ANTH 237a / ANTH 2837a / CPLT 2420a / GMAN 2330a / HUMS 4325a / PHIL 2219a, Karl Marx's Capital  Staff

A careful reading of Karl Marx's classic critique of capitalism, Capital volume 1, a work of philosophy, political economy, and critical social theory that has had a significant global readership for over 150 years. Selected readings also from Capital volumes 2 and 3.  HU  0 Course cr
Th 10:30am-11:20am

* ANTH 0418a, Scientific Thinking and Reasoning  Eduardo Fernandez-Duque

Students read, discuss and reflect on the paramount importance of science and quantitative reasoning in their lives through an exploration of the basic elements of a quantitative scientific process of inquiry. The goal of the course is to introduce students to foundational topics in science that must be, but sometimes are not, thoroughly considered early in the process of scientific inquiry. The first part focuses on reading about truth, facts and skepticism, causality, inference, deductive and inductive reasoning, research questions, and formulation of hypotheses and predictions. The second part considers aspects related to the actual development and implementation of a scientific study including considerations of types of study (e.g, observational, experimental), study feasibility, sample size, selection and validity of variables, power analysis, confounding factors. The third part considers the analyses, interpretation and presentation of results, offering introductory explanations of a priori statistical protocols; predictive and/or explanatory power and interpretation of both statistical significance and research relevance. The course is neither a lecture or seminar, but instead each meeting is a hybrid of both formats; a format where students are required to be active participants in the process of learning.   Enrollment limited to first-year students.   SC, SO
TTh 2:35pm-3:50pm

* ANTH 0440a, The Evolution of Human Uniqueness  David Watts

Current ideas in anthropology about what facilitated the evolutionary success of Homo sapiens and what distinguishes humans from other primates. The fossil and archaeological records for human evolution and the evolution of social behavior; research on nonhuman primate behavior and cognitive abilities, with an emphasis on chimpanzees; insights and limitations of comparative primate research. Enrollment limited to first-year students.  SO
TTh 9am-10:15am

ANTH 1171a / ARCG 1171a, Great Civilizations of the Ancient World  Staff

A survey of selected prehistoric and historical cultures through examination of archaeological sites and materials. Emphasis on the methodological and theoretical approaches by which archaeologists recover, analyze, and interpret the material remains of the past.  SO  0 Course cr
HTBA

ANTH 1200b / HUMS 1210b / NELC 1200b, Unequal: Dynamics of Power and Social Hierarchy in Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia  Gojko Barjamovic

The course "Unequal" examines the historical roots of intolerance, slavery, and imperialism, emphasizing how our perceptions of history shape contemporary beliefs and policies. It challenges the notion that inequality is an inevitable outcome of societal complexity, positing that historical narratives often frame progress and freedom while obscuring themes of inequality. By investigating early human history, the course aims to unpack the concepts of identity, possession, value, freedom, and power, exploring their impact on modern society. Rather than focusing on specific literature or chronological period, "Unequal" centers around critical questions about human culture. The course employs innovative experimental lab assignments, allowing students to engage with the past creatively, such as cooking ancient recipes, brewing beer, and creating virtual museum exhibits. This interdisciplinary approach encourages a deeper understanding of the historical context that informs present-day issues, inviting students to rethink common narratives and assumptions about equality and progress. Ultimately, the course aims to foster critical thinking about the interplay between history and contemporary society.  HU, SO  0 Course cr
TTh 11:35am-12:50pm

ANTH 1400a, Introduction to Biological Anthropology  Staff

Introduction to human and primate evolution, primate behavior, and human biology. Topics include a review of principles of evolutionary biology and basic molecular and population genetics; the behavior, ecology, and evolution of nonhuman primates; the fossil and archaeological record for human evolution; the origin of modern humans; biological variation in living humans; and the evolution of human behavior.  SC, SO  0 Course cr
HTBA

* ANTH 1812b, Agent, Person, Subject, Self  Paul Kockelman

Introduction to the interconnections between language and personality development and to the social construction of person and self. Focus on the capacities of agency, subjectivity, selfhood, and personhood as analyzed in classic works from anthropology, psychology, and philosophy. Ways in which these seemingly human-specific and individual-centric capacities are essential for understanding social processes.  SO
M 9:25am-11:20am

* ANTH 1813a / EAST 3121a, Contemporary Japan and the Ghosts of Modernity  Yukiko Koga

This course introduces students to contemporary Japan, examining how its defeat in the Second World War and loss of empire in 1945 continue to shape Japanese culture and society. Looking especially at the sphere of cultural production, it focuses on the question of what it means to be modern as expressed through the tension between resurgent neonationalism and the aspiration to internationalize. The course charts how the legacy of Japan’s imperial failure plays a significant role in its search for renewal and identity since 1945. How, it asks, does the experience of catastrophic failure—and failure to account for that failure—play into continued aspirations for modernity today? How does Japanese society wrestle with modernity’s two faces: its promise for progress and its history of catastrophic violence? The course follows the trajectory of Japan’s postwar nation-state development after the dissolution of empire, from its resurrection out of the ashes after defeat, to its identity as a US ally and economic superpower during the Cold War, to decades of recession since the 1990s and the search for new relations with its neighbors and new reckonings with its own imperial violence and postwar inactions against the background of rising neonationalism.  HU, SO
T 1:30pm-3:25pm

ANTH 1819a, Law as Culture  Louisa Lombard

Introduction to anthropological understanding of what law is, how it holds its authority, and how it is shaped by cultural assumptions about justice, rights, and morality. Readings from classic and contemporary texts in legal and political anthropology. Cultural dimensions of law and its changing relationship to discipline, power, and governance.  SO
TTh 2:35pm-3:50pm

ANTH 1840b / ER&M 2541b / SOCY 1840b, The Corporation  Douglas Rogers

Survey of the rise, diversity, and power of the capitalist corporation in global contexts, with a focus on the 20th and 21st centuries. Topics include: the corporation as legal entity and the social and cultural consequences of this status; corporations in the colonial era; relationships among corporations, states, and non-governmental organizations in Western and non-Western contexts; anti-corporate critique and response; corporate social responsibility; and race, gender, and indigeneity.  HU, SO  0 Course cr
MW 2:35pm-3:50pm

ANTH 2215a / ARCG 2215a, Archaeology of China  Anne Underhill

Archaeology of China, one of the world's oldest and most enduring civilizations, from the era of early humans to early empires. Methods of interpreting remains from prehistoric and historic period sites.  SO
MW 9am-10:15am

ANTH 2232a / ARCG 2232a / LAST 2232a, Ancient Civilizations of the Andes  Richard Burger

Survey of the archaeological cultures of Peru and Bolivia from the earliest settlement through the late Inca state.  SO
TTh 10:30am-11:20am

* ANTH 2252a / RLST 3300a / SAST 3760a, Religion, Place, and Space  Staff

This seminar explores why ‘placemaking’ is significant for practitioners of various religions worldwide. From the holy city of Mecca to the sacred landscape of Banaras in India, religious traditions are tethered to sacred geographies. These locations are often physical sites imbued with sacred energies and social meaning. Religious activities can occur in churches or mosques, forests or mountains, community centers, public squares, or homes. The course materials consider specific religious sites and contexts (including those on the Yale campus), examining how these places simultaneously become sites of worship, articulations of identity and heritage, claims of political significance, and hubs of social and emotional life. Special attention is given to how space and place are gendered, racialized, and shaped by emotions, senses, and memories.  HU, SO
MW 11:35am-12:50pm

* ANTH 2255b / ARCG 2255b / LAST 1255b, Inca Culture and Society  Richard Burger

The history and organization of the Inca empire and its impact on the nations and cultures it conquered. The role of archaeology in understanding the transformation of Andean lifeways; the interplay between ethnohistoric and archaeological approaches to the subject. This course is not open to students who previously enrolled in ARCG 030.  SO
TTh 11:35am-12:50pm

ANTH 2264a / ARCG 2264a / SPAN 4320a, Aztec Archaeology and Ethnohistory  Oswaldo Chinchilla Mazariegos

An anthropological and ethnohistorical examination of the Aztec civilization that dominated much of Mexico from the fourteenth century until the Spanish Conquest of 1521.  SO
TTh 9am-10:15am

ANTH 2403b, Primate Conservation  David Watts

A study of nonhuman primates threatened by deforestation, habitat disturbance, hunting, and other human activities; the future of primate habitats, especially tropical rainforests, as they are affected by local and global economic and political forces. Examination of issues in primate conservation, from the principles of conservation biology and rainforest ecology to the emergence of diseases such as AIDS and Ebola and the extraction of tropical resources by local people and by transnational corporations.  SO
MW 9am-10:15am

ANTH 2442a, Human Evolutionary Biology and Life History  Richard Bribiescas

The range of human physiological adaptability across environments and ecologies. Effects of energetic constraints on growth, reproduction, and behavior within the context of evolution and life history theory, with special emphasis on traditional non-Western societies.  SC, SO  0 Course cr
TTh 11:35am-12:50pm

ANTH 2480b, Evolution of Primate Intelligence  David Watts

Discussion of the extent and evolutionary origins of cognitive abilities in primates (prosimians, monkeys, apes, and humans). Topics include the role of ecological and social factors as evolutionary forces; "ape language" studies; and whether any nonhuman primates possess a "theory of mind."  SO  0 Course cr
TTh 2:35pm-3:50pm

* ANTH 2504a, Molecular Anthropology  Serena Tucci

This course is a perfect introduction for anyone interested in understanding how genetics can help us answer fundamental questions in human evolution and population history. The course studies the basic principles of population genetics, molecular evolution, and genetic data analysis. Topics include DNA and human origins, human migrations, genetic adaptation, ancient DNA, and Neandertals. By the end of this course, students learn about the processes that generate and shape genetic variation, as well as the molecular and statistical tools used to reconstruct human evolutionary history.  SC
TTh 1:05pm-2:20pm

ANTH 2517b, Hormones, Evolution, and Human Behavior  Richard Bribiescas

This course examines the evolution of human behavior through the lens of endocrinology and life history theory. Topics include the evolution of social behavior, pair bonding, parental investment, aggression, sex, feeding behavior, and risk tolerance. This course also addresses these topics with a mindful eye towards variation throughout the human life course from birth to death. Specific attention is made towards examining behavioral endocrinology within the context of human diversity in all its forms, social, biological, and ecological as well as in comparison with other species including non-human primates. ANTH 116, ANTH 242, or a similar course is recommended before enrolling in this course.  SO  0 Course cr
TTh 11:35am-12:50pm

ANTH 2530a / WGSS 2230a, Evolutionary Biology of Female Bodies  Claudia Valeggia

Evolutionary, biosocial, and situated perspectives on the female body. Physiological, ecological, social and cultural aspects of the development of female bodies from puberty through menopause and aging, with special attention to lived experiences. Variation in female life histories in a variety of cultural and ecological settings. Examples from both traditional and modern societies.  SC  0 Course cr
TTh 2:35pm-3:50pm

* ANTH 2660a / ARCG 2660a, Being Human: The Neanderthal Dilemma  Jessica Thompson

Who were Neanderthals, and how were they different from us? Since their discovery in 1856, they have fascinated the public with their position as our closest, yet extinct, relatives. For decades Neanderthals were portrayed as nasty, brutish, and passively lacking the talent and innovation that allowed humans to survive and thrive. Recently, they have become celebrated as our close cousins or even just another group of ancient humans. But what does modern science say about Neanderthal life and extinction, and what do Neanderthals tell us about ourselves? By asking the question “were Neanderthals human,” this course examines what it actually means to be human. Students learn the archaeological, fossil, and biomolecular records of Neanderthals, early modern humans, and other contemporaneous human relatives.  They also learn the foundations of human evolutionary science, with a focus on the Middle and Late Pleistocene (770,000 to 11,500 years ago), when the genus Homo diversified into as many as seven species–including our own.   SC, SO
MW 2:35pm-3:50pm

ANTH 2667b / ARCG 2667b, Human Evolution  Jessica Thompson

The main objective of this course is for students to learn how evidence and theory intersect with some of the peculiarities of history to form the modern discipline of paleoanthropology. It deals with scientific questions of human origins and evolution, and what we think we know of our own ancestry over the past 6 million years. We cover key tools such as evolutionary theory, paleontology, archaeology, paleoenvironmental reconstruction, phylogenetic analysis, genetics, and functional morphology. Using these tools, we critically examine what key debates have taken place over the last century of exploration and discovery in human evolutionary research, learning how unconventional thinking and spectacular discoveries have shaped current knowledge of our origins. Students learn what a surprising amount of information scientists can discern from fragmentary fossils, and are brought up to date with the most current discoveries and debates in human evolution. Students also see how human origins are conveyed to a broader audience, and how misunderstandings about how it happened can propagate and be misused. Knowledge of introductory biological anthropology or biology are helpful.  SC, SO  0 Course cr
MW 11:35am-12:50pm

ANTH 2821b / HSHM 2380b, The History of Drugs in America  Marco Ramos

Virtually every American today “does” drugs. As a nation, our drug use ranges from everyday activities, such as drinking coffee or beer, to combating illnesses with prescription medications, to using illegal drugs for recreation. This course follow a loose chronology beginning in the early twentieth century and ending in the present day. Instead of focusing on the biography of a single drug, or class of drugs, this course incorporates a wide range of substances, including alcohol, cigarettes, pharmaceuticals, psychedelics, and narcotics. Through a selection of essays, book chapters, and primary source material, we discuss how certain ways of using and selling drugs have been sanctioned and encouraged, while others have been pathologized as addiction or criminalized. We explore how drug definitions are constructed, how they shift over time, and how they reflect, reinforce, and sometimes challenge anxieties about race, disability, sexuality, and gender. Throughout the course, films, images, music, and television episodes are also presented as objects of analysis to provide insight into the cultural lives of drugs. We explore how historians approach this subject, assess their sources and assumptions, and consider the choices they have made in researching and writing. Students are expected to apply these historical lessons to the present and demonstrate the ability to think and write critically about the history of drugs. Students previously enrolled in HSHM 488, The History of Drugs in 20th Century America, are not eligible to enroll in this course.  HU, SO  0 Course cr
TTh 9:25am-10:15am

* ANTH 2835a / AFST 2277a / ANTH 235 / ER&M 1677a / ER&M 277, Introduction to Critical Border Studies  Leslie Gross-Wyrtzen

This course serves as an introduction into the major themes and approaches to the study of border enforcement and the management of human mobility. We draw upon a diverse range of scholarship across the social sciences as well as history, architecture, and philosophy to better understand how we find ourselves in this present “age of walls” (Tim Marshall 2019). In addition, we take a comparative approach to the study of borders—examining specific contemporary and historical cases across the world in order to gain a comprehensive view of what borders are and how their meaning and function has changed over time. And because there is “critical” in the title, we explicitly evaluate the political consequences of borders, examine the sorts of resistances mobilized against them, and ask what alternative social and political worlds might be possible.  SO
Th 1:30pm-3:25pm

ANTH 2837a / ANTH 237a / CPLT 2420a / GMAN 2330a / HUMS 4325a / PHIL 2219a, Karl Marx's Capital  Staff

A careful reading of Karl Marx's classic critique of capitalism, Capital volume 1, a work of philosophy, political economy, and critical social theory that has had a significant global readership for over 150 years. Selected readings also from Capital volumes 2 and 3.  HU  0 Course cr
HTBA

* ANTH 2850a, Waste, Trash, Pollution  Staff

How do we know that something is waste or garbage? How does something valuable later become trash, or vice versa? This course looks at human encounters with waste, trash, discards, and pollution. Through examining ethnographic and social theory texts, we consider how waste is not a neutral or self-evident label, but a sociocultural construct that draws social boundaries and enacts cultural meanings. As we denaturalize waste through engaging with course readings and writing assignments, we’ll ultimately explore how to understand human culture by looking at our relations with the things—and the people—we treat as disposable. Waste and pollution have long featured in conceptions of sociality within anthropology and social theory more generally, offering a wide range of topics, geographical sites, and contexts to explore. We look at pieces on, but not limited to: trash collectors and recyclers in Brazil, Pakistan, and Bulgaria; microplastic pollution; theories of productivity and value; wastelanding as a mechanism of colonialism and development in Vietnam; waste management infrastructures in Ghana and the US; nuclear toxicities and environmental justice; and purity politics.  SO
MW 4pm-5:15pm

ANTH 3116La / ARCG 3116La, Introduction to Archaeological Laboratory Sciences  Ellery Frahm

Introduction to techniques of archaeological laboratory analysis, with quantitative data styles and statistics appropriate to each. Topics include dating of artifacts, sourcing of ancient materials, remote sensing, and microscopic and biochemical analysis. Specific techniques covered vary from year to year.  SC
T 1pm-4pm

* ANTH 3153a / ARCG 3153a, The Archaeology of Trade and Exchange  Richard Burger

This seminar will focus on archaeological approaches to exchange and trade. As background, we will review some of the principal theories of exchange from anthropology and sociology, such as those of Mauss, Malinowski and Polanyi. The role of trade and exchange in different kinds of societies will examined by contextualizing these transactions within specific cultural configurations and considering the nature of production and consumption as they relate to movement of these goods. We will consider methods and models that have been used to analyze regions of interaction at different spatial scales and the theoretical arguments about the social impact of inter-regional and intra-regional interactions involving the transfer of goods, including approaches such as world systems, unequal development and globalization. In addition, we will examine the ways that have been utilized in archaeology to identify different kinds of exchange systems, often through analogies to well documented ethnographic and historic cases. Finally, we will consider the range of techniques that have been employed in order to track the movement of goods across space. These sourcing techniques will be evaluated in terms of their advantages and disadvantages from an archaeological perspective, and how the best technical analyses may vary according to the nature of natural or cultural materials under consideration (ceramics, volcanic stone, metals, etc.). The theme for this year’s seminar is obsidian so students should select some aspect of obsidian research for their final paper and presentation.
W 11:35am-12:50pm

* ANTH 3172b / ARCG 3172b, The Archaeology of Urbanism  Piphal Heng

Archaeological studies of ancient cities and urbanism. Topics include the origin and growth of cities; the economic, social, and political implications of urban life; and archaeological methods and theories for the study of ancient urbanism. Case studies include ancient cities around the world.   SO
T 1:30pm-3:25pm

* ANTH 3185b / ARCG 3185b, Archaeological Ceramics  Anne Underhill

Archaeological methods for analyzing and interpreting ceramics, arguably the most common type of object found in ancient sites. Focus on what different aspects of ceramic vessels reveal about the people who made them and used them.  SO
M 1:30pm-3:20pm

* ANTH 3226b / ARCG 3226b, Ancient Civilizations of the Eurasian Steppes  William Honeychurch

Examination of peoples of the steppe zone that stretches from Eastern Europe to Mongolia. Overview of what archaeologists know about Eurasian steppe societies, with emphasis on the Neolithic, Bronze and Iron, and medieval ages. Attention both to material culture and to historical sources. Topics range from the domestication of the horse to Genghis Khan's world empire, including the impact these events had on neighboring civilizations in Europe and Asia.  SO
F 4pm-5:55pm

* ANTH 3290b / ARCG 3290b, Archaeological Ceramics II  Ellery Frahm

Ceramics are one of the most common archaeological materials. This course introduces students to techniques in the archaeological, geological, and materials sciences (microscopy, analytical chemistry, etc.) for the study of ceramic artifacts. Learning methods include (1) engaging with and assessing the literature on scientific studies of archaeological ceramics, (2) learning the mechanisms, strengths, and weaknesses of scientific techniques used for such students (X-ray fluorescence analysis, petrographic and electron microscopy, neutron activation analysis, etc.), and (3) gaining experience in a research project that combines both literature engagement and hands-on experience. Students are permitted to enroll with either previous/concurrent enrollment in (1) ANTH 316L or 716L: Introduction to Archaeological Laboratory Sciences or (2) ANTH 385 or 785: Archaeological Ceramics I or (3) instructor permission due to commensurate prior coursework or experience (for example, undergraduate coursework by doctoral students).  SO
W 9:25am-11:20am

* ANTH 3304a or b / AMST 3304a or b / ER&M 3304a or b / HUMS 3304a or b / SOCY 3104a or b, Ethnography & Journalism  Madiha Tahir

While each is loathed to admit it, journalism and ethnography are cousins in some respects interested in (albeit distinct) modes of storytelling, translation, and interpretation. This methods course considers these shared grounds to launch a cross-comparative examination. What can the practies of each field and method—journalism and ethnography—tell us about the other? How do journalists and ethnographers engage ideas about the truth? What can they learn from each other? Students spend the first four weeks studying journalistic methods and debates before shifting to ethnographic discussions, and finally, comparative approaches to writing; data and evidence; experience and positionality.   HU, SO
HTBA

* ANTH 3476b / EVST 3476b, Observing and Measuring Behavior, Part I: Study Design  Eduardo Fernandez-Duque

This is the first course in a Spring-Fall sequence; students can take both courses or either.  The course surveys theoretical issues and practical methods relevant to studying the behavior of animals and humans, primarily in the “wild”. Topics covered include formulation of research questions, hypotheses and predictions, study design, sampling methods for studying behavior, genetics, endocrinology, ecology, climate. Students will learn and practice various forms of behavioral and ecological sampling, as well as gain familiarity with some widely-used technologies that facilitate the study of behavior (e.g. radiotelemetry). Then, working around a specific research question, students will design their own study.  Some of the studies you may consider could potentially be implemented at the field sites in Argentina, Perú or Ecuador where we work.  Students have also developed studies to be conducted at sites where I don’t work (e.g. various labs at Yale, bird stations in the US).  Prerequisite: Some background (including high school) on evolutionary biology, animal behavior, biology recommended. Contact the Instructor if in doubt.  SC, SO
W 1:30pm-3:25pm

* ANTH 3477a / EVST 3477a, Observing and Measuring Behavior, Part II: Data Analyses and Reporting  Eduardo Fernandez-Duque

This is the second course in a spring-fall sequence. The course is primarily for students who have recently conducted research and are in the process of analyses and writing up the results of the research. In this course students learn how to analyze the data they have collected, strategies for interpreting and presenting results, including considerations of study design issues and a priori statistical protocols; predictive and/or explanatory power and interpretation of statistical significance, scientific inference and research relevance. Students practice writing and oral skills associated with how to write communicating the results of their study. Prerequisite: ANTH 376 or EVST 377  QR, SC, SO
W 1:30pm-3:25pm

* ANTH 3554b / SPAN 2905b, Cuerpos Femeninos (Female Bodies): Biology, Evolution, and Society  Claudia Valeggia

This course is not your regular lecture or seminar class. It is indeed a journey, an exploration of female bodies from an evolutionary and biosocial perspective. We focus on physiological, ecological, and social aspects of women’s development from puberty, through reproductive processes such as menstrual cycles, pregnancy, birth, postpartum and breastfeeding, and menopause. We also explore variation in female life histories in a variety of western and non-western cultural and ecological settings. Examples are drawn primarily from traditional and modern human societies and our own life experiences. We encourage critical thinking at all times with the hope that discussions in this class become useful when making decisions about your lives as citizens, potential parents, health care providers, health care recipients, and policy makers. This course is taught entirely in Spanish. Open to students who have placed into L5 courses or who have successfully completed an L4 course in Spanish.  L5, SO
TTh 1:05pm-2:20pm

* ANTH 3594a, Methods and Research in Molecular Anthropology I  Serena Tucci

The first part of a two-term practical introduction to molecular analysis of anthropological questions. Discussion of genetics and molecular evolution, particularly as they address issues in anthropology, combined with laboratory sessions on basic tools for genetic analysis and bioinformatics. Development of research projects to be carried out in ANTH 395.  SC  0 Course cr
TTh 2:35pm-3:50pm

* ANTH 3595b, Methods and Research in Molecular Anthropology II  Serena Tucci

The second part of a two-term practical introduction to molecular analysis of anthropological questions. Design and execution of laboratory projects developed in ANTH 394. Research involves at least ten hours per week in the laboratory. Results are presented in a formal seminar at the end of the term. Prerequisite: ANTH 394.
T 1:30pm-3:25pm

* ANTH 3710a, Anthropological Theory and the Post Colonial Encounter  Christen Smith

Key texts in the theoretical development of sociocultural anthropology. Theorists include Karl Marx, Max Weber, Emile Durkheim, Franz Boas, Zora Neale Hurston, Sidney Mintz, Bernard Cohn, Michel Foucault, Edward Said, Antonio Gramsci, Sherry Ortner, and Joan Scott.  SO  0 Course cr
W 1:30pm-3:25pm

* ANTH 3720b, Field Methods in Cultural Anthropology  Jane Lynch

The fundamentals of cultural anthropology methods. The foundations of fieldwork approaches, including methods, theories, and the problem of objectivity.  WR, SO
Th 1:30pm-3:25pm

* ANTH 3808a / WGSS 4407a, Feminist & Queer Ethnographies: Borders and Boundaries  Eda Pepi

This seminar gives students a storm’s eye view of contemporary crises, where borders are as volatile as the ring of a wedding bell or the birth of a child. Feminist and queer ethnographies explore the geopolitical lines and social divides that define and confine us. Manifesting through laws, social norms, and physical barriers, borders and boundaries shape our identities, turning the intimate act of living into a fiercely political one. We consider them as lived experiences that cross militarized lines—as the everyday realities of families, detention centers, workplaces, universities, and even nightclubs. Our readings trace the fluidity of borders, the extension of the global north's influence, and the internal colonialism that redraws the landscapes of nations. Contemporary ways of bridging time and space are profoundly gendered, sexualized racialized, and class-specific, capable of materializing with sudden intensity for some and remaining imperceptible to others, morphing from ephemeral lines to seemingly permanent barriers. The course is an invitation to think beyond the map – to understand borders as something people live, challenge, and transform. Our intellectual battleground is the liminal space where geopolitics meets the raw human struggle for recognition, peeling back the layers of political theatre to witness the making and unmaking of our borderlands. Anchored by a “radical hope for living otherwise,” the seminar also aims to expand the intellectual horizons necessary for dreaming of, and working towards, the world to come.  HU, SO
T 4pm-5:55pm

* ANTH 3839a, Urban Ethnography of Asia  Erik Harms

Introduction to the anthropological study of contemporary Asian cities. Focus on new ethnographies about cities in East, Southeast, and South Asia. Topics include rural-urban migration, redevelopment, evictions, social movements, land grabbing, master-planned developments, heritage preservation, utopian aspirations, social housing, slums and precariousness, and spatial cleansing.  SO
T 9:25am-11:20am

* ANTH 3846a, Ethnography and Capitalism  Douglas Rogers

An introduction to the anthropological study of capitalism. Focus on how markets and commodities are embedded in social, cultural, and political contexts. Discussion of the many ways people have embraced, reinterpreted, and resisted capitalism worldwide. Consideration of the implications of this diversity for theories of capitalism as a whole. Enrollment limited to sophomores.  SO
W 1:30pm-3:25pm

* ANTH 3860a / AFST 3360a / ER&M 1614a, African Migration and Diaspora  Leslie Gross-Wyrtzen

This seminar examines the politics of migration to, from, and within Africa. We explore intercontinental, regional, and rural-urban migratory circuits and diasporic formations to consider mobility and immobility in relation to race, colonialism, capitalism, neoliberalism, and globalization. Drawing on sources ranging from colonial travel accounts and trade diaspora histories to black critical theory and fiction, we examine theorizations and representations both about migration and by diasporic peoples to unsettle and re-theorize imaginaries of globalization, nationalism, and the politics of belonging.  SO
T 1:30pm-3:25pm

* ANTH 3867a, Technology and Culture  Lisa Messeri

This class examines how technology matters in our daily lives. How do technologies shape understandings of ourselves, the worlds we inhabit, and each other? How do the values and assumptions of engineers and innovators shape our behaviors? How do technologies change over time and between cultures. Students learn to think about technology and culture as co-constituted. We read and discuss texts from history and anthropology of science, as well as fictional explorations relevant to course topics. .  SO  0 Course cr
T 1:30pm-3:25pm

* ANTH 3878a, Postwar Vietnam  Erik Harms

An introduction to the study of Vietnamese society since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, with a focus on how economic and political changes intersect with cultural and social life. The historical challenges of postwar socialism, economic renovation, and the intersection of "market-oriented socialism" with class dynamics, urbanization, gender, health care, and ritual life.  SO
W 4pm-5:55pm

* ANTH 4072a, Readings in Anthropology  Jessica Thompson

For students who wish to investigate an area of anthropology not covered by regular departmental offerings. The project must terminate with at least a term paper or its equivalent. No student may take more than two terms for credit. To apply for admission, a student should present a prospectus and bibliography to the director of undergraduate studies no later than the third week of the term. Written approval from the faculty member who will direct the student's reading and writing must accompany the prospectus.
HTBA

* ANTH 4091a, Writing the Senior Essay  Jessica Thompson

Supervised investigation of some topic in depth. The course requirement is a long essay to be submitted as the student's senior essay. By the end of the third week of the term in which the essay is written, the student must present a prospectus and a preliminary bibliography to the director of undergraduate studies. Written approval from an Anthropology faculty adviser and an indication of a preferred second reader must accompany the prospectus.
HTBA

* ANTH 4102a / EAST 4102a, Pastoralist States of East Asia  Staff

This course examines the political, social, and material worlds of mobile pastoralist societies that shaped East Asian history from the 3rd century BCE through the 14th century CE. Groups including the Xiongnu, Turks, Khitan Liao, Jurchen-Chin, and Mongols built complex polities that rivaled and often conquered their sedentary agricultural neighbors, yet they have frequently been dismissed as "barbarian" raiders or excluded from definitions of "states" altogether. We trace the historical trajectories of steppe societies as distinct from yet deeply entwined with the histories of other East Asian regions, asking: How did mobile pastoralists organize political power? How did their interactions with agrarian states shape both pastoralist and sedentary societies? And fundamentally, what does it mean to call something a ‘state’? Through archaeological evidence, historical texts, and comparative analysis, students explore how pastoralist groups have been studied, represented, and misunderstood. We examine political organization, military structures, material culture, foodways, and daily lifeways, while interrogating the categories and assumptions scholars use to make sense of the past. The structuring question of this course—Do pastoralist states exist, and is that a meaningful category of analysis?—speaks to broader debates about power, identity, and state formation that extend beyond East Asia.  SO
F 1:30pm-3:25pm

* ANTH 4150a / ARCG 4150a, Analysis of Lithic Technology  Oswaldo Chinchilla Mazariegos

Introduction to the analysis of chipped and ground stone tools, including instruction in manufacturing chipped stone tools from obsidian. Review of the development of stone tool technology from earliest tools to those of historical periods; relevance of this technology to subsistence, craft specialization, and trade. Discussion of the recording, analysis, and drawing of artifacts, and of related studies such as sourcing and use-wear analysis.  SO
T 1:30pm-3:25pm

* ANTH 4217b / ARCG 4217b, Maya Hieroglyphic Writing  Oswaldo Chinchilla Mazariegos

Introduction to the ancient Maya writing system. Contents of the extant corpus, including nametags, royal and ritual commemorations, dynastic and political subjects, and religious and augural subjects; principles and methods of decipherment; overview of the Maya calendar; comparison with related writing systems in Mesoamerica and elsewhere in the ancient world.  SO
TTh 9:25am-11:20am

* ANTH 4292b / ARCG 4292b / NELC 3210b, Imaging Ancient Worlds in Museum Collections  Klaus Wagensonner and Agnete Lassen

What is Digitization of Cultural Heritage? What are its merits, challenges, and best practices? The course highlighst the documentation and interpretation of archaeological artifacts, in particular artifacts from Western Asia. The primary goal of the course is the use of new technologies in computer graphics, including 3D imaging, to support current research in archaeology and anthropology. The course does put particular emphasis on the best practices of digitizing artifacts in collections. The prime study subjects are the artifacts housed in the Yale Babylonian Collection (https://babylonian-collection.yale.edu). For some background information on the Collection see here. Students engage directly with the artifacts while practicing the various imaging techniques.  HU  0 Course cr
W 1:30pm-3:25pm

ANTH 4564a or b / ARCG 4564a or b / EEB 3464a or b, Human Osteology  Eric Sargis

A lecture and laboratory course focusing on the characteristics of the human skeleton and its use in studies of functional morphology, paleodemography, and paleopathology. Laboratories familiarize students with skeletal parts; lectures focus on the nature of bone tissue, its biomechanical modification, sexing, aging, and interpretation of lesions.  SC, SO  0 Course cr
HTBA

* ANTH 4590b, Health of Indigenous Peoples  Claudia Valeggia

From the highlands of the Andes to the lowlands of the Amazon basin and the frozen circumpolar steppes, from subsistence farmers and herders to hunter-gatherer groups, indigenous populations are changing their lifestyle so rapidly, and sometimes so profoundly, that it is difficult to follow the pace of the transformation. Indigenous peoples always fare far worse than non-indigenous ones in terms of health status. No matter where one looks, there are substantial health disparities between indigenous and non-indigenous populations in the form of mortality and morbidity gaps. We go over the epidemiological landscape of indigenous populations and discuss causes of death and sickness, which vary from population to population. We then expand on some of the possible interactive causes of these disparities, particularly the role that globalization and market integration is having in shaping the health situation of indigenous peoples. Finally, we discuss the current surge of Global Health Programs, mainly at academic or research institutions in the northern hemisphere and the contribution of anthropology to those programs.  SO
T 9:25am-11:20am

* ANTH 4662a, Ethnographic Perspectives on Global Health  Marcia Inhorn

Study of anthropological ethnographies on serious health problems facing populations in resource-poor societies. Poverty and structural violence; health as a human right; struggles with infectious disease; the health of women and children. Focus on health issues facing sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America.  SO
M 4pm-5:55pm

* ANTH 4669b / ARCG 4669b, Evolution of Human Diet  Jessica Thompson

This seminar examines human nutrition and subsistence behavior from an evolutionary perspective. It begins with human nutritional literature and discussions of our biological requirements, then moves into comparison of modern human dietary ecology with those of other primates, especially our closest living relatives, the great apes. We then turn to literature that demonstrates the methods and theoretical approaches that are currently used to reconstruct past diets. As we begin to follow the evidence for changes in subsistence in the hominin lineage, case studies using these methods are integrated into discussions of how we know what we do about past nutrition. The course spends time on key issues and debates such as changes from closed-habitat to open-habitat foraging, the origins of meat-eating, the role of extractive foraging in human social systems, variation in hunter-forager subsistence systems, the origins of domestication, and the phenomenon of fad diets in industrialized nations. Prerequisite: one of ANTH 061, ANTH 267, ANTH 116, or by instructor permission.  WR, SC, SO
W 1:30pm-3:25pm

* ANTH 4801b, Meaning and Materiality  Paul Kockelman

The interaction of meaning and materiality. Relations among significance, selection, sieving, and serendipity explored through classic work in biosemiosis, technocognition, and sociogenesis. Sources from sociocultural and linguistic anthropology, philosophy, and cognitive sciences such as psychology.  SO
W 9:25am-11:20am

* ANTH 4809a / ER&M 3594a / EVST 4422a / F&ES 422 / GLBL 4394a, Climate and Society: Perspectives from the Social Sciences and Humanities  Michael Dove

Discussion of the major currents of thought regarding climate and climate change; focusing on equity, collapse, folk knowledge, historic and contemporary visions, western and non-western perspectives, drawing on the social sciences and humanities.  WR, SO
Th 1:30pm-3:25pm

* ANTH 4818b / ER&M 4518b / WGSS 4518b, Multi-Sited Ethnography Methodological Pivoting Under Duress  Eda Pepi and Ana Ramos-Zayas

In the face of resurgent authoritarianism, nativism, and assaults on academic freedom, this course examines ethnographic pivots under conditions of duress that are not exceptions but constitutive of the method itself. “Fieldsites choose us” as much as we choose them, pressing ethnographers to move with the currents of empire, capital, and knowledge production while reckoning with their limits. We retrace the genealogies of ethnographic practice and “turns” tethered to geopolitical demands: from the long shadow of “the native,” carried forward in avatars such as “the welfare queen” and “the terrorist,” to World War II–era area studies, Cold War intelligence collaborations, and the backlash against codified ethics in fieldwork and classrooms. Equally formative are the bureaucracies of academia—funding cycles, time-to-degree mandates, thematic calls, and the logics of publishing and tenure—that shape how ethnographers pose questions and frame methods. As some field sites become foreclosed and others newly thinkable, the very concept of “the field” splinters across multiple scales. What is “multi-sited” is not only movement across places but the doubleness of sites themselves—at once local and global, discrete and imbricated in imperial and transnational formations. Securitized borders, shrinking budgets, and the weaponization of academia leave open the question of whether these frictions will consolidate into a new “Americanist turn,” yet they press us to imagine the ethnographic otherwise. What becomes possible when archives, digital platforms, and mapping technologies are brought into conversation with participant observation and thick description? How might studies of diaspora, migration, enclaves, personhood, and neoliberal subjectivities be pursued not as fallback designs but as deliberate strategies? A flagship offering of the interdisciplinary Yale Ethnography Hub, the course welcomes graduate and undergraduate students across the humanities and social sciences—those preparing dissertations, senior essays, or fieldwork-driven projects, as well as those curious about ethnography’s possibilities and limits.  HU
T 4pm-5:55pm

* ANTH 4823a / ANTH 5823a, The Anthropology of Possible Worlds  Paul Kockelman

This course focuses on the nature of possible worlds: literary worlds (Narnia), ideological worlds (the world according to a particular political stance), psychological worlds (what someone remembers to be the case, wishes to be the case, or believes to be the case), environmental worlds (possible environmental futures), virtual worlds (the World of Warcraft), and—most of all—ethnographic works in which the actual and possible worlds of others are represented (the world according to the ancient Maya). We don’t focus on the contents of such worlds per se, but rather on the range of resources people have for representing, regimenting, and residing in such worlds; and the roles such resources play in mediating social relations and cultural values.  SO
W 9:25am-11:20am

* ANTH 4824a / ANTH 5824a / EAST 3122a, Politics of Memory  Yukiko Koga

This course explores the role of memory as a social, cultural, and political force in contemporary society. How societies remember difficult pasts has become a contested site for negotiating the present. Through the lens of memory, we examine complex roles that our relationships to difficult pasts play in navigating issues we face today. This course explores this politics of memory that takes place in the realm of popular culture and public space. The class asks such questions as: How do you represent difficult and contested pasts? What does it mean to enable long-silenced victims’ voices to be heard? What are the consequences of re-narrating the past by highlighting past injuries and trauma? Does memory work heal or open wounds of a society and a nation? Through examples drawn from the Holocaust, the atomic bombing in Hiroshima, the Vietnam War, genocide in Indonesia and massacres in Lebanon, to debates on confederacy statues, slavery, and lynching in the US, this course approaches these questions through an anthropological exploration of concepts such as memory, trauma, mourning, silence, voice, testimony, and victimhood.  HU, SO
M 1:30pm-3:25pm

* ANTH 4838a, Culture, Power, Oil  Douglas Rogers

The production, circulation, and consumption of petroleum as they relate to globalization, empire, cultural performance, natural resource extraction, and the nature of the state. Case studies include the United States, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Venezuela, and the former Soviet Union.  SO  0 Course cr
M 9:25am-11:20am

* ANTH 4839b, Africa, Politics, Anthropology  Louisa Lombard

Historical-anthropological study of politics in Africa since the early nineteenth century. The creation and operation of African states; the negotiation of legitimacy, authority, and belonging by state agents and the people they govern; anthropological theories about the workings of African politics, including the involvement of both state and nonstate actors.  SO
W 1:30pm-3:25pm

* ANTH 4841b / ANTH 441 / MMES 4430b / WGSS 4430b, Gender and Citizenship in the Middle East  Eda Pepi

This seminar invites students to explore how gender and citizenship intersect across the Middle East and North Africa, examining how these identities shape—and are shaped by—forces like nationalism, migration, capitalism, family, and religion. Drawing from ethnography, history, and literature, we trace how gender and sexuality simultaneously reify and trouble colonial legacies that uphold racialized ideas of “modernity.” And ask: How do global border regimes and the political economy of intimacies that sustain them reshape what it means to be—or not to be—a citizen? Our approach extends beyond laws to include everyday acts of citizenship across national and cultural divides. Readings highlight how people navigate their lives in the everyday, from the ordinary poetry of identity, love, and belonging to the spectacular drama of war and conflict.  SO
W 1:30pm-3:25pm

* ANTH 4883b / SAST 3030b, In Ordinary Fashion  Jane Lynch

Clothing fashions not only our bodies but also our experiences in and claims about the world. It has been used to define the nature and radical possibilities of indigeneity, anti-colonial nationalism, counter-cultural narratives, and capitalist critiques. At the same time, dress–and its social and legal regulation–also creates and reinforces social hierarchies, systems of morality, and forms of exclusion. This course centers these competing social realities and histories using clothing as a way into understanding the poetics and politics of everyday life. Readings include ethnographies and social histories of textiles, fashion, and the manufacture of garments including cases from India, Guatemala, Italy, China, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Trinidad, and the United States.  SO
W 9:25am-11:20am

* ANTH 4895b / PSYC 4800b, Fathers and Fatherhood: Evolution and Behavior  Eduardo Fernandez-Duque

What does it mean to be a father? We explore this question for humans and for other animals where “dads” also play a major role in the care of the young.  We will focus on the evolutionary and behavioral sciences, while acknowledging that human behavior cannot be fully understood without attention to social and cultural contexts. Our readings cover the disciplines of biological anthropology, psychology, animal behavior, sociology, human development, ecology and evolution, public health, and medicine.   Background on evolutionary biology, biology, psychology, animal behavior and/or ecology, biological anthropology. This could be the result of advanced high-school courses or college-level ones.  SO
TTh 2:35pm-3:50pm