Anthropological Theory

Catalog description

A seminar-style course that presents students with a survey of the theories that have shaped the thinking of anthropologists for over a century. We cover theories relevant to all four subfields of anthropology (cultural, archaeological, linguistic, and biological), and compare them through a very general set of questions. The five questions asked are 1) How does society hold itself together? (structure); 2)How does society change?(history); 3) How aware are people of their society and its changes?(subjectivity); 4) How are people able to change their society? (agency); and 5) How do people divide society into groups?(alterity).