Anthropology General Education Courses
The anthropology classes listed below may be taken for General Education (GE) credit by non-anthropology majors. For a complete and current listing of anthropology classes that may be taken for General Education (GE) credit by non-anthropology majors please consult the Undergraduate Studies and General Education site (updated each semester).
For more information about General Education please visit the Undergraduate Studies and General Education informational page.
ANTH 100: Non-Western cultures and the Western Tradition (GE area C2)
Changing views of people, nature and culture in Western civilization as related to the impact of non-Western influences, including the use and interpretation of data on non-Western peoples and cultures. One or more sections offered online.
ANTH 101: Introduction to Biological Anthropology (GE area B2)
This course examines humans as biological organisms from an evolutionary perspective. It introduces important concepts, methods, findings and issues in the study of the Order Primates, including the relationships among fossil monkeys, apes and humans and the significance of genetic diversity in modern human populations.
ANTH 102: Introduction to Cultural Anthropology (GE area D1)
Nature of culture and its significance. Similarities and differences in human cultures. Analyses of family, economy, subsistence, religion, art and other aspects of culture in diverse societies. Central problems of cultural comparison and interpretation. One or more sections offered online.
ANTH 103: Introduction to Archeology (GE area D1)
Relationship of archaeology, culture history and process, field methods and analysis of archaeological data; uses and abuses of archaeology. One or more sections offered online.
ANTH 105: Introduction to Anthropology (GE area D1)
Introduction to basic aspects of anthropology’s sub-fields (biological anthropology, archaeological anthropology, cultural anthropology and linguistic anthropology), and to an anthropological view of the world, which is grounded in a respect for cultural differences. One or more sections offered online.
ANTH 300: Language and Culture (GE area D3, Z)
Prerequisite: completion of General Education (G.E.) Category D.1. Language in the context of culture. The symbolic nature of language, speech as performance, non-verbal communication, gendered speech and bias in language. Language acquisition, language change and loss, and factors leading to the invention of writing.
ANTH 301: Primate Behavior (GE area B5)
Prerequisite: ANTH 101
, ANTH 102, PSYC 101 or completion of G.E. Category B.2. Anthropological study of the behavior of primates, including lemurs, monkeys and apes. Through an explicitly evolutionary approach, the course will review and discuss the morphological, behavioral, and ecological characteristics that are part of the primate heritage of humankind. One or more sections offered online.
ANTH 304: Traditional Cultures of the World (GE area C3, Z)
Prerequisite: completion of G.E. Category C.2. Comparative, worldwide survey of traditional, selected and well-studied ways of life using ethnographic writings and films. Examines diverse ways of life, with an emphasis on small-scale societies. One or more sections offered online.
ANTH 305: Anthropology of Religion (GE area C3, Z)
Prerequisite: completion of G.E. Category C.2. Beliefs and practices in the full human variation of religious phenomena, with an emphasis on primitive religions. Forms, functions, structures, symbolism, and history and evolution of religious systems. (Same as CPRL 305) One or more sections offered onlline.
ANTH 306: Culture and Art (GE area C3, Z)
Prerequisite: completion of G.E. Category C.2. Metaphysical and mystical systems underlying the “grammars” of the art, myths and rituals of various nonliterate and literate peoples and their development into creative experiences.
ANTH 308: Culture and Aging (GE area E, Z)
Prerequisite: completion of G.E. Category D.1. Anthropological discourse on diverse cultural conceptions of aging as they relate to gender, class, ethnic and religious categories. Cross-cultural comparison of culturally patterned time-table of life-cycle and age-grades for understanding the universals and variability in human aging. One or more sections offered online.
ANTH 310: Urban Anthropology (GE area D3, Z)
Prerequisite: completion of G.E. Category D.1. Cross-cultural investigation of similarities and differences in urbanism with an emphasis on current theoretical and methodological perspectives in the study of urban social and cultural forms and processes. One or more sections offered online.
ANTH 311: Culture and Communication (GE area C3, Z)
Prerequisite: completion of G.E. Category C.2. How meanings are created, exchanged and interpreted in both traditional and modern cultures through language, myth and religion, art and architecture, and other means of communication. One or more sections offered online.
ANTH 313: Culture and Personality (GE area D3)
Prerequisite: completion of G.E. Category D.1. Relationship of culture to the individual. Child-training in non-western cultures. Survey of concepts, studies and research techniques in psychological anthropology. One or more sections offered online.
ANTH 315: Culture and Nutrition (GE area E, Z)
Prerequisite: ANTH 101, ANTH 102 or equivalent Interrelationships among human nutrition, basic food resources, individual development and socio-cultural organization; assessment of student’s nutritional status, beliefs and practices relative to other cultures. One or more sections offered online.
ANTH 316: Anthropology of Sex and Gender (GE area E, Z)
Prerequisite: completion of G.E. Category D.1. Human sex and gender roles in cross-cultural perspective and the role that gender plays in human social organization. Topics include cultural construction of gender, homosexuality, rights of women, evolution and gender. (Same as WMST 316) One or more sections offered online.
ANTH 321: Peoples of Native North America (GE area D3, Z)
Prerequisite: completion of G.E. Category D.1. Native peoples of North America; origins, languages, culture areas, cultural history; the impact of European contacts. One or more sections offered online.
ANTH 322: Human Behavioral Ecology (GE area B5)
Prerequisite: completion of G.E. Category B.2. Using modern evolutionary theory, students will examine human biological and cultural diversity through an analysis of comparative socioecology. Topics covered include reproduction and marriage, the family, childhood, population growth, and conservation. Computer labs utilizing eHRAF. (Same as BIOL 322
) One or more sections offered online.
ANTH 325: Peoples of South America (GE area D3, Z)
Prerequisite: completion of G.E. Category D.1. Cultural survey of South America. Representative cultural areas before and after contacts with Western countries. One or more sections offered online.
ANTH 327: Origins of Civilizations (GE area D3, Z)
Prerequisite: completion of G.E. Category B.1 or B.2. Development of civilization in the Old and New Worlds in primary centers such as Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indus Valley, China, Mesoamerica and Peru, and secondary centers such as the Aegean and Europe. One or more sections offered online.
ANTH 329: Peoples of the Caribbean (GE area D3, Z)
Prerequisite: completion of G.E. Category D.1. Various ethnic groups of the Caribbean, focusing on the description and interpretation of African, European, Asian and Amerindian cultural elements. One or more sections offered online.
ANTH 332: Women in Cross-Cultural Perspective (GE area E, Z)
Prerequisite: completion of G.E. Category D.1. Cross-cultural comparison of beliefs, values, expectations and socially defined roles for women in diverse societies. Changing role of women in industrial societies. One or more sections offered online.
ANTH 333: Anthropology of Childhood (GE area E, Z)
Prerequisite: completion of G.E. Category B.2 or D.1. Using a biocultural perspective, examines the form and experiences of childhood using a comparative, evolutionary, cross-cultural approach. Topics: work and play; evolutionary and cultural influences on children’s development trajectories; role of children. Computer labs with eHRAF. One or more sections offered online.
ANTH 340: Peoples of Asia (GE area D3, Z)
Prerequisites: completion of G.E. Categories D.1. Asian civilizations and cultural traditions: personality configurations in different culture areas; structure of Asian civilizations; and peasant, tribal and ethnic groups of Asia. One or more sections offered online.
ANTH 342: Anthropology and Health (GE area E, Z)
Prerequisites: completion of G.E. Category B.2 and D.1. Uses an evolutionary, comparative, and cross-cultural perspective to understand the process and conception of health in different times, places and societies. Topics include evolutionary medicine, health beliefs, health ecology, culture and health. Computer labs utilizing eHRAF. One or more sections offered online.
ANTH 344: Human Evolution (GE area B5)
Prerequisite: ANTH 101 or completion of G.E. Category B.2. Advanced primate evolution: the origin of Homo sapiens as evidenced in the fossil record and through biochemical and molecular studies. Evolutionary theory and problems in human evolution. (2 hours lecture, 3 hours laboratory) One or more sections offered online.
ANTH 347: Archaeology and Cultures of Pacific Islands (GE area D3, Z)
Prerequisite: completion of G.E. Category D.1. Indigenous peoples, cultures, and archaeology of the Pacific Islands, including Tahiti, Hawaii and Australia. Forces and processes contributing to social change in island communities and current problems being faced by them. One or more sections offered online.
ANTH 350: Culture and Education (GE area D3, Z)
Prerequisite: completion of G.E. Category D.1. Transmission of values, implicit cultural assumptions and the patterning of education in cross-cultural perspective. American culture and development problems. One or more sections offered online.
ANTH 383: Prehistoric North America (GE area D3)
Prerequisite: completion of G.E. Category D.1. Change, development, and diversity of adaptations of North American Indian cultures prior to European colonization. Uses archaeological data to describe and explain long-term processes of cultural change during ancient times in North America. One or more sections offered online.
