Search

Anthropology

Chair

  • James Enloe

Professors

  • Michael Chibnik, Russell Ciochon (Anthropology/Pediatric Dentistry), James Enloe, Ellen Lewin (Gender, Women's, and Sexuality Studies/Anthropology), Sonia Ryang, Toni Tripp Reimer (Nursing/Anthropology)

Professors emeriti

  • Melanie Dreher (Nursing/Anthropology/ Community and Behavioral Health), Mac Marshall, Margery Wolf

Adjunct professor

  • Frank Salomon

Associate professors

  • Robert Franciscus, Laura Graham, Meena R. Khandelwal (Anthropology/Gender, Women's, and Sexuality Studies), Katina Lillios, Erica Prussing (Anthropology/Community and Behavioral Health), Scott Schnell, Christian Simon (Internal Medicine/Anthropology), Glenn Storey (Classics/Anthropology)

Associate professors emeriti

  • Marshall B. McKusick, Douglas Midgett

Adjunct associate professor

  • Kevin Kelly

Assistant professors

  • Margaret Beck, Adi M. Hastings, Matthew E. Hill, Emily Wentzell

Adjunct assistant professors

  • John Doershuk, Nathan Holton, Stephen C. Lensink, Dongwang Liu, Melody K. Pope, William Whittaker

Adjunct instructors

  • Joe A. Artz, Shirley J. Schermer
Undergraduate degrees: B.A., B.S. in Anthropology
Undergraduate nondegree program: Minor in Anthropology
Graduate degrees: M.A., Ph.D. in Anthropology
Web site: http://www.uiowa.edu/~anthro

Anthropology is the comparative study of peoples and cultures past and present. The discipline's four major subfields—cultural anthropology, biological anthropology, linguistic anthropology, and archaeology—have important connections to other social sciences, physical and biological sciences, and to the arts and humanities. 

Anthropology provides a framework for understanding the relation of human beings to their natural environment and to the social and cultural worlds they create and inhabit. The field provides insight into biological and sociocultural evolution and includes a focus on economic, social, and political organizations, symbolic systems, and social systems. Comparative studies of these and other aspects of past and present cultures yield information on regularities and differences.

In addition to offering undergraduate and graduate degree programs, the Department of Anthropology administers the University's Museum Studies Program, which offers an undergraduate certificate.

Undergraduate Programs

  • Major in anthropology (Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science)
  • Minor in anthropology

The major in anthropology prepares individuals for advanced training or careers in anthropology, allied fields, and professional programs. Students who complete an anthropology major gain special understanding of human relations and expertise for jobs involving international or cross-cultural work, cultural resource management, and social and ethnic diversity in the United States.

Upon graduation, anthropology majors embark on careers in government work, international affairs, public health, gerontology, urban and regional planning, conservation, social work, marketing, museum work, and education. Others pursue graduate study in law, business, and health care as well as anthropology and related social science disciplines. Some are employed in cultural resource management.

Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science

The Bachelor of Arts with a major in anthropology requires a minimum of 120 s.h., including 33 s.h. of work for the major. The B.A. is designed to offer a comprehensive overview of anthropology's four main subfields and the broadest possible cross-cultural background.

The Bachelor of Science with a major in anthropology requires a minimum of 120 s.h., including 42 s.h. of work for the major. The B.S. is appropriate for students with interests in any of anthropology's subfields; it offers enhanced opportunities to gain experience and develop skills in research methods and scientific reasoning.

B.A. and B.S. students in anthropology may elect to complete one of three optional emphases; see "Undergraduate Emphasis Areas" below.

All undergraduates majoring in anthropology, including transfer students, must earn a minimum of 15 s.h. for the major at The University of Iowa. Students may apply credit earned at approved field schools offered by other institutions toward the major, with Department of Anthropology approval.

Students must complete the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences General Education Program.

Students who declare anthropology as their major when they are admitted to the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences are advised at the Academic Advising Center until they have earned 24 s.h. Students who have earned more than 24 s.h. are advised in the department. Students are assigned an advisor based on faculty advisor loads and student interests.

Common Requirements

All anthropology majors (B.A. or B.S.) must complete the following requirements.

One of these (students may count only one toward the major):

113:003 Cultural Anthropology 3 s.h.
113:010 Anthropology and Contemporary World Problems 3 s.h.

All of these:

113:012 Introduction to Prehistory 3 s.h.
113:013 Human Origins 3 s.h.
113:014 Language, Culture, and Communication 3 s.h.
113:050 Issues in Anthropology 3 s.h.
One 100-level course in archaeology (area or topical) or biological anthropology 
One 100-level course in sociocultural or linguistic anthropology 
One 100-level course in area studies 
Three 100-level electives 

Anthropology electives offer many choices, including courses dealing with environment and culture, expressive culture (art, verbal arts, literature, music, and dance), gender, human evolution, human evolutionary anatomy, human osteology, human prehistory, identity, language and culture, medical anthropology, molecular genetics, primatology, psychological anthropology, religion and ritual, and urban anthropology. Department faculty members offer area studies courses on Latin America, Europe, Japan, South Asia, and Native North America.

Additional Bachelor of Arts Requirements

Bachelor of Arts students are strongly encouraged to participate in archaeological field and laboratory research, biological anthropology laboratory research, independent studies in sociocultural anthropology, or linguistic anthropology research.

Additional Bachelor of Science Requirements

Bachelor of Science students must fulfill additional requirements in the following three areas.

Quantitative, mathematical, or formal reasoning tool
Directed laboratory or field research
Allied topical course work

QUANTITATIVE, MATHEMATICAL, OR FORMAL REASONING TOOL

Students must complete a minimum of 6 s.h. beyond the courses used to fulfill the General Education Program quantitative or formal reasoning requirement. Students select specific courses or course sequences in consultation with their advisors.

DIRECTED LABORATORY OR FIELD RESEARCH

Students complete an approved directed research requirement (minimum of 3 s.h.) consisting of one of the following.

Laboratory research: a laboratory practicum in anthropology research labs or independent, faculty-guided, laboratory research, including use of the collections of the Office of the State Archaeologist.

Field research project: faculty-advised projects involving the collection of primary archaeological, biological, ethnographic, and/or linguistic data in a fieldwork setting.

A University of Iowa field archaeological school program or approved equivalent.

An approved internship; internships typically involve work in cultural resource management firms, museums, and public health research or education projects; to receive research credit for an internship, students must make a final report to their faculty advisor, summarizing the work accomplished or presenting materials that document the nature of the work.

ALLIED TOPICAL COURSE WORK

Students complete a topical specialization in one of the following allied fields: biology, chemistry, computer science, economics, geography, geoscience, global health studies, health and human physiology, health promotion, linguistics, mathematics, psychology, science education, sport studies, or statistics and actuarial science. Minors (or at least five courses) in other fields, chosen in consultation with the student's advisor, also may be applied toward this requirement.

Undergraduate Emphasis Areas

The department offers three optional undergraduate emphasis areas: gender and culture, cultural resource and heritage management, and environmental anthropology. Students majoring in anthropology may use an emphasis area to provide a particular focus in their study plan.

Each emphasis area reflects broad issues bridging subfields in and outside of anthropology. Completion of an emphasis area indicates the achievement of considerable expertise and is noted on the student's transcript.

Each emphasis requires five courses (15 s.h.). With careful course selection, students majoring in anthropology can complete an emphasis area without adding to the semester hours required for graduation.

GENDER AND CULTURE EMPHASIS

Anthropological research regarding gender and sexuality has grown dramatically in recent years, enhancing and drawing from other theoretical and methodological approaches within the discipline. Such studies contribute a cross-cultural perspective to the discussion surrounding these fundamental aspects of human experience, both in academia and in public life.

The gender and culture emphasis requires five courses (15 s.h.) chosen from the following list. Each course provides an integrated overview of essential theoretical and topical issues in the field.

113:101 Disability and the Ethics of Care 3 s.h.
113:102 Ethnography and Auto/Biography 3 s.h.
113:105 Mothers and Motherhood 3 s.h.
113:107 Gendering India 4 s.h.
113:108 Anthropology of Marriage and Family 3 s.h.
113:127 South Asian Sexual Cultures 3 s.h.
113:133 The Anthropology of Women's Health 3 s.h.
113:134 Gender and Indian Diaspora 3 s.h.
113:137 The Anthropology of Love 3 s.h.
113:140 Politics of Reproduction 3 s.h.
113:141 History of Feminist Anthropology 3 s.h.
113:154 Anthropology of Sexual Minorities 3 s.h.
113:180 Women Writing Culture 3 s.h.
113:182 Women, Health, and Healing 3 s.h.
 
CULTURAL RESOURCE AND HERITAGE MANAGEMENT EMPHASIS

In North America and throughout much of the rest of the world, modern land use continually threatens evidence of past land use. Most archaeological excavations are conducted as cultural resource management (CRM), so it is essential that all researchers who work with archaeological data and individuals committed to site preservation have a basic understanding of CRM. Students who choose this emphasis learn about the field and about how to address related ethical issues as well as technical and theoretical challenges.

The cultural resource and heritage management emphasis requires five courses (15 s.h.): a fundamental overview course, two area electives, a technical/practical elective, and a field school course. Students may use some of these courses to satisfy requirements for the major, such as the 100-level course in archaeology and the 100-level electives.

Fundamental overview course:
 
113:170 Cultural Resources Management Archaeology: Practice and Practicalities 3 s.h.
 
Area elective courses—two of these (or one of these and one other Department of Anthropology area course):
 
113:110 Native Peoples of North America 3 s.h.
113:159 Southwestern Archaeology 3 s.h.
113:167 North American Archaeology 3 s.h.
113:179 Pleistocene Peopling of the Americas 3 s.h.
113:181 Archaeology of the Great Plains 3 s.h.
                        
Technical/practical elective course—one of these:
 
113:124 Politics of the Archaeological Past 3 s.h.
113:153 Raw Materials in Archaeology 3 s.h.
113:158 Animal Bones in Archaeology 3 s.h.
113:160 Introduction to Archaeological Ceramics 3 s.h.
113:162 Practicum in Archaeology arr.
113:168 Archaeological Methods 3 s.h.
113:173 Household Archaeology and Anthropology 3 s.h.
113:189 Approaches to Geoarchaeology 3 s.h.
113:190 Beyond the Map: Introduction to Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in Anthropology 3 s.h.
213:190 Human Osteology 3 s.h.
 
Field school course—one of these:
 
113:199 Field Research in Archaeology arr.
An equivalent course from another university 
                    
ENVIRONMENTAL ANTHROPOLOGY EMPHASIS

The interaction between humans and the environments they inhabit has long been a central issue in anthropology, and environmental degradation is a worldwide concern today. Pollution, loss of biodiversity, and global warming recognize no political boundaries, but attitudes and behaviors involving the natural environment vary widely from culture to culture. Understanding and incorporation of these varied perspectives will be vital to the development and successful use of workable solutions.

The environmental anthropology emphasis requires five courses (15 s.h.): two theory courses, which deal primarily with human-environmental interactions; and three area or topical electives, which deal in part with environment, ecology, and subsistence technologies. The following are sample courses in each area.

Theory courses:

113:113 Human Impacts on the Environment 3 s.h.
113:114 Environmentalisms 3 s.h.
113:139 Religion and Environmental Ethics 3 s.h.
113:143 Environment and Culture 3 s.h.
213:152 Primate Conservation Biology 3 s.h.
113:215 Seminar: Ecological Anthropology 3 s.h.

Area or topical electives:

113:125 Japanese Society and Culture 3 s.h.
113:126 Animals, Culture, and Food 3 s.h.
113:130 Archaeology of the Iberian Peninsula 3 s.h.
113:131 Latin American Economy and Society 3 s.h.
113:150 Tribes and Chiefdoms of Ancient Europe 3 s.h.
113:157 Foodways and Cuisine in the Past 3 s.h.
113:158 Animal Bones in Archaeology 3 s.h.
113:161 Prehistoric People of the Ice Age 3 s.h.
113:164 Comparative Prehistory 3 s.h.
113:178 Hunter-Gatherer Ethnoarchaeology 3 s.h.
113:181 Archaeology of the Great Plains 3 s.h.
113:187 Cultures in Collision 3 s.h.
113:189 Approaches to Geoarchaeology 3 s.h.
113:196 The Archaeology of Ancient Egypt 3 s.h.

Four-Year Graduation Plan

The following checkpoints list the minimum requirements students must complete by certain semesters in order to stay on the University's Four-Year Graduation Plan.

Bachelor of Arts

Before the third semester begins: at least one-quarter of the semester hours required for graduation

Before the fifth semester begins: at least two courses in the major and one-half of the semester hours required for graduation

Before the seventh semester begins: at least seven courses in the major and at least three-quarters of the hours required for graduation

Before the eighth semester begins: at least eight courses in the major

During the eighth semester: enrollment in all remaining course work in the major, all remaining General Education courses, and a sufficient number of semester hours to graduate

Bachelor of Science

Before the third semester begins: at least one anthropology course or other course in the major, and one-quarter of the semester hours required for graduation

Before the fifth semester begins: at least four anthropology courses or other courses in the major, one course in the minor area, one course for the quantitative or formal reasoning tool requirement, and one-half of the semester hours required for graduation

Before the seventh semester begins: at least seven courses in the major, three courses in the minor area, the second quantitative or formal reasoning tool course, and at least three-quarters of the hours required for graduation

Before the eighth semester begins: at least nine courses in the major, including the directed research requirement and four courses in the minor area

During the eighth semester: enrollment in all remaining course work in the major and in the minor area, all remaining General Education courses, and a sufficient number of semester hours to graduate

Honors

Outstanding students majoring in anthropology may work toward graduation with honors in the major. In addition to fulfilling the regular requirements for the anthropology major, honors students conduct an independent research project that culminates in a 30-50 page thesis. The project includes completion of 6 s.h. divided between 113:186 Honors Research Seminar (offered only in fall semesters) and 113:176 Honors Research, typically taken the next semester. Honors students also must take one of their anthropology courses at the graduate level. In order to graduate with honors, students also must have a g.p.a. of at least 3.50 in anthropology and be members of the University of Iowa Honors Program, which requires students to maintain a cumulative University of Iowa g.p.a. of at least 3.33 (contact the University of Iowa Honors Program for more information).

Students working toward a B.S. may count their directed research project or laboratory practicum toward the required credit for graduation with honors, but fulfilling the research requirement for the B.S. does not by itself fulfill the honors requirement. Students must work with their honors thesis advisor to structure their research so that it meets the added requirements of honors work.

To learn more about honors in anthropology, contact the department's director of undergraduate studies.

Minor

The minor in anthropology requires a minimum of 15 s.h. in anthropology courses, including 12 s.h. in University of Iowa Department of Anthropology courses numbered 113:100 and above and 213:100 and above. Students must maintain a g.p.a. of at least 2.00 in the minor. Courses for the minor may not be taken pass/nonpass.

Students may create a focus for the minor by completing an emphasis; see "Undergraduate Emphasis Areas" above.

Certificate in Museum Studies

The Department of Anthropology administers the University's Museum Studies Program, which offers an undergraduate certificate; see Museum Studies in the Catalog.

Graduate Programs

  • Master of Arts in anthropology
  • Doctor of Philosophy in anthropology

Graduate study in anthropology is open to individuals with varied undergraduate majors and training backgrounds. Students normally are admitted directly to the Ph.D. program; once they complete requirements for the M.A., their committees recommend whether or not they should continue to work toward the Ph.D.

Graduate students become competent in the discipline's four major subfields: sociocultural anthropology, linguistic anthropology, archaeology, and biological anthropology. Ph.D. students develop professional specialization for independent research and teaching in one of the subfields and may elect to pursue a concentration in feminist anthropology or paleoanthropology. Students also may choose to earn a terminal M.A. with a focus on cultural resource management—archaeology (CRM), which prepares them for a professional career in that field.

Master of Arts

The Master of Arts program in anthropology requires 30-36 s.h. of graduate credit, depending on the student's previous anthropological training. Students may count a maximum of 9 s.h. earned in courses outside anthropology toward the M.A. in anthropology. The degree normally is awarded to students after two years in the graduate program.

Master's degree students who choose to focus on cultural resource management—archaeology (CRM) normally do not go on to earn a Ph.D. in anthropology.

During the first semester of the M.A. program, students are advised by the director of graduate studies. By the end of the second semester, they must select an advisor and begin forming an M.A. committee. In consultation with the committee, the student develops a research project and writes an M.A. paper. The committee must approve the M.A. paper by the end of the fourth semester of study. The student also presents the paper publicly. As an alternative to the M.A. paper, students may choose to write a formal M.A. thesis, which must follow the Graduate College thesis guidelines. Students must submit a final copy of their M.A. thesis or paper to the department.

Master's degree students who intend to earn a doctorate should consider taking 113:210 Anthropological Data Analysis or another statistics course during their M.A. study.

GENERAL COURSE WORK

M.A. students must complete core seminars in at least three of four subfields, for a total of 9 s.h. Core seminars are chosen from the following.

113:240 Seminar Sociocultural Anthropology 3 s.h.
113:268 Seminar: Archaeological Theory and Method 3 s.h.
113:271 Seminar: Linguistic Anthropology 3 s.h.
213:285 Seminar: Biological Anthropology 3 s.h.
ELECTIVES

In consultation with their advisor and committee members, students select additional course work to complete the remaining semester hours required for the M.A. Elective hours may include courses in other disciplines, directed study, or up to 6 s.h. of M.A. thesis credit for students who choose the thesis option.

Doctor of Philosophy

The Doctor of Philosophy program in anthropology requires a minimum of 72 s.h. of graduate credit. The Ph.D. represents a balance between general anthropological competence obtained at the M.A. level and professional specialization and competence for independent research and teaching in one of four subfields: sociocultural anthropology, linguistic anthropology, archaeology, and biological anthropology.

Ph.D. students also may elect to pursue a concentration in feminist anthropology or paleoanthropology; see "Graduate Concentrations" below.

To ensure focus on the student's research interests, the department has an integrated process of simultaneous preparation of reading lists, research proposals for submission to granting agencies, dissertation proposal, and position papers. In order to complete the degree, all doctoral candidates are required to complete appropriate course work and the Ph.D. comprehensive process, carry out original anthropological research, and write and defend a dissertation. Students work closely with their advisor and committee at all stages.

In the first semester after completing the M.A. (or the first semester in the program for students who enter with an M.A. in anthropology from another institution), the student selects an advisor. By the end of the second semester, the student selects a committee to oversee his or her completion of the comprehensive process.

Students immediately begin consulting with their advisor, and eventually their committees, to start compiling an annotated bibliography of works relevant to future research. The annotated bibliography is a working document for the student's use in the Ph.D. program; it is not a formal requirement and does not require formal review.

In the third and fourth semesters of the program, the student completes the comprehensive process. Then he or she may select a dissertation committee.

All doctoral students must demonstrate reading and/or speaking knowledge of one language other than English. They must meet this requirement before beginning dissertation research.

REQUIRED COURSE WORK

Students should take all lecture courses and seminars that are relevant to the areas they intend to cover in their position papers. A maximum of 18 s.h. earned in non-anthropology courses may be counted toward the 72 s.h. required for the Ph.D., including the maximum of 9 s.h. that can be counted toward the master's degree. Students may count a maximum of 9 s.h. of independent study courses, beyond the M.A., toward the Ph.D.

All doctoral students are required to take 113:210 Anthropological Data Analysis or another statistics course within the first three years of graduate study, preferably during the M.A. program (first two years of graduate study).

Students must take at least one theory course beyond the course they took to fulfill the master's requirements in their specialization subfield. This course should be chosen from one of the following lists.

Sociocultural Anthropology
113:215 Seminar: Ecological Anthropology 3 s.h.
113:240 Seminar Sociocultural Anthropology 3 s.h.
113:244 Seminar: Semiotics 3 s.h.
113:250 Seminar: Ritual and Performance 3 s.h.
113:251 Seminar: Resistance in Theory and Practice 3 s.h.

Most graduate seminars offered in the feminist anthropology concentration also may be used to fulfill this requirement (see "Feminist Anthropology Concentration" below).

Linguistic Anthropology
113:123 Language and Nationalism 3 s.h.
113:244 Seminar: Semiotics 3 s.h.
113:271 Seminar: Linguistic Anthropology 3 s.h.
113:273 Seminar: Language, Gender, and Sexuality 3 s.h.
Archaeology
113:164 Comparative Prehistory 3 s.h.
113:174 Seminar: Taphonomy 3 s.h.
113:178 Hunter-Gatherer Ethnoarchaeology 3 s.h.
113:258 Seminar: Zooarchaeology 3 s.h.
113:268 Seminar: Archaeological Theory and Method 3 s.h.
Biological Anthropology
213:150 Primate Comparative Morphology 3 s.h.
213:151 Human Evolutionary Genetics 3 s.h.
213:152 Primate Conservation Biology 3 s.h.
213:165 Human Variation 3 s.h.
213:169 Human Evolutionary Anatomy 3 s.h.
213:170 Primate Evolutionary Biology 3 s.h.
213:187 Human Evolution 3 s.h.
213:188 Primate Behavior and Ecology 3 s.h.
213:285 Seminar: Biological Anthropology 3 s.h.
213:288 Seminar: Paleoanthropology 3 s.h.

THE PH.D. COMPREHENSIVE PROCESS

The comprehensive process consists of preparing a research proposal and prospectus defense and writing comprehensive essays. According to individual needs and in consultation with his or her committee, a student selects the order of completing these two tasks. Successful completion of both tasks advances the student to Ph.D. candidacy.

To remain in good academic standing, students must complete the comprehensive process by the end of the fourth semester in the Ph.D. program. Students who do not adhere to this timeline are placed on departmental probation.

Working closely with his or her committee, each student drafts a research proposal for the program of dissertation research and defends a research prospectus before the Ph.D. committee. The defense is open to students and faculty. A copy of the student's dissertation prospectus must be made available in the department office one week before the defense.

Each student must write two comprehensive essays, which must be of publishable quality. One essay must concern the student's geographical area of specialization; the other must deal with his or her primary topical area. In some fields (e.g., biological anthropology), a geographical area may not be relevant. The essays are responses to questions the committee prepares in consultation with the student.

Comprehensive essays should demonstrate analysis, evaluation, synthesis, and control of a body of information (knowledge and comprehension). They should critique a major problem or debate (application and analysis), and they should develop a position on an issue and provide an explanation or theoretical justification for the position (evaluation and synthesis).

Doctoral students who have completed the comprehensive examination process are encouraged to enroll in 113:382 Dissertation Writing Seminar to enhance timely progress on their dissertations.

DISSERTATION

All Ph.D. candidates are required to carry out original anthropological research. Students typically conduct dissertation research after defending their research prospectus and writing comprehensive essays. Dissertations usually are based on fieldwork. Some are based on data from archival collections, laboratory projects, collections, or other source materials.

Graduate Concentrations

In addition to their required course work in the four Ph.D. subfields, students may complete a concentration in feminist anthropology or paleoanthropology. Each concentration reflects broad issues bridging subfields in and outside of anthropology.

Completion of a concentration indicates substantial expertise. It is recognized as a department credential and may be added to a student's curriculum vitae.

FEMINIST ANTHROPOLOGY CONCENTRATION

The feminist anthropology concentration offers broad training in a growing specialization area that enhances and draws from other theoretical approaches in anthropology. Graduate students in anthropology and other disciplines may explore particular aspects of the field by taking feminist anthropology courses.

Course work in the concentration emphasizes feminist perspectives, theories, methods, and analytic techniques in anthropology. It improves students' academic job prospects in anthropology and other fields, especially women's studies and gender studies. It also helps students prepare for careers in applied or public anthropology.

Feminist anthropology students take 15 s.h. of course work in the concentration in addition to their regular core requirements. The 15 s.h. should be divided between graduate seminars and elective courses as noted below.

Concentration courses may fulfill requirements for graduate electives in anthropology.

Feminist anthropology was offered as a track in the Master of Arts in academic year 2006-07 and earlier. Students who took courses as part of the M.A. track may count them toward the Ph.D. concentration.

The following list of approved courses is subject to change; contact the Department of Anthropology for updates. Students may petition to count other courses in anthropology or other disciplines toward the concentration, if the courses or the students' work in them includes significant relevant content. Petitions are reviewed by the feminist anthropology faculty.

Graduate Seminars

Students complete at least two of these (minimum of 6 s.h.) and may count additional graduate seminar courses as elective credit.

113:220 Seminar: Feminist Anthropology 3 s.h.
113:221 Seminar: Feminist Ethnography 3 s.h.
113:222 Reading Transnational Feminist Theory 3 s.h.
113:223 Feminist Medical Anthropology 3 s.h.
113:273 Seminar: Language, Gender, and Sexuality 3 s.h.
113:290 Feminist Perspectives on Biology and Culture 3 s.h.
Electives

Students must earn a minimum of 9 s.h. in electives and may count extra credit earned in graduate seminars toward the elective requirement.

113:101 Disability and the Ethics of Care 3 s.h.
113:102 Ethnography and Auto/Biography 3 s.h.
113:105 Mothers and Motherhood 3 s.h.
113:107 Gendering India 4 s.h.
113:133 The Anthropology of Women's Health 3 s.h.
113:140 Politics of Reproduction 3 s.h.
113:141 History of Feminist Anthropology 3 s.h.
113:154 Anthropology of Sexual Minorities 3 s.h.
113:180 Women Writing Culture 3 s.h.
113:182 Women, Health, and Healing 3 s.h.
PALEOANTHROPOLOGY CONCENTRATION

The paleoanthropology concentration offers broad training that combines archaeology and biological anthropology, two traditional subfields of anthropology important in understanding the biocultural factors that have been critical in human evolution. The concentration combines course work in both biological and archaeological anthropology, complementing the specialized training that students from either subfield receive in their own specialization. Paleoanthropology courses emphasize integration of biological and cultural factors in the evolution of hominid species up to and including modern humans. They encompass primate and human evolutionary anatomy, technology and subsistence in Paleolithic archaeology, and modern human hunter-gatherers.

Paleoanthropology students take 15 s.h. of course work in the concentration in addition to their regular core requirements. The 15 s.h. should be divided between graduate seminars and elective courses as noted below.

Students may choose core seminars to fulfill requirements for both the M.A. general course work and the paleoanthropology concentration.

The following list of approved courses is subject to change; contact the Department of Anthropology for updates. Students may petition to count other courses in anthropology or other disciplines toward the concentration, if the courses or the students' work in them includes significant relevant content. Petitions are reviewed by the paleoanthropology faculty.

Graduate Seminars

All of these (9 s.h.):

113:268 Seminar: Archaeological Theory and Method 3 s.h.
213:285 Seminar: Biological Anthropology 3 s.h.
213:288 Seminar: Paleoanthropology 3 s.h.
Electives

At least two of these (6 s.h. minimum):

113:178 Hunter-Gatherer Ethnoarchaeology 3 s.h.
113:179 Pleistocene Peopling of the Americas 3 s.h.
113:258 Seminar: Zooarchaeology 3 s.h.
213:151 Human Evolutionary Genetics 3 s.h.
213:169 Human Evolutionary Anatomy 3 s.h.
213:170 Primate Evolutionary Biology 3 s.h.
213:187 Human Evolution 3 s.h.
213:190 Human Osteology 3 s.h.

Admission

Applicants for admission to the graduate program in anthropology are considered regardless of their undergraduate major or previous field of training. Students without previous training in anthropology may be expected to perform additional work necessary to achieve competence expected for their degree objective.

Students normally are admitted directly to the Ph.D. program. For students without an M.A. in anthropology, the first two years of the Ph.D. program are devoted to fulfilling the requirements of the M.A. After those requirements are completed, the student's committee recommends to the faculty whether the student should continue to work toward the Ph.D.

Students with an M.A. in anthropology from another institution may proceed directly into a Ph.D. program organized around their special research interests.

Applicants for admission to the graduate program must meet the admission requirements of the Graduate College; see the Manual of Rules and Regulations of the Graduate College or the Graduate College section of the Catalog.

Applicants are required to submit the following:

a completed University application form;

transcripts of all previous undergraduate and graduate work;

three letters of recommendation from individuals competent to judge the applicant's potential for graduate training;

Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores;

at least one written example of previous work (for example, a term paper).

Applicants whose first or official language is not English and whose previous academic degrees were not earned at an English-language institution must submit scores on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or the International English Language Testing System (IELTS).

Applicants with an M.A. from another university must submit a copy of their master's thesis; applicants who earned an M.A. without thesis or whose thesis is not yet complete should submit written copies of three papers completed in graduate school.

Financial Support

Financial assistance, usually in the form of teaching and research assistantships, may be offered to doctoral and potential doctoral students in good standing for up to five years. Students making satisfactory and timely progress through the graduate program are in good standing. Eligibility for financial aid is reduced after two years in the M.A. program, after two years in the Ph.D. program, or after one year of postdoctoral fieldwork or research enrollment. The amount and types of aid depend on departmental needs. The department usually awards financial aid to most entering graduate students every year.

Students are notified in writing of a provisional financial award before the semester or summer session for which the award has been granted. Although awards are made before the end of the previous semester, each award is contingent upon satisfactory completion of that semester's work by the awardee.

Archaeological Field Research

Under the direction of University archaeologists, students acquire skills in data recovery and interpretive techniques. Opportunities are available for students to participate in archaeological field research in France, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sicily, the U.S. Southwest, or at various sites in the U.S. Midwest. Occasional fieldwork in East and Southeast Asia is available to graduate students in the paleoanthropology research program.

Resources, Facilities

The department has access to the Iowa Archaeological Collections through the Office of the State Archaeologist and maintains its own archaeological collections (midwestern prehistoric and historical and comparative faunal material).

The department maintains a documented human osteology teaching collection amassed by the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine and the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, and it holds a substantial documented human osteology research collection originally from Stanford University's medical school that is maintained jointly with the Office of the State Archaeologist.

Individual faculty members maintain field laboratories and conduct research outside the United States, maintaining ties with research institutions in foreign countries, including the Laboratoire d'Ethnologie Préhistorique at Pincevent; the Centre de Recherches Archéologiques at Verberie, in France; the National Museum of Ethnology in Japan; the Institute of Technology Bandung (ITB), in Indonesia; the Gemeente Nijmegen, Bureau Archeologie, Nijmegen, the Netherlands, and the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut of Madrid in Spain.

The department also has well-equipped laboratories for the study of archaeology, biological anthropology, and a state-of-the-art multimedia linguistic anthropology laboratory.

The University is a charter member of the Human Relations Area Files (HRAF), an extensively annotated set of source materials on the peoples of the world--their environments, behavioral patterns, social lives, and cultures. Through HRAF and other library resources, anthropology students have access to source materials on more than 400 different cultures.

The University's exchange programs for Iowa students provide opportunities and some scholarships for study abroad.

Faculty

Members of the anthropology faculty have studied and lived in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Europe, Mexico and Central America, Pacific Islands, South America, and the United States. Recent field research has been conducted in Belgium, Brazil, Cameroon, China, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Fiji, France, Greece, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Myanmar (formerly Burma), the Netherlands, Peru, Philippines, Portugal, Russia, Tanzania, the Gambia, the United States, and Vietnam.

Current faculty interests include patterns of political and economic development of emerging nations; the trade in Mexican folk art, material culture, human rights; indigenous movements; visual culture and indigenous media; gender and the cultural politics surrounding sobriety in native North America; lesbian and gay families in the United States; the cultural production of scientific knowledge about racial/ethnic infant mortality disparities in U.S. public health; power, memory, and social inequality in ancient Iberia; language and gender; expressive culture and performance in the Brazilian Amazon; language and social justice; Sanskrit, colonial linguistics, cultural politics of language, religion, and ethnicity; spiritual tourism in India; community and conflict, ritualization, localized religion, and environmentalism in Japan; ethnic minorities in Japan; diasporas, love, and romantic relations, culture, and totalitarianism in North Korea; paleoanthropological investigations of Pleistocene karst caves in China and northern Vietnam; geological and paleoanthropological field surveys of the Plio-Pleistocene Sangiran Dome, in Java; Neanderthal craniofacial form, function, and evolutionary history; anatomical modernity and the origins of modern humans; historical archaeology of Iowa; molecular anthropology, primate molecular ecology, primate conservation biology, primate evolutionary history; faunal and spatial analyses from Paleolithic sites in France; regional interaction and migration in late-prehistoric North America; peopling of the Americas; human impacts on the environment in North America.

Courses

For Undergraduates

113:003 Cultural Anthropology 3 s.h.
Comparative study of culture, social organization. GE: Social Sciences; Values, Society, and Diversity.
 
113:010 Anthropology and Contemporary World Problems 3 s.h.
Selected world problems from an anthropological perspective; current dilemmas and those faced by diverse human groups in recent times and distant past. GE: International and Global Issues; Social Sciences.
 
113:012 Introduction to Prehistory 3 s.h.
Data, theories of evolution of human cultures from end of Pleistocene to emergence of complex societies; emphasis on prehistoric cultural information from world areas from which relatively complete sequences are available. GE: Historical Perspectives.
 
113:013 Human Origins 3 s.h.
Processes, products of human evolution from perspectives of heredity and genetics, evolutionary theory, human biological characteristics, fossil record, artifactual evidence, biocultural behaviors. GE: Natural Sciences without Lab.
 
113:014 Language, Culture, and Communication 3 s.h.
Human language in context of animal communication; development, acquisition of language; biological base; language as a linguistic system in cultural social context. GE: Social Sciences.
 
113:029 First-Year Seminar 1 s.h.
Small discussion class taught by a faculty member; topics chosen by instructor; may include outside activities (e.g. films, lectures, performances, readings, visits to research facilities). Requirements: first- or second-semester standing.
 
113:045 Language Rights 3 s.h.
Language minorities and linguistic human rights in the United States and worldwide; language and identity, culture, power; case studies of language rights deprivation. GE: International and Global Issues. Same as 103:045.
 
113:050 Issues in Anthropology 3 s.h.
In-depth exploration of methodological and theoretical issues in contemporary anthropology; emphasis on critical reading of primary texts.
 
113:051 Diversity in Action in American Society 1-3 s.h.
Consequences of American racial and cultural diversity as related to contemporary social issues and professional careers; assumptions that define diversity as a problem for educators.
 
113:060 Forensic Anthropology and CSI 3 s.h.
Role and range of techniques used in forensic anthropology; how analysis of skeletal and nonskeletal remains is used in crime scene investigation; case studies.
 
113:061 Anthropology of Tattoos and Body Modification 3 s.h.
Cross-cultural perspective on corporal modification; how people communicate and inscribe cultural and personal significance on the body; tools used, from ink to scalpel.
 
113:062 Anthropology of Violence 3 s.h.
Sources and manifestations of violence; violence in varied contexts--war, genocide, colonialism, state violence, terrorism, domestic violence; anthropological perspective considering structural, economic, and symbolic violence.
 
113:063 Fifth Great Ape: Our Primate Heritage 3 s.h.
Human behavior and ecology viewed through the gap between nonhuman and human primates; adaptations, interactions of free-ranging species, cognition of higher primates in behavioral study.
 
113:064 The Evolution of Human Sex 3 s.h.
How evolution has shaped our sexual behavior; patterns of mate choice, parental behavior, social organization, cooperation, and conflict as responses to selection pressure; sexual selection, reproductive strategies, mate choice, sex roles and practices.
 
113:065 Anthropology, Science Fiction, and Fantasy 3 s.h.
Connections between anthropology and science fiction and fantasy; science fiction and fantasy films and literature surveyed and examined in light of scholarly essays on anthropological concepts such as human evolution, race, gender, the anthropological other.
 
113:066 The Anthropology of Virtual Worlds 3 s.h.
How virtual reality intertwines with social existence; anthropological exploration of virtual worlds, from checking e-mail to setting up bar crawls on Facebook; forms of virtual identity, how virtual life affects language.
 
113:067 Anthropology of Immigration 3 s.h.
Anthropological study of movements of people, goods, ideas around the world, drawing upon recent theory and ethnographic examples; topics include citizenship, family/parenting, gender, labor, economy, religion.
 
113:075 Individual Study 1-3 s.h.
Readings in area or subdivision of anthropology in which student has had basic course work.
 
113:081 Human Genetics in the Twenty-First Century 3 s.h.
Heredity in human families, populations; genetic basis of normal, abnormal traits; chromosome behavior; molecular basis of genetics; sex determination. GE: Natural Sciences without Lab. Same as 002:081.
 

Advanced Courses

General Anthropology

113:103 Introduction to Museology 3 s.h.
Overview of museum history, function, philosophy, collection and curatorial practices, governance and funding issues, exhibition evaluation, audience studies; American cultural institutions. GE: Values, Society, and Diversity. Same as 024:102, 07S:112, 097:115.
 
113:148 Special Topics in Anthropology 2-3 s.h.
Problems, concepts involved in comparing and contrasting behavior and ideas of different cultures.
 
113:149 Special Topics in Anthropology 2-3 s.h.
Problems, concepts involved in comparing and contrasting behavior and ideas of different cultures.
 
113:190 Beyond the Map: Introduction to Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in Anthropology 3 s.h.
Software environment for managing, visualizing, and analyzing spatial relationships in anthropology; mapmaking tool; spatial organization of material culture.
 
113:209 Research Design and Proposal Writing 3 s.h.
Anthropological research design; preparation of proposals for fieldwork or laboratory analysis.
 
113:210 Anthropological Data Analysis 3 s.h.
Quantitative procedures for analyzing field data, library materials; elementary statistics, introduction to computers.
 
113:215 Seminar: Ecological Anthropology 3 s.h.
Individual and group responses to ecological problems; causes and consequences of resource shortages, population growth, environmental destruction; conflicts over access to natural resources.
 
113:235 Graduate Teaching Pro-Seminar 1 s.h.
Graduate student teaching skills: developing course guidelines, leading discussion, grading, review sessions, dealing with problem students and complaints; development of syllabi and teaching portfolios; mentoring of less-experienced teaching assistants. Repeatable.
 
113:382 Dissertation Writing Seminar 2 s.h.
Designed for students who are beginning, or are about to begin, the dissertation writing process; work with seminar group, consultation with advisor; organize the dissertation, set and meet deadlines, write a chapter of the dissertation; workshop drafts of other seminar participants; complete and revise at least one dissertation chapter. Requirements: open to anthropology graduate students who have passed their Comprehensive Exams (prospectus and essays).
 

Area Studies

The following archaeology courses may be used to fulfill the area studies requirement: 113:130 Archaeology of the Iberian Peninsula, 113:150 Tribes and Chiefdoms of Ancient Europe,  113:159 Southwestern Archaeology, 113:163 Archaeology of Mesoamerica, 113:167 North American Archaeology, 113:177 Celtic Archaeology, 113:181 Archaeology of the Great Plains, 113:188 Archaeology of the Middle East--Prehistory and Early History, 113:192 Greek Archaeology and Ethnohistory, 113:194 Roman Archaeology, and 113:196 The Archaeology of Ancient Egypt. No single course may be used to fulfill both area studies and archaeology requirements.

113:107 Gendering India 4 s.h.
Aspects of Indian culture, including nation, family, sexuality, work, and religion, through the lens of gender; Hindu India, differences in region, caste, and class. Same as 131:107.
 
113:110 Native Peoples of North America 3 s.h.
History, culture of American Indian peoples; emphasis on North America. GE: Values, Society, and Diversity. Same as 045:105, 149:110.
 
113:118 North Korea and Totalitarianism 3 s.h.
North Korea viewed as a human society, rather than a global security threat, through examination of the nation's culture and politics.
 
113:119 Health in Mexico 3 s.h.
Use of anthropological perspectives to examine disease, healing systems, and ideas about health and the body in Mexico and its diaspora; relationships between structural conditions and historical and political transformations; ideas about gender and race; chronic and acute disease in Mexico; conquest and disease; racialized bodies; sexual health; biomedicine; shamanism; immigration and health; pollution and narcoviolence; readings in English. Same as 152:119.
 
113:120 Popular Culture in South Asia 3 s.h.
Popular cultural forms (films, calendar art, music, comics, advertising) and their role in formation and expression of collective identities based on gender, ethnicity, caste, religion, and so forth in South Asia. Same as 039:119.
 
113:125 Japanese Society and Culture 3 s.h.
Cultural anthropology of Japan, including historical tradition, religious ethos, social organization, human ecology, educational and political institutions; emphasis on how these aspects relate to and influence one another. GE: Values, Society, and Diversity. Same as 39J:125.
 
113:127 South Asian Sexual Cultures 3 s.h.
How sexuality is embedded in kinship, economics, nation, and religion in South Asia, with focus on India; chastity, celibacy, romance, arranged marriage, nonnormative sexualities associated with courtesans and hijras. Prerequisites: 113:003 or 113:010. Same as 131:127.
 
113:129 Language/Politics of Culture in South Asia 3 s.h.
Key moments in the sociolinguistic history of premodern, colonial, and postcolonial linguistic communities in South Asia; roles of language in mediation of cultural and political processes. Same as 039:122.
 
113:131 Latin American Economy and Society 3 s.h.
Development, present structure of Latin American economy and society; emphasis on rural regions in context of national development; focus on area as a whole. GE: International and Global Issues.
 
113:132 Latin American Studies Seminar 3 s.h.
Interdisciplinary approach. Taught in English. Recommendations: Spanish or Portuguese sufficient for background readings. Same as 035:176, 038:176, 048:153, 130:176, 16W:109.
 
113:134 Gender and Indian Diaspora 3 s.h.
General theories of diaspora, which have expanded from the Jewish experience to explain African and Asian diasporas; theories in context of Indian diaspora populations and their relationship to the homeland. Same as 131:134.
 
113:152 Japan and Other Cultural Constructs 3 s.h.
Key texts in postwar Anglo-American anthropological studies of Japan; wartime enemy studies, national character studies, culture and personality school as represented by Ruth Benedict, and more.
 

Sociocultural Anthropology

113:101 Disability and the Ethics of Care 3 s.h.
Recent debate on disability, with emphasis on moral and ethical foundations of our society; care of the disabled as part of the broader social good.
 
113:102 Ethnography and Auto/Biography 3 s.h.
Ethnographic writing compared with biographical and autobiographical writings. Prerequisites: 113:003.
 
113:104 Cultural Politics 3 s.h.
Cultural politics involved in cultural representation; varied forms of cultural performance and display; social and power relationships between producers, consumers, represented subjects. Requirements: two courses chosen from 113:003, 113:010, 113:012, 113:013, and 113:014.
 
113:105 Mothers and Motherhood 3 s.h.
Treatment of motherhood; role of motherhood and devaluation of social status. Same as 131:142.
 
113:106 The Anthropology of War and Peace 3 s.h.
Fundamentals of human social conflict that lead to national wars, and how peace is made; perspectives from anthropological works.
 
113:108 Anthropology of Marriage and Family 3 s.h.
Classic anthropological theories of kinship and marriage, including topics such as cousin marriage and incest; recent work on new reproductive technologies and transnational marriage. Same as 131:108.
 
113:109 Literature and Anthropology 3 s.h.
Topics vary. Same as 008:151, 048:151.
 
113:112 Anthropology of Sexuality 3 s.h.
Practice, definition, and regulation of sex in different cultures and times; use of anthropological tools, including cross-cultural comparison and social constructionist analysis; how social and historical forces shape sex; how a range of topics relate to sexuality, including science, love, work, globalization, ethnicity, health, aging, pornography, and deviance; focus on ways that dynamics (i.e., class, race, gender norms) shape people's culturally- and historically-specific ways of having and thinking about sex. Same as 131:112.
 
113:114 Environmentalisms 3 s.h.
Alternative ways of conceptualizing the environment drawn from the ethnographic record worldwide; culturally constructed images of nature and their expression through daily activity and communicative media; inspiration for environmental activism; why such movements emerge, techniques they employ, factors that contribute to their success or failure. Prerequisites: 113:003 or 113:010.
 
113:115 Transnational Feminism 3 s.h.
Evolution and impact of women's movements in different regions of the Third World. Same as 131:149.
 
113:116 Urban Anthropology 3 s.h.
Cross-cultural approach to urban anthropology; urbanizing processes, migration and adaptation, aspects of class and ethnicity in urban settings, urban economic relations. GE: International and Global Issues; Social Sciences.
 
113:121 Health of Indigenous Peoples 3 s.h.
Health problems and services for indigenous populations worldwide, from perspective of Fourth World postcolonial politics. Prerequisites: 113:003 or 113:010. Same as 149:121, 152:121.
 
113:128 Faces of Culture 3 s.h.
Human subsistence and adaptation to environment in cultures from all continents; cross-culture comparisons and general themes.
 
113:133 The Anthropology of Women's Health 3 s.h.
How female gender intersects with culture, environment, and political economy to shape health and illness; reproductive health, violence, drug use, cancer; readings in anthropology, public health. Prerequisites: 113:003. Same as 131:133, 172:133.
 
113:135 Psychological Anthropology 3 s.h.
Cultural diversity in constructions of self, mind, and emotion; religious experience, altered states of consciousness, behavioral disorders. Prerequisites: 113:003.
 
113:136 Using Ethnographic Methods 3 s.h.
Ethnography, holistic, qualitative research in cultural context for anthropological and related research and careers involving interpersonal interaction; multiple ethnographic methods and their rationales. Recommendations: desire to interact with others, and prior course work in fields that employ ethnographic or qualitative research (social sciences, social work, nursing, public health).
 
113:137 The Anthropology of Love 3 s.h.
The culturally diverse concept and practice of love as seen through cross-cultural and interdisciplinary texts on romantic and other forms of love.
 
113:139 Religion and Environmental Ethics 3 s.h.
How humans conceptualize the biophysical environment through religious beliefs and practices; how images of the environment influence people's activities, how they are used by grassroots environmental movements. Requirements: junior or senior standing. Same as 032:130.
 
113:140 Politics of Reproduction 3 s.h.
Debates over women's reproductive experience, including its medicalization. Same as 131:144.
 
113:141 History of Feminist Anthropology 3 s.h.
Development and evolution of feminist critiques in cultural anthropology; readings from early studies by women ethnographers, classic writings that sought to give women cross-cultural visibility, recent experimental texts. Same as 131:141.
 
113:142 Anthropology of Religion 2-3 s.h.
Approaches; religious roles; shamanism, witchcraft, curing; mythology; place of religion in social and cultural change. Same as 032:165.
 
113:143 Environment and Culture 3 s.h.
Individual and group responses to scarcities of natural resources such as land, water, food. Requirements: 113:003 or 113:010 or graduate standing.
 
113:145 Religion and Healing 3 s.h.
Historical evidence of religious healing in Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, Native American, and Shaman traditions. Same as 032:180.
 
113:146 Anthropology of Death 3 s.h.
How anthropologists and archaeologists study death, dying, mortuary rituals, and notions of the afterlife in contemporary North America and in different places and times. Requirements: 113:003 or 113:012 or graduate standing.
 
113:154 Anthropology of Sexual Minorities 3 s.h.
Ethnographic studies of sexual minorities and anthropological approaches to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered persons and communities; behavior, identity, performativity, kinship, globalization, the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Requirements: junior, senior, or graduate standing. Same as 131:154.
 
113:155 Key Debates in Sociocultural Anthropology 3 s.h.
Historical overview of sociocultural anthropological theories, exploration of key moments of critical reflections, and e-assessment of discipline; highly recommended for anthropology majors with sociocultural emphasis. Prerequisites: 113:003 or 113:010. Recommendations: anthropology major.
 
113:156 Fictionalized Ethnography in Literature and Film 3 s.h.
Evaluation of fictional narratives as sources of ethnographic information, instructive and revealing depictions of other societies and cultures; culturally specific themes through storylines, creative works as cultural artifacts in presentations of differing perspectives and concerns from the authors' personal experiences.
 
113:175 Human and Animal Sacrifice 3 s.h.
Human and animal sacrifice as a religious practice and expression of violence in human societies; patterns and variations illustrated by examples from past and present societies; American capital punishment.
 
113:180 Women Writing Culture 3 s.h.
Feminist ethnography and other kinds of feminist narratives that "write culture" while pushing the boundaries of how anthropologists define ethnography. Prerequisites: 113:003 or 131:010. Same as 131:165.
 
113:182 Women, Health, and Healing 3 s.h.
Women's experience as recipients and providers of health care; intersection of race, class, cultural variation, and women's health; reproductive and nonreproductive health concerns. Same as 131:143.
 
113:184 Anthropology and International Health 3 s.h.
Anthropological contributions to and critiques of the international health enterprise; case studies illustrating anthropology and international health's intersection, and their differences. Offered spring semesters. Same as 152:184, 172:131.
 
113:185 Medical Anthropology 3 s.h.
Major theoretical, methodological approaches; international health and development; biomedicine as a cultural system; ethnomedicine; anthropology and AIDS, human reproduction, epidemiology, ethnopsychiatry. Prerequisites: 113:003 or 113:010. Same as 152:185, 172:173.
 
113:191 Anthropology of Play 3 s.h.
Fundamental logic and variation of what is considered human play in diverse cultures.
 
113:202 Ethnographic Field Methods 3 s.h.
Basic data-gathering techniques for field research in sociocultural anthropology. Requirements: anthropology graduate standing. Same as 172:202.
 
113:208 Foundations of Ethnomusicology 3 s.h.
Ethnomusicology in relation to domains of musical, humanistic, social science scholarship on expressive culture and artistic processes. Requirements: senior standing. Same as 025:319.
 
113:220 Seminar: Feminist Anthropology 3 s.h.
Theory, methods, research, epistemology from a feminist perspective. Same as 131:220.
 
113:221 Seminar: Feminist Ethnography 3 s.h.
Feminist critiques of traditional ethnographies, informed by contemporary feminisms. Prerequisites: 113:220 or 131:220. Same as 131:245.
 
113:222 Reading Transnational Feminist Theory 3 s.h.
Issues in transnational feminist scholarship, including colonialism, globalization, the nation-state, religion, cultural traditions, and human rights, in global and U.S. domestic contexts; interdisciplinary readings with focus on anthropology, other social sciences. Same as 131:222.
 
113:223 Feminist Medical Anthropology 3 s.h.
Directions feminists have taken in medical anthropological scholarship; focus on ethnographies that have become classics of the genre and on influential theoretical and applied work. Same as 131:223.
 
113:240 Seminar Sociocultural Anthropology 3 s.h.
Social institutions in the world's societies; problems in theory, method, interpretation. Requirements: anthropology graduate standing.
 
113:247 Crossing Borders Seminar 2-3 s.h.
Repeatable. Same as 008:231, 009:262, 013:262, 016:247, 01H:247, 030:242, 035:273, 044:286, 048:247, 129:231, 160:247, 181:247.
 
113:248 Crossing Borders Proseminar arr.
Same as 013:260, 016:244, 01H:330, 030:243, 035:271, 044:287, 048:244.
 
113:250 Seminar: Ritual and Performance 3 s.h.
Approaches to comparative study of ritual in religious and secular contexts.
 
113:251 Seminar: Resistance in Theory and Practice 3 s.h.
Various forms of political resistance, some bold and dramatic (peasant rebellions), others more subtle and mundane (dissimulation, false compliance, pilfering); some resistance is symbolic (millenarian movements, rituals of conflict, status reversal); learning to recognize and attend to more subtle forms.
 
113:274 Medical Anthropology and Social Theory 3 s.h.
How medical anthropology has responded and contributed to key theoretical developments in recent decades (i.e., discourse/narrative analysis, practice theory, feminist theory, postcolonial theory, science and technology studies).
 

Archaeology

The following archaeology courses may be used to fulfill the area studies requirement: 113:130 Archaeology of the Iberian Peninsula, 113:150 Tribes and Chiefdoms of Ancient Europe, 113:159 Southwestern Archaeology, 113:163 Archaeology of Mesoamerica, 113:167 North American Archaeology, 113:177 Celtic Archaeology, 113:181 Archaeology of the Great Plains, 113:188 Archaeology of the Middle East--Prehistory and Early History, 113:192 Greek Archaeology and Ethnohistory, 113:194 Roman Archaeology, and 113:196 The Archaeology of Ancient Egypt. No single course may be used to fulfill both area studies and archaeology requirements.

113:111 Our Life With Dogs: The Anthropological Study of Animals in Human Societies 2-3 s.h.
Intricate connections between dogs and our social, economic, political, and spiritual lives; human relationships with dogs that extend back at least 16,000 years; process of dog domestication; roles dogs play in human ideology and past economies; modern interactions with dogs.
 
113:113 Human Impacts on the Environment 3 s.h.
Long-term patterns of human-environment interactions surveyed through archaeological case studies; varied scales of human impacts, including animal extinction, habitat destruction, agricultural practices, urban growth, state-level societies. GE: International and Global Issues; Social Sciences.
 
113:124 Politics of the Archaeological Past 3 s.h.
How control over management of material remains of the ancient past, and representations of that past, intersect with the identity of diverse groups, including archaeologists, indigenous peoples, national governments, collectors, ethnic minorities and majorities, museum curators; struggles for control of the archaeological past at different scales (artifacts, skeletal remains, sites, imagery, narratives) and in different regions of the world. Same as 024:124.
 
113:126 Animals, Culture, and Food 3 s.h.
The varied roles animals have played in human society through time; impact of humans on animal populations, ethical aspects of animals' roles in modern societies.
 
113:130 Archaeology of the Iberian Peninsula 3 s.h.
Introduction to archaeology of the Iberian Peninsula, from earliest human occupation through period of Romanization.
 
113:138 Archaeological Approaches to Social Change 3 s.h.
How archaeologists identify, explain, and interpret social change in the material record of the ancient past; archaeological evidence and explanations--drawn from case studies worldwide and theoretical perspectives--for population growth, migration, colonization, centralization, stratification, conflict, regionalism, devolution, specialization, and standardization. Prerequisites: 113:012.
 
113:150 Tribes and Chiefdoms of Ancient Europe 3 s.h.
Archaeology of European societies between the Mesolithic and Iron Age; how ideas about Europe's prehistoric past have been used for political purposes. Requirements: 113:012 or graduate standing.
 
113:153 Raw Materials in Archaeology 3 s.h.
Raw materials used in traditional technologies such as ceramics, chipped stone tools, metallurgy; field trips, laboratory analyses, comparisons to prehistoric artifacts. Prerequisites: 113:012.
 
113:157 Foodways and Cuisine in the Past 3 s.h.
Anthropological and archaeological perspective on cuisine; present-day links between food and culture; past cuisines viewed through written documents and archaeological data; histories of different foods.
 
113:158 Animal Bones in Archaeology 3 s.h.
Use of faunal material in interpretation of archaeological remains, including skeletal anatomy, identification, taphonomy, determination of age and sex, seasonality, quantification, sampling, breakage and cutmarks, interpretations; laboratory sessions. Prerequisites: 113:012.
 
113:159 Southwestern Archaeology 3 s.h.
Anthropological overview of prehistoric cultures of the American Southwest; emphasis on understanding archaeological arguments concerning major processes in the past. Same as 149:159.
 
113:160 Introduction to Archaeological Ceramics 3 s.h.
Basic analytical techniques for archaeological ceramics, applied primarily to ceramics from midwestern and western North America; raw materials, manufacture, decoration and style, craft specialization, use, and discard. Prerequisites: 113:012.
 
113:161 Prehistoric People of the Ice Age 3 s.h.
Hominid occupation of Old World during Pleistocene; hominid fossils, artifacts, settlement patterns, climatic reconstruction, evolutionary processes; survey and evaluation. Prerequisites: 113:012 and 113:168.
 
113:162 Practicum in Archaeology arr.
Intensive, hands-on examination of a wide range of materials recently recovered from archaeological sites; pottery, lithics (stone tools and related items), plant remains, animal bones; for students with strong archaeological interests or archaeological field experience.
 
113:163 Archaeology of Mesoamerica 3 s.h.
Archaeological data related to the evolution of civilization in Mesoamerica; sequence from hunter-gatherers to A.D. 1519; emphasis on Central Mexico, Maya area, Oaxaca. Requirements: 113:012 or anthropology graduate standing.
 
113:164 Comparative Prehistory 3 s.h.
Cultural evolution in Old World, New World; emphasis on developments from pre-agricultural societies to appearance of urban civilizations; focus on Mesoamerica, Central Andes, Near East, Egypt, Indus Valley, China. Requirements: 113:012 or anthropology graduate standing.
 
113:167 North American Archaeology 3 s.h.
Prehistoric cultural development north of Mexico from initial occupation to European contact and conquest; emphasis on dynamics of culture change. Same as 149:167.
 
113:168 Archaeological Methods 3 s.h.
Current theoretical approaches, methods used to investigate the past; site formation processes, taphonomy, sampling and research design, typology and seriation, subsistence-settlement reconstruction, cultural evolution. Prerequisites: 113:012.
 
113:169 Lithic Analysis in Archaeology 3 s.h.
Archaeological issues examined and addressed with lithic data; use of lithic data to study the past, specific techniques applied. Requirements: 113:012 or graduate standing.
 
113:170 Cultural Resources Management Archaeology: Practice and Practicalities 3 s.h.
Cultural Resources Management (CRM) archaeology as the largest sector of archaeological research in the United States in terms of employment, funding, and field- and lab-related activity; investigate the past, navigate the complexities of compliance requirements from federal, state, and local regulations concerning historic preservation; introduction to the legal, procedural, and practical foundations of CRM archaeology; prepare students for employment by acquisition of skills from project planning through dissemination of results. Prerequisites: 113:012. Recommendations: completion of other anthropology, geography, history, or Native American studies courses.
 
113:173 Household Archaeology and Anthropology 3 s.h.
Structure and activities of households today and in the past; what households tell us about the larger culture; how intangible aspects of households are studied through material remains. Prerequisites: 113:003 or 113:010 or 113:012 or 113:013 or 113:014.
 
113:174 Seminar: Taphonomy 3 s.h.
Taphonomy (study of fossil record in paleontology and archaeology); processes for accumulation, modification, and deposition of remains in prehistory; instruction by archaeologist and paleontologist. Requirements: graduate standing. Same as 012:174.
 
113:177 Celtic Archaeology 3 s.h.
Archaeology and ethnohistory of Celtic societies of Iron Age Europe; patterns and variation in economies, sociopolitical organization, religion; relationships between Iron Age Celts and modern descendants.
 
113:178 Hunter-Gatherer Ethnoarchaeology 3 s.h.
Variability in adaptations of hunter-gatherers on a global scale; emphasis on subsistence, mobility, social organization; archaeological record of prehistoric hunter-gatherers interpreted through study of modern societies. Requirements: graduate standing.
 
113:179 Pleistocene Peopling of the Americas 3 s.h.
Major themes in earliest human settlement of the Americas, including human mobility, subsistence, technology, human impacts on the environment.
 
113:181 Archaeology of the Great Plains 3 s.h.
Contrasting lifeways, diets, and technologies that humans used to survive on North America's Great Plains, from Ice Age hunter-gatherers to Euroamerican homesteaders.
 
113:187 Cultures in Collision 3 s.h.
Survey of archaeological evidence for differences in human interactions between two or more cultural groups; issues such as ethnicity, war, economy, repression, multiethnic communities.
 
113:188 Archaeology of the Middle East--Prehistory and Early History 3 s.h.
Overview of prehistoric and early historic archaeology of the Middle East; questions that underpin archaeological narrative for the region from its initial peopling through city-states and imperial formations. Recommendations: introduction to archaeology.
 
113:189 Approaches to Geoarchaeology 3 s.h.
Geoarchaeology as multidisciplinary contextual framework for human paleoecology; natural processes that create the archaeological record, approaches to reconstructing landscapes of the past as a context for archaeological deposits; weekend field trip. Prerequisites: 012:136 or 012:172 or 113:161 or 113:164. Same as 012:185.
 
113:192 Greek Archaeology and Ethnohistory 3 s.h.
Archaeology and ethnology of the Greek world, from end of Bronze Age to late Roman Empire; sociocultural processes that influence development and persistence of Greek civilization. Prerequisites: 113:012 or 113:013. Same as 20E:118.
 
113:193 Special Topics in Archaeology 3 s.h.
 
113:194 Roman Archaeology 3 s.h.
Archaeology and ethnology of Roman civilization from Iron Age eighth-century occupation of the Palatine Hill to the end of the Roman empire in the West, A.D. 476. Prerequisites: 113:012 or 113:013. Same as 20E:119.
 
113:196 The Archaeology of Ancient Egypt 3 s.h.
Introduction to the archaeology of ancient Egypt from predynastic times to Roman Egypt, including monumental architecture; patterns of everyday life; social, economic, and demographic considerations; history of archaeology in Egypt. Prerequisites: 113:012. Same as 20E:196.
 
113:197 The Stuff of Lives: Archaeology of the Material World 3 s.h.
Ways that archaeologists and anthropologists have approached their studies of the material world and the relationship between material culture and economics, social structure, and symbolism. Prerequisites: 113:003 and 113:012.
 
113:199 Field Research in Archaeology arr.
Beginning skills in site surveying and excavation, lab work, record keeping at nearby prehistoric sites.
 
113:258 Seminar: Zooarchaeology 3 s.h.
Interpretation of faunal material in archaeology; intensive survey of classic and recent literature on taphonomy, skeletal anatomy, population parameters, seasonality, quantification and sampling, butchering patterns, ethnoarchaeology, social and economic inferences. Prerequisites: 113:158.
 
113:268 Seminar: Archaeological Theory and Method 3 s.h.
Development, current status of theory, method in Americanist archaeology. Requirements: anthropology graduate standing.
 

Biological Anthropology

213:115 The Neanderthal Enigma 3 s.h.
Survey of Neanderthals as the most widely known, yet enigmatic, fossil human lineage; history of discoveries; current interpretations of Neanderthal's origins, anatomy and behavior, relationship to today's people, extinction. Prerequisites: 113:013.
 
213:116 Modern Human Origins 3 s.h.
Current data and theories regarding the emergence of Homo sapiens; how human anatomical modernity is defined and recognized in the fossil record; competing models for modern humans' emergence--multiregional evolution, out of Africa, the assimilation model; interpretation of recent developments and discoveries in the human fossil record; contemporary contributions from genetics, developmental biology, evolutionary ecology, paleodemography.
 
213:150 Primate Comparative Morphology 3 s.h.
Survey of anatomical differences between primate groups; focus on function, adaptation, evolution. Prerequisites: 113:013.
 
213:151 Human Evolutionary Genetics 3 s.h.
Application of molecular methods and theory to biological anthropology; how recent advances in genetics have provided insight into the evolution of human and nonhuman primates. Prerequisites: 113:013.
 
213:152 Primate Conservation Biology 3 s.h.
Issues faced by conservation biologists attempting to protect nonhuman primate wildlife and biodiversity; how biogeography, ecology, and behavior relate to conservation; human interaction with the environment. Prerequisites: 113:013.
 
213:165 Human Variation 3 s.h.
Range and patterning of biological diversity in contemporary human populations; past and present attempts to organize and explain human genetic, morphological variation in light of recent data, theory.
 
213:169 Human Evolutionary Anatomy 3 s.h.
Interpretation of skeletal remains as the basis for reconstructing forms, adaptations, lifestyles of prehistoric humans; body size, musculature, stance, activity patterns, brain size, and sexual dimorphism. Prerequisites: 213:190.
 
213:170 Primate Evolutionary Biology 3 s.h.
Origin and diversification of the primate order through fossil evidence, morphology, systematics, and biomolecular studies emphasizing phylogenetic interpretations, paleobiological and paleoecological reconstructions. Prerequisites: 113:013 or 002:131.
 
213:187 Human Evolution 3 s.h.
From earliest fossil record of apes to origin and diversification of hominid family and appearance of modern Homo sapiens; evidence from paleontology, comparative anatomy, biomolecular studies, archaeology considered from evolutionary perspective. Prerequisites: 002:131 or 012:121 or 113:013.
 
213:188 Primate Behavior and Ecology 3 s.h.
Systematics, anatomy, behavior, and ecology of the living species of primates; emphasis on adaptations and interactions of free-ranging primates. Requirements: background in high school biology.
 
213:190 Human Osteology 3 s.h.
The human skeletal system; normal and pathologic variation; skeletal measurement and analysis with application to paleoanthropology, forensic, and archaeological investigations. Prerequisites: 113:013.
 
213:195 Laboratory Methods in Biological Anthropology arr.
Specimen preparation, cataloging, moulding and casting, photography, computer analyses, library research.
 
213:285 Seminar: Biological Anthropology 3 s.h.
Physical anthropology, including heredity and genetics, evolutionary theory, human biological characteristics, primate and human fossil record, primate behavior and ecology, human adaptations. Requirements: graduate standing in anthropology or biology or related department.
 
213:288 Seminar: Paleoanthropology 3 s.h.
Current understandings of biocultural processes and events underlying Pleistocene human evolution; cross-disciplinary approach combining human paleontology and Paleolithic archaeology. Requirements: graduate standing or undergraduate honors standing or advanced undergraduate standing.
 
113:290 Feminist Perspectives on Biology and Culture 3 s.h.
Explores feminist analyses of the cultural and historical situatedness of scientific knowledge; topics range from human evolution and primatology to developmental biology and genetics to nuclear physics. Same as 131:290.
 

Linguistic Anthropology

113:122 Bad Language 3 s.h.
Normative roles of language in society viewed in context of speech forms labeled marginal or deviant; nonstandard speech, joking registers, jargons, and obscene/indecent language from varied speech communities.
 
113:123 Language and Nationalism 3 s.h.
Varied cases of linguistic nationalism; how language has become a powerful symbol for expression of national identity across many contexts and circumstances.
 
113:171 Multi-Media Ethnography 3 s.h.
Skills and tools for using multimedia technologies in ethnographic research and presentations; students conduct research projects using audio and video recording equipment and develop media-based presentations; ethnographic emphasis on contextually situated social interaction. Prerequisites: 113:003 or 113:010 or 113:014.
 
113:244 Seminar: Semiotics 3 s.h.
Piercian semiotic and Saussurean semiological conceptual frameworks; focus on anthropological, linguistic issues.
 
113:271 Seminar: Linguistic Anthropology 3 s.h.
Fundamental concepts and methods employed in the anthropological study of language; principal areas of current research.
 
113:273 Seminar: Language, Gender, and Sexuality 3 s.h.
Role of language and discourse in cultural constructions of gender identities and relations, including domination and subordination; theoretical perspectives, methodological approaches that have shaped thought on the language/gender nexus. Prerequisites: 113:220 or 131:220. Same as 103:221, 131:273.
 

Individual Reading and Research

113:176 Honors Research 2-4 s.h.
Project chosen in consultation with honors advisor.
 
113:183 Independent Study arr.
 
113:186 Honors Research Seminar 2-4 s.h.
Preparation for writing honors thesis, including project conception and research, proposal writing, oral and written presentations of student research. Corequisites: 113:176, if not taken as a prerequisite. Requirements: honors standing in anthropology.
 
113:383 Independent Study: Anthropology arr.
Repeatable.
 
113:384 Research: Anthropology arr.
Repeatable.
 
113:385 Thesis arr.
Repeatable.
 
Copyright 2011 The University of Iowa. All rights reserved.
Updated November 2011
%norepublishlist%