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Anthropology

Jon Bialecki

American Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity, anthropological study of Christianity, anthropology of North America, anthropology of religion, sociocultural anthropology, continental psychoanalytic theory.

Robert Brightman

Cultural theory, semiotics and structuralism, sociolinguistics, environmental anthropology, hunter-gatherer societies, functional syntax and language typology, Native North America.

Charlene E. Makley

Development, globalization, anthropology of capitalism, exchange and value, gender, ethnicity, nationalism, religion and ritual, feminist theory, linguistic anthropology, China, Tibet, East Asia. On sabbatical and leave 2008-09.

Tahir H. Naqvi

Political and social theory, historical anthropology, public culture, Islam, Pakistan, South Asia.

Ben Peacock

Medical anthropology, science and technology studies, urban anthropology, queer theory/LGBT studies, population and governance, anthropology of development, North America.

Ryan Schram

Social and cultural change, economic anthropology, exchange, religion, ritual, Christianity, semiotic anthropology, Melanesia, Oceania.

Paul A. Silverstein

Race and ethnicity, migration, urbanity, sport, historical anthropology, France, North Africa, Middle East. On leave 2008-09.

Rupert Stasch

Social and cultural theory, ethnography, signs, linguistic anthropology, Indonesia, Melanesia. On leave 2008-09.

Nina Sylvanus

Globalization, consumerism, commodities and material culture, gender, West Africa.

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 first-year students. 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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