First-Year Course Information

Welcome, Class of 2027! Learn more about courses and opportunities in the Anthropology Department.

About Anthropology

Anthropology explores the diversity and complexity of humanity in contemporary cultures and in the “deep past.” We integrate the specifics of individual experience, local particularities of landscapes and communities, and broad regional and global contexts to better understand human actions and meanings, including relations of power, identity, and inequality. In our courses in cultural anthropology and anthropological archaeology students learn how to “make the strange familiar, and the familiar strange” through analysis of visual, sonic, and textual data and materials. 

Courses and Tips for First-Year Students

The Anthropology Department welcomes first-year students into several exciting courses. Fall 2023 we are offering two First-Year Seminars, “Imagining Futures” (ANTH 1016) and "Fiction and Fraud in Archaeology: Debunking Modern Myths about Ancient Cultures" (ANTH 1022).

Also offered Fall 2023 is the core course “Introducing Anthropology: What Makes Us Human?" (ANTH 1100). “Introducing Anthropology: What Makes Us Human?” is also offered Spring 2024. Several seats are always saved for first-year students in these introductory courses.

Additionally, first-year students are invited to enroll in intermediate-level courses, which carry no prerequisites. "Archaeology and the Human Experience" (Anth 2100) and "Gender, Race, and Environmental Justice" (ANTH 2155). ANTH 2155 is cross-listed in both Environmental Studies, and Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies.

None of the above courses assume any prior work in anthropology. All of these courses contribute to the major or minor in Anthropology. We encourage students who are interested in majoring or minoring in Anthropology or who may want to take additional 2000-level Anthropology courses (including courses that fulfill the College’s International Perspectives or Difference, Power, and Inequity requirements) to take the introductory core course (ANTH 1100) as soon as possible.


Course Descriptions

ANTH 1016 (FYWS): Imaging Futures (Prof. Lempert)

How, why, and for whom do we imagine the future? Focuses on the future through the lens of indigenous science fiction and off-Earth exploration and settlement. Students engage with indigenous films and science fiction, popular and scholarly literature about space exploration, and the writing of cultural anthropologists to develop skills in analyzing visual and written texts and to reflect on “the future” as created by our individual and collective hopes, fears, and expectations.

Sample Syllabus
ANTH 1022 (FYWS): Fiction and Fraud in Archaeology: Debunking Modern Myths about Ancient Cultures (Prof. Castillo)

How, why, and for whom do we imagine the future? Focuses on the future through the lens of indigenous science fiction and off-Earth exploration and settlement. Students engage with indigenous films and science fiction, popular and scholarly literature about space exploration, and the writing of cultural anthropologists to develop skills in analyzing visual and written texts and to reflect on “the future” as created by our individual and collective hopes, fears, and expectations.


ANTH 1100: Introducing Anthropology: What Makes Us Human? (Prof. Lempert)

Investigates cultural differences and connections across time and space to understand our common humanity.  Introduces anthropological theories through case studies of past and contemporary cultures.  Explores methods used to cultivate holistic understandings of diverse practices, worldviews, and ways of being across cultural and geographic contexts.  Students apply anthropological concepts to engage critically with vital current issues.  Includes topics such as self and society, personhood and identity, power and inequality, economic and political organizations, material culture, circulation of people and ideas, ecology and environment, religion and ritual, and relatedness and kin-making.


ANTH 2100: Archeology and the Human Experience (Prof. Castillo)

Showcases human diversity through time and space and the methods that archaeologists use to study the past. Topics include conflicting theories of human biological evolution, debates over the genetic and cultural bases of human behavior, development of artistic and religious expression, and expansion of human populations into diverse ecosystems around the world. Considers ways that relationships to environments changed as people domesticated plants and animals, and the reasons many groups moved from a nomadic to settled village life are explored, as is the rise of complex societies and the state. Examines how contemporary archaeologists address colonialism, racism, and postcolonial interpretations of the past.

Sample Syllabus

ANTH 2155: Gender, Race, and Environmental Justice (Prof. Said) - cross-listed ES 2155/GSWS 2155

Introduces students to the struggle for environmental justice in various cultural arenas, with a focus on gender, race, and their intersections. Through readings, films, lectures, and discussions addresses topics such as migration, resource extraction, and food and climate justice. Provides tools for cross-cultural understanding by examining the dynamic interplay among people, places, and non-human species within multiple regions of the world. Explores concepts such as racial capitalism, colonialism, and imperialism and their relationship to environmental change. Evaluates the potential of different feminist and decolonial approaches to achieve environmental justice.