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Today's public institutions and community organizations operate in complex societies and serve an increasingly diverse set of constituents and stakeholders. Anthropological research provides tools for understanding diverse perceptions, practices, and social problems in cultural and historical context. The centerpiece of this course is an actual group research project here in western Mass: students will act as a team to design a research project, conduct field research with a partner organization, organize and analyze data, and present research findings.

This course examines how marginalized communities organize to address racial, economic, political, and environmental injustice. A highly skilled student facilitation team, grassroots community partnerships, and an Alternative Spring Break trip enable a unique learning community.

Review of contemporary human variation in demography, morphology, physiology, and genetics. Emphasis on explaining, not just categorizing, the differences. Inter- and intra-population variation around the globe.

Basic archaeological field surveying. Introductions to local prehistory, elementary research design, map reading, field reconnaissance, subsurface testing, and state regulations for field work.

Introduction to major issues in anthropological theory. Focus on key concepts in the discipline, important authors, and development of and debates over theoretical issues. Required for and limited to anthropology majors; satisfies the Junior Year Writing requirement for anthropology majors.

This seminar provides interdisciplinary methods for students engaged in the research and analysis of African American life and history. This course addresses the meaning and significance of how material culture enhances the interpretation of black cultural production and African Diaspora theory. An interdisciplinary perspective will be employed through readings, exercises, lectures and discussions pertaining to historical archaeology, art history, and African American history.

Community groups and networks of organizers, activists, and developers coalesce around efforts to create cooperative, democratic, and socially just ways of being in the world involving "alternative" economies: things like cooperatives, land-trusts, community-owned finance, fair trade networks, and so on. These projects are both grounded in local communities and linked into global networks including the solidarity economies movement aimed at creating economies that put people and planet before profit. This class will work with two solidarity economy networks in Massachusetts.

The prehispanic Mesoamerican culture process. The origins, growth, development, and partial colonial reconstruction of these unique native American societies. The intellectual history of Mesoamerican archaeology.