Anthropology

361 Social Sciences 1 Building
(831) 459-3320
http://anthro.ucsc.edu/

Program Description

Anthropology studies people throughout the world and through time. Because it covers a wide range of topics-physical evolution, material remains of the past, and the world that humans create through their ideas and practices in present-day societies-anthropology is an especially integrative discipline.

The anthropology program at UCSC offers courses that reflect the diversity of the field.

• Cultural anthropology explores the movements of people, objects, and ideas in diverse societies, including our own. Cultural anthropology courses examine such topics as race and ethnicity, medicine, science, gender, sexuality, the environment, religion, law, popular culture, and politics.

• Archaeology uses the material evidence of human activities to understand past human lives. Archaeology at UCSC focuses on past people's interactions with one another at the local level and within their wider social and ecological contexts. Faculty research areas include the pre-colonial and early post-colonial history of East Africa and the American Southwest.

• Physical anthropology traces the human journey from its beginnings in Africa over five million years ago. Physical anthropology courses look at fossil evidence, evolutionary theory, human variation, and the behavior of primate relatives in order to analyze biological, social, and cultural changes over time.

UCSC students have the opportunity to do independent library and field research in cultural anthropology, archaeology, and physical anthropology. Laboratory courses in archaeology and physical anthropology offer practical experience in the analysis of biological and cultural materials. Students may use the social science media laboratory to develop technical and creative skills in visual and audio media. In cultural anthropology courses, students learn to carry out anthropological research through interviews, participant observation, surveys, the collection of oral histories, and the interpretation of archives.

Because anthropology is concerned with understanding human interaction, it is a useful major for anyone planning a career that involves working with people, especially those from diverse cultures. Some UCSC anthropology graduates are in social work, many are in teaching, and others pursue careers in law, city planning, politics, medicine, public health, cultural resource management, and journalism. Students intending to specialize in anthropology usually go on to graduate school because professional employment in the field almost always demands an advanced degree.

Most anthropology faculty have their offices in Social Sciences 1 Building. Social Sciences 1 also houses the Visual Culture Research Laboratory and laboratories for archaeology and physical anthropology where space is provided for laboratory and individual studies courses and for collections of mammalian skeletal material, casts of fossil hominids, ceramics, stone tools, and other archaeological artifacts.

The Anthropology Society, a campus club, is open to all students interested in anthropology. The Anthropology Colloquium showcases guest speakers and gives faculty and students an opportunity to discuss new approaches to anthropological questions. Students and faculty interested in archaeology also gather informally at the Archaeology/Physical Anthropology Forum to share information on fieldwork and employment opportunities.

Undergraduate Handbook

All undergraduate majors should obtain a copy of A Guide to the Anthropology Department at UCSC from the department office (361 Social Sciences I Building). It outlines information on department procedures and requirements, program planning, independent study, faculty interests, and campus resources for anthropology majors.

Major Requirements

The Anthropology Department urges students to seek faculty advice early in planning for the major. Faculty hold regular office hours weekly and encourage students to come in to talk about their program or course work. Peer advisers are also available.

To graduate with an anthropology major, students must take courses 1, 2, 3, and either course 4 or an 80s-level course as background for upper-division courses. They must take a minimum of nine upper-division courses, including at least one course selected from each of these five categories:

Anthropological Theory Courses

100      History and Theory of Physical Anthropology
150      Communicating Anthropology
152      Survey of Cultural Anthropological Theory
170      History of Archaeological Theory

Sociocultural Anthropology Courses

120      Culture Through Film
123      Psychological Anthropology
124      Anthropology of Religion
126      Sexuality and Society in Cross-Cultural Perspective
127      Ethnographies of Capitalism
128      Born-Again Religion and Culture
129      Other Globalizations
131      Women in Cross-Cultural Perspective
132      Photography and Anthropology
133      Narratives of the Popular
134      Medical Anthropology
135A    Cities
138      Political Anthropology
139      Language and Culture
140      Art, Artists, Artifacts
142      Anthropology of Law
146      Anthropology and the Environment
151      Workshop in Ethnography
153      Experimental Ethnography
154      Multimedia Ethnography
155      Cultural Encounters
159      Race and Anthropology
161      Hello Dolly! Cultural Politics of Animals
164      Anthropology of Dance
165      Anthropological Folklore
167      Practicing Folklore

Ethnographic Area Studies Courses

130A    Peoples and Cultures of Africa
130B    Brazil
130C    Politics and Culture in China
130D   Peoples and Cultures of the Middle East
130E    Culture and Politics of Island Southeast Asia
130F    African Diasporas in the Americas
130G    Asian Americans in Ethnography and Film
130H   Ethnography of Russia and Eastern Europe
130I     Cultures of India
130K    Politics and Culture in East Asia
130L    Ethnographies of Latin America
130N   Native Peoples of North America
130Q   Mejicanos in Anthropological Discourse
130U    Amazonia
130X    Special Topics in Ethnography

Physical Anthropology and Archaeology Courses

101      Human Evolution
102A    Human Skeletal Biology
103      Forensic Anthropology
104      Human Adaptability
106      Primate Behavior and Ecology
107      Human Functional Anatomy
110      Anthropology of Movement
111      Human Ecology
172      Archaeological Research Design
173      Origins of Farming
174      Origins of Complex Societies
175A    African Archaeology
176A    North American Archeology
176B    Meso-American Archaeology
177      European Conquest of the Americas
180      Ceramic Analysis in Archaeology
182A    Lithic Technology
183      Introduction to Quantitative Methods in Archaeology
184      Zooarchaeology
185      Osteology of Mammals, Birds, and Fish

Senior Seminar Courses

194A    History of Evolutionary Theory
194B    Chimpanzees: Biology, Behavior and Evolution
194C    Food and Medicine
194E    Advanced Topics in Folkloristics
194F    Memory
194H   Thinking with Bateson
194I    Consumption and Consumerism
194J    Histories of Forests and Other Wild Places
194K   Reading Ethnographies
194L    Southwest Prehistory
194M   Special Topics in Medical Anthropology
194N   Comparison of Cultures
194O   Anthropology of Sexuality
194P   Space, Place, and Culture
194Q   Race, Hegemony, Diaspora
194R   Behavioral Ecology in Archaeology
194S   Hearing Culture: The Anthropology of Sound
194T   Poverty and Inequality
194V   Picturing Cultures
194W  Evolution of Human Sensory Systems
194X   Women in Politics: A Third World  Perspective

Two-credit courses do not count toward the nine upper-division courses required for the major. Only one 5-credit individual studies course (197, 198, or 199) may be counted toward the nine required upper-division courses.

Comprehensive Requirement

Students can fulfill the senior comprehensive requirement in anthropology either by passing an advanced senior seminar (194-series course), by writing an acceptable independent senior thesis, or by passing a graduate-level topical seminar in anthropology.

• Senior seminars are small, writing-intensive classes focusing on advanced topics in anthropology. The prerequisite for admission to a senior seminar is successful completion of courses 1, 2, and 3; senior seminars are restricted to anthropology majors.

• Students considering an independent thesis must arrange for the sponsorship and support of a faculty member before beginning research. An independent senior thesis (not written within a 194-series course) should be based on original research and reflect the student's understanding of fundamental theories and issues in anthropology. The thesis should be comparable in content, style, and length (generally 25-30 pages) to a professional journal article in its subfield. Students writing a senior thesis must complete five, instead of four, upper-division electives.

• Students who intend to satisfy the exit requirement by taking a graduate seminar must first get permission from the department. Not all graduate seminars are appropriate for fulfilling this requirement.

All majors, including double majors, must prepare a program of study in consultation with a member of the Anthropology Department. Students may arrange double majors in anthropology and another discipline by special petition. A combined major in anthropology and Earth and planetary sciences, leading to a B.A. degree, is also offered; for that program description, see Earth and Planetary Sciences. Students going on to graduate school should plan course schedules in close consultation with faculty advisers.

Many anthropology majors whose studies emphasize archaeology have benefited from concurrent study in the Cabrillo College Archaeological Technology Certificate Program. This vocational certification program is sponsored entirely by Cabrillo College, but credit for its summer field survey and excavation component may be transferred for credit at UCSC. Although courses in the Archaeological Technology Certificate Program do not count toward the UCSC anthropology major, students who have obtained the certificate in tandem with their bachelor's degree in anthropology have expanded their employment and advanced degree program opportunities. Students interested in exploring this possibility are encouraged to consult with UCSC archaeology faculty and to visit the program's web site at http://www.cabrillo.edu/academics/archtech/.

Transfer Students

If possible, transfer students should complete lower-division requirements for the major before coming to UCSC by taking classes equivalent to courses 1, 2, and 3. Department policy also allows up to 10 quarter credits (equivalent to two UCSC courses) of upper-division transfer credit toward the major requirement. Transfer students should bring a copy of their UCSC Transfer Credit Summary and an unofficial copy of all pertinent transcripts to the adviser in charge of undergraduate studies in the department office (361 Social Sciences 1 Building) as soon as possible after reaching campus so that prerequisites can be verified and course enrollment can proceed smoothly.

Peer Advisers

The Anthropology Department has instituted a peer adviser program as a supplement to academic advising offered by faculty members. The peer advisers are juniors and seniors who have been trained to help students with questions and general guidance through the anthropology major. Peer advisers hold regularly scheduled office hours in the department office, the Peer Advising office (347A Social Sciences I), and the Ethnographic Library (328 Social Sciences I).

Honors

Honors in anthropology are awarded to graduating seniors whose evaluations are judged to be consistently outstanding by a committee of anthropology faculty. Highest Honors in the major are reserved for students who have received consistently superior evaluations and a notation of Honors on their senior comprehensive requirement (senior seminar or senior thesis).

Minor Requirements

Students earn a minor in anthropology by completing all of the requirements for the major with the following differences:

• The number of upper-division courses is reduced from nine to six. Of these, at least one must be from each of the following categories: (1) theory, (2) sociocultural anthropology, (3) ethnographic area studies, and (4) physical anthropology or archaeology.

• Independent study courses cannot be used toward completion of the minor.

• No senior seminar or thesis is required.

For more information regarding department policies, please consult the undergraduate adviser at the Anthropology Department office, 361 Social Sciences 1 Building. A handbook on the anthropology program is available there or online.

Graduate Program

The anthropology doctoral program at UCSC consists of three tracks: cultural anthropology, archaeology, and physical anthropology. The majority of students are admitted to the cultural anthropology program. Smaller numbers of students are admitted to the programs in archaeology and physical anthropology.

Although applicants are accepted only for the Ph.D. program, students may obtain an M.A. degree after fulfilling specific requirements during the first two years.

The study of culture and power unites the research interests of the faculty in the cultural anthropology graduate program at UCSC. In recent years, anthropology's central concept of culture has been subjected to extraordinary ethnographic and theoretical pressures. For certain kinds of problems, anthropologists can study culture as shared meanings-symbols, assumptions, and knowledge-which are enduring and stabilizing and possess an internal logic that organizes apparently contradictory or unrelated activities. But problems requiring attention to power-including not only coercion, persuasion, and authority, but also the discursive practices by which meanings are produced and contested-have led anthropologists to retheorize culture. In this perspective, culture is not shared equally but is positioned within a field of inequalities; is more the outcome of events than their precondition; and is as readily manifested in disorder, conflict, and fragmentation as in order and stability.

Our concentration on culture and power and on the construction of anthropological knowledge is especially well suited for drawing together specialists in challenging and enriching conversations. Rather than reproduce the boundaries among the traditional subfields of anthropology, we explore how recombinations of these approaches can elucidate specific anthropological problems.

Working with their faculty advisory committee, students in cultural anthropology have considerable freedom to design their own programs of study after completing the two-quarter core course and the ethnographic practice course during the first year. To achieve Ph.D. candidacy, students are expected to pass a first-year review of their written work, take three additional 5-credit courses in anthropology (excluding independent study courses), maintain satisfactory academic progress, satisfy the ethnographic writing requirement and the foreign language requirement, pass a qualifying exam at the end of the third year, and meet the specific requirements of the Division of Graduate Studies. After advancing to Ph.D. candidacy, students carry out a sustained ethnographic fieldwork project and are expected to complete their dissertation within a year after returning from the field.

Graduate students in cultural anthropology may obtain a notation on the anthropology Ph.D. diploma indicating that they have specialized in feminist studies if they meet requirements spelled out by the individual committee composed of anthropology and feminist studies faculty.

The Ph.D. program in archaeology is highly selective and emphasizes intersections of theories of economy and production, human ecology, gender, and ethnicity, all of which is augmented by rigorous laboratory apprenticeships. Training is offered in combinations of the following: ceramic analysis; zooarchaeology; isotopic characterization studies; and archaeology of the Southwest, California, and Africa.

The Ph.D. program in physical anthropology combines a strong emphasis on hard and soft tissue anatomy with a broad evolutionary perspective. This highly selective track is characterized by intense mentoring of students, involvement of students in instruction as well as course work, and interdisciplinary training. Specific training is offered in skeletal biology, primate anatomy, forensic anthropology, and evolutionary theory.

Although the areas of study of the archaeology and physical anthropology programs are distinct, their paths toward the Ph.D. are the same. In the first year, students take two foundational theory courses and pass a review of their work. Within the first two years of study, students complete at least two foundational materials/methods courses or laboratory courses in other departments; two advanced laboratory apprenticeship courses or similar courses in other departments; two foundational courses in geographic/temporal areas or, in physical anthropology, topical areas; two graduate seminars with other anthropology or campus faculty; one quantitative methods course; and two terms of supervised teaching experience.

The third year requirements are three laboratory apprenticeship courses, the grant writing seminar, and tutorials to prepare the student for the qualifying exams. All courses outside the department must be approved by the student's adviser. After advancing to Ph.D. candidacy, the student carries out a sustained laboratory or fieldwork project and is expected to complete the dissertation within a year after finishing research.