Fall 2011 Courses

1000 Introduction to Sociology (4 sem. hours). Adopting a cross-cultural and comparative approach, this course provides a comprehensive overview of sociological principles. Using the sociological imagination, students will explore the relationship between individuals and their social environment, as well as the origin, structure, and function of various social institutions. Specific issues include the self and society, marriage and the family, education, religion, popular culture and mass media, class, gender, and race/ethnicity. This class satisfies Core 6 requirements.

1100 Introduction to Anthropology (4 sem. hours). This course introduces cultural anthropology as a way of understanding and studying culture in all its complexity. The class is discussion-driven and relies on ethnographic texts as primary learning resources. Class discussions will encourage students to consider the implications of cultural variability and to ask deep questions about the nature of human experience and social conditions. At the end of the course, students will possess the tools to examine culture much more closely and critically and to evaluate deep-seated assumptions about the way the world works. This class satisfies Core 6 requirements.

1110 Introduction to Archaeology and World Prehistory (4 sem. hours). This class is designed to introduce students to the world's prehistory and to the anthropological field of archaeology. The class begins with the human family's earliest appearance approximately 5-6 million years ago in Africa and, through the course of the semester, travels down winding global paths to the dawn of written history. As the class works together to unravel humanity's complex past, students may also learning something about the present and our future.

2100 Methods and Statistics (4 sem. hours). A critical introduction to issues in research design. Types of data analysis and collection covered include fieldwork, interviewing, coding qualitative data, survey design/execution/analysis, and statistical analysis of numeric/coded data. Attention is also given to what inferences can legitimately be made from data.

3110 Archaeology of Bronze Age Greece (4 sem. Hours). This course explores the Bronze AGe societies of greece and the wider Aegean, with focus on the Minoan and mycenaean states. Students will study the geography and environment of the eastern Mediterranean, including the islands, coasts, and mainland, and the seas that connect them. Students will spend several weeks studying the Minoan palace states, their organization and functions, as well as their interaction with the wider Mediterranean world and their impact on the islands and the Middle Helladic, mainland Greek societies, which were at this point little more than chiefdoms. The semester will also include a systematic analysis of Linear B, a syllabic writing system based on a form of proto-Greek. The semester concludes with studies on the collapse and transition to the Dark Age.

3220 Class, Gender, Race: Social Stratification (4 sem. hours). A sociological examination of the theoretical and empirical literature on the impact of social class, gender, and race on the life course and life chances of people in selected societies. Prerequisite: SOAN 1000, SOAN 1100, or SOAN 1110, junior standing or permission of the instructor.

4760 Immigration (4 sem. Hours) While humans have moved from one country to another for hundreds or years, the reasons for their movement remain essentially the same: seeking better opportunities in income, employment, and education for themselves and for their children; escaping political or religious persecution; or being forced our of their homelands because of revolution and regime change. In this course, students will first conduct a general review of modern, worldwide migration, then examine the factors associated with the social and economic successes (or lack thereof) of different migrant groups in the adopted countries. Students will explore the relationship between culture and migration, the impact of immigration on jobs in the receiving country, the conflicts between immigrants and native-born workers, and the adaptive measures used by different immigrant groups to deal with the difficulties they have encountered in their adopted countries.

4801 Readings in Childhood Studies (4 sem. Hours)

4850 Internship (4 sem. Hours) Practical experience and field-based training for majors working with selected organizations engaged in social research, human services, or community services.

4852 Internship (2 sem. Hours) Practical experience and field-based training for majors working with selected organizations engaged in social research, human services, or community services.

4900 Senior Seminar in Anthropology (4 sem. Hours) This is the capstone course for majors with an anthropology focus.  The course examines the scope of anthropological theory, starting with the earliest anthropologists like Franz Boas and ending with contemporary thinkers at the forefront of the discipline.  This class is taught in a seminar style, where students are expected to pose penetrating questions about anthropological theory and to take a leadership role in class discussions.

4910 Senior Seminar in Sociology (4 sem. Hours) This class will review the major schools of contemporary sociology by reading from the primary works of the scholars who represent these schools and writing responses to them. The main objectives include demonstrating and evaluating the importance of contemporary sociological theories, developing analytical and evaluative skills through regular writing assignments, and creating a major research project using empirical data and quantitative analysis.