Independent Study

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.

The emergence and character of the world's first civilizations: Mesopotamia, Egypt, Indus Valley, Shang China, the Olmec and Maya of Mesoamerica, and the Chavin of Peru. Topics include the Neolithic background to the rise of civilizations and theories on the rise and fall of civilizations. (Gen.Ed. HS, G)

The nature of culture and its role in creating forms of social, economic, and political life in diverse historical and geographical contexts. Readings drawn from contemporary ethnographies of various peoples, analyzing the persistence of cultural diversity in the midst of global social and socioeconomic forces. (Gen.Ed. SB, G)

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.

Course description not available at this time.

Description not available at this time

Description not available at this time

This course will critically examine issues of race, representation and the sexual politics of hip- hop culture. We will trace the historical implications of race and gender in U. S. culture from slavery onwards and connect how past images of African Americans continue to influence contemporary notions of Black identity. We will trace the early historical moments of the hip- hop movement in order to understand how the culture became synonymous with male dominated spaces and silent women.