Social Anthropology

ANTHRO 2910 - Theories of the Social

Semester: 

Spring

Offered: 

2023

Prof. Ajantha Subramanian

Th 9:00 AM - 11:45 AM

This required seminar offers an overview of theoretical trends in social anthropology from approximately the 1960s and situates these trends within longer genealogies of social thought. The central animating concept guiding our foray into social theoretical and anthropological work is "Power." Our analysis of the social workings of power will be structured by four conceptual rubrics: political economy, institutions, knowledge, and space.

Course Notes:

Required of candidates for the PhD in...

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ANTHRO 2725/HISTORY 2725 - Anthropology and History

Semester: 

Spring

Offered: 

2023

Profs. Ajantha Subramanian and Vincent Brown

W 9:45 AM - 11:45 AM

Explores exchanges between the disciplines of History and Anthropology, emphasizing overlaps and distinctions in the treatment of mutual concerns such as the representation of time and space, the conceptualization of power, and the making of the subject.

Course Notes:

This course is equivalent to Anthropology 2725 . Credit may be earned for either History 2725 or Anthropology 2725, but not both.

Jointly Offered with:

Faculty of Arts & Sciences as...

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ANTHRO 2689 - Image making in the Jewish imagination: drawing trauma, home and the diasporic condition

Semester: 

Spring

Offered: 

2023

Prof. Ruth Mandel

W 6:00 PM - 8:45 PM

What can we learn from alternative, multimodal forms of knowledge production? This course applies anthropological approaches to Jewish graphic narratives. We will explore the ways Jewish authors grapple with complex experiences of trauma, migration, displacement, and identity, through the use of graphic media.  Some of the works we will read include Spiegelman, Chabon, Kurzweil, Krimstein, and others.

ANTHRO 2690 - Middle East Ethnography

Semester: 

N/A

Offered: 

2023

Prof. Steven C. Caton

Th 12:00 PM - 2:45 PM

The discursive construction of culture and its complex politics are examined in a wide range of ethnographies that have been written recently on countries in the Middle East, including Lebanon, Jordan, Israel/Palestine, Egypt, Morocco, Yemen, and Iran. Among the theoretical topics to be considered are orientalism, colonialism and post-colonialism, nationalism, self, gender, and tribalism.

ANTHRO 1900 - Counseling as Colonization? Native American Encounters with the Clinical Psy-ences

Semester: 

Spring

Offered: 

2024

Prof. Joseph Gone

M 12:00 PM - 2:45PM

American Indian, First Nations, and other Indigenous communities of the USA and Canada contend with disproportionately high rates of “psychiatric” distress. Many of these communities attribute this distress to their long colonial encounters with European settlers. Concurrently, throughout the 20th century, the disciplines and professions associated with mind, brain, and behavior (e.g., psychiatry, psychology, psychoanalysis) consolidated their authority and influence within mainstream society. These “psy-ences” promote their...

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ANTHRO 1813 - Science from the Arctic: Histories and Futures

Semester: 

Spring

Offered: 

2023

Prof. Annikki Herranen-Tabibi

Th 9:00 AM - 11:45 AM

Historically, the Circumpolar Arctic has often figured as a scientific frontier and horizon – from exploration and discovery to the circulation and popularization of scientific knowledge. Amidst anthropogenic climate change, the region today gives rise to data and imagery of increasingly heightened urgency, foreshadowing ecological crises to come. This seminar surveys the role of the Arctic region in histories and futures of scientific research and practice. Each week, students acquaint themselves with a specific...

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ANTHRO 1644 - Remote Avant-Garde: Australian First Nations art and new media

Semester: 

Spring

Offered: 

2023

Prof. Jennifer Biddle

T 9:00 AM - 11:45 AM

The course is an introduction to Australian First Nations Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island art and new media.  The focus is arts of the Central and Western Desert.  The course maps sites of language and cultural (re)production, forms of materiality and conditions of colonialism in order to develop appreciation of relationships between art, life and survival. Against neo-liberal and market driven tendencies to commodify Aboriginal culture, the course considers not only contexts in which art is made but what art...

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ANTHRO 1613 - Contestations: an ethnographic inquiry into memorials and counter-memorials

Semester: 

Spring

Offered: 

2023

Prof. Ruth Mandel

W 12:45 PM - 2:45 PM

This course applies ethnographic approaches to engage with memorials and monuments.  In light of the demonumenting movement, how should we think about alternative monuments and memorials such as artist Gunter Demnig’s Stolpersteine (stumbling stones)?  In addition to anthropological literature, the course will draw on work from memory studies, Holocaust studies, conceptual art, etc.  Students will carry out their own ethnographic research in the Boston/Cambridge area throughout the semester, producing a research...

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