Summer Session

ANT 208: Zombiology

Undergraduate 3 credits

DEC: H SBC: STAS

Zombie memes have become very popular in culture and media over the past several years. Many aspects of modern zombie lore, as represented in books, movies, and television programs such as The Walking Dead, are germane to understanding important issues in current affairs, science, and other topics of anthropological interest. In this class, we will use scenes from zombie media as prisms through which to examine topics such as the spread of infectious disease in our globalized and densely populated world, predation on humans, forensic analysis of trace evidence like tooth and cut marks, the collapse of civilizations, human behavior in small band societies, violent conflict, etc.

ANT 260: How We Eat

Undergraduate 3 credits

DEC: K SBC: SBS; USA

This course explores how people's food habits are shaped not only by their biological needs, but also by the economic, political, ecological, and social worlds in which they live. The breadth of anthropology (biological anthropology, cultural anthropology, and archaeology) is brought to bear on issues including the economic and political underpinnings of American as well as other food cultures; the relationship between food habits and health (both over-and under-eating); the environmental impacts of various methods of food production; the relationship between food and social status; gendered food production as well as food consumption; food's role in religion; ethical eating; the limits of current knowledge (e.g., changing dietary recommendations); and the socioeconomic pressures that keep individuals eating according to cultural norms. The class discusses foodways in a variety of present and past cultures, but the emphasis is on modern American food culture and the cultural, economic, ecological, and political realities that shape it. Students will explore how these realities affect their own lives and eating habits.

ANT 311: Immersion in Another Culture

Undergraduate 3 credits

Prerequisite: ANT 102

DEC: J SBC: DIV; SBS+

A specific world area, such as the highlands of New Guinea or the Nilotic Southern Sudan, or a particularly well-documented people such as the Trobriand Islanders, are considered in detail. Lectures, texts, and films consider ecology, history, social change, language, cultural systems, and social arrangements toward providing students with a comprehensive understanding of another cultural system. May be repeated as the topic changes.

ANT 321: Archaeological Field Methods

Undergraduate 3-6 credits

Prerequisites: ANT 104; permission of instructor

SBC: EXP+; SBS+; TECH

An opportunity to participate in all aspects of an archaeological research project. Students are trained in excavation, recording, artifact retrieval, surveying, field sorting techniques, and interpretation. This course is usually held in the summer and involves excavation of a prehistoric or early historic site.

ANT 380: Race & Ethncty Lat Am & Caribb

Undergraduate 3 credits

Prerequisite: U3 or U4 standing Advisory Prerequisite: AFS 240 or LAC 200

DEC: J SBC: GLO; SBS+

Concepts and theories of race and ethnicity in Latin American and Caribbean settings. The historical evolution and the contemporary social and cultural significance of racial and ethnic identities within the region are explored. Specific examples of social relations characterized by ethnic or racial conflict are presented. This course is offered as both AFS 380 and ANT 380.

ANT 387: Indep Prjct Madagascar Culture

Undergraduate 3 credits

Prerequisite: appropriate interest in subject matter and background in ecology and conservation

Allows students to apply the knowledge and research methods they have acquired in preceding courses during the study abroad experience (including: ANP 351 Biodiversity in Field Methods; ANP 307 Comparing Ecosystems in Madagascar; and ANP 326 Lemurs of Madagascar-3 credits each). Students will design their own research project, and carry it through from hypothesis generating, data collection, statistical analyses and written and oral presentation of results. This project will allow students to showcase both their interests and academic skillsets. The subject of this research will be based in human communities. Most research will be questionnaire-based. Some projects will include data collection. Subjects can include medicinal plants, cultural use of forest resources, taboos, and gender roles to name a few.

ANT 508: Paleoanthropological Field Me

Graduate 3 credits

This course is one of three that constitutes the Turkana Basin Institute Summer Field School, an opportunity to participate in all aspects of a paleoanthropological research project, focusing on practical aspects of vertebrate paleontology, geology, zooarchaeology and taphonomy. Students are trained in field reconnaissance, fossil survey, plotting, preservation, and collection, analysis and interpretation. Hands-on examination of fossils from Plio-Pleistocene or Holocene sites around Lake Turkana will teach students how human ancestors and other animals adapted to the environments around them. Experts from TBI, Stony Brook, and other institutions provide instruction in lectures, labs, and via fieldwork within the context of on-going projects.