Tomas Gallareta Cervera

Today people increasingly live in highly industrialized and urban civilizations. But how long have humans had "civilization?" What is "civilization" and how can it be recognized? This course will address these questions through looking at the basic elements of archaeology and its place in anthropology. Topics we will cover include the history of archaeology, fundamental aspects of fieldwork and analysis and the prehistoric record from the first humans to the origins of civilization. This foundation course is required for upper-level work in archaeology courses. Offered every semester.

This course introduces students to the discipline that studies and compares cultures. Students will learn about the main concepts used in anthropology and how anthropologists conduct research, while also discovering how people live in other times and places. Students will learn about theories that provide frameworks for understanding and comparing cultures. Ethnographic descriptions of life in particular places give students factual materials with which to apply and critique such theories. Through this introduction to the study of culture in general, and an exposure to specific cultures, students inevitably come to re-examine some of the premises of their own culture. This foundation course is required for upper-level work in cultural anthropology courses. Offered every semester.

Why are some fears, such as those of snakes, heights and darkness, shared by individuals of all cultures? Why do different societies fear different things? Do hunter-gatherer groups have the same fears as capitalist societies? What do these fears reveal about culture? In order to address these questions, we will investigate the concept of fear, from its biological foundations, to the meanings given to this emotion by different cultures around the world through concepts, theories, and methods used in anthropology. In a biological sense, fear is the response that our bodies have to a perceived threat. However, humans, as social animals, give a multiplicity of meanings to fear, which shapes their social and cultural practices. In our current political climate, fear has become a rhetoric commonly used to justify decisions of aggression, such as the physical separation of “good Americans” from “bad hombres” by means of a 55-foot wall, the reclusion of the rich into exclusive neighborhoods to avoid the poor, and even the possibility of a nuclear holocaust. Indeed, we are living in a constant state of fear of “the other.” Anthropologists make the familiar strange and the strange familiar by comparing human behavior cross-culturally and questioning common notions that people may consider “natural” but are, in fact, socially constructed. The class will consist of lectures, media analyses, readings and discussions about fear from multiple cultures and their social implications in the contemporary world. This counts as an upper-level elective for the major. No prerequisite.

Latin American people are a driving force of the US economy and they are projected to become one of the largest populations in the country (50 million by 2050). Moreover, the tag “Latino,” majorly used in the US to designate individuals that trace their ancestry to countries colonized Spanish speaking countries, does a disservice to the rich history, culture and diversity within these populations. Anthropology, the study of culture and humanity, focuses on a variety of different directions to encompass the diversity of humanity. Anthropologists make the familiar strange and the strange familiar by comparing human behavior cross-culturally, questioning common notions that people think are “natural” (e.g., two genders, the concept of a nuclear family, superior or inferior races, proper table manners, etc.) but are in fact socially constructed. In this course, we will read, review, and discuss, through the lens of anthropology, the origins, transformations and diversity of Latin American culture. The course will discuss the Latin culture’s cultural roots, from its prehispanic past, its colonial transformation, to its current diverse contemporary peoples. The course will, however, only represent a small sample of this extremely diverse field, since no single-semester course can give comprehensive coverage of all the different types of studies pursued by anthropologists. Overall, this course will help you develop an understanding of the complexity of Latin American culture, develop cultural awareness and curiosity concerning its diversity, as well as challenge ideologies of ethnocentrism, heterosexism, racism, and sexism. This counts toward the upper-level elective for the major or one of the two core courses that students are required to complete the Latinx concentration. No prerequisite. Offered every year.