Anthropology

University of California, Berkeley

This is an archived copy of the 2014-15 guide. To access the most recent version of the guide, please visit http://guide.berkeley.edu/.

Overview

The Department of Anthropology offers students the opportunity to study humankind from the broadest historical and geographical perspective. Courses in the Department offer knowledge of social and cultural aspects of behavior as well as the physical nature of humans. Lower-division courses are intended to give a general understanding of human evolution, prehistory, and the nature of human cultures while upper division courses elaborate particular themes.

The collections and research facilities of the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology are available for study in archaeology, ethnography, physical anthropology, and related subjects by graduate and undergraduate students, and visiting scholars. The museum's exhibition hall is used for instructional and educational purposes, particularly in connection with classwork. Those interested may address the Director in 103 Kroeber Hall.

Students seeking information on the Undergraduate Program may inquire at 209 Kroeber Hall. Students seeking information on the Graduate Program may inquire at 205 Kroeber Hall.

Library

The Anthropology Library, 230 Kroeber Hall, is part of the campus library system. It contains nearly 70,000 bound volumes and receives 965 current serial titles. The Anthropology Library houses a large reading room and facilities for reading microfilm. It is open to all members of the University but serves primarily the faculty and students of the Anthropology Department.

Undergraduate Program

Anthropology : BA

Graduate Programs

Anthropology : PhD, with specializations in archaeology, biological anthropology, and sociocultural anthropology
Folklore : MA (through the interdisciplinary Folklore Program)
Medical Anthropology : Joint PhD (in cooperation with UCSF)

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Courses

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Anthropology

ANTHRO 202 Primate Behavior 4 Units

ANTHRO 204 Primate Evolution 4 Units

ANTHRO 209 Human Adaptation 4 Units

ANTHRO 210 Special Topics in Physical Anthropology 4 Units

ANTHRO 217 Discourse and of the Body 4 Units

This course juxtaposes discourse analysis and approaches to health and biomedicine, querying how ideologies of language and communication provide implicit foundations for work on health, disease, medicine, and the body and how biopolitical discourses and practices inform constructions of discourse.

ANTHRO 219 Topics in Medical Anthropology 4 Units

Comparative study of mental illness and socially generated disease: psychiatric treatment, practitioners, and institutions.

ANTHRO 221 Pre-Columbian Central America 4 Units

ANTHRO 226 Archaeology of the Pacific 4 Units

Subject matter will vary; current issues and debates in the archaeology of the Pacific, e.g., trade, exchange, colonization, maritime adaptations, etc.

ANTHRO 227 Historical Archaeology Research 4 Units

Historical archaeology seminar. Subject matter will vary from year to year.

ANTHRO 228 Method 4 Units

Various topics and issues in the methods of archaeological analysis and interpretation: style, ceramics, architectural analysis, lithic analysis, archaeozoology, etc.

ANTHRO 229A Archaeological Research Strategies 4 Units

Required for all first and second year graduate students in archaeology. Three hours of seminar discussion of major issues in the history and theory of archaeological research and practice (229A), and of the research strategies and design for various kinds of archaeological problems (229B). To be offered alternate semesters.

ANTHRO 229B Archaeological Research Strategies 4 Units

Required for all first and second year graduate students in archaeology. Three hours of seminar discussion of major issues in the history and theory of archaeological research and practice (229A), and of the research strategies and design for various kinds of archaeological problems (229B). To be offered alternate semesters.

ANTHRO 229C Writing the Field in Archaeology 4 Units

This seminar is intended to guide students in the definition of a field within archaeology, from initial conceptualization to writing of a field statement, dissertation chapter, or review article.

ANTHRO 230 Special Topics in Archaeology 4 Units

ANTHRO 231 Advanced Topics in Bioarchaeology 4 Units

This advanced seminar course explores how we reconstruct past lifeways from archaeological skeletal remains. It deals with the skeletal biology of past populations, covering both the theoretical approaches and methods used in the analysis of skeletal and dental remains.

ANTHRO 232 Advanced Topics in Bone Biology: Biocultural and Evolutionary Perspectives 4 Units

This advanced seminar course will discuss influences on bone health and maintence from a unique biocultural and evolutionary perspective.

ANTHRO 235 Special Topics in Museum Anthropology 4 Units

Contemporary issues in museum studies from an anthropological perspective.

ANTHRO 240A Fundamentals of Anthropological Theory 5 Units

Anthropological theory and practice--following the rest of the world--have been undergoing important restructuring in the past decade. The course is organized to reflect this fact. We will begin by looking at recent debates about the nature and purpose of anthropology. This will provide a starting point for reading a series of classic ethnographies in new ways as well as examining some dimensions of the current research agenda in cultural anthropology.

ANTHRO 240B Fundamentals of Anthropological Theory 5 Units

Anthropological theory and practice--following the rest of the world--have been undergoing important restructuring in the past decade. The course is organized to reflect this fact. We will begin by looking at recent debates about the nature and purpose of anthropology. This will provide a starting point for reading a series of classic ethnographies in new ways as well as examining some dimensions of the current research agenda in cultural anthropology.

ANTHRO 250A Seminars in Social and Cultural Anthropology: Psychological Anthropology 4 Units

ANTHRO 250E Seminars in Social and Cultural Anthropology: Anthropology of Politics 4 Units

ANTHRO 250F Seminars in Social and Cultural Anthropology: Religion 4 Units

ANTHRO 250G Seminars in Social and Cultural Anthropology: Anthropology of Ethics 4 Units

ANTHRO 250J Seminars in Social and Cultural Anthropology: Ethnographic Field Methods 4 Units

ANTHRO 250N Seminars in Social and Cultural Anthropology: Classic Ethnography 4 Units

ANTHRO 250R Seminars in Social and Cultural Anthropology: Dissertation Writing 4 Units

ANTHRO 250V Seminars in Social and Cultural Anthropology: Tourism 4 Units

ANTHRO 250X Seminars in Social and Cultural Anthropology: Special Topics 4 Units

ANTHRO C254 Topics in Science and Technology Studies 3 Units

This course provides a strong foundation for graduate work in STS, a multidisciplinary field with a signature capacity to rethink the relationship among science, technology, and political and social life. From climate change to population genomics, access to medicines and the impact of new media, the problems of our time are simultaneously scientific and social, technological and political, ethical and economic.

ANTHRO C261 Theories of Narrative 4 Units

This course examines a broad range of theories that elucidate the formal, structural, and contextual properties of narratives in relation to gestures, the body, and emotion; imagination and fantasy; memory and the senses; space and time. It focuses on narratives at work, on the move, in action as they emerge from the matrix of the everyday preeminently, storytelling in conversation--as key to folk genres--the folktale, the legend, the epic, the myth.

ANTHRO C262A Theories of Traditionality and Modernity 4 Units

This seminar explores the emergence of notions of tradition and modernity and their reproduction in Eurocentric epistemologies and political formations. It uses work by such authors as Anderson, Butler, Chakrabarty, Clifford, Derrida, Foucault, Latour, Mignolo, Pateman, and Poovey to critically reread foundational works published between the 17th century and the present--along with philosophical texts with which they are in dialogue--in terms of how they are imbricated within and help produce traditionalities and modernities.

ANTHRO C262B Theories of Traditionality and Modernity 4 Units

This seminar explores the emergence of notions of tradition and modernity and their reproduction in Eurocentric epistemologies and political formations. It uses work by such authors as Anderson, Butler, Chakrabarty, Clifford, Derrida, Foucault, Latour, Mignolo, Pateman, and Poovey to critically reread foundational works published between the 17th century and the present--along with philosophical texts with which they are in dialogue--in terms of how they are imbricated within and help produce traditionalities and modernities.

ANTHRO 270A Seminars in Linguistic Anthropology: Semantics 4 Units


ANTHRO 270B Seminars in Linguistic Anthropology: Fundamentals of Language in Context 4 Units

Intensive introduction to the study of language as a cultural system and speech as socially embedded communicative practice. This is the core course for students wishing to take further coursework in linguistic anthropology.

ANTHRO C273 Science and Technology Studies Research Seminar 3 Units

This course will cover methods and approaches for students considering professionalizing in the field of STS, including a chance for students to workshop written work.

ANTHRO 280B Seminars in Area Studies: Africa 4 Units

Courses will vary from year to year. See Departmental Internal Catalogue for detailed descriptions of course offerings for each semester.

ANTHRO 280C Seminars in Area Studies: South Asia 4 Units

Courses will vary from year to year. See Departmental Internal Catalogue for detailed descriptions of course offerings for each semester.

ANTHRO 280D Seminars in Area Studies: China 4 Units

Courses will vary from year to year. See Departmental Internal Catalogue for detailed descriptions of course offerings for each semester.

ANTHRO 280X Seminars in Area Studies: Special Topics in Area Studies 4 Units

Courses will vary from year to year. See Departmental Internal Catalogue for detailed descriptions of course offerings for each semester.

ANTHRO 290 Survey of Anthropological Research 1 Unit

Required each term of all registered graduate students prior to their advancement to Ph.D. candidacy.

ANTHRO 296A Supervised Research 2 - 12 Units

Practice in original field research under staff supervision. One unit of credit for every four hours of work in the field.

ANTHRO 296B Supervised Research 4 Units

Analysis and write-up of field materials.

ANTHRO N296A Supervised Research 1 - 6 Units

Practice in original field research under staff supervision. One unit of credit for every four hours of work in the field.

ANTHRO 298 Directed Reading 1 - 8 Units

Individual conferences intended to provide directed reading in subject matter not covered by available seminar offerings.

ANTHRO 299 Directed Research 1 - 12 Units

Individual conferences to provide supervision in the preparation of an original research paper or dissertation.

ANTHRO 301 Professional Training: Teaching 1 - 6 Units

Group consultation with instructor. Supervised training with instructor on teaching undergraduates.

ANTHRO 375 Graduate Pedagogy Seminar 3 Units

Training in both the logistics and the pedagogical issues of undergraduate teaching.

ANTHRO 602 Individual Study for Doctoral Students 1 - 12 Units

In preparation for Ph.D. examinations. Individual study in consultation with adviser. Intended to provide an opportunity for qualified students to prepare themselves for the various examinations required of candidates for the Ph.D. May not be used for unit or residence requirements for the degree.

Folklore

FOLKLOR C261 Theories of Narrative 4 Units

This course examines a broad range of theories that elucidate the formal, structural, and contextual properties of narratives in relation to gestures, the body, and emotion; imagination and fantasy; memory and the senses; space and time. It focuses on narratives at work, on the move, in action as they emerge from the matrix of the everyday preeminently, storytelling in conversation--as key to folk genres--the folktale, the legend, the epic, the myth.

FOLKLOR C262A Theories of Traditionality and Modernity 4 Units

This seminar explores the emergence of notions of tradition and modernity and their reproduction in Eurocentric epistemologies and political formations. It uses work by such authors as Anderson, Butler, Chakrabarty, Clifford, Derrida, Foucault, Latour, Mignolo, Pateman, and Poovey to critically reread foundational works published between the 17th century and the present--along with philosophical texts with which they are in dialogue--in terms of how they are imbricated within and help produce traditionalities and modernities.

FOLKLOR C262B Theories of Traditionality and Modernity 4 Units

This seminar explores the emergence of notions of tradition and modernity and their reproduction in Eurocentric epistemologies and political formations. It uses work by such authors as Anderson, Butler, Chakrabarty, Clifford, Derrida, Foucault, Latour, Mignolo, Pateman, and Poovey to critically reread foundational works published between the 17th century and the present--along with philosophical texts with which they are in dialogue--in terms of how they are imbricated within and help produce traditionalities and modernities.

FOLKLOR 298 Readings in Folklore 3 - 6 Units

FOLKLOR 299 Directed Research 3 - 6 Units

Faculty

Professors

Pertti J Anttonen, PhD, Professor.

Stanley H. Brandes, Professor. Cultural anthropology, ritual and religion, food and drink, alcohol use, visual anthropology, Mediterranean Europe, Latin America, Spain, Mexico.
Research Profile

Charles L. Briggs, Professor.

Lawrence Cohen, Professor. Social cultural anthropology, medical and psychiatric anthropology, critical gerontology, lesbian and gay studies, feminist and queer theory.
Research Profile

Terrence W. Deacon, Professor. Neuroscience, anthropology, cognitive neuroscience, evolutionary biology, neurobiology, semiotics, primates, linguistic theory.
Research Profile

Junko Habu, Professor. Japan, anthropology, archaeology, climate change, sustainability, East Asia, Jomon hunter-gatherers.
Research Profile

William F. Hanks, Professor. Social and cultural anthropology, linguisitics, shamanism, language, Yucatan Mexico, Maya culture.
Research Profile

Christine Hastorf, Professor. Anthropology, archaeology, paleoethnobotany/archaeobotany, ancient plant use, foodways, Andean South America, ritual, agriculture.
Research Profile

James Holston, Professor. Citizenship, Brazil, architecture, law, planning, the United States, cities, democracy, political and social anthropology, urban ethnography, the Americas.
Research Profile

Rosemary A. Joyce, PhD, Professor. Latin America, anthropology, gender, archaeology, sexuality, museums, cultural heritage, ethics, Central America, feminism.
Research Profile

Kent G. Lightfoot, Professor. California archaeology, coastal hunter-gatherers, North American archaeology, archaeology of colonialism, indigenous landscape management.
Research Profile

Xin Liu, Professor. History and/of anthropology, contemporary trends in social theory, social/cultural anthropology, comparative societies, capitalism and culture, America and China/East Asia.
Research Profile

Anne M. Lovell, Professor.

Laura Nader, Professor. Latin America, Mexico, social anthropology, comparative ethnography of law, dispute resolution, conflict, controlling processes, comparative family organizations, the anthropology of professional mind-sets, ethnology of the Middle East, contemporary U.S.
Research Profile

Aihwa Ong, Professor. Cultural anthropology, anthropology, transnationalism, citizenship, global cities, migration, Southeast Asia, urbanism.
Research Profile

Paul M. Rabinow, Professor. Cultural anthropology, social thought, modernity, biotechnology, genome mapping, France, Iceland.
Research Profile

Nancy Scheper-Hughes, Professor. Ethnography, medical anthropology, violence, genocide, body, inequality, marginality, childhood, family, psychiatry, deinstitutionalization, medical ethics, fieldwork ethics, globalization medicine, social/ political illness, disease, AIDS, Ireland, Brazil, cuba.
Research Profile

Laurie Wilkie, Professor. Anthropology, historical archaeology, oral history, material culture and ethnic identity, family and gender relations; North America, Northern California, Caribbean. Bahamas, African consumerism, creolization, multi-ethnic community.
Research Profile

Associate Professors

Sabrina C Agarwal, Associate Professor. Bioarchaeology, skeletal biology, gender research, biological and evolutionary anthropology, osteology and osteoporosis, health and disease, paleopathology.
Research Profile

Mariane C Ferme, Associate Professor. Social and cultural anthropology, gender theory, symbolic anthropology, colonialism, West Africa, West Europe, phenomenology, religion, Islam, political culture.
Research Profile

Cori Hayden, Associate Professor. Latin America, Mexico, social and cultural anthropology, kinship, anthropology of science, technology, and medicine, post-colonial science, gender, queer studies.
Research Profile

Charles Hirschkind, Associate Professor. Islam, anthropology, religious practice, media technologies, political community, Middle East, Europe.
Research Profile

Saba Mahmood, Associate Professor. Religion, Islam, gender, anthropology of secularism, and postcolonial politics, feminist and poststructuralist theory, the Middle East, and South Asia.
Research Profile

Donald S. Moore, Associate Professor. Ethnicity, development, cultural politics, race, and identity, spatiality and power, governmentality, environment, postcolonial theory, Africa.
Research Profile

Stefania Pandolfo, Associate Professor. Cultural anthropology, Islam, Middle East, theories of subjectivity, postcolonial criticism, anthropology and literature, the Maghreb, mental illness.
Research Profile

Alexei Yurchak, Associate Professor. Language, Discourse, power, social theory, late socialism, theories of ideology, subjectivity, popular culture, ideology, Soviet and post-Soviet culture and society, post-socialism, telecommunications, linguistics, speech synthesis.
Research Profile

Assistant Professors

Daniel T Fisher, Assistant Professor.

Lisa A. Maher, Assistant Professor. Archaeology, hunter-gatherers, prehistory, geoarchaeology, landscape use, stone tools technology, emergence of social complexity.
Research Profile

Jun Sunseri, PhD, Assistant Professor. Archaeology.
Research Profile

Lecturers

Nathan Kwame Braun, Lecturer.

Contact Information

Department of Anthropology

232 Kroeber Hall

Phone: 510-642-3392

Fax: 510-643-8557

Visit Department Website

Department Chair

Cori Hayden, PhD

327 Kroeber Hall

cphayden@berkeley.edu

Folklore Program Chair

Charles L. Briggs, PhD

333 Kroeber Hall

Phone: 510-643-2012

clbriggs@berkeley.edu

Medical Anthropology Program Director

Stefania Pandolfo, PhD

201 Kroeber Hall

Phone: 510-642-9229

pandolfo@berkeley.edu

Undergraduate Student Affairs Officer

Diane B. Sigman

209 Kroeber Hall

Phone: 510-642-3616

sigmans@berkeley.edu

Graduate Student Affairs Officer

Ned Garrett

205 Kroeber Hall

Phone: 510-642-3406

ned@berkeley.edu

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