Anthropology

Ethnographic survey of the wide variety of societies found in native North America, including regions such as the Plains, the Arctic, the Southwest, and the Southeast, among others. Course provides an overview of social institutions (i.e., religion, food getting and settlement, kinship, etc.) and changes resultant of European contact and colonization. Satisfies the diversity requirement at UNR.

Study of indigenous cultures of the intermountain region of Western North America including such groups as the Washoe, the Western Shoshone, the Northern Paiute, and the Ute. Course provides an overview of social institutions (i.e., religion, food getting and settlement, kinship, etc.) and changes resultant of European contact and colonization. Satisfies diversity requirement at UNR.

Examines the prehistory of the Great Basin region, including the Paleoindian, Archaic periods, and later prehistoric occupations. Explores what kinds of data archaeologists use to construct culture histories and the environmental and social factors that influenced prehistoric patterns.

Study of human cultures across the globe through examination of the basic principles underlying the organization of societies and the ways anthropologists analyze various parts of culture. Students will become familiar with the glue that holds all groups of people together, and how that glue can divide groups of people in profound ways.

Introduction to the study of how humans, Homo sapiens, have emerged as a species and come to dominate the planet by examining processes of human biological and cultural evolution. Topics include inheritance, the emergence of primates, fossil hominids, the development of technology, and biological variability among modern humans. Satisfies general education science.

Introduction to the diversity of indigenous, traditional societies in select regions of the world including such groups as herding people in Africa, hunters and gatherers in Australia, farmers in New Guinea, headhunters in Borneo, among others. The course focuses on the ethnographic description of traditional cultures and the impacts of colonization and globalization on those societies.

Study of the archaeological patterns found in the Old and New Worlds and how archaeologists study the past. Focuses on topics like the cultural changes throughout the world as early humans began making tools in Africa to the rise of civilizations such as those found in Egypt and Mexico.

An exploration of societies, cultures and cultural anthropology through film. Ethnographic and documentary films are shown.

An exploration of the world's first civilizations and states in Africa, Eurasia and the Americas - the general trends in select regions and coverage of key archaeological sites. A review of theoretical perspectives on the rise and collapse of states along with techniques used in archaeology. This course satisfies the requirements for INT 349.

This course examines the concept of race from an anthropological perspective¿it is an exploration of the biological basis for human variation, the construction of racial categories, the nature of social hierarchy and inequality, and the role of race in systemic inequalities (i.e., education, economics, environment, health security, the legal system, the policing system, food security, housing, political organization, and so on) in the United States and elsewhere. This course satisfies the requirements for INT 349.

This course focuses on the 'traditional' production and meaning of art in small-scale societies as well as the changes that occur with colonization and globalization among select groups from locations such as Africa, New Guinea, Australia, North and South America, and the Pacific Islands.

The complexities of decolonization involve many facets of behavior as indigenous people work to upend the multigenerational impacts of colonization to achieve equity and challenge the domination of nation-states. These processes involve an assertion of indigenous identities and values related to human, cultural and land rights, and environmental and social justice. This course will examine the ways select groups are engaged in these processes.

Topic to be selected by the instructor and will reflect student needs. May be repeated to a maximum of six credits.

This course explores the nature of social inequality in multiple cultural contexts including how inequality emerged in human history across time and space, and how it is expressed in different contemporary cultural contexts.

Topic to be selected by the instructor and will reflect student needs. May be repeated to a maximum of six credits.