'This course offers an appraisal of the core questions and theoretical frameworks of the past two decades. It covers the relationship of fieldwork to theory building, new trends in anthropological analysis, and critical examinations of the uses and abuses of anthropological data.'

'What makes a home feel like home? What makes a neighborhood feel alive and vibrant? Architects and urban planners develop elaborate designs meant for specific kinds of human uses, and yet we find that people often use spaces for purposes quite different from those that planners intended. In this course, we will explore the ways in which people dwell in the abstract spaces of planners, turning them into inhabited places. We will also explore the ways that people navigate through and between these spaces that have been compartmentalized into politically and socially bounded units.

'In this course we go behind the scenes and behind the screens of anthropological films, museum exhibitions, 'small media' events such as television, and publications such as National Geographic Magazine, to explore the social contexts of image production, distribution, and interpretation. Focusing on visual activism and ethics, we consider how popular portrayals of our own society and of others' both shape and are shaped by hierarchies of value in the material world.

'This seminar meets to discuss practical issues in doing research in anthropology and sociology. Depending on student interest, activities could include reading field notes, narrative analysis of texts, survey design, coding and measurement of quantitative variables, and/or visual analysis. Students might think about how to develop a class paper into an independent study, how to organize research for a thesis, or how to make sense of research and internship experience off-campus or during study abroad.'

'The anthropology of way-finding has focused on the cognitive problems involved when people move through space. Some have suggested that people memorize sequences of vistas, while others have argued that people abstract mental maps from their experience traveling over specific itineraries. Both approaches have in common a focus on movement through space. Meanwhile, the anthropology of place has focused on the construction of culturally meaningful places out of abstract space. Way-finding is about movement; place is about dwelling.

'Early European explorers, modern travelers, collectors, curators, and archaeologists have contributed to the development of ancient Latin American collections in museums across the globe. This course traces the history of these collecting practices and uses recent case studies to demonstrate how museums negotiate--successfully and unsuccessfully--the competing interests of scholars, donors, local communities, and international law.

'This course explores anthropological approaches to human rights--a key theme of transnational politics and international law. Anthropologists have contributed to discussions on human rights since the UN Declaration and the field has provided a vibrant platform to analyze ideologies, politics, and practices surrounding human rights. We will survey an array of anthropological studies that approach human rights from the perspective of cultural relativism, contextualization, advocacy, and practice.

'We shop for our food, for our clothes, for our colleges. We purchase cars, manicures, and vacations. It seems that there is little that cannot be bought or sold. But we also give and receive gifts, exchange favors, 'go dutch' in restaurants, and invite friends for potlucks. This course examines exchange systems cross-culturally, in order to understand their cultural significance and social consequences.

'This course emphasizes the social and cultural diversity of peoples in Polynesia, Micronesia, Melanesia, and Australia. Special attention is given to social relationships, political economies, ritual, and religious practices in modernity.'

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