DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY Course Descriptions Winter 2006

20701-20702. Introduction to African Civilization I, II. (=HIST 10101-10102, SOSC 22500-22600, HUDV 21401[II]) General education social science sequence recommended. This sequence meets the general education requirement in civilization studies. The first portion of this two-quarter sequence will begin with some very general introduction to Africa and then focus on two areas/peoples of West Africa: the Mande and the Igbo. Both sections will deal with precolonial, colonial and contemporary issues. The approach throughout will include anthropological, historical and literary analysis. The second quarter of African Civilization explores processes of historical transformation in Africa, and more specifically the complex legacy of the colonial encounter. Over the course of the late 19th century, the African continent was divided up among different European powers. Although sometimes at odds with each other, colonial governments, traders and missionaries all sought, in different ways, to transform African peoples. In this class we will consider some of those interventions, how diverse African peoples responded, and the more general experience of African modernity. R. Austen, Autumn; J. Cole, Winter. TuTh 9:00-10:20

21102/38400. Classical Readings in Anthropology: History and Theory of Human Evolution (=EVOL 38400, HIPS 23600). A seminar on racial, sexual and class bias in the classic theoretic writings, autobiographies, and biographies of Darwin, Huxley, Haeckel, Keith, Osborn, Jones, Gregory, Morton, Broom, Black, Dart, Weidenreich, Robinson, Leakey, LeGros-Clark, Schultz, Straus, Hooton, Washburn, Coon, Dobzhansky, Simpson, and Gould. Russell Tuttle. MW 1:30-2:50

21201. Intensive Study of a Culture: Chicago Blues. This course is an anthropological and historical exploration of one of the most original and influential American musical genres in its social and cultural context. The course traces the origins of the "Delta Blues" in the culture of African American sharecroppers of rural Mississippi, its transposition to Chicago during the "great migration" of the first half of the twentieth century, its development (in the bars and streets of Chicago's Southside and Westside) into the tough, aggressive urban music that has come to be known as "Chicago Blues", and its eventual spread to audiences outside the African American community. The course examines transformations in the cultural meaning of the blues and its place within broader American cultural currents, the social and economic situation of blues musicians, and the political economy of blues within the wider music industry. Michael Dietler. TuTh 10:30-11:50

21244. Intensive Study of a Culture: Technology in Modern India. This course investigates the role technology has played in Indian social and political life since Independence. Initial readings will be used as a springboard to discuss general theories of technology. The role technology has played in the history of India from the late colonial period through independence, as exemplified in the writings of Gandhi and Nehru, will comprise a second set of readings. The second half of the quarter will be devoted to case studies of the use of technology in India from 1947 to the present day. Questioned addressed in class will include: how has the use of technology shaped the Indian nation-state? What is the meaning of technology in a post-colonial context? What is the relationship between technology and democratic politics in India?  Sareeta Amrute. Wed 3:00-5:50

21307. Modern Readings: History, Ethnohistory and Archaeology. During the Quarter, we will critically examine both the intellectual history of and the recent renewal of claims to historical perspectives in archaeology. The goals of this course are twofold: first, to examine the many uses and understandings of history as evidentiary source, subject matter, and conceptual framework in the archaeological literature; and second, to assess the logic and methods used by researchers to incorporate documentary, ethnohistorical, and archaeological evidence. Students will be expected to complete a project using some combination of archival, oral narrative, and/or archaeological data to examine a substantive problem. Mark Lycett. TuTh 9:00-10:20

21412. The Practice of Anthropology: Anthropological Perspectives on Democracy. Anthropology's unique contribution to the study of democracy has been its focus on forms of political legitimacy, subjectivity, power, and desire. This course will explore democracy from an anthropological perspective through a wide variety of ethnographic and critical theoretical texts. In looking at how anthropologists approach democracy as social practice, we will consider ways to study political ideals, commitments, and actions as they form key aspects of people's everyday lives. Jessica Greenberg. TuTh 12:00-1:20

21520. Love in a Time of Capitalism. (PQ: completion of one SOSC Core Sequence: Self, Culture Society or Power, Identity, Resistance. Cap 50). Most of us are familiar with the idea that romantic love plays a different role in the contemporary world than it did at other times and the idea that love manifests in different ways across cultures. Rather than attempt a survey of all the possible manifestations of romantic love, this course aims to explore how "love" features into our understandings of human interaction in the 21st century, particularly in the United States. Our first goal will be to identify at least some of the tropes of love that are in current circulation. We will then explore the potential social consequences of those tropes, including the possibility of commodifying and "selling" certain tropes as the "right" way to be in love. Throughout the course, we will collect love stories, and our final task of the quarter will be to compare our theoretical and media derived understandings of romantic love with its manifestations in people's lives. Holly M. Swyers, MW 3:30-4:50.

23025/31609. Politics of Environment in Brazil [Environment and Society: Debates and Conflicts over Conservation in the Brazilian Amazon] (=LACS 27645/37645, ENST 27645). This course will discuss concepts and practices relating traditional peoples and natural landscapes, with a focus on the politics of conservation in contemporary Brazil. Our starting point is the existence of social conflicts over the use of territories and natural resources, and the continuing interplay between the construction of new identities and the struggles for territory and political recognition. We hope to show that alongside the ongoing conflicts over land and nature involving indigenous and traditional groups, the stakes are not only shifts in the distribution of land and of power, but also in the very meaning of nature, of social diversity and of development. We will take as cases in point the ‘traditional peoples' of Amazonia. Detribalized Indians or caboclos, rubber tappers, quilombo and fishermen are instances of regroupment and reterritorialization of displaced people, and also of reconstruction of identities and practices as these groups enter into new relations with the State and the wider society. In discussing such cases, we will balance those approaches which focus on local and internal factors such as institutions, values and practices operating at the local level, and those which emphasize the external conflicts and alliances. Mauro de Almeida. Mon 1:30-4:20.

23101-23102-23103. Introduction to Latin American Civilization I, II, III. (=HIST 16100-16200-16300, LTAM 16100-16200-16300, LACS 34600-34700-34800, SOSC 26100-26200-26300) PQ: Completion of the general education requirement in social sciences. May be taken in sequence or individually. This sequence meets the general education requirement in civilization studies. For course description, see History. This three-quarter sequence introduces students to the history and cultures of Latin America, including Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean Islands. The first quarter examines the origins of civilizations in Latin America with a focus on the political, social, and cultural features of the major pre-Columbian civilizations of the Maya, Inca, and Aztec, concluding with the Spanish and Portuguese conquest. The second quarter considers the evolution of colonial societies, the wars for independence, and the emergence of Latin American nation-states in the changing international context of the nineteenth century. The third quarter addresses the twentieth century, with a special emphasis on the challenges of economic, political, and social development in the region. D. Borges, A. Kolata, Autumn; R.Baber, Winter; E. Kouri, Spring. MWF 1:30-2:20

23310. Anthropology of Travel. The objective of this course is to consider how the recognition of difference is coordinated through transnational networks of state monitored travel. Moving away from disparate travel themes like tourism (which inadvertently presume the unrestricted freedom of travelling subjects), or immigration (which inadvertently presume and produce politically subordinant travelling subjects), this course specifically addresses the history of the systems of movement (i.e., enslaved, voluntary and leisure) that effectively transmit the meaning and significance of citizenship and belonging. In this sense, nothing about travel is taken for granted, as the course observes how ones relationship to the possibilities and conditions of travel can interpret ones social location and/or citizenry. The organization of the literature can be read as a political narrative. The narrative suggests that spaces are delimited or mapped not simply in connection to nation borders, but via the bodies or citizenries that can and can't traverse them, at any given moment. Focusing upon the movements of colonials and colonial subjects from the 18th Century to decolonization, in addition to contemporary issues around immigrant, exile and leisure travel, this course details how travel regulations locally tailor social life. It questions how we can begin to consider how practices and conditions of spatial mobility are historically constitutive elements in the logics that not only reference difference among subjects, but which empower the meaning the space itself, in relation to the ways that differently restricted subjects are perceived and hence allowed to occupy, engage and embody space, transnationally. Kesha Fikes. MW 1:30-2:50.

24101-24102. Introduction to the Civilization of South Asia I, II (=SALC 20100-20200, SASC 20000-20100, SOSC 23000-23100). PQ: Must be taken in sequence. This course meets the general education requirement in civilization studies. This sequence of courses provides an introduction to core themes in the formation of culture and society in South Asia before colonialism. In the first quarter readings selected mainly from Sanskrit and vernacular sources will address ideas and practices relating to space, time, self, power, language, love beauty, death, and spirit. The second quarter focuses on Islam in South Asia, Hindu-Muslim interaction, Mughal political and literary traditions, and South Asia's early encounters with Europe. M. Alam. TuTh 1:30-2:50

24510-11/ 34501-02. The Anthropology of Museums I, II (=SOSC 34500-01, MAPS 34500-01, HUDV 34501-02). Using anthropological theories and methodology as a conceptual framework, this seminar will explore the organizational and ideological aspects of museum culture(s). The course includes visits to museums with guest museum professionals as guides into the culture of museums. The seminar continues in the Spring quarter, when students will conduct ethnographic fieldwork in a Chicago-area museum. (NOTE: Winter quarter is a prerequisite for participation in Spring Quarter.) Raymond Fogelson, Morris Fred. Wed 5:30-8:20 pm.

25605/35805. Technoscience and Information (=SOCI 20149/30149, CHSS 32300, HIPS 23301). Science, technology and information are the ‘racing heart' of contemporary cognitive capitalism and the engine of change of our technological culture. They are deeply relevant to the understanding of contemporary societies. But how are we to understand the highly esoteric cultures and practices of science, technology and information? This course opens the black box of scientific knowledge production and technological work. We draw on the new science and technology studies (STS) and on ethnographic work in surveying constructivist, actor-network-, cultural, historical and feminist approaches to the study of science and knowledge. A first goal of the course is to examine the theoretical concepts and empirical findings of current approaches to science and technology. A second goal is to examine how these elements extend to and are complemented by theories of information and the creative character of contemporary societies. Karin Knorr Cetina. Tues 3:00-5:50.

26711/36711. Ancient Landscapes-2 (=NEAA 20062/30062; GEOG 25800/35800; ANST 22601). (PQ: Ancient Landscapes I or the consent of the instructor.) This course follows on from Ancient Landscapes I, taught last quarter. The sequence is designed to expose you to both numerous spatial theories underlying Landscape Archaeology as well as to the methodologies and tools used to collect and analyze spatial data within the landscape. They are relevant to anyone who may need to conduct an archaeological survey one day or who wishes to analyze the locations of archaeological data, or in textual data, within their spatial contexts. As with the first course, this one is comprised of both a classroom and a laboratory component. Additional laboratory exercises during this second quarter will allow you to get hands on experience in areas such as Spatial Statistics, Simulation and Virtual Reality modeling. In addition a large portion of the class will revolve around working individually or in small groups on the actual implementation of some of the projects you designed during Ancient Landscapes I. Scott Branting. TuTh 10:30-11:50.

26800/36800. Rise and Fall of Early Complex Societies. The advent of complex societies marks a signal transformation in human culture, society, politics, economy, and psychology. The geographically and temporally irregular emergence of "the State" has been variously described as the point of origin for social struggle, the source of sublimation and neurosis, and the genealogical root of a wide range of institutions predicated upon specialization and radical inequality. In this course we will examine contemporary approaches to the problems associated with the rise and fall of early complex polities and undertake a comparative examination of five pivotal case studies: Sumer, Egypt, China, the Maya lowlands, and Teotihuacan. The course will begin with an introduction to the role of early complex societies in 19th and 20th century social thought followed by an evaluation of the major theoretical frameworks archaeologists have constructed to explain the rise of states. In this context, we will undertake a critical examination of current theoretical debates in political anthropology, including problems associated with existing systems of classification (e.g., the chiefdom/state controversy), schemes of social development (e.g., sociocultural evolution and historicism), and the epistemological foundations of the field. We will then proceed to evaluate various theoretical models in reference to our five case studies. In addition to exploring pivotal historical and archaeological remains, we will address key aspects of social complexity illustrated by each case, such as the constitution of political authority or the ordering of political economy. The class will conclude with a critical discussion of the collapse of early complex polities and their relevance to modern social and political thought. Adam T. Smith. TuTh 10:30-11:50.

27001-27002-27003//37001-37002-37003. Introduction to Linguistics I, II, III (= Ling 201-202-203/301-302-303, SocSci 217-218-219). PQ: Must be taken in sequence. This course is an introductory survey of methods, findings, and problems in areas of major interest within lin¬guistics and of the relationship of linguistics to other disciplines. Topics include the biological basis of language, basic notions of syntax, semantics, pragmatics, basic syntactic typology of language, phonetics, phonology, morphology, language acquisition, linguistic variation, and linguistic change. John Goldsmith. TuTh 1:30-2:50.

27115/37115 Immigration and urban sociolinguistics (=HUDV 20204/30204). Focusing on urban migration, well study how multilingual speakers (re)shape their language repertoires both in the host society and along their social- and spatial trajectories. Well focus on language practice and attitude, approaching them as spatial constructions and as organizations of urban space(s). Well see how migrants appropriate their multilayered space and how they display a dynamic identity repertoire according to settings and co-interactants. Well start by examining the broader context of globalization, questioning, among other things, the relationship between local and global context. Cécile Vigouroux. MW 1:30-2:50

27400/37400. Language, Power, and Identity in Southeastern Europe: A Linguistics View of the Balkan Crisis (=SLAV 23000/33000, HUMA 27400, LING 27200/37200). Language is a key issue in the articulation of ethnicity and the struggle for power in Southeastern Europe. This course familiarizes students with the linguistic histories and structures that have served as bases for the formation of modern Balkan ethnic identities that are being manipulated to shape current and future events. The course is informed by the instructor's thirty years of linguistic research in the Balkans as well as his experience as an adviser for the United Nations Protection Forces in Former Yugoslavia and as a consultant to the Council on Foreign Relations, the International Crisis Group, and other organizations. Course content may vary in response to on-going current events. Victor Friedman. TuTh 10:30-11:50

28400/38800. Bioarchaeology and the Human Skeleton. This course is designed to provide students in archaeology with a thorough understanding of bioanthropological and osteological methods used in the interpretation of pre-historic societies. The integration of archaeology and human biology has been an especially dynamic area of anthropological endeavor during the past two decades, giving archaeologists important data on the genetic identity, health and diet of ancient societies. When combined with contextual data on mortuary treatment and cemetery structure, bioanthropology has been a critical part of the technical arsenal of modern archaeologists. The goal of this course will be to introduce students to bioanthropological methods and theory. In particular, laboratory instruction will stress hands-on experience in analyzing the human skeleton; whereas, seminar classes will integrate bioanthropological theory and application to specific cases throughout the world. There will be one laboratory class and one seminar-format class per week. M.C. Lozada. TuTh 1:30-3:20 BSLC 402.

29910. BA Essay Seminar. (Limited to students writing BA papers in Anthropology). David Peterson. ARR

30411. Ethnography of Law-2 (=MAPS 46801, SOSC 46801, LAWS 93802). Morris Fred. Tues 3:00-5:50

33101-33102. Native Peoples of North America I, II. PQ: Must be taken in sequence. This course is a comprehensive review of Native American cultural history, including consideration of intellectual context, prehistory, ethnology, history, and the contemporary situation. The last half of the second quarter is devoted to a mutually agreed-on topic in which stu¬dents pursue individual research, the results of which are presented in semi¬nar format. Raymond Fogelson. TuTh 3:00-4:20

34201, 34202. Development of Social and Cultural Theory II: The Making of Modern Anthropology (200 units). PQ: Open only to first-year Anthropology graduate students. The second quarter of "Systems" explores the interplay of theory and ethnography, professional practice and historical context, in the development of anthropology as "modern" and "postmodern" discipline. Rather than offer an overview of contemporary theoretical and methodological discourses, we shall examine, in depth, the relations among several major orientations that have shaped the history of Anglo-American anthropology this century. In so doing, we shall be concerned with (i) the historical roots and philosophical foundations of particular perspectives and (ii) its significance for modern theoretical concerns and critical approaches in the social sciences at large. Manuela Carneiro da Cunha. TuTh, 1:30-4:20 Haskell 315

37202. Language in Culture II (=Ling 31200, PSYC 47002). PQ: Must be taken in sequence. This is the second part of a two-quarter sequence on the relations between language and culture. Building on the first quarter's discussions of the interactional order and its conceptual dialectics, this quarter's class explores the implications of language use for the construction of institutions such as schools, nations, states, liberal polities and scientific research, and the simultaneous embeddedness of language use in those very institutions. The aim throughout is to investigate the constitute role of language and semiotic figuration in socioculteral "power" and in sociohistorical processes. We start with the notion of language ideology and the way it shapes understandings of linguistic differentiation by users - - both professional and non-expert - - and their assumptions about the "natural" indexicality of linguistic forms. This allows us to reconceptualize linguistic units such as ‘language', ‘dialect', ‘register', and ‘variety' as normative cultural constructs - - folk concepts as well as scientific ones - - and ‘standardization' as one among many cultural/semiotic processes of language change that are implicated in nation and state-building, colonial and postcolonial projects and other aspects of "modernization" as a discursive phenomenon. Michael Silverstein. WedFri 9:30-11:20.

37301. Phonology I (=Ling 20800/30800). PQ: Ling 201, 202, 203, 206, or equivalent. This is an introduction to general principles of phonology, with emphasis on nongenerative theory. Alan Yu. MW 1:30-2:50.

37802. Syntax-2 (=Ling 20500/30500). PQ. Part 1. Chris Kennedy. TuTh 10:30-11:50.

45600. When Cultures Collide: The Moral Challenge in Cultural Migration (=HUDV 45600, HMTR 35600, PSYC 45300). Coming to terms with diversity in an increasingly multicultural world has become one of the most pressing public policy projects for liberal democracies in the early 21st century. One way to come to terms with diversity is to try to understand the scope and limits of toleration for variety at different national sites where immigration from foreign lands has complicated the cultural landscape. This seminar examines a series of legal and moral questions about the proper response to norm conflict between mainstream populations and cultural minority groups (including old and new immigrants), with special reference to court cases that have arisen in the recent history of the United States. Richard Shweder.Wed 9:30-11:50

52100. Seminar: Anthropologies of Body and Experience. Classically in sociocultural anthropology bodies occupied a default position that could be safely left to the biological sciences. Since the 1980s, however, the combined influence of Foucault, phenomenology, feminism, and medical anthropology has made bodies ("the body," embodiment, bodiliness) a topic in new ways. Once the life of the body has been made an issue for anthropology, many other areas of interest are somewhat recast: consciousness, materialism, subjectivity, agency, discipline, everyday life, practice, and experience all come into play in new ways. No one seminar could accommodate even the majority of work claiming to elucidate these newly framed topics. This course will narrow the field by considering embodiment together with the vexed theoretical and empirical question of experience. Readings (and a few films) will fall into the following broad categories: phenomenology and the critique of phenomenology; representations and their consumption; materialist methods in the interpretation of culture; sexuality and the Freudian body; non-Western theories of bodies and experience; virtual bodies and the senses; bodies (in)visible in ethnography and history. Judith Farquhar. Fri 1:30-4:20

52700. Anthropology of Security. One of the foundational concepts of international order is the notion of security. Though this category is rarely defined in practice, it is the basis for war and peace, for the internal management of populations within states, as well as a rhetorical structure that is increasingly used to mobilize resources (economic, military, and ideological). This seminar interrogates the concept of security through the theoretical literature informing state concepts of security, through ethnographic studies of insecurity, and particularly, through an analysis of U.S. power in the post-Cold War period. Joseph Masco. Wed 12:30-3:20

53200. Sovereignty, Citizenship and Nation. This seminar examines theories and practices of nationhood, with a focus on the sociocultural dimensions of citizenship and sovereignty. We will engage classic and recent political theory, but the core readings are ethnographic. Themes include the relationship between culture and the technologies of nation; the intersections of citizenship with race, gender, and language; nation-state sovereignty in relation to indigenous peoples and national minorities; sovereignty and empire; political belonging and cultural citizenship; and nation and kinship. Jessica Cattelino. Tues 9:00-11:50

55200. Lefebvre, Geography & Subjectivity. This course addresses philosophical perspectives on the idea of the dialectic, or dialectic logic. We will assess this analytic apparatus through select works of Henri Lefebvre, in addition to the works of his primary interlocutors. The course begins by addressing competing approaches to dialectic logic, i.e., subjective and materialist models which informed early Lefebvrian arguments. Next, we will observe how Lefebvrian critiques of existentialist and structuralist approaches to dialectic logic converged within the formulation of his multi-dimensional analytic approach to sociality in the The Production of Space. The overall objective is to acquire an expanded understanding of the tense relationship between 'humanist' and 'political economy' approaches to relationally conceived social phenomena. In the later portion of the course we will read two ethnographies that use this tension as the very method and site of analysis. The course is designed for students focusing on 'identity', contemporary nationalisms and migration. Kesha Fikes. Fri 10:30-1:20

55600. Money and Value. Anthropologists long have been concerned to understand the myriad ways that groups attach meanings, desires, and hierarchical worth to material objects and economic processes. This course will explore two core topics in economic anthropology: money and value. Focusing an ethnographic eye across scales from colonization to household budgeting, we will re-examine the classic social theoretical argument that money deracinates and abstracts social relations, and we will consider money's link to various aspects of moral and epistemic calculation. Value is a notoriously elusive analytic, so we will both trace its intellectual biography and consider its potential to link the moral to the material, and the creative to the collective. Jessica Cattelino. Thurs 9:00-11:50

56500. The Archaeology of Colonialism. This seminar is a comparative exploration of archaeological approaches to colonial encounters. It employs temporally and geographically diverse case studies from the archaeological and historical literature situated within a critical discussion of colonial and postcolonial theory. The course seeks to evaluate the potential contribution of archaeology both in providing a unique window of access to precapitalist forms of colonial interaction and imperial domination and in augmenting historical studies of the expansion of the European world-system. Methodological strategies, problems, and limitations are also explored. Michael Dietler, Shannon Dawdy Wed 1:30-4:20.

56900. Landscapes: Theory & Interpretation. Space is a fundamental dimension of anthropological data and interpretation. Archaeological research programs invest much of their energy and resources in detailing location, arrangement, dispersal, and distribution of material culture and built form. Cultural anthropologists regularly probe the ways in which values, histories, and meanings create place out of space. Historians point to the iconographic potency of representations of space in both picture and text. Architects and urban planners detail the impact of form upon culture, behavior, and belief. Yet despite this acknowledgement of the spatiality of social life across the social sciences, anthropological theory has for many years considered space to be epiphenomenal to more fundamental temporal processes of social and cultural change. In the last decade, space has come to be seen increasingly as an active element in cultural processes, shaping actions and constraining possibilities. Consequent with this shift in the epistemological status of space, landscape has emerged as a unifying concept for the interpretation of "social space". This course will consider some of the varying interpretive approaches to landscape by considering works both within and outside anthropology. We will consider three overlapping dimensions of human spatial practice: experience (e.g., flows of goods, people, and information), perception (e.g., symbolic spaces, spatial semiotics), and imagination (e.g., iconography, cartography, spatial aesthetics). The goal of the course is to provide students with both a strong foundation in current spatial theory drawn from geography, social theory, architecture, cultural anthropology, and archaeology, as well as critical tools for operationalizing theoretical perspectives in reference to spatial data. // We will attempt to critically assess the utility to anthropological analysis of a wide variety of perspectives and analytical techniques encompassing both quantitative and qualitative data. During the term, students will be expected to present a case study to the class, write three short theoretical treatises, and complete a research paper dealing with spatial data. The course is conceived of as broadly interdisciplinary of value to archaeologists, cultural anthropologists, geographers, architects, sociologists, and urban planners. Adam Smith. Wed 9:30-12:20

Of Related Interest

SOSC 28105/INST 28105/CRPC 28105. Race and Nation in the Caribbean. The Caribbean region is a unique area for sociological and anthropological study. In this course we will treat race and nation as kinds of socialrelationships and modes of constructing subjectivity, though as we shall see, these are often taken to be the natural and enduring basis of subjectivity and identity. Thus, while we shall begin from the premise that race is a social construction and the nation must be continually reproduced as an imagined community, we will also consider how such social constructions can be quite real in their effects (e.g., institutionalized racism, social exclusion, and political violence). We will begin with a discussion of the Caribbean as a historical and social formation and then we will consider some key concepts and theoretical frameworks for understanding race and nation in the region. The majority of the course will focus on a range of case studies, including discussions of Haiti, Cuba, Jamaica, and Trinidad.  Greg Beckett

SOSC 28107/AFAM 28107/CRPC 28107. Apartheid and Jim Crow: Racial Domination in Comparative Historical Perspective. This course will focus on two of the most infamous and legally entrenched systems of racial domination in the last century and a half. Through historical and anthropological methodology and immersion in primary documents and sources, we will analyze the social construction of race in these societies and seek to explain how racism became the central category of social and political life in these seemingly disparate geographic contexts. In studying the pervasiveness of racism in these two societies, we will also consider the multiple forms of contestation and resistance by those subjugated by Jim Crow and Apartheid. A comparative historical perspective will offer students a better understanding of the legacies of these societies as well as focus on their individual historical specificity and the commonalities endemic to societies ordered by racism. Subtopics will vary week to week and include: the legacy of slavery, colonial economies, "free" labor experience and ideology, emancipation as a legal and social category, the comparative interrelation of gender and race, the development of a body of racialized law, capitalist development in "peripheral" societies, organized protest, state repression and the neo-liberal order. Thomas Adams, Bernard Dubbeld

EALC 26700/36700. Feminist Struggles in Japan. Is feminism dead in Japan, as so many have wished or declared? Or, as with so many instances of sustained and courageous protest, are we simply ignorant of the endeavors pursued by women (and men) around the country? In this course we will examine recent and continuing examples of feminist activism in Japan, addressing issues ranging from reproduction to labor to sexuality to constitutional rights. We will use film, fiction, artwork, and other documents (including web sources) generated by the movements. Our focus will extend outward from contemporary Japan both historically and geographically. This course is primarily for undergraduates, but graduate students are also welcome; they will be expected to produce research incorporating materials from their specialization in E. Asia or other regions. N. Field & T. Yamaguchi.

GNDR 23701. Sex, Love and Gender in Africa in the Age of AIDS. This course examines sexuality and gender in contemporary Africa, using the AIDS epidemic as a frame for thinking about changes in African societies over the last two decades. Theoretically, the course asks how African contexts challenge conventional conceptualizations of tender and sex. More empirically, the course explores key aspects of personhood in African societies, including the colonial legacy, reproduction, women's rights, homosexuality and AIDS. Robert Wyrod

NEAA 30160/ANCM 3800. Funerary Ritual in the Ancient Near East. (Open to undergraduates with consent of instructor) A funerary ritual is to be considered a formal representation of an ideological discourse, in which the community of the living constructs its social and cultural identity through the performance of specific actions in order to find solutions for the unexplainable end of life. Archaeologists should bear in mind this premise, while digging, analyzing, and interpreting any ancient funerary structure. In fact, during the excavation of a funerary context, they are not confronted with static layers of ancient objects and human bones, but material culture that should lead them to the interpretation and reconstruction of ancient rituals. Obviously, some of the original data is missing, such as the direct contact with living communities, but the interpretive target is still possible through an accurate translation of the archaeological data related to the remains of ancient funerary rituals.
With this perspective in mind, this course introduces students to a general analysis and interpretation of the archaeological data which provides evidence of ancient burial practices in the Near East from the IXth to the Ist Millennium BC. The archaeological evidence related to funerary practices are probably among the most recurring data within any ancient site. But how do we relate this data to the world of the living and how can we understand its social and cultural value? The intent of the course is to guide students through social and cultural analyses, readings, and group discussions of the available archaeological evidence in order to interpret the role played by burial practices as part of a broader discourse linked to the evolution/transformation of the social dynamics of ancient societies in the Levant, Anatolia, Mesopotamia, and Iran. Another topic that will be touched on during the course is the relationship between ritual practices and mythological stories in defining religious beliefs related to the Netherworld among Ancient Near Eastern communities. Nicola Laneri (Univ of Rome)