Summer 2008 Courses
- Session A May 27-July 3
| Anthro 1: Introduction to Biological Anthropology | ||
| Agarwal | CCN 12005 | |
Note: Sections DO meet the first week after the first lecture has concluded. This course examines human anatomy and behavioral biology within an evolutionary context. It is a 6-week intense study, that will include an introduction to the history of evolutionary thought from before Darwin to the present; basic human genetics and molecular biology; human variation and adaptation; evolutionary influences on behavior; the anatomy, ecology, and behavior of our closest living relatives, the nonhuman primates; and the evolution of our lineage as reflected in the hominid fossil record. We will pay special attention to the complex interrelations of biology, behavior, and culture and the challenges of studying these interactions. There will be 4 hours of lecture and three hours of lab/discussion per week. The course will emphasize lecture, discussion and hands-on lab learning. No prerequisites. Requirements: | ||
| Anthro 2AC: Introduction to Archaeology | ||
| Hayes,K | CCN 12030 | |
| This course will provide the student with an introduction to the discipline of anthropological archaeology with a special emphasis on how archaeology contributes to our understanding of American society and the cultures from which it is drawn. Students will learn about the methods, goals, and theoretical concepts of archaeology, and how to use those in critically reading contemporary reporting of archaeological research. We will also give attention to the impact archaeology has had on the construction of the histories of diverse communities - Native Americans, African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos, and European Americans. (Note: This course fulfills the same requirements as Anthro 2.) | ||
| Anthro 119: HIV/AIDS: Critical Perspectives in an Epidemic | ||
| Roebuck,C | CCN 12095 | |
It has been said that HIV/AIDS moves among the fault lines of society and becomes a metaphor for understanding that society. If so, what does the current state of HIV/AIDS tell us about the conditions of contemporary life and human relations? This question animates and organizes this upper-division medical anthropology course, which begins with a basic premise: HIV is not only a retrovirus. It is a powerful and tricky cultural, social, and political actor shaping how humans live and relate in the world today. Acknowledging that HIV/AIDS is a biosocial phenomena, that is, irreducibly biological AND social, this course draws upon social scientific, medical, historical, and literature texts as well as mass media material, activist graphics, and video documentaries to develop a critical Anthropology of HIV/AIDS. Such an approach recognizes that is it impossible to unmoor HIV/AIDS, how it is understood, experienced, and addressed, from the mutually constitutive entanglements of science and culture, biology and society, medicine and politics. The course opens with medical and media reports during the first five years of the epidemic that grappled with the emergence of a then unknown disease. Drawing upon a genealogy of HIV/AIDS activism, we will trace a history of the present attentive to the biopolitics of science, medical authority, race, gender, and sexuality. In such a world, political stakes are the status of particular kinds of humans as well as their very biological existence. Emphasizing a comparative approach, we will engage with ethnographic texts that explore how HIV/AIDS is experienced and addressed in three specific geopolitical regions: the nations of Haiti, Brazil, and South Africa. This comparative approach will enable us to study how the specificities and contingencies of globalization, structural violence, political economy, and asymmetric relations of race, class, gender and sexuality shape the contours of the epidemic. As both a closing and an opening, the course will conclude with texts that imagine what kinds of contingent futures are possible for human bodies, relationships, ethics, and love in the time of AIDS.
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| Anthro 152: Art and Culture:"Iranian Cinema (Post-Revolution)" | ||
| Shahrokhi,S | 12130 | |
In the tradition of anthropological inquiry, this course attempts to offer
an understanding of life in Iran through the lens of the camera. Issues
such as religiosity and Islam, and their relation to gender and
sexuality, urbanization of life, revolution, war, and the affects of
global politics are carefully considered in the context of Iranian cinema and their global audience. For the past three decades, the political relationships between America and Iran has cast a shadow on understanding multiplicity of social cultural issues inside Iran. The exception to the rupture in dialogue between two countries has been the reception of Iranian cinema on an International scale. In a comparative approach, this course aims to address multiple dimensions of visual culture (e.g. cinematic productions) in contemporary Iran. | ||
Special Session May 27-June 13
- Demonstrate a critical understanding of the research, interpretation, and concepts of site management of the San Francisco Presidio in the context of the worldwide management of cultural heritage sites and landscapes
- Critically evaluate site management plans of cultural heritage sites and landscapes in terms of movement across them by visitors and possible paths to visitor interpretations.
- Locate, utilize and cite the basic sources including library, internet and professional organizations for the course themes
- Understand and apply the concepts and rules of intellectual property in the context of re-purposing and sharing of data
- Understand the concepts of the preservation, management, and archiving of digital data.
- Have gained an in-depth familiarity with the history of the San Francisco Presidio, specifically the El Presidio fort and deAnza trail, and the traditional and planned presentation of the sites in the Levantar Project
- Have carried out detailed research and documentation of one of the trails chosen for interpretation.
- Have gained skill and experience in one technique of digital documentation of heritage sites and applied this to one of the trails chosen for interpretation of the El Presidio fort and deAnza trail
- Collaborate to produce a working plan for an interpretive trail chosen for interpretation of the El Presidio fort and deAnza trail, providing documentation and a set of alternative plans for the installation of a digitally remediated walk .
- Collaborate to produce a website to share the plan with the public
| Anthro 136E: Digital Documentation and Representation of Cultural Heritage | ||
| Tringham | CCN 12115 | |
Course Website: http://web.mac.com/chimeraspider/Ruth_Tringham/Anthro136e_Summer2008.html This residential field and studio course will focus on the real world challenge of creating interpretive walks and other installations for the public that involve wireless technology, digital geomapping, storytelling etc, globally and specifically, at the El Presidio fort and the de Anza trail (the Levantar Project) at the SF Presidio. The course will involve the design, field trial, and documentation of these different formats of representation of cultural heritage places. The aim is to seek alternatives to permanent markers of information about places, leveraging different forms of digital media. The course will take advantage of the many specialists in these technologies in the Bay Area with whom we have contact and who have offered to contribute their help to the course (CyArk, Cultural Heritage Imaging and others). It will also build on our own research in the Remediated Places project at Catalhoyuk and the SF Presidio. Dates and Times: May 27-June 13. 8:30-5:30 daily Location of work and residence: Participants will have the option of living, free of charge, at the Presidio; they will stay in dormitory style residences on the main post. Prerequisites: There are no prerequisites for the course,although a familiarity with the Internet and basic tasks in digital technology is assumed. Student Outcomes: | ||
| Anthro 3AC: Introduction to Social/Cultural Anthropology | ||
| Hubbard | CCN 12055 | |
This introductory course to anthropology positions it as a discipline with key concepts for understanding diverse ways of life, with special insights into our global contemporary situations. The course also fulfils the American Cultures course requirement, focusing on the global formation of American society and culture. Human society is constantly being destabilized and re-formed through engagements with diverse flows of populations, commerce, mass culture, technology, and politics. No country or culture is cut off from transnational links and influences. This class stresses the picture of America as "a nation of immigrants" rather than "a stand alone nation," a land that is an open global system rather than a fortress under siege. Where possible, the recent work of Berkeley faculty will be used to illuminate the transnational nature of contemporary problems of living in diversity. Key anthropological concepts of kinship, gender, ethnicity, race,and class--as ideas and as practices -- will be explored in overseas and American communities. A focus on the dynamic and transnational processes of identity-making suggest constant revisions in what it means to be "American," as well as to be human, today. |
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| Anthro 121AC: American Material Culture | ||
| Blaisdell-Sloan,K | CCN 12100 | |
This course will examine the ways in which patterns in material culture illuminate behavioral and psychological aspects of American culture since the 17th century. Through an examination of architecture, domestic artifacts, mortuary art, foodways, and trash disposal patterns, you will come to understand the different kinds of insight that a materially focused approach can provide on the past, both for better known populations and events and populations, and for topics that traditional, document based histories often leave underserved. Through readings, lectures and assignments, you will become familiar with the methods of historical archaeology and material culture studies, and will come to understand the ways in which the material shapes cultural experiences. As this course will examine the history of a wide variety of American populations, this course will satisfy the American Cultures requirement. It also counts as an upper division elective for those majoring or minoring in Anthropology. | ||
| Anthro 136B: Museum Methods | ||
| Blaisdell-Sloan,K | 12113 | |
| This course will introduce participants to the fundamentals of contemporary museum practice. It is intended for two groups of students: individuals who may be thinking of conducting research in museums, and may benefit from an understanding of the way these institutions work; and individuals who may be thinking of museum work as a post-graduate career. The course will include both discussion of museum concepts, and practical application of these concepts through real-world exercises.
REQUIRED TEXT: Burcaw, G. Ellis. 1997. Introduction to Museum Work. Third edition. Walnut Creek: Altamira Press. | ||
| Anthro 149: Psychological Anthropology | ||
| Giordano | CCN 12125 | |
Had Freud been trained in India, would he have diagnosed Dora as hysteric? Or would other philosophies of mental health and therapy have influenced his diagnosis?
This course introduces students to the field of psychological anthropology. In this course, we will explore the ways in which subjective experience is influenced by culture. Through the study of different systems of knowledge and understandings of normality and pathology, illness and healing, self and culture, we will ask such questions as: what is the relation between self and society? Are emotions culturally patterned? How do different cultures define illness and healing? How are different ways of expressing and experiencing suffering influenced by culture? How do different experiences of the body and emotions shape what individuals come to recognize as culture? In what ways are notions of culture produced within different therapeutic settings? Is cross-cultural psychological analysis possible, and if so, how? To reflect upon these questions, in readings and lectures we will explore anthropological, ethno-psychiatric, and psychoanalytic approaches to emotions and culture, possession and altered states, magic, transitional experiences, subjectivity and transference, personhood, the psychology of colonization, and the normal and the pathological. |
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| Anthro 162AC: Myth, Magic, and Healing | ||
| Conrad | CCN 12135 | |
This course seeks to investigate systems of meaning and belief from Folkloristic/anthropological perspectives, focusing on the symbolic, expressive, and performative ways in which we make sense of and give meaning to our day-to-day lives. We will investigate the ways in which these systems of belief and knowledge permeate all layers of society; are hotly contested; and in that contestation, expose as they try to justify, power relations. Focusing primarily on the American Experience(s), always with an eye to their historical traces, we will interrogate the ways in which these are imbricated and implicated in the discourses on race, nation, and gender. |
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| Anthro 172AC: "Ethnographic Perspectives on American Capitalism" | ||
| Schwittay,A | CCN 12138 | |
| This course introduces students to American culture through a study
of the dominant institutions and ideologies of American capitalism. Rather than providing a comprehensive analysis, the course examines a number of key features of American capitalism: the centrality of consumption, corporations as powerful economic and social institutions, the American dream embodied in the figure of the entrepreneur, capitalist speculation at the beginning of the 21st century, the importance of technology, and counter-corporate resistances. | ||
| Anthro 181: Themes in the Anthropology of the Middle East and Islam | ||
| Hirschkind,C | CCN 12140 | |
This course focuses on the modern Middle East, and traces developments within the region from the seventeenth century to the contemporary period. We will begin with a discussion of how European colonial rule reshaped the geographical and political reality of the Middle East. We will discuss two very different models of colonial rule--French and British--as experienced by the inhabitants of Algeria and Egypt, and how this historical experience has helped shape contemporary developments in the two regions. We will also explore in detail how a country like Iran, that was never formally colonized, has become part of the geopolitical struggle between the West and the Middle East, and what the role of the Islamic government in Iran has been in the struggle. Insomuch as Islamic reformist and militant movements have become a major force in the Middle East, we will also explore this topic in diverse areas of the Middle East. Please keep in mind that this is not a survey course, but one that is guided by a set of analytical questions concerned with key concepts and images that frame contemporary discussions of the Middle East in the academy and the popular press. |
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| Anthro 189: Special Topics in Social/Cultural Anthropology:Feminist Theory and Post-Colonialism | ||
| Mahmood,S | CCN 12144 | |
| Postcolonial and poststructuralist theory has been crucial to the development of feminist debates in the last century. In this course we will focus on some of the key concepts that have been central to the reformulation of feminism including power, subject, agency, embodiment, performativity, and cultural translation. We will draw upon materials that cut across a range of historical and cultural locations with an eye toward different kinds of theoretical interventions these texts stage within dominant paradigms of feminist thought. Please bear in mind that this course assumes a certain familiarity with debates in both critical theory and poststructuralism. While we will devote some time to discussing key tropes within this philosophical tradition, most of class time will be taken up with the transformations these tropes have enacted in the field of feminist theory and politics. | ||
| Anthro 134A.1: Colonial Period Archaeology in Honduras | ||
| Blaisdell-Sloan | ||
Application
Program The summer field project will focus on investigation of the Late Postclassic and Colonial Periods, with a goal of contributing to our understanding of less understood aspects of colonial life, and in particular of the experiences of people of indigenous and African decent. Methodologically, emphasis will be on the process of site discovery, survey and data recording, but students will also be introduced to research design, mapping, and laboratory analysis of artifacts. In addition to formal instruction in archaeology, the program allows time for a weekend excursion to the classic Maya city, Copan, famous for its palaces, temples, royal portraits in stone and written texts (costs for this optional side trip are not included). Participants will also be able to use free time to explore the Caribbean coast of Honduras or the mountainous areas surrounding the Ulua River's floodplains. This is a physically demanding program involving high levels of activity in conditions of intense heat and humidity. Participant living conditions, in a modest hotel, are simple and require an ability to adapt to more primitive facilities than are the norm in the US. Accommodations will be shared with other participants. Honduras is a Spanish-speaking country, and knowledge of Spanish, while not required, is helpful. Background course work in archaeology and the prehistory of Mexico and Central America is helpful but not required. Program costs Students considering this course will also have to budget for costs of travel to the field site in Honduras and for meals and optional weekend travel. San Pedro Sula is the site of an international airport, served by a number of airlines, including American, Continental, and Taca. Daily meal costs can be quite modest, from $2 a day, up to as much as $20 for dinner at one of the best restaurants in San Pedro Sula on the weekend. Using an estimate of $10/day, food costs should cost around $300 for the field season. The field school includes three free weekends, one of which can be spent on a field trip to the Classic Maya site, Copan (costs not included; allow $100). Optional travel to the Caribbean coast or ecotourism resorts such as Lake Yojoa or the Cusuco rainforest preserve, where quetzal birds can be seen, should be estimated at $50-$100 per weekend. Application Kira Blaisdell-Sloan, Instructor For more information about the field site and project, you can contact Dr. Blaisdell-Sloan via email at kbs@berkeley.edu Required Books These will be available prior to the course and should be read by the 1st week you are in the field.
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| Anthro 134A.2: Field Methods in Archaeology, Japan: Jomon Hunter-Gatherers in Japan | ||
| Habu | ||
Principal Faculty: Professor Junko Habu Course Website: http://anthropology.berkeley.edu/habufieldschool/jomonhome.html This four-week summer program (July 14 - August 10, 2008) provides an introduction to the field and laboratory methods of the archaeology of prehistoric Jomon hunter-gatherers in Japan. Fieldwork takes place at the Middle Jomon Goshizawa Matsumori site in Aomori Prefecture, northern Japan. In collaboration with the Board of Education of Aomori City, Aomori Prefectural Archaeological Center, and Preservation Office of the Sannai Maruyama Site (a branch office of the Board of Education of Aomori Prefecture), we plan to excavate a Middle Jomon pit-dwelling (circa 3000 BP) at the site, catalog excavated artifacts, and screen soil samples to retrieve organic remains and lithic debitage. In addition, we will work on soil samples that were previously collected from the Sannai Maruyama site, a large Early-Middle Jomon settlement dated to circa 3900-2300 BC. The summer session is part of an on-going research project directed by the instructor. Prerequisites: Instructor approval required. Admission to the course is competitive and limited. It is preferred that you have successfully completed Anthropology 2, Introduction to Archaeology, or its equivalent at other institutions, but it is not required. Also, the ability to communicate in Japanese is ideal, but not necessary. There is a field/lab fee for the course. Two textbooks and several articles. Qualifications: Field school participants are expected to be well organized and punctual. Since the excavation will be conducted in collaboration with Japanese archaeologists and local employees of the Preservation Office of the Sannai Maruyama Site, we expect our students to respect cultural traditions, customs and rules of these people. Certain restrictions will apply for evening and weekend free time activities to avoid cultural problems. Application Deadline : March 31 for preferred consideration (applications for the program will be accepted through to April 15, but early application is advised since enrollment is limited). Application can be obtained from Professor Habu Contact Information: Please read the course syllabus before applying (available at:http://anthropology.berkeley.edu/habufieldschool/jomonhome.html) | ||