Courses

This First-Year Writing Seminar is devoted to the anthropological study of the human condition.  Anthropology  examines all aspects of human experience, from the evolution of the species to contemporary challenges of politics, environment, and society.  The discipline emphasizes empirically rich field research informed by sophisticated theoretical understandings of human social life and cultural production. The diversity of anthropology's interests provides a diverse array of stimulating opportunities to write critically about the human condition. Topics vary by semester.

Full details for ANTHR 1101 - FWS: Culture, Society, and Power

A broad introduction to archaeology-the study of material remains to answer questions about the human past. Case studies highlight the variability of ancient societies and illustrate the varied methods and interpretive frameworks archaeologists use to reconstruct them. This course can serve as a platform for both archaeology and anthropology undergraduate majors.

Full details for ANTHR 1200 - Ancient Peoples and Places

An introduction to cultural anthropology through ethnographies, or the descriptive accounts of anthropologists. Through readings and lectures, students acquaint themselves with a number of cultures from several parts of the world. The cultures range in form from those of small-scale tribal societies to those of state societies. Throughout the course, we attempt to make sense of exotic cultures in their own terms. Attention is focused on variation in cultural patterns as they are expressed in social, economic, and ritual practices. In this encounter, the principles of anthropology, as a comparative enterprise that poses distinct cultural systems in relief, will be developed. Fiction, films, and exercises supplement the formal anthropological materials.

Full details for ANTHR 1400 - The Comparison of Cultures

This course provides an interdisciplinary introduction to the diverse cultures, histories and contemporary situations of the Indigenous peoples of North America. Students will also be introduced to important themes in the post-1492 engagement between Indigenous and settler populations in North America and will consider the various and complex ways in which that history affected - and continues to affect - American Indian peoples and societies. Course materials draw on the humanities, social sciences, and expressive arts.

Full details for ANTHR 1700 - Indigenous North America

The path to global citizenship begins with a facility for navigating cultural difference. How might we engage with communities, whether here in Ithaca or across the globe, whose pasts and present understandings are fundamentally different than our own? This course is designed to help students bring global engaged learning into their Cornell education. It introduces skills that are vital for intercultural engagement, including participant-observation research, ethnographic writing, and the habits of critical reflexivity. Students will complete projects with service learning placements in the Ithaca community. They will also begin an ePortfolio as they explore their identity and engage with the international community on campus.

Full details for ANTHR 1900 - Global Engagements: Living and Working in a Diverse World

This introductory course surveys archaeology's contributions to the study of American Indian cultural diversity and change in North America north of Mexico. Lectures and readings will examine topics ranging from the debate over when the continent was first inhabited to present-day conflicts between Native Americans and archaeologists over excavation and the interpretation of the past. We will review important archaeological sites such as Chaco Canyon, Cahokia, Lamoka Lake, and the Little Bighorn battlefield. A principal focus will be on major transformations in lifeways such as the adoption of agriculture, the development of political-economic hierarchies, and the disruptions that accompanied the arrival of Europeans to the continent.

Full details for ANTHR 2235 - Archaeology of North American Indians

The history of humankind is also a history of health and disease; the rise of agricultural societies, ancient cities, and colonial empires had wide-ranging effects on diet and nutrition, the spread of infectious diseases, and occurrence of other health conditions. This history has also been shaped by complex interactions between environment, technology, and society. Using archaeological, environmental, textual, and skeletal evidence, we will survey major epidemiological transitions from the Paleolithic to the age of European conquest. We will also examine diverse cultural experiences of health, illness, and the body. How do medical practices from "pre-modern" societies, such as the medieval Islamic world and the Inca Empire, challenge dominant narratives of scientific development? The implications of past health patterns for modern-day communities will also be explored.

Full details for ANTHR 2245 - Health and Disease in the Ancient World

This course will examine the natural history of wild chimpanzees with an eye toward better understanding the changes that would have been necessary in human evolutionary history to promote the emergence of human culture and political life. After an overview of early research and preliminary attempts to apply our knowledge of chimpanzee life to social and political theory, the class will focus on our now extensive knowledge of chimpanzees derived from many ongoing, long-term field studies. Topics of particular interest include socialization, alliance formation and cooperation, aggression within and between the sexes, reconciliation, the maintenance of traditions, tool use, nutritional ecology and social organization, territorial behavior, and the importance of kin networks. The question of whether apes should have rights will also be explored.

Full details for ANTHR 2310 - The Natural History of Chimpanzees and the Origins of Politics

This interdisciplinary course (with an emphasis in anthropology) will introduce students to the multiple routes/roots, lived experiences, and imagined worlds of South Asians who have traveled to various lands at different historical moments spanning Fiji, South Africa, Mauritius, Britain, Malaysia, United States, Trinidad, and even within South Asia itself such as the Tamil-speaking population of Sri Lanka. The course will begin with the labor migrations of the 1830s and continue up to the present period. The primary exercise will be to compare and contrast the varied expressions of the South Asian Diaspora globally in order to critically evaluate this transnational identity. Thus, we will ask what, if any, are the ties that bind a fifth-generation Indo-Trinidadian whose ancestor came to the New World as an indentured laborer or "coolie" in the mid-19th century to labor in the cane fields, to a Pakistani medical doctor who migrated to the United States in the late 1980s. If Diaspora violates a sense of identity based on territorial integrity, then could "culture" serve as the basis for a shared identity?

Full details for ANTHR 2410 - South Asian Diaspora

This course explores the major debates that define the study of contemporary Iran. Drawing from ethnographic works, literary criticism, intellectual histories and more, we will examine historical events and cultural developments from a diverse set of theoretical approaches. Topics include the Iranian revolution in comparative perspective, the Iran-Iraq war and its continued legacy, media forms and practice, contemporary film and literature, women's movements, youth culture, religious diversity, legal systems, techniques of governance, and more. Of particular interest will be the intersections of religion and secularism in Iranian society. Ultimately, it is the objective of the course to explore the diverse cultural, political, and material worlds that shape collective life and individual subjectivity in Iran today.

Full details for ANTHR 2415 - Anthropology of Iran

One of the most pressing questions of our time is how we should understand the relationship between nature (or "the environment") and culture (or society) - and/or whether these should be viewed as separate domains at all.  How one answers this question has important implications for how we go about thinking and acting in such diverse social arenas as environmental politics, development, and indigenous-state relations.  This course serves as an introduction to the various ways anthropologists and other scholars have conceptualized the relationship between humans and the environment and considers the material and political consequences that flow from these conceptualizations.

Full details for ANTHR 2420 - Nature/Culture: Ethnographic Approaches to Human-Environment Relations

An introduction to the anthropology of sex, sexuality and gender, this course uses case studies from around the world to explore how the worlds of the sexes become gendered.  In ethnographic, ethnohistorical and contemporary globalizing contexts, we will look at: intersexuality & 'supernumerary' genders; physical & cultural reproduction; sexuality; and sex- & gender-based violence & power. We will use lectures, films, discussion sections and short field-based exercises.

Full details for ANTHR 2421 - Sex and Gender in Cross-Cultural Perspective

The emergence of what has come to be called "civilization" marks a profound transformation in human culture, society, politics, economy, and psychology. The first civlizations have been variously described as the point of origin for artistic achievement and the genesis of social struggle, a victory over the state of nature and the source of human neurosis, the genealogical root of social inequality and the foundation for the rule of law. In this course we will examine the rise and fall of ancient "civilizations" at the same time as we interrogate the rise and fall of the concept of civilization itself in modern historical thought. Our primary focus will be a comparative archaeological examination of five pivotal case studies of early civilization: Mesopotamia (Sumer), Egypt, China, the Indus Valley, and the Maya lowlands. Alongside our explorations of these early civilizations, we will undertake a critical examination of current key issues in political anthropology, including the nature of kingship, the origins of cities, and the role of coercion in the formation of early polities. The course will examine the spread of "civilization", including the development of "secondary states", early empires, and the first world systems. We will conclude the class wth an examination of the concept of civilization itself, its historical roots and its current prominence in geopolitical thinking and policy making. The goal of the class is to provide students with an understanding of the nature of the world's first civilizations and the potency of their contemporary legacy.

Full details for ANTHR 2430 - The Rise and Fall of Civilization

Representation is basic to anthropology. In the process of translating societies and cultures, anthropologists produce authoritative accounts about other people, their lives, and their communities. We will here examine, from a critical perspective, the production of representations on Latino culture[s] in anthropological texts. Issues to be explored include the relation between the ethnographer and the people s/he is studying, the contexts in which ethnographic texts are produced, the ways these texts may contribute to the position that different cultural groups have within the United States, and the implications emanating from these processes.

Full details for ANTHR 2721 - Anthropological Representations: Ethnographies on Latino Culture

Examines the theories and mechanisms of modern evolutionary biology as they apply to present-day humans and their hominid ancestors. Lectures and discussions of molecular and paleontological evidence of human evolution, the causes and consequences of contemporary human biological diversity, and biological and behavioral modes of human adaptation to past and present natural and cultural environments.

Full details for ANTHR 2750 - Human Biology and Evolution

This seminar course is designed to give anthropology majors an introduction to classical and contemporary social and anthropological theory and to help prepare them for upper-level seminars in anthropology. The seminar format emphasizes close reading and active discussion of key texts and theorists. The reading list will vary from year to year but will include consideration of influential texts and debates in 19th-, 20th-, and 21st-century anthropological theory especially as they have sought to offer conceptual and analytical tools for making sense of human social experience and cultural capacities.

Full details for ANTHR 3000 - Introduction to Anthropological Theory

This course introduces students to documentary film production and story development. Through lectures, screenings, workshops, and technical labs, students will develop single-camera digital video production and editing skills. Weekly camera and editing exercises and one-on-one sessions with the instructor will enhance students' documentary filmmaking techniques. Additionally, students will gain an understanding of nonfiction film theory from the perspective of production and learn to critically engage and comment on each other's work. Discussions of debates around ethnographic representation and filmmaking ethics will help students to solve practical storytelling dilemmas. Over the course of the semester, students conduct pre-production research and have the opportunity to develop a film proposal and make a short film.

Full details for ANTHR 3110 - Documentary Production 1: Fundamentals

So you're enrolled in an upcoming study abroad program! Now what? How can you make the most of your experience? This half-semester course is designed to prepare students departing for any study abroad or domestic engaged learning programs. This course provides the opportunity to refine the skills necessary for cross-cultural encounters, including participant-observation research, ethnographic writing, and the habits of critical reflexivity. Students will research the culture and history of their destination and develop an ePortfolio to capture their experiences. They will also consider how to succeed in a foreign academic environment by engaging with the international community on campus.

Full details for ANTHR 3901 - Going Global: Preparing for Engaged Learning

How has your study abroad experience shaped you and your perspective on the world? What does it mean to be a global citizen? This half-semester course is designed for students returning from study abroad or other engaged learning programs. Students will reflect on topics such as identity, difference, and navigating cross-cultural encounters by writing narratives based on their experience and revising their ePortfolio. In doing so, they will grapple with "culture shock" and share moments of personal growth. They will also have the opportunity to contribute to the international community on campus.

Full details for ANTHR 3902 - Coming Home: Making the Most of Engaged Experiences

How does climate denialism persist in the face of mounting evidence that global warming is real? Conversely, how do environmentalists come to believe specific actions are necessary to save the world? How can climate justice efforts include local forms of knowledge and expertise? As humans struggle to conceive of new ways to live—and create change—in a time of "derangement," this seminar explores how forms of environmental in/action become authoritative in different social contexts. Here classical and critical theories of authority illuminate how environmental knowledge attains power in some settings but not others; additionally, ethnographies of ecoauthority reveal forms of resiliency that diverge from conventional models of climate remediation. Participants will write short discussion papers, co-lead one class meeting, and submit a final essay.

Full details for ANTHR 4025 - Deranged Authority: Culture, Power, and Climate Change

This course focuses on the "exterior" as a political problem in critical theory, architectural theory, and cultural anthropology. The texts we will examine and elaborate on a political distinction between a human "interior" of "culture" or "reason" and a non-human "exterior" made of "natural" processes that are indifferent to human life. We will examine theoretical critiques of the old political notion that the authority of rulers should be like that of architects: leaders are recognized by their capacity to build interior spaces that nourish human modes of living. We will consider a range of cases in which political projects designed to build all-encompassing interiors have exposed humans and non-humans alike to the possibility of outright destruction. In some cases, authorities are recognized as such due to their perceived capacity to expose themselves and their followers to the possibility of annihilation.

Full details for ANTHR 4029 - On Political Authority and the Power to Expose

The term "epidemic" travels widely and wildly in contemporary worlds.  But, what, when and where is "the epidemic"? How and why does epidemic unfold? This senior seminar offers an interdisciplinary exploration of infectious diseases.  Our investigations take us from medieval Europe's "Black Plague," to Tuberculosis in early twentieth century United States and its global resurgence at the turn of the twenty-first, to Ebola and its ongoing, periodic outbreaks today. We consider the consequences epidemics have for how we live and imagine shared ecological futures.  Examining work from the life sciences, social sciences, and arts & humanities, we explore the ways in which life and death, disease and survivability, health and thriving are shaped by infectious microbes, embodied eco-social forces, and contingent regimes of knowledge-power. 

Full details for ANTHR 4041 - What is (an) Epidemic? (Infectious Diseases in Historical, Social, and Political Perspective)

One animal behaviorist speculates that big brains develop when species are social; that is, when they must read cues from members of their group to understand when to approach, when to flee, when to fight, when to care. This course looks not only at animals in their social lives, but also at animals in their lives with us. We ask questions about how species become entangled and what that means for both parties, about the social lives of animals independently and with humans, about the survival of human and animal species, and about what it means to use animals for science, food, and profit. The course draws on readings from Anthropology, Science & Technology Studies, and animal trainers and behaviorists.

Full details for ANTHR 4101 - The Entangled Lives of Humans and Animals

Hip hop has been dependent on women's contributions, yet female artists have had to work hard to contest their marginalization and objectification in the music and culture. Some of the most heated debates surrounding feminism, identity politics, and Black women are framed within the broad contours of hip hop. This course will explore how women are portrayed in hip hop music and culture, addressing women both as consumers and producers. We will draw on texts that analyze misogyny in hip hop music and music videos, while also looking at how both mainstream and peripheral female artists use hip hop to affirm their sexual power, articulate Black feminism, and create spaces for their artistic expression. We will utilize Black feminist theory, performance studies, and queer of color critique to complicate the ways in which women, gender, and sexuality are represented in hip hop music. While our analyses will center on music and on the United States, we will also consider art, fashion, and dance within Black, Latina, and Caribbean interactions with hip hop. We will investigate how youth construct gender and ethnic identities as they negotiate notions of African Diasporic belonging vis-à-vis hip hop. We will employ ethnographic, historical, sociological, literary, and interdisciplinary texts to explore these topics.

Full details for ANTHR 4102 - Women in Hip Hop

"Recognition, Abjection, Ideology" introduces seminal theorizations of modern state power with reference to ethnographic texts that focus both on the formation of national subjectivity and social exclusion. While the course examines relations between the economy and the effectiveness of state rhetoric, it also addresses how state ideologies today require the expulsion of certain groups from general society, and how these groups maintain their own socialities.

Full details for ANTHR 4130 - Recognition, Abjection, and State Ideology

Liberal feminists and political theorists argue that sentiments such as compassion and empathy have the capacity to alert us to suffering, injustice, and oppression, and thus incite transformative political action. This interdisciplinary seminar explores the challenges to this theory by staging a conversation between postcolonial, feminist, and queer theories of affect, and anthropological critiques of humanitarian projects. Sentiments are mobilized to defend borders, wage wars, grant asylum to refugees, provide medical care and disaster relief, and inspire feminist activism. We will analyze how these gendered and racialized ethical projects and political regimes are co-constituted, and how they mediate access to resources and survival, as well as political agency, subjectivity, citizenship, and national belonging.

Full details for ANTHR 4176 - Humanitarian Affects

This course is an exploration of Maya understandings of their own history as it is reflected in ancient texts. We will begin by looking at episodes in Colonial and recent history to illustrate some of the ways Maya thinking about history may differ from more familiar genres. We will then review basic aspects of precolumbian Maya writing, but we will focus mainly on analyzing texts from one or more Classic period Maya cities.

Full details for ANTHR 4216 - Maya History

Critical approaches to embodiment compel bioarchaeologists to consider how social norms and institutional inequalities are enacted and materialized through the body. This course contributes a deep archaeological perspective on the lived experience of inequality and the historically contingent nature of sexuality, gender, and violence. Drawing upon the study of human skeletons, social theory, and a rich comparative literature in cultural anthropology, we will "put flesh on the bones" and explore topics such as body modification and mutilation; masculinity and performative violence; sexuality and 'third gender'; and sickness and suffering in past societies. We will not only consider privilege and marginalization in lived experience, but also in death, examining how unequal social relationships are reproduced when the dead body is colonized as an object of study.

Full details for ANTHR 4227 - Embodiment of Inequality: A Bioarchaeological Perspective

This is a hands-on laboratory course in zooarchaeological method: the study of animal bones from archaeological sites. It is designed to provide students with a basic grounding in identification of body part and taxon, aging and sexing, pathologies, taphonomy, and human modification. We will deal only with mammals larger than squirrels. While we will work on animal bones from prehistoric Europe, most of these skills are easily transferable to the fauna of other areas, especially North America. This is an intensive course that emphasizes laboratory skills in a realistic setting. You will analyze an assemblage of actual archaeological bones. It is highly recommended that students also take the course in Zooarchaeological Interpretation (ANTHR 4264/ARKEO 4264) offered in the spring.

Full details for ANTHR 4263 - Zooarchaeological Method

This seminar uses archaeology to examine engagements between settlers and indigenous peoples throughout world history. Archaeology provides a perspective on settler-indigenous encounters that both supplements and challenges conventional models.  We will assess the strengths and weaknesses of various theories of cultural engagement, examine methodologies, and explore a series of archaeological case studies, using examples from both the ancient world and the European expansion over the past 600 years. The seminar provides a comparative perspective on indigenous-colonial relationships, in particular exploring the hard-fought spaces of relative autonomy created and sustained by indigenous peoples. 

Full details for ANTHR 4272 - Archaeology of Colonialism and Cultural Entanglement

Primate species are going extinct.  The goal of this seminar is to examine a variety of issues related to conservation in general, and to the conservation of primates in particular.  For example, what is "wilderness"?  Is there cross-cultural variation in how wild nature is valued?  Can ethics be extended beyond humans?  Is consumerism the real culprit in the global ecological crisis?  How do human and nonhuman primate ecologies intersect, and how can understanding these intersections be integrated into conservation efforts?  How, in practice, does one develop and implement a real-world conservation action plan?  Discussions will focus both on theoretical issues and on the analysis of a new generation of real-world conservation initiatives that depend on interdisciplinary collaboration.

Full details for ANTHR 4390 - Primate Conservation: Cross-cultural Perspectives on Wilderness Preservation and Animal-Human

This course will provide students with practical understanding about what anthropologists actually do in the field. We will examine problems that emerge in conducting fieldwork that raise ethical, methodological, theoretical, and practical issues in the observation, participation in, recording, and representation of culture(s). Students will be expected to develop a semester-long, local research project that will allow them to experience fieldwork situations.

Full details for ANTHR 4403 - Ethnographic Field Methods

This course develops an anthropological approach to corporations with a focus on large, profit-oriented, publicly-traded corporations. To denaturalize the corporation, we will consider competing cultural logics internal to corporations as well as the contingent historical processes and debates that shaped the corporate form over the past two centuries. The course will examine processes through which various social groups have sought to alter and restrain corporations as well as reciprocal corporate attempts to reshape the social environment in which they operate.

Full details for ANTHR 4419 - Anthropology of Corporations

This course offers a broad survey of contemporary Shi'i beliefs, practices, and politics with a focus on Twelver or Imami Shi'ism. Through a close examination of ethnographies, intellectual and political histories, theological writings, and more we will investigate the themes which define the politics and cultural practices of contemporary Shi'ism. In particular, we will highlight the ways in which Shi'is utilize their theological beliefs to negotiate and respond to the socio-political context of the times in which they live.  The course begins by examining the early days of what would later be called "Shi'ism." We then examine the key theological concepts which distinguish Shi'ism from Sunnism, including themes of adalat (divine justice), shahadat (martyrdom), the Karbala paradigm, and the role of the imamate and clerical class. The rest of course is devoted to investigating the ways that Shi'ism informs and interacts with the social realm and vice versa, ranging from negotiations of the everyday to responding to moments of great civil and society unrest and to that which is called "sectarianism". Travelling from South Asia to the Middle East, from Africa to America, we will ultimately examine how Shi'i beliefs and identity act as a dynamic force for shaping the worlds in which they live today.

Full details for ANTHR 4637 - Shi'ism: Debates and Discourses

This course offers conceptual and analytical tools to study environment-society relations with a focus on water. We will confront water from both disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives, examining different—and often less common and discriminated against—points of view and weaving together different perspectives from our readings, discussions, fieldtrips, guest lectures, and encounters around and about water. To this goal, we will engage with water from both a local and a global perspective: immersing ourselves in how several specific societies have interacted with water, we will compose and compare these representations. We will also encounter the closest possible water, that of Ithaca and surroundings: during the course we will conduct several fieldtrips, and, as a course project, each student will conduct a semester-long individual ethnographic project.

Full details for ANTHR 4801 - Water Societies: Ecology, Technology, History

Independent reading course in topics not covered in regularly scheduled courses. Students select a topic in consultation with the faculty member who has agreed to supervise the course work.

Full details for ANTHR 4910 - Independent Study: Undergrad I

Independent reading course in topics not covered in regularly scheduled courses. Students select a topic in consultation with the faculty member who has agreed to supervise the course work.

Full details for ANTHR 4920 - Independent Study: Undergrad II

Research work supervised by the thesis advisor, concentrating on determination of the major issues to be addressed by the thesis, preparation of literature reviews, analysis of data, and the like. The thesis advisor will assign the grade for this course.

Full details for ANTHR 4983 - Honors Thesis Research

Course will consist of several mandatory meetings of all thesis writers with the honors chair. These sessions will inform students about the standard thesis production timetable, format and content expectations, and deadlines; expose students to standard reference sources; and introduce students to each other's projects. The chair of the Honors Committee will assign the grade for this course.

Full details for ANTHR 4991 - Honors Workshop I

This course is a systematic engagement with issues in teaching anthropology to undergraduate students.  Where there is broad agreement in other social sciences about what should be taught in undergraduate courses, no such common understanding exists in the field of anthropology.  This course will explore the history of the teaching of anthropology, pedagogical issues unique to anthropology, and the pragmatics of teaching anthropology, especially the problems of teaching across cultures.

Full details for ANTHR 6015 - Teaching Anthropology/Teaching Culture

This course examines the history and development of anthropology as a discipline with emphasis on British social anthropology and American cultural anthropology.  The course will trace major schools of thought -- Evolutionism, Functionalism, and Structuralism-- leading to the post-structural "critique of culture." The latter part of the course will examine a range of  debates around anthropology's method and claims to theory beginning with the reflexive turn.  Specifically, this part of the course will address how the recognition by anthropologists of the operations of power both in the "world out there" and "within anthropology" has led to diverse methodologies and theories that define contemporary anthropology.

Full details for ANTHR 6020 - History of Anthropological Thought

This course introduces students to documentary film production and story development. Through lectures, screenings, workshops, and technical labs, students will develop single-camera digital video production and editing skills. Weekly camera and editing exercises and one-on-one sessions with the instructor will enhance students' documentary filmmaking techniques. Additionally, students will gain an understanding of nonfiction film theory from the perspective of production and learn to critically engage and comment on each other's work. Discussions of debates around ethnographic representation and filmmaking ethics will help students to solve practical storytelling dilemmas. Over the course of the semester, students conduct pre-production research and have the opportunity to develop a film proposal and make a short film.

Full details for ANTHR 6110 - Documentary Production 1: Fundamentals

This course is an exploration of Maya understandings of their own history as it is reflected in ancient texts. We will begin by looking at episodes in Colonial and recent history to illustrate some of the ways Maya thinking about history may differ from more familiar genres. We will then review basic aspects of precolumbian Maya writing, but we will focus mainly on analyzing texts from one or more Classic period Maya cities.

Full details for ANTHR 6256 - Maya History

This course surveys recent developments and current debates in archaeological theory.  This includes the processual/postprocessual debate and contrasts between scientific and humanistic approaches more generally, as well as other approaches (Marxist, feminist, etc.)  We will examine epistemological issues (how do we know about the past?), and will explore how different theoretical approaches have shaped research on key archaeological topics.  We will also discuss ethical concerns and engagement with groups outside archaeology with interests in the past.

Full details for ANTHR 6267 - Contemporary Archaeological Theory

This course explores recent efforts to theorize the materiality of human social, political, and cultural life. We will draw broadly from contemporary works in archaeology, socio-cultural anthropology, art, social thought, media studies, and literary theory to piece together a sense of the conceptual possibilities afforded by analytical engagement with the world of things. We will take the historical dynamics of things as our central concern, navigating between classic and contemporary debates over the social location, physical constitution, and agency of object worlds. Along the way we will take in contemporary arguments for objects as constitutive elements of mind, affect, and order. The goal of the course is to juxtapose the experience, perception, and imagination of objects in order to address critical gaps in our understanding of social life past, present, and future. As the second course in a sequence focused on material theory, this seminar is part of a wider effort to train students to be astute analysts of the material world.

Full details for ANTHR 6402 - Material Theory II: Assemblage & Object

This course will provide students with practical understanding about what anthropologists actually do in the field. We will examine problems that emerge in conducting fieldwork that raise ethical, methodological, theoretical, and practical issues in the observation, participation in, recording, and representation of culture(s). Students will be expected to develop a semester-long, local research project that will allow them to experience fieldwork situations.

Full details for ANTHR 6403 - Ethnographic Field Methods

How does climate denialism persist in the face of mounting evidence that global warming is real? Conversely, how do environmentalists come to believe specific actions are necessary to save the world? How can climate justice efforts include local forms of knowledge and expertise? As humans struggle to conceive of new ways to live—and create change—in a time of "derangement," this seminar explores how forms of environmental in/action become authoritative in different social contexts. Here classical and critical theories of authority illuminate how environmental knowledge attains power in some settings but not others; additionally, ethnographies of ecoauthority reveal forms of resiliency that diverge from conventional models of climate remediation. Participants will write short discussion papers, co-lead one class meeting, and submit a final essay.

Full details for ANTHR 7025 - Deranged Authority: Culture, Power, and Climate Change

This course focuses on the "exterior" as a political problem in critical theory, architectural theory, and cultural anthropology. The texts we will examine and elaborate on a political distinction between a human "interior" of "culture" or "reason" and a non-human "exterior" made of "natural" processes that are indifferent to human life. We will examine theoretical critiques of the old political notion that the authority of rulers should be like that of architects: leaders are recognized by their capacity to build interior spaces that nourish human modes of living. We will consider a range of cases in which political projects designed to build all-encompassing interiors have exposed humans and non-humans alike to the possibility of outright destruction. In some cases, authorities are recognized as such due to their perceived capacity to expose themselves and their followers to the possibility of annihilation.

Full details for ANTHR 7029 - On Political Authority and the Power to Expose

"Recognition, Abjection, Ideology" introduces seminal theorizations of modern state power with reference to ethnographic texts that focus both on the formation of national subjectivity and social exclusion. While the course examines relations between the economy and the effectiveness of state rhetoric, it also addresses how state ideologies today require the expulsion of certain groups from general society, and how these groups maintain their own socialities.

Full details for ANTHR 7130 - Recognition, Abjection, and State Ideology

Liberal feminists and political theorists argue that sentiments such as compassion and empathy have the capacity to alert us to suffering, injustice, and oppression, and thus incite transformative political action. This interdisciplinary seminar explores the challenges to this theory by staging a conversation between postcolonial, feminist, and queer theories of affect, and anthropological critiques of humanitarian projects. Sentiments are mobilized to defend borders, wage wars, grant asylum to refugees, provide medical care and disaster relief, and inspire feminist activism. We will analyze how these gendered and racialized ethical projects and political regimes are co-constituted, and how they mediate access to resources and survival, as well as political agency, subjectivity, citizenship, and national belonging.

Full details for ANTHR 7176 - Humanitarian Affects

Critical approaches to embodiment compel bioarchaeologists to consider how social norms and institutional inequalities are enacted and materialized through the body. This course contributes a deep archaeological perspective on the lived experience of inequality and the historically contingent nature of sexuality, gender, and violence. Drawing upon the study of human skeletons, social theory, and a rich comparative literature in cultural anthropology, we will "put flesh on the bones" and explore topics such as body modification and mutilation; masculinity and performative violence; sexuality and 'third gender'; and sickness and suffering in past societies. We will not only consider privilege and marginalization in lived experience, but also in death, examining how unequal social relationships are reproduced when the dead body is colonized as an object of study.

Full details for ANTHR 7227 - Embodiment of Inequality: A Bioarchaeological Perspective

This is a hands-on laboratory course in zooarchaeological method: the study of animal bones from archaeological sites.  It is designed to provide students with a basic grounding in identification of body part and taxon, aging and sexing, pathologies, taphonomy, and human modification.  The course will deal only with mammals larger than squirrels.  While students will work on animal bones from prehistoric Europe, most of these skills are easily transferable to the fauna of other areas, especially North America.  This is an intensive course that emphasizes laboratory skills in a realistic setting.  Students will analyze an assemblage of actual archaeological bones.  It is highly recommended that students also take the course in Zooarchaeological Interpretation (ANTHR 7264/ARKEO 7264) offered in the spring.

Full details for ANTHR 7263 - Zooarchaeological Method

This seminar uses archaeology to examine engagements between settlers and indigenous peoples throughout world history. Archaeology provides a perspective on settler-indigenous encounters that both supplements and challenges conventional models.  We will assess the strengths and weaknesses of various theories of cultural engagement, examine methodologies, and explore a series of archaeological case studies, using examples from both the ancient world and the European expansion over the past 600 years. The seminar provides a comparative perspective on indigenous-colonial relationships, in particular exploring the hard-fought spaces of relative autonomy created and sustained by indigenous peoples. 

Full details for ANTHR 7272 - Archaeology of Colonialism and Cultural Entanglement

This course develops an anthropological approach to corporations with a focus on large, profit-oriented, publicly-traded corporations. To denaturalize the corporation, we will consider competing cultural logics internal to corporations as well as the contingent historical processes and debates that shaped the corporate form over the past two centuries. The course will examine processes through which various social groups have sought to alter and restrain corporations as well as reciprocal corporate attempts to reshape the social environment in which they operate.

Full details for ANTHR 7419 - Anthropology of Corporations

Independent reading course on topics not covered in regularly scheduled courses. Students select a topic in consultation with the faculty member who has agreed to supervise the course work.

Full details for ANTHR 7520 - Southeast Asia: Readings in Special Problems

Independent reading course in topics not covered in regularly scheduled courses. Students select a topic in consultation with the faculty member who has agreed to supervise the course work.

Full details for ANTHR 7530 - South Asia: Readings in Special Problems

Independent reading course in topics not covered in regularly scheduled courses. Students select a topic in consultation with the faculty member who has agreed to supervise the course work.

Full details for ANTHR 7550 - East Asia: Readings in Special Problems

This course offers a broad survey of contemporary Shi'i beliefs, practices, and politics with a focus on Twelver or Imami Shi'ism. Through a close examination of ethnographies, intellectual and political histories, theological writings, and more we will investigate the themes which define the politics and cultural practices of contemporary Shi'ism. In particular, we will highlight the ways in which Shi'is utilize their theological beliefs to negotiate and respond to the socio-political context of the times in which they live.  The course begins by examining the early days of what would later be called "Shi'ism." We then examine the key theological concepts which distinguish Shi'ism from Sunnism, including themes of adalat (divine justice), shahadat (martyrdom), the Karbala paradigm, and the role of the imamate and clerical class. The rest of course is devoted to investigating the ways that Shi'ism informs and interacts with the social realm and vice versa, ranging from negotiations of the everyday to responding to moments of great civil and society unrest and to that which is called "sectarianism". Travelling from South Asia to the Middle East, from Africa to America, we will ultimately examine how Shi'i beliefs and identity act as a dynamic force for shaping the worlds in which they live today.

Full details for ANTHR 7637 - Shi'ism: Debates and Discourses

A bi-weekly series of workshops and lectures on a range of themes in the discipline sponsored by the Department of Anthropology. Presentations include lectures by invited speakers, debates featuring prominent anthropologists from across the globe, and works in progress presented by anthropology faculty and graduate students.

Full details for ANTHR 7900 - Department of Anthropology Colloquium

Independent reading course in topics not covered in regularly scheduled courses. Students select a topic in consultation with the faculty member who has agreed to supervise the course work.

Full details for ANTHR 7910 - Independent Study: Grad I

Independent reading course in topics not covered in regularly scheduled courses. Students select a topic in consultation with the faculty member who has agreed to supervise the course work.

Full details for ANTHR 7920 - Independent Study: Grad II

Independent reading course in topics not covered in regularly scheduled courses. Students select a topic in consultation with the faculty member who has agreed to supervise the course work.

Full details for ANTHR 7930 - Independent Study: Grad III

A broad introduction to archaeology-the study of material remains to answer questions about the human past. Case studies highlight the variability of ancient societies and illustrate the varied methods and interpretive frameworks archaeologists use to reconstruct them. This course can serve as a platform for both archaeology and anthropology undergraduate majors.

Full details for ARKEO 1200 - Ancient Peoples and Places

This introductory course surveys archaeology's contributions to the study of American Indian cultural diversity and change in North America north of Mexico. Lectures and readings will examine topics ranging from the debate over when the continent was first inhabited to present-day conflicts between Native Americans and archaeologists over excavation and the interpretation of the past. We will review important archaeological sites such as Chaco Canyon, Cahokia, Lamoka Lake, and the Little Bighorn battlefield. A principal focus will be on major transformations in lifeways such as the adoption of agriculture, the development of political-economic hierarchies, and the disruptions that accompanied the arrival of Europeans to the continent.

Full details for ARKEO 2235 - Archaeology of North American Indians

The history of humankind is also a history of health and disease; the rise of agricultural societies, ancient cities, and colonial empires had wide-ranging effects on diet and nutrition, the spread of infectious diseases, and occurrence of other health conditions. This history has also been shaped by complex interactions between environment, technology, and society. Using archaeological, environmental, textual, and skeletal evidence, we will survey major epidemiological transitions from the Paleolithic to the age of European conquest. We will also examine diverse cultural experiences of health, illness, and the body. How do medical practices from "pre-modern" societies, such as the medieval Islamic world and the Inca Empire, challenge dominant narratives of scientific development? The implications of past health patterns for modern-day communities will also be explored.

Full details for ARKEO 2245 - Health and Disease in the Ancient World

The emergence of what has come to be called "civilization" marks a profound transformation in human culture, society, politics, economy, and psychology. The first civlizations have been variously described as the point of origin for artistic achievement and the genesis of social struggle, a victory over the state of nature and the source of human neurosis, the genealogical root of social inequality and the foundation for the rule of law. In this course we will examine the rise and fall of ancient "civilizations" at the same time as we interrogate the rise and fall of the concept of civilization itself in modern historical thought. Our primary focus will be a comparative archaeological examination of five pivotal case studies of early civilization: Mesopotamia (Sumer), Egypt, China, the Indus Valley, and the Maya lowlands. Alongside our explorations of these early civilizations, we will undertake a critical examination of current key issues in political anthropology, including the nature of kingship, the origins of cities, and the role of coercion in the formation of early polities. The course will examine the spread of "civilization", including the development of "secondary states", early empires, and the first world systems. We will conclude the class wth an examination of the concept of civilization itself, its historical roots and its current prominence in geopolitical thinking and policy making. The goal of the class is to provide students with an understanding of the nature of the world's first civilizations and the potency of their contemporary legacy.

Full details for ARKEO 2430 - The Rise and Fall of Civilization

Urban archaeologists study American Indian, colonial, and 19th-century sties that now lie within the boundaries of modern cities. The course explores how urban centers evolve, what lies beneath today's cities, and how various cultures have altered the urban landscape. Students participate in a local, historical archaeological excavation.

Full details for ARKEO 2610 - Fieldwork in Urban Archaeology

Various American Indian civilizations and European cultures have altered the landscape to meet the needs of their cultures. Students learn how to interpret the Euro-American landscapes of a buried village excavated by Cornell students.  The students will identify and date artifacts, stud soil samples, and create site maps.

Full details for ARKEO 2620 - Laboratory in Landscape Archaeology

A survey of the history and development of ships and seafaring as revealed by shipwrecks, boat burials, texts, art, and other evidence. The role of nautical technology and seafaring among the maritime peoples of the ancient Mediterranean world-Canaanites, Minoans, Mycenaeans, Phoenicians, Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans-and the riverine cultures of Mesopotamia and Egypt is addressed. The survey stretches from the earliest evidence for Mediterranean seafaring around 10,000 bce to the first transatlantic voyages in the 15th century, including Arab, Viking, and European explorers, and the birth of modern capitalism in the Italian Maritime Republics. Along the way, economics, war, exploration, cult, life at sea, and colonization are discussed.

Full details for ARKEO 2661 - Ancient Ships and Seafaring: Introduction to Nautical Archaeology

What is the origin of the Olympic games? Why are the most famous Greek vases found in Italy? What was the "worlds' first computer" used for? What can a brick tell us about still standing Roman buildings? This course on the art and archaeology of ancient Greece and Rome will address all these questions. Covering the time span from the Bronze Age (3rd millennium BCE) to the time of Constantine the Great (4th century CE), the class will focus on one object or monument per lecture and how it can be considered exemplary for its time. Students learn about and practice different ways of how to look at and analyze material evidence.

Full details for ARKEO 2700 - Introduction to the Classical World in 24 Objects

Undergraduate students pursue topics of particular interest under the guidance of a faculty member.

Full details for ARKEO 3000 - Undergraduate Independent Study in Archaeology and Related Fields

Introduction and training in dendrochronology and its application to archaeology, art history, and environment through participation in a research project dating ancient to modern tree-ring samples especially from the Mediterranean. Supervised reading and laboratory/project work. A possibility exists for summer fieldwork in the Mediterranean.

Full details for ARKEO 3090 - Introduction to Dendrochronology

This course introduces students to the arts of the ancient Americas from circa 2000 BC to the Spanish invasions of the 15th and 16th centuries. The inhabitants of the Americas produced outstanding works of art and architecture that showcased their diverse aesthetic contributions.  This course covers the arts of indigenous Mesoamerica (Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and Honduras), the Caribbean (Cuba, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, and the Greater and Lesser Antilles), and Andean South America (Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Chile).  Students will become familiar with the history, archaeology, and visual arts of the earliest cultures that populated these regions up through the Inca, Aztec, and Maya cultures that encountered the Spaniards.  This course will also explore the legacies of pre-Columbian art in colonial, modern, and contemporary Latin America.

Full details for ARKEO 3566 - Art and Architecture of the Pre-Columbian Americas

This course examines the art and architecture of the Inca Empire (ca. 1438-1532), the largest indigenous empire in the Americas prior to the Spanish conquest. The first half of the course explores architecture, monuments, and portable arts from Cuzco, the capital of the empire, as well as smaller coastal and highland cities, to understand the complexities of Inca imperial aesthetics and their role in the administration of nearly 10 million inhabitants along the Andes mountain chain of South America. The second half of the course examines artistic production in modern-day Peru, Bolivia, and Chile during the period of Spanish colonial rule (1532-1824). Special attention will be given to the visual codification of collective memories of the Incas during the post-conquest era.

Full details for ARKEO 4162 - The Inca Empire and its Colonial Legacies

This course is an exploration of Maya understandings of their own history as it is reflected in ancient texts. We will begin by looking at episodes in Colonial and recent history to illustrate some of the ways Maya thinking about history may differ from more familiar genres. We will then review basic aspects of precolumbian Maya writing, but we will focus mainly on analyzing texts from one or more Classic period Maya cities.

Full details for ARKEO 4216 - Maya History

Critical approaches to embodiment compel bioarchaeologists to consider how social norms and institutional inequalities are enacted and materialized through the body. This course contributes a deep archaeological perspective on the lived experience of inequality and the historically contingent nature of sexuality, gender, and violence. Drawing upon the study of human skeletons, social theory, and a rich comparative literature in cultural anthropology, we will "put flesh on the bones" and explore topics such as body modification and mutilation; masculinity and performative violence; sexuality and 'third gender'; and sickness and suffering in past societies. We will not only consider privilege and marginalization in lived experience, but also in death, examining how unequal social relationships are reproduced when the dead body is colonized as an object of study.

Full details for ARKEO 4227 - Embodiment of Inequality: A Bioarchaeological Perspective

Fall 18 topic: Archaeology of the Roman Provinces: Art and Archaeology of the Roman provinces as a 'sub-field' of Roman Archaeology has only recently gained traction in US academia, whereas in many European countries it still provides master narratives for national(ist) histories. Yet, in the wake of post-colonialism, the Roman provinces have proven fertile ground for more critical and theoretically informed archaeologies and art histories. What still needs more attention is the connectivity across provinces. The seminar therefore adopts a deliberately decentralized perspective. In looking at landscapes; infra-structure; production sites; military camps; the country side; urban centers; the material culture of domestic life and of the funerary realm, of religion, of gender and ethnicity we will emphasize interaction beyond or evading Rome. Rather than offering a systematic overview, the seminar proposes several lines of inquiry. Their main purpose is to interrogate the validity of several boundaries (geographical, methodological, theoretical, historiographical and institutional) that continue to define the field.

Full details for ARKEO 4233 - Greek and Roman Art and Archaeology

This is a hands-on laboratory course in zooarchaeological method: the study of animal bones from archaeological sites. It is designed to provide students with a basic grounding in identification of body part and taxon, aging and sexing, pathologies, taphonomy, and human modification. We will deal only with mammals larger than squirrels. While we will work on animal bones from prehistoric Europe, most of these skills are easily transferable to the fauna of other areas, especially North America. This is an intensive course that emphasizes laboratory skills in a realistic setting. You will analyze an assemblage of actual archaeological bones. It is highly recommended that students also take the course in Zooarchaeological Interpretation (ANTHR 4264/ARKEO 4264) offered in the spring.

Full details for ARKEO 4263 - Zooarchaeological Method

This seminar uses archaeology to examine engagements between settlers and indigenous peoples throughout world history. Archaeology provides a perspective on settler-indigenous encounters that both supplements and challenges conventional models.  We will assess the strengths and weaknesses of various theories of cultural engagement, examine methodologies, and explore a series of archaeological case studies, using examples from both the ancient world and the European expansion over the past 600 years. The seminar provides a comparative perspective on indigenous-colonial relationships, in particular exploring the hard-fought spaces of relative autonomy created and sustained by indigenous peoples. 

Full details for ARKEO 4272 - Archaeology of Colonialism and Cultural Entanglement

Independent work under the close guidance of a faculty member.

Full details for ARKEO 4981 - Honors Thesis Research

The student, under faculty direction, will prepare a senior thesis.

Full details for ARKEO 4982 - Honors Thesis Write-Up

Graduate students pursue advanced topics of particular interest under the guidance of a faculty member(s).

Full details for ARKEO 6000 - Graduate Independent Study in Archaeology

This course engages students in Archaeology and related fields in a semester-long discussion of the craft of archaeology with the faculty of the Cornell Institute of Archaeology and Material Studies. Each week, a different faculty member will moderate a conversation on the professional skills vital to the modern practice of archaeological research and the tools key to professionalization. Seminar topics include developing a research project and working with museum collections to matters of pedagogy and career development.

Full details for ARKEO 6100 - The Craft of Archaeology

This course examines the art and architecture of the Inca Empire (ca. 1438-1532), the largest indigenous empire in the Americas prior to the Spanish conquest. The first half of the course explores architecture, monuments, and portable arts from Cuzco, the capital of the empire, as well as smaller coastal and highland cities, to understand the complexities of Inca imperial aesthetics and their role in the administration of nearly 10 million inhabitants along the Andes mountain chain of South America. The second half of the course examines artistic production in modern-day Peru, Bolivia, and Chile during the period of Spanish colonial rule (1532-1824). Special attention will be given to the visual codification of collective memories of the Incas during the post-conquest era.

Full details for ARKEO 6162 - The Inca Empire and its Colonial Legacies

Topics rotate each semester.  Fall 18 topic: Archaeology of the Roman Provincs.

Full details for ARKEO 6233 - Greek and Roman Art and Archaeology

This course is an exploration of Maya understandings of their own history as it is reflected in ancient texts. We will begin by looking at episodes in Colonial and recent history to illustrate some of the ways Maya thinking about history may differ from more familiar genres. We will then review basic aspects of precolumbian Maya writing, but we will focus mainly on analyzing texts from one or more Classic period Maya cities.

Full details for ARKEO 6256 - Maya History

This course surveys recent developments and current debates in archaeological theory.  This includes the processual/postprocessual debate and contrasts between scientific and humanistic approaches more generally, as well as other approaches (Marxist, feminist, etc.)  We will examine epistemological issues (how do we know about the past?), and will explore how different theoretical approaches have shaped research on key archaeological topics.  We will also discuss ethical concerns and engagement with groups outside archaeology with interests in the past.

Full details for ARKEO 6267 - Contemporary Archaeological Theory

This course explores recent efforts to theorize the materiality of human social, political, and cultural life. We will draw broadly from contemporary works in archaeology, socio-cultural anthropology, art, social thought, media studies, and literary theory to piece together a sense of the conceptual possibilities afforded by analytical engagement with the world of things. We will take the historical dynamics of things as our central concern, navigating between classic and contemporary debates over the social location, physical constitution, and agency of object worlds. Along the way we will take in contemporary arguments for objects as constitutive elements of mind, affect, and order. The goal of the course is to juxtapose the experience, perception, and imagination of objects in order to address critical gaps in our understanding of social life past, present, and future. As the second course in a sequence focused on material theory, this seminar is part of a wider effort to train students to be astute analysts of the material world.

Full details for ARKEO 6402 - Material Theory II: Assemblage & Object

An introduction to the field of Dendrochronology and associated topics with an emphasis on their applications in the field of archaeology and related heritage-buildings fields. Course aimed at graduate level with a focus on critique of scholarship in the field and work on a project as part of the course.

Full details for ARKEO 6755 - Archaeological Dendrochronology

Critical approaches to embodiment compel bioarchaeologists to consider how social norms and institutional inequalities are enacted and materialized through the body. This course contributes a deep archaeological perspective on the lived experience of inequality and the historically contingent nature of sexuality, gender, and violence. Drawing upon the study of human skeletons, social theory, and a rich comparative literature in cultural anthropology, we will "put flesh on the bones" and explore topics such as body modification and mutilation; masculinity and performative violence; sexuality and 'third gender'; and sickness and suffering in past societies. We will not only consider privilege and marginalization in lived experience, but also in death, examining how unequal social relationships are reproduced when the dead body is colonized as an object of study.

Full details for ARKEO 7227 - Embodiment of Inequality: A Bioarchaeological Perspective

This is a hands-on laboratory course in zooarchaeological method: the study of animal bones from archaeological sites.  It is designed to provide students with a basic grounding in identification of body part and taxon, aging and sexing, pathologies, taphonomy, and human modification.  The course will deal only with mammals larger than squirrels.  While students will work on animal bones from prehistoric Europe, most of these skills are easily transferable to the fauna of other areas, especially North America.  This is an intensive course that emphasizes laboratory skills in a realistic setting.  Students will analyze an assemblage of actual archaeological bones.  It is highly recommended that students also take the course in Zooarchaeological Interpretation (ANTHR 7264/ARKEO 7264) offered in the spring.

Full details for ARKEO 7263 - Zooarchaeological Method

This seminar uses archaeology to examine engagements between settlers and indigenous peoples throughout world history. Archaeology provides a perspective on settler-indigenous encounters that both supplements and challenges conventional models.  We will assess the strengths and weaknesses of various theories of cultural engagement, examine methodologies, and explore a series of archaeological case studies, using examples from both the ancient world and the European expansion over the past 600 years. The seminar provides a comparative perspective on indigenous-colonial relationships, in particular exploring the hard-fought spaces of relative autonomy created and sustained by indigenous peoples. 

Full details for ARKEO 7272 - Archaeology of Colonialism and Cultural Entanglement

Students, working individually with faculty member(s), prepare a master's thesis in archaeology.

Full details for ARKEO 8901 - Master's Thesis