ANTHROPOLOGY

Burkhardt Building 315, 765-285-1575

PROGRAMS

Master of arts (MA) in anthropology

Admission requirements

Applicants must meet the admission requirements of the Graduate School, meet a cumulative undergraduate minimum GPA of 2.75 on a 4.0 scale, and have the approval of the departmental graduate committee. The graduate committee bases its decisions on the applicant’s undergraduate transcripts; Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores; written recommendations; and a 300-500 word narrative detailing relevant background, reasons for wishing to undertake graduate study in this department, and the relationship of such study to long-term goals and interests in anthropology. Applicants whose undergraduate majors are not anthropology or closely related subjects may be required to complete undergraduate courses to acquire background knowledge. Credit for these courses does not apply to degree requirements. It is suggested that students wishing to focus on archaeology participate in a summer field school or have equivalent experience before beginning studies.

MASTER OF ARTS IN ANTHROPOLOGY

Degree requirements

The minimum requirement for the MA in anthropology is 32 hours of graduate credit. Although students are encouraged to take general courses, they may focus on cultural and biological anthropology or archaeology. In keeping with the principle that students should have a broad knowledge of anthropology, core courses covering those three major subdisciplines are required; this requirement can be waived only by the graduate committee. In order for students to acquire an understanding of anthropology as a profession and a background in anthropological thought, ANTH 600 Graduate Studies Seminar and a course emphasizing method and/or theory are also required. A required 6-hour thesis permits students to specialize and acquire skills in research methods and techniques. A public thesis defense presentation is also required. Beyond these requirements, each student’s plan of study will be tailored to individual needs. The completed thesis document would be subject to approval by the committee following a public oral defense.

PREFIX NO SHORT TITLE CR HRS

Required courses

ANTH 600 Grad Sem (1) 2

601 Scop Cultral 3

603 Scop Archaeo 3

605 Scop Biologi 3

THES 698 Thesis (1-6) 6

3 hours from

Method and/or theory approved by

graduate committee 3

12 hours from

ANTH or other electives approved

by graduate advisor 12

———

32 hrs

Graduate Minor in Anthropology

Requires a minimum of 9 hours of approved anthropology courses. Students wishing to pursue a minor should contact the department chairperson before taking any anthropology courses.

CERTIFICATE IN INTERPRETIVE ETHNOGRAPHY

PREFIX NO SHORT TITLE CR HRS

ANTH 601 Scop Cultral (3) 3

3 hours from

ANTH 550 Ethn Fld Sch (3)

559 Ethno Method (3)

695 Resrch Method (3) 3

9 hours from

ANTH 542 Amer Culture (3)

550 Ethn Fld Sch (3)

COMM 605 Qual Resrch (3)

EDEL 676 Res Elem Edu (3)

EDSTU 650 Int Qual Rsh (3)

660 Ethno Res Ed (3)

PSYSC 595 Spec Topics (3)

RELST 503 Read Spec St (3)

SOC 583 Evaluation (3)

681 Survey (3) 9

———

15 hrs

ANTHROPOLOGY (ANTH)

501 History of Method and Theory in Anthropology. (4) Surveys the major ideas and issues of anthropology over time. Includes methods and theories from archaeology, biological anthropology, linguistics, and cultural anthropology. For students without a strong undergraduate background in anthropology.

Not open to students who have credit in ANTH 301.

505 Topics in Biological Anthropology. (3) Covers a variety of advanced current and special topics in biological anthropology, depending on students’ interests and capacities. May be repeated for different topics.

Prerequisite: an introductory biological anthropology course or permission of the instructor.

A total of 9 hours of credit may be earned, but no more than 3 in any one semester or term.

506 The Anthropology of Physical Growth and Development. (3) Children’s physical growth and development, its regulation, variation, and assessment in different times and places.

Prerequisite: an introductory physical anthropology course.

Not open to students who have credit in ANTH 306.

507 Applied Anthropology. (3) Investigates the problems and work that engage the attention of anthropologists outside the university setting. Examination of new skills needed to supplement those traditionally taught in anthropology.

Not open to students who have credit in ANTH 307.

512 Ecological Dimensions of Culture. (3) Explores the system of relationships between any human population and its environment, focusing on cultural behavior. Uses studies from ancient to modern times and models and theories from ecology and anthropology; considers both applied and theoretical perspectives.

Prerequisite: an introductory cultural anthropology course (waived for minors in environmentally sustainable practices) or permission of the instructor.

Not open to students who have credit in ANTH 312.

515 Human Paleontology. (3) Fossil record of the evolution of humans and their primate predecessors.

Prerequisite: ANTH 206 or equivalent or permission of the instructor.

Not open to students who have credit in ANTH 315.

516 Human Osteology. (3) Laboratory and lecture dealing with the human skeleton including identification of whole and fragmentary bones and the assessment of the age, stature, sex, and other traits of a skeleton as applied to paleodemography, paleopathology, and forensic problems.

Prerequisite: ANTH 206 or equivalent or permission of the instructor.

Not open to students who have credit in ANTH 416.

521 Social Organization. (3) Provides a systematic cross-cultural analysis of human organizations from kinship-based societies to modern bureaucracies. Using an evolutionary approach, provides both theoretical perspectives and applied understanding.

Prerequisite: ANTH 101, 111 or permission of the instructor.

Not open to students who have credit in ANTH 321.

525 Evolutionary Adaptation and Human Diversity. (3) Human biological variation in the contemporary world: examination of its distribution, inheritance, development, and adaptiveness.

Prerequisite: an introductory biological anthropology course or permission of the instructor.

Not open to students who have credit in ANTH 305.

527 Culture and Medicine. (3) Focuses on conceptions of health and illness from a cross-cultural perspective.

Not open to students who have credit in ANTH 427.

529 Laboratory Methods in Material Culture. (4) Addresses artifacts as reflections of culture. Focuses on ethnoarchaeology and experimental archaeology, as well as the integration of research design, recovery, identification, and laboratory analysis of artifacts from archaeological sites.

530 Topics in Native North American Cultures. (3) Topics in Native American cultures or study of Native American cultures of a particular region. May be repeated for different topics.

Not open to students who have credit in an undergraduate course covering the same topic.

531 Native Americans of North America. (3) Survey of cultures of North American Native Americans emphasizing their economic, socio-political, and religious institutions.

Not open to students who have credit in ANTH 331.

532 Native Americans of the Great Lakes. (3) In-depth study of selected Native American cultures indigenous to the Great Lakes region from the time of European contact to the contemporary period.

Not open to students who have credit in ANTH 332.

534 Midwestern Archaeology. (3) Archaeological development of the Midwest traced through the Paleo-Indian, Archaic, Woodland, and Mississippian stages.

Prerequisite: ANTH 103 or 204.

Not open to students who have credit in ANTH 334.

537 Contemporary Problems of the Native Americans. (3) Detailed study of current issues facing Native Americans. Particular issues facing tribes in specific regions and general issues of a pan-Native American nature will be covered.

Prerequisite: permission of the department chairperson.

A total of 6 hours of credit may be earned, but no more than 3 in any one semester or term.

Not open to students who have credit in the corresponding undergraduate course in the same region.

540 Anthropological Field Trip. (3-6) Exposes students to lifeways of groups outside mainstream society whose lives and communities are significantly shaped by the policies of the larger society. Can be used for trips in various subfields of anthropology when appropriate.

Prerequisite: permission of the instructor.

A total of 6 hours of credit may be earned.

541 Anthropology and Women. (3) Development of the female phenotype; variation in the roles assigned in cultures of different levels of complexity, from gather-hunters to industrial societies—both Western and non-Western—and the contributions of women anthropologists to understanding this variation.

Not open to students who have credit in ANTH 341.

542 American Culture. (3) Examines how the values, beliefs, and norms of American culture are integrated into and symbolized in various media. Explores how Americans experience and resolve cultural tensions between individualism and community, equality and hierarchy, competition and cooperation.

Not open to students who have credit in ANTH 342.

543 Historical Archaeology of Eastern United States. (3) Explores primary historical processes and archaeologically significant trends in material culture that have shaped modern life since AD 1500.

Not open to students who have credit in ANTH 343.

545 Archaeological Field School. (3-6) Provides the practical application of archaeological methods, techniques, and strategies in a field setting. Participation in a supervised investigation of a formal archaeological problem at an actual archaeological site or at an experimental site.

Prerequisite: permission of the instructor.

A total of 6 hours of credit may be earned.

550 Ethnographic Field School. (6-12) An intensive immersion in the methods of field research in cultural anthropology. Emphasizes problem formulation, observation, interviewing, writing, and interpretation of field data. Field schools are intended to provide specific skills that result in an ethnographic report.

Prerequisite: permission of the instructor.

A total of 12 hours of credit may be earned.

551 Witchcraft, Magic, and Religion. (3) Anthropological study of humankind’s age-old concern with life, death, sickness, and the unknown. Discusses human attempts to control life through supernatural beings, prayer, sacrifice, and techniques of magic and witchcraft.

Not open to students who have credit in ANTH 451.

552 Anthropology of Technology. (3) Reviews the anthropological literature on technology, focusing on cultural and comparative aspects of technology. This subfield’s theoretical base and research methods will also be assessed.

Not open to students who have credit in ANTH 452.

555 Primatology. (3) Comparative survey of nonhuman primates, their biology and behavior.

Prerequisite: ANTH 206 or permission of the instructor.

Not open to students who have credit in ANTH 455.

557 Applied Archaeology. (3) Special problems of contract, conservation, and public archaeology, including laws and guidelines, relations with governmental and private agencies, research design and proposals, field and laboratory methods, and curation.

Not open to students who have credit in ANTH 457.

559 Ethnographic Methods. (3) Develops the ability to conduct and comprehend ethnographic research. Includes research design, data collection, analysis, reporting, basic statistics, and computer use. Emphasizes both quantitative and qualitative techniques for basic and applied research.

Prerequisite: 15 hours of ANTH courses or permission of the instructor.

Not open to students who have credit in ANTH 459.

560 Topics in Ethnology. (3) Considers special topics not covered by regular courses. One topic is studied in a semester. May be repeated for different topics.

Not open to students who have credit in an undergraduate course covering the same topic.

563 Theory and Method in Historical Archaeology. (3) Presents a detailed summary of theory and methods used by historical archaeologists, including social theory, historical methods, and archaeological analysis methods.

Not open to students who have credit in ANTH 463.

564 European Prehistory. (3) Prehistory of Europe from the Paleolithic through the Iron Age emphasizing the regions north and west of the classical world.

Not open to students who have credit in ANTH 364.

570 Topics in Regional Ethnography. (3) Considers the culture of a selected geographic area not covered by regular courses. May be repeated for different areas.

Not open to students who have credit in an undergraduate course on the same geographic area.

571 Ethnohistory. (3) Methods and theories of ethnohistory introduced by emphasizing how culture and history intersect with race, ethnicity, gender, class, and sexuality; a research-intensive class.

Not open to students who have credit in ANTH 471.

577 Topics in Museum Operations. (3) Introduces various aspects of museum operations, such as organization, financing, curation, exhibits, public interpretation, and conservation of collections. Emphasizes ethnographic and archaeological collections. May be repeated for different topics.

Not open to students who have credit in ANTH 377.

580 Topics in Archaeology. (3) Surveys archaeology of a selected region (e.g., Southwest) or focuses on a specialized area. May be repeated for different topics.

A total of 6 hours of credit may be earned, but no more than 3 in any one semester or term.

581 Culture, Economy, and Development. (3) Concerned with a culturally embedded view of allocation, conversion, production, distribution, and consumption of resources. Emphasizes economic development in third- and fourth-world countries both from theoretical and applied perspectives.

Not open to students who have credit in ANTH 481.

582 Native Americans of the American Southwest. (3) Surveys prehistoric, historic, and contemporary cultures of selected Southwest Native American groups. Emphasizes culture-specific solutions to problems perceived in their relationship to their natural and social environments.

Not open to students who have credit in ANTH 482.

590 Topics in Cultural Change. (3) Surveys from various perspectives the major concepts and processes of culture change, including globalization and its effects on cultures and individuals.

A total of 6 hours of credit may be earned, but no more than 3 in any one semester or term.

Not open to students who have credit in ANTH 460.

600 Graduate Studies Seminar. (1) Introduction to the nature, purpose, and practice of scholarly inquiry in academic and applied environments. Includes exposure to major literature and research resources in the field, familiarization with professional culture and faculty resources, individual program design, and thesis planning.

A total of 2 hours of credit may be earned, but no more than 1 in any one semester or term.

601 Scope of Cultural Anthropology. (3) Overview of theory in cultural anthropology and its application to various conditions of recent and contemporary human society and culture.

Prerequisite: undergraduate anthropology major or minor, admission to anthropology graduate program or permission of the instructor.

603 Scope of Archaeology. (3) Overview of current archaeological research foci and interpretive frameworks in their historical context. Considers the relationship of archaeology to the other subdisciplines of anthropology and broader anthropological concerns.

Prerequisite: undergraduate anthropology major or minor, admission to anthropology graduate program or permission of the instructor.

605 Scope of Biological Anthropology. (3) Survey of the basic methods and theories of biological anthropology.

Prerequisite: undergraduate anthropology major or minor, admission to anthropology graduate program or permission of the instructor.

690 Independent Study in Anthropology.

(1-3) Topics to be chosen and investigated in consultation with the instructor with special competence in the subject involved.

Prerequisite: permission of the department chairperson.

A total of 6 hours of credit may be earned, but no more than 3 in any one semester or term.

695 Research Methods in Anthropology. (3) An opportunity to use research techniques appropriate to one or more subfields of anthropology in developing a research model, gathering and analyzing data, and organizing the material in a research paper or report.

696 Internship in Anthropology. (3-6) On-the-job experience practicing anthropology for a period of five to ten weeks with an institution or agency.

A total of 6 hours of credit may be earned.