You are in the official 1983-84 General Catalog for California State University, Fresno.



COURSES

 

 

Anthropology (Anth)


I. Introductory Anthropology

Anth 1, 2, and 3 are taught each semester. Anth 101 and S Sci 15 are taught once each year.

1. Introduction to Physical Anthropology (3)
This course examines the biological basis of being human. It compares us with our primate relatives, traces the evolution of our species from 4 million-year-old austra lopithecines, and accounts for the great anatomical and biochemical diversity among modern human populations. (CAN ANTH 2)

2. Introduction to Cultural Anthropology (3)
Not open to students with credit in Anth 15 or S Sci 15. Examines the nature of culture, humanity's unique mechanism for adapting to the changing environment. It explores the varieties of human life and explains how culture has made possible the range of different and successful societies, from hunters and gatherers to industrial civilization. (CAN ANTH 4)

3. Introduction to Prehistory (3)
An exploration of human prehistory as revealed by the archaeological record. Traces the evolution of culture, from its earliest expression in crude stone tools more than 2 million years old, through the emergence of agriculture and the first civilizations. (CAN ANTH 6)

15. Man's Place in the Natural Environment (5)
A special introduction, involving extended field trips, which integrates introductory cultural anthropology and archaeology to explain how past and present peoples have adapted to and altered biological and geological processes and features. Offered only in the fall as part of the 17-unit "Man and the Natural Environment" program which requires concurrent enrollment in Biol 15, Geol 15, and N Sci 15. (Field trip fees: $150)






II. Method and Theory

These courses are offered once each year.

100. Cultural Anthropology (3)
Not open to students with credit in Anth 2 or 15. An advanced introduction to the evolution and variability of human adaptations through language, technology, organization, and ideology. Designed for majors in other disciplines. Satisfies same prerequisite as Anth 2 and 15.

102. Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology (3)
Prerequisite: Anth 1 or 2. A compendium of current thinking on language from a variety of interdisciplinary perspectives. Discusses brain functions and language process in human and nonhuman communication systems, and the roles of language in human evolution, behavior, and thought.

104. History and Theory of Anthropology (3)
Prerequisite: Anth 2. A history of the growth of anthropological thought through an analysis of the informational and explanatory powers of five major theoretical schools: Nineteenth-century Evolutionists, British Functionalists, Boasian Historical Particularists, Neo-Evolutionists/Marxists, and Cognitivists.

109. The Design of Cultures (3)
Prerequisite: Anth 2. Pragmatic application of anthropological insights to problems of culture change, Lectures and simulation on cross-cultural and American alternatives in cultural evolution. Students collectively construct and describe a culture built by survivors isolated in a hypothetical ecological zone. (Former Anth 159T section)

110. Introduction to Archaeological Method and Theory (3)
Prerequisite; Anth 2 and 3. The nature of archaeological data and their use in reconstructing the lifeways of prehistoric peoples. Scientific method in archaeology, data retrieval and interpretation, dating methods, site formation processes, history of archaeological theory, present trends and limits of archaeological research.

111. Field Archaeology (4)
Prerequisite: Anth 110. Practical experience in basic techniques of archaeological survey, excavation, and laboratory analysis through participation in archaeological research projects. Weekend field trips may be required. (2 lecture, 6 lab or field hours)

115. Seminar in Anthropological Theory (3)
Prerequisite: Anth 104. Reading, analysis and description of major cultural theorists and their contributions to modern anthropological thought.

117. Urban Anthropology (3)
Prerequisite: Anth 2. Overview of social science theories of urbanization and urban life; reviews theories and methods used by anthropologists in cross-cultural urban research.

119. Fieldwork in Anthropology (3-6; max total 6)
Prerequisite; permission of instructor. Field study in physical, cultural, urban or linguistic anthropology. Working closely with the instructor, the student designs, carries out and presents the results of an independent field project on a topic related to her/his area of interest.

 

III. Regional Ethnology

120. Peoples and Cultures of North America (3)
Prerequisite: Anth 2. A survey of the history and range of lifeways developed by the American Indians north of Mexico in response to the variety of ecological and sociopolitical pressures before and after contact with the West.

121. Peoples and Cultures of South America (3)
Prerequisites: Anth 2. A survey of South American Indian tribes and civilizations since prehistoric times, based on archaeological and ethnographic data. Explores the interplay between environment and local cultural adaptations, and examines the effect of historical contact with European peoples.

123. Peoples and Cultures of Southeast Asia (3)
Prerequisite: Anth 2. An introductory survey of the cultural and historical adaptations of societies in Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam; and of Insular societies in Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. Examines the major effects of culture contact between East and West.

124. Peoples and Cultures of East Asia (3)
Prerequisite: Anth 2. Examines cultural pluralism. Considers cultural adaptations and change among minorities such as Moslems, Tibetans, and Mongolians in China, and ethnic groups of Japan and Korea. Outlines kinship, religion, organization, and technological factors in the Asiatic culture complex.

125. Indians of California (3)
Prerequisite: Anth 2. A comprehensive survey of California Indian origins, prehistory, languages, and ethnography; emphasis on cultural ecology and ethnohistory of selected groups between A.D. 1540 and 1850.

129T. Topics in Ethnology (1-4; max total 8)
Prerequisite: Anth 2. Surveys the culture history of a major region such as Africa, the Near East, India, or Europe.



IV. Regional Archaeology

130. Archaeology of Meso-America (3)
Prerequisite: Anth 3. Evolution of native New World cultures from hunting and gathering to the rise of theocratic states such as the Maya and Aztec in the area between northern Mexico and the Isthmus of Panama.

131. Archaeology of North America (3)
Prerequisite: Anth 3. Development of Native American cultures north of Mesoamerica from the peopling of America to early historic times; languages, subsistence strategies, land-use and settlement patterns, and technologic developments in culture-ecological retrospective.

139T. Topics in Archaeology (1-3)
Prerequisite: Anth 3. Selected studies in the techniques, methods, history or theory of archaeology in anthropology.



V. Cross-Cultural Comparisons

142. Anthropology of War (3)

Prerequisite: Anth 2. Theories on the causes and evolution of aggression. Explanations and implications of conventional warfare at different levels of cultural complexity. The ecology and ethics of combat from warrior through soldier to terrorist.

143. Women: Culture and Biology (3)
(Same as WS 142) Prerequisite: Anth 1 or 2. Genetic and environmental factors in becoming and being female in our species. Sexuality, maturation, and reproduction. Cross-cultural variations in psychological, political, and economic aspects of women's roles.

145W. Comparative Religion (3)
Prerequisite: Anth 2. Religious systems of nonliterate, peasant, and sectarian groups. Topics include; trance, mysticism, hallucinogens, sorcery and witchcraft, shamanism, myth, ritual, magic, cults. Meets upper division writing skills requirement for graduation.

146. Anthropology of Art (3)
Prerequisite: Anth 2 or 3. A study of art within its socio-cultural contexts. Emphasizes the perspectives and expressions of societies in the major world areas.

148. Ethnic Relations and Culture (3)
Cross-cultural examination of the development and organization of ethnicity and of inter-ethnic relations. Critical review of major theories of ethnicity and its relation to economics, politics and ideology.

151. Cultures and Foods of East Asia (3)
(Same as As Am 151) The regional ecologies, preparations, and ritual implications of food in Mainland and Insular Asia. Emphasizes socio-cultural rather than bio-nutritional factors. Students will learn to prepare and serve a variety of Oriental dishes.

152. Organization and Inequality (3)
Prerequisite: Anth 2. Principles of organizational forms from kinship to bureaucracy. Evolutionary links between organizational complexity and levels of inequality. Types of human exploitation in bands, tribes, feudalism, caste, and class systems.

153. Psychological Anthropology (3)
Prerequisite: Anth 2. Cultural and biological factors in cognition, learning, values, decision-making and personality-formation. Cross-cultural perspectives on mental health and illness; supportive and destructive patterns in culture and behavior.

155. Folk Medicine (3)
Prerequisite: Anth 2. Cross-cultural examination of health practices and attitudes. Ethnomedicine, ethnopsychiatry, epidemiology, and health care systems of non-Westerners and of ethnic communities in plural societies.

159T. Topics in Cultural Anthropology (1-4; max total 8)
Prerequisite: Anth 2 and permission of instructor. Detailed consideration of a single topic in cultural anthropology. Seminar.


VI. Physical Anthropology

161. Fossil Man (3)

Prerequisite: Anth 1. A critical examination of the fossil evidence for hominid forms and behaviors in the Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs. Focuses on the specific evolutionary factors which led to the emergence of modern humanity.

162. Primates (3)
Prerequisite: Anth 1. An introduction to the study of primate biological and behavioral evolution. Explores sociobiological theory in order to explain the unity and diversity of social behavior in prosimians, monkeys, and apes.

163. Human Variation (3)
Prerequisite: Anth 1. A cross-cultural examination of variations in human morphology, physiology, and biochemistry. Establishes the correlation between variations in human biology and variations in climate, culture, nutrition, and disease.

164. Human Osteology (3)
Prerequisite: Anth 1. Introduces a range of analytic techniques for extracting information from human skeletal remains: sexing and aging, osteometry, odontometry, the examination and diagnosis of epigenetic traits and pathological lesion, and the statistical interpretation of skeletal data.

165. Methods of Data Collection and Analysis in Physical Anthropology (3)
Prerequisite: Anth 1. Techniques in anthroposcopic, anthropometric, osteometric, odontometric and serological data collection and analysis; quantitative methods; preparation and writing of technical reports.

169T. Topics in Physical Anthropology (1-4; max total 8)
Prerequisite: permission of instructor. Detailed consideration of a single topic in physical anthropology. Seminar.

190. Independent Study (1-3; max see reference)
See Academic Placement -- Independent Study

192. Directed Readings (1-3)
Prerequisite: permission of instructor. Supervised readings in a selected field of anthropology. No more than 6 units may be counted towards major.


Asian American Studies (AsAm)

15. Introduction to Asian American Status and Identity (3)
Historical, social, and psychological factors in the changing status and identity of Americans from Asia. Examines variables such as cultural heritage, family organization, intergenerational conflict, and the experience of racism in the changing world of Asian Americans.

30. Japanese Americans in the United States (3)
A survey of social adaptations and cultural changes among Japanese Americans in different communities such as California and Hawaii. Considers identity, marginality, acculturation, and cultural traditions in Japan and in American communities.

56. Chinese Americans in the United States (3)
A survey of social adaptations and cultural changes among Chinese Americans in such places as California, Hawaii, and New York. Considers identity, marginality, acculturation, and cultural traditions in China and in American communities.

110. Asian American Communities (3)
A multidisciplinary study of Asian American communities and their relations with the larger society. Analyzes values, lifestyles, processes of group identity and boundary maintenance, social organization, and cultural change. Examination of Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, and other Asian American subcultures.

150. Asian American Expression (3)
The study of Asian and Asian American literature, art, music, and drama. Examines the role of creative expression as a way of understanding changing views of ethnicity and community identity.

151. Cultures and Foods of East Asia (3)
(See Anth 181.)

180T. Topics in Asian American Studies (3; max total 6)
Prerequisites: AsAm 15, permission of instructor. Detailed consideration of a single topic concerning the past or present position of Asian Americans in U.S. society.

190. Independent Study (1-3; max see reference)
See Academic Placement -- Independent Study.

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