Anthropology

An introduction to the fundamentals of the four subfields of anthropology: archaeology, cultural anthropology, biological anthropology, and anthropological linguistics. Practical applications of anthropological concepts and perspectives are emphasized. Case materials are drawn from cultures around the world.

Explores the traditional physical activities of Southeast Alaska Native groups through dancing, singing, and drumming. Examines the differences between types of songs and dances within the Tlingit, Tsimshian, and Haida cultures with a focus on proper use and performance protocols. Covers basics of regalia making, and use of clan crests. Students will make their own drum, learn how to introduce songs, and will learn different styles of Southeast Alaska Native dancing.

An introduction to culture, history, and archaeology of Alaska Natives. Includes environmental settings, languages, socio-economic and subsistence patterns, cultural change, and contemporary issues.

Basic theories, methods, and concepts of cultural anthropology. Includes analysis of social, political, economic, belief and symbolic systems. Serves as a foundation for more specialized courses in cultural anthropology.

A study of human biology including genetics, human evolution and variation, adaptations, ecology and primatology.

Examines the origins of agriculture and animal domestication, urbanization, and the emergence of state-level societies in world regions such as Egypt, Mesopotamia, Mesoamerica, and the Andes. Topics include socio-political organization, subsistence, material culture, and religion.

Introduces students to archives and museum theory and practices for potential careers in libraries, archives, and museums. Focuses on the archival profession, with the museum profession as a secondary topic. Students prepare for potential internships at local repositories.

Prerequisite: ENGL S111 and upper division standing, or instructor permission.

A further exploration of culture, history, and archaeology of Alaska Natives, for upper-division students. Includes environmental settings, languages, socioeconomic patterns, cultural change, and contemporary issues. The 393-level will require a more substantial midterm and final research paper, and an additional class research presentation.

Prerequisite: Junior or senior standing.

Examines relationships between humans and the natural world cross-culturally. Focus is on how indigenous peoples percieve and interact with their ecosystems. Topics include Tlingit and Haida ethnobiology, traditional medicine, ritual and cosmology.

Tradition and change in Alaska Native cultures and social institutions. A study of persistence and change in social structure and world view of Alaska Native peoples.

Ethnographic methods will be analyzed, explored, and practiced. Individual research projects will be developed. Ethics will be discussed and students will submit their research projects for institutional review in order to understand the human subjects approval process.

We will visit pillow basalt and columnar outcrops near Haines, also evidence of outburst flooding, active faulting, and geologic hazards along the Chisana and Tanana Rivers and the Tok-Slana valleys. We will examine features related to glacial history, eolian process, neotectonics, and permafrost. Alaska State survey geologists will lead the field trip, which is supported by the Alaska cell of Friends of the Pleistocene. After the field trip, the course also requires three follow-up meetings scheduled on Friday afternoons during the fall semester.

Prerequisite: Must be an upper division science or anthropology major. A valid passport and instructor permission are required.