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Courses Offered in Spring 2008
BARNARD COURSES
| ANTHV 1002y |
The Interpretation of Culture
The anthropological approach to the study of culture and
human society. Using case studies from ethnography, the
course explores the universality of cultural categories
(social organization, economy, law, belief system, art,
etc.) and the range of variation among human societies.
|
P. West |
MW 2:40-3:55 |
202 Altschul |
| ANTHV 3004y |
Intro to Environmental Anthropology
Introduces the main theoretical approaches of environmental
anthropology beginning with cultural ecology and covering
eco-systematic models, environmental history, political ecology, and
new approaches deriving from contemporary anthropological theory.
Ethnographic material from Melanesia, Latin America, Africa, Asia,
and the Middle East illustrates the theoretical material introduced.
|
C. Fortwangler |
TTh 2:40-3:55 |
530 Altschul |
| ANTHV 3041y |
Anthropological Theory II
The second of a two semester sequence intended to introduce
departmental majors to key readings in social theory that have been
constitutive of the rise and contemporary practice of modern
anthropology. The goal is to understand historical and current
intellectual debates within the discipline. To be taken in
conjunction with
ANTH V3040, preferably in sequence. This course replaces
ANTH V3041 "Theories of Culture: Past and Present." |
N. El-Haj |
TTh 10:35-11:50 |
302 Milbank |
| ANTHBC 3872y |
Senior Thesis Seminar: Problems in
Anthropological Research
Discussion of research methods and planning and writing of a
Senior Essay in Anthropology will accompany research on problems of
interest to students, culminating in the writing of individual
Senior Essays. The advisory system requires periodic consultation
and discussion between the student and her adviser as well as the
meeting of specific deadlines set by the department each semester. |
B. Larkin |
M 4:10-6:00 |
227 Milbank |
| ANTHV 3903y |
The Ethnoarchaeology of Cities
Consideration of cities from several points of view: a
developmental and comparative perspective, looking at urban origins.
Focus on New York City from its inception to the present, examining
its spatial defined subunits ("neighborhoods"), structured by class
and ethnicity. |
N. Rothschild |
T 4:10-6:00 |
318 Milbank |
| ANTHV 3906y |
Functional Linguistics
Introduction to functional linguistics: describing, classifying
and explaining the relation between linguistic form and linguistic
function; and language typology: describing and comparing the forms
and functions of the world's languages in order to uncover, classify
and explain cross-linguistic patterns.
Prerequisites: ANTH
V1009 Language and Culture, or permission of the instructor.
General Education Requirement: Cultures in Comparison (CUL). |
P. Kockelman |
W 11:00-12:50 |
203 Barnard |
| ANTHV 3907y |
Posthumanism
This seminar explores what a post-human anthropology
might look like. Readings draw from anthropology, actor-network
theory, science studies, media studies, and science fiction. |
S. Fowles |
M 11:00-12:50 |
407 Barnard |
| ANTHV 3928y |
Religion and Mediation
This class analyzes the role of mediation in religious practice.
Religions depend upon processes of mediation outside of which no
religion would be able to manifest itself and make revelations
communicable to its adherents. Reading theories of media and of
religion we will examine how transformations in media technology
shift the ways in which religion is encoded into semiotic forms, how
these forms are realized in performative contexts and how these
affect the constitution of religious subjects and religious
authority. Topics include word, print, image, and sound in relation
to Islam, Pentecostalism, Buddhism and animist religions. |
B. Larkin |
M 11:00-12:50 |
203 Barnard |
| ANTHV 3972y |
Reproduction as Ideology: Conception and the
Fetus Cross-Culturally
The goal of this course is to imagine conception and the
fetus as cultural ideas. We will explore how various
cultures throughout time and in contemporary discourse
rationalize conception and the identity of the fetus. This
cross-cultural discussion will provide the basis for a
discussion of how kinship structure, social life and family
are constructed. These concepts will then be related to
American contemporary controversies surrounding abortion,
new reproductive technologies, and the sociopolitical issues
embedded within conception and childbirth. Finally we will
place these issues within a global context of debates over
reproduction ideology and population strategies.
|
M. Weisgrau |
Tu 4:10-6:00 |
407 Barnard |
COLUMBIA COURSES
| ANTHV 2005y |
Ethnographic Imagination
Introduction to the theory and practice of "ethnography"-the
intensive study of peoples' lives as shaped by social relations,
cultural images, and historical forces. Considers through critical
reading of various kinds of texts (classic ethnographies, histories,
journalism, novels, films) the ways in which understanding,
interpreting, and representing the lived words of people-at home or
abroad, in one place or transnationally, in the past or the
present-can be accomplished. |
R. Morris |
MW 1:10-2:25 |
203 Mathematics Building |
| ANTHV 3044y |
Symbolic Anthropology
Exploration of the manner in which various anthropologists have
constructed "culture" as being constituted of a set of conventional
signs called "symbols" and the consequences of such a construal.
Among the authors read are the anthropologists Valentine Daniel,
Mary Douglas, Clifford Geertz, Claude Levi-Strauss, Sherry Ortner,
David Schneider, Margaret Trawick, and Victor Turner; the social
theorists Emile Durkheim, Karl Marx and Max Weber; the semioticians
Ferdinand de Saussure and Charles Peirce; and the psychoanalysts
Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan. |
E. Daniel |
TTh 9:10-10:25 |
963 Schermerhorn |
| ANEBW 3042y |
Dynamics of Human Evolution
Focuses on recent advances in the study of human evolution.
Topics include changing views of human evolution with
respect to early hominin behavior, morphology, phylogeny and
evolutionary theory.
|
J. Shapiro |
W 4:10-6:00 |
652 Schermerhorn |
| ANTHV 3525y |
Introduction to South Asian History and Culture
Looks at four major aspects of contemporary South Asian
societies: nationalism, religious reform, gender, and caste. The
object is to provide a critical survey of the history as well as the
continuing debates over these crucial themes of society, politics,
and culture in South Asia. Readings include primary texts that were
part of the original debates as well as secondary sources that
represent the current scholarly assessment on these subjects. |
S. Jassal |
TTh 1:10-2:25 |
608 Schermerhorn |
| ANTHV 3908y |
Global Economy in Anthropological Perspective
|
S. Gregory |
Tu 2:10-4:00 |
963 Schermerhorn |
| ANTHV 3947y |
Text, Magic, and Performance
Examination of text and performance, as informed by magic and
related articulations of power. Topics explored include: prophetic
writing, historical inscription; divine kingship, cosmology,
divination; colonial fiction, nationalist figuration; spirit
possession, ritual sacrifice; mask performance, music, shadow
theatre. Draws principally on Southeast Asian sources. Key concerns
are subjectivity and repetition. |
J. Pemberton |
Th 11:00-12:50 |
467 Schermerhorn |
| ANTHV 3960y |
The Culture of Public Art and Display in NYC
A field course and seminar considering the aesthetic, political,
and socio-cultural aspects of selected city museums, public spaces,
and window displays. |
A. Alland |
F 1:10-4:00 |
309 Hamilton |
| ANTHV 3974y |
Lost Worlds, Secret Spaces: Modernity and the
Child |
M. Ivy |
W 11:00-12:50 |
951 Schermerhorn |
| ANTHV 3977y |
Trauma
Examines trauma as an individual, collective, and international
political phenomena. Topics include the history and physiology of
trauma, trauma and psychoanalysis, trauma and politics, and trauma
after 9-11. |
K. Seely |
Tu 9:00-10:50 |
467 Schermerhorn |
| ANTHV 3983y |
Ideas and Societies in the Caribbean |
D. Scott |
W 2:10-4:00 |
467 Schermerhorn |
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