Undergraduate courses
ANTH F100X Individual, Society and Culture (s) Offered each semester
An examination of the complex social arrangements guiding individual behavior and
common human concerns in contrasting cultural contexts. Prerequisites: Placement in
ENGL F111X or higher or permission of instructor. (3+0)
ANTH F101 Introduction to Anthropology (s) Offered As Demand Warrants
Human societies and cultures based on the findings of the four subfields of the discipline:
archaeological, biological, cultural and linguistic. Also available via eLearning
and Distance Education. (3+0)
ANTH F111 Ancient Civilizations (s) Offered Fall
Major civilizations of the Old and New World from a comparative, anthropological
perspective. Antecedents and influences of these civilizations on their neighbors.
Economics, science, religion and social organization of these civilizations. (3+0)
ANTH F211 Fundamentals of Archaeology (s) Offered Fall
Methods and techniques of archaeological field and laboratory research. (2+3)
ANTH F214 World Prehistory (s) Offered Spring Even-numbered Years
Explores the archaeological evidence from the Old and New Worlds for the development
of human culture, from the very beginning of humankind to the rise of ancient urban
societies. Prerequisites: ANTH F100X or ANTH F111 or ANTH F211 or permission of instructor.
(3+0)
ANTH F215 Fundamentals of Social/Cultural Anthropology (s) Offered Spring
Introduction to the basic concepts, subfields and techniques of social/cultural anthropology.
Includes non-Western and Western ethnographic topics, and discussion of career options.
Recommended: ANTH F211. (3+0)
ANTH F221 Fundamentals of Biological Anthropology Offered Fall
Survey of genetics, evolutionary mechanisms, adaptation, primate studies, the human
fossil record and human variation. Provides a basic understanding of humans from a
biological, evolutionary and temporal perspective. (3+0)
ANTH F223 Fundamentals of Sociolinguistics Offered As Demand Warrants
This course is an introduction to the concepts and methods of linguistic anthropology
and sociolinguistics, including language variation and dialectology, language change,
social interaction, social networking and media, ways of speaking, semiotics, language
in sociocultural institutions, and ideologies of language. Prerequisites: ANTH F100X
or LING F101. Cross-listed with LING F223. (3+0)
ANTH F225 Anthropology and Race (s) Offered Spring Even-numbered Years
This course introduces students to important scholarly and practical concepts in
the study of "race" and racism historically across cultures. It builds upon the important
contributions of four-field anthropological practice to our understanding of the ways
societies have constructed racial categories and meanings and deployed racialized
hierarchies. Students will read a variety of basic materials in linguistics, biological
anthropology, ethnology, and archaeology. This course is part of the anthropology
BS and BA degree and provides foundational concepts for further study in the field
of anthropology. Prerequisites: ANTH F100X. (3+0)
ANTH F230 The Oral Tradition: Folklore and Oral History (h) Offered As Demand Warrants
Study and collection of folklore and oral history. Importance of oral tradition in
human communication and the advantages and disadvantages of recording and studying
it. Sociocultural anthropology and anthropological linguistics in relation to oral
traditions. Methods of folklorists, historians and academicians. Field project required.
(3+0)
ANTH F242 Native Cultures of Alaska (s)(a)
The traditional Aleut, Eskimo and Indian (Athabascan and Tlingit) cultures of Alaska.
Eskimo and Indian cultures in Canada. Linguistic and cultural groupings, population
changes, subsistence patterns, social organization and religion in terms of local
ecology. Pre-contact interaction between groups. Also available via eLearning and
Distance Education. Cross-listed with ANS F242. (3+0)
ANTH F245 Culture and Global Issues (s) Offered As Demand Warrants
Introduces students to the anthropological study of globalization and global issues
including the deterritorialization of culture, global social movements, culture and
capital, immigration and culture, and modern and postmodern approaches to the study
of culture and society. Begins with the history of global ethnography, but focuses
primarily on contemporary issues. Prerequisites: ANTH F100X. (3+0)
ANTH F260 Language in Culture and Communication Offered Fall Odd-numbered Years; As Demand Warrants
An introduction to the study of the language and culture nexus. Questions addressed
include: How does the language you speak affect how you think and view the world?
How do ways of speaking structure culture? What do we know about how human language
evolved? How does language encode cultural meaning? Topics may include linguistic
relativity, ethnography of communication, interactional sociolinguistics, writing
systems and ritual language. Prerequisites: ANTH F100X; or ANTH F101X; or ANTH F215;
or SOC F101X; or LING F101X. Cross-listed with LING F260. (3+0)
ANTH F301 World Ethnography (s) Offered Spring Even-numbered Years
Survey of ethnographic research on peoples and cultures of selected geographic regions
of the world, in both historical and contemporary perspective. Content of the course
varies and is contingent on available faculty expertise. Course may be repeated once
for credit when content varies. Prerequisites: ANTH F100X or permission of instructor.
(3+0)
ANTH F302 Siberia: Past, Present, Future (s)(a) Spring Even-numbered Years
Survey of anthropological research on peoples and cultures of Siberia, including
the Russian Far East. This includes sections on prehistory and colonial history of
the region, as well as a major focus on contemporary lives and future prospects. While
the emphasis is on the indigenous peoples of Siberia, settler populations will be
discussed as well. Prerequisites: ANTH F100X or permission of instructor. (3+0)
ANTH F308 W,O Language and Gender (s) Offered Fall Odd-numbered Years
Examination of relationships between language and gender, drawing on both ethnographic
and linguistic sources. Topics include power, socialization and sexism. Prerequisites:
COMM F131X or COMM F141X; ENGL F111X; ENGL F211X or ENGL F213X or permission of instructor.
Cross-listed with LING F308; WGS F308. (3+0)
ANTH F309 Circumpolar Archaeology (s)(a) Offered Fall Odd-numbered Years
Archaeology of the circumpolar world from initial occupations through the historic
period. Cultural and chronological variability in human adaptation to high latitudes.
Causes and consequences of population movement, environmental change and cultural
interaction in the Old and New World, as understood through archaeology. Prerequisites:
Permission of instructor. (3+0)
ANTH F315 Human Variation (n) Offered Spring Even-numbered Years
Biology of recent and modern human populations, including systematics, behavior,
ecology and inter- and intrapopulation genetic and morphological variations. Human
adaptations to heat, cold, high altitudes and changing nutritional and disease patterns.
Human skeletal biology, including metrical and non-metrical variation, aging and sexing
skeletal remains, and paleopathology. Prerequisites: ANTH F221 or BIOL F103X. (2+3)
ANTH F317 Human Growth and Development Offered As Demand Warrants
Life-span approach to physiological (and cognitive) growth and development in fossil
through modern humans. Begins with a summary of human biology and genetics. Proceeds
through major phases in life: prenatal, infancy, childhood, adolescence, adult and
old age. Includes detailed soft and hard tissue developments in these phases of life.
Prerequisites: ANTH F221. (3+0)
ANTH F320 W Language and Culture in Alaska (s)(a) Offered Alternate Spring
Course surveys relationships between language, culture, and society with a special
focus on the languages and cultures of Alaska. We review the study of linguistic anthropology,
consider cultural variation in the socialization to language, multilingualism, language
change, language shift, cultural variation in conversational practices and relationships
between language and identity (gender, ethnicity, nationalism). Prerequisites: ENGL
F111X; ENGL F211X or ENGL F213X; LING F101; or permission of instructor. Cross-listed
with ANS F320. (3+0)
ANTH F365 W Native Art of Alaska (h)(a) Offered Fall
Art forms of the Eskimo, Indian and Aleut from prehistory to the present. Changes
in forms through the centuries. Prerequisites: Advanced standing or permission of
instructor. Cross-listed with ANS F365; ART F365. (3+0)
ANTH F383 Athabascan Peoples of Alaska and Adjacent Canada (s) Offered Fall Even-numbered Years
Contemporary conditions and traditional heritage of the Athabascan populations of
Alaska and Canada. Impact of Euroamericans on these populations and cultures. Prerequisites:
ANTH F242 or permission of instructor. (3+0)
ANTH F384 History of Anthropology Offered Fall
Major theoretical approaches in anthropology chronologically from formulation of
the discipline of anthropology to current theory. Nature of the discipline, its goals
and methods, and the relevance of theoretical perspectives to interpretations in anthropology.
Prerequisites: ANTH F215 or permission of instructor. (3+0)
ANTH F403 W,O Political Anthropology (s) Offered Spring Odd-numbered Years
Political systems and the law. Case studies from nonindustrial societies, developing
nations and parapolitical systems or encapsulated societies, such as Native peoples
in the U.S. Political structures and institutions; social conflict, dispute settlement,
social control and the law, political competition over critical resources; and ethnicity.
Prerequisites: ANTH F215; COMM F131X or COMM F141X; ENGL F111X; ENGL F211X or ENGL
F213X; or permission of instructor. Stacked with ANTH F603. (3+0)
ANTH F405 W Archaeological Method and Theory (s) Offered Spring Even-numbered Years
Archaeological methods and analysis as the framework for different perspectives in
archaeology. Application to specific research problems. Prerequisites: ANTH F211;
ENGL F111X; ENGL F211X; or ENGL F213X. Stacked with ANTH F605. (3+0)
ANTH F407 Kinship and Social Organization (s) Offered Spring Even-numbered Years
Forms of relatedness in diverse sociocultural systems. Principles of organizing individuals
into social groups and roles. Forms and functions of family, marriage, incest taboo
around the world. Classical and new approaches to the study of kinship; alliance theory,
symbolic kinship, kinship and gender, the substance of kinship, kinship and biotechnology.
Prerequisites: ANTH F215 or permission of instructor. Stacked with ANTH F607. (3+0)
ANTH F409 Anthropology of Religion (s) Offered Fall Odd-numbered Years
Religion or supernatural belief from the perspective of anthropology. Religion in
the context of circumpolar societies as well as a global phenomenon. Religious practitioners,
ritual, belief systems and the relationship of religious phenomena to other aspects
of social life. New relational and cognitive approaches to the study of religion.
Prerequisites: ANTH F100X; ANTH F215; or permission of instructor. Stacked with ANTH
F609. (3+0)
ANTH F411 O Senior Seminar in Anthropology (s) Offered Spring
The integrated nature of anthropological inquiry. Includes a four-field approach
to anthropology in a discussion-intensive setting. Student may focus on an interdisciplinary
theme or a topic other than their own specialization. Prerequisites: COMM F131X or
COMM F141X, Anthropology major with senior standing, or permission of instructor.
(3+0)
ANTH F412 Human-Environment Research Methods Offered Spring
Overview of qualitative and quantitative social science methods for studying human-environment
relationships. Introduction to research ethics, research design, data collection,
data analysis and data reporting. Methods and data analysis techniques include interviews,
text analysis, surveys, scales, cognitive anthropology and ethnoecology, social networks,
behavioral observation, and visual methods. Provides hands-on training in data collection
and data analysis software. Prerequisites: FISH 411; junior or senior standing; or
permission of instructor. Cross-listed with ANTH F412. (3+0)
ANTH F415 Zooarchaeology and Taphonomy Offered Fall Even-numbered Years
Identification of bones, how vertebrate bone remains may be used to study archaeological
site formation processes, site organization, subsistence practices and animal procurement
strategies. Preservation in modern depositional environments, paleoecology, vertebrate
mortality profiles and demographic structure, site seasonality, bone breakage, taphonomy
and faunal remains, and human land use practices. (2+3)
ANTH F422 Human Osteology Offered Fall Even-numbered years
Human skeletal analysis: bone biology, skeletal anatomy, aging and sexing, metric
and non-metric traits of skeleton and dentition, paleopathology and paleodemography.
Inferences on genetic relationships between and patterned behavior within prehistoric
groups derived from skeletal material. Prerequisites: ANTH F221 or permission of instructor.
Stacked with ANTH F625. (0+0)
ANTH F423 Human Origins Offered Spring Odd-numbered Years
Analysis of the Plio-Pleistocene hominid fossil record, including comparative primate
and hominid skeletal and dental anatomy, systematics, taphonomy and long-term biobehavioral
adaptations. Prerequisites: ANTH F212 or ANTH F221 or permission of instructor. Stacked
with ANTH F623. (2+3)
ANTH F424 Analytical Techniques Offered Fall Even-numbered Years
Classification, sampling, collection and analysis of anthropological data: parametric
and nonparametric significance tests and measures of association, analysis of frequency
data, estimating resemblance using multiple variables, computer simulations and analysis.
Prerequisites: ANTH F211 or ANTH F221; any college level mathematics course; or permission
of instructor. Stacked with ANTH F624. (3+0)
ANTH F426 Bioarchaeology Offered Spring Even-numbered Years
Innovative methods for studying past interactions between biological and cultural
factors, as revealed through human and faunal skeletal and plant remains. From these
data sources, health, diet, social organization and interactions and life histories
of past populations, as well as the environments in which they lived, are reconstructed
and examined. Prerequisites: ANTH F211 or equivalent; ANTH F221. Stacked with ANTH
F626. (3+0)
ANTH F428 Ecological Anthropology and Regional Sustainability (a) Offered Spring Even-numbered Years
Biological, environmental and cultural factors and their interplay in defining the
human condition, with examples from the Arctic and other populations. Prerequisites:
ENGL F111X; ENGL F211X or ENGL F213X; junior standing; or permission of instructor.
(3+0)
ANTH F432 Field Methods in Descriptive Linguistics (h) Offered Fall Odd-numbered Years
Introduction to general issues in language field work and to issues specific to working
with little studied and/or endangered languages in particular. Focus on introduction
to writing systems, making recordings, computers and transcriptions, planning consultant
sessions, working with consultants, interviewing and ethics in the field. Projects
include making transcriptions of familiar language, and later, working on unfamiliar
language with a language consultant, selecting and carrying out a well-defined project,
resulting in a term paper. Prerequisites: LING F318; LING F320; or permission of instructor.
Cross-listed with LING F431. (3+0)
ANTH F434 Field Methods in Descriptive Linguistics II Offered Spring Even-numbered Years
Second semester of Field Methods sequence. Plan a linguistic field project, including
field trip, caring for equipment, data handling, community contacts, intellectual
property and repatriation. Course work includes lectures and group elicitation with
a speaker of a non-Indo-European language. Projects may involve either the traditional
field work involving finding and working with a consultant, or work involving research
in archival materials on languages no longer spoken. Prerequisites: LING F431 or ANTH
F432. Cross-listed with LING F434. (3+0)
ANTH F445 Gender in Cross-Cultural Perspective (s) Offered Spring Even-numbered Years
Gender as both cultural construction and social relationship is examined through
readings in comparative ethnographies portraying gender roles in a broad variety of
societies, from hunter-gatherer to industrial. New theoretical and methodological
approaches in anthropology for exploring and understanding the experiences of women
and men in their cultural variety are presented Prerequisites: ANTH F215 or WGS F201
or permission of instructor. Cross-listed with WGS F445. (3+0)
ANTH F446 Economic Anthropology (s) Offered Fall Even-numbered Years
Relationships between economic and other social relations. Pre-industrial societies.
Relevance of formal economics to small-scale societies and developing nations. Exchange,
formal and substantive economics, market economics, rationality, political economy
and the economics of development. Prerequisites: A cultural anthropology class or
permission of instructor. Stacked with ANTH F646. (3+0)
ANTH F451 Quaternary Seminar Offered As Demand Warrants
Discussion of the Quaternary Period (relatively recent past -- spanning the past
two million years) in order to gain a better understanding of the landscape, biota
and climate of the present day. Quaternary studies are concerned with the historical
dimension of the natural sciences. This seminar will range widely over diverse interdisciplinary
subjects of Quaternary interest, such as paleoclimatology, paleobiogeography, vertebrate
paleontology, and sedimentology. Prerequisites: GEOS F315; GEOS F304; GEOS F322. Cross-listed
with GEOS F452. (3+0)
ANTH F460 Cross-Cultural Filmmaking (h) Offered Fall Odd-numbered Years
The use of film as a documentary tool for describing and understanding scientific
and cultural phenomenon has led to the education of generations. Understanding the
implications of our film work with a theoretical base for cultural understanding,
scientific need and educational potentials will strengthen the film's integrity and
production methods in creating video documents useful as a scientific/cultural record.
Pre- production will include research of archival visual media, oral histories and
print materials; analysis of educational and scientific funding and distribution options
and preliminary interviews, location scouting and film treatment. Production will
include time on location with small film crews, media logging and record keeping.
Post- production will include basic editing of sequences for distribution. Special
fees apply. Prerequisites: Junior, senior or graduate standing or permission of instructor.
Cross-listed with ART F460 and FLM F460. (3+0)
ANTH F465 Geoarchaeology (a) Offered As Demand Warrants
Geological context of archaeological sites and the geologic factors that affect their
preservation, with emphasis on Alaska. Includes a one or two-day weekend field trip
in late April or early May. Special fees apply. Prerequisites: GEOS F101X, an introductory
course in archaeology, or permission of instructor. Cross-listed with GEOS F465. (3+0)
ANTH F470 Oral Sources: Issues in Documentation (h) Offered Alternate Fall
Preparation for recording and use of oral resources. Examines how meaning is conveyed
through oral traditions and personal narratives and the issues involved with recording
and reproducing narratives. Includes management of oral recordings, ethical and legal
considerations, issues of interpretation and censorship, and the use of new technologies
to access and deliver recordings. Prerequisites: At least one undergraduate ANTH course
and one undergraduate HIST course, or permission of instructor. Cross-listed with
NORS F470. (3+0)
ANTH F472 Culture and History in the North Atlantic (s) Offered Spring Odd-numbered Years
Ancient Norse culture and society. Includes readings of Old Norse poetry and Icelandic
sagas in translation, with secondary analyses and archaeological background. Includes
Greenlandic myths and contemporary ethnographic accounts of Iceland, Greenland and
the Faroe Islands. Prerequisites: ANTH F100X. Recommended: ANTH F215. (3+0)