Courses
Course Descriptions 40000-43999
Course Descriptions 10000s-20000s
Course Descriptions 30000s
Course Descriptions 44000-49999
ANTH 40005 Majors and Minors Only
Migration, Markets, and Entrepreneurships
Cross-listed from: ILS
This course combines methodological tools from business and anthropology for analyzing the impact of migration movements on local socio-economic conditions and on the markets and the economy. This joint approach will focus on the study of the economic, social and cultural dimensions of Mexican migration, --the largest contemporary source of migration to the United States-- with a particular emphasis on two economic aspects, namely (1) entrepreneurial traits and skills of the migrant population and (2) the pattern and level of remittances by the migrant sector residing in the USA. The course also considers how transnational social, cultural, political and religious networks and institutions affect and are affected by Mexicans' activities as workers, consumers, entrepreneurs, and general economic agents. The course will examine the following topics: the role of remittances in the Mexican economy, local business partnerships between migrant organizations and the state, Mexican transnational households' financial structure, characteristics of the Mexican migrant labor force, consumption patterns and savings behavior, and the study of a Latino/Hispanic market segment in the USA which includes the production and/ or sales of Mexican products, special advertising, and promotion techniques specifically targeted for that market. Comparative case studies of entrepreneurs based in central Mexico and those of Mexican immigrants in the U.S. Midwest complete the course and seek to understand how these economic agents and community leaders build economic, social and cultural capital in the context of the communities where they reside.
ANTH 40062 Majors and minors only
Aesthetics of Latino Art & Cultural Expressioin
Elective
Cross-listed from: ILS
This course analyzes the philosophy, principles, and practice underlying the social and political aspects of Latino art. This course analyzes the philosophy, principles, and practice underlying the social and political aspects of Latino art. We will approach this analysis by examining a range of topics, including Chicano and Puerto Rican poster art, mural art, Latina aesthetics, and border art.
ANTH 40087 Majors only
Slavery and Human Bondage
Elective
Cross-listed from: AFST
For many Americans, the history of slavery is synonymous with plantations in the Atlantic world. This course seeks to expand our view of Atlantic slavery by looking to the Ancient World, Africa, Asia and Europe in historic and contemporary contexts. This course examines slavery as a labor system and a social form intimately connected with the political economies and cultural groups within which it arose. It will also examine debates about contemporary forms of bonded labor and slavery emerging from global encounters today. By examining different types of bonded and unfree labor, such as chattel, domestic, and wage slavery, we will form an inquiry about slavery's relationship to the following: person-hood and social death; the emergence of market economies; systems of differentiation used to maintain the social condition of the enslaved; and power and violence. This course will take an interdisciplinary approach relying on archaeology, anthropology and history for our case studies in understanding this particular social form.
ANTH 40110
Humans as Subjects
Elective
Cross-listed from: HNRS 2
Prerequisites: ANTH 30101
Throughout this seminar, students will explore the challenges surrounding the use of humans as subjects in biological anthropology. Advances made in our understanding of evolution, biology, and medicine have influenced the way that biological anthropologists conduct research. Furthermore, as studied communities become more aware and involved in the research done with them, ethical, legal, and social issues are now more present within an anthropologist’s research agenda. Throughout this seminar, students will explore the challenges surrounding the use of humans as subjects in biological anthropology.
ANTH 40311
Topics in Social and Cultural Anthropology
Elective
Prerequisites: ANTH 10109, 30103, or 30104
This course explores the latest developments in social-cultural anthropology including, but not limited to, nationalism and transnationalism; colonialism and post-colonialism; political-economy; gender; religion; ethnicity; language; and medicine and the body. Emphasis will be on social and cultural transformations in specific historical contexts.
ANTH 40140
Forensic Anthropology
Elective
Death has become a burgeoning business for television and cable networks, publishing houses and entrepreneurs. While some purport an increased scientific sophistication among the viewing public as a result, most recognize that unrealistic expectations for instant answers and seemingly omnipotent investigators often nullify any benefits. Therefore, students will be introduced to basic procedures employed by forensic anthropologists during the recovery and analysis of human remains. They will learn how biological anthropologists apply expertise in human osteology, skeletal variation and plasticity, pathology, archaeological recovery of evidence, and medicolegal issues of chain-of-custody, courtroom testimony, and human rights policy. While the course will focus on anthropological contributions to the forensic sciences, the importance of a multidisciplinary approach will be emphasized through a survey of allied fields.
Students will develop analytical skills through the application of anthropological theory and methods, understand the scientific method through research requirements and in-depth case studies, improve collaborative skills with group projects, increase cross-cultural awareness by studying how social problems and social movements affect minority groups, and explore the possibility that forensic science might indeed be shaped by “opinion.” Professional ethics will be discussed, students will engage in structured debates, and will be expected to complete a group research project.
ANTH 40311
Topics in Social and Cultural Anthropology
Elective
Prerequisites: ANTH 10109, 30103, or 30104
This course explores the latest developments in social-cultural anthropology including, but not limited to, nationalism and transnationalism; colonialism and post-colonialism; political-economy; gender; religion; ethnicity; language; and medicine and the body. Emphasis will be on social and cultural transformations in specific historical contexts.
ANTH 40312
Topics in Asian Anthropology
Elective
Pre-requisites: ANTH 10109, 30103, or 30104
This course explores the latest developments in the anthropology of Asian societies and cultures. The course may include the study of nationalism and transnationalism; colonialism and post-colonialism; political-economy; gender; religion; ethnicity; language; and medicine and the body. Emphasis will be on social and cultural transformations of Asian societies in specific historical contexts.
ANTH 40319 Juniors and seniors only
Anthropology of Multiculturalisms
Elective
Prerequisite: ANTH 30103 or 30104
This course explores anthropological approaches to the study of multiculturalism. The very idea of multiculturalism is problematic to anthropologists because it implicates the culture concept, yet it does not seem particularly useful as an analytic tool. How then might we engage the study of multiculturalism while taking seriously both its normative and ethnographic dimensions? We will first study the political philosophical debates that posit the relationship between multiculturalism and liberalism as problematic. Then we will consider how anthropologists and other social scientists have worked to reframe the terms of the debate through ethnographic research. Throughout the class, we will consider how issues of race, class, gender, and ethnicity are pertinent to discourses of multiculturalism, and we will discuss which ethnographic practices are most appropriate when researching such discourses.
ANTH 40333 Majors and minors only, Juniors and seniors only
Gender and Violence
Elective
This seminar interrogates the intersections among male, female, violence, and nonviolence. How is gender related to war and peace across cultures? We explore the biological, psychological, ritual, spiritual, social, political, and military entanglements of sex, gender and aggression in this course. We examine the lived realities of women and men in zones of conflict as both survivors and perpetrators of violence, and consider the potential of each as peacebuilders.
ANTH 40340
Native Americans in Fact and Fiction
Elective
Prerequisites: 10109, 10195, 30101, 30102, 30103 or 30104
This course focuses on images of Native Americans and how these images may have been shaped by popular and scientific writing, fine art, advertisement, and film. Using an anthropological perspective, the student reads fictitious and factual accounts of Native Americans and their cultures, both past and present, allowing them to build a more accurate image of Native Americans. The course uses books and film to broaden the understanding of Indian stereotypes, and the student will compare them to ethnographic studies which use a scientific approach to Native American beliefs, life styles, and material culture. Some of the literature will be from Native American authors and the art from contemporary Native American artists. Together the readings, artworks, and films will also reveal the great diversity of both people and ideas which all too often are lumped under one category which we label "Native American." Writing Intensive course for College of Arts and Letters.
ANTH 40355 Juniors and seniors only
Race, Ethnicity and Power
Elective
Prerequisites: ANTH 10109, 30101, 30102, 30103 or 30104
Presents a review and discussion of social scientific research concerning the nature of race and ethnicity and their expression as social and cultural forces in the organization of multiethnic societies. The focus is multidisciplinary, while giving primary focus to literature drawn from anthropology, political science, and sociology. The course uses a mixed case study/theoretical approach.
ANTH 40370
Anthropology of the Muslim World
Elective
This course will be a survey examination of ethnographic work on the Muslim world appropriate for students with all levels of background in anthropology and Islam. The course will look at the Muslim world broadly defined, including ethnographic work on the Middle East, Central Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Europe, Africa, and North America. The course will consider many aspects of life in Muslim societies, not just religion, including trade, travel, identity, literature, and politics. Because of its relevance to current events, a significant portion of the course will deal with gender relations and constructions of masculinity/femininity in the Muslim context. We will consider such questions as the impact of religion on gender relations, negotiations between textual traditions and "popular"
traditions in determining gender relations, and the circumstances in which gender constructions in the Muslim world attract attention from the "West." The aim of this course is to give students an understanding of a wide array of approaches to ethnography. Lectures and supplementary reading material will situate the central texts in the dominant theories and assumptions of the discipline.
ANTH 40380
Foundations of Political Anthropology
Elective
This course is a survey of the anthropological study of politics. This advanced course will be of interest to students with some background in anthropology or in political science or political theory. We draw on theoretical, ethnographic, and archaeological readings to examine the kinds of political systems that have existed in human history, the transnational politics of the present, and the possible politics of the human future.
ANTH 40400 Majors only, juniors and seniors only
Perspectives in Anthropological Analysis
Theory
REQUIRED OF ALL ANTHROPOLOGY MAJORS.
Prerequisite: ANTH 30103 or 30104
Click here to view the course sillabi.
This course provides an introduction to anthropological theory, including its relation both to other intellectual approaches within the social and natural sciences, and to anthropological practice. The course will be structured around a series of themes or concepts central to anthropological inquiry; we will read both classic and modern theoretical approaches to those themes and will discuss the various strengths and weaknesses of each approach, keeping in mind the contexts within which those approaches were introduced. We will also consider questions of ethnographic methods and ethics. By the end of the course, students should feel comfortable both discussing and applying various theoretical approaches, have a strong grasp on the relationship between theory and practice, and have a sense of the principal debates within the discipline, as well as why those debates tend to remain unresolved.
This is a seminar course, which means that each student should participate actively in discussions. There are no right or wrong answers (although your contributions should be informed by the readings); your opinion and analysis is valuable, both to your grade and to the class as a whole. I will provide an introduction to the major themes under consideration in each class, including the social and political context within which each theory was developed and some biographical background on the relevant theoreticians. The second half of class will consist of student-led discussions of particular texts and ideas. Students will be evaluated on these discussions (both leading and participating in them), as well as on response notes and critical essays.
ANTH 40510
Archaeology of Catholic Missions
Prerequisite: ANTH 30102
The Catholic Church has sponsored missions for centuries. As colonial forces seeking land, labor, and resources spread European influence across the globe, Catholic missions became a global phenomenon that continues to this very day. This course is designed to look at Catholic missions in the "New World" (North and South America) during the colonial period using historical and material evidence. The course will take a comparative approach by studying missions in different geographic and cultural areas, and in different colonial contexts. Historical sources are used to contextualize how Catholicism and missionary activities were a part of broader colonial endeavors. Material evidence is used to tell us about day to day activities and local living conditions, as well as how missions affected the lives of local native populations. In this course we will attempt to use historical and material sources in tandem to learn more about these institutions than either type of source could provide alone.
ANTH 40800
Topics in Biological Anthropology
Research Intensive
Prerequisite: ANTH 10109, 20105, or 30101
This course explores the latest developments in biological anthropology including, but not limited to, population genetics, human diversity, the concept of race, primate evolution and behavior, patterns of adaptation, and evolutionary medicine. Emphasis will be on the role played by culture in the development of biological systems.
ANTH 40805
Humans and the Global Environment
Research Intensive
Prerequisites: ANTH 30101and (30102 or 30103 or 30104)
All human populations, from the simplest to the most complex, interact with their natural environment. Humans alter the environment, and are in turn altered by it through biological or cultural adaptations. Global environmental changes helped to create and shape our species and modern industrial societies are capable of altering the environment on scales that have never been seen before, creating many questions about the future of human-environmental coexistence. This course explores the ways that humans are altering the global environment and the ways that global environmental changes alter humans in return. Four major topics are examined: global climate change, alterations of global nutrient cycles, biodiversity and habitat loss, and ecosystem reconstruction. Students will complete the course with an understanding of the metrics and physical science associated with each type of change, their ecological implications, and the ways in which environmental changes continually reshape human biology and culture.
This course is for graduate students and upper-division undergraduates. This course meets a core requirement for GLOBES students.
ANTH 40808
Genes, Human Culture, and the Environment
Research Intensive
Prerequisite: ANTH 30101 and (30102 or 30103 or 30104)
Globally humans inhabit and alter landscapes creating anthropogenic ecologies impacting all resident organisms. The distribution and structuring of genomes, the movement and virulence of pathogens, and the patterns of coexistence of organisms are all interconnected at multiple levels. In this course we focus on the dynamic transaction between organisms and environments at these multiple levels, with a specific consideration of impacts on health, interspecies interfaces, and population genetics. We will consider theoretical perspectives and specific examples from population genetics, ecology, evolutionary biology, anthropology, and political ecology to examine scenarios of interaction between humans, genes and the environment.
Objectives:
a) Understand the transactional nature of organism-environment interactions and the important of collaboration in its study
b) Recognize the importance of considering disparate theoretical perspectives in understanding the patterns and processes of behavioral, genetic and cultural interactions in anthropogenic contexts.
c) Gain the ability to construct scenarios and plans of approach to issues facing humans, genes and the environment integrating diverse disciplinary orientations
ANTH 40810
Human Diversity
Research Intensive
Prerequisites: ANTH 10109 or 30101
Issues concerning the nature of human diversity (race, intelligence, sex, gender, etc.) are a continuing source of social and scientific debate. This course is designed to present the issues and methods used by physical anthropologists to study both the biological basis of human differences, as well as the ongoing process of human adaptation and evolution in response to climate, nutrition, and disease. Integration of the social, biological, and medical sciences will be employed to investigate modern human variation.
http://www.nd.edu/~sheridan/HD2003.html
ANTH 40815
Advanced Perspectives on Human Evolution
Research Intensive
Pre-requisites: ANTH 30101 and (30102 or 30103 or 30104)
This course takes an in-depth integrative approach to issues in human evolution. Beginning with an overview of current innovation and discourse in evolutionary theory we will move on to tackle various topical issues related to human evolutionary history and its relevance to being human today. Focal points of discussion will include; in-depth analyses of fossil hominin species and their ecologies, a detailed assessment of nonhuman primate behavior as used in modeling the patterns and contexts of human behavior, a review and analyses of current debate surrounding the origin of modern humans, and current topics in the field of human evolution and paleoanthropological theory. Students will be required to produce a focused research paper and be involved in course presentations and discussions. Readings will be drawn from relevant fields including biology, anthropology, ecology and occasionally, philosophy.
ANTH 40820
Evolutionary Medicine
Research Intensive
Seniors only
This course will reconceptualize a variety of human diseases, syndromes and disorders from the standpoint of evolution, in the modern cultural context. The evolution of infectious diseases will be considered, especially the evolution of HIV and the role of antibiotics in promoting antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria. Menopause, women's reproductive cancers, allergy, pediatric topics (colic, physiologic jaundice, sleep problems, SIDS), breast feeding, obstetrics, geriatric medicine, structural and genetic abnormalities, psychiatric disorders, psychological health, eating disorders, nutrition, obesity, myopia, emotional disorders, touch therapy and massage will be examined in the context of this exciting and emerging new field. Four person teams of students will explore one area of evolutionary medicine and present a joint poster session as his or her final project.
ANTH 40825
Gender and Health
Research Intensive
Prerequisites: 30103
Click here to view the course sillabi.
This course looks at the intersection of gender, health policy, and health care organization around the world. Some of the issues to be discussed include: medicalization of the female body; critical medical anthropology; the politics of reproduction; social production of illness and healing; politics, poverty, and health; national and international health and development policies.
ANTH 40830
Transnational Societies and Cultures
Research Intensive
Prerequisites: 30103 and (30101 or 30102 or 30104)
This course analyzes how cultural identities and behaviors are formed in the context of global systems. Through specific case studies, students will explore how different social groups construct their cultures in interaction with other cultures; and how, in so doing, these groups are both responding to and shaping global agendas. Focusing on linkages between local and international systems, this course will investigate issues such as: the globalization of western media; the rise of transnational corporations and their effects on indigenous economies; population displacement (e.g., refugee populations); tourism and its effects on local populations; the growth of transnational social movements (particularly those active in human rights policy); the role of missionaries in the creation of transnational society; and the effects of "free trade" and structural adjustment policies in the Third World. This course will expose students to different theories of globalization and discuss why the study of regional, national and international linkages has become a critical component of contemporary anthropological research.
ANTH 40835
Global Media and Migration
Research Intensive
Prerequisites: 10109 or 30101 or 30102 or 30103 or 30104
From YouTube to Al Jazeera and CNN, the global mass media industry plays a fundamental role in the production, circulation, and consumption of identities, meanings, representations, and regulations. This course investigates the mass media coverage of the topic of “immigration,” focusing on the complex practices and issues involving the producers, consumers, and subjects of media representation. Among the latter, we will focus on the cases of “Mexican,” “Muslim,” and refugee migration, with an eye to the 2007 Notre Dame Forum and problems of religion, gender, language, race, terrorism, sovereignty and borders. To this end, we will examine, discuss, and evaluate documentary and feature films, newspapers and magazines, ads, the Internet, TV and radio talk shows. Deploying a comparative approach and mainly examining the US arena alongside the European one, we will be able to appreciate both global and distinctive trends in the coverage of migration. In addition to building our expertise on media and migration through lectures, discussions, and hands-on analyses, we will work with mass media professionals and collectively produce a “white paper” with recommendations and practical tools toward a more empirically-based coverage of migration.
ANTH 40840
Person, Self and Body
Research Intensive
Prerequisite: ANTH 10109, 30103, or 30104
Juniors and seniors only
How is "person" different from "self"? What do these have to do with the body? In anthropological usage, the "person" is often regarded as public and the "self" as private, though we will explore this distinction in a variety of settings. The body seems straightforward enough, but anthropologists and other scholars have shown in recent decades that it is conceived of differently in different places. Some cultures see the self at the control tower operating the body; some see the self as the body. In some societies, people in social groups regard themselves as sharing bodily substance (as in southern India). In some societies a single physical ideal shapes people's perception of themselves (as in the U.S.), with many finding themselves falling short. In every society, there are norms that shape notions of the life cycle, thought and feeling, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, social class, power, morality, health and illness, and nation, and these intersect in fascinating ways with how people are seen both as individuals and as members of their social groups.
We will read contemporary and classical theoretical works as well as ethnographic accounts of persons, selves, and bodies. Students will do projects of their own design, incorporating ideas from course material.
ANTH 40855
Cultural Difference and Social Change
Research Intensive
Pre-requisites: Overseas Study or service in the developing world, permission
Research or service in the developing world can generate questions about our own role as "the elite" and "privileged" in contexts where our very presence marks us as "outsiders." In such situations we frequently grapple with balancing our research objectivity with the oftentimes stark realities we have witnessed and experienced. This course is designed especially for students returning from service projects or study abroad programs in the developing world to help make sense of these experiences. This process will be achieved through additional scholarly research (frequently self-directed) to better understand the sites that the students visited during their overseas projects, orienting them in relation to broader global, regional, and national patterns; the eventual outcome will be the analysis of each student's data that is framed by the larger context. Course readings will cover such topics as world systems theory, globalization, development, NGOs, various understandings of 'human rights,' applied anthropology, activism, and the relation between cultural relativism and service. Through discussions, readings, presentations, and writing students will develop an analysis based on their overseas experience, and will focus on the site where they worked, a problem that they observed in cross-cultural perspective, and an examination of strategies for redressing this sort of problem. The overall goal of the course will be for students to gain an understanding of how social science analysis might help to understand and confront problems in cross-cultural contexts. Students can only enroll with the permission of the instructor.
ANTH 40860 Majors and minors only
Genocide, Witness, and Memory
Research Intensive
Cross-listed from: IIPS
Pre-requisite: ANTH 10109, 10195, 30101, 30102, 30103, or 30104
Click here to view the course sillabi.
How are episodes of mass killing experienced, survived, and remembered? In this course we consider political, social and cultural trauma as expressed in memoir, documentary, fiction, and academic text. Witness as an ethical stance is examined; the role of memory in shaping morality is questioned. (Does "Never Again" actually work?) We also look at the perpetrators of genocidal killing: who are they? What prompts their actions? Moreover: are any of us incapable of this kind of violence?
ANTH 40870
Indian Ocean: Trade and Interaction
Research Intensive
Pre-requisite: ANTH 10109, 10195, 30102, or 30103
This course offers an multi-disciplinary approach to studying one of the oldest forums for inter-continental trade and interactions: The Indian Ocean. This geographical entity has linked peoples of Africa, Europe and Asia through the exchange of technology, ideas, goods and peoples from the dawn of the first systematic inter-continental trade between the Bronze Age polities of Egypt, Mesopotamia and India-Pakistan, ca (4th millennium BC) to the present era. The class has two objectives: a) to understand the nature of trade and exchange mechanisms in the Indian Ocean world from both temporal and spatial perspectives and, b) to underscore the interdependency between trade/exchange and political-economy, climate, society and history. The required readings include works from various disciplines, including economics, history, political sciences, and geography as well as archaeology and cultural anthropology. Students will be encouraged to add to the broader understanding of Indian Ocean trade provided by the course by undertaking comparative research projects that examine two periods, two areas or two processes within this larger interactional complex.
ANTH 40875
Archaeology of South Asia
Research Intensive
Prerequisite: ANTH 10109, 10195, 30101, 30102, 30103, OR 30104
This course will survey the rich and varied past of South Asian societies and cultures including those of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka from an archaeological perspective. The topics surveyed and discussed through lectures, readings, films and group projects will include the rise and fall of the Bronze Age Civilizations of South Asia, the emergence of Buddhism, and the invasion of Alexander the Great during the Imperial period in the 4th century BC. This course will also cover recent archaeological efforts to understand the historical period in South Asia, from the Indo-Roman trade to the rise and decline of the Mogul (Mughal) Empire.
ANTH 40880
Household Archaeology
Research Intensive
Prerequisite: ANTH 20540, 30101, 30102, 30590, 30591 or 30592
This course explores the theoretical and methodological challenges faced by archaeologists excavating ancient households, one of the most common contexts encountered in archaeological excavations throughout the world. With the household as the unit of analysis, household archaeologists believe that the archaeology of single households are essential elements in reconstructing the greater community in which the household was situated. Students will explore topics which include the social, economic, political and physical characteristics of households, the relationship between households and communities, and the contribution of household archaeology to architectural, artifactual, and social analyses of ancient communities.
ANTH 40885
Environmental Archaeology
Research Intensive
Prerequisites: ANTH 30101, 30102, 30590, 30591 or 30592
Environments and human use of them have both changed dramatically over time. This course explores the relationships between past societies and the ecosystems they inhabited and constructed. It will show how archaeologists investigate the relations between past societies and their environments using concepts from settlement archaeology, human geography, and paleoecology (the study of ancient ecosystems). We will review theories and techniques used in environmental archaeology and will learn about new approaches for the study of prehistoric human ecology. Modern data processing techniques (such as geographical information systems, data base software, spatial statistics, and computer-aided mapping programs) will be introduced along with new theoretical approaches that attempt to decode the social meanings of built environments.
The materials will be presented through a mixture of lectures, demonstrations, and assignments designed to introduce you to the basic concepts and techniques presented in the course. Your term paper will explore some aspects of environmental archaeology of interest to you.
ANTH 40890
The Archaeology of Death
Research Intensive
Prerequisite: ANTH 30101, 30102, 30103, 30104, or taking concurrently
Our species is unique because it is the only species that deliberately buries its dead. Mortuary analysis (the study of burial patterns) is a powerful approach that archaeologists use for the study of prehistoric social organization and ideology. This course explores the significance of prehistoric human mortuary behavior, from the first evidence of deliberate burial by Neanderthals as an indicator of the evolution of symbolic thought, to the analysis of the sometimes spectacular burial patterns found in complex societies such as ancient Egypt and Megalithic Europe. We will also examine the theoretical and practical aspects of the archaeology of death, including the applications of various techniques ranging from statistics to ethnography, and the legal and ethical issues associated with the excavation and scientific study of human remains.
ANTH 40894
Anthropology of Death
Research Intensive
Prerequisite: ANTH 10109, 10195, 30101, 30102, 30103, 30104, or taking concurrently
In this course, we will examine how death is treated or has been treated cross-culturally. Death is a universal human experience; yet how individuals, families, and communities understand death varies through time and across space. In this course, we will examine how death is treated or has been treated cross-culturally. Among the topics to be covered will be: conceptualizations of death; the dynamic relationship between the deceased and the community of the living; material manifestations of status, class, gender, ethnicity, and other social relations as reflected in funerary treatment; symbolic dimensions of dead bodies and mortuary ritual; ancestors and kinship; emotions, mourning, and commemoration; and ritual violence, such as cannibalism and sacrifice.
ANTH 40895
The World at 1200
Research Intensive
The 12th and 13th centuries were a dynamic period in world history as civilizations across the globe experienced significant growth, reorganization, and even collapse. Trade, wars, missionary work, and exploration fostered extensive and far-reaching interactions among neighboring and more distant cultures. Genghis Khan, the Crusades, the Khmer Empire, the end of the Toltec Empire, and the peak of the ancestral Pueblo occupation of the Mesa Verde cliff dwellings are but a few of the forces and civilizations shaping the world at A.D. 1200. Traditionally, these civilizations and events are studied diachronically and in relative isolation from contemporaneous global developments. This course departs from tradition and adopts a synchronic analysis of the dramatic changes experienced across the globe during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. By examining these cultural shifts in light of simultaneous transitions in other areas of the world, new questions and answers can be generated concerning the activities and processes that shape people’s lives in past and present civilizations.