Emphasis Areas

Areas of Emphasis for Undergraduate Majors in Anthropology

At the undergraduate level, anthropology provides a broad perspective on the discipline. In addition to the requirements for the Anthropology B.A. and B.S., the department offers a number of emphasis areas for students wishing a greater focus within the major. These areas can be completed within the existing guidelines for the B.A. and B.S. degrees and do not require additional credit hours. Each emphasis area reflects broad issues bridging subfields in and outside of anthropology. Completion of an emphasis area indicates considerable expertise and its title will be included on the student's transcript. For students in other majors, emphasis areas may be used to focus a minor in anthropology to a more particular area of study.

1. GENDER AND CULTURE EMPHASIS

Anthropological research regarding gender and sexuality has grown dramatically in recent years, and both enhance and draw from other theoretical and methodological approaches within the discipline. Such studies contribute a needed cross-cultural perspective to the intensive discussion and debate that continues to surround these fundamental features of human experience, both within academia and in public life more generally. This emphasis area can be completed within the existing guidelines for the B.A. and B.S. degrees in Anthropology without requiring additional credit hours. A total of 15 s.h. of course work is required. Selections can be drawn from the list of current courses below, each of which provides an integrated overview of essential theoretical and topical issues in the field.

Course List

113:101 Disability and the Ethics of Care	3 s.h.
113:102 Ethnography and Auto/Biography	3 s.h.
113:105 Mothers and Motherhood	3 s.h.
113:107 Gendering India	3 s.h.
113:108 Anthropology of Marriage and Family	3 s.h.
113:127 South Asian Sexual Cultures	3 s.h.
113:133 The Anthropology of Women's Health	3 s.h.
113:134 Gender and Indian Diaspora	3 s.h.
113:137 The Anthropology of Love	3 s.h.
113:140 Politics of Reproduction	3 s.h.
113:141 History of Feminist Anthropology	3 s.h.
113:154 Anthropology of Sexual Minorities	3 s.h.
113:180 Women Writing Culture	3 s.h.
113:182 Women, Health, and Healing	3 s.h.

2. CULTURAL RESOURCE AND HERITAGE MANAGEMENT EMPHASIS

In North America today, and throughout much of the rest of the world, most archaeological excavations (and most job opportunities) occur within cultural resource management or CRM, as modern land use continually threatens evidence of past land use. A basic understanding of CRM is now essential for all researchers working with archaeological data as well as for those committed to site preservation. This emphasis area makes available to undergraduates information about this field and helps them address ethical issues as well as technical and theoretical challenges.

Cultural Heritage students take 15 s.h. of course work, divided between one required fundamental overview course (113:193 Special Topics in Archaeology, Cultural Resources Management Archaeology), one field school (113:199 Field Research in Archaeology or an equivalent course from another university), one technical/practical elective course selected from the list below, and two area elective courses. Of the emphasis area electives, at least one must be selected from the list of North American courses below (any of the department’s archaeology area courses may be used for the other). This emphasis area can be completed within the regular B.A. or B.S. requirements. For the B.A., for example, the field school, the second area course, and the technical/practical course can be accommodated within the 100-level course in archaeology and the three 100-level electives required for majors.

Fundamental Overview Course

Course List

113:193 Special Topics in Archaeology

3 s.h.

Area Elective Courses

Course List

113:110 Native Peoples of North America	3 s.h.
113:159 Southwestern Archaeology	3 s.h.
113:167 North American Archaeology	3 s.h.
113:172 Historical Archaeology: The Archaeology of the U.S.	3 s.h.
113:179 Pleistocene Peopling of the Americas	3 s.h.
113:181 Archaeology of the Great Plains	3 s.h.

Technical/Practical Elective Courses

Course List

113:153 Raw Materials in Archaeology	3 s.h.
113:158 Animal Bones in Archaeology	3 s.h.
113:160 Introduction to Archaeological Ceramics	3 s.h.
113:162 Practicum in Archaeology	arr.
113:168 Archaeological Methods	3 s.h.
113:189 Approaches to Geoarchaeology	3 s.h.
213:190 Human Osteology	3 s.h.

Field School Course

Course List

113:199 Field Research in Archaeology

arr.

3. ENVIRONMENTAL ANTHROPOLOGY EMPHASIS

The interaction between humans and the environments they inhabit has long been a central issue in Anthropology. Now environmental degradation has emerged as a leading worldwide concern. Pollution, loss of biodiversity, and global warming recognize no political boundaries, but attitudes and behaviors involving the natural environment vary widely from culture to culture. If workable solutions are to be developed and successfully employed, it is vital to understand and incorporate these varying perspectives.

Students pursuing this emphasis area complete 15 s.h. of course work, consisting of two theory courses and three area or topical electives. A sample list of courses is as follows:

Theory Courses (dealing primarily with human-environmental interactions):

Course List

113:113 Human Impacts on the Environment	3 s.h.
113:114 Environmentalism Cross-Culturally	3 s.h.
113:139 Religion and Environmental Ethics	3 s.h.
113:143 Environment and Culture	3 s.h.
213:152 Primate Conservation Biology	3 s.h.
113:215 Seminar: Ecological Anthropology	3 s.h.

Area or Topical Electives (dealing partly with environment, ecology, subsistence technologies):

Course List

113:125 Japanese Society and Culture	3 s.h.
113:126 Animals, Culture, and Food	3 s.h.
113:131 Latin American Economy and Society	3 s.h.
113:157 Foodways and Cuisine in the Past	3 s.h.
113:158 Animal Bones in Archaeology	3 s.h.
113:161 Prehistoric People of the Ice Age	3 s.h.
113:164 Comparative Prehistory	3 s.h.
113:178 Hunter-Gatherer Ethnoarchaeology	3 s.h.
113:181 Archaeology of the Great Plains	3 s.h.
113:187 Cultures in Collision	3 s.h.
113:189 Approaches to Geoarchaeology	3 s.h.
113:196 The Archaeology of Ancient Egypt	3 s.h.

Links

Areas of Emphasis for Undergraduate Majors in Anthropology

2. CULTURAL RESOURCE AND HERITAGE MANAGEMENT EMPHASIS

3. ENVIRONMENTAL ANTHROPOLOGY EMPHASIS