Anthropology

Human evolution has been driven by the complex interplay of environmental factors, cultural technologies, and biological adaptations. In this class and its associated laboratory section, we will provide a brief introduction to the diverse methods that researchers have developed to study these interactions, with an emphasis on the relationship between culture and biology. Students will learn basic evolutionary theory, examine humans and our relationship to living and extinct primates, explore the concept of race and human biological variation, and introduce modern applications of biological anthropology including forensics, epidemiology, and medical anthropology. 

What is a border? How do lines, real or imaginary, bring us together or divide us? What happens to those who don’t fit comfortably on one side or the other, but rather inhabit the space of the border itself? This class will examine how boundaries–racial, ethnic, linguistic, socioeconomic, scientific, sexual, and otherwise–are constructed, maintained, crossed, challenged, and lived within. Not repeatable for credit.

For over a century, anthropology in the United States has been founded on the twin principles of scientific objectivity and humanitarian equality. Anthropology has championed the fundamental equality and unity of all humans, even when politicians, the law, and mainstream society maintained segregation and inequality. Nonetheless, the role of anthropology as a discipline that “speaks for” marginalized groups is ambiguous. In this course, students will explore, reflect on, and debate the potential for anthropological research (and social science research broadly) to promote greater social justice. Not repeatable for credit.

Consuming food is at once a biological necessity and a deeply socially charged event. Every calorie we consume is the result of our or someone else's labor. This fact means that what we choose to eat, whom we eat it with, how we eat it and the social contexts where we eat carry economic, political, social, or even religious significance. In this class we take an anthropological perspective on the consumption of food, alcohol and psychoactive substances to explore the ways that humanity has constituted itself through patterns of food consumption. We will explore the role of food in our biological evolution, in our historical trajectory and in our current lived experiences in a globally interconnected world. 

Medical anthropology is the study of how health and illness are perceived and experienced by individuals and groups based on their cultural, historical and political trajectories. It has profound relevance for health professionals and researchers of disease and illness in diagnosing and treating patients across the world. This course provides an overview of the intersection of health, culture, and socio-economic power and the ways that health and illness are constructed cross-culturally. 

This course provides a cross-cultural introduction to diverse forms of knowledge and ways of knowing, focusing on indigenous peoples of America. Our inquiry is guided by three sets of questions: What are indigenous knowledge frameworks and how can we understand them on their own terms? Why are some forms of knowledge viewed as legitimate or even universal, while others are marginalized? How are individuals and groups negotiating and translating indigenous and western forms of knowledge? Not repeatable for credit.

In this laboratory course, students will learn the basics of forensic identification and interpretations of human skeletal materials within a medico-legal framework. Students will learn basic skeletal and dental analysis, the estimation of age, sex, stature, and ancestry from recovered materials, the identification of trauma and pathology, and forensic recovery techniques. Finally, this course will examine the legal responsibilities of forensic anthropology and its contributions to criminal investigations. 

This course introduces the laws and practice of Cultural Resource Management ( CRM) within an archaeological framework. Students will learn federal legislation governing archaeology in the United States and how to conduct CRM archaeological investigations, including submitting project proposals, community engagement, and the evaluation of ethical concerns in the field. 

This course offers a brief overview of the social and cultural history of the prehistoric and pro to-historic periods of the Middle East. We will examine the principal research questions that have guided archaeological work in the region and how archaeologists and other scholars have attempted to answer them. In addition to the archaeological evidence, we will consider the relationship between the study of the past and the implications that it carries in the present. 

In this course, students will learn the basics of artifact analysis across key classes of archaeological materials. This includes the provenience of raw materials, production techniques, intended function, and patterns of use and reuse. Key artifact classes examined include chipped stone tools, ceramics, ground stone tools, metal artifacts, and organic materials. 

This course is a practicum in archaeological survey and excavation methods designed to prepare students for a career in archaeology. Students will learn how to establish a survey grid and conduct surface and subsurface surveys to determine archaeological site locations. They will also learn basic excavation methods and site documentation following both Arkansas and federal standards. Additionally, students will learn basic processing techniques and Geographic Information Sciences skills for site analysis and presentation. 

Focused research project on a selected topic.