Classes in anth

ANTH 1 Introduction to Physical Anthropology 3.0 units
Description: This course introduces the concepts, methods of inquiry, and scientific explanations for biological evolution and their application to the human species. Issues and topics will include but are not limited to, genetics, evolutionary theory, human variation, and biocultural adaptations, comparative primate anatomy and behavior, and the fossil evidence for human evolution. The scientific method serves as the foundation of the course. (C-ID: ANTH 110)

Student Learning Outcomes:

1. Describe the place of Homo sapiens in the animal kingdom.
2. Explain the general physical features of modern humans and compare them with the fossil hominids and non-human primates.
3. Analyze theories, concepts, and data that explain human evolution from the fields of genetics, archaeology, geology, and anatomy.
4. Analyze the concepts of ethnocentrism and cultural relativism in relation to the study of human evolution.


ANTH 1L Physical Anthropology Lab 1.0 units
Description: This laboratory course is offered as a supplement to Introduction to Physical Anthropology either taken concurrently or in a subsequent term. Laboratory exercises are designed to introduce students to the scientific method and explore genetics, human variation, human and non-human primate anatomy and behavior, the primate/hominin fossil record and other resources to investigate processes that affect human evolution.(C-ID ANTH 115L). PREREQUISITE or COREQUISITE: ANTH 1, Introduction to Physical Anthropology, may be taken concurrently.

Student Learning Outcomes:

1. Identify the outcomes of evolutionary processes.
2. Apply the scientific method.
3. Demonstrate how human traits are inherited.
4. Identify anatomical and behavioral features of nonhuman primates.
5. Compare the morphology of primates and early hominins.
6. Describe the biological and behavioral adaptations of the genus Homo.
7. Describe structure and function of DNA and RNA.
8. Identify defining features of anatomically modern humans.


ANTH 2 Introduction to Archaeology 3.0 units
Description: This course is an introduction to the study of concepts, theories, data and models of anthropological archaeology that contribute to our knowledge of the human past. The course includes a discussion of the nature of scientific inquiry; the history and interdisciplinary nature of archaeological research; dating techniques; methods of survey, excavation, analysis, and interpretation; cultural resource management; professional ethics; and selected cultural sequences. The course surveys selected prehistoric cultures. (C-ID: ANTH 150)

Student Learning Outcomes:

1. Identify the various archaeological theories, methods, and techniques used to investigate the human past.
2. Demonstrate an understanding of the nature of scientific inquiry and its application in archaeological research.
3. Articulate the goals, and the legal, operational, and ethical framework of cultural resource management and heritage preservation.
4. Illustrate the use of archaeological methods with reference to cultural sequences.
5. Discuss the relationship between anthropology and archaeology. Assess the various careers and areas of work in archaeology.


ANTH 3 Introduction to Cultural Anthropology 3.0 units
Description: The course explores how anthropologists study and compare human cultures. Cultural anthropologists seek to understand the broad arc of human experience focusing on a set of central issues: how people around the world make their living (subsistence patterns); how they organize themselves socially, politically and economically; how they communicate; how they relate to each other through family and kinship ties; what they believe about the world (belief systems); how they express themselves creatively (expressive culture); how they make distinction among themselves such as through applying gender, racial and ethnic labels; how they have shaped and been shaped by social inequalities such as colonialism; and how they navigate culture change and processes of globalization that affect us all. Key concepts of power, social justice, equity, ethnocentrism, cultural relativism, race, anti-racism, decolonization, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class, kinship, ritual, belief systems, and symbolism will be covered. Ethnographic case studies highlight these similarities and differences, and introduce students to how anthropologists do their work, employ professional anthropological research ethics and apply their perspectives and skills to understand humans around the globe. Students will write a research paper based on original fieldwork in a local community. (C-ID ANTH 120) Also listed as ETHN 3A.

Student Learning Outcomes:

1. Define the methods, theories, and perspectives used to study and understand human cultures.
2. Describe, compare, and analyze systems of power and practices shaped by the intersection of race, ethnicity, nationality, class, gender, and sexuality in a range of cultures throughout the globe.
3. Demonstrate an understanding of anthropological concepts including social justice, equity, ethnocentrism, cultural relativism, race, anti-racism, decolonization, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, political organization, socioeconomic class, kinship, ritual, belief systems, and symbolism.
4. Design, conduct, and write a research paper based on ethnographic or Service Learning experience and research.
5. Apply anthropological theory to describe the histories, cultures, intellectual traditions, lived experiences, and/or social struggles of one or more of the following historically defined racialized groups: Native Americans, African Americans, Latinx Americans, and Asian Americans.


ANTH 5 Magic, Witchcraft, and Religion 3.0 units
Description: Explores and analyzes, from a cross-cultural and comparative perspective, religious traditions in diverse cultural contexts with particular focus on the effects of globalization on religious beliefs and practices. Cross-cultural analysis of the concepts of magic, witchcraft, and religion. Examination of connections among the concepts of race, nation, and religion. Exploration of the above through ethnographic readings, class discussions, films, short papers, and a final research paper based on original fieldwork in a local religious or spiritual community. PREREQUISITE: Eligible for English 1A.

Student Learning Outcomes:

1. Discuss the major theoretical approaches to the anthropology of magic, witchcraft, and religion.
2. Identify and analyze human behaviors, rituals, and histories characterizing particular religious cultures in western and nonwestern societies.
3. Explain how and why religious cultures are embedded within systems of race, class, gender, and/or sexuality.
4. Document and analyze a local religious or spiritual community through ethnographic research and writing.


ANTH 6 Culture and Politics of Africa 3.0 units
Description: Historical and contemporary cultural diversity of Africa emphasizing its social, political, and economic structures and symbolic systems. Themes include: colonialism, politics, ethnic identity, religion, gender, race, social movements, environment, and the arts. Examines development, globalization, and human rights. Case studies of particular societies, chosen to reveal variety, are examined comparatively. ADVISORY: Eligible for English 1A.

Student Learning Outcomes:

1. Discuss the major theoretical approaches to the anthropology of Africa.
2. Identify and analyze precolonial, colonial, and/or postcolonial cultures and politics of particular African regions.
3. Explain how and why African cultures shape and are shaped by development strategies, globalization, and human rights movements.
4. Explain how and why African cultures are embedded within systems of race, class, gender, and/or sexuality.
5. Document and analyze an African culture through research and ethnographic writing.


ANTH 7 Global Perspectives of Food and Culture 3.0 units
Description: This course explores food systems and cultural food traditions within a global context from an anthropological perspective. Students examine the social, cultural, and ecological aspects of food, food products, and food resources in a global, historical, and comparative perspective. Students explore how the most basic and essential act of eating defines the human species in terms of engagement with the natural world, food production and distribution systems, systems of race, ethnicity, class, and gender, health care, and interpersonal relationships.

Student Learning Outcomes:

1. Use anthropological tools to compare, contrast, and critically analyze theories about food and culture using the anthropological perspective, a holistic approach to contextualizing humans as beings integrated by biology, culture and language.
2. Understand the basic patterns of human subsistence.
3. Understand the relationship between food and systems of race, ethnicity, class, and gender.
4. Critically assess contemporary theories of culture change and globalization.
5. Understand the effect of commodification, corporate ownership, and the impact of global trade on local foods.
6. Recognize and appreciate the need for food justice.


ANTH 10 Native American Culture 3.0 units
Description: This course surveys the experiences of Indigenous peoples of North American including American Indian Tribes, First Nations of Canada, and Indigenous communities of Mesoamerica. Key themes include colonization, decolonization, resistance, cultural syncretism, political sovereignty, cultural revitalization, and ecology. The course examines these communities and themes through the cross cultural, holistic perspective of anthropology and the interdisciplinary perspectives of critical race theory and ethnic studies. As listed as ETHN 10A.

Student Learning Outcomes:

1. Examine the origins and development of cultural, political, and economic patterns throughout Native North America.
2. Summarize the responses of Indigenous peoples of North America to European-American colonization.
3. Discuss the past and present dynamics of self-determination and decolonization throughout Native North America.
4. Summarize the contemporary cultural and political struggles of Indigenous communities in North America including cultural revitalization, federal acknowledgement, political self-determination, and environmental racism.


ANTH 22 Field Work and Service 0.5 units
Description: Supervised field work within the college and with local agencies. Students serve in useful group activities in leadership roles prescribed for them by faculty or community agencies. A maximum of six units may be completed. This is a pass/no pass course. REQUIRED: Learning contracts must be filled out and signed by the student and the supervising instructor.



ANTH 32 Introduction to Research Methods 3.0 units
Description: An overview of the methodologies used in experimental, quasi-experimental, and non-experimental research in psychology. Students will learn how to design and conduct research, including formulating hypotheses, reviewing the literature, evaluating ethical issues, selecting methodologies, organizing data, applying statistics, and writing reports. This course is also listed as PSYC 32 and POLS 32. PREREQUISITE: PSYC 10 with a grade or "C" or better and MATH 5 with a grade of "C" or better.

Student Learning Outcomes:

1. Explain the basic principles of the scientific method.
2. Critically evaluate research findings in terms of quality, credibility, and applicability.
3. Conceptualize and operationalize social variables in formulating testable hypotheses.
4. Examine various research designs and the role of quantitative and qualitative techniques in social science analyses.
5. Describe how social research can be used to make informed decisions.
6. Understand the relationship between social theory and research.