Courses
Note: The following is a list of courses that comprise the department’s permanent, regular offerings. Given the importance of current research and disciplinary debate to our graduate curriculum, many of the important course offerings any year are topical seminars and special topics courses (e.g., Political Economy of Health; Critical Race Theory; Archaeology and State Theory; Anthropology of Aging; Visual Anthropology), which are not included by title in this list. For more detailed information on courses offered, please consult the course list available on the department's website here, where course lists, schedules, and descriptions are posted and frequently updated.
510 Advanced Research Methods in Bio-Medical Anthro
This course is designed to acquaint you with laboratory and field research methods in biological and medical anthropology. Through readings, in-class exercises, data collection, and laboratory analysis, we will examine issues of epistemology, ethics, data and biomarker collection methods, analysis, and data processing. You will learn to develop appropriate research questions, design a project, apply research ethics and responsibilities, and peer review research proposals. Topics covered in this course include nutrition, energetics, cardiovascular function, immune status, and stress markers.
515 Primate Anatomy
Lecture, laboratory dissection. Emphasizes the structural-functional analysis of skeletons as joint-link systems. Prerequisite to seminar on comparative structure and phylogeny of primates, emphasizing evolutionary trends and adaptive radiations. (Limited to 15 students.) Credit, 4.
577 Summer Field School in Archaeology
Practical training in archaeological field and laboratory techniques, problem formulation and appropriate methodologies. Emphasis may vary from survey to excavation of prehistoric or colonial sites. Prerequisite: ANTHRO 102 or equivalent. Credit, variable.
578 Theory and Method in Archaeology
Intensive examination of the scientific approach to modern archaeological research and utilization of this approach for deriving and testing theories of prehistory and behavioral patterns. Consent of instructor required.
588 Field and Lab Methods in Bioarchaeology and Forensic Anthropology
Introduces students to major questions in bioarchaeology and forensic anthropology including what constitutes data, how excavations and fieldwork are conducted and how field data are analyzed in the laboratory.
603 Community-Based Research and Practice
This course will introduce students to theoretical frameworks, controversies, methods, and other topics of community-based research and practice in the anthropological tradition. Students will understand the history of applied anthropology, critiques of anthropology coming from the global south, and critical epistemological approaches of contemporary engaged researchers and practitioners. Through studies of theoretical debates as well as case studies of engaged research and scholarly practice, students will leave this class with a foundation for thinking about their own work with diverse community-engaged projects. In addition to historical and theoretical foundations, this course will provide an introductory framework for thinking about ethics, evaluation, communication of research, and professional development in the field. Finally, this course will introduce methods and tools of community-engaged and applied research and action.
621 Historical Archaeology
Survey of the role of historical archaeology in recovering past landscapes constructed through social relations and/or interrelated oppressions. Case studies illustrate the value of stakeholder collaborations and critical heritage interpretations.
635 Qualitative Research Methods
Methods of studying cultures of homogeneous and heterogeneous societies among peoples of the world. Emphasis on various techniques of fieldwork.
638 Writing Ethnography
This graduate seminar takes writing ethnography as its object of analysis and its subject of practice. The seminar provides students a supportive environment to gain perspective on the politics of representation and practice the arts of noticing. We delve into whether we are committed to ethnography as a genre, and if so how and why? In addition to reading ethnographies that address urgent contemporary topics, the seminar explores a range of strategies for representing social life and provides students a space to practice their own ethnographic writing. In both our reading and writing, we engage conventional as well as unconventional forms of representation, including critical ethnography, narrative ethnography, cross-cultural memoir, and blurred genre experiments.
641, 642 Theory and Method in Social Anthropology I, II
Two-semester sequence devoted to structural-functional analysis as developed in British social anthropology. Emphasis on method in the analysis of social and political theoretical issues. Credit, 6 (3 each).
652 Indigenous Archaeologies
Indigenous communities are involved in archaeology and cultural tourism and management projects of all sorts. This course explores these projects and the methods used to decolonize archaeology. Some are close to home - being conducted by UMass faculty, others from around the globe.
653 Indigenous Research: Theories and Methods
This course provides space for us to delve deeply into some of the key indigenous theoretical frameworks for doing research and methodologies of conducting research with indigenous peoples and/or utilizing indigenous modes of knowledge production in the research process. Our work together will provide you (both MA and Ph.D. students) with the theoretical breadth to formulate a research design, provide hands-on experience with research methods, and allow you space to explore, consider, develop, discuss, reflect, and write about the theories and methods you might draw from in your thesis or dissertation research, or in your post-graduate work
660 European Anthropology I
Particular attention to problems resulting from students' field investigations in Europe.
670 Contemporary Issues of Native American Indians: Northeast
This course is designed to inform students of the current issues facing the Native American Indians in the Northeast of North America through presentations by five guest speakers, all Northeast Native American Indians. Credit, 4
680 Field Course in European Anthropology
Field course for advanced undergraduates and graduates. Supervised training in cultural anthropological research. Location varies from year to year. Credit, 6.
681 Quantitative Methods in Anthropology
Interpretation and analysis of data from all fields of anthropology. Descriptive statistics, formulation, and testing of hypotheses, correlation, and regression. Current trends in the methodology of anthropological research.
682 Advanced Quantitative Analysis in Anthropology
This course will focus on advanced quantitative methods used in anthropology, including ordination techniques, multivariate statistics, phylogenetic comparative methods, ecological modeling, and randomization approaches. Theoretical and philosophical issues related to hypothesis testing and inferential statistics will also be discussed. In collaboration with the instructor, students will design, implement, and write up a research project applying the methods learned in the course. The R computing environment will be used extensively, though no prior experience is needed.
685 Seminar in European Anthropology II
Seminar for returning participants of European Field Program in Anthropology.
699 Master’s Thesis
Credit, 1-9.
775 Methods in Anthropological Research
Methods of studying cultures of homogeneous and heterogeneous societies among peoples of the world. Emphasis on various techniques of field work.
802 Research in Archaeology
Directed individual research in archaeology. Credit, 1-12.
803 Research in Physical Anthropology
Directed individual research in physical anthropology. Credit, 1-12.
804 Research in Cultural Anthropology
Directed individual research in cultural anthropology. Credit, 1-12.
805 Research in Linguistic Anthropology
Directed individual research in linguistic anthropology. Credit, 1-12.
899 Doctoral Dissertation
Credit, 10.