native American groups. Work for the course will include problems in linguistic analysis, two response papers, and midterm and final exams.
SOCIAL-CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
E321 Peoples of Mexico
Royce (11401)
SB 150
09:30-10:45am TR
Above class carries Graduate credit
Mexico: After Canada, Mexico is the United States’ most important trading partner in terms of exports and imports; After Tokyo, Mexico City is the biggest city in the world with more than 21 million people; Mexico, with 112 plus million people, ranks #eleven in the most populated countries in the world; Before the Spanish came to the New World, Mexico had three of the world’s greatest civilizations--the Maya, the Aztec, and the Zapotec, a population of about 25 million living in cities and rural areas, with trade networks that connected the entire country, arts, astronomy and mathematics, a complex calendrical system, religions and a priesthood, sophisticated laws, courts and judges; Mexico’s indigenous population today is 11% of the total and represents some 60 different groups.
Behind these facts, lie the stories of Mexico’s people--who they are, what they do, what their dreams are. We will learn about the lives of Mexicans living in the second largest city in the world. We will follow the story of the Zapatistas as they seek justice and land and we will look at similar movements of resistance and strategies for political reform. The old stories of indigenous belief, art, and survival will teach us about Mexico’s indigenous peoples. Individual stories of emigrating to El Norte will help us understand better the realities of immigration and its effect on people of both countries. Stories of ingenuity and imagination, of change and continuity, of family and community, of becoming an active partner in globalization while recognizing ancient roots--these are the paradoxes of contemporary Mexico.
Course requirements will include:
* two unannounced quizzes
* midterm examination.
* class participation
* a final examination
E322 Peoples of Brazil
Brondizio (32679)
SB 220
11:15am-12:30pm TR
Above section offered for Graduate Credit
Brazil is a nation of contrasts and colors, richness and poverty, diversity and unity. This introductory course aims to introduce you to contemporary Brazil by focusing on its political and economic history, geography, socio-demography and socio-cultural diversity. The course is primarily based on lectures, readings and discussions (through essay books, articles, and ethnographic accounts), while incorporating films, guest lectures, and a bit of music (as it expresses the “soul” of the Brazilian people). I expect you to leave this course with an understanding of landmark issues characterizing Brazilian history and geography, the socio-cultural diversity and daily life in contemporary Brazil, and an understanding of Brazil's current development challenges and dilemmas. Grading include class participation, mid-term and final exams.
E527 Environmental Anthropology
Brondizio (29734)
SB 060
01:00-03:15pm M
Environmental anthropology is the general designation for the anthropological investigation of human-environment relationships. This field brings together interests in local, state, and global nexuses; environmental values and religion; environmental cognition and perception; resource management, land use, and global climate change; people and parks and conservation initiatives; human rights and environmental justice; gender, race, class, and ethnic dimensions, as well as globalization and consumerism. This rainbow of foci is the product of discussion, debate, and interdisciplinary cross-fertilization over the last 100 years, in the course of which paradigms have risen and fallen and that witnessed a changing social, economic and cultural milieu with respect to both the practice of anthropology and the nature of human-environment relationships.
This graduate seminar will discuss environmental approaches in contemporary anthropology by unfolding the storyline of the field. We started by discussing the formative period of the field in the early 20th century and the related theoretical-methodological debates, which led to the evolution of Cultural Ecology and later Ecological Anthropology. At different time periods three important trends developed -- one dominated by an ecosystem-oriented approach, one by a political economy-oriented approach, and the other by a symbolic approach. These approaches developed with different degrees of overlap into six main fields of contemporary inquiry which we will overview during the seminar: Ecological Anthropology, Political Ecology, Institutional Analysis, Historical Ecology, Ethnobiology, and Symbolic Ecology and Environmentalism.
This seminar is based on readings, lectures, and class discussions. Students will define the focus of a research paper early in the course. Other activities include class presentation/leading discussion, and preparation of short reports.
E600 Peoples and Cultures of the Middle East
Shahrani (27501)
SB 131
09:30-10:45am TR
The principal objective of this course is to acquaint students with the anthropological contributions to the study of the peoples and cultures of the Middle East. It is an ethnographic survey course which examines the unity and diversity of social institutions and cultural forms in contemporary Middle Eastern societies--i.e., the Arab countries of North Africa and the Near East, Israel, Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan. Topics discussed include: ecology, the rise and development of Islam and Muslim empires; traditional adaptive strategies (pastoral nomadism, rural agriculture and urban mercantilism); pre-colonial ties with Europe, consequences of colonialism, political independence and the rise of nation states; changing conceptions of tribalism, kinship, ethnicity, gender, personal and collective identities; and the consequences of modernization, oil wealth, poverty, labor migration, political conflicts and social unrest.
E600 Islam & Politics in Central Asia & Middle East
Shahrani (11403)
WH 205
04:00-06:15pm R
This seminar critically examines, from anthropological perspectives, relationships between the development of political institutions and articulations or manifestations of political ideals in Muslim societies in general and those of Central Asia and the Middle East in particular. We will pay close attention to the paradigmatic and historical significance of the formative period of Muslim politics (i.e, the era of the Prophet's rule in Medina and those of his Righteous Khalifs or Khulafa-i Rashidun), and focus on the continuities of styles and strategies of Muslim political discourse (e.g. adaptationism, conservatism, Mahdism,,, Islamist modernism to Islamist radicalism) in changing historical contexts. In particular, we will discuss 19th and 20th century Muslim responses to encounters with European colonialism, contemporary experiences of "nation-state" building programs in the Muslim Middle East, prospects for the new post-Soviet Muslim states of Central Asia since 9-11-01, the impact of recent Arab Spring/Awakening movements, and the so called War on Global Terrorism, in the Middle East and beyond.
The first part of the seminar will consist of readings and discussions of essential background materials, and will include critical evaluations of a number of case studies on Central Asia and the Middle East. The second part will involve discussion of student project presentations.
Required Readings (Some titles will vary) :
Articles:Asad, T. "Ideology, class and the origin of the Islamic State." Economy & Society. 9(4), 1980
Asad, T. "Anthropological Conceptions of Religion: Reflections on Geertz." Man (NS), 18, 1983.
Aswad, B. "Social and Ecological Aspects in the Formation of Islam." In Peoples and Cultures of the
Middle East, Louise Sweet, ed. 1970.
Geertz, C. "Religion as a Cultural System." In The Interpretation of Cultures. 1973
Wallace, A. "Revitalization Movements." American Anthropologist, 58, 1956.
Wolf, E. "The Social Organization of Mecca and the Origins of Islam." Southwestern Journal of
Anthropology, 7(4), 1951.
Books:
Crone, Patricia God’s Rule: Government and Islam–Six Centuries of Medieval Islamic Political
Thought
Esposito, John Islam and Politics.
Hajib, Yusuf Khass Wisdom of Royal Glory (Kutadgu Bilig): A Turko-Islamic Mirror for Princes.
Hamzeh, Ahmed N. In the Path of Hizbullah
Kamali, M. Hashim Freedom of Expression in Islam.
Khalid, Adeeb Islam after Communism: Religion and Politics in Central Asia
Rosen, Lawrence The Anthropology of Justice: Law as Culture in Islamic Society.
Roy, Olivier The Failure of Political Islam
Watt, Montgomery Islamic Political Thought.
White, Jenny B. Islamist Mobilization in Turkey.
Wickham, Carrie R. Mobilizing Islam: Religion, Activism, and Political Change in Egypt
Course Requirements:
A critical written report of the reading assignments for each week (about 2-3 double spaced typewritten pages) highlighting the most significant points (positive and negative) about the authors' approach in the text(s). These brief weekly review are due (to be shared via e-mail with others in the class) at least one day (i.e. Wednesdays) before the class meetings. Students are also expected to actively participate in class discussions, lead at least one class discussion, make an oral presentation of the term project, and submit a term paper on the term project. The term project will consist of a review essay consisting of: 1) critical reading, detailed assessment and synthesis of all required readings for the seminar; and 2) serious and reasoned reflection on how the theoretical, conceptual, methodological and substantive issues covered in this seminar will (or will not) be useful to your own specific topics or fields of research interests and why. The essay should be about 20 typed pages (double-spaced).
E600 Symbolic Interpretive Anthropology
DeMallie (13756)
SB 138
05:45-08:00pm M
This course introduces graduate students to the development in sociocultural anthropology, beginning in the 1960s, of approaches that came to be called symbolic or interpretive anthropology. Reacting to the structural-functional approaches of British social anthropology, symbol approaches focus on meaning from the actors’ perspectives, reinvesting significance in the study of language and descriptive ethnography. Documenting developing nations internationally was the focus of such leaders in the field as Clifford Geertz, but others, like David Schneider, turned their attention to the United States. The course will look at some seminal works in the field and read a series of case studies that employ symbolic approaches and demonstrate the continuing value of this approach. Students will develop term paper topics based on their own research interests; these papers, together with class participation, will form the basis for students’ grades.
E600 Anthropology of Education
Levinson (33319)
ED 2101
01:00-03:45pm R
This course is designed to introduce the central concepts and methods used by cultural anthropologists to study educational processes. It also aims to cultivate an appreciation of the range of educational problems and issues addressed by anthropologists. Students will develop basic competency in inferring cultural knowledge through observation and interpreting the cultural dimensions of education, and they will begin to develop and apply their own emerging anthropological perspective on education. Through close reading and discussion of original articles and monographs, the execution of a modest ethnographic study, and the completion of a series of writing assignments, this course places a special emphasis on:
1) ethnographic observation and interpretation,
2) the relation between identity, culture, and educational institutions,
3) the dilemma of immigrant education, and the question of cultural diversity and identity in contemporary nation-states,
4) inequality and social justice in schooling, and
5) the applications of anthropological understandings to questions of educational policy and practice.
The course encourages students’ exploration of the anthropological literature for ways of framing and answering their own questions about education.
E614 Post-Socialist Gender Formations
Phillips (29368)
SB 060
10:10am-12:25pm T
This graduate seminar focuses on questions of gender, sexuality, and power during and after socialism in the countries of the former Soviet Bloc. Readings and seminar discussions will begin by centering on the Soviet project(s) to emancipate women, and “feminizing” and “masculinizing” projects throughout the region. Most attention will be given to recent developments in gender formations as socialist projects have given way to capitalism and globalization. We will read theoretical works as well as case studies and ethnographies to understand the discourses and struggles motivating contemporary gender ideologies in Eastern Europe.
E621 Food and Culture
Wilk (29735)
SB 220
01:25-02:15pm MW
Discusses the political economy of food production, trade and consumption on a global basis. Gives a cross cultural and historical perspective on the development of cooking and cuisine in relationship to individual, national, and ethnic identity. Relates cuisine to modernity, migration and forms of cultural mixing and Creolization.
E645 Seminar in Medical Anthropology
Phillips (29376)
SB 050
09:30-11:45am W
The meanings of "health" and disease, and the experience of one's body, are often taken for granted. However, our ideas about and experiences of health, "dis-ease," and medicine are profoundly shaped by culture, transnational flows of people, ideas, and resources, histories of colonialism and structural inequalities, and the development of new technologies. An informed understanding of a person or group's health and illness trajectories must begin by exploring the multiple contexts-cultural, geopolitical, and socio-economic-from which those experiences are generated. In this course, students will learn to think about issues of health, disease,and medicine in cross-cultural and global terms.
Learning Objectives
After taking this course, students should be able to
1) talk about how the methods and theories of anthropology can be applied to issues of health, illness, disease, and medicine in cross-cultural contexts;
2) think and write about their own illness experiences utilizing anthropological principles and modes of analysis;
3) question accepted knowledge about mind-body dualism, medical authority, and the desirable effects of new medical technologies;
4) recognize and question social inequalities of health within the U.S. and other societies, and in students' own communities;
E656 The Anthropology of Race
Sterling (29385)
BH 208
01:00-02:15pm MW
“The Anthropology of Race” explores the idea of race in cultural anthropology with focus on three main themes. First, it considers the status of this idea within anthropology and a number of other disciplines. It secondly explores the global dissemination of the idea of race and the social realities that have come to be constructed around it; this phase of the course incorporates historical and anthropological literature on Africa, Europe, Asia, the Caribbean and South America. The third concern is with exploring the uneasy play between the supposed “demise” of race as an intellectual paradigm among many social scientists and its resilient but shifting status as “fact” in society at large. The course is focused here on the West and particularly the United States, incorporating a range of social issues and interdisciplinary readings that inform, or potentially inform the anthropology of race today. In addition to anthropology, these readings will be largely drawn from sociology and cultural studies; the issues include the question of racial representation on college campuses, (re-)imaginations of racial, religious and national others in the wake of 9/11, and the production, commodification and global traffic of racial symbolization.
E660 Arts: Creativity & Collaboration
Royce (29393)
SB 138
10:10am-12:25pm F
How artists create, whether in performing, visual, or literary arts, is one of the perennial questions for anyone interested in the arts or humans at play. Relationships between technical mastery and the ability to create and innovate; the notion of "inspiration" and its origins or development; the challenge of working with someone else, especially one who does not share the same technique or background--all these have been the subject of scholarly inquiry as well as modes of exploration on the part of artists. Collaborative play or creativity is more recently examined but may be central to both the generation of new forms and ideas and a sense of communal responsibility. We will look at these concepts through the examples of the collaborative play philosophy of the Pilobolus Dance Theatre; the collaborative creative efforts of Diaghilev's Ballet Russes; the relationship of knowledge and innovation in Irish music sessions; writers' workshops; the pottery traditions of related women in the pueblos of the American Southwest; other examples that come from the interests and experience of the class participants. Wherever possible, we will observe/participate in offerings available in the Bloomington area. These will include the Lotus Music Festival, a hurdygurdy workshop, a series of events around the theme of tango including dance, music, poetry, and culture history. We will have a Visiting faculty here from the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance who will work with us on Irish music sessions and in a workshop on Irish sean-nos dance and song. Students final projects may be a research paper or a work of art in performance, literature, or visual art.
E675 Law and Culture
Friedman (29401)
SB 050
01:25-3:40pm T
This course is a graduate-level introduction to legal anthropology. At the intersection of legal studies and anthropology, this sub-discipline examines the role of law in, of, and through culture and society. Key questions include: How are legal systems shaped by culture? How are cultures shaped by legal systems? Are all legal-cultural systems equal? We will read widely from both classic and contemporary texts in the fields of legal and political anthropology, examining the logics of legal systems and how people use, abuse, subvert and leverage them. Focusing broadly on how law matters in everyday lives, we will address law’s changing relationship to discipline, power, justice, and governmentality. Topics to be covered may include human rights, intellectual property, domestic violence, access to justice, legal pluralism and the “rule of law,” and bureaucratic power.
E682 Memory and Culture
Bahloul (29409)
SY 108
03:35-05:50pm W
In the first decade of the 20th century, Maurice Halbwachs, a disciple of Durkheim, put forward the concept of "collective memory", a direct product of the sociological reflection on "collective consciousness". In the following decades, remembrance was to be analyzed as a learned process, and as a cultural phenomenon expressed within the individual's membership in a given social group. A century later, these theoretical contributions have gained a new interest in light of the recent creation of new independent nation-states and as various forms of ethnic and national identities are thriving around the world. Collective memory is now in action in defining new social and national entities as they acquire global recognition, in peace or in armed conflicts. In this course, students will discuss the theoretical and ethnographic literature on collective memory, as it applies to recent political, social and cultural situations, and as it unfolds in diverse social and cultural formats such as written narrative, visual and audio-visual art, architecture and monuments, in private and public ritual and religion, in genealogy, national identity, and in the social experience of the body.
Requirements:
A. For undergraduate students
- Reading annotations in 4 submissions (40%)
- Research paper or fieldwork exercise (45%)
- Class attendance and participation (15%)
B. For graduate students
- Reading annotations in 4 submissions (40%)
- Fieldwork project (40%)
- Two oral presentations (20%)
Required readings:
Bahloul, J., The Architecture of Memory, Cambridge Univ. Press, 1996
Connerton, P., - How Societies Remember, Cambridge Univ. Press, 1989
Diner, Hasia, Lower East Side Memories: A Jewish Place in America, Princeton
University Press, 2000
Halbwachs, Maurice, On Collective Memory, University of Chicago Press, 1992
E687 Ethnography of Europe
Bahloul (29418)
BH 315
01:00-02:15pm TR
In addition to being a place on the map and a large variety of peoples and cultures, Europe is also an idea, an identity and a specific historical consciousness. This seminar will explore this idea and its meaning in the development of recent national and global situations. 21st century Europe has acquired a new status in world affairs, new forms of cultural identity and a whole lot of new populations attracted by the very idea of Europe. Students will attempt to define the cultural and social boundaries of "Europe", and they will discuss such issues as regional identities, gender and the family, religion, politics, ethnicity, migration and nationalism, rural vs. urban society.
Course requirements:
A. For undergraduate students:
1. Reading annotations in 4 submissions (40%);
3. Research paper or fieldwork exercise (45%);
4. Class attendance and participation (15%).
B. For graduate students:
1. Reading annotations in 4 submissions (40%);
2. Two orals presentations (20%);
3. Research paper or fieldwork project (40%).
Required reading:
Beriss, David, 2004, Black Skins, French Voices: Caribbean Ethnicity and Activism in
Urban France, Westview Press.
Herzfeld, Michael, 1997, Cultural Intimacy: Social Poetics in the Nation-State,
Routledge. (Only for graduate students)
Herzfeld, Michael, 2009, Evicted from Eternity: The Restructuring of Modern Rome,
U.of Chicago Press.
Mintz, Jerome R., 1997, Carnival Song and Society: Gossip, Sexuality and Creativity in
Andalusia, Berg.
Parman, Susan, 1998, Europe in the Anthropological Imagination, Prentice Hall.
Silverstein, Paul, 2004, Algeria in France: Transpolitics, Race, and Nation, IU Press
HISTORY OF ANTHROPOLOGY
H500 Hist Anth Thought in the 19th and 20th Centuries
Greene (1088)
TV 226
04:00-6:15pm W
Graduate Students only
This course is designed to introduce first year graduate students to the disciplinary foundations of socio-cultural anthropology from the late 19th century to the 1970s. We will concentrate on various paradigms that dominated anthropological thinking from within the US and Europe but also with critical attention to "other" traditions emerging from subaltern thinkers and third world critics of the field during the same time. The course focuses both on major personalities, the intellectual contexts they were writing in, and major theoretical orientations. The course is seen as a broad introduction to the field and necessary precursor to Anthropology E500, which emphasizes contemporary theory since the 1970s.
