Active Course List

Language provides not only communication but identification of oneself and one's group. Humans are extremely sensitive to language, dialect, jargon, and slang. An understanding of language and its relationship to culture is basic to any understanding of human beings.

Graduation Requirements:

Goal Area 5 - History and the Social and Behavioral Sciences | Goal Area 8 - Global Perspective | Diverse Cultures - Purple

Areas of Interest:

People and Cultures

Programs:

Anthropology (BA) | Anthropology (BS) | Anthropology Minor | Ethnic Studies (BS) Business/Corporate | Ethnic Studies (BS) International Community and Human Services | Ethnic Studies (BS) Local Community and Human Services | Ethnic Studies (BS) Public/Government | Ethnic Studies (BS) Racial/Ethnic Communities in the United States | Linguistics Minor | Social Studies Teaching (BS) Anthropology

What qualifies a word as bad? How does profanity, cursing, and swearing evolve across time and vary across cultures? Where does the power of these bad words come from? What relationship do these words have to issues of gender, race, and class? This course examines the historical evolution and modern usage of obscenities to answer these questions.

Graduation Requirements:

Goal Area 7 - Human Diversity | Goal Area 9 - Ethical and Civic Responsibility | Diverse Cultures - Purple

Areas of Interest:

People and Cultures

Programs:

Linguistics Minor

Survey of human cultures through a variety of classic and contemporary anthropological writing and film. Students write weekly reflections. Written work is shared, discussed, and revised.

Graduation Requirements:

Goal Area 5 - History and the Social and Behavioral Sciences | Diverse Cultures - Purple | Writing Intensive

Areas of Interest:

People and Cultures

Fear and how we depict it in popular culture. Course examines folklore traditions and how they translate in contemporary storytelling formats.

Graduation Requirements:

Goal Area 5 - History and the Social and Behavioral Sciences | Goal Area 8 - Global Perspective | Diverse Cultures - Purple

Areas of Interest:

People and Cultures

People all around the world use tattoos, piercing, makeup and dress codes as symbolic tools to represent their ideas of self, or as a means of gender, ethnicity, and class control and domination. This course looks at how people express connection to and disconnection from culture through body art practices.

Graduation Requirements:

Goal Area 5 - History and the Social and Behavioral Sciences | Goal Area 8 - Global Perspective | Diverse Cultures - Purple

Areas of Interest:

People and Cultures

Sex and our relationship with it. This course examines the topics of sex, sexuality, and gender by exploring the diverse range of sexual cultures of the world in the past and the present. Attention is given to the role of language, biology, culture, and the archeological record of societies's fascination with sex.

Graduation Requirements:

Goal Area 5 - History and the Social and Behavioral Sciences | Goal Area 7 - Human Diversity | Diverse Cultures - Purple

Areas of Interest:

People and Cultures

Programs:

Sexuality Studies Minor

Engaged Anthropology is a multidimensional service-learning course designed to facilitate real-world learning experiences for students on broad social issues: practice a variety of anthropological concepts, theories, and methods; and provide service to the local community.

Prerequisites:

ANTH 101, ANTH 230, or instructor Permission.

Graduation Requirements:

Goal Area 7 - Human Diversity | Goal Area 11 - Performance and Participation | Diverse Cultures - Gold

Areas of Interest:

People and Cultures

Courses to be offered just one time or on an irregular basis according to topic demand for a general interest, sophomore level course.

Areas of Interest:

People and Cultures

Individual study at an introductory level on the topic of student's choice. Designed for students who wish to pursue independent study at the freshman-sophomore level rather than the more advanced level of the 499 individual study.

Prerequisites:

Consent

Areas of Interest:

People and Cultures

This course examines the methodologies of all four fields of Anthropology. Students will gain practical experience in various methods that professionals utilize on a regular basis within the discipline. Discussions of the issues surrounding various anthropological methods will be part of this course.

Prerequisites:

ANTH 101

Areas of Interest:

People and Cultures

Programs:

Anthropology (BA) | Anthropology (BS) | Anthropology Minor

An in-depth study of ancient Egypt, focusing on the relationship between cultural development and the unique Egyptian environment of the time. Emphasis will be placed on the interpretation of archaeological discoveries in the area.

Areas of Interest:

People and Cultures

An examination of the ecology, behavior and biology of living primates.

Prerequisites:

ANTH 101 or ANTH 220 or consent

Areas of Interest:

People and Cultures

This course focuses on studying the diversity of human societies using environmental approaches such as evolutionary/ecological perspectives and systems modeling. Case studies will be drawn from Native American cultures.

Areas of Interest:

People and Cultures

Programs:

American Indigenous Studies (BA) | American Indigenous Studies (BS) | Earth Science (BS) | Geomorphology and Earth Surface Processes (CERT)

The variability and universality of human religious expression are explored in specific cross-cultural contexts.

Graduation Requirements:

Diverse Cultures - Purple

Areas of Interest:

People and Cultures

Programs:

International Relations (BA) | International Relations Minor

This course emphasizes the wealth of ethnographic information which may be captured by visual media. You will learn how to interpret the final product and how to recognize the limitations of visual presentations.

Areas of Interest:

People and Cultures

A survey of the people and cultures of Sub-Saharan Africa examining the rich sociocultural diversity of the continent over time.

Areas of Interest:

People and Cultures

Programs:

Middle Eastern Studies and Islamic World Minor

Language is powerful. What we say, how we say it, where we say it, and to whom we say it matters. This course explores the connection between power, language, performance, and identity. The relationships between language, gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic class are explored by investigating historical and present day sources of language practices and events.

Graduation Requirements:

Diverse Cultures - Purple

Areas of Interest:

People and Cultures

Programs:

Linguistics Minor | Sexuality Studies Minor

This class focuses on the application of anthropology in the business and organizational domains using a cultural lens. It will provide students with a clearer view of the culture of the business world as well as tools to aid in understanding the business culture and that of their clientele.

Areas of Interest:

People and Cultures

Exploring culture through the foods we eat, preparation practices, and historic implications of food in daily life. We will examine a sampling from hunter-gathers, agricultural practices and animal husbandry, mass production, and the food industry to better understand cultural practices from around the globe.

Graduation Requirements:

Diverse Cultures - Purple

Areas of Interest:

People and Cultures

Programs:

Agribusiness and Food Innovation (BS)

Curricular Practical Training: Co-Operative Experience is a zero-credit full-time practical training experience for one semester and an adjacent fall or spring term. Special rules apply to preserve full-time student status. Please contact an advisor in your program for complete information.

Prerequisites:

At least 60 credits earned; in good standing; instructor permission; co-op contract; other prerequisites may also apply.

Areas of Interest:

People and Cultures

A detailed study of Minnesota archaeology from ca. 12,000 years ago to ca 1900, with a focus on diverse and changing Native American populations.

Areas of Interest:

People and Cultures

Programs:

American Indigenous Studies (BS) | American Indigenous Studies (CERT)

A survey of current knowledge about the prehistoric Native American inhabitants of North America from ca. 15,000 years ago until ca. 1900. Topics will focus on the processes of cultural development, change, and disruption by Euro-American influences.

Areas of Interest:

People and Cultures

Programs:

American Indigenous Studies (BA) | American Indigenous Studies (BS) | American Indigenous Studies (CERT)

A detailed study of Latin American archaeology from ca. 12,000 years ago to ca.1900, with a focus on diverse and changing Native American populations.

Areas of Interest:

People and Cultures

Programs:

American Indigenous Studies (BA) | American Indigenous Studies (BS) | Latin American Studies Minor

A review of the history and philosophy of museums, the legal and ethical issues impacting museums, the nature and treatment of collections, creation, exhibition and exhibit design, the role of museums in education, museum personnel and financial management, and museums in the technological/electronic age.

Areas of Interest:

People and Cultures

Programs:

Museum Studies (CERT)

Review of how cultural resources are being preserved and managed under current laws and regulations. Emphasis on examination of conservation, preservation and rescue methods in modern archaeology, and problems and issues in historic preservation and resource management.

Prerequisites:

ANTH 101, ANTH 210 or consent

Areas of Interest:

People and Cultures

Programs:

Museum Studies (CERT)