Anthropology Courses

ANTR 1 - Biological Anthropology

3 units

This course introduces the concepts, methods of inquiry, and scientific explanations for biological evolution and their application to the human species. Issues and topics will include, but are not limited to, genetics, evolutionary theory, human variation and biocultural adaptations, comparative primate anatomy and behavior, and the fossil evidence for human evolution. Th e scientific method serves as the foundation of the course. Strongly Recommended: Eligibility for ENG 1A. 54 hours lecture.

• AA/AS GE. Transfer: CSU, UC; CSU GE: B2, D1; IGETC: 4A, 5B; C-ID# ANTH 110.
• Degree Applicable, Credit Grading Option: OP

ANTR 1L - Biological Anthropology Lab

1 unit

This laboratory course is offered as a supplement to Introduction to Biological Anthropology either taken concurrently or in a subsequent
term. Laboratory exercises are designed to introduce students to the scientific method and explore genetics, human variation, human and non-human primate anatomy and behavior, the primate/hominin fossil record and other resources to investigate processes that affect human evolution. Prerequisite: ANTR 1 with a minimum grade of C (may be taken concurrently). Strongly Recommended: Eligibility for ENG 1A. 54 hours laboratory.

• Transfer: CSU, UC; CSU GE: B3; IGETC: 5C; C-ID# ANTH 115 L.
• Degree Applicable, Credit Grading Option: OP

ANTR 2 - Introduction to Archaeology

3 units

This course is an Introduction to the study of concepts, theories, data and models of anthropological archaeology that contribute to our knowledge of the human past. Th e course includes a discussion of the nature of scientific inquiry; the history and interdisciplinary nature of archaeological research; dating techniques; methods of survey, excavation, analysis, and interpretation; cultural resource management; professional ethics; and selected cultural sequences. Strongly Recommended: Eligibility for ENG 1A. 54 hours lecture.

• AA/AS GE. Transfer: CSU, UC; CSU GE: D1; IGETC: 4A; C-ID# ANTH 150.
• Degree Applicable, Credit Grading Option: OP

ANTR 2L - Archaeology Field Lab

1 unit

This Archaeology Field Lab course offers hands-on field experience and artifact analysis. Students practice scientific archaeological recovery methods and techniques, including site planning, excavation, typology, cataloging, artifact recognition and reconstruction. In addition to gaining expertise in field research, students will examine and discuss techniques, tools and processes in cultural resource management. Prerequisite: ANTR 2 with a minimum grade of C (May be taken concurrently). 54 hours laboratory.

• Transfer: CSU, UC; CSU GE: B3; IGETC: 5C.
• Degree Applicable, Credit Grading Option: OP

ANTR 3 - Cultural Anthropology

3 units

This course explores how anthropologists study and compare human cultures. Cultural anthropologists seek to understand the broad arc of human experience focusing on a set of central issues: how people around the world make their living (subsistence patterns); how they organize themselves socially, politically and economically; how they communicate; how they relate to each other through family and kinship ties; what they believe about the world (belief systems) themselves creatively (expressive culture); how they make distinctions among themselves such as through applying gender, racial and ethnic identity labels; how they have shaped and been shaped by social inequalities such as colonialism; and how they navigate culture change and processes of globalization that affect us all. Ethnographic case studies highlight these similarities and differences, and introduce students to how anthropologists do their work, employ professional anthropological research ethics and apply their perspectives and skills to understand humans around the globe. Strongly Recommended: Eligibility for ENG 1A. 54 hours lecture.

• AA/AS GE. Transfer: CSU, UC; CSU GE: D1; IGETC: 4A; C-ID# ANTH 120.
• Degree Applicable, Credit Grading Option: OP

ANTR 4 - Language and Culture

3 units

This introductory course serves as a foundation for understanding language from an anthropological perspective, addressing such core questions as how, what, when, where, why and with whom we communicate. Th is course surveys three core areas in linguistic anthropology--structural linguistics: phonetics, phonology, morphology and syntax, as well as the biocultural basis of language; historical linguistics: origins and evolution/change, dialects, and language families; and sociocultural linguistics: language acquisition in cultural context, emphasizing the relationship between language and culture, and issues of language conservation and loss. Strongly Recommended: Eligibility for ENG 1A. 54 hours lecture.

• AA/AS GE. Transfer: CSU, UC; CSU GE: D1; IGETC: 4A; C-ID# ANTH 130.
• Degree Applicable, Credit Grading Option: OP

ANTR 5 - Cultures of the U.S. in Global Perspective

3 units

Issues relevant to understanding race, class, gender and ethnicity within the American setting. Historical as well as contemporary situation of the following groups: 1) African Americans; 2) Native Americans 3) Hispanic Americans; 4) European Americans; and, 5) Asian Americans, among other groups. Emphasis on analyzing the way that public understandings of culture and biology are translated into social policy. Contemporary social issues such as race relations, multiculturalism, affirmative action, bilingual education, and the use and abuse of I.Q. testing. 54 hours lecture.

• AA/AS GE. Transfer: CSU, UC; CSU GE: D1, D3; IGETC: 4A.
• Degree Applicable, Credit Grading Option: OP

ANTR 6 - Anthropology of Sex and Gender

3 units

Using research and theory from the fields of biology, cultural anthropology, linguistics, and archaeology, this course takes an anthropological approach to the study of sex and gender across cultures and throughout time. Topics include the cultural construction of gender, sex, and sexuality; the biological foundations of sex; and how gender difference relates to cultural practice. Strongly Recommended: Eligibility for ENG 1A. 54 hours lecture.

• AA/AS GE. Transfer: CSU, UC; CSU GE: D; IGETC: 4.
• Degree Applicable, Credit Grading Option: OP

ANTR 7 - Native American Cultures of North America

3 units

Survey of ways of life of traditional North American Indian cultures in different geographical areas throughout North America prior to European contact and continuing today. Topics include prehistory of Native American cultures, cultural change in response to European contact, current Native American socio-economic conditions, recent legislation including NAGPRA, social movements and cultural renewal. 54 hours lecture.

• AA/AS GE. Transfer: CSU, UC; CSU GE: D; IGETC: 4.
• Degree Applicable, Credit Grading Option: OP

ANTR 8 - World Prehistory in Archaeological Perspective

3 units

Survey of world prehistory as reconstructed through archaeological evidence. Topics include Paleolithic cultural practices from early tool use and mobile communities through settled living in complex agricultural societies to the establishment, rise and collapse of the first major civilizations in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, the Americas and Oceania. Subsistence, economic networks, social systems, power distributions, symbols and ideology will be discussed, as well as ecological effects of urbanization in the past. 54 hours lecture.

• AA/AS GE. Transfer: CSU, UC; CSU GE: D; IGETC: 4.
• Degree Applicable, Credit Grading Option: OP

ANTR 12 - Magic/ Religion/ Witchcraft/ Healing

3 units

Cross-cultural perspectives on spirituality, religious practice, myth, ancestor beliefs, witchcraft and the variety of religious rituals and practitioners found in the cultures of the world. Examination of the cosmologies of different cultures through the anthropological perspective. Emphasis is placed on how knowledge of the religious practices and beliefs of others can help us to understand the multicultural world in which we live. Comparison of the ways in which diverse cultures confront the large and fundamental questions of existence: those dealing with the meaning life, birth and death, and with the relationship of humans to each other and to their universe. Strongly Recommended: Eligibility for ENG 1A. 54 hours lecture.

• AA/AS GE. Transfer: CSU, UC; CSU GE: D1; IGETC: 4A.
• Degree Applicable, Credit Grading Option: GR

ANTR 13 - Introduction to Forensic Anthropology

3 units

Introductory course in the application of physical anthropology to the medico-legal process with an emphasis on the identification of human skeletal remains. Includes basic human osteology and odontology, assessment of age at time of death, sex, ancestry, trauma analysis, pathology, and general physical characteristics including height and weight based upon minimal skeletal remains. Estimation of time since death, crime scene analysis, animal scavenging, and identification procedures. Strongly Recommended: Eligibility for ENG 1A. 54 hours lecture.

• AA/AS GE. Transfer: CSU, UC; CSU GE: B2; IGETC: 5B.
• Degree Applicable, Credit Grading Option: OP

ANTR 14 - Introduction to the Archaeological History of Mesoamerica

3 units

This course is an Introduction to the Archaeological History of the Olmec, Maya, and Aztec. Th e course will explore how humans in the various ecologies of Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras shaped the cultural identity and material culture. From buildings to pottery the cultural phases of Mesoamerica will be explored. the course will include methods of Archaeological dating and Archaeological theory to examine cultural changes and growing complexity from the prehistoric to Spanish contact in Mesoamerica. Strongly Recommended: Eligibility for ENG 1A. 54 hours lecture.

• AA/AS GE. Transfer: CSU, UC; CSU.
• Degree Applicable, Credit Grading Option: GR

ANTR 29A - Independent Study, Cultural Anthropology

0.5 - 2 units

For course information, see "Independent Studies". 27-108 hours laboratory.

• Grading Option: GR

ANTR 29B - Independent Study, Biological Anthropology

0.5 - 2 units

For course information, see "Independent Studies". 27-108 hours laboratory.

• Grading Option: GR

ANTR 29C - Independent Study, Archaeology/ Prehistory

0.5 - 2 units

For course information, see "Independent Studies". 27-108 hours laboratory.

• Grading Option: GR

ANTR 29D - Independent Study, Linguistic Anthropology

0.5 - 2 units

For course information, see "Independent Studies". 27-108 hours laboratory.

• Grading Option: GR