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Department of Anthropology

Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology

Students on Summer 2020, Fall 2020, or Spring 2021 requirements ANTHBA

The Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology includes courses in general anthropology; its four subfields (Archaeology, Bioanthropology, Linguistic Anthropology, and Social/Cultural Anthropology); as well as integrative capstone seminars; and training in ethnography, laboratory methods, museum studies, general anthropology; and in several field schools.

  1. Archaeology explores the material remains of peoples and cultures in the recent and distant past, seeking fragmentary clues to understand how people once lived, and how the human past connects to the present.
  2. Bioanthropology examines the adaptations, variation, health and evolutionary history of humans and their primate relatives, studying human biology in the context of human culture and behavior.
  3. Linguistic Anthropology studies language and the ways people communicate in the context of social and cultural diversity, using different media, past and present.
  4. Social & Cultural Anthropology studies contemporary and historical cultures and societies, worldwide, linking local and global, and using diverse ethnographic approaches to understanding contemporary issues and challenges to our common humanity.

Requirements

The major requires at least 33 credit hours, including the requirements listed below.
  1. Introductory Courses.
    1. Bioanthropology. One (1) course:
      • ANTH-B 200 Bioanthropology
    2. Social and Cultural Anthropology. One (1) course:
      • ANTH-E 200 Social and Cultural Anthropology
    3. Linguistic Anthropology. One (1) course:
      • ANTH-L 200 Language and Culture
    4. Archaeology. One (1) course:
      • ANTH-P 200 Introduction to Archaeology
  2. Advanced Courses. Choose an option:
    • Option 1. One (1) course from three (3) of the four (4) subfields:
      • Bioanthropology Subfield
        • ANTH-B 301 Laboratory in Bioanthropology
        • ANTH-B 310 Bioanthropology: A History of Ideas
        • ANTH-B 312 Evolutionary Medicine
        • ANTH-B 333 Chimpanzee Biology: Anatomy, Evolution, Ecology, and Physiology
        • ANTH-B 340 Hormones and Human Behavior
        • ANTH-B 343 Evolution of Human Ecological Footprint
        • ANTH-B 368 The Evolution of Primate Social Behavior
        • ANTH-B 370 Human Variation
        • ANTH-B 400 Undergraduate Seminar
        • ANTH-B 464 Human Paleontology
        • ANTH-B 466 The Primates
        • ANTH-B 470 Human Adaptation: Biological Approaches
        • ANTH-B 472 Bioanthropology of Aboriginal America
        • ANTH-B 480 Human Growth and Development
      • Social and Cultural Anthropology Subfield
        • ANTH-E 300 Culture Areas and Ethnic Groups
        • ANTH-E 302 Ethnographic Methods
        • ANTH-E 309 Problems in African Ethnography
        • ANTH-E 317 Ethnographies of Media Worlds
        • ANTH-E 318 Nature/Culture: Global Perspectives in Environmental Anthropology
        • ANTH-E 319 Native American Religions
        • ANTH-E 320 Indigenous Populations of North America
        • ANTH-E 321 Peoples of Mexico
        • ANTH-E 322 Peoples of Brazil
        • ANTH-E 323 Indigenous Peoples of Indiana
        • ANTH-E 327 Native Amazonians and the Environment
        • ANTH-E 328 Ecological Anthropology
        • ANTH-E 331 Debt
        • ANTH-E 333 Peoples of the Andes
        • ANTH-E 335 Ancient Civilizations of Mesoamerica
        • ANTH-E 337 Food, Sex and Gender
        • ANTH-E 338 Stigma and Taboo
        • ANTH-E 340 Indigenous Populations of Mexico and Central America
        • ANTH-E 344 On The Move Across Asia: Gender, Migration, Mobility
        • ANTH-E 345 Changing China
        • ANTH-E 346 Global Anarchy
        • ANTH-E 347 The Anthropology of Contemporary Japan
        • ANTH-E 349 Identity and Difference
        • ANTH-E 358 Photography and Ethnography
        • ANTH-E 366 Commodities and Culture
        • ANTH-E 373 Plagues and People
        • ANTH-E 380 Urban Anthropology
        • ANTH-E 381 Ethnographic Analysis of Family, Work, and Power
        • ANTH-E 382 Memory and Culture
        • ANTH-E 383 A World of Work
        • ANTH-E 385 Applied Anthropology
        • ANTH-E 386 Performance, Culture, and Power in the Middle East and North Africa
        • ANTH-E 387 The Ethnography of Europe
        • ANTH-E 388 Ethnicity, Class, and the Model U.S. Citizen
        • ANTH-E 393 World Fiction and Cultural Anthropology
        • ANTH-E 397 Peoples and Cultures of the Middle East
        • ANTH-E 398 Peoples and Cultures of Central Asia
        • ANTH-E 400 Undergraduate Seminar
        • ANTH-E 404 Field Methods in Ethnography
        • ANTH-E 407 Visual Anthropology: Filmmaking
        • ANTH-E 408 Talk, Tales, and Television: Africa, Europe, the United States
        • ANTH-E 412 Anthropology of Russia and Eastern Europe
        • ANTH-E 413 Global Africa
        • ANTH-E 415 Topics in Communication and Culture in Comparative Perspective
        • ANTH-E 416 Anthropology of Tourism
        • ANTH-E 417 African Women
        • ANTH-E 418 Globalization and Consumer Culture
        • ANTH-E 420 Economic Anthropology
        • ANTH-E 421 Food and Culture
        • ANTH-E 422 Native American and Indigenous Media
        • ANTH-E 423 Life Histories
        • ANTH-E 424 Sense of Place
        • ANTH-E 426 Coffee Culture, Production, and Markets
        • ANTH-E 428 Contemporary Latin American Social Movements
        • ANTH-E 431 Ethnography as Cultural Critique
        • ANTH-E 432 Cultures of Democracy
        • ANTH-E 434 Food Communication and Performance
        • ANTH-E 435 Fashion, Beauty, Power
        • ANTH-E 436 The Politics of Marriage
        • ANTH-E 437 Power and Violence: Political Systems in Ethnographic Perspective
        • ANTH-E 438 Communication in the Digital Age
        • ANTH-E 442 Ethnographic Memoir
        • ANTH-E 444 People and Protected Areas: Theories of Conservation
        • ANTH-E 445 Seminar in Medical Anthropology
        • ANTH-E 454 India Lost and Found in Diasporic Feminist Films
        • ANTH-E 456 Anthropology of Race
        • ANTH-E 460 The Arts in Anthropology
        • ANTH-E 463 Anthropology of Dance
        • ANTH-E 464 Body, Power, and Performance
        • ANTH-E 474 The Anthropology of Human Rights
        • ANTH-E 485 Art and Craft of Ethnography
        • ANTH-E 490 Development and Anthropology
      • Linguistic Anthropology Subfield
        • ANTH-L 314 Performance as Communicative Practice
        • ANTH-L 320 Native American Languages
        • ANTH-L 330 Mesoamerican Languages: Structure, History, Social Context
        • ANTH-L 340 Language and Globalization
        • ANTH-L 400 Topical Seminar in the Ethnography of Communication
        • ANTH-L 402 Language in/of Media
        • ANTH-L 407 Language and Prehistory
        • ANTH-L 410 Language and Society in Central Eurasia
      • Archaeology Subfield
        • ANTH-P 301 Archaeological Methods and Analyses
        • ANTH-P 302 Invention and Technology
        • ANTH-P 305 Underwater Archeology
        • ANTH-P 330 Historical Archaeology
        • ANTH-P 332 Industrial Archaeology
        • ANTH-P 350 Archaeology of Ancient Mexico
        • ANTH-P 361 Archaeology of the Midwestern United States
        • ANTH-P 363 North American Prehistory through Fiction
        • ANTH-P 370 Archaeology of the Andes
        • ANTH-P 375 Food in the Ancient World
        • ANTH-P 380 Prehistoric Diet and Nutrition
        • ANTH-P 385 Paleolithic Technology Laboratory
        • ANTH-P 390 Geoarchaeology
        • ANTH-P 399 Undergraduate Seminar
        • ANTH-P 401 Cultural Resource Management
        • ANTH-P 406 Laboratory Methods in Archaeology
        • ANTH-P 407 Archaeological Curation
        • ANTH-P 409 Archaeological Ethics
        • ANTH-P 411 Archaeology of Magic, Witchcraft and Religion
        • ANTH-P 425 Faunal Osteology
        • ANTH-P 426 Problems in Zooarchaeology
        • ANTH-P 430 Archaeology of Violence and Conflict
        • ANTH-P 440 Archaeology of Space and Place
        • ANTH-P 445 Pots and People
    • Option 2.
      1. Subfields. One (1) course from two (2) of the four (4) subfields (see lists above).
      2. Capstone. One (1) course:
        • ANTH-A 410 Anthropology Capstone Seminar
  3. Methods Component. One (1) course:
    • ANTH-A 306 Anthropological Statistics
    • ANTH-A 405 Museum Methods
    • ANTH-B 301 Laboratory in Bioanthropology
    • ANTH-E 302 Ethnographic Methods
    • ANTH-E 423 Life Histories
    • ANTH-E 485 Art and Craft of Ethnography
    • ANTH-P 301 Archaeological Methods and Analyses
    • ANTH-P 380 Prehistoric Diet and Nutrition
    • ANTH-P 385 Paleolithic Technology Laboratory
    • ANTH-P 390 Geoarchaeology
    • ANTH-P 401 Cultural Resource Management
    • ANTH-P 406 Laboratory Methods in Archaeology
    • ANTH-P 407 Archaeological Curation
    • ANTH-P 425 Faunal Osteology
    • ANTH-P 426 Problems in Zooarchaeology
    • ANTH-X 476 Museum Practicum
    • ANTH-X 477 Fieldwork in Anthropology
    • ANTH-X 478 Practicum in Anthropology
    • ANTH-X 479 Fieldwork in Bioanthropology
    • ANTH-X 480 Fieldwork in Archaeology
  4. Electives. Additional credit hours as needed to complete requirements selected from:
    • Additional courses from the Bioanthropology Subfield list
    • Additional courses from the Social and Cultural Anthropology Subfield list
    • Additional courses from the Linguistic Anthropology Subfield list
    • Additional courses from the Archaeology Subfield list
    • One of the following:
      • ANTH-A 200 Topics in Anthropology of Culture and Society
      • ANTH-A 205 Anthropology Today: Selected Topics in Current Research
      • ANTH-A 208 Topics in the Anthropology of the Arts and Expressive Behavior
      • ANTH-A 211 Anthropology Topics in the Natural and Mathematical Sciences
      • ANTH-A 221 Anthropology of Food
      • ANTH-A 255 Nomads, Networks & Communities
      • ANTH-A 288 Sex, Drugs, and Rock-n-Roll (Subversive Culture)
      • ANTH-B 200 Bioanthropology
      • ANTH-B 260 Biocultural Medical Anthropology
      • ANTH-E 200 Social and Cultural Anthropology
      • ANTH-E 203 Stigma and the Expressive Arts: Cultivating Compassion
      • ANTH-E 206 Chanting Down Babylon: Protest and Popular Culture in the Afro-Caribbean
      • ANTH-E 208 Global Jazz, Reggae, and Hip-Hop: African Diasporic Music Beyond the African Diaspora
      • ANTH-E 210 Rethinking Race Globally
      • ANTH-E 212 The Anthropology of Youth and Adolescence
      • ANTH-E 220 Performing Human/Nature: Defining Relationships with the Environment
      • ANTH-E 230 American Ethnic Diversity
      • ANTH-E 251 Post-Taliban Afghanistan and the War on Terror
      • ANTH-E 253 Intoxicating Cultures: Alcohol in Everyday Life
      • ANTH-E 260 Culture, Health, and Illness
      • ANTH-E 270 Captivity Narratives
      • ANTH-L 200 Language and Culture
      • ANTH-L 204 Language and (In)Tolerance in the US
      • ANTH-L 208 Ways of Speaking
      • ANTH-L 222 Global Communication
      • ANTH-P 200 Introduction to Archaeology
      • ANTH-P 215 Sex in the Ancient City: An Archaeology of Sex
      • ANTH-P 230 Archaeology of the Ancient Maya
      • ANTH-P 240 Archaeology and the Movies
    • ANTH-X 490 Individual Readings in Anthropology
  5. Major GPA, Hours, and Minimum Grade Requirements.
    1. Major GPA. A GPA of at least 2.000 for all courses taken in the major—including those where a grade lower than C- is earned—is required.
    2. Major Minimum Grade. Except for the GPA requirement, a grade of C- or higher is required for a course to count toward a requirement in the major.
    3. Major Upper Division Credit Hours. At least 18 credit hours in the major must be completed at the 300–499 level.
    4. Major Residency. At least 18 credit hours in the major must be completed in courses taken through the Indiana University Bloomington campus or an IU-administered or IU co-sponsored Overseas Study program.
    5. College Breadth. At least 58 credit hours must be completed in courses from College of Arts and Sciences disciplines outside of the major area.

Major Area Courses

Unless otherwise noted below, the following courses are considered in the academic program and will count toward academic program requirements as appropriate:

  • Any course at the 100–499 level with the ANTH subject area prefix—as well as any other subject areas that are deemed functionally equivalent
  • Any course contained on the course lists for the academic program requirements at the time the course is taken—as well as any other courses that are deemed functionally equivalent—except for those listed only under Addenda Requirements
  • Any course directed to a non-Addenda requirement through an approved exception
Exclusions

The following courses cannot be applied toward major requirements or the College Breadth requirement:

  • ANTH-A 105
  • ANTH-A 107 Becoming Human: Evolving Genes, Bodies, Behaviors, Ideas
  • ANTH-A 303
  • ANTH-A 310
  • ANTH-E 105 Culture and Society
  • ANTH-E 303 Introduction to Social and Cultural Anthropology
  • ANTH-P 250 Introductory World Archaeology

This program of study cannot be combined with the following:

  • Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and Linguistics (ANTHLNGBA)
  • Bachelor of Arts in Linguistics and Anthropology (LINGANTBA)
  • Certificate in Global Human Diversity (GLHMDVACRT)
  • Certificate in the Ethnography of Communication (ETHCOMACRT)
  • Minor in Anthropology (ANTHMIN)
  • Minor in Archaeology (ARCHMIN)
  • Minor in Medical Anthropology (MEDANTHMIN)
  • Minor in the Anthropology of Food (FOODMIN)
  • [Name unavailable] (ETHCOMMMIN)

Exceptions to and substitutions for major requirements may be made with the approval of the unit's Director of Undergraduate Studies, subject to final approval by the College of Arts and Sciences.