Fall 2003 Courses

ANTH 70000- Colloquia: Current Topics in Anthropology
GC: F, 4:15-6:15 p.m., Rm. C198, 0 credits [45334].

ANTH 70100- Core Course in Cultural Anthropology: I
GC: W, 4:15-6:15 p.m., Rm. 6421, 3 credits, Profs. Gerald Creed and Jane Schneider [45335]. Permission of instructors is required.

This course and 70200 in Spring 2004 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 objective 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 the grade derives from the paper assignments, and the remaining sixty percent from 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 current practices and controversies in the field.

ANTH 70300- History of Anthropological Theory
GC: F, 2:00-4:00 p.m., Rm. 5383, 3 credits, Prof. Donald Robotham [45337]. Permission of instructor is required.

This course is organized around the contrasting of two central theoretical traditions which deeply shape anthropology and the world today: the civil society and the cultural tradition. The first is the Hobbes-Locke-Adam Smith tradition, which expresses itself in both Marxism and structural functionalism. The second is the Herder-Bastian-Boas tradition, which expresses itself in cultural anthropology. The first tradition is embodied in notions of modernity and history as found in the works of Max Weber, for example. The second is a rejection of modernity and technology, expressed, for example, in the work of Heidegger and Foucault. The course requirement will consist of a single term paper of approximately 15 typewritten pages. This paper will address the central theoretical issues and analyze in depth the historical origins of the issue, the context in which it arose, and its theoretical substance at the time in which it arose.

ANTH 70500- Research Methods
GC: T, 4:15-6:15 p.m., Rm. 8202, 3 credits, Prof. Kirk Dombrowski [45341].

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. Special emphasis is spent on the issue of formulating a research question as a part of the process of developing a research proposal. The IRB process is also discussed. In addition, issues of entering and working in the field, interviewing, keeping and writing up field notes and research, and publication will be explored. The course will give a brief review of the software currently available, focussing on one of the leading programs: ATLAS.TI.

ANTH 70600- Foundations of Anthropological Thought: Marx, Weber, Foucault
GC: Th, 11:45 a.m. - 1:45 p.m., Rm. 6421, 3 credits, Prof. David Harvey [45343].

ANTH 72900- Ethnology and Ethnography of the US
GC: W, 11:45 a.m. - 1:45 p.m., Rm. 6494, 3 credits, Prof. Ida Susser [45344].

ANTH 75000- Core Course: Archaeology
GC: Th, 11:45 a.m. - 1:45 p.m., Rm. 6494, 3 credits, Prof. Tom McGovern [45345].

ANTH 79000B- Core Course: Behavioral Biology and Ecology
GC: Th, 2:00-4:30 p.m., Rm. 7395, 3 credits, Prof. Larissa Swedell [45827].

This course serves as a broad introduction to the theoretical underpinnings of and current literature on primate ecology and behavior. Topics covered include primate distribution and habitats, social systems and social organization, diet and foraging strategies, community ecology, socioecology, food competition, life history and demography, sexual behavior and mating systems, sexual selection and reproduction strategies, aggression and dominance, kinship and cooperation, communication, cognition, and conservation biology. The course is lecture-based; requirements include weekly assignments, class presentations, and short papers.

ANTH 79100A- Integrative Paleoanthropology I
New York University: M, 2:00-5:00 p.m. 3 credits, 25 Waverly Place Room 901, Prof. Eric Delson [45828]. NOTE: This course is a NYCEP seminar and will meet at New York University. 3 hours/week.

This two-term course will cover all of paleoanthropology, from Late Miocene hominoids through the end of the Paleolithic. It will be taught by several faculty each term, with numerous guest speakers as well. The fall term will include: methods in phylogeny, systematics, and archaeology; dating, correlation, and the geological timescale; global climate change; geoarchaeology and landscape archaeology; zooarchaeology and faunal analysis; paleoecological reconstruction; human specializations in comparison with other extant hominoids; stratigraphy and faunal characterization of major Plio - Pleistocene sites; human fossils - the early group (Sahelanthropus, Orrorin, Ardipithecus), Australopithecus, Paranthropus and Kenyanthropus: morphology, function, and phylogeny; early stone tool industries in Africa; and behavior and lifeways of australopiths and earliest Homo.

ANTH 80700- Reading Marx's Capital
GC: Th, 6:30-8:30 p.m., the Dining Commons - 8th floor, 3 credits, Prof. David Harvey [45348].

ANTH 80800- Doctoral Dissertation Writing
GC: T, 4:15-6:15 p.m., Rm. 6402.01, 0 credits, Prof. Maria Lagos [45351].

ANTH 81100- The French Anthropological Tradition
GC: M, 2:00-4:00 p.m., Rm. 6495, 3 credits, Prof. Vincent Crapanzano [45353].

This seminar provides a critical overview of French anthropology in the twentieth century. It looks not only at important anthropological texts by Durkheim, Mauss, Lévy-Bruhl, Griaule, and Lévi-Strauss, but at others by Bataille, Artaud, Fanon, Foucault, Derrida, and Lacan which have influenced the French take on anthropology, if at times only through indirection and even denial. Readings will all relate to the socio-cultural circumstances in which they were written and read. Stress will be given to the intellectualist stance of French anthropology and the frayed edges that stance produces, as in anthropology's flirtation with surrealism, the irrational (the College de Sociologie), and dedicated alterity.

ANTH 81200- Multiculturalism: Critical Approaches
GC: Th, 2:00-4:00 p.m., Rm. 6495, 3 credits, Prof. Leith Mullings [45354].

This course focuses on contemporary challenges of multiculturalism and cultural pluralism. We begin by exploring the ways in which relations of globalization have transformed constructions of nationality, race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and other forms of difference. We then trace popular and academic notions of culture underlying public policy concerning race, ethnicity, class, and immigration in the United States and other areas of the world. As we critically examine theories of multiculturalism and how these are played out in 'neo-liberal,' 'corporate,' and 'radical' directions, we consider a range of sites characterized by competing concepts of culture and relations of power. Seminar participants are encouraged to explore specific problems of contemporary multi-ethnic societies.

ANTH 81300- Spaces and Cultures of American Empire
GC: T, 11:45 a.m. - 1:45 p.m., Rm. 6421, 3 credits, Prof. Neil Smith [45355].

ANTH 81400- Rethinking the Idea of Tradition
GC: W, 2:00-4:00 p.m., Rm. 6494, 3 credits, Prof. Talal Asad [45358]. Permission of instructor is required.

In the older social science writing, "traditional societies" were usually contrasted with "modern societies," representing the former as ancient and relatively static and the latter as dynamic. But for some time now a great deal of literature has challenged the assumption that "traditional societies" have really not changed over time, and the very idea of a tradition as old has been seen as an ideological construction. As early as 1967, the Rudolphs published a study of political development in India, entitled The Modernity of Tradition, in which they sought to demonstrate the new ways in which traditional organizations, values, and customs were inserted into the evolving political culture of a modernizing state. And in 1983, Hobsbawm wrote in the famous collection entitled The Invention of Tradition, that "Traditions which appear or claim to be old are often quite recent in origin and sometimes invented." The constructivist approach associated with this book has become very influential in anthropology, and much useful work has resulted from it. But it tends to leave other interesting questions unaddressed. In this seminar we will explore briefly how the notion of "tradition" connects with some other concepts - such as "history," "authority," "memory," and "law."

ANTH 81800- The Anthropology of Consumption
GC: T, 2:00-4:00 p.m., Rm. 6495, 3 credits, Prof. Jane Schneider [45360].

This course will examine the emergence of "consumption" as a topic - principally in anthropology but also in cultural studies and sociology. We will read Arjun Appadurai, Daniel Miller, Michel de Certeau, and some representatives of the Frankfurt and Birmingham schools in order to gain an understanding of why, in the 1980s, the study of consumption took on a legitimacy that it seemed to lack before. The course will then explore a series of issues in the domain of consumption research, with emphasis on the following: (a) specific "consumer revolutions" in historical context; (b) the concept of the commodity chain, with attention to particular chains that have been studied by anthropologists; (c) consumption and the constitution of "alternate modernities"; (d) globalization and the consumption of non-local cultures and life styles; and (e) consumption as a site of refusal and resistance.

In addition to class presentations related to the assigned reading, students will be required to do a consumption-related research project using both interviews and secondary sources, and to write up their results as a term paper.

ANTH 84100- World of the Vikings
Hunter College: Th, 5:30-7:20 p.m. 3 credits, Prof. Tom McGovern [45361]. NOTE: This course meets at Hunter College.

ANTH 89901 - Independent Study/Research in Cultural Anthropology
3-9 credits. Permission of instructor is required.

ANTH 89902 - Independent Study/Research in Archaeology
3-9 credits. Permission of instructor is required.

ANTH 89903 - Independent Study/Research in Linguistic Anthropology
3-9 credits. Permission of instructor is required.

ANTH 89904 - Independent Study/Research in Physical Anthropology
3-9 credits. Permission of instructor is required.

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."