Anthropology
ANTH 2010 - Cultural Anthropology
3 credit hours
A comparative examination of the cultural organization of human behavior in societies around the world. Practical applications and the importance of intercultural understanding stressed. Counts toward General Education Social/Behavioral Sciences requirement.
ANTH 2105 - Introduction to Latin American Studies
3 credit hours
(Same as SPAN 2105, PS 2105, SOC 2105, ART 2105, GEOG 2105.) A multidisciplinary, team-taught introduction to Latin America. Covers the cultures and societies of the region: pre-history, history, geography, politics, art, languages, and literatures. Required course for all Latin American Studies minors.
ANTH 2210 - Introduction to World Prehistory
3 credit hours
Cultural change over the past four million years as interpreted through archaeology. The development of hunting and gathering through the origins of agriculture and the appearance of the world's first civilizations. Counts toward General Education Humanities/Fine Arts requirement.
ANTH 2230 - Tennessee Archaeology
3 credit hours
Archaeology of precontact and historic Tennessee. Based on archaeological research; presents an overview of human occupation in Tennessee with emphasis on local sites.
ANTH 2240 - Sunken Continents, Lost Tribes, and Ancient Astronauts
3 credit hours
Critical examination of popular theories of prehistory including Atlantis, Bigfoot, extraterrestrial visitors, and others with a focus on the nature of the scientific method.
ANTH 2740 - Magic, Witchcraft, and Religion
3 credit hours
Symbolic and ritual expression in indigenous and urban societies from an anthropological perspective including interpretations of myth, religious healing, cults, taboo, witchcraft, sorcery, and religious specialists and non-specialists.
ANTH 2800 - Professions in Anthropology
1 credit hour
Prerequisites: ANTH 2010 and ANTH 2210 both with a grade of B- or above. Introduces students to the profession of anthropology via lectures, hands-on activities, readings, small group service-learning projects, and writing assignments.
ANTH 3000 - Anthropological Theory
3 credit hours
The major anthropological theories within their historical, cultural, and political context.
Formerly ANTH 4980
ANTH 3010 - Ethnology
3 credit hours
Examines different approaches in anthropology to the study of contemporary world cultures. For upper-division anthropology majors and minors. Addresses various theoretical approaches in the study of culture, use of ethnographic methods, ethical role of the anthropologist in research, and current issues in ethnology. Readings will focus on ethnographies from around the world.
ANTH 3110 - Cross-Cultural Media Studies
3 credit hours
The study of media from a cross-cultural perspective, emphasizing the use of ethnography as a means of understanding the production and reception of media within different cultural contexts.
ANTH 3120 - Popular Culture in Global Perspective
3 credit hours
Prerequisite: ANTH 2010 or permission of instructor. Cross-cultural exploration of pop culture as a body of widely shared and contested beliefs, practices, and material objects that present ordinary social life in spectacular and exaggerated form. Use of ethnography to understand pop culture as both a commercial phenomenon rooted in mass media as well as an expression of mass consumer resistance.
ANTH 3130 - Anthropology of Music
3 credit hours
Prerequisite: ANTH 2010 or permission of instructor. The study of music as it reflects and shapes culture and social behavior from around the world. How music serves as a window into ideas of globalization and the related issues of power, resistance, and identity formation. Particular attention paid to the role of media and music in cross-cultural settings.
ANTH 3210 - Archaeology
3 credit hours
Introduces methods used to study the nature and development of prehistoric societies. Approaches to survey, excavation, analysis, and interpretation explored through lectures, case studies, and problem assignments.
ANTH 3230 - Archaeology of Salt
3 credit hours
A comprehensive and global comparison of the role of salt in the development of ancient and modern human societies. Focuses on the production, distribution, and uses of this mineral.
ANTH 3240 - Ancient Civilizations
3 credit hours
Prerequisite: 3 hours of anthropology. Comparative study of archaeological evidence on the origins, development, and collapse of the early civilizations of the world. The transformation of human societies from the first settled villages to urban states in Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, Central Asia, Mesoamerica, and Peru.
ANTH 3310 - Biological Anthropology
3 credit hours
Biological anthropology answer the questions "Where did we come from, how did we get here, and what are we doing now?" from a biological anthropology perspective. Human origins and evolution; paleoanthropology; genetics and heredity; primate taxonomy and behavior; human variation and diversity; human adaptation and environment.
ANTH 3350 - Archaeology of Death
3 credit hours
Explores human diversity from the perspective of death and burial with emphasis on archaeological methods used to recover, describe, and interpret how past and present human societies disposed of the dead and coped with death through ritual.
ANTH 3410 - Linguistic Anthropology
3 credit hours
Language in its anthropological contexts with a focus on language as one element of culture, including how a language fits into the cultural system, how language is distinguished from other components of culture, how culture and language interrelate, and what techniques and methods can be used to infer nonlinguistic facts from linguistic material.
ANTH 3509 - Peoples and Cultures of China and Japan
3 credit hours
Prerequisite: ANTH 2010 recommended. The diverse peoples and cultures of China and Japan. Overview of East Asia as a region and contemporary issues and impacts resulting from globalization from an anthropological perspective.
ANTH 3510 - Peoples and Cultures of Southeast Asia
3 credit hours
The diverse peoples and cultures of Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Philippines, Brunei, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, East Timor, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam). Histories, sociocultural systems, and contemporary issues and impacts resulting from globalization from an anthropological perspective.
ANTH 3514 - Peoples and Cultures of Africa
3 credit hours
The diverse peoples and cultures of Africa. Histories, sociocultural systems, and contemporary issues and impacts resulting from globalization from an anthropological perspective.
ANTH 3515 - Peoples and Cultures of Native North America
3 credit hours
The diverse peoples and cultures of Native North America (often called American Indians or Native Americans). Histories, sociocultural systems, and contemporary issues and impacts resulting from globalization from an anthropological perspective.
ANTH 3516 - Peoples and Cultures of Europe
3 credit hours
The diverse peoples and cultures of Europe. Histories, sociocultural systems, and contemporary issues and impacts resulting from globalization from an anthropological perspective.
ANTH 3517 - Peoples and Cultures of Brazil
3 credit hours
The diverse peoples and cultures of Brazil. Histories, sociocultural systems, and contemporary issues and impacts resulting from globalization from an anthropological perspective.
ANTH 3518 - Peoples and Cultures of Latin America
3 credit hours
The diverse peoples and cultures of Latin America. Histories, sociocultural systems, and contemporary issues and impacts resulting from globalization from an anthropological perspective.
ANTH 3520 - North American Prehistoric Archaeology
3 credit hours
A comprehensive presentation of archaeological findings concerning the initial settlement of North America some 20,000+ years ago; the origins, adaptations, and development of major North American cultural traditions through European contact and colonization; and the major theoretical contributions of North American archaeology.
ANTH 3521 - The Archaeology of Mexico and Central America
3 credit hours
Prerequisite: 3 hours anthropology. Archaeology of Mexico and Central America to include the findings of archaeology of the initial settlement of Mesoamerica; the origins, adaptations, and development of major prehistoric Mesoamerican cultural traditions such as the Olmec, Maya, and Aztec; and the major theoretical contributions of Mesoamerican archaeology.
ANTH 3530 - Anthropology Research Methods
3 credit hours
Prerequisites: ANTH 2010, ANTH 2210, and ANTH 2800 (or corequisite of ANTH 2800). Introduces the use and application of statistical methods to anthropological problems. Students will use statistical software to perform quantitative analyses of anthropological data sets from cultural, archaeology, and biological anthropology.
ANTH 3610 - Archaeological Methods
3 credit hours
Prerequisite: ANTH 3210 or permission of instructor. Methods of identifying, excavating, recording, analyzing, reporting, and interpreting archaeological sites. Focus on technical aspects of archaeological research, including a substantial component of classroom simulations of the practical applications of these methodologies.
ANTH 3640 - Visual Anthropology
3 credit hours
Prerequisites: 3 hours anthropology or permission of instructor. Photography and film as tools and products of ethnography. Researching, analyzing, and presenting behavioral and cultural ideas through visual means. Cultural and political biases presented through photography and film.
ANTH 3650 - Forensic Anthropology
3 credit hours
An intensive overview of forensic anthropology--an applied field of physical anthropology that seeks to recover, identify, and evaluate human skeletal remains within a medicolegal context. EXL.
ANTH 3660 - Forensic Sciences
3 credit hours
Prerequisite: Junior standing Explores a variety of fields in forensic science, specifically their history, basis in science, and specific techniques/equipment used. Emphasis on crime-scene investigation. EXL component. Lecture.
ANTH 3670 - Forensic Science in Popular Culture
3 credit hours
Explores the portrayal of forensic science in popular culture and how this has influenced ideas about justice and the authority society bestows upon science.
ANTH 3680 - Forensic Science and Human Rights
3 credit hours
Addresses topics at the intersection of forensic science and human rights, with an emphasis on the role of forensic anthropologists in human rights investigations.
ANTH 3710 - Topics in Anthropology
1 to 6 credit hours
An in-depth study of a special topic which is significant in current anthropological literature.
ANTH 3720 - Environmental Anthropology
3 credit hours
Prerequisite: 3 hours anthropology or geography. Comparative study of ecological systems utilized by tribal, peasant, and industrialized peoples of the world. Special attention on theoretical approaches examining the interface of the environment and culture, the evolution of modes of subsistence, and contemporary development and indigenous people.
ANTH 3730 - Medical Anthropology
3 credit hours
A cross-cultural survey of health-related beliefs and behavior. Includes etiologies, treatments, patients, and practitioners as they interact in an environmental, biological, and cultural context.
ANTH 3750 - Race, Class, and Gender
3 credit hours
Prerequisites: 3 hours anthropology or women's studies; ANTH 2010 recommended. An anthropological examination of the biological and cultural aspects of human identity as expressed through the concepts of race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality. Focus on ways in which regional, ethnic, and gender identities are celebrated, contested, and regulated cross-culturally.
ANTH 3752 - Cultural Images of Gender
3 credit hours
Prerequisites: ANTH 2010 or SOC 1010 or WGST 2100; or permission of instructor. Global perspectives of gender through exploration of the experiences of men and women of various backgrounds worldwide. Special attention to mediums and writing styles presented; critical examination of creation and perpetuation of cultural images.
ANTH 4120 - Practicing Anthropology
3 credit hours
Culture change theory and the practical dimensions of anthropology in research and planned change implementation. EXL.
ANTH 4130 - Anthropology of Globalization
3 credit hours
Prerequisites: Junior standing; ANTH 2010, ANTH 3010, or GS 2010, or permission of instructor. Explores the phenomenon of globalization anthropologically including competing understanding of transnational flow of capital, goods, people, images, and ideas around the world.
ANTH 4140 - Immigrants and Globalization in the American South
3 credit hours
Prerequisites: Junior standing; ANTH 2010 or ANTH 3010 or permission of instructor. ANTH 4130 recommended. Explores anthropologically the specific effects of globalizing forces in the southern United States. Relations between global and local communities explored taking into account immigration, particularly of Latinos and Asians; local industry in a time of globalization; power and confrontation between rural and urban worlds; issues of race and ethnicity; and the assimilation of foreign-born professionals into Southern social and cultural systems.
ANTH 4300 - Human Osteology
3 credit hours
Prerequisites: BIOL 1030/BIOL 1031 or BIOL 1110/BIOL 1111; ANTH 2210 or ANTH 3210 or ANTH 3310; or permission of instructor. Lab-intensive. Explores methods used in biological anthropology, bioarchaeology, and forensic anthropology to study human skeletal remains including skeletal anatomy and bone physiology. Emphasis on identification of fragmentary remains. EXL.
ANTH 4310 - Bioarchaeology
3 credit hours
Prerequisites: BIOL 1030/BIOL 1031 or BIOL 1110/BIOL 1111; ANTH 2210 or ANTH 3210, or ANTH 3310; or permission of instructor. ANTH 4300 recommended. Interpreting human skeletal remains from an archaeological perspective to understand past human cultures through the lens of health, nutrition, and activity patterns. Emphasis on technical aspects of bioarchaeological research including a substantial component of case studies, issues, and ethics.
ANTH 4360 - Zooarchaeology
3 credit hours
Prerequisites: BIOL 1030/BIOL 1031 or BIOL 1110/BIOL 1111; ANTH 3210; or permission of instructor. Lab-intensive. Explores methods used by zooarchaeologists to identify, quantify, and summarize nonhuman animal remains from archaeological contexts using comparative collections. Emphasis on implications for human subsistence, environmental reconstruction, and human behavior.
ANTH 4400 - Sex Trafficking
3 credit hours
(Same as SOC 4400.) Provides an in-depth analysis of the causes, experiences, and implications of global sex trafficking through a social science and feminist perspective. Utilizes various multimedia methods to examine sex trafficking both globally and locally; includes both an anthropological and sociological perspective, incorporating statistical analysis of-and individual narratives from-the transnational sex industry.
ANTH 4420 - Embodiment: Culture and Human Anatomy
3 credit hours
(Same as SOC 4420.) An interdisciplinary approach to understanding the interplay of both biological and social forces on the human body.
ANTH 4520 - Archaeology of the Southeastern United States
3 credit hours
Prerequisites: ANTH 2230 or ANTH 3210 or ANTH 3520, or permission of instructor. A comprehensive presentation of the archaeology of the southeastern United States, to include historical overviews of southeastern archaeology; a consideration of geography, geomorphology, and environment; theoretical contributions of southeastern archaeology; the findings of southeastern archaeology concerning the initial settlement of the region; the origins, adaptations, and development of major prehistoric southeastern cultural traditions through historic contact and colonization.
ANTH 4550 - Hip-hop Music and Culture
3 credit hours
(Same as MUHL 4550 and RIM 4550.) Prerequisites: ENGL 1010 and ENGL 1020. An ethnomusicological investigation of how hip-hop reacts to and informs mainstream culture through its primary art forms: music, visual art, and dance. Major themes and issues that cut across hip-hop's history, including issues of style and performance, gender, race, politics, and religion addressed.
ANTH 4620 - Environmental Archaeology
3 credit hours
Prerequisite: 3 hours from the following: ANTH 2210, ANTH 3210, ANTH 3310, ANTH 3520, or ANTH 4950. The interdisciplinary reconstruction of prehistoric environments using archaeological methods with a focus on geoarchaeology, zooarchaeology, and archaeobotany. How past environments affect human adaptation and how humans impact the environment.
ANTH 4730 - Economic Anthropology
3 credit hours
The ways people produce, distribute, and consume goods, how such systems are organized, how they operate, how they develop, and how they relate to other systems, especially the family, political, and ideological. Draws on case material for household economies, the transition to capitalist economies, and the world economic system.
ANTH 4750 - Anthropology of Religion
3 credit hours
Prerequisite: ANTH 2010 or ANTH 2740 or ANTH 3010 or permission of instructor. Cross-cultural exploration of religion, including beliefs in the supernatural, the use of ritual in secular and sacred context, and the roles of ceremonial practitioners. Focus on how people interpret and control their worldviews through religion and ritual.
ANTH 4860 - Historical Archaeology
3 credit hours
(Same as HIST 4860.) Disciplines of historical archaeology, including examination of archaeological evidence, historical documentation, and interpretation of evidence.
ANTH 4910 - Anthropology Undergraduate Research
1 to 6 credit hours
Field experience or reading courses through which special interests or needs of the student may be pursued under individual supervision. No more than three hours may be used in the major. Arrangements must be made with an instructor prior to registration. EXL.
ANTH 4920 - Anthropology Senior Thesis
3 credit hours
Prerequisite: Permission of Anthropology Thesis Committee. Focuses on a specific research topic chosen with the consent of the thesis committee and with the potential for original discovery or creative development. Independent pursuit of research objectives outlined in a research proposal results in a written thesis, the approval of which will include an oral defense.
ANTH 4930 - Forensic Aviation Archaeology
6 credit hours
Prerequisites: Students must have an overall GPA of 2.0 and complete an interview prior to enrolling; permission of instructor required. International field course in forensic archaeological methods. Presents protocols for documentation and recovery of a plane crash and associated personnel losses. Excavation and course will be conducted in collaboration with international partnering agencies and institutions.
ANTH 4940 - Ethnographic Field School
3 to 6 credit hours
Field experience in a cross-cultural setting. Training in ethnographic research techniques.
ANTH 4950 - Archaeological Field School
3 to 6 credit hours
Course may be taken for three to six credits after consultation with instructor. The basic techniques of archaeology and paleoecology through participation in actual excavation and laboratory work.
ANTH 4960 - Anthropology Internship
1 to 6 credit hours
Supervised independent study in which student is placed in an organization on a contractual basis as a means of applying the principles of his/her training in preparation for eventual employment. Arrangements must be made with the intern supervisor prior to registration. No more than six hours may be used in the major.
What Is Anthropology?
The word anthropology itself tells the basic story -- from the Greek anthropos ("human") and logia ("study"). Anthropologists study humankind. To the uninitiated, anthropologists are
intrepid explorers who travel to little-known corners of the world to study exotic
peoples in faraway jungles or archaeologists who dig deep into the remains of lost
desert cities to uncover the tools and cooking pots of people who vanished long ago.
While many disciplines study people (psychology, sociology, history, biology, medicine,
and so on), those Hollywood stereotypes do show how anthropology is different: only
anthropology seeks to understand the whole panorama of human existence in both geographic
space and over long periods of time.
Comparative and Holistic Approach. As a discipline, anthropology begins with a simple yet powerful idea -- any detail
of human behavior can be better understood when seen against the backdrop of the variety
of peoples and cultures throughout the globe today and in those peoples and cultures
of the past. This holistic or multifaceted approach to the study of human beings brings
together many aspects of human experience -- language, biology, religion, family life,
politics, economics, and others. By comparing peoples of all places and times, anthropologists
seek to understand in the broadest sense "what is means to be human." The breadth
of our interests are reflected in the four major subfields of anthropology -- biological
(or physical) anthropology; archaeology; linguistic anthropology; and cultural anthropology.
Practicing Anthropology. While many anthropologists continue to work in other cultures amid exotic settings,
MTSU's program also emphasizes the practical aspects of anthropology. Applied anthropologists
directly serve the practical needs of their communities and organizations by integrating
anthropological perspectives and methods in solving human problems and advocating
for fair and just policy based on sound research. Anthropology offers a particular
capability in helping solve human problems through building partnerships in research
and problem solving; acknowledging the perspectives of all people involved; focusing
on challenges and opportunities presented by biological variability, cultural diversity,
ethnicity, gender, poverty and class; and addressing imbalances in resources, rights
and power (Society for Applied Anthropology 1999).
Two options are available for students interested in pursuing studies in Anthropology:
1) a Bachelor of Science in Anthropology; or 2) a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology.
What's Special about Anthropology at MTSU?
Experience the world as others see it
Among our key goals is a broad preparation in anthropology through the "four-field
approach" -- emphasizing a basic introduction to the four subdisciplines of anthropology:
archaeology, ethnology, biological anthropology, and linguistics. A special emphasis
of our program is on involving students in "fieldwork." Fieldwork -- actually working
on real anthropology projects outside the traditional classroom setting -- has been
the mainstay of our discipline since its founding. All of our faculty are actively
involved in research and are dedicated to involving students in that research. One
special aspect of our program is a continuing commitment to providing opportunities
for students to gain "hands-on" experience.
Since 1995, the department has offered an annual summer field school in archaeology.
This course provides the opportunity to experience archaeological fieldwork by contributing
to several on-going excavation projects in Tennessee. Past participants have worked
on prehistoric Native American sites ranging from 4000-1000 years old to frontier
forts to African-American slave sites.
Since 1998, the department has offered a multitude of international field opportunities
in Mexico, Brazil, England, Australia, and New Zealand. As a member of two international
study consortiums, MTSU offers opportunities for dozens of courses in anthropology
and other disciplines around the globe.
In addition, our students are placed in a number of paid and unpaid academic year
and summer anthropology internships in cooperation with the National Park Service,
local archaeological agencies and firms, and local parks. These internships provide
an opportunity to practice classroom learning in a real work setting, gain course
credits toward a degree, acquire valuable work experience, and apply skills to benefit
the local and regional community.
Special resources and facilities of interest to students include an archaeology laboratory,
department microcomputer laboratory, electronic Human Relations Area files, and a
growing multimedia library of slides, films, reports, and journals.
Our holistic, interdisciplinary, and cross-cultural comparative approach provides
skills needed to function at the highest level in an increasingly multidisciplinary
and multi-ethnic society in the United States and an increasingly global economy.
