ANTHROPOLOGY is about human beings: the study of humankind. Humans are unique among the animals in that our major mode of adaptation to our surroundings is culture. While we may lack the physical advantages of other creatures (such as fur coats or sharp teeth), we have extensive technologies, ranging from tools and clothing to dollar bills and birthday cakes, which facilitate our survival. Inventions such as these are part of a vast symbolic net which we humans, by virtue of our evolved complex brain, have cast over our world and are in turn embedded in. They are the basis of contemporary human societies.
This interplay of biology and culture, which characterizes human existence, is at the core of the discipline of anthropology, which has been described as "the most scientific of the humanities and the most humane of the sciences". Anthropology is grounded firmly in the western Liberal Arts tradition, drawing on that rich intellectual heritage of inquiry, observation and analysis. As an organized and independent discipline, it emerged in the rapidly changing colonial world of the late nineteenth century when western intellectuals tried to make sense of human difference and cultures. Since that time it has become a global field of study, enriched by its cross-cultural bases and providing a distinctive perspective on ourselves and our world.
Introduction to Anthropology – AN 102 James Mohow
In this course we will be focusing on Anthropology as the study of humankind as biological and cultural beings in the past and present. The subject matter of the course will range from questions of human origins to a fundamental understanding of how humans use culture to adapt to changing environmental and social conditions.
The course will require students to utilize communication, writing, and cognitive skills that are central to the purpose of a Liberal Arts and Sciences education. Anthropology has been described as “the most scientific of the Humanities and the most humane of the sciences.” Anthropology is a holistic science, as it attempts to understand humankind of both biological and cultural change.
Urban Studies: The American City –AN 354/SO 487/GE 313 Bruce Bigelow & Ken Colburn
This is a course in the liberal arts. Liberal education, rooted in a vision of the common good and the inherent value of community and the individual, has long been a cornerstone of higher education in the United States. As such the skills of oral and written communication, analysis of data, and critical thinking are nurtured. In addition, values which support democratic citizenship including knowledge of social problems, tolerance and understanding of ethnic and cultural diversity, and lifelong learning are encouraged.
A liberal arts perspective focuses on such critical questions as: What is the good life and how can individuals attain it? What is a good society, that is, what are the requirements for a just and vibrant collective life? And how are these two matters connected--does the possibility of attaining a good life for the individual necessarily require the existence of a good society?
History of Vietnam – AN380/HS 372 Xiaorong Han
This seminar course examines the different perspectives of Vietnamese history and the diverse cultures of Vietnam with a focus on the modern period. It will explore such themes as Chinese and French colonialism in Vietnam, Nationalism and Communism, tradition and revolution, and peasants and revolutionaries. It covers the Vietnam War (or the America War) as a part of Vietnam’s long history and will locate the war in a broad historical, political and cultural context. In so doing it aspires to contribute to acquiring a fuller view of human experience, nurturing an understanding and appreciation of a unique cultural tradition, and challenging some of the established beliefs and assumptions, which are among the goals of liberal arts education.
The Development of Anthropological Theory–AN 390 Sue Kenyon
This course inquires into the emergence and development of anthropological thought, theories, methods and generalizations in the context of western social and cultural milieux. Grounded firmly in the western Liberal Arts tradition, the discipline of anthropology draws on that rich intellectual heritage of inquiry, observation and analysis, while in its organization and content matter, anthropology is relatively new, emerging as a distinct field only in the expanding colonial world of the late nineteenth century. Our particular emphasis is on the changing shape of the academic discipline of anthropology over the past century and a half. What is anthropology? How and where did the discipline emerge and what are some of the key issues that its practitioners have attempted to answer in the course of its history? Over the semester, we take an in-depth look at the intellectual currents that have shaped anthropology as a discipline, which should help us better understand how our own perspectives are being shaped and defined.