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 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.