Department: Anthropology
Description: Culture patterns of selected areas. Topics include physical characteristics, history, social, political, intellectual life, and cultural change. Multiple enrollments are allowed if content is different.
Credit Hours: 3
Prerequisites: Consent of the instructor, or graduate standing
Graduate Level Course: This course is approved for graduate credit
Dates: 01/16/2024 - 05/04/2024
Location: Schroeder Hall 201 (SCH 201)
Instructor: Ana Navas Mendez
Class Notes: Historical Archaeology of Latin America
Class Notes: This seminar explores the historical archaeology of Latin America and the Caribbean. Historical archaeology, understood here as the archaeology of European colonialism, is a multidisciplinary field that draws from anthropology, history, archaeology, and related disciplines such as geography or historic preservation, among others. Starting with the definition of the field, the course continues with the discussion of research topics and agendas, theoretical frameworks, and methodologies. Themes in the discussions include acculturation and colonialism, material culture and technology, power, identity and ethnogenesis, African diaspora, and colonial economies. The course explores these topics in the study of distinct contexts and materialities such as missions, plantations, cities, architecture, food and consumables, etc. It offers different perspectives, including the contribution of Latin American scholars, to critically question multiple versions of the past.
Textbooks are not required for this section.
Dates: 01/16/2024 - 05/04/2024
Location: Schroeder Hall 203 (SCH 203)
Instructor: Shelby Putt
Class Notes: Experimental Archaeology
Class Notes: Experimental archaeology is a branch of archaeology that provides a unique way of learning about the past behaviors of humans and their ancestors by employing a variety of different methods to test hypotheses. Often, these methods include reconstructing or replicating artifacts and structures to better understand their use or purpose and to infer past behaviors. This is not a “primitive” technology class focusing on survival skills, but rather, this course exhibits how replication and experimentation can be used as powerful tools of analogy and inference to better understand the archaeological record. Students will read primary articles which use experimental methods, participate in hands-on activities, and conduct an experiment of their own or in a group.
Textbooks are not required for this section.