Course Descriptions

Anthropology

ANT 131E Cultural Anthropology

This course will be an overview of the discipline of cultural anthropology, introducing the student to diverse cultures around the globe through reading and analysis of anthropologists' writings about their work. Readings will show that humans in different cultures have developed different solutions to the same problems. Emphasis will be placed on techniques for learning about other cultures, and the theories and concepts used to understand why humans behave as they do.

ANT 132E Introduction to Archaeology

A survey of the field of archaeology, including these topics: the history and goals of archaeology; methods for recovering, dating, preserving, analyzing, and interpreting archaeological data; and the contributions of archaeology to a study of the past. May include sections on the archaeology of New England, the archaeology of foraging societies, and the origins of agriculture.

ANT 220E       Magic, Witchcraft, and Religion

A cross-cultural study of humankind’s responses to the wonder and terror of the process of nature, and efforts to control these processes through interaction with, and manipulation and control of, supernatural beings, power, and events. Emphasis is placed on the diversity of the human religious experience in its broadest sense. This class considers both anthropological theory and ethnographic data.