Fall 2002 Courses

ANTH 0000 - Colloquium on Anthropology for the Public
GC: T, 6:30-8:30 p.m., Rm. 6402, 0 cr., Prof. TBA
[NOTE: Students do not register for this colloquium.]

ANTH 0000 - Colloquium on College Teaching
GC: W, 6:00-8:00 p.m., Rm. 6402, 0 cr., Prof. Michael Blim
[ALTERNATES with the Colloq. on Professional Development. Students do not register for this colloq.]

ANTH 0000 - Colloquium on Professional Development
GC: W, 6:30-8:00 p.m., Rm. 6402, 0 cr., Profs. Gerald Creed and Louise Lennihan [ALTERNATES with the Colloq. on College Teaching. Students do not register for this colloq.]
Fall Workshops:
October 23rd: How to Write an Academic CV
October 30th: How to Write an Academic Job Letter
December 11th: How to Prepare for an Academic Job Interview
Spring 2003 workshop topics (TBA) will include: how to present a paper or organize a session at a professional meeting; how to publish a paper; employment as an anthropologist outside the academy.

ANTH 70000- Current Topics in Anthropology
GC: F, 4:15-6:15 p.m., Rm. C198, 0 credits, Prof. Shirley Lindenbaum, [37647]

ANTH 70100- Core Course in Cultural Anthropology I
GC: W, 4:15-6:15 p.m., Rm. 6495, 3 credits, Profs. Gerald Creed and Jane Schneider, [37648]

This course and ANTH 70200 in Spring 2003 will introduce students to current issues and controversies in cultural anthropology. Both courses are part of the preparation for the first exam in the PhD program. 70100 does not attempt to be canonical, in the sense of providing the background, history, and theory of allegedly "settled" issues in cultural anthropology. Its object is to encourage engagement with, as well as adaptation to, the ongoing life of the field. Student evaluation for 70100 will be based upon two short papers (no more than eight pages each) and an in-class final examination. Forty percent of Fall term's grade derives from the paper assignments; the balance of the grade will be based on student performance in the final examination. The papers and exam will be structured as learning devices to help students develop the ability to respond critically to questions based upon the current practices and controversies of the field.

ANTH 70300- History of Anthropological Theory
GC: F, 2:00-4:00 p.m., Rm. 5382, 3 credits, Prof. Donald Robotham, [37649]

Anthropology today is no longer the clearly demarcated discipline of yesterday. Many new subfields have emerged as well as many new approaches to anthropological research and writing. There is a wide range of newer issues and new approaches to older issues. Cultural studies and postmodern theory have exerted a powerful influence on contemporary ethnography and ethnology, raising fundamental questions about what the discipline is about and where it is going, compelling anthropologists to foreground issues hitherto confined to literary theory and philosophy. Indeed, one of the striking tendencies of our times is for the boundaries between disciplines to come down and for new integrative and cross-disciplinary approaches to be developed. These are not to be considered simply as abstruse theoretical developments. On the contrary, one of the purposes of this course is to bring home the fact that abstruse theores have practical consequences -- sometimes positive, sometimes dire and dreadful.

All of these issues pose acute theoretical challenges, far more so than in the past. It is easy to lose one's footing in this flux and either turn one's back in despair on current debates or, even worse, simply sloganeer -- mouthing the latest phrases without an understanding of the theoretical basis on which these concepts rest. The purpose of this course is to avoid both such outcomes. It aims to provide a firm theoretical grounding in the background to the new as well as old issues so that students can confidently identify how and why these core issues first emerged and with what theoretical and practical implications. We cannot discuss the history of all current theoretical issues but we hope to focus on the central ones on which entire world outlooks turn and which continue to profoundly affect the practice of anthropology.

ANTH 70500- Research Methods
GC: W, 4:15-6:15 p.m., Rm. 6418, 3 credits, Prof. Donald Robotham, [37650]

This course examines the philosophy, methodology, process and techniques of qualitative research in anthropology. It seeks to give the student a clear understanding of the variety of philosophical approaches underlying this methodology as well as to familiarize the student with the basic practical steps involved in designing, managing and conducting qualitative research. Issues of entering and working in the field, interviewing, keeping and writing field notes, and research and publication will be explored. It gives a brief review of the software currently available and focuses on one of the leading programs, ATLAS.T1. At the end of this course you should be familiar with at least one of the main programs in wide usage in the field and be able to use it for the recording, analysis and writing up of your research. A special emphaisis will be placed on students doing exercises using data which they have collected themselves.

There will be a mid-term paper on methodological issues (due October 30), which shall account for 60% of the final grade. Participation in class exercises will be critical for this course. The demonstration of proficiency in a written exercise using your own material will account for 40% of the grade. This is due at the last class of the semester.

ANTH 70600- Marx, Weber, Durkheim
GC: Th, 4:15-6:15 p.m., Rm. 7395, 3 credits, Prof. Michael Blim, [37652]

This seminar closely examines the foundations of modern social theory. It is hoped that analysis of the works of Marx, Weber, and Durkheim will create not only specific understandings of their contributions to the understanding of the modern world, but will provide a sketch of the terrain upon which contemporary social thought is constructed.

ANTH 70900- Anthropology of Human Rights
GC: T, 4:15-6:15 p.m., Rm. 3308, 3 credits, Prof. Patricia Mathews-Salazar, [37653]

This course brings the tools of anthropology to bear on the study of human rights. Where modern anthropology is committed to exploring the diversity of human experience, the human rights movement seeks the recognition of universal norms that transcend political and cultural difference. To what extent can these two goals be reconciled? What can anthropology tell us about the limits of human rights activism? And how might it contribute to the effectiveness of the human rights movement?

ANTH 72100- Aspects of Middle Eastern Anthropology
GC: T, 2:00-4:00 p.m., Rm. 6494, 3 credits, Prof. Talal Asad, [37654]

This course consists of two parts. The first part will deal with three general themes: religion, law, and politics. The second part will focus on a number of significant texts by anthropologists and others dealing with specific topics and places. Emphasis will be placed throughout on modes of analysis and explanation. Everyone taking the course will be expected to have read Karen Armstrong's book Islam: A Short History during the summer. Registration for this course requires permission of the instructor.

ANTH 72300- American Cultures and Histories
GC: W, 6:30-8:30 p.m., Rm. 4419, 3 credits, Prof. Gerald Sider, [37655]

This course seeks to understand the processes that produce differentiation both within and between North American cultures. Of particular concern will be the uses to which difference is put, and what happens when cultural difference becomes, in the political economy, useless. Special attention will be paid to the formation and transformation of Native American societies and, in partial but revealing contrast, to those more encompassing differences that become categorized as "race."

The shift in focus from history to histories is designed to call forth methodological issues in the study of such large-scale phenomena as "American cultures." In this context we will pay particular attention to silences, and how silences become interwover with two processes of differentiation in North America: region and gender.

Few if any of the fundamental problems with the anthropological concept of culture are resolved or dismissed by plurzlizing the concept. The conjunction of cultures and histories here is used not to elaborate abstract concepts but to shape a different analytical perspective: to see people actively making, and unmaking, cultures -- both their own and others' -- and making or silencing their own, often antagonistic, relations to their and other cultures.

ANTH 73300- Ethnology of the Caribbean
GC: W, 11:45-1:45 p.m., Rm. 6494, 3 credits, Prof. Donald Robotham, [37656]

This course invites the student to engage with the condition of the Caribbean, historically and today. It begins by examining the historical background to the Caribbean and its peculiar situation of being not of 'the West' but in 'the West.' One of the distinctive features of this region is precisely this presence at the creation of the West. Caribbean ethnology thus raises all the critical issues of globalization, hybridity, race, class, nationalism and transnationalism in a particularly acute way.

The course discusses the background of the peoples of the Caribbean in Africa, Asia and Europe, the region during the slavery and colonial period, the Caribbean Diaspora and the contemporary challenges faced by the region today. It will discuss particular areas of Caribbean life such as the family and kinship, urbanization, transnationalism, crime, politics and the problems of 'development.' Issues such as gender, ethnicity, hybridity and identity as they arise both within the islands and the Diaspora will be explored in the course. Special attention is paid to the English-speaking experience and comparatively to Cuba and Puerto Rico. Evaluation will be based on one paper of no more than 20 pages.

ANTH 75000- Core Course in Archaeology
GC: T, 11:45-1:45 p.m., Rm. 6495, 3 credits, Prof. Thomas McGovern, [37657]

This course is intended as an introductory course for non-archaeological anthropology students. It attemps to give an abbreviated overview of methods and major issues in modern archaeology combined with a highly selective survey of major trends in prehistory. This is a rather tall order (globe + 4.5 mil years), and the key words in the last sentence are "abbreviated" and "selective." You should realize that more coursework and outside reading will be desirable if you expect to do archaeology professionally, but this course is designed to give you some tools and ideas for teaching innocent undergrads later in life (yes, four-field courses do happen to nice people like you). Depending on your interests, you may find it useful to also sample archaeological regional courses dealing with your world area and investigate offerings on Hunter/Gatherers and Early States, all of which my be useful both theoretically and pracically. You might find attendance at the Archaeology seminar series (usually Thursdays ca. 4:30-6:00) occasionally informative and interesting; see me for schedule and details. Should the subfield interst you more than you'd expected, feel free to contact me or any of the other archaeology faculty about fieldwork and additional courses. It is never too late to convert!

ANTH 78300- Creole Languages of the Caribbean
GC: W, 6:30-8:30 p.m., Rm. 6493, 3 credits, Prof. Arthur Spears, [37658]

We will examine the languages in the Caribbean area classified as creoles: Jamaican, Guyanese, Haitian, Papiamentu, Trinidadian, etc. FIrst considered will be theories of Creole genesis and evolution along with the nature of these languages' grammars. We will spend the latter part of the course dealing with the English-related Creoles and Haitian from the standpoint of grammar, communicative practices, history, and education.

ANTH 79300- Genetics and Human Variation
GC: T, 10:00-1:00 p.m., 3 credits, Prof. Vincent Stefan, [37659]
NOTE: This course meets at New York University, 25 Waverly Place, Room 612.

This course provides a general introduction to genetics and human biological variation. We assume that most of the students taking this course have had little exposure to basic molecular genetics, population genetics, or the mathematics required for simple genetic description and analysis. Therefore, these subjects will be covered in some detail at the beginning of the course. We will then examine biological variation at the genetic and morphological level among and within modern human populations and molecular diversity within the primate order.

ANTH 80700- Reading Marx's Capital
GC: Th, 6:30-8:30 p.m., Rm. C198, 3 credits, Prof. David Harvey, [37660]

ANTH 80800- Doctoral Dissertation Writing
GC: T, 4:15-6:15 p.m., Rm. 6493, 3 credits, Prof. Jane Schneider, [37661]
[NOTE: For Level 3 Students, course is audited - students do not register for credit.]

ANTH 82400- Reading Medical Ethnographies (formerly Selected Topics in Medical Anthropology)
GC: F, 11:45-1:45 p.m., Rm. 6494, 3 credits, Prof. Shirley Lindenbaum, [37662]

From a long list of medical ethnographies beginning in 1927 (Evans-Pritchard: Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic Among the Azande) to the present (Margaret Lock: Twice Dead: Organ Transplants and the Reinvention of Death, 2002), we will read and discuss particular works. We will take into account the history of ideas in anthropology as well as changes in approaches to fieldwork and the writing of ethnographies. By way of counterpoint, ethnographic texts will be compared to filmed ethnographies of healing.

ANTH 82500- Uneven Geographical Development
GC: Th, 11:45-1:45 p.m., Rm. 6494, 3 credits, Profs. David Harvey and Neil Smith, [37663]

ANTH 83900- Historical Archaeology
GC: W, 2:00-4:00 p.m., 3 credits, Prof. Diana Wall, [37665]
NOTE: This course meets at Columbia University, Room 963 Schermerhorn Extension (118th Street and Amsterdam Ave).

The field of historical archaeology has expanded greatly since its inception, with new theoretical paradigms and subjects of investigation. It has also become a global discipline, informed particularly by colonial and post-colonial perspectives. This course proposes to investigate a number of important subjects in cross-cultural comparison, where analysts use combinations of historic documents, material culture and spatial analysis. These include enslavement, landscape, the colonial experience, urban archaeology, and the archaeology of capitalism. It will be team-taught by Diana Wall of the Graduate Center and Nan Rothschild of Columbia. Classes will be held at both the City University and Columbia, with graduate students from both schools participating. The course replaces Anthropology U837 in the Graduate Center catalogue and G4711 in Columbia's catalogue.

ANTH 89000- Seminar in Physical Anthropology
GC: F, 1:00-4:00 p.m., Rm. 6421, 3 credits, Prof. Eric Delson
[NOTE: Continuing subfield seminar, students do not register for credit.]

ANTH 89600- Sexual Selection and Primate Behavior
GC: F, 11:45 - 1:45 p.m., Rm. 6300, 3 credits, Prof. Larissa Swedell, [37666]

We will discuss the theory of sexual selection and its applications to the evolution and behavior of non-human primates. We will begin by intensively reading and discussing the historical proponents of, and debates surrounding, sexual selection as a means by which evolutionary change occurs. We will then, through reading and discussion, examine the literature on sexual selection in various taxa, including primates.

ANTH 89901 - Ind Study/Resch Cultural Anth
GC: Rm/Instr TBA, 3-9 credits

ANTH 89902 - Ind Study/Resch Archaeology
GC: Rm/Instr TBA, 3-9 credits

ANTH 89903 - Ind Study/Resch Ling Anth
GC: Rm/Instr TBA, 3-9 credits

ANTH 89904 - Ind Study/Resch Physical Anth
GC: Rm/Instr TBA, 3-9 credits

ANTH 90000 - Dissertation Supervision
GC: Rm/Instr TBA, 1 credit

PhD Program in Anthropology - The CUNY Graduate Center
365 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016-4309
phone: 212.817.8005 fax: 212.817.1501 email:

This departmental publication supplements the official Bulletin of The Graduate School as well as the current Graduate Center Student Handbook and "Announcement of Courses."