Department of Anthropology

Faculty

Chair

  • Carolyn M. Rouse

Director of Undergraduate Studies

  • Julia Elyachar

Director of Graduate Studies

  • Carolyn M. Rouse

Professor

  • João Biehl
  • John W. Borneman
  • Agustin Fuentes
  • Rena S. Lederman
  • Serguei A. Oushakine
  • Laurence Ralph
  • Carolyn M. Rouse

Associate Professor

  • Elizabeth A. Davis
  • Julia Elyachar

Assistant Professor

  • Hanna Garth
  • Ryo Morimoto
  • Lauren Coyle Rosen
  • Jerry C. Zee

Associated Faculty

  • Amy B. Borovoy, East Asian Studies

Lecturer

  • Mark Drury
  • Onur Gunay
  • Jeffrey D. Himpele

Visiting Professor

  • Didier Fassin
For a full list of faculty members and fellows please visit the department or program website.

Program Information

Information and Departmental Plan of Study

Prerequisites

Students who wish to concentrate in the Department of Anthropology must take one anthropology course (any level) prior to junior year or have permission from the director of undergraduate studies.

Early Concentration

A sophomore may apply for early concentration through consultation with the director of undergraduate studies.

Program of Study

Anthropology concentrators must take nine departmental courses, including the core courses ANT 300 (Ethnography, Evidence and Experience) and ANT 301 (The Ethnographer's Craft). All concentrators are required to participate in a senior seminar the fall semester of their senior year. The seminar is designed to help students write their senior theses.

Students concentrating in anthropology choose one of three tracks.

The Sociocultural Anthropology track is for students who want to explore a number of foundational subfields within anthropology. For students who choose the Law, Politics, and Economics or Medical Anthropology track, the selection of required and elective courses is geared toward rigorous study in these respective subfields. The courses in each track ensure that students, regardless of track, have a systematic understanding of the scope, methods and theories within the discipline of anthropology by the time they graduate.

A cognate course may be used to satisfy a departmental in any track. Students are allowed up to two cognates. The cognate may be an anthropology course taken during study abroad and/or a course offered by another department or program at Princeton that the director of undergraduate studies has reviewed and deemed to be relevant to a student's independent work or correspond to a student’s course of study (i.e. track). Proposed cognates must be approved by the department.

Well prepared undergraduates may take graduate seminars for departmental credit. To enroll in a graduate seminar, the student must have the approval of the director of undergraduate studies and the instructor of the course. Actual course offerings every year are more extensive than what is listed in the Undergraduate Announcement, so students should always check Course Offerings.

Departmental Tracks

Concentrators are automatically placed in the Sociocultural Anthropology track unless they formally declare that they are opting into the Medical Anthropology track or the Law, Politics, and Economics track. Concentrators are encouraged to decide as early as possible and must declare their chosen track on or before the first day of the spring term of their junior year.

The transcript degree for all concentrators will be A.B. in Anthropology. Students who successfully complete the curriculum of their chosen track will receive a departmental attestation on Class Day and may note their track concentration on their resumés.

Sociocultural Anthropology Track

The Sociocultural Anthropology Track (SCA) is for students who want to explore a number of foundational topics within the field of anthropology (e.g. religion, gender, ritual, language, medicine, politics, economics, kinship, psychology, visual anthropology, law). In addition to exploring a variety of topics, students in this track are deeply immersed in the history of the discipline.

The SCA track requires nine courses total; three are required and the other six are electives selected according to distribution by course level.

Required Courses (3)
ANT 300 Ethnography, Evidence and Experience
ANT 301 The Ethnographer's Craft
ANT 390 History of Anthropological Theory 

Elective Courses by Distribution (6)
Two foundational 200-level courses (one may be a cognate approved at this level)
One 300-level course in addition to 300, 301, 390 (may be a cognate approved at this level)
One advanced 400-level topical course (may be a cognate approved at this level)
Two free electives (may be another ANT course at any level and/or a cognate)

Possible Cognates (2)
Students in SCA are allowed to take two cognates as explained under the Elective Courses by Distribution and Program of Study sections above.

Senior Thesis
Students in SCA can choose any anthropological topic for the senior thesis, provided the methodological and theoretical approach taken is approved by a student's senior thesis adviser.

Medical Anthropology Track

The Medical Anthropology Track (MedAnth) is for students interested in all aspects of medicine, from biology to therapeutic systems to cultural ideas and practices of health and wellbeing. Choosing this track allows students who are interested in the sciences, policy, the humanities and the subfield of medical anthropology to focus their undergraduate training around these topics.

The MedAnth track requires nine courses total; four are required and the other five are electives selected from category groups explained below. Students in this track are allowed to substitute up to two of the five elective courses with a class taught within the Department of Anthropology but outside MedAnth. Students are also allowed to satisfy departmental courses using two cognates.

Required Courses (4)
ANT 300 Ethnography, Evidence and Experience
ANT 301 The Ethnographer’s Craft
One Foundational Medical Anthropology course offered by the Department including: Medical Anthropology (ANT 240), Medicine and the Humanities (ANT 340), Psychological Anthropology (ANT 305), Race and Medicine (ANT 403)
One Biological Anthropology course offered by the Department or a cognate Biological course including: ANT 206 (or another course on human evolution), ANT 428 (Mythbusting Race and Sex: anthropology, biology, and 'human natures'), an approved EEB or MOL course

Elective Courses (5)
Two Medical Anthropology and/or Science and Technology courses, for example: Introduction to Anthropology (ANT 201); The Anthropology of Disaster (ANT 219); Sensory Anthropology (ANT 331); Ethics in Context (ANT 360); Global Pharmaceuticals (ANT 405); Multispecies Ecologies in the Anthropocene (ANT 426); Disability, Difference, and Race (ANT 461); Critical Perspectives in Global Health (GHP 350/ANT 380); an additional foundational medical or biological anthropology course, or an ANT/ENV or ENV/ANT course taught by a member of the ANT faculty
One Medicine and Society course taught outside the department (department approval is required and counts as a cognate unless cross-listed by ANT), for example: History of Science, Global Health, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Molecular Biology, Psychology, Neuroscience, Sociology, School of Public and International Affairs; or an additional Medical Anthropology and/or Science and Technology course
Two Anthropology courses on any subject, or one ANT course and a department approved cognate. The department encourages MedAnth students to take History of Anthropological Theory (ANT 390) if they can fit it into their schedules.

Courses satisfying each of the four required course categories are offered annually. Courses satisfying the elective course categories are typically taught every other year, although some may be offered annually and others less frequently. A list of pre-approved MedAnth courses will be published each semester before course enrollment begins. 

Possible Cognates (2)
MedAnth students are allowed to take two cognates (as defined under Program of Study above). A department cognate for a MedAnth student might include a course taught in departments or programs listed above under Medicine and Society courses or others, such as African American Studies; Ecology and Evolutionary Biology; Engineering; regional studies including but not limited to AMS, EAS, LAS, NES; and/or courses taken during study abroad. 

Senior Thesis
Anthropologists consider the body the existential ground of culture, so students in MedAnth can choose any anthropological topic for the senior thesis, provided the methodological and theoretical approach taken is approved by a student's senior thesis adviser.

Law, Politics, and Economics Track

The Law, Politics, and Economics Track (LPE) is for students interested in three well-established fields within the discipline of anthropology. Students in this track are introduced to comparative studies of law, politics, development, and microeconomics (what anthropologists call exchange) across cultures.

The LPE track requires nine courses total; three are required and the other six include departmental electives focused on the law, economics and politics (see examples from list below). Students in this track are allowed to substitute up to two of the six elective courses with a class taught within the Department of Anthropology but outside the LPE track. Students are also allowed to take two cognates.

Required Courses (3)
ANT 300 Ethnography, Evidence and Experience
ANT 301 The Ethnographer’s Craft
ANT 390 History of Anthropological Theory

Elective Courses (6)
A few examples of LPE electives are shown below. These courses are typically taught every other year, although some may be offered annually and others less frequently. A list of pre-approved LPE courses will be published each semester before course enrollment begins.

  • Courses pertaining to economics: Economic Life in Cultural Context (ANT 203); Debt (ANT 225); Economic Experience in Cultural Context (ANT 303); The Anthropology of Development (ANT 314); Economic Anthropology and American Pop Culture (ANT 350); a course on food anthropology
  • Courses pertaining to politics: #BlackLivesMatter (ANT 244); Political Anthropology (ANT 304); Rituals of Governing (ANT 453); Revolt (319); Catastrophes across Cultures: The Anthropology of Disaster (ANT 219); Urban Anthropology (ANT 227); Communist Modernity: The Politics and Culture of Soviet Utopia (SLA 420/ANT 420); Conspiracy Theory and Social Theory (ANT 406)
  • Courses pertaining to law: The Anthropology of Law (ANT 342); Policing and Militarization Today (ANT 223); Labors of Consciousness: Culture, Capital, Moral Economy (ANT 417)

Possible Cognates (2)
LPE students are allowed to take two cognates (as defined under Program of Study above). Appropriate cognates for LPE might include Introduction to Microeconomics (ECO 100), a course taught in the Politics Department, a regional studies course, courses taken during study abroad and/or anthropology courses taught outside the Law, Politics, and Economics track.

Senior Thesis
Students in LPE must write a senior thesis on a topic related to law, politics, and/or economics, broadly defined. The methodological and theoretical approach taken must be approved by a student’s senior thesis adviser.

Independent Work

Junior Independent Work. Independent work in the junior year involves an original paper, usually based on library research. Normally, field research is not appropriate for this paper. In the fall, students develop a detailed problem statement and annotated bibliography on a subject relevant to the student's interests, as a research proposal for approval by the department. In the spring, students write a paper based on the research initiated in the fall, in consultation with their adviser.

Since the junior paper topic is chosen before the final track declaration deadline, junior papers, unlike senior theses, do not have to be related to a student’s chosen track. Junior independent work, regardless of track, is meant to teach students how to do a review of the anthropological literatures related to a student’s area of interest. 

Senior Independent Work. In the senior year, independent work consists of a thesis, or a comparable project including a substantial written component, on a subject relevant to the student's interests using a methodological and theoretical approach approved by the department. Field work is encouraged but not required. A required senior seminar that meets periodically during the fall term of the senior year is designed to help students write their senior theses.

Senior Departmental Examination

In the spring of senior year, after the thesis deadline, all concentrators must complete a departmental examination designed to test their knowledge of anthropology as it relates to their area of expertise.

Additional Information

Special University Programs. Students who choose to concentrate in the department are encouraged to take advantage of opportunities for individual study under special University programs. For example, under the Study Abroad Program, students may enrich their programs at Princeton with a term or a year of anthropological study abroad. Under the Field Study Program it is possible for concentrators to conduct intensive field study in the United States. The International Internship Program organizes internships for students abroad, usually during a summer term. The Program for Community-Engaged Scholarship also provides opportunities for independent research. Students should consult with the director of undergraduate studies about these and other possibilities.

Interdepartmental Programs. Students concentrating in the department may participate in programs such as: African American studies, African studies, American studies, East Asian studies, environmental studies, European cultural studies, gender and sexuality studies, global health and health policy, Hellenic studies, humanistic studies, Latin American studies, Near Eastern studies, creative and performing arts, various languages and cultures programs, and the Program in Law and Public Affairs.

Ethnographic Studies for Non-Majors. Students interested in learning ethnographic methods, but are unable to major in Anthropology, are encouraged to take the department’s methods courses: ANT 300 and ANT 301 as well as ANT topics courses. Non-Anthropology majors are also welcome to sign up for any ANT faculty office hours if help with independent ethnographic research is needed.

Courses

ANT 201 Introduction to Anthropology CDEC

An introduction to anthropology and key topics in becoming and being human. Anthropology examines human experience through diverse lenses integrating biology, ecology, language, history, philosophy, and the day to day lives of peoples from across the globe. Anthropology has things to say about being human, it seeks to make the familiar a bit strange and the strange quite familiar. We will take critical reflexive and reflective approaches in asking about key aspects of being human (like war/peace; race/racism; sex/gender; childhood/parenting; religion and the human imagination; human relations to other species).Two lectures, one preceptorial. Instructed by: A. Fuentes

ANT 206A Human Evolution (also
AFS 206A
) EC

An assessment and understanding of the evolutionary history and processes in our lineage over the last 7 to 10 million years, with a focus on the ~2.5 million year history of our own genus (Homo).This outline of the history of our lineage offers an anthropological and evolutionary context for what it means to be human today. Two lectures, one preceptorial. Instructed by: A. Fuentes

ANT 206B Human Evolution (also
EEB 306
/
AFS 206B
) EC

An assessment and understanding of the evolutionary history and processes in our lineage over the last 7 to 10 million years, with a focus on the ~2.5 million year history of our own genus (Homo). This outline of the history of our lineage offers an anthropological and evolutionary context for what it means to be human today. Two lectures, one 3-hour laboratory. Instructed by: A. Fuentes

ANT 215 Human Adaptation (also
EEB 315
) SEL

Human adaptation focuses on human anatomy and behavior from an evolutionary perspective. Lectures and weekly laboratory sessions focus on the evolution of the human brain, dentition, and skeleton to provide students with a practical understanding of the anatomy and function of the human body and its evolution, as well as some of its biological limitations. No science background required. Two 90-minute lectures, one three-hour laboratory. Instructed by: Staff

ANT 232 Social Lives, Social Forces SA

Examining "social forces" through social relationships provides a way to examine some key assumptions behind such everyday distinctions as altruism/self-interest, public/private, rules/ norms, regulation/free market, kinship/citizenship, friend/foe. This seminar untangles these binaries by exploring various settings--of family, community, law, and business--where they have been put into practice as organizing principles, and thus into contention. It also follows them beyond the United States into postcolonial and post-socialist environments, so as to further hone our comparative and interpretive questions. One three-hour seminar. Instructed by: Staff

ANT 240 Medical Anthropology (also
HUM 240
) EM

Exploration of cross-cultural constructions of sickness, disease, health, and healing interrogates our basic ethical, moral, and political positions. Our healing and disease models derive from specific cultural assumptions about society, gender, class, age, ethnicity, and race. Categories of disease from one culture can compromise ethical positions held by another. We pursue the moral implications of a critique of medical development and the political and ethical implications of treating Western medicine as ethnoscience as well as universal truth. One 90-minute lecture, one 90-minute class. Instructed by: J. Biehl

ANT 300 Ethnography, Evidence and Experience Fall SA

This course relates key concepts in anthropology (e.g., culture, society, power, meaning) to everyday experience, with the aim of fostering students' ability to think analytically across diverse cultural fields. We alternate between classic theoretical texts and "dossiers" of highly current readings about issues both familiar to students (from experiences at home or abroad) and relevant to ethnographic research and writing. For example: digital media, embodied knowledge, language, ritual and symbols, textual interpretation, and modern forms of power and inequality. Instructed by: Staff

ANT 301 The Ethnographer's Craft Spring SA

What are social and cultural facts? And how do we identify these facts using anthropological research methods? This field methods course is for students interested in learning how to work with complex and often contradictory qualitative data. Students will examine how biases and beliefs affect the questions we ask, the data we collect, and our interpretations. This course also includes Institutional Review Board (IRB) training for human subjects research. Key topics include objectivism, interpretation, reflexivity, participant-observation, translation, and comparison. Instructed by: Staff

ANT 303 Economic Experience in Cultural Context SA

This course explores the social and cultural contexts of economic experience in the US and around the world. It considers how the consumption, production, and circulation of goods--today and in times past--become invested with personal and collective meanings. It pays special attention to symbolic and political dimensions of work, property (material, intellectual, and cultural), wealth, and "taste" (i.e., needs and wants). Additionally, course participants do a bit of anthropological fieldwork by learning to draw everyday experiences systematically into conversation with academic sources. Instructed by: R. Lederman

ANT 304 Political Anthropology CDSA

A cross-cultural examination of collective action, power, authority and legitimacy. Topics will include the diversity of systems of leadership and decision making, the sociocultural contexts of egalitarianism and hierarchy, contemporary contests over power-sharing and state legitimacy, forms of power outside the state, and human rights struggles. One three-hour seminar. Instructed by: Staff

ANT 305 Psychological Anthropology (also
HLS 305
) EC

This seminar addresses the social relations in which mental health, mental illness, and psycho-medical knowledge are entangled and produced. We will engage various cross-cultural approaches to mental conflicts and pathologies: psychoanalysis, ethnopsychology, biomedical psychiatry, transcultural psychiatry, and religious and "alternative" practices of diagnosis and healing. Drawing on ethnographic and clinical studies from Greek and other contexts, we will examine the role of culture in determining lines between normal and pathological, and consider the intertwining of psyche and body in human experience and behavior. Instructed by: E. Davis

ANT 306 Current Issues in Anthropology (also
ENT 306
) EM

A course taught by different members of the department and visiting faculty on various subjects not normally taught in regular courses. Instructed by: Staff

ANT 308 Forensic Anthropology SA

An introduction to the analytical techniques that biological anthropologists apply to forensic (legal) cases. Topics include human osteology, the recovery of bodies, the analysis of life history, the reconstruction of causes of death, and various case studies where anthropologists have contributed significantly to solving forensic cases. Discussions will cover the limitations of forensic anthropology and the application of DNA recovery to skeletal/mummified materials. One three-hour seminar. Instructed by: Staff

ANT 310 Fundamentals of Biological Anthropology EC

A survey of current data and debates in evolutionary theory, molecular anthropology, primate biology and behavior, primate and human evolution, and modern human biology and adaptation. One three-hour seminar. Instructed by: A. Fuentes

ANT 314 The Anthropology of Development (also
ENE 314
/
AFS 314
) SA

Why do development projects fail? This course examines why well-meaning development experts get it wrong. It looks closely at what anthropologists mean by culture and why most development experts fail to attend to the cultural forces that hold communities together. By examining development projects from South Asia to the United States, students learn the relevance of exchange relations, genealogies, power, religion, and indigenous law. Instructed by: C. Rouse

ANT 316 Cultural Diversity: Money, Sex, Nation SA

This course explores the use of money, sex, and national belonging in processes of cultural diversification. Its focus is anthropological: making and understanding difference in space and time. Its method is primarily ethnographic: relating face-to-face or personal encounters to macro-political factors and to contemporary issues. Drawing from film, music, and selected readings, it examines how money, sex, and national form create value and interact to create people. Students will be asked to examine critically and reflexively their own prejudices as they influence the perception and evaluation of cultural differences. One three-hour seminar. Instructed by: J. Borneman

ANT 321 Ritual, Myth, and Worldview SA

An exploration of classic and modern theories of religion (belief, ritual, myth, worldview) as they pertain to a cross-cultural understanding of these phenomena. One 90-minute lecture, one 90-minute class. Instructed by: Staff

ANT 323 Japanese Society and Culture (See EAS 225)

ANT 330 The Rights of Indigenous Peoples EM

Using American Indian sovereignty, Australian Aborigine land claims, the Canadian Bill of Rights, the Maori Treaty of Waitangi, and various international conventions, students will consider whether there is a fundamental right to cultural integrity, and the historical, legal, and ethical implications posed by the relations between modern states and their indigenous populations. One 90-minute lecture, one 90-minute class. Instructed by: Staff

ANT 336 The Anthropology of Selected Regions SA

The significant impact of peoples of particular regions on the development of anthropological theory, method, and sensibility. Special attention to the dynamic precolonial history of the region and to political and religious movements in the contemporary context of rapid socioeconomic change. Instructed by: Staff

ANT 340 Medicine and the Humanities

A course taught by different members of the department or visiting faculty on various subjects that connect student interests in the humanities with the sub-field of medical anthropology. Instructed by: Staff

ANT 341 The Anthropology of Gender SA

Comparative perspectives on sexual divisions of labor, sex-based equality and inequality, and the cultural construction of "male'' and "female.'' Analysis of gender symbolism in myth and ritual, and of patterns of change in the political participation and power of the sexes. Two 90-minute lectures with discussion. Instructed by: Staff

ANT 342 The Anthropology of Law EM

How do legal concepts and categories--such as rights, duties, obligations, liabilities, risks, injuries, evidence, redress, and even personhood--come to appear as fundamental, natural, or universal? How are seemingly essential natures of law, in fact, constructed and produced? What is the role of culture in fashioning key forms of consciousness, power, truth, freedom, violence, and justice? This course draws upon exemplary anthropological studies of law to investigate and illuminate the conceptions, operations, and transformations of law across many cultural and historical realms. The course also draws upon court cases and legal theory. Instructed by: L. Rosen

ANT 352 Pacific Islanders: Histories, Cultures, and Change SA

This course concerns histories of Pacific Islanders from the first settlements through colonial rule. It will also look at the diversity of cultures and their sociocultural transformation in more recent times. Throughout the semester, we will also use Pacific ethnography to shed light on general questions concerning cultural difference, inequality, and issues of interpretation/translation. Two 90-minute classes. Instructed by: R. Lederman

ANT 359 Acting, Being, Doing, and Making: Introduction to Performance Studies (See THR 300)

ANT 360 Ethics in Context: Uses and Abuses of Deception and Disclosure (also
CHV 360
) EM

Magic tricks delight us; biomedicine and human sciences use deception in research (e.g., placeboes); and everyday politeness may obscure painful truths. With deception and disclosure as springboards, this course explores the contextual ambiguity of personal and professional ethics, with special attention to knowledge control. Topics include: social fictions in daily life across cultures; the tangled histories of science, stage magic, and movies; ethically controversial practices in popular culture ("reality" TV, fake news), the arts (fictive memoirs), academia (sharing/plagiarizing), self presentation (racial and sexual passing), and more. Instructed by: R. Lederman

ANT 366 Mesoamerican Art (See ART 267)

ANT 375 Culture and International Order (also
GSS 374
) SA

This course focuses on the relation of local and global cultural processes to international orders and regimes. After colonialism and after the Cold War, there is a fundamental reorganizing of "peoples" and "cultures." Emphasis on the increased intensity and scale of interaction between local and global processes, on changes in group identifications, on the transformation of ideologies (cultural, economic, religious, political), and on alternative ways of imagining and managing life. One three-hour seminar. Instructed by: J. Borneman

ANT 380 Critical Perspectives in Global Health (See GHP 350)

ANT 390 History of Anthropological Theory Fall HASA

A review of the history of anthropological theory and methods. This course exposes students to theories such as functionalism, structuralism, race, identity, interpretivism, post-colonialism, post-modernism, and the new materialism. Instructed by: Staff

ANT 403 Race and Medicine (also
AAS 403
/
GHP 403
) CDEM

This course examines culture's role in reproducing health inequalities in the United States. Different populations have very different levels of access to care, environmental exposures, and cultural beliefs about health and well-being. Institutional cultures also influence how different patients are treated, how evidence is used to determine treatments, and how healthcare priorities are articulated and funded. Additionally, this course explores how medical care is influenced at a national level by health policies. These factors ultimately impact population health and patients' experiences with life, death and chronic disease. Instructed by: C. Rouse

ANT 404 Special Topics in Regional Studies SA

Analysis of a major world region stressing the issues of cultural diversity, history, and social change. Attention will be given to the theoretical contributions of regional study, the history of regional approaches, and the internationalization of the production of anthropological research. Instructed by: Staff

ANT 405 Topics in Anthropology (also
AFS 405
) HASA

Study of a selected topic in anthropology; the particular choice will vary from year to year. Instructed by: Staff

ANT 406 Theoretical Orientations in Cultural Anthropology EC

Analysis of classical and contemporary sources of cultural anthropology, with particular emphasis on those writers dealing with meaning and representation. The topical focus of the course will vary with the instructor. One three-hour seminar. Instructed by: Staff

ANT 412 Anthropological Approaches to the Study of Religion (also
REL 412
) SA

Classic and modern theories of religion relevant to anthropologists. Students will familiarize themselves with anthropological monographs dealing with a particular aspect of religion: shamanism, witchcraft, possession and ecstasy, healing. Prerequisite: instructor's permission. Instructed by: Staff

ANT 415 The Anthropology of Science EC

This course considers how the sciences can be studied ethnographically, how they vary culturally one from another, and how scientific knowledge is generated. It develops an understanding of the values and social contexts of Western scientific practice through the comparative study of Western and non-Western systems of knowledge, and explores the implications and validity of the assumption that the sciences are culturally produced rather than objective standards transcending culture. One three-hour seminar. Instructed by: Staff

ANT 425 Post-War French Social Theory SA

Using the works of thinkers such as Sartre, Merleau-Ponty, Aron, Ricoeur, Levi-Strauss, Foucault, and Bourdieu, the course will present students with some conflicting images of Western society. It will introduce students to these authors, with emphasis on their departure from traditional schools of thought and the consequences of their ideas on the production of knowledge and societies. One three-hour seminar. Instructed by: Staff

ANT 427 Democracy and Ethnography in the United States SA

Ethnography is a mode of research, a creative literary genre, and a democratic discourse. This seminar focuses on these different ways of reading in relation to the ethnography of the United States--to consider how ideas about personhood, gender, citizenship, community, identity, and power "work" simultaneously as theory and practice. Drawing on close readings of ethnographies, fiction, and public policy debates, the seminar gives particular attention to the (often uneasy) connections among anthropological theories of cultural identity, political struggles over rights, and literary experiments in social analysis. One three-hour seminar. Instructed by: Staff

ANT 432 Memory, Trauma, Accountability SA

Explores issues surrounding the relation of individual memory to collective trauma, the social forms of redress to trauma, and attempts to establish accountability for harm. Takes up three major approaches to memory: social organization (Halbwachs), psychoanalysis (Freud), and associative temporalities (Sebald). Examines various genres in which the memory of loss is retained or displaced, and the landscapes and histories in which such memories are recalled and losses repaired. A better understanding of such memories will improve our approaches to cultural observation, documentation, analysis, and interpretation. One three-hour seminar. Instructed by: J. Borneman

ANT 441 Gender: Contested Categories, Shifting Frames SA

An exploration of the reciprocal influences of anthropology and gender studies, considering both classic and recent contributions; an evaluation of key interpretive categories (for example, "nature,'' "domestic,'' "woman'') specifically in the context of cross-cultural translation; and comparison of various approaches to questions about the universality of gendered power hierarchies. One three-hour seminar. Instructed by: R. Lederman

ANT 451 Visual Anthropology LA

Explores the theories and methods of ethnographic filmmaking. This seminar introduces students to the pioneering work of filmmakers including Robert Flaherty, Jean Rouch, and Fred Wiseman in order to address questions of documentary authenticity, knowledge, methods, ethics, and audience. One three-hour seminar. Instructed by: Staff