Anthropology Course Descriptions

Most 300- and 400-level courses have as a prerequisite one of the 200-level courses. Additionally, 300- and 400-level courses may be taken for graduate credit with prior approval of the student's adviser.

(Revised 2/7/08)

• ANTH 151 - Emerging Humanity (3) Introduction to human biological evolution and the archaeology of culture in the world prior to AD 1500. Open to non-majors, recommended for majors. FG
• ANTH 152 - Culture and Humanity (3) Introduction to cultural anthropology. How human groups have come to terms with, modified, and even created their physical, social, natural, and supernatural environments, and endowed their lives with meaning and order. Open to non-majors. Required for anthropology majors. FG
• ANTH 165 - Heritage Sites in Archaeology (V) Combined lecture-lab-fieldwork course to introduce the concepts and practices of archaeology, historical research, historic site preservation, and heritage management. Repeatable one time. A-F only.
• ANTH 210 - Archaeology (3) Introduction to prehistoric archaeology; methods and techniques of excavation and laboratory analysis; brief survey of theory in relation to change and diversity in prehistoric human groups. DS
• ANTH 215 - Physical Anthropology (3) Evolutionary theory, primate studies, fossil evidence, genetics, biological variation in living human populations, human adaptability, growth and nutrition, race. Laboratory included. DB
• ANTH 215L - Physical Anthropology Laboratory (1) Laboratory to accompany 215. Co-requisite: 215. DY
• ANTH 300 - Study of Contemporary Problems (3) Significance of anthropology for contemporary affairs, particularly American ethnic and minority group relations. Relevance to various professions, governmental policy, political action, and accomplishment of change. DS
• ANTH 303 - Technology and Culture (3) Theory of culture and technology, development of technology in context of cultures since the stone ages. The present and future are considered. Pre: 152. DS
• ANTH 305: Renumbered to 490 effective Fall 2007.
• ANTH 307 - Theory in Contemporary Anthropology (3) Theoretical issues that have generated current research and controversies in more than one specialty within social/cultural anthropology; historical roots. Pre: 152. DS
• ANTH 308 - American Culture (3) Contemporary culture of the United States. Variations in kinship, family, work, play, values, religion; selected topics such as ethnicity, alternate lifestyles, consumerism, addiction. Pre: 152. DH
• ANTH 310 - Human Origins (3) Theory of evolution, evolutionary systematics and taxonomy; evolutionary biology of primates; fossil records for primate and human evolution. Laboratory included. Pre: 215, ZOOL 101, or consent. DB
• ANTH 313 - Visual Anthropology (3) Historical development of documentary films of non-western peoples; critical examination of ways in which ethnographic films represent cultures. Pre: 152. DH
• ANTH 315 - Sex & Gender (3) Cross-cultural theories and perceptions of sexual differences; linkage between biology and cultural constructions of gender; relationship of gender ideology to women's status. Pre: 152. (Cross-listed as WS 315) DS
• ANTH 316 - Anthropology of Tourism (3) Anthropological perspectives on the subject of the global phenomenon of tourism. Includes issues of cultural performance, identity, and commoditization. Open to nonmajors. DS
• ANTH 321 - World Archaeology I (3) Archaeology of human origins, early cultures, and origins of agriculture. Pre: sophmore standing or consent. DH
• ANTH 322 - World Archaeology II (3) Archaeology of complex societies, including the rise of urbanism, state-level society, historical and industrial archaeology. Pre: sophmore standing or consent. DH
• ANTH 323 - Pacific Island Archaeology (3) Origins of Pacific peoples; chronology of settlement; sequences of culture in Australia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Pre: sophmore standing or consent. DH
• ANTH 330 - Social Organization (3) Systematic study of human institutions; general principles of social interaction formulated from ethnographic data. Pre: 152. DS
• ANTH 341 - Anthropology of Virtual Worlds (3) Anthropological study of computer mediated interaction. Focus on the ethnography of massively multiplayer online games, text-based chat rooms, and blogs.
• ANTH 345 - Aggression, War & Peace (3) Biocultural, evolutionary, and cross-cultural perspectives on the conditions, patterns, and processes of violence, war, nonviolence, and peace. Pre: 152. (Cross-listed as PACE 345) DS
• ANTH 350 - Pacific Island Cultures (3) Introduction to cultures of Polynesia, Micronesia, and Melanesia from time of first settlement to emergence of modern nation states. Pre: sophmore standing or consent. DH
• ANTH 356 - Women and Religion (3) Examining roles of, and attitudes toward, women in major religious traditions through autobiographies, films, and primary texts. Pre: Anth 152 or Rel 150 or WS 151. (Cross-listed as Rel 356 and WS 356) DH
• ANTH 370 - Ethnographic Field Techniques (V) Problems and techniques of social-cultural anthropological field work; ethnographic literature; work with informants. Pre: 152. (offered as 3 credits in the fall and spring and 6-9 credits in the summer) DS
• ANTH 381 - Archaeological Field Techniques (V) Archaeological survey and excavations; field trips, mapping, photography. May focus on terrestrial or underwater. May be taught entirely in the field at a national or international arcaheological site. Repeatable one timewith consent. Pre: 210 or consent. (offered as 4 credits in the fall and spring and 6-9 credits in the summer) DH
• ANTH 384 - Skeletal Biology (3) Lecture-laboratory introduction to human skeleton and methods of forensic anthropology for reconstructing ancient populations from skeletal and dental remains; bone growth, age, sex, and racial estimation, paleodemography, dental and skeletal variation, paleopathology, population comparisons. Pre: 215 or consent. DB
• ANTH 384L - Skeletal Biology (1) Laboratory to accompany 384. Co-requisite: 384. DY
• ANTH 385 (Alpha) - Undergraduate Proseminar (3) Selected problems in current research. (B) archaeology; (C) ethnography; (D) social anthropology; (E) applied; (F) psychological; (G) biological. Repeatable. Pre: consent. DS
• ANTH 399 - Directed Reading or Research (V) Pre: major or minor in Anthropology.
• ANTH 408 - History and Memory (3) Lecturer/discussion class on culture and politics of collective memory. Pre: 152 and junior standing.
• ANTH 410 - Ethnics in Anthropology (3) Seminar surveying ethical cases, problems, issues and questions from the inception of anthropology to the present. Pre: 210
• ANTH 414 - Ethics in Anthropology (3) Introduction to ethnographic study of speech and language. Pre: 152. (Cross-listed as LING 414) DS
• ANTH 415 - Ecological Anthropology (3) Relationship of humans with natural environment; role of culture in ecological systems. Pre: 152. DS
• ANTH 416 - Economic Anthropology (3) Analysis of economic activities in non-Western, non-industrial societies; production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services in a variety of cultures. Pre: 152. DS
• ANTH 417 - Political Anthropology (3) Character of political institutions and their development in non-Western and non-industrial societies. Pre: 152. DS
• ANTH 418 - The Anthropology of Homosexualities (3) An anthropological examination of homosexualities; consideration of nature/nuture in the origins and expressions of identity and sexuality; social and political aspects of homophobia; Queer theory. Pre: junior standing or consent. DS
• ANTH 419 - Indigenous Anthropology (3) An exploration of how anthropology studies indigenous groups throughout the world. An examination of the changing contexts of anthropological practice as calls for reflexivity lead anthropology of all backgrounds to bring insights from their "homes." Issues include the question of objectivity, the emic-etic distinction, and the ethics of different kinds of anthropological research and the role of anthropologists in indigenous self-determination. Repeatable one time. Pre: 152. DS
• ANTH 420 - Communication & Culture (3) Anthropological introduction to communication; intercultural and interspecies comparisons; verbal and nonverbal. Ethnography of communication, discourse and structural analyses, ethnomethodology. Pre: 152. DS
• ANTH 421 - Anthropology and Mass Media (3) Anthropological critique of mass media research; role of mass media in social and cultural processes of authority, economic exchange, and identity formation in Western, nonwestern, and global contexts. Pre: 152. DS
• ANTH 422 - Anthropology of Religion (3) Myth, witchcraft, symbolism, values, ritual, spirit possession, shamanism, religious healing, and millennial cults in primitive, folk, and urban societies. Pre: 152. (Cross-listed as REL 422) DH
• ANTH 423 - Social & Cultural Change (3) Various approaches to examples of social and cultural change in non-literate societies; evolution, diffusion, acculturation, revolution, etc. Historical features and social processes of colonialism. Pre: 152. DH
• ANTH 424 - Culture, Identity, and Emotion (3) The interrelation of culture, thought, emotion, and social realities. Role of language and culture in shaping emotional experience and self-understanding, including the formation of social identities such as gender, ethnicity and nationality. Pre: 152. DS
• ANTH 425 - Medical Anthropology (3) Social and cultural aspects of medicine; the relationship of medicine to the beliefs, social systems, ecological adaptations, and cultural changes of human groups. DS
• ANTH 427 - Food, Health, & Society (3) How human groups identify, collect, create, and transform foods, how they shape those into dietary behaviors, and the influence of those behaviors on health. Pre: junior standing or higher or consent. DS
• ANTH 428 - Body, Biopower and Cyborgs (3) Exploration of critical theories of the body via topics such as genetic adaptation, bodily rituals, gender, race, colonialism, power, tattooing, beautification, medicalization, immigrants, immunology, and cyborgs. An oral intensive course in most years. Pre: 152. DS
• ANTH 430 - Human Adaptation to the Sea (3) How people from prehistoric to modern times have sailed, fished or otherwise exploited and enjoyed the sea; how the sea has molded human life. Pre: 152. DS
• ANTH 435 - Human Adaptation to Forests (3) Cultural ecology of human societies in forest habitats. Emphasis on case studies of traditional and changing adaptations in the tropics. Pre: 152. DS
• ANTH 443 - Anthropology of Buddhism (3) Selected aspects of national, regional and local manifestations of Buddhism are explored through the perspective of anthropology with an emphasis on the daily lives of monks, nuns and lay persons in their socio-cultural contexts. Pre: Anth/Rel 422, Rel 207, Rel 475, or consent of instructor.
• ANTH 444 - Spiritual Ecology (3) Lectures and seminars provide a cross-cultural survey of the relationships between religions, environment and environmentalism. Pre: junior standing or consent. (Cross-listed as REL 444) (Alt. years)
• ANTH 445 - Sacred Places (3) Lectures and seminars provide a cross-cultural survey of sites which societies recognize as sacred and their cultural, ecological and conservation aspects. Pre: junior standing or consent. (Cross-listed as REL 445) (Alt. years)
• ANTH 446 - Southeast Asian Cultures (3) Cultures of Southeast Asia from hunting and gathering groups to high civilizations, kinship; economic, political, and religious systems; recent developments. Pre: junior standing or consent DS
• ANTH 447 - Polynesian Cultures (3) Analysis of Polynesian cultures from their origins to contemporary states. Pre: junior standing or consent. DS
• ANTH 455 - Human Biology of the Pacific (3) Human biology of prehistoric and living populations of the Pacific: mainland and island Southeast Asia, Australia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Fossil humans, microevolution, human variation, origins. Pre: 215. DB
• ANTH 458 - Forensic Anthropology (3) Application of physical anthropology to problems in human identification. Determination of age, sex, ancestry, etc., of the skeleton and preparation of reports for legal medicine. Pre: 384 (or concurrent) DB
• ANTH 461 - Southeast Asian Archaeology (3) Prehistory and protohistory of Southeast Asia, and of Southeast Asian contacts with East Asia, India, Australia, and Oceania. Pre: junior standing or consent. DH
• ANTH 462 - East Asian Archaeology (3) Prehistory and protohistory of China, Japan and Korea from earliest human occupation to historic times. Geographical emphasis may vary between China and Japan/Korea. Pre: junior standing or consent. DH
• ANTH 464 - Hawaiian Archaeology (3) Archaeological perspective in Hawai'i's past; origins of Hawaiians; early settlement and culture change; settlement patterns and material culture; historic sites preservation. Pre: junior standing or consent. DH
• ANTH 468 - Archaeological Theory & Interpretation (3) Introduction to theory in archaeology; interpretive paradigms; the relation of archaeological methods to interpretation and evaluation of theories. Pre: 210 DH
• ANTH 469 - History of Archaeology Thought (3) Historical survey of archaeology as a discipline; focusing on theoretical, methodological, and substantive advances that changed archaeology. Pre:210. DS
• ANTH 471 - Assemblage Analyses in Archaeology (4) Lecture and laboratory course surveying methods for conducting anayses of archaeological assemblages. Focus on classification, quantitative techniques, including reliability, precision, and accuracy. Students complete projects on existing assemblages or data from assemblages. Repeatable one time. Pre: 210.
• ANTH 472 - Ceramic Analysis in Archaeology (3) Concepts, methods, andapproaches used in the analysis of ancient pottery. Emphasis placed on ceramic technology, stylistic analysis. Pre: 210. DH
• ANTH 473 - Lithic Analysis in Archaeology (3) How archaeologists infer procurement, production, distribution, and use of lithic resources, with emphasis on the manufacturing process. Includes lab for replicating prehistoric technologies. Pre: 210. DH
• ANTH 474 - Geoarchaeology (3) Field and laboratory analysis of sediments and soils in archaeological context. Emphasis on depositional environments, site formation, post-depositional processes, landscape change, and paleogeomorphic reconstruction. Pre: 210. DP
• ANTH 475 - Faunal Analysis in Archaeology (3) Analysis of archaeologically recovered faunal collections with emphasis on identification and interpretation of non-human vertebrate remains. Pre: 210. DH
• ANTH 476 - Palaeobotanical Analysis (3) Palaeobotanical analysis is directed toward the understanding of human-plant relationships and their change through time. Theoretical and methodological consideration of pollen, phytoliths, wood charcoal, and seeds and other macro-plant remains in archaeology. Pre: 210. DH
• ANTH 477 - Intro to Geographic Information Systems for Anthopologists (3) Combined lecture/lab course. GIS and related technologies for anthropological applications. Lectures plus instructor-led and self-directed computer lab exercises. Emphases on practical technical skills and necessary conceptual understanding to apply them outside class. Pre: Junior standing or consent of instructor.
• ANTH 480 (Alpha) - Anthropological Applications (3) Anthropological theory, method, data applied to problems in specialized fields. For students in professional fields who lack anthropological background. (B) development; (C) health; (D) education. (480D cross-listed as EDEF 480) DS
• ANTH 481 - Applied Anthropology (3) Methods and results in application of anthropological concepts to the practical problems of agricultural, commercial, and industrial development. Pre: 152. DS
• ANTH 482 - Environmental Anthropology (3)This seminar surveys practical environmental questions, cases, problems, and issues from the perspective of applied ecological anthropology. Pre: 415 or consent. DS
• ANTH 483 - Japanese Culture & Behavior (3) Sociocultural factors in Japanese behavior. Social structure; traditional institutions. DS
• ANTH 484 - Japanese Popular Culture (3) This course explores contemporary Japanese popular culture through themes such as gender, consumerism, globalization, and nostalgia. Rather than a survey of popular culture genres, the course is organized thematically around issues and problematics. DS
• ANTH 485 - Pre-European Hawai'i (3) Pre-European society and culture from an anthropological viewpoint. Pre: junior standing or consent. DH
• ANTH 486 - Peoples of Hawai'i (3) Historic and contemporary society and culture from an anthropological viewpoint. (Cross-listed as ES 486) Pre: junior standing or consent. DS
• ANTH 488 - Chinese Culture: Ethnography (3) Critical interpretations of ethnographic and biographic texts depicting individual and family lives in different socio-economic circumstances, geographical regions, and historical periods of modern China. DS
• ANTH 489 - Chinese Culture: Current (3) Contemporary topics including the modern revolution, ideology, work, popular Confucianism, entrepreneurial activities, emigration, overseas settlements. DS
• ANTH 490 - History of Anthropology (3) Development of anthropological ideas, focusing on theoretical issues concerning culture, society, and human nature. Required of majors. Pre: 152. DS
• ANTH 495 - Senior Thesis (3) Preparation of a major paper with a committee of one chairperson and one other member; paper on topic of interest in anthropology. Optional for majors. Pre: 490 and senior standing. DS
• ANTH 496 - Senior Thesis (3) Preparation of a major paper with a committee of one chairperson and one other member; paper on topic of interest in anthropology. Optional for majors. Pre: 490 and senior standing. DS
• ANTH 500 - Master's Plan B/C Studies (1)
• ANTH 601 - Ethnology (3) Survey in historical perspective, of theory in social and cultural anthropology. A course in the graduate core of anthropology. Pre: graduate status.
• ANTH 602 - Linguistic Anthropology (3) Investigation of mutual influences of linguistic theory and methodology and anthropological theory and methodology. A course in the graduate core of anthropology. Pre: graduate standing.
• ANTH 603 - Archaeology (3) Development of critical and analytical skills in assessment of archaeological literature; emphasis on the science, theory, explanation, and paradigms which comprise archaeology. A course in the graduate core of anthropology. Pre: graduate standing.
• ANTH 604 - Physical Anthropology (3) Human evolution and human variability in extant and previously existing populations; emphasis on history of physical anthropology, evolutionary systematics, primate biology and behavior, paleontology, anthropological genetics, climatic adaptation, growth, and nutrition. A course in the graduate core of anthropology. Pre: graduate standing.
• ANTH 605 - Discursive Practices (3) "Discursive Practices" emphasizes linguistic, semantic, and interactional aspects of culture, exploring ways that discourse constructs social action and social realities, examining processes by which culture is produced as meaningful behavior in actual situations.
• ANTH 606 - Anthropology of Infectious Disease (3) The role of human behavior, including its social and cultural determinants, in understanding the distribution of infectious diseases, and in shaping preventive and therapeutic strategies. Pre: graduate standing.
• ANTH 607 - The Media and Discursive Practices (3) Role of the mass media in constructing meaning in social cultural processes such as nationalism, ritual, identity, and collective memory. Attention to interactional and poststructural theories of discourse that link the mass media to discursive practice.
• ANTH 608 - History and Memory (3) Problems of history and collective memory as culturally formed and politically contested realities. The role of narrative, ritual, and media technologies in shaping representations of the past. Pre: graduate standing.
• ANTH 609 - Culture and Leadership (3) A multicultural perspective on the theory and practice of leadership examined through cultural, social and institutional factors that produce effective leaders. Specific skills that improve leadership abilities are applied through activities in the course.
• ANTH 610 - Anthropology of Tourism (3) Social and cultural analysis of tourism practices, with emphasis on Hawai`i, Asia and the Pacific. Tourism in relation to consumer culture, transnational flows of people and images, post-colonial politics, performance and identity formation.
• ANTH 620 (Alpha) - Theory in Social & Cultural Anthropology (3) Major theoretical problems in (B) kinship; (C) cognitive systems; (D) religion; (E) political institutions; (F) law and social control; (G) economics; (H) ecology; (I) other to be announced. Repeatable. Pre: graduate standing.
• ANTH 640 (Alpha) - Methods & Theory in Archaeology (3) Focused seminars pertaining to distinct areas of archaeology method and theory. (B) analytical; (C) environmental/landscape; (D) ethnoarchaeology; (E) economic/resources; (F) underwater. Repeatable twice. Pre: 603.
• ANTH 645 - Historic Preservation (3) Federal, state, local laws and regulations that regulate and provide protection to significant archaeological and historical resources in Hawai'i and the region. Pre: 210.
• ANTH 667 - Biomedicine and Culture (6) Combined seminar and field experience/practicum course examining critical medical anthropological perspectives on modern medicine through intensive reading, group discussion, and participant observation in various health service settings. Pre: graduate standing. (Alt. years)
• ANTH 668 - Archaeology Field Methods (Variable 1-6) (5-7-hr lab) Laboratory and field training in the principles and practice of methods of archaeology - survey, mapping, excavation, conservation. Repeatable. Pre: graduate standing.
• ANTH 694 - Anthropology Colloquium Pro-Seminar (3) Entering students in Anthropology graduate program attend and participate in weekly colloquia which encompasses sub-disciplines and specializations represented in Anthropology at UH. Presentations include faculty and other professionals. Graduate student colloquium series will be developed. Pre: graduate standing.
• ANTH 695 - Professional Skills Development in Anthropology (3) Seminar prepares graduate students for entry into profession, including employment opportunities, research, presentations, ethics, and outreach. Required of all Plan B students. Pre: graduate standing
• ANTH 699 - Directed Reading or Research (V) Pre: graduate standing and consent.
• ANTH 700 - Thesis Research (V) Research for master's thesis.
• ANTH 710 - Seminar in Research Methods in Cultural Anthropology (3) Ethnographic research methods. Introduction to the approaches and techniques of participatory research, including the collection, analysis, and interpretation of social and cultural data. Politics and ethics of research practice.
• ANTH 711 - Seminar in Research Design and Proposal Writing (3) Research design and proposal writing. For students preparing for advanced research. Pre: graduate standing in anthropology.
• ANTH 720 - Anthropology of Japan (3) Japan examined through three dimensions of cultural anthropology, cultural/symbolic, social/organizational, and individual/psychological. Selected topics analyzed and interpreted in terms of conjunctions of these dimensions. Pre: 483 or 484.
• ANTH 750 (Alpha) - Research Seminar (3) Selected problems in current research. (B) archaeology; (C) medical; (D) ethnography; (E) social; (G) biological. Pre: classified graduate status and consent.
• ANTH 800 - Dissertation Research (V) Research for doctoral dissertation.

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