2019-20 Catalog

Introduction to anthropological theory. Exploration of the diversity of human culture. Examination of the relationship between ecology, technology, and subsistence, patterns of marriage and residence, gender and sexual division of labor, reproduction, kinship, and descent. Links between economic complexity, population, social stratification, political organization, law, religion, ritual, and warfare are traced. Ethnic diversity and interethnic relations are surveyed. The course is oriented toward understanding the causes of cross-cultural variation and the evolution of culture.

What makes humans unique and how did we evolve? This course will review 8 million years of hominin evolutionary history, focusing on the origins of defining features of our species including bipedalism, tool use, language, and advanced cognition. We will examine evidence from primatology and the genetic, fossil, and archaeological records. Concepts from evolutionary biology and anthropology will be covered including adaptation, phylogenetics, life history theory, behavioral ecology, and gene-culture coevolution.

This course offers advanced undergraduates the opportunity to pursue research in Anthropology individually or in a small group. Graded pass/fail.

Topics to be determined by instructor.

Corruption taxes economies and individuals in both the developing and the developed world. We will examine what corruption means in different places and contexts, from grand financial scandals to misappropriation of development funds and ethnic favoritism. How do we measure it? What are its costs and social consequences? What has culture got to do with it? How much does a free press matter? One antidote to corruption is better governance. Students will work closely with the professor to develop an independent and original research project analyzing a large dataset from Kenya. The goal is to understand why some regional governments in Kenya are better able to control this problem than others. Lessons learned should have global implications. Limited enrollment.