The is a representative list of courses offered by the department and should not be used for schedule planning. For accurate and up-to-date course listings and information, Duke students should log into ACES.
| Course | Title | Instructor | Section | Time | Room |
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CULANTH 80S |
Studies-special Topics | Olive, Lorien | 01 | TuTh 04:40 PM-05:55 PM | Friedl Bdg 126 |
Course DescriptionOpportunities for first-year students to engage with a specific issue in cultural anthropology, with emphasis on student writing. Topics vary each semester offered. Instructor: Staff |
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CULANTH 80S |
Studies-special Topics | Staff, Departmental | 02 | WF 08:30 AM-09:45 AM | SEE INSTRU |
Course DescriptionOpportunities for first-year students to engage with a specific issue in cultural anthropology, with emphasis on student writing. Topics vary each semester offered. Instructor: Staff |
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CULANTH 80S |
Studies-special Topics | Staff, Departmental | 03 | WF 08:30 AM-09:45 AM | SEE INSTRU |
Course DescriptionOpportunities for first-year students to engage with a specific issue in cultural anthropology, with emphasis on student writing. Topics vary each semester offered. Instructor: Staff |
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CULANTH 80S |
Studies-special Topics | Staff, Departmental | 04 | WF 08:30 AM-09:45 AM | SEE INSTRU |
Course DescriptionOpportunities for first-year students to engage with a specific issue in cultural anthropology, with emphasis on student writing. Topics vary each semester offered. Instructor: Staff |
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CULANTH 89S |
First-year Seminar (top) | Byerly, Ingrid Bianca | 01 | MW 10:05 AM-11:20 AM | Friedl Bdg 204 |
Course DescriptionTopics vary each semester offered. Instructor: Staff |
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CULANTH 89S |
First-year Seminar (top) | Collier, Richard | 02 | TuTh 03:05 PM-04:20 PM | Friedl Bdg 204 |
Course DescriptionTopics vary each semester offered. Instructor: Staff |
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CULANTH 89S |
First-year Seminar (top) | Kwon, Nayoung Aimee | 04 | Th 12:00 PM-02:30 PM | Trent 039 |
Course DescriptionTopics vary each semester offered. Instructor: Staff |
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CULANTH 101 |
Intro To Cultural Anthro | Starn, Orin | 01 | TuTh 11:45 AM-01:00 PM | White 107 |
Course DescriptionTheoretical approaches to analyzing cultural beliefs and practices cross-culturally; application of specific approaches to case material from present and/or past cultures. Instructor: Staff |
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CULANTH 105 |
Intro To African Studies | Smith, Stephen | 01 | MW 10:05 AM-11:20 AM | TBA |
Course DescriptionA range of disciplinary perspectives on key topics in contemporary African Studies: nationalism and pan-Africanism, imperialism and colonialism, genocide and famine, development and democratization, art and music, age and gender. Instructor: Staff |
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CULANTH 106S |
Doc Exper: A Video Appr | Hawkins, Gary | 01 | W 10:05 AM-12:35 PM | Bridges 104 |
Course DescriptionA documentary approach to the study of local communities through video production projects assigned by the course instructor. Working closely with these groups, students explore issues or topics of concern to the community. Students complete an edited video as their final project. Not open to students who have taken this course as Film/Video/Digital 105S. Instructor: Hawkins |
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CULANTH 130 |
Anthropology And Film | O'Barr, William | 01 | MW 03:05 PM-05:35 PM | White 107 |
Course DescriptionThe study of feature films and documentaries on issues of colonialism, imperialism, war and peace, and cultural interaction. An introduction to critical film theory and film production in non-Western countries. Instructor: Allison or Litzinger |
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CULANTH 131 |
World Music | Byerly, Ingrid Bianca | 01 | W 06:15 PM-08:45 PM | Biddle 104 |
Course DescriptionStudy of musical styles and practices in relation to issues of creativity, forms of power, and cultural survival; focus on the music and experiences of indigenous peoples, refugees, migrants, and immigrants. Instructor: Meintjes or staff |
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CULANTH 190FS |
Special Topics In Focus | Byerly, Ingrid Bianca | 01 | MW 11:45 AM-01:00 PM | Friedl Bdg 204 |
Course DescriptionSelected topics vary each semester. Open only to students in the Focus Program. Instructor consent required. Instructor: Staff |
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CULANTH 190FS |
Special Topics In Focus | Quinn, Naomi | 02 | TuTh 11:45 AM-01:00 PM | Friedl Bdg 118 |
Course DescriptionSelected topics vary each semester. Open only to students in the Focus Program. Instructor consent required. Instructor: Staff |
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CULANTH 190FS |
Special Topics In Focus | Admay, Catherine | 03 | MW 01:25 PM-02:40 PM | Rubenstein 149 |
Course DescriptionSelected topics vary each semester. Open only to students in the Focus Program. Instructor consent required. Instructor: Staff |
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CULANTH 190FS |
Special Topics In Focus | Brown, Margaret | 04 | TuTh 01:25 PM-02:40 PM | Friedl Bdg 126 |
Course DescriptionSelected topics vary each semester. Open only to students in the Focus Program. Instructor consent required. Instructor: Staff |
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CULANTH 195 |
Comp Appr Global Issues | Campoamor, Leigh | 01 | MWF 01:40 PM-02:40 PM | Biddle 101 |
Course DescriptionIntroduction to critical transnational studies through several disciplinary approaches. Examines capitalism and neo-liberal globalization and their relationships to culture, politics, economics, and other social forms and outcomes; considers transnationalism "from below"; addresses linear and Western-centric thinking about progress and modernity; focuses a historical lens on political discourses, institutions, and projects to understand them contextually; demonstrates how cultures and identities are dynamically constituted in interaction with historical, material, political, and situational factors; considers how different inequalities and contestations inflect most social formations. Instructor: Campoamor or Namakkal |
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CULANTH 201 |
Intro To Linguistics | Price, Gareth | 01 | TuTh 11:45 AM-01:00 PM | TBA |
Course DescriptionIntroduction to the scientific study of linguistics and languages. Topics include the origin and nature of language, methods of historical and comparative linguistics, theories and schools of linguistics, empirical and descriptive approaches to the study of language, including phonology, morphology, semantics, and syntax. Instructor: Butters or Tetel |
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CULANTH 201 |
Intro To Linguistics | Staff, Departmental | 02 | MW 10:05 AM-11:20 AM | Friedl Bdg 107 |
Course DescriptionIntroduction to the scientific study of linguistics and languages. Topics include the origin and nature of language, methods of historical and comparative linguistics, theories and schools of linguistics, empirical and descriptive approaches to the study of language, including phonology, morphology, semantics, and syntax. Instructor: Butters or Tetel |
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CULANTH 206 |
Anthropology Of Law | Sobel-Read, Kevin | 01 | MW 10:05 AM-11:20 AM | Crowell 108 |
Course DescriptionComparative approach to jurisprudence and legal practice, dispute resolution, law-making institutions and processes, and the relation of law to politics, culture, and values. Instructor: O'Barr |
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CULANTH 208 |
Anthropology Of Race | Baker, Lee | 01 | TuTh 10:05 AM-11:20 AM | Perkins 2-071 |
Course DescriptionHuman variation and the historical development of concepts of race; science and scientific racism; folk-concepts of race; and the political and economic causes of racism; ethics of racism. Instructor: Staff |
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CULANTH 209 |
Sport As Performance | Conceison, Claire | 01 | MW 11:45 AM-01:00 PM | Page 106 |
Course DescriptionSport as ritual, spectacle, and performance explored through theatre, performance studies, sociology, anthropology, and history. Topics range from professional and collegiate team sports to individual athletic performances, in both domestic and global contexts. The performance aspects and ethics of race, gender, sexuality, and nation in live sport and in the media are examined. Coursework consists of written assignments, short papers, mid-term and final exam. Guest speakers from the worlds of athletics and theatre visit the class during the semester. Instructor: Conceison |
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CULANTH 212 |
Language And Society | Baran, Dominika | 01 | WF 10:05 AM-11:20 AM | TBA |
Course DescriptionCourse examines language as a social practice, focusing on different aspects of its role in social life. Topics addressed include: language and social identity, such as ethnicity, social class, age, and gender; variation in language, including dialects, accents, and registers; multilingualism and language contact; new languages such as pidgins and creoles; language, culture, and intercultural communication; language and ideology; language in education and in the media. Through the discussion of these topics and homework including reading and small research projects, students are introduced to key concepts, theories, and methods in sociolinguistics and linguistic anthropology. Instructor: staff |
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CULANTH 215S |
Indian Civilization | Freeman, John | 01 | TuTh 10:05 AM-11:20 AM | Carr 241 |
Course DescriptionSurveys the rise of civilization and kingdoms on the Indian subcontinent from the first urban centers of the Indus Valley through the establishment of the Mughal Empire in the 16th century. Uses literary, archeological, linguistic, ethnological, and inscriptional evidence on the diversity of Indic peoples and their complex social, religious, and caste integration into the major states and empires of premodern India; considers wider civilizational networks and extensions of the Indian cultural sphere into other parts of Asia; integrates a historical and anthropological perspective on various primary materials. Instructor: Freeman |
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CULANTH 216S |
Global Migration & Ethics | McIntosh, Laurie | 01 | Th 03:05 PM-05:35 PM | Friedl Bdg 118 |
Course DescriptionSame as Cultural Anthropology 216 except in seminar format. Instructor: McIntosh |
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CULANTH 226 |
Espionage, Cryptology, Psyops | Gessler, Nicholas | 01 | W 10:05 AM-12:55 PM | Perkins 2-072 |
Course DescriptionExplores cultural context of spies, codes and psychological operations from perspectives of anthropology, complexity and multiple agency, towards understanding how tradecrafts of intelligence and disinformation shaped, and continue to shape us and our information technologies. Work with historic and contemporary, previously classified and open sources, case studies and multimedia, including hands-on practice with propaganda leaflets, cryptographic machines and cryptanalysis, to explain the roles of networks of trust, secrecy and deception in cultural coevolution. No |
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CULANTH 241 |
Culture/politics-china | Litzinger, Ralph | 01 | MW 11:45 AM-01:00 PM | Carr 114 |
Course DescriptionIntroduction to the study of contemporary China, including Taiwan and the Chinese Diaspora. Key themes include family and kinship, sex and gender, regional diversity, ethnic minority relations, the politics of modernity, revolution, and reform, and the representation of Chinese identity through popular media, film, and travel. Instructor: Litzinger |
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CULANTH 246S |
Civil/human Rights Activism | Lau, Barbara A | 01 | W 03:05 PM-05:35 PM | Bridges 113 |
Course DescriptionDocumentary fieldwork course exploring the legacy of civil and human rights activism in Durham through the life and work of noted historian, lawyer, poet, activist and priest Pauli Murray. Students will utilize scholarship, primary source archival materials and contemporary documentary projects to set a context for their fieldwork in Durham. Working with the instructor and local social change leadership engaged in work related to the |
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CULANTH 254 |
The Am | Nelson, Diane | 01 | WF 10:05 AM-11:20 AM | TBA |
Course DescriptionAm |
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CULANTH 258S |
Our Culinary Cultures | Alexander, Kelly L | 01 | F 10:05 AM-12:05 PM | Bridges 113 |
Course DescriptionDocumentary approach to the world of food using fieldwork research. Topics of food and its preparation examined through deep stories of how food is raised, prepared, and presented in order to explore how the myriad ways in which what we eat reveal key biographical, economic, religious, and other truths about our cultures. Introduces students to the history of food writing and the concept of food in general as a nonverbal tool of communication. Photography, audio, and documentary writing employed. Instructor: Alexander |
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CULANTH 265 |
Culture & Pol Contemp Europe | McIntosh, Laurie | 01 | TuTh 11:45 AM-01:00 PM | Friedl Bdg 204 |
Course DescriptionCritically examine current scholarship on the anthropology of Europe, and social and political theories concerning perplexities of identities, citizenship, nationalism, and national identity formation, with focus on related ethical questions and dilemmas. Instructor: McIntosh |
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CULANTH 271 |
Gender And Culture | Silverblatt, Irene | 01 | WF 11:45 AM-01:00 PM | Friedl Bdg 107 |
Course DescriptionExplanation of differing beliefs about gender cross-culturally, by comparison with dominant themes about gender in our own cultural history and contemporary ideological struggles. Instructor: Allison or Silverblatt |
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CULANTH 290 |
Current Issues (topics) | Wilson, Ara | 01 | WF 11:45 AM-01:00 PM | White 107 |
Course DescriptionSelected topics in methodology, theory, or area. Instructor: Staff |
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CULANTH 290 |
Current Issues (topics) | Aidoo, Lamonte | 02 | TuTh 04:40 PM-05:55 PM | Friedl Bdg 216 |
Course DescriptionSelected topics in methodology, theory, or area. Instructor: Staff |
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CULANTH 290 |
Current Issues (topics) | Aidoo, Lamonte | 03 | TuTh 11:45 AM-01:00 PM | Languages 207 |
Course DescriptionSelected topics in methodology, theory, or area. Instructor: Staff |
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CULANTH 290 |
Current Issues (topics) | Bassiri, Nima | 04 | WF 11:45 AM-01:00 PM | Friedl Bdg 102 |
Course DescriptionSelected topics in methodology, theory, or area. Instructor: Staff |
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CULANTH 290S |
Current Issues (topics) | O'Barr, William | 01 | M 03:05 PM-05:35 PM | Friedl Bdg 204 |
Course DescriptionSame as Cultural Anthropology 290 except instruction is provided in seminar format. Instructor: Staff |
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CULANTH 290S |
Current Issues (topics) | Varma, Saiba | 02 | TuTh 10:05 AM-11:20 AM | Friedl Bdg 118 |
Course DescriptionSame as Cultural Anthropology 290 except instruction is provided in seminar format. Instructor: Staff |
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CULANTH 290S |
Current Issues (topics) | Rego, Marcia | 03 | TuTh 01:25 PM-02:40 PM | Friedl Bdg 118 |
Course DescriptionSame as Cultural Anthropology 290 except instruction is provided in seminar format. Instructor: Staff |
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CULANTH 290S |
Current Issues (topics) | Brown, Layla | 04 | TuTh 04:40 PM-05:55 PM | Old Chem 116 |
Course DescriptionSame as Cultural Anthropology 290 except instruction is provided in seminar format. Instructor: Staff |
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CULANTH 290S |
Current Issues (topics) | Brown, Layla | 04 | TuTh 04:40 PM-05:55 PM | Old Chem 116 |
Course DescriptionSame as Cultural Anthropology 290 except instruction is provided in seminar format. Instructor: Staff |
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CULANTH 290S |
Current Issues (topics) | Kirk, Robin | 05 | TuTh 10:05 AM-11:20 AM | Sanford TBA |
Course DescriptionSame as Cultural Anthropology 290 except instruction is provided in seminar format. Instructor: Staff |
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CULANTH 290S |
Current Issues (topics) | Greenlee, Cynthia | 06 | TuTh 01:25 PM-02:40 PM | Friedl Bdg 240 |
Course DescriptionSame as Cultural Anthropology 290 except instruction is provided in seminar format. Instructor: Staff |
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CULANTH 301 |
Theoretical Foundations | Makhulu, Anne-Maria | 01 | MW 08:30 AM-09:45 AM | Friedl Bdg 204 |
Course DescriptionMajor schools and theories of cultural anthropology. Open to seniors and juniors. Sophomores by permission only. Instructor: Staff |
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CULANTH 302 |
Fieldwork Methods | Matza, Tomas | 01 | WF 01:25 PM-02:40 PM | Friedl Bdg 204 |
Course DescriptionAnthropology as a discipline (a field of study) and the site where anthropologists work: the field. Combines theories of anthropological fieldwork methods with practice, including participation, observation, and interviews. Students undertake original research in a local fieldsite of their choice and produce their own mini-ethnography. This requirement may also be satisfied by taking Cultural Anthropology 290A Duke in Ghana Anthropological Field Research. Instructor: Staff |
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CULANTH 307 |
Development And Africa | Haynie, Kerry L | 01 | Th 10:05 AM-12:35 PM | SEE INSTRU |
Course DescriptionAddresses the vexed issue of economic development in Africa - its many failures, its occasional successes - from the early colonial period to the present. Focuses especially on the transition from the 1960s "modernizing |
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CULANTH 310S |
Conflict Analysis In Africa | Smith, Stephen | 01 | MW 01:25 PM-02:40 PM | Friedl Bdg 240 |
Course DescriptionUtilizes four case studies to outline components of conflict analysis in Africa. Examines regional crisis nexus between Darfur, Chad and Central African Republic. Looks at issues of post-coloniality, autochthony, migration, citizenship, land tenure, and inequality. On a theoretical level, identifies potentially cross-cutting, deeper layers of contemporary crises in Africa with the objective of establishing a series of templates, a 'protocol', for comparative conflict analysis and conflict management in Africa. Instructor: Smith |
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CULANTH 323S |
Fund. Of Global Mental Health | Puffer, Eve | 01 | TuTh 01:25 PM-02:40 PM | Soc/Psych 128 |
Course DescriptionExamines global mental health from perspectives of culture, public health, epidemiology, human rights, policy, and intervention. Readings focus on peer-reviewed research literature highlighting topics such as the prevalence of mental health disorders worldwide, the role of culture in mental health, and the interventions backed by strong evidence for prevention and treatment. Students will discuss and critique study methodologies and explore the needs for future research in this emerging field. Designed for students with prior research methods and psychology coursework. Instructor: Puffer |
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CULANTH 334 |
Chinese Prostitution | Rojas, Carlos | 01 |
TuTh 01:25 PM-02:40 PM M 07:30 PM-09:45 PM |
Physics 128 |
Course DescriptionDialectic of prostitution as lived experience, and as socio-cultural metaphor. Focus on literary and cinematic texts, together with relevant theoretical works. The figure of the prostitute will be used to interrogate assumptions about gender identity, commodity value, and national discourse. Transnational traffic in women will provide context for examination of discourses of national identity in China and beyond, together with the fissures at the heart of those same discourses. Instructor: Rojas |
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CULANTH 342 |
Migration & Human Trafficking | Crichlow, Michaeline | 01 | M 06:15 PM-08:45 PM | Friedl Bdg 102 |
Course DescriptionExamination of the meaning of migration in the global world through cross-disciplinary texts and visual media. Situates the phenomenon of human trafficking within the context of these general movements focusing on the risks involved when people endanger their lives to find a better and more strategic position in the world. Explores how these experiences should be interpreted, and how processes and the politics of race, space and place are a condition and/or outcome of these movements. Investigates and considers ways to resolve some of the problems associated with such movements. Instructor: Crichlow |
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CULANTH 344 |
Slavery, Genocide & Terror | Holsey, Bayo | 01 | TuTh 11:45 AM-01:00 PM | Friedl Bdg 240 |
Course DescriptionExamination of commemorative practices surrounding difficult pasts. Analyzes slavery, the Holocaust, Hiroshima, and 9/11; considers the role of collective memories of trauma and injustice in the formation of racial, religious, and national identities. Readings address historic sites, monuments and other forms of commemorative art, museums, fiction, and film. Examines social, political, ethical, and economic considerations behind various forms of commemoration. Explores several debates over appropriate forms of commemorations and the consideration of politics of memory in the creation of ethical subjects. Instructor: Holsey |
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CULANTH 367D |
Mayas, Aztecs And Incas | Mignolo, Walter | 001 | M 01:25 PM-02:40 PM | TBA |
Course DescriptionThe basic philosophical architecture of the three great civilizations of America; Maya, Aztec and Inca civilizations. Links the current indigenous revival in the Andes (Bolivia and Ecuador) and in the South of Mexico and Guatemala with the survival of their historical legacies. Instructor: Mignolo |
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CULANTH 367D |
Mayas, Aztecs And Incas | Mignolo, Walter | 01D | W 01:25 PM-02:40 PM | TBA |
Course DescriptionThe basic philosophical architecture of the three great civilizations of America; Maya, Aztec and Inca civilizations. Links the current indigenous revival in the Andes (Bolivia and Ecuador) and in the South of Mexico and Guatemala with the survival of their historical legacies. Instructor: Mignolo |
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CULANTH 367D |
Mayas, Aztecs And Incas | Mignolo, Walter | 02D | W 01:25 PM-02:40 PM | TBA |
Course DescriptionThe basic philosophical architecture of the three great civilizations of America; Maya, Aztec and Inca civilizations. Links the current indigenous revival in the Andes (Bolivia and Ecuador) and in the South of Mexico and Guatemala with the survival of their historical legacies. Instructor: Mignolo |
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CULANTH 367D |
Mayas, Aztecs And Incas | Mignolo, Walter | 03D | W 01:25 PM-02:40 PM | TBA |
Course DescriptionThe basic philosophical architecture of the three great civilizations of America; Maya, Aztec and Inca civilizations. Links the current indigenous revival in the Andes (Bolivia and Ecuador) and in the South of Mexico and Guatemala with the survival of their historical legacies. Instructor: Mignolo |
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CULANTH 385S |
Ethnography Of African Diaspoa | Matory, J. | 01 | Th 04:40 PM-07:10 PM | Friedl Bdg 240 |
Course DescriptionCourse reveals the diversity of black life in the Americas, Europe, and the Middle East through film and classical and contemporary ethnographies by the likes of W.E.B. DuBois, Zora Neale Hurston, Fernando Ortiz,and others. Examines diverse analytical tropes that illuminate how cultures and communities reproduce themselves amid exploitation and stigma. Instructor: Matory |
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CULANTH 403S |
Politics Of Memory | Silverblatt, Irene | 01 | W 03:05 PM-05:35 PM | Friedl Bdg 204 |
Course DescriptionExplores political contexts, and often competing visions, surrounding construction and reproduction of public memory. Asks how sites of memory, presenting an image of the past, express understandings, desires, and conflicts of the present. Particular focus on how times of crisis and trauma are commemorated, challenged, or hidden. Open only to juniors and seniors. Instructor: Silverblatt |
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CULANTH 416S |
Cap Sem:imperialism & Islamism | Ho, Engseng | 01 | WF 03:05 PM-04:20 PM | Nasher 119 |
Course DescriptionInquiry into Islam's transnational past and relations of European empires to that past. Development of perspectives on the current conflict between the US and its Islamist opponents to enable critical engagement with debates on the nature of global Islamist politics and on the US as an imperial power. Close reading of case studies and original source material. Instructor: Ho |
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CULANTH 424T |
Medical Anthropology | Solomon, Harris | 01 | TuTh 10:05 AM-11:20 AM | Friedl Bdg 204 |
Course DescriptionCross cultural experiences and understanding of health and illness, the body and non-biological aspects of medicine. Culture-specific sickness (like envidia, running amok, attention deficit disorder). Class, race, and gender inflected experiences of health. Various societies' organization of health care specialists, including biomedical doctors, voudon priestesses, and shamans. Instructor: Davis |
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CULANTH 431S |
Global Tibet | Litzinger, Ralph | 01 | W 03:05 PM-05:35 PM | TBA |
Course DescriptionExploration of Tibet in regional, national, and global perspective, from the nineteenth century to the present; critical appraisal of the Tibet Question, the global image of Tibet as a mystical and utopian Shangri-la; and the geopolitical and socioeconomic dimensions of social movements to know, develop, free, save, and defend Tibet. Course materials draw from anthropology, history, international politics, film and popular culture, novels, web sites and blogs. Previous knowledge of Tibet and China, and theories colonialism, imperialism, nationalism, and post-colonialism. Permission of instructor required. Instructor: Litzinger |
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CULANTH 465S |
Global Cities | Makhulu, Anne-Maria | 01 | M 06:15 PM-08:45 PM | Friedl Bdg 216 |
Course DescriptionExamination of new ways of living and surviving in cities across the world - new urbanization as distinct from the "new urbanism" - in context of the decline of the industrial economy, the offshoring of work, the creation of network cities and so-called "global cities." Explores impact of increased urbanization, linked to "post-wage" work, informalization, and inequality. Addresses dilemmas of alternative forms of life through "cases," including cities in the global North and South, varied "urban" schools, their theories and methodologies. Instructor: Makhulu |
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CULANTH 498S |
Senior Distinction Seminar | Settle, Heather | 01 | W 06:15 PM-08:45 PM | Friedl Bdg 204 |
Course DescriptionNo credit for Cultural Anthropology 498S without satisfactory completion of Cultural Anthropology 499S. Consent of director of undergraduate studies required. Instructor: Staff |
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