Courses to be announced- Please refer to the directory of courses online for times and locations: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/bulletin/uwb/
Sociocultural
ANTH V1002y (sec 001) The Interpretation of Culture 3 pts. Audra Simpson. The anthropological approach to the study of culture and human society. Case studies from ethnography are used in exploring the universality of cultural categories (social organization, economy, law, belief system, art, etc.) and the range of variation among human societies.
ANTH V1002y (sec 002) The Interpretation of Culture 3 pts. Sarah Muir. The anthropological approach to the study of culture and human society. Case studies from ethnography are used in exploring the universality of cultural categories (social organization, economy, law, belief system, art, etc.) and the range of variation among human societies.
ANTH V1130y Africa and the Anthropologist 3 pts. Hlonipha Mokoena. Students are expected to write and submit three literature reviews (5-7 pages
each) and one research paper (approx. 20 pages). The literature reviews will
cover the readings and materials discussed in class. The research essay will
require reading beyond the syllabus and for the student to create their own
research question based on what they have learnt in the course.
ANTH V2005y The Ethnographic Imagination 3 pts. Rosalind Morris. This course introduces students to the theory and practice of "ethnography" - the intensive study of people's lives as shaped by social relations, cultural images, and historical forces. Ethnography as a term has a double meaning - both the fieldwork through which knowledge is drawn, and the written works through which that knowledge is represented. Through the critical reading of various kinds of texts - classic ethnographies, histories, journalism, novels, films - we will consider the ways in which understanding, interpreting, and representing the lived worlds of people - at home or abroad, in one place or transnationally, in the past or the present - can be accomplished.
ANTH V2009y Culture through Film and Media 3 pts. Keith Sanborn. This course will examine the intersections of film and anthropology. We will focus on the use of film within anthropology and turn the telescope around to propose a fragmentary anthropology of film. We will query histories and theories of film as they overlap with various understandings of anthropology, interrogating such historically problematic notions as “primitive” and “classic,” “document” and “narrative.” We will examine ethnographic and documentary films as they echo and collide with films seemingly outside the limits of their domains, emphasizing close analysis and detailed comparisons of our objects both in film and in language.
ANTH V2013y Africa in the 21st Century: Aesthetics, Culture, Politics 3 pts. Michael Ralph. This course explores the relationship between indigenous and twenty-first century aesthetics, social, economic and political relationships in Africa. Students will be encouraged to examine aesthetic traditions in terms of the individual and social aspirations they embody, commerce through the geographies of exchange that articulate with specific resources, and politics through the diverse modes of sociality that prevail in different regions.
ANTH V2020y Chinese strategies: cultures in practice 3 pts. Drew Hopkins. This course will examine major elements of Chinese culture historically and
in the present-day. We will begin with a study of Chinese society in the
late-imperial period (1368-1843), addressing key features of economic
organization, kinship systems, popular religion and state administration.
From this foundation, we will examine changes and (apparent) continuities in
cultural practices over the course of China's Nationalist, Maoist and
post-socialist revolutions, with particular attention to the present-day.
Through the study of several recent ethnographies of conditions in rural and
urban China, we will explore the ways in which the cultural conventions of
the past have informed the strategies Chinese have devised in their
negotiations with the global commercial economy and with an often predatory
state
ANTH V2029y Contemporary Central Asia: States and Societies 3 pts. Zhanara Nauruzbayva. This course investigates contemporary Central Asia as a specific context of post-socialist and postcolonial transition to newly independent statehood in the aftermath of global Cold War politics. Drawing on cultural artifacts and scholarly analyses, this course introduces students to Central Asian politics, economy, society, and culture from two distinct viewpoints. In the first half of the course, we will survey the processes related to macro-political and economic structure such as democratization, market reforms, and nation-building. The second part of the course addresses the everyday life of communities, families, and individual members of Central Asian societies. Besides scholarly accounts of Central Asia, course materials include films, artworks, and internet discussions forums. Enrollment limit is 30. First-come, first-served basis.
ANTH V2035y Introduction to the Anthropology in South Asia 3 pts. Christina Davis. This course provides a broad introduction to the anthropology of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh,and Sri Lanka. We will explore social and cultural formations such as caste, class, marriage andthe family; as well as the organization of cultural diversity by colonial rule, nationalism andmodern statehood, ethnic and religious conflict, and transnational circulations. In addition tosecondary sources, students will be particularly encouraged to engage with primary sources suchas treatises, speeches, poetry, music, and film. Through learning about the ethnography of theSouth Asia region, students will also gain an understanding of contemporary theoretical debates in anthropology, which include: the legacies of colonial rule in postcolonial societies, the socialpower of analytical categories, and the impact of globalization on everyday life. This coursesatisfies Columbia University’s Global Core requirement.
ANTH V2300y Anthropology of Estrangement 3 pt. Michael Taussig. To examine anthropological explanation as a passage from the known to the
unknown that problematizes the known as well as leaving some kernel of the
strange, the exotic, and the unfamiliar a mystery and does not reduce
everything to an explanation. How might we master the need for mastery? What
happens after we have problematized the known? Readings: accounts of
fieldwork, select ethnography, Nietzsche, Wittgenstein, Brecht, Benjamin,
Bataille. General Education Requirement: Cultures in Comparison (CUL).
ANTH V3005y Africa: Culture and Society 3 pts. Brian Larkin. Exploration of the social orders and cultural sensibilities that form contemporary Africa. Examining the rise of urban cultures, religious movements, informal economies, crime and corruption, this class explores the structures of African life, the sensibilities they engender and the forms of life they give rise to.
ANTH V3041y Anthropological Theory II 3 pts. Stephen Scott. The second of a two semester sequence intended to introduce departmental majors to key readings in social theory that have been constitutive of the rise and contemporary practice of modern anthropology. The goal is to understand historical and current intellectual debates within the discipline. To be taken in conjunction with ANTH 3040, preferably in sequence. This course replaces ANTH V 3041 - Theories of Culture: Past and Present. Required of all Barnard Anthropology majors.
ANTH V3850 Psychoanalysis, Colonialism, and Race 4 pts. Karen Seeley. This course investigates the complex relationships among colonialism, psychoanalysis, and race. The first part of the course examines the impacts of colonial ideologies of race on key Freudian theories, as well as the complicity of psychoanalysis in the colonial project. It then considers specific means by which imperial regimes shaped the subjectivities of colonizers and the colonized, including the application of theories and treatments connected to ethnopsychiatry. The second part of the course looks at racialized theories of mental illness and modes of social control in current mental health practice. After considering the global circulation of Freudian concepts, the course examines contemporary schools of psychoanalysis that revise classical understandings of mental structure, psychopathology, race, and therapeutic action. The course concludes with readings of recent case studies in cross-racial psychoanalysis. Enrollment limit 20
ANTH V3880y Listening: Ethnography of Sound 4 pts. John Pemberton.This course explores the possibilities of ethnography of sound by attending to a range of listening encounters: in urban soundscapes of the city and in natural soundscapes of acoustic ecology; from histories of audible pasts and resonances of auditory cultural spaces; through repeated listenings in the age of electronic reproduction and at the limits of listening with experimental music. Sound, noise, voice, reverberation, and silence, from von Helmholtz to John Cage and beyond: the course turns away from the screen and dominant epistemologies of the visual, for an extended moment, in pursuit of sonorous objects and cultural sonorities. Instructor's Permission Required
ANTH V3887y The Anthropology of Palestine 4 pts. Rhoda Kanaaneh. This course examines the relationship between different forms of knowledge about Palestinians and the political and social history of the region. It explores the complex interplay of state, ethnicity, gender, sexuality and class at both local and global levels in constructing what Palestine is and who Palestinians are. The course takes up diverse areas, from graphic novels to archaeological sites, from news reporting to hiking trails, to study how Palestine is created and recreated. Students will gain a familiarity with anthropological concepts and methodological approaches to Palestine. They will become familiar with aspects of the social organization, historical developments and political events that have shaped the region over the last century. The course is also intended to develop students' skills in written and oral communication, analysis, ethnographic observation, and critical thinking. Enrollment limit is 20.
ANTH V3908y Global Economy in Anthropological Perspective 4 pts. Steven Gregory. This course focuses on how anthropologists theorize and study globalization. We will explore contemporary theories and methods, as well as trace historical trajectories in anthropological engagement with regional trade, production, and labor systems. Many of the questions about globalization revolve around cultural confrontations and social, political and economic transformations. Observers of these processes in multiple disciplines attempt to answer similar questions. How trade systems transformed production and labor in participating areas in other periods of history? How is identity reconfigured and manipulated in contemporary globalization? How are forms of identity commoditized and marketed in global transactions? What forms of resistance to globalization have emerged, where and why? How do issues of race, gender, class, ethnicity and religion intersect in global labor settings? How are sexualities, bodies and body parts implicated in global economies of consumption? The anthropological encounter with these complex issues invokes particular theories and methodologies. Fieldwork, longitudinal engagement with issues and locations, multi-sited studies, and following commodity chains are some of the current methods used to uncover the voices and perspectives various actors bring to encounters. Selected ethnographies, case studies, fiction and other forms of media all explore the lived experience of globalized work, travel, and technological encounters at various sites of interaction. Enrollment limit is 15.
ANTH V3914y Indigeneity in the Andes 4pts. Stephen Scott. While historically important, indigenous identity or indigeneity has become an increasingly powerful idiom for reimagining collective action and remaking sociopolitical demands in the Andes. Many scholars, activists, and politicians go so far as to speak of a “return of the ayllu,” referring to the traditional unit of social, political and economic organization among highland Aymara and Quechua peoples. With good reason, they point to recent socialmobilizations (like the “gas war” in the “indigenous city” of El Alto, Bolivia) and a sea-change in national politics(the ascendancy of Evo Morales and Ollanta Humala to the presidency in Bolivian and Peru, both of whom claim indigenous affiliations, Aymara and Quechua, respectively) as evidence of the crucial role indigeneity now plays, as a structure for making sociopolitical demands, in Andean societies. Through a range of historical and ethnographic readings, this course will explore the past and present of “claiming indigeneity” in the Andes. Special emphasis will be placed upon the Quechua and Aymara peoples of what is now highland Peru and Bolivia, seeing how indigenous cultural practices and understandings of indigeneity emerged and changed, from the Spanish Conquest to the colonial period to the modernization and multiculturalist projects of the nation-state.
ANTH V3960y The Culture of Public Art and Display In New York City 4 pts. Alexander Alland. Before registering, student must sign-up in the anthropology department. If list is full, sign waiting list. Field course and seminar considering the aesthetic, political, and sociocultural aspects of selected city museums, public spaces, and window displays. Enrollment limit to 16. Students must sign-up in Anthropology Department prior to registering.
ANTH V3977y Trauma 4 pts. Karen Seeley. Investing trauma from interdisciplinary perspectives, explores connections between the interpersonal, social, and political events that precipitate traumatic reactions and their individual and collective ramifications. After examining the consequences of political repression and violence, the spread of trauma within and across communities, the making of memories and flashbacks, and the role of public testimony and psychotherapy in alleviating traumatic reactions. Enrollment limited to 20 students and Instructor's permission required.
ANTH V3988y Race/Sexuality Science and Social Practice. 4 pts. Nadia Abu El-Haj. Scientific inquiry has configured race and sex in distinctive ways. This
class will engage critical theories of race and feminist considerations of
sex, gender, and sexuality through the lens of the shifting ways in which
each has been conceptualized, substantiated, classified and managed in
(social) science and medicine.
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ANTH V3999x&y Honors Seminar in Anthropology 4 pts. Elaine Combs-Schilling. This is a seminar at which senior anthropology majors will develop a research project and write a thesis in consultation with a professor. Students must have at least a 3.6 GPA in the major and a preliminary project concept. Instructor’s Permission required and enrollment limit is 17. This is a year-long course: A mark given at the end of the first term of a course in which the full year of work must be completed before a qualitative grade is assigned. The grade given at the end of the second term is the grade for the entire course.
ANTH W4042y Agent, Person, Subject, Self 3 pts. Paul Kockelman. Treats the interrelated notions of agent, person, subject, and self from a semiotic and social perspective.
ANTH W4282y Islamic Law 3 pts. Brinkley Messick. An introductory survey of the history and contents of the Shari'a combined with a critical review of Orientalist and contemporary scholarship on Islamic law. In addition to models for the ritual life, we will examine a number of social, economic and political constructs contained in Shari`a doctrine, including the concept of an Islamic state, and we also will consider the structure of litigation in courts. Seminar paper.
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Archaeology
ANTH V1008y The Rise of Civilization 3 pts. Terence D'Altroy. The rise of major civilization in prehistory and protohistory throughout the world, from the initial appearance of sedentism, agriculture, and social stratification through the emergence of the archaic empires. Description and analysis of a range of regions that were centers of significant cultural development: Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indus River Valley, China, North America, Mesoamerica.
This course is currently at the maximum permissible (400) for the spring term 2012. A Waiting List is available in the Department of Anthropology, room 452 Schermerhorn Extension, for students who would like to enroll in the course.
Please note that priority for any available seats will be allocated as follows:
1.Senior majors in Anthropology and Archaeology
2. Other graduating seniors
3. Junior majors in Anthropology and Archaeology
4. Other juniors
5. Students who intend to declare a major in Anthropology or Archaeology
6. All other students.
PLEASE NOTE: If you are not officially registered for this course, you cannot register for a recitation section.
ANTH V3007y Holy Lands, Unholy Histories: Archaeology before the bible 3 pts. Brian Boyd. This course provides a critical overview of prehistoric archaeology in the Near East (or the Levant - the geographical area from Lebanon in the north to the Sinai in the south, and from the middle Euphrates in Syria to southern Jordan). It has been designed to appeal to anthropologists, historians, and students interested in the Ancient Mediterranean and Middle Eastern Studies. The course is divided into two parts. First, a social and political history of prehistoric and "biblical" archaeology, emphasizing how the nature of current theoretical and practical knowledge has been shaped and defined by previous research traditions and, second, how the current political situation in the region impinges upon archaeological practice. Themes include: the dominance of "biblical archaeology" and the implications for Palestinian archaeology; Islamic archaeology; the impact of European contact from the Crusades onwards; the development of prehistoric archaeology.
ANTH V3300y Pre-Columbian Histories of Native America 3 pts. Severin Fowles. This course explores 10,000 years of the North American archaeological record, bringing to light the unwritten histories of Native Americans prior to European contact. Detailed consideration of major pre-Columbian sites is interwoven with the insight of contemporary native peoples to provide both a scientific and humanist reconstruction of the past.
ANTH V3802y Ancient Egyptian Religion and Magic 4 pts. Emily O’Dell. This course will provide a comprehensive overview of ancient Egyptian religion and magic. We will carefully investigate the Egyptian pantheon as well as the cosmology, cosmogony, religious texts, funerary beliefs, and concepts of the self throughout ancient Egyptian history. We will analyze textual, artistic and archaeological evidence, such as pyramids, mummies, sarcophagi, temple architecture, and statues of the gods and goddesses in an attempt to understand the complex and fascinating religious beliefs of the ancient Egyptians. We will also discuss the disappearance of the ancient Egyptian religion, gnosticism, and Coptic Christianity. Enrollment limit is 15.
ANTH W4346y Laboratory Techniques 3 pts. Zoe Crossland. Training in general archaeological methods. Data recording techniques, preparation of reports and illustration, etc. $25.00 mandatory laboratory fee.
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Biological/Physical Anthropology
ANTH G4148y Human Skeletal Biology II 3 pts. Ralph
Holloway. Recommended for archaeology and physical anthropology
students, pre-meds, and biology majors interested in the human skeletal system.
Intensive study of human skeletal materials using anatomical and
anthropological landmarks to assess sex, age, and ethnicity of bones. Other
primate skeletal materials and fossil casts used for comparative study. Enrollment
limit is 12 and instructor’s permission is required.
ANTH G4002y Controversial Topics in Human
Evolution I 3 pts. Ralph Holloway Controversial issues
that exist in current biological/physical anthropology, and controversies
surrounding the descriptions and theories about particular fossil hominid discoveries,
such as the earliest australopithecines, the diversity of Home erectus, the
extinction of the Neandertals, the evolution of culture, language, human
cognition. Prerequisite: Instructor's permission and introductory
biological/physical anthropology course. Enrollment limit is 15 and
instructor's permission is required.
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