Anthropology

Course Learning Outcomes are measurable statements that are used to identify the specific knowledge and skills that a student should have at the end of a course.

ANTH 1100
L1- Demonstrate knowledge of the theoretical and conceptual frameworks of a particular Social Science discipline.
L2- Develop an understanding of self and the world by examining the dynamic interaction of individuals, groups, and societies as they shape and are shaped by history, culture, institutions, and ideas.
L3- Utilize Social Science approaches, such as research methods, inquiry, or problem-solving, to examine the variety of perspectives about human experiences.
L4- Evaluate how reasoning, history, or culture informs and guides individual, civic, or global decisions.
L5- Understand and appreciate similarities and differences among and between individuals, cultures, or societies across space and time.

ANTH 1102
L1- Gain an appreciation of human unity and diversity through a problem-based approach to culture, how people give meaning to their lives, and how human societies encounter issues of development, power, identity, war, globalization, inequality, and cultural survival in the twenty-first century.
L2- Understand key anthropological concepts like ethnocentrism, social organization, reciprocity, kinship, representation, worldview, and adaptation.
L3- Identify the contributions of key anthropologists who have shaped the history of the discipline and social theory more broadly.
L4- Understand basic anthropological research methods and the product: ethnography.
L5- Understand similarities and differences in human social organization and cultures.
L6- Be able to evaluate anthropological information from the library, internet, and media.
L7- Be able to articulate a sociological understanding of contemporary problems such as nationalism and globalization and the role of culture in shaping our lives.  

ANTH 1107
L1- Define and apply the key concepts and theories of language acquisition, language evolution, descriptive linguistics and historical and comparative linguistics, using the history and development of English as an example of these processes.
L2- Describe and apply the articulatory processes, natural classes, and the International Phonetic Alphabet symbol for sounds and their interactions (phonetics and phonology).
L3- Articulate and describe the underlying structure of language, including the elements of words, phrases, sentences, and pragmatics.
L4- Students will articulate characteristics of global linguistic diversity, including language typologies, orthographies (writing systems), and variations (register and dialect).

ANTH 2203
L1- Be able to demonstrate knowledge of the theoretical and conceptual frameworks of archaeology as a discipline through the many different approaches to conducting archaeology and for interpreting the archaeological record.
L2- Develop their worldview by examining the dynamic interaction of individuals, groups, and societies in the past and discover how these interactions are shaped by culture, ideas, and institutions in the intangible which is often omitted from history, such as the role of the everyday person and not narratives of kings and conquerors.
L3- Evaluate how archaeology reveals culture, history, and reasoning that are used today as guides to individual, community, or global decisions.
L4- Understand how archaeology helps us understand and appreciate similarities and differences among and between individuals, cultures, or societies across space and time and ultimately learn about the past. There will be an emphasis placed in the course as to how archaeology is anthropology and the importance of archaeology to modern culture and society.

ANTH 2230/ ANTH 2230L
L1- Apply foundational knowledge and models of a natural or science to analyze and/or predict phenomena.
L2- Understand the scientific method and apply scientific reasoning to critically evaluate arguments.
L3- Interpret and communicate scientific information via written, spoken and/or visual representations.
L4- Describe the relevance of specific scientific principles to the human experience and origins.
L5- Form and test a hypothesis in the laboratory or field using discipline-specific tools and techniques for data collection and/or analysis.

ANTH 2237
L1- Explain and discuss central concepts in anthropology, including cultural relativity, ethnocentrism, ‘culture,’ and holism.
L2- Critically assess your own culture and cultural values through specific cross-cultural comparisons and ethnographic data.
L3- Discuss the basics of human evolution, including key events and adaptations (such as bipedalism), and characteristics of important hominin species.
L4- Discuss archaeological evidence dealing with key events in human (pre-) history, such as the Neolithic revolution, and their impact on contemporary human socio-political organization.
L5- Understand the centrality of language to the human species.
L6- Understand cross-cultural variations in particular areas of culture such as religion, gender, marriage, and economic organization based on ethnographic readings and discussions.
L7- Use the vocabulary, concepts, and critical thinking skills developed in this course as a foundation for understanding and successfully negotiating our multi-cultural world.

ANTH 4403
L1- Learn about the historical foundations of “Americanist archaeology” and why archaeology practiced in North America was integrated more specifically within cultural anthropology than other world archaeologies.
L2- Demonstrate mastery of the main paradigm shifts in Americanist archaeology and the cultural and historical context for each, including culture history, new archaeology (reconstructionism and processualism), post processual approaches, and the modern synthesis (e.g., behavioral archaeology, human behavioral ecology).
L3- Understand and formulate responses to the question of whether archaeology should be conducted under an explicit scientific approach and the role of other anthropological frameworks (social, biological, ecological/environmental) in the creation of modern archaeological research programs.

ANTH 4430
L1- Describe the anatomical characteristics that differentiate modern humans from the rest of the hominins as well as modern humans from the rest of the primates.
L2- Describe the similarities and differences between early archaic Homo sapiens in Africa, Europe, and Asia.
L3- Describe the dietary adaptations of the various fossil species.
L4- Describe the unique anatomical features of the Neandertals.
L5- Discuss why and how Neandertals' unique anatomical features might have arisen in the course of human evolution.
L6- Describe the "Neandertal world" in terms of landscape, climate, and dietary practices.
L7- Describe the biology and behavior of the first modern humans.
L8- Discuss the evidence for and against the Out of Africa and the Multiregional Continuity Models of modern human evolution.
L9- Describe the latest findings in DNA analysis of Neandertals.
L10- Describe the latest finding in the DNA analysis of our species origin.
L11- Outline two explanations for the genetic diversity seen in Africa.
L12- Differentiate the Assimilation Model from the Out of Africa and Multiregional Continuity Models.
L13- Discuss the evidence for human migration to Australia and the Pacific islands.
L14- Evaluate the hypotheses for the place of the recently discovered Homo floresiensis within the path of human evolution.
L15- Evaluate the evidence for how and when the first people showed up in the Americas.
L16- Construct a timeline of human evolution including bipedalism, brain size, and tool use.
L17- Place human evolution in evolutionary history.
L19- Describe the evolution of Evolutionary Theory.
L20- Describe human evolution in the context of genetic drift, bottlenecks, gradualism, punctuated equilibrium and adaptive radiations.
L21- Describe and contrast cladistics and phenetics.
L22- Describe and contrast molecular and morphological methods of data collection and analysis.

ANTH 4437
L1- Identify the roles, responsibilities, limitations, and authority of cold case practitioners and the contributions of forensic anthropology to cold cases.
L2- Identify reasons why cases go cold and factors associated with successful cold case investigations.
L3- Critique how media bias and public outreach intersect with forensic anthropology and law enforcement investigation in the current American climate.
L4- Use databases, public and published records, social media, and other investigative resources to identify, research, and create resource guides for missing and unidentified persons cold cases.

ANTH 4440
L1- Explore the diversity of monsters and monster categories cross-culturally and through time.
L2- Review the ways in which monsters illuminate aspects of culture, politics, race, sexuality, power asymmetry, disease, and more.
L3- Develop research, visual, and media presentation skills.
L4- Critique depictions of monsters using anthropological theory from all four fields of the discipline to understand humanity.
L5- Practice reflective and argumentative writing skills.

ANTH 4488 
L1- Understand the fundamentals of, and apply the appropriate, field methods in archaeological excavation, survey, and mapping.
L2- Use data recovery techniques and data preservation methods.
L3- Understand Mayan cultural history and chronology.
L4- Recognize archaeological ceramics and lithics and their seriation.
L5- Apply conservation techniques to Mayan art, artifacts, and architecture.

ANTH 4492
L1- Explain the various stages of a research project.
L2- Apply knowledge of anthropological methods, approaches, and modes of explanation to contemporary issues.
L3- Use anthropological theory to formulate an appropriate exploratory research project or testable hypothesis for a specified phenomenon.
L4- Select and perform appropriate quantitative and qualitative analytical techniques at a basic level.
L5- Carry out a research project using cross-cultural or diachronic (or combination of the two) comparative methods.
L6- Develop a practical and realistic research design on a topic within their field.
L7- Critically review the research designs of others.
L8- Explain their proposed research clearly to anthropologists and the general public.