Dreams of full citizenship in North America for the descendants of enslaved African Americans have been overdetermined by dilemmas of racial inequality and racial conflict. After nearly 400 years in 'the new world,' the 'beloved community' remains elusive. What progress has been made? What challenges remain? Is the project of integration and racial harmony dead (and, if so, what would an autopsy reveal)? What work remains in the quest for racial, gender, and economic justice and democracy?

This reading- and writing-intensive course draws upon the intellectual traditions of African American, African, and African diasporic studies in order to explore the connections and disjunctures among people of African descent. While the course pays attention to national, regional, and historical contexts, it asks this question: what do African descended people have in common and when and how are their experiences and interests different?

Introduces the analysis of cultural diversity, including concepts, methods, and purposes in interpreting social, economic, political, and belief systems found in human societies.

Introduces the analysis of cultural diversity, including concepts, methods, and purposes in interpreting social, economic, political, and belief systems found in human societies.

Introduces the analysis of cultural diversity, including concepts, methods, and purposes in interpreting social, economic, political, and belief systems found in human societies.

This course examines questions of social class within the Mount Holyoke community, at critical intersections with race, gender, and disability. Drawing upon readings in anthropology and film studies that critique the notion of a homogeneous 'community' and offer alternative theoretical models, students will focus reflexively on three projects. the co-production of an ethnographic film, the creation of an advertising campaign for the film, creation of a website, for extending the conversation about class, Among the questions we explore at all three sites are: What is your idea of work?

This course will review the key issues and paradigm shifts in the development of anthropology from its foundations in classical thought through its emergence as an independent discipline to its coming-of-age in the 1960s. The readings will include works from the American, British, and Continental traditions.

This course examines global health disparities and the unequal distribution of disease, focusing on the health consequences of poverty, structural violence, and globalization. In addition, we critically examine the foundations of global humanitarianism and the complexities, constraints, and prospects for working collaboratively across borders to resolve global health problems.

This course examines anthropological fieldwork techniques, including interviewing and participant observation, as well as qualitative approaches to the analysis of cultural data. Topics include cross-cultural field techniques, research design, ethical dilemmas, and the difference between academic and applied research. Research projects are an integral part of this course.

This course traces the otherization of Muslims in Europe and the U.S. in the aftermath of September 11. The course examines the mechanisms through which dehumanizing, racial meanings are extended to designate Muslims as a coherent, timeless category associated with backwardness, violence and an urgent threat.