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1996-97 UAF Catalog

Course Descriptions


Degrees and Programs Index


Anthropology


ANTH 100X (3 Credits) Fall, Spring
Individual, Society and Culture (3+0) s
An examination of the complex social arrangements guiding individual behavior and common human concerns in contrasting cultural contexts. Materials fee: $5.00.


ANTH 101 (3 Credits) As Demand Warrants
Introduction to Anthropology (3+0) s
Human societies and cultures based on the findings of the four subfields of the discipline: archaeological, biological, cultural and linguistic. Also available via Independent Learning. Materials fee: $10.00.


ANTH 103 (3 Credits) Fall
Human Evolution and World Prehistory (3+0) n
Human evolution and cultural development on a global basis. Methods, concepts and theories which serve as the scientific foundation for archaeology and physical anthropology. Materials fee: $5.00.


ANTH 104 (3 Credits) Spring
Social/Cultural Anthropology (3+0) s
Basic concepts and principles underlying anthropological study of society and culture. Emphasis on non-western ethnographic context. Open to majors and non-majors. Materials fee: $5.00. (Next offered: 1997-98.)


ANTH 105 (1 Credit) As Demand Warrants
Introduction to the History and Culture of the Seward Peninsula (1+0)
(Same as HIST 105)

Cultural history of the Seward Peninsula peoples for the last 10,000 years using physical anthropology, ethnography, ethnohistory, linguistics, archaeology, ecology and climatology. Eskimo and Euroamerican cultures which have existed in western Alaska. Materials fee: $5.00.


ANTH 111 (3 Credits) Alternate Spring
Ancient Civilizations (3+0) s
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. (Next offered: 1997-98.)


ANTH 123 (3 Credits) As Demand Warrants
Origins of Alaska's Native Peoples (3+0) s
Origins and affinities of native Alaskan peoples from an archaeological perspective. Prehistory examination of Yup'ik, Inupiaq, Aleut, Tlingit, and Athabaskan groups.


ANTH 210 (3 Credits) Alternate Spring
New World Prehistory (3+0) s
Culture history of native Americans from earliest times (excluding Alaska and Canada) including those in Mexican and Peruvian states. Materials fee: $5.00. (Prerequisite: ANTH 103 or 211 or permission of instructor. Next offered: 1996-97.)


ANTH 211 (3 Credits) Alternate Fall
Fundamentals of Archaeology (2+3) s
Methods and techniques of archaeological field and laboratory research. Materials fee: $10.00. (Prerequisite: ANTH 103. Next offered: 1997-98.)


ANTH 212 (3 Credits) Alternate Spring
Old World Prehistory (3+0) s
The archaeological record for the development of human culture from the very beginnings of humankind to the rise of civilization. Materials fee: $5.00. (Prerequisites: ANTH 103 or 211 or permission of instructor. Next offered: 1997-98.)


ANTH 230 (3 Credits) Fall
The Oral Tradition: Folklore and Oral History (3+0) h
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. Materials fee: $5.00. (Prerequisite: ANTH 104.)


ANTH 242 (3 Credits) Fall, Spring
Native Cultures of Alaska (3+0) s
(Same as ANS 242)

The traditional Aleut, Eskimo, and Indian (Athabaskan 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. Precontact interaction between groups. Also available via Independent Learning. Materials fee: $15.00


ANTH 250 (2 Credits) As Demand Warrants
Archaeological Laboratory Techniques (1+3)
Archaeological laboratory procedures including lithic analysis and lithic tool typology. Examination of collections from several early man sites in Alaska. Research problems pertaining to those collections. Materials fee: $5.00. (Prerequisite: Permission of instructor.)


ANTH 301 (3 Credits) As Demand Warrants
World Ethnography (3+0) s
Cultural heritage, social systems, modes of economic adaptation and culture change for human populations in major geographic regions of the world. Culture areas covered different semesters are contingent on available faculty expertise. Course may be repeated for credit when content varies. Materials fee: $5.00. (Prerequisites: ANTH 104 and junior standing or permission of instructor.)


ANTH 302 (3 Credits) Alternate Fall
Anthropology of Siberia (3+0) s
Native cultures of Siberia including the Russian Far East. Information from all subfields of anthropology covered with emphasis on contemporary perspectives. (Prerequisite: ANTH 103 or 104 or permission of instructor. Next offered: 1996-97.)


ANTH 303 (3 Credits) Alternate Spring
Gender in a Cross-Cultural Perspective (3+0) s
(Same as WMS 303)

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 women's experiences in their cultural variety are presented. Materials fee: $5.00. (Next offered: 1997-98.)


ANTH 308 (3 Credits) Alternate Fall
Language and Gender (3+0) s
(Same as LING 308 and WMS 308)

Examination of relationships between language and gender, drawing on both ethnographic and linguistic sources. Topics include power, socialization and sexism. Materials fee: $5.00.


ANTH 309 (3 Credits) Alternate Spring
Arctic Prehistory (3+0) s
Archaeological cultures of the northern regions from the first occupation to the present. Adaptations to changing environments in time and space as seen through past technological and economic systems, as well as settlement patterns. Materials fee: $25.00. (Prerequisite: ANTH 103 or permission of instructor. Next offered: 1997-98.)


ANTH 315 (3 Credits) Alternate Fall
Human Biology (2+3) n
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 nonmetrical variation, aging and sexing skeletal remains, and paleopathology. Materials fee: $10.00. (Prerequisite: ANTH 103 or BIOL 103X. Next offered: 1997-98.)


ANTH 320W (3 Credits) Spring
Language and Culture: Applications to Alaska (3+0) s
(Same as ANS 320)

Language, ethnicity, and their interrelationships. Communicating ethnic identity. Patterns of language use which affect communication between ethnic groups. Applicability of these concepts to Native/non-Native communication patterns. Materials fee: $5.00.


ANTH 321 (3 Credits) As Demand Warrants
Physical Anthropology of the Americas (3+0) n
Anthropology of the peoples of North and South America, including Eskimo, Aleut and Indian populations. Analysis of patterns of biological variation within and between prehistoric and modern human populations. Origins and relationships, microevolutionary processes and trends, and adaptations to climatic, nutritional, disease and demographic stress. Materials fee: $5.00. (Prerequisite: ANTH 315 or permission of instructor.)


ANTH 366 (3 Credits) Alternate Spring
Northwest Coast Indian Art (3+0) h
(Same as ANS 366 and ART 366)

Arts of the Northwest Coast Indians and the place of the art in their culture. (Next offered: 1997-98.)


ANTH 380 (3 Credits) Alternate Fall
The People of Alaskan Southwest: Aleuts, Kodiak Islanders and the Chugach (3+0) s
Cultural heritage and present conditions of Aleuts, including people of the Aleutian archipelago, Kodiak Islanders, people of the Alaska Peninsula and the Chugach of Prince William Sound. Materials fee: $25.00. (Prerequisite: ANTH 242 or permission of instructor. Next offered: 1997-98.)


ANTH 381 (3 Credits) Alternate Spring
The Inupiaq and Yup'ik Peoples (3+0) s
Contemporary conditions and traditional heritage of the Inupiaq and Yup'ik peoples including the impact of Euroamericans on these populations and cultures. Materials fee: $10.00. (Prerequisite: ANTH 242 or permission of instructor. Next offered: 1997-98.)


ANTH 382 (3 Credits) Alternate Spring
The People of Alaskan Southeast (3+0) s
Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian societies in the framework of Northwest Coast culture-area. Impact of Russian penetration and of the historical factors. Materials fee: $15.00. (Prerequisite: ANTH 242 or permission of instructor. Next offered: 1997-98.)


ANTH 383 (3 Credits) Alternate Fall
Athabaskan Peoples of Alaska and Adjacent Canada (3+0) s
Contemporary conditions and traditional heritage of the Athabaskan populations of Alaska and Canada. Impact of Euroamericans on these populations and cultures. Materials fee: $20.00. (Prerequisite: ANTH 242 or permission of instructor. Next offered: 1997-98.)


ANTH 402 (3 Credits) As Demand Warrants
Anthropology of Art (3+0) s
(Same as ART 402 and ANTH 602)

Anthropological study of art in cross-cultural perspective. Social context of art production and use, cross-cultural variations in definition of an artist's role. (Prerequisites: Senior standing or permission of instructor.)


ANTH 403O (3 Credits) Alternate Spring
Political Anthropology (3+0) s
(Same as ANTH 603)

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. Materials fee: $5.00. (Prerequisite: ANTH 104 or permission of instructor. Next offered: 1996-97.)


ANTH 405 (3 Credits) As Demand Warrants
Archaeological Method and Theory (2+3) s
(Same as ANTH 605)

Archaeological methods and analysis as the framework for different perspectives in archaeology. Application to specific research problems. Materials fee: $5.00. (Prerequisite: A course in archaeology or permission of the instructor. Next offered: 1996-97.)


ANTH 407 (3 Credits) Alternate Spring
Kinship and Social Organization (3+0) s
(Same as ANTH 607)

Forms and function of family and household organization, kinship and marriage in diverse human sociocultural systems. Case studies from tribal and complex societies including contemporary United States. Materials fee: $10.00. (Prerequisite: ANTH 104 or permission of instructor. Next offered: 1997-98.)


ANTH 409 (3 Credits) Alternate Fall
Anthropology of Religion (3+0) s
(Same as ANTH 609)

Religion or supernatural belief from the perspective of anthropology. Religion in the context of "primitive" society as well as its role in complex society. Religious practitioners, ritual, belief systems, and the relationship of religious behavior to other aspects of social behavior. Materials fee: $5.00. (Prerequisite: Junior standing or permission of instructor.)


ANTH 410 (3 Credits) Alternate Fall
History of Social/Cultural Anthropology (3+0) s
Major theoretical approaches in cultural/social 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. (Prerequisite: Junior standing or permission of instructor. Next offered: 1997-98.)


ANTH 414 (3 Credits) Alternate Spring
Environmental Archaeology (3+0) n
Quaternary environmental reconstruction through the integration of geological, archaeological, botanical, and zoological data. Materials fee: $5.00. (Prerequisite: A course in archaeology or permission of the instructor.)


ANTH 415 (3 Credits) Alternate Fall
Zooarchaeology and Taphonomy (2+3)
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. Materials fee: $10.00. (Next offered: 1997-98.)


ANTH 418 (3 Credits) Alternate Spring
Historical Archaeology (3+0) s
(Same as ANTH 618)

Historical archaeology of the Americas examines colonial and frontier archaeology as experienced by Euroamericans, in addition to contact and post contact archaeology of Native North Americans. Current perspectives in American historical archaeology, including a review of goals, problem orientation, and the manner in which archaeological and documentary data are used for anthropological interpretation.


ANTH 422 (3 Credits) As Demand Warrants
Human Osteology
Human skeletal analysis: bone biology, skeletal anatomy, aging and sexing, metric and nonmetric traits of skeleton and dentition, paleopathology, and paleodemography. Inferences on genetic relationships between and patterned behavior within prehistoric groups derived from skeletal material. Materials fee: $10.00. (Prerequisite: ANTH 315 or permission of instructor).


ANTH 423O (3 Credits) Alternate Spring
Paleoanthropology (2+3)
Analysis of the Plio-Pleistocene hominid fossil record, including comparative primate and hominid skeletal and dental anatomy, systematics, taphonomy and long-term biobehavioral adaptations. Materials fee: $5.00. (Prerequisites: ANTH 103 and 212 or permission of instructor. Next offered: 1996-97.)


ANTH 424 (3 Credits) Alternate Fall
Analytical Techniques (3+0)
(Same as ANTH 624)

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. Materials fee: $5.00. (Prerequisite: Any 200 level Anthropology course. Next offered: 1997-98.)


ANTH 428W (3 Credits) Alternate Spring
Ecological Anthropology (3+0) n
Biological, environmental and cultural factors and their interplay in defining the human condition, with examples from Arctic and other populations. Materials fee: $5.00. (Prerequisite: Junior standing or permission of instructor. Next offered: 1996-97.)


ANTH 446 (3 Credits) As Demand Warrants
Economic Anthropology (3+0) s
(Same as ANTH 646)

Relationships between economic and other social relations. Preindustrial 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. Materials fee: $5.00. (Prerequisite: ANTH 104 or permission of instructor.)


ANTH 465 (3 Credits) Alternate Spring
Geoarchaeology (3+0)
(Same as GEOS 465)

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. Materials fee: $5.00. (Prerequisite: GEOS 101, an introductory course in archaeology, or permission of instructor. Next offered: 1997-98.)


ANTH 601 (3 Credits) Alternate Fall
Proseminar in Social/Cultural Anthropology (3+0)
An intensive graduate level survey on the subdiscipline of social/cultural anthropology dealing with the methods and theories in the field. Special attention will be directed at examining the substantive materials resulting from social/cultural studies. Materials fee: $10.00 (Prerequisites: Graduate standing or permission of instructor.)


ANTH 602 (3 Credits) As Demand Warrants
Anthropology of Art (3+0)
Anthropological study of art in cross-cultural perspective. Social context of art production and use, cross-cultural variations in definition of an artist's role. (Prerequisites: Senior standing or permission of instructor. )


ANTH 603 (3 Credits) Alternate Spring
Political Anthropology (3+0)
(Same as ANTH 403)

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. Materials fee: $5.00 (Prerequisites: ANTH 104 or permission of instructor. Next offered: 1996-97.)


ANTH 605 (3 Credits) Alternate Spring
Archaeological Method and Theory (2+3)
Archaeological methods and analysis as the framework for different perspectives in archaeology. Application to specific research problems. Materials fee: $5.00 (Prerequisite: A course in archaeology or permission of the instructor.)


ANTH 606 (3 Credits) Alternate Spring
Folklore & Mythology: Anthropological Perspective (3+0)
Intensive introduction to anthropological theory concerning oral traditions and the verbal arts. Attention is paid to classic historical approaches, but discussion of contemporary focus on context and performance is highlighted. Students will research topics of individual interest. (Prerequisites: Upper division undergraduate anthropology course or permission of the instructor)


ANTH 607 (3 Credits) Alternate Spring
Kinship and Social Organization (3+0)
Forms and function of family and household organization, kinship and marriage in diverse human sociocultural systems. Case studies from tribal and complex societies including contemporary United States. Materials fee: $10.00 (Prerequisites: ANTH 104 or permission of instructor.)


ANTH 608 (3 Credits) As Demand Warrants
Classics in Anthropology (3+0)
Landmark contributions in anthropological literature, ethnographies and theoretical works, will be discussed. Materials fee: $5.00 (Prerequisite: Graduate standing or permission of instructors.)


ANTH 609 (3 Credits) Alternate Fall
Anthropology of Religion (3+0)
Religion or supernatural belief from the perspective of anthropology. Religion in the context of "primitive" society as well as its role in complex society. Religious practitioners, ritual, belief systems, and the relationship of religious behavior to other aspects of social behavior. Materials fee: $5.00 (Prerequisite: Junior standing or permission of instructor.)


ANTH 610 (3 Credits) Alternate Fall
Northern Indigenous Peoples and Contemporary Issues (3+0)
(Same as NORS 610)

This course examines a number of issues affecting northern indigenous peoples from a comparative perspective, including perspectives from Alaska, Canada, Greenland, and the Soviet Union. Issues include the impact of the alienation of land on which these peoples depend; the relationship between their small, rural microeconomies and the larger agroindustrial market economies of which they area a part; education, language loss, and cultural transmission; alternative governmental policies towards indigenous peoples,; and contrasting world views. Materials fee: $5.00 (Prerequisites: Graduate standing or upper division wit permission of instructor. )


ANTH 611 (3 Credits) Alternate Fall
Proseminar in Archaeology (3+0)
An intensive coverage of advanced topics in archaeological theory and techniques of data recovery and analysis. The course will emphasize both field and laboratory aspects as well as the substantive results of archaeological research. Lab fee: $25.00; materials fee: $5.00. (Prerequisites: Graduate standing or permission of instructor.)


ANTH 612 (3 Credits) As Demand Warrants
Paleoecology (3+0)
Advanced study of Quaternary environments. The influences of climatic change and the interrelationships of physical and biological factors on the distribution and evolution of biota including humans will be discussed. Materials fee: $5.00 (Prerequisites: Graduate standing or permission of the instructor.)


ANTH 613 (3 Credits) As Demand Warrants
Seminar: Problems in Arctic Archaeology (3+0)
A seminar which focuses in depth upon topics of current interest in North American Arctic archaeology including Beringian prehistory, interior archaeology, coastal archaeology, past arctic adaptations, etc. Materials fee: $5.00. (Prerequisites: Graduate standing or permission of instructor.)


ANTH 614 (3 Credits) Alternate Fall
Archaeology of Siberia (3+0)
A thorough survey of the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze and Iron ages of Siberia through an examination on key archaeological sites. Data from archaeology, ethnology, linguistics and paleoanthropology will be applied to ancient population changes and the ethnogenesis of Siberian peoples. Materials fee: $5.00. (Prerequisites: Graduate standing or permission of instructor.)


ANTH 618 (3 Credits) Alternate Spring
Historical Archaeology (3+0)
(Same as ANTH 418)

Historical archaeology of the Americas examines colonial and frontier archaeology as experienced by Euroamericans, in addition to contact and post contact archaeology of Native North Americans. Current perspectives in American historical archaeology, including a review of goals, problem orientation, and the manner in which archaeological and documentary data are used for anthropological interpretation. (Prerequisite: Graduate standing or permission of the instructor.)


ANTH 621 (3 Credits) Alternate Spring
Proseminar in Physical Anthropology (3+0)
An intensive graduate level survey of the subdiscipline of physical anthropology dealing with historical developments and current problems in the field. The general areas of human paleontology and human population biology will be stressed. Materials fee: $5.00. (Prerequisites: Graduate standing or permission of instructor.)


ANTH 624 (3 Credits) Alternate Fall
Analytical Techniques (3+0)
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. Materials fee: $5.00. (Prerequisites: Graduate standing in Anthropology. )


ANTH 630 (3 Credits) Alternate Spring
Anthropological Field Methods (3+0)
This course concentrates on the practical concerns and aspects of doing anthropological field research. Students are exposed to the relevant literature and significant discussions on the different aspects of fieldwork. In addition, students will gain practical experience in the problems, techniques and methods of fieldwork involving people from similar or distinct cultural backgrounds. The preparation of research proposals is also given attention. Materials fee: $5.00. (Prerequisites: Graduate standing in anthropology or permission of instructor.)


ANTH 631 (3 Credits) Alternate Spring
Proseminar: Language and Culture (3+0)
In-depth examination of the interrelation between language and culture in the context of the theories of human communication, semiotics, and maintenance of cultural boundaries. In particular, the influence of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis in anthropological thinking today and the field of ethnoscience will be examined, as well as language change in contact situations with emphasis on emergence of pidgin and Creole languages and effects of the introduction of writing. Materials fee: $5.00. (Prerequisites: Graduate standing; previous credit in anthropological or descriptive linguistics, or permission of instructor.)


ANTH 637 (3 Credits) As Demand Warrants
Methods in Ethnohistorical Research (3+0)
In the seminar, students of anthropology are introduced to the methods of historical research, particularly the critical evaluation of written documents, problems of archaic language and paleography, and methods for assessing art and folklorist tradition as sources of history. Oral history and the data of language and archaeology are considered. Materials fee: $5.00. (Prerequisites: Graduate standing in anthropology or permission of instructor.)


ANTH 640 (3 Credits) As Demand Warrants
Problems in Anthropology (3+0)
Examination and criticism of exemplary landmarks in the anthropological literature. The course will be devoted to a subdiscipline during each offering. Materials fee: $5.00. (Prerequisites: Graduate standing or permission of instructor.)


ANTH 646 (3 Credits) As Demand Warrants
Economic Anthropology (3+0)
(Same as ANTH 446)

Relationships between economic and other social relations. Preindustrial 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. Materials fee: $5.00. (Prerequisite: Graduate standing or permission of instructor.)


ANTH 650 (3 Credits) As Demand Warrants
Anthropological Perspectives on Russian America (3+0)
An in-depth study of Russian penetration in North America, Russian institutions, and Russian impacts on the Aleut, Tlingit, and Yup'ik. (Prerequisite: Graduate standing or permission of instructor. )


ANTH 651 (3 Credits) As Demand Warrants
Quaternary Seminar (3+0)
(Same as GEOS 651)

The seminar will involve learning about 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. Materials fee: $5.00. (Prerequisites: Graduate standing or permission of instructor.)