Undergraduate Program

Fall Term Schedule

Fall 2024

Number	Title	Instructor	Time
ANTH 101-1 Being Human: Cultural Anthropology Kristin Doughty MWF 10:25AM - 11:15AM
How do people live, love, work, pray, parent, and play around the world? This course introduces students to the ways in which cultural anthropologists research human diversity. Students will learn about the different ways people understand racial categories and national identities; how they organize gender dynamics, sexualities, and families; how they generate belief systems and heal sickness; how they structure law, politics, and markets; and how they cope with transitions and upheaval. This course therefore raises questions about cultural diversity, social inequality, justice, and power, in a world shaped by global flows of people, money, media, and technology, and asks students to challenge their assumptions and consider alternative views. Open only to first-year and sophomore students. Location Morey Room 525 (MWF 10:25AM - 11:15AM)
ANTH 102-1 Introduction to Medical Anthropology Anu Ahmed MW 9:00AM - 10:15AM
This course provides an overview of the interdisciplinary field of medical anthropology. Using a range of ethnographic case materials (including graphic novels, documentaries, and texts), we will explore how cultural, biological, and political contexts variously shape understandings and experiences of health and illness. Key topics include cultures of medicine, medical pluralism, medicalization, social suffering, and ethics in medical research, medical technologies, and global health. This introductory survey in medical anthropology is open to first- and second-year undergraduate students. Location Lattimore Room 210 (MW 9:00AM - 10:15AM)
ANTH 105-1 Language & Culture James Wamsley TR 2:00PM - 3:15PM
This course investigates the relationship between language and culture at the interface of linguistics and anthropology. It examines the ways in which language reflects the perception of the world, ways of life and beliefs of its speakers, creates rituals and maintains social ties, and is used by people of different ages, genders, social classes, and ethnicities.We will discuss hypotheses that try to explain the nature of relationship between language and culture and then turn to a wide variety of topics which are relevant for both linguists and anthropologists. These include, for instance, kinship systems, language of perception (e.g. colors, spatial relations), politeness across languages and cultures, and writing systems. Location Gavett Hall Room 202 (TR 2:00PM - 3:15PM)
ANTH 200-1 Anthro. Research & Methods Daniel Reichman TR 2:00PM - 3:15PM
This course will introduce students to the core research methods at the heart of contemporary anthropology, ranging from ethnographic fieldwork, participant observation, interviews and life histories, to textual analysis and archives, and visual and audio recordings. We will ask, How did anthropology emerge as a discipline around particular methods, and why and how have they changed? What data are produced through specific methods, and how can those data help us answer particular questions? How do methods and theory relate? How are representational, ethical, and methodological concerns intertwined? Students will examine the history of anthropological methods, theories and critiques of methods, and ethical and regulatory issues associated with gathering data. The course will use readings, guest lectures by anthropology faculty, and primary research projects. Not open to first year students. Prerequisite: Ant 101. Location Morey Room 205 (TR 2:00PM - 3:15PM)
ANTH 202-01 Modern Social Theory Daniel Reichman TR 9:40AM - 10:55AM
A close textual analysis by authors who established the framework of modern social theory, such as Karl Marx, Max Weber and Sigmund Freud. Location Meliora Room 219 (TR 9:40AM - 10:55AM)
ANTH 222-01 Materiality and Meaning Llerena Searle MW 10:25AM - 11:40AM
In this course, we will explore the social and communicative roles that objects play in human society and investigate how people use objects to communicate, rebel, exert power, or make sense of the world around them in both market and non-market contexts. Location Bausch & Lomb Room 315 (MW 10:25AM - 11:40AM)
ANTH 225-01 Religion and Healing Ray Qu MW 12:30PM - 1:45PM
Why do we suffer? How do we heal? How do religious commitments and practices promote processes of healing? This course explores the interaction between religion and healing. Ethnographic examples will draw from multiple religious traditions (e.g., spirit possession, Shamanism, Buddhism, Pentecostalism, and Chinese folk religion), and will emphasize local understandings of illness and healing, with a focus on non-Judeo-Christian traditions. Through readings and audiovisual materials, we will examine the distinction between curing and healing, the mind and body connection, personal and communal dimensions of healing, the experience of affliction and suffering, and theoretical grounding in spiritual and religious worldviews which shape practices of healing. This course is meant to challenge, intrigue, and reorient us into new ways of thinking about health and wellbeing and our relationship with the world. Location Lattimore Room 441 (MW 12:30PM - 1:45PM)
ANTH 229-1 Linguistic Anthropology Llerena Searle MW 2:00PM - 3:15PM
In this introduction to linguistic anthropology, we will take as our starting point the idea that language does not merely describe the world; rather, linguistic practices play a key role in constituting social relations and cultural formations. Communication enables us to form social groups, to create and sustain social differences, to share cultural conceptions of the world, and to learn models of behavior. Through ethnographic case studies, we will explore each of these issues in turn. We will examine how language works as a communicative system and consider the relationship between communication and culture. We will explore language differences within society and the role of language in the production of social identities and power relations. Finally, we will approach language as a cultural product, exploring traditions of performance and communicative genres (narratives, ritual speech, poetry, slang, etc.). In addition to classic and contemporary readings, we will watch films and video clips from popular media, and analyze advertisements, newspaper articles, and political speeches. Quizzes and a series of written assignments will help students learn to think like a linguistic anthropologist. Location Hylan Building Room 105 (MW 2:00PM - 3:15PM)
ANTH 231-02 Il(legal) Anthropology Agnes Mondragon Celis Ochoa TR 11:05AM - 12:20PM
This course uses anthropological approaches to explore the sociopolitical construction of “the law” in the contemporary world. We will examine how the state’s power and regulatory practices constitute contingent domains of il/legality and how they shape people’s lives. We will also look at a range of illegal activities—including racketeering, piracy, drug trafficking, and political corruption—as well as how certain racialized and gendered bodies are subjected to criminalization. In so doing, we will look critically at the boundary between the illegal and the legal and its assumed alignment with dis/order and the im/moral at local, national, and global scales. We will examine case studies from Latin America, the Middle East, East Asia, the US, and elsewhere. Location Lattimore Room 441 (TR 11:05AM - 12:20PM)
ANTH 233-01 Cultural Politics of Prison Towns Kristin Doughty; Joshua Dubler M 2:00PM - 4:40PM
Rochester sits in one of the world's most explicitly carceral landscapes, with more than a dozen state prisons within a 90 min drive. This co-taught course is a collaborative ethnographic research project designed to examine how the presence of prisons in towns around Rochester reflects and shapes the political, economic, and cultural lives of those who live in the region. Students will be introduced to methods and practices of ethnography and conduct firsthand research on the cultural politics of prison towns. Through assigned reading, students will learn about the history, sociology, and cultural logics of Rochester and the wider region, and of mass incarceration. What does a prison mean for a person living near one? How does the presence of prisons shape people's notions of justice, citizenship, and punishment? How do these nearby but largely invisible institutions shape the ways that we live in Rochester? Recommended prior courses: Being Human: Cultural Anthropology or Incarceration Nation Location Bausch & Lomb Room 269 (M 2:00PM - 4:40PM)
ANTH 281-1 Flights to Freedom: Maroons, Marronage, and the Making of the Americas – TR 9:40AM - 10:55AM
What did it mean to free yourself from enslavement in different parts of the Americas? What constitutes success? How does agency, resistance, and complicity emerge in the transition from unfreedom to freedom? What are the legacies of such actions in the contemporary moment? By focusing on flight from enslavement, we will trace the contours of colonization in the Americas, how maroons challenged the naturalness of the colonial order and shaped larger geopolitical relations among colonial powers. First, we will take a nuanced approach to broad themes such as freedom, independence, and resistance as we examine case studies from Latin America, the Caribbean, and North America. We will then explore how these narratives of freedom and resistance have been used in the present day for a variety of purposes from commemoration to tourism to activism. By following the lives and afterlives of maroons in the Americas, this course asks us to critically engage with the often ignored co-authors of the hemisphere’s past, present, and future. Location Meliora Room 209 (TR 9:40AM - 10:55AM)
ANTH 313-01 Advanced Topic Seminar: Religious Nationalism Thomas Gibson W 2:00PM - 4:40PM
Over the past forty years, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, and Muslim forms of nationalism have arisen that seek to exclude nonbelievers from full participation in political life. We will discuss key theoretical texts on the relationship between modernity and religion, with special attention to the impact of colonialism, mass literacy, and print capitalism. Each student will propose, develop, and present a semester-long research project on the emergence of a particular example of religious nationalism. Location Lattimore Room 441 (W 2:00PM - 4:40PM)
ANTH 390-1 Supervised Teaching ANTH 101 Kristin Doughty 7:00PM - 7:00PM
For ANT 101, Cultural Anthropology. By application only. The TA program requires students to work in teams and to lead group discussion. Location ( 7:00PM - 7:00PM)
ANTH 391-1 Independent Study – 7:00PM - 7:00PM
Registration for Independent Study courses needs to be completed thru the instructions for online independent study registration. Location ( 7:00PM - 7:00PM)
ANTH 394-1 Internship – 7:00PM - 7:00PM
Internships will be graded on a pass/fail basis only. Location ( 7:00PM - 7:00PM)
ANTH 395-1 Independent Research – 7:00PM - 7:00PM
Registration for Independent Study courses needs to be completed thru the instructions for online independent study registration. Location ( 7:00PM - 7:00PM)
ANTH 395H-01 Anthropology Honors Research – 7:00PM - 7:00PM
No description Location ( 7:00PM - 7:00PM)

Number	Title	Instructor	Time
Monday
ANTH 233-01 Cultural Politics of Prison Towns Kristin Doughty; Joshua Dubler
Rochester sits in one of the world's most explicitly carceral landscapes, with more than a dozen state prisons within a 90 min drive. This co-taught course is a collaborative ethnographic research project designed to examine how the presence of prisons in towns around Rochester reflects and shapes the political, economic, and cultural lives of those who live in the region. Students will be introduced to methods and practices of ethnography and conduct firsthand research on the cultural politics of prison towns. Through assigned reading, students will learn about the history, sociology, and cultural logics of Rochester and the wider region, and of mass incarceration. What does a prison mean for a person living near one? How does the presence of prisons shape people's notions of justice, citizenship, and punishment? How do these nearby but largely invisible institutions shape the ways that we live in Rochester? Recommended prior courses: Being Human: Cultural Anthropology or Incarceration Nation
Monday and Wednesday
ANTH 102-1 Introduction to Medical Anthropology Anu Ahmed
This course provides an overview of the interdisciplinary field of medical anthropology. Using a range of ethnographic case materials (including graphic novels, documentaries, and texts), we will explore how cultural, biological, and political contexts variously shape understandings and experiences of health and illness. Key topics include cultures of medicine, medical pluralism, medicalization, social suffering, and ethics in medical research, medical technologies, and global health. This introductory survey in medical anthropology is open to first- and second-year undergraduate students.
ANTH 222-01 Materiality and Meaning Llerena Searle
In this course, we will explore the social and communicative roles that objects play in human society and investigate how people use objects to communicate, rebel, exert power, or make sense of the world around them in both market and non-market contexts.
ANTH 225-01 Religion and Healing Ray Qu
Why do we suffer? How do we heal? How do religious commitments and practices promote processes of healing? This course explores the interaction between religion and healing. Ethnographic examples will draw from multiple religious traditions (e.g., spirit possession, Shamanism, Buddhism, Pentecostalism, and Chinese folk religion), and will emphasize local understandings of illness and healing, with a focus on non-Judeo-Christian traditions. Through readings and audiovisual materials, we will examine the distinction between curing and healing, the mind and body connection, personal and communal dimensions of healing, the experience of affliction and suffering, and theoretical grounding in spiritual and religious worldviews which shape practices of healing. This course is meant to challenge, intrigue, and reorient us into new ways of thinking about health and wellbeing and our relationship with the world.
ANTH 229-1 Linguistic Anthropology Llerena Searle
In this introduction to linguistic anthropology, we will take as our starting point the idea that language does not merely describe the world; rather, linguistic practices play a key role in constituting social relations and cultural formations. Communication enables us to form social groups, to create and sustain social differences, to share cultural conceptions of the world, and to learn models of behavior. Through ethnographic case studies, we will explore each of these issues in turn. We will examine how language works as a communicative system and consider the relationship between communication and culture. We will explore language differences within society and the role of language in the production of social identities and power relations. Finally, we will approach language as a cultural product, exploring traditions of performance and communicative genres (narratives, ritual speech, poetry, slang, etc.). In addition to classic and contemporary readings, we will watch films and video clips from popular media, and analyze advertisements, newspaper articles, and political speeches. Quizzes and a series of written assignments will help students learn to think like a linguistic anthropologist.
Monday, Wednesday, and Friday
ANTH 101-1 Being Human: Cultural Anthropology Kristin Doughty
How do people live, love, work, pray, parent, and play around the world? This course introduces students to the ways in which cultural anthropologists research human diversity. Students will learn about the different ways people understand racial categories and national identities; how they organize gender dynamics, sexualities, and families; how they generate belief systems and heal sickness; how they structure law, politics, and markets; and how they cope with transitions and upheaval. This course therefore raises questions about cultural diversity, social inequality, justice, and power, in a world shaped by global flows of people, money, media, and technology, and asks students to challenge their assumptions and consider alternative views. Open only to first-year and sophomore students.
Tuesday and Thursday
ANTH 202-01 Modern Social Theory Daniel Reichman
A close textual analysis by authors who established the framework of modern social theory, such as Karl Marx, Max Weber and Sigmund Freud.
ANTH 281-1 Flights to Freedom: Maroons, Marronage, and the Making of the Americas –
What did it mean to free yourself from enslavement in different parts of the Americas? What constitutes success? How does agency, resistance, and complicity emerge in the transition from unfreedom to freedom? What are the legacies of such actions in the contemporary moment? By focusing on flight from enslavement, we will trace the contours of colonization in the Americas, how maroons challenged the naturalness of the colonial order and shaped larger geopolitical relations among colonial powers. First, we will take a nuanced approach to broad themes such as freedom, independence, and resistance as we examine case studies from Latin America, the Caribbean, and North America. We will then explore how these narratives of freedom and resistance have been used in the present day for a variety of purposes from commemoration to tourism to activism. By following the lives and afterlives of maroons in the Americas, this course asks us to critically engage with the often ignored co-authors of the hemisphere’s past, present, and future.
ANTH 231-02 Il(legal) Anthropology Agnes Mondragon Celis Ochoa
This course uses anthropological approaches to explore the sociopolitical construction of “the law” in the contemporary world. We will examine how the state’s power and regulatory practices constitute contingent domains of il/legality and how they shape people’s lives. We will also look at a range of illegal activities—including racketeering, piracy, drug trafficking, and political corruption—as well as how certain racialized and gendered bodies are subjected to criminalization. In so doing, we will look critically at the boundary between the illegal and the legal and its assumed alignment with dis/order and the im/moral at local, national, and global scales. We will examine case studies from Latin America, the Middle East, East Asia, the US, and elsewhere.
ANTH 105-1 Language & Culture James Wamsley
This course investigates the relationship between language and culture at the interface of linguistics and anthropology. It examines the ways in which language reflects the perception of the world, ways of life and beliefs of its speakers, creates rituals and maintains social ties, and is used by people of different ages, genders, social classes, and ethnicities.We will discuss hypotheses that try to explain the nature of relationship between language and culture and then turn to a wide variety of topics which are relevant for both linguists and anthropologists. These include, for instance, kinship systems, language of perception (e.g. colors, spatial relations), politeness across languages and cultures, and writing systems.
ANTH 200-1 Anthro. Research & Methods Daniel Reichman
This course will introduce students to the core research methods at the heart of contemporary anthropology, ranging from ethnographic fieldwork, participant observation, interviews and life histories, to textual analysis and archives, and visual and audio recordings. We will ask, How did anthropology emerge as a discipline around particular methods, and why and how have they changed? What data are produced through specific methods, and how can those data help us answer particular questions? How do methods and theory relate? How are representational, ethical, and methodological concerns intertwined? Students will examine the history of anthropological methods, theories and critiques of methods, and ethical and regulatory issues associated with gathering data. The course will use readings, guest lectures by anthropology faculty, and primary research projects. Not open to first year students. Prerequisite: Ant 101.
Wednesday
ANTH 313-01 Advanced Topic Seminar: Religious Nationalism Thomas Gibson
Over the past forty years, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, and Muslim forms of nationalism have arisen that seek to exclude nonbelievers from full participation in political life. We will discuss key theoretical texts on the relationship between modernity and religion, with special attention to the impact of colonialism, mass literacy, and print capitalism. Each student will propose, develop, and present a semester-long research project on the emergence of a particular example of religious nationalism.