ANTHROPOLOGY
Department of Sociology and Anthropology
Debra J. Schleef, Chair
Margaret Huber, Career Advisor
Faculty
Distinguished Professor
Margaret Williamson Huber
Professor
E. Eric Gable
Assistant Professor
Jason James
The Anthropology Program
The anthropology major at Mary Washington concentrates on cultural anthropology–ethnography, theory, and practice. Anthropology courses study the varieties of human culture, both ancient and contemporary; discuss the methods of cultural anthropologists; and present the theories that have been advanced to explain cultural similarities and diversity. Besides making students aware of the extent and impress of human cultural achievement, courses offer opportunities for doing first-hand research in the community of Fredericksburg and, for those interested, elsewhere in the world as well. We also work closely with colleagues in the Department of Historic Preservation to train students interested in archaeology.
Anthropology provides an excellent background for careers in many governmental and private-sector organizations such as museum work, publishing and journalism, advertising and market research, international business, human resources, film, contract archaeology, primary or secondary education, and third-world development, as well as for graduate work in anthropology or related fields.
Requirements for Anthropology Major
Thirty (30) credits, including 101, 200 and 203 (co-requisite courses), and 480, 481; 15 elective credits in anthropology, which may include Anthropology 491, 492: Independent Study but not Anthropology 499: Internship. At least one of these electives must be a course designated FR, meaning that the course has a significant assignment that requires the student to conduct ethnographic field research for its completion. These courses include Anthropology 317, 322, 344, 371H (Anthropology of Food), 401, and 491, 492 (with approval of the instructor); and Sociology 365. Up to six credits of upper-level sociology courses, excluding 491, 492, and 499, may be substituted for upper-level anthropology courses.
Anthropology Course Offerings
101 – Introduction to Cultural and Social Anthropology (3)
Introduces the student to non-Western cultures, and examines fundamentals such as ritual, myth, exchange, production, law, kinship, and marriage within those cultures; discusses methods and theories pertinent to the material.
200 – Ethnography (3)
Co-requisite: Anthropology 203. An exploration of the method of anthropological fieldwork and the discursive style of presenting anthropological materials. A practical and theoretical introduction to the discipline of cultural anthropology.
203 – Theories of Culture (3)
Co-requisite: Anthropology 200. Examines theories in cultural anthropology, including structuralism and post-structuralism, but with an emphasis on American contributions to the concept of culture and on its relevance to the collecting and representation of ethnographic data.
215 – Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica (3)
Precontact cultures of Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Belize, from early archaeological sites until the Spanish conquest. Concentration on the “high civilizations” of Olmec, Maya, Teotihuacán, Toltec, and Aztec. Examination of archaeological methods, models, and problems in Mesoamerica.
271 – Special Studies in Ethnography (3)
Recommended: Anthropology 101 or 200. Concentrates on one culture area not otherwise covered in the curriculum, and related theoretical concerns. Choice of area reflects both student and instructor interests.
302 – The Anthropology of “Race” (3)
Explores why current vernacular understandings of “race” and scientific understandings of “race” diverge so dramatically. Looks at the long history of scientific (mis)understandings of human biological diversity. Interrogates why racialist thinking has been a fundamental component of a western cultural world view.
312 – The Anthropology of Gender (3)
Prerequisite: Anthropology 101 or 200 or permission of the instructor. The anthropological approach to gender: cultural definition and social status of female and male; other genders; theories of gender definition and gender hierarchy.
316 – Political Anthropology (3)
Prerequisite: Anthropology 101 or Anthropology 200 or permission of the instructor. A survey of the anthropological contribution to a comparative political science. Focuses on political structures and conflicts in non-western non-state societies. Includes an overview of anthropological studies of nationalism, colonialism, and post-colonial political processes.
317 – Gifts and Commodities (3)
Prerequisite: Anthropology 101 or 200 or permission of the instructor. Nature of non-western economies: production, division of labor, exchange and ceremonial exchange, debt, hierarchy. Impact of globalization and capitalist economic structure on such economies.
318 – Anthropology of Religion (3)
Anthropological study of religious ideas and practices of selected non-Western peoples: sacred and profane, spiritual law, morality; sacrifice, shamanism, divination, and prayer; millenarianism and conservatism. Focus on the similarities between non-western religions and so-called world religions; impact of the missionary presence in non-western societies.
322 – Symbolic Anthropology (3)
Prerequisite: Anthropology 101 or 200 or permission of the instructor. The interpretation of symbols as found in rituals, myths, and everyday life in both western and non-western cultures. Relationship between symbols and action; nature of culture change and persistent cultural structures.
333 – Issues in Human Rights (3)
Analysis and discussion of changing concepts of human rights and the movements that have defended and broadened them. Cross-listed as American Studies 333.
341 – Practices of Memory (3)
Prerequisite: Anthropology 101 or 200 or permission of the instructor. Collective memory, or a shared understanding of the past, plays a vital role in group identity and in the way present events are understood. But memories are made in the present, and they are always selective. What is remembered and forgotten can be extremely important: the stories we tell about our past, the events we commemorate, the museum exhibits we visit, the films we produce and watch, and the monuments we build all play a significant role in defining our identity by shaping how we view the past.
342 – Touring Cultures (3)
Prerequisite: Anthropology 101 or 200 or permission of the instructor. In this course we will explore “touring cultures” - cultures of tourists and tourism, as well as the cultures of those toured and the effects of tourism on them. We will examine interactions between tourists, local residents, and institutions, and the ways people, places, and historic periods are produced and packaged for consumption by tourists. Other topics will include the connections between tourism and issues of leisure and consumption, globalization, class and ethnic identities, authentic vs. manufactured experiences, and sex tourism.
343 – Culture and Identity in Europe (3)
Prerequisite: Anthropology 101 or 200 or permission of the instructor. The economic and political integration of Europe has been justified by the idea of a common European cultural heritage or “civilization.” In this course we will read and discuss a range of ethnographic texts to consider changing cultural forms in Europe as well as identities focused on class, gender, ethnicity, and race. We will also examine attempts to define the boundaries of Europe, European citizenship, and European culture - attempts made all the more significant and complex by immigration and cultural diversity as well as the ambiguity of “Europe” and “European.”
344 - Urban Theory and Ethnography (3)
Prerequisite: permission of the instructor. Historical, theoretical, and ethnographic perspectives on cities, urban life, and habitation. Also included are ethnographies of suburbs, gated communities, and new urbanist developments. Students will practice urban ethnographic field methods in a semester-long research project.
371 – Special Topics in Anthropology (3)
Prerequisite: Anthropology 101 or Anthropology 200 or permission of the instructor. Concentrates on an important anthropological topic not otherwise covered in the curriculum; comprehensive readings and discussion. Choice of topic reflects both student and instructor interests.
401—The Anthropology of Globalization (3)
Prerequisite: Anthropology 101 or Anthropology 200 or permission of the instructor. This course focuses on the complex entanglements that occur as people migrate and as cultural materials (e.g. movies and television) and cultural formats (e.g. the bureaucratic protocols of “technoscience” or of international relief organizations) produced in one place are consumed and modified in another. A central theme is how to theorize “culture” and “society” in the context of global flows of people and ideas.
480 – Senior Research (3)
Prerequisites: Anthropology major with senior standing; Anthropology 200, 203. Independent research, guided by the instructor, on a topic of the student’s choice in preparation for writing the senior thesis in the second semester.
481 – Senior Thesis (3)
Prerequisites: Anthropology major with senior standing; Anthropology 200, 203, 480. Under the direction of one of the anthropology faculty, students write a 30-35 page thesis based on the research undertaken during the first semester in ANTH 480.
491, 492 – Individual Study and Research (Credits variable)
Prerequisite: Permission of the instructor. Individual work under the guidance of the instructor. At the wish of the student and with the approval of the instructor, either course may be designated “field-research intensive.”
499 – Internship (Credits variable)
Prerequisite: Permission of the instructor. Supervised off-campus experience developed in consultation with the instructor. Cannot be counted in the major program.