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Anthropology

Robert Brightman

Cultural theory, symbolism, globalization, sociolinguistics, ecological anthropology, hunter-gatherer societies, functional syntax and language typology, Native North America.

Anne Lorimer

Capitalism, museums, science and technology, gender, linguistic practice, aesthetics, United States.

Charlene E. Makley

Gender, ethnicity, nationalism, religion and ritual, feminist theory, linguistic anthropology, China, Tibet, East Asia.

Paul A. Silverstein

Race and ethnicity, migration, urbanity, sport, historical anthropology, France, North Africa, Middle East.

Rupert Stasch

Social and cultural theory, ethnography, signs, linguistic anthropology, Indonesia, Melanesia. On sabbatical and leave 2006-07.

Anthropology offers a broadly comparative framework for the study of human life and experience. The discipline is traditionally divided into the subfields of cultural anthropology, linguistic anthropology, biological (or physical) anthropology, and archaeology. Of these, cultural anthropology and linguistic anthropology are emphasized at Reed. Cultural anthropology examines the range and variability of human practices and provides frameworks for their interpretation. Its distinguishing disciplinary features are implicit or explicit comparativism and evidentiary grounding of theoretical interpretations or generalizations in firsthand ethnographic fieldwork. Earlier emphasis was on nonliterate peoples of the past and present. However, anthropological research has increasingly included studies of populations of European heritage and those of literate, complex societies.

Requirements for the Major

1. Reading competence in a foreign language as demonstrated by completion of two units of a second-, third-, or fourth-year foreign language course or by placing out of a second-year course in the examinations administered by the Reed language departments during orientation.
2. A minimum of six units of anthropology coursework including Anthropology 211, at least one area course (but preferably two), and at least one 400-level course. Transfer students should take Anthropology 211 even if they have completed substantial coursework in anthropology at another institution. Anthropology 211 is normally taken in the sophomore year and is not open to freshmen. At least five units of anthropology coursework, and as many units of HSS divisional requirements as possible, must be completed by the end of the junior year.
3. Anthropology 470.

Recommended but not required:
1. Humanities 210, 220, or 230.
2. Sociology 211.

Anthropology Course Descriptions

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