Anthropology
Collectively, we study human diversity across time and space. As a discipline, Anthropology attempts to understand the human past, present, and future using tools and techniques from the sub-fields of sociocultural anthropology, biological anthropology, and archaeology. We aim to educate students to address real-world problems through a combination of classroom learning, seminars, and hands-on field and laboratory research opportunities. This can include, for example, examining fossil casts or modern human bones, studying at the zoo or in villages in developing countries, and digging for artifacts in the field, or just facts in the library.
- Anthropology (General Anthropology), B.A.
- Anthropology (Archaeology), B.A.
- Anthropology (Environmental Anthropology), B.A.
- Accelerated Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology/Master of Arts in Museum Studies
- Anthropology (General Anthropology), B.S.
- Anthropology (Forensic Anthropology), B.S.
- Anthropology (Health), B.S.
- Anthropology - Secondary Major
- Anthropology Minor
- Archaeology Minor
- Forensic Science Minor
Anthropology (ANT)
ANT 1305 Introduction to Anthropology (3)
A survey of human past and present physical and cultural diversity. The student is introduced to cultural anthropology, physical anthropology, archaeology, and linguistics, which provide a basis for understanding cultural diversity both within the U.S.A. and abroad.
ANT 1306 Cultural Anthropology in Global Context (3)
An introduction to global cultures with emphasis on socio-economic arrangements, religious beliefs, and responses of indigenous groups to modernization.
ANT 1307 The Evolution of Human Societies: An Interdisciplinary Perspective (3)
Explores the big-picture questions of how and why human societies evolved the way that they did and what factors contributed to the distinct trajectories in which those societies developed, and equally, those issues that contributed to their decline.
ANT 1310 Cultural Geography (3)
Cross-listed as GEOG 1310
An introductory course in human or cultural geography. Topics include geographical concepts and factors; systematic and regional approaches; geographic tools and techniques, stressing spatial interactions; reciprocal relations between peoples and geographical environments; geographical graphics; major earth regions and their interrelations.
ANT 1325 Introduction to Global Health (3)
An introduction to global health and illness from a cross-cultural and cross-border perspective.
ANT 1360 Religion, Magic and Witchcraft (3)
Cross-cultural variability in beliefs and practices related to the supernatural, including theories about social, psychological, and ecological functions.
ANT 1404 Introduction to Human Evolution (4)
An introduction to the study of humans as biological organisms. Emphasis on evolutionary theory and natural selection as driving forces in human evolutionary history.
ANT 1407 Introduction to Archaeology (4)
A survey of archaeology, including the nature of archaeology, what archaeologists do, and major milestones in human cultural evolution.
ANT 1V9R Research (3)
Pre-requisite(s): Consent of instructor
Undergraduate research undertaken under the supervision of a faculty member. May be taken for a maximum of 6 hours.
ANT 2302 The Emergence of World Civilizations (3)
Cross-listed as ARC 2302
See ARC 2302 for course information.
ANT 2304 Introduction to Biological Anthropology (3)
A survey of the sub-field of biological anthropology, including anthropological genetics, primatology, paleoanthropology, human ecology, and bioarchaeology.
ANT 2V9R Research (3)
Pre-requisite(s): Consent of instructor
. Undergraduate research undertaken under the supervision of a faculty member. May be taken for a maximum of 6 hours.
ANT 3301 Science, Society, and Culture (3)
Pre-requisite(s): Three or four-hour 1000-level ANT course
Anthropological perspectives on controversial issues in the history of scientific thought as conveyed through original texts, popular films, and cultural critique.
ANT 3308 Methods of Archaeology (3)
Pre-requisite(s): Three or four-hour 1000-level ANT course
Methods in contemporary archaeology.
ANT 3310 Introduction to Linguistics (3)
See ENG 3310 for course information.
ANT 3320 Environment and Human Behavior (3)
Cross-listed as ENV 3320
Pre-requisite(s): Three or four-hour 1000-level ANT course
Interrelationships between cultural and ecological systems, with focus on food production, economic exchange, and religious beliefs.
ANT 3331 Human Osteology (3)
Cross-listed as FORS 3331
The detailed examination of the elements of the human skeleton, with an emphasis on identifying and siding individual bones and their bony structures.
ANT 3340 Indigenous Cultures of Modern Mexico and Central America (3)
Pre-requisite(s): Three or four-hour 1000-level ANT course
The cultural history of the indigenous peoples of central Mexico, including their adaptation to, and conflict with, forces of modernity.
ANT 3350 Native North Americans (3)
A study of the natives of North America including prehistory, cultural development, and contemporary relationships with other cultural ethnic groups.
ANT 3351 Ancient Civilizations of Mesoamerica (3)
Pre-requisite(s): Three or four-hour 1000-level ANT course
The emergence and evolution of Meso-American civilizations in Mexico and Central America. Focus on Olmecs and Teotihuacan, as well as the Toltecs, Mayas, and Aztecs.
ANT 3375 Ethnographic Methods (3)
Pre-requisite(s): Three or four-hour 1000-level ANT course
The multiple ethnographic methods used in cultural anthropological field research.
ANT 3399 Archaeology of Texas (3)
Pre-requisite(s): Upper-level standing
Texas prehistory, from the first inhabitants to the arrival of the Europeans. Chronology, theoretical approaches, and regional developments in North America affecting the cultures of the prehistoric peoples of Texas.
ANT 3V9R Research (3)
Pre-requisite(s): Consent of instructor
Undergraduate research undertaken under the supervision of a faculty member. May be taken for a maximum of 6 hours.
ANT 4010 Assessment Test (0)
Pre-requisite(s): Anthropology majors with senior standing only, or departmental consent
Anthropology assessment test for graduating seniors. Credit is given upon completion of the test.
ANT 4199 Senior Thesis I (1)
Pre-requisite(s): Senior standing in anthropology major
Thesis project planning, including topic identification, literature review, bibliography compilation, and thesis proposal.
ANT 4299 Senior Thesis II (2)
Pre-requisite(s): Senior standing in anthropology major
Primary data collection, processing, and analysis, culminating in the thesis.
ANT 4302 Archaeological Theory (3)
Pre-requisite(s): Upper-level standing or consent of instructor
Use of archaeological data in reconstruction of past human cultural systems, with an emphasis on the role of archaeological theory in the process of interpretation.
ANT 4305 Anthropological Theory (3)
Pre-requisite(s): Upper-level standing or consent of instructor
Theoretical approaches to modern-day anthropology, with emphasis on political economy, Marxism, hermeneutics, ecology, and feminism.
ANT 4306 Economic Anthropology (3)
Cross-listed as ENV 4306
Pre-requisite(s): ANT 2305 or consent of instructor
Traditional food production systems worldwide are compared to patterns in modern capitalist societies.
ANT 4310 Societies and Cultures of East Asia (3)
Cross-listed as AST 4310
Cultural traits and social structures of China, Korea, and Japan in the context of their development from the traditional to the modern. Special attention on Japanese society in comparison with American society.
ANT 4312 Societies and Cultures of Africa (3)
Current social issues and policies in the light of historical and cultural foundations of selected African countries.
ANT 4314 Human Biological Variation (3)
Pre-requisite(s): Upper level standing or consent of instructor
Mechanisms that contribute to biological diversity between and among human populations.
ANT 4315 Human Genetics: Evolution and Health (3)
Explores major topics in human genetic and genomic research including human population history, evolution, and genetic correlates of health and disease will be emphasized through reading, discussion, and analysis of the primary literature in the field.
ANT 4320 Culture, Personality and Identity (3)
Cross-listed as SOC 4320
Pre-requisite(s): Upper-level standing or consent of instructor
A thorough investigation of the relationship between the individual and culture/society, with emphasis on the "culture and personality" school of contemporary humanistic social science.
ANT 4321 Climate Anthropology (3)
Cross-listed as ENV 4322
Pre-requisite(s): Upper-level standing or consent of instructor
An introduction to the causes and effects of climate change as it relates to people and power, ethics and morals, environmental costs and justice, and cultural and spiritual survival.
ANT 4325 Medical Anthropology (3)
Biological and sociocultural aspects of human health, disease, development, aging, and health care. Especially emphasized are the developmental, holistic, and cross-cultural perspectives on disease and the life cycle.
ANT 4327 Human Catastrophe and Cultural Response (3)
Cross-listed as ENV 4327
Impact of major catastrophes on human society with emphasis on coping strategies and the utility of disaster theory to help in the recovery process. Issues include disaster, toxic disaster, famine, epidemic, war and natural oppression.
ANT 4330 Epidemiology (3)
Pre-requisite(s): Some facility with quantitative methods, preferably with elementary knowledge of statistics
Epidemiological concepts and skills pertinent to the understanding of diseases. Assessment of cultural, ecological, environmental, occupational, and behavioral factors.
ANT 4331 Global Health Ethics (3)
Pre-requisite(s): Upper-level standing or consent of instructor
Focus on the ethics of global health to examine the motivations and worldviews driving how we define, research and address global health problems.
ANT 4332 Global Health Disparities (3)
Pre-requisite(s): Upper-level standing or consent of instructor
Principles of modern medical, biological, and psychological theory are applied to understand how economic and social inequities affect child development and health.
ANT 4333 Formal Decision Analysis & Health Policy (3)
Introduction to formal decision analysis, the administrative allocation of scarce resources in health care, and the application of decision-making strategies in public policy among indigenous peoples.
ANT 4334 Child and Family Health in Global Perspective (3)
Pre-requisite(s): Upper level standing or instructor consent
Principles of modern medical practice and evolutionary biology are used to understand family relationships and how/why they affect child development and health in global context.
ANT 4335 The Human Fossil Record (3)
Pre-requisite(s): Upper-level standing or consent of instructor
Seminar on the evolutionary history of humans. Emphasis on fossil evidence and primary texts.
ANT 4336 Global Health Policy (3)
Pre-requisite(s): Upper-level standing or consent of instructor
History, theory, and practice of global health policies from the perspectives of public health, economics, and anthropology.
ANT 4340 Environmental Archaeology (3)
Pre-requisite(s): Upper-level standing or consent of instructor
Distributional patterns of archaeological sites within specific environments. Archaeological/environmental field work in Texas, with respect to recent conservation laws protecting nonrenewable archaeological resources.
ANT 4341 Archaeology of the Mediterranean (3)
Pre-requisite(s): Upper-level standing
Environmental and cultural factors that led to the rise and fall of civilizations in the Mediterranean region.
ANT 4344 African Archaeology (3)
Pre-requisite(s): Upper-level standing
A survey of the African archaeological record, from emergence of stone tool technology 2.6 million years ago to the rise of complex civilizations and the African Diaspora.
ANT 4350 Development and Indigenous People (3)
Cross-listed as ENV 4350
See ENV 4350 for course information.
ANT 4351 Futuristics (3)
Cross-listed as ENV 4351
Pre-requisite(s): Upper-level standing or consent of instructor
Biological and cultural forces that will likely shape humankind's future. Emphasis on trends in demography, globalization, science, and technology.
ANT 4353 Archaeology of North America (3)
Cross-listed as ARC 4353
An archaeological survey of human societies in the United States and Canada from their earliest appearance in the New World to the arrival of Europeans. One-third of the course will focus on historical archaeology.
ANT 4355 Forensic Anthropology (3)
Cross-listed as FORS 4355
Forensic anthropological techniques used in civil and criminal court cases, including analysis of skeletal material for sex, age, stature, and biological affinity.
ANT 4358 Death, Injury and Physical Remains (3)
Cross-listed as FORS 4359
See FORS 4359 for course information.
ANT 4360 Anthropology of Religion (3)
Pre-requisite(s): Upper-level standing or consent of instructor
Myth, ritual and religion in social and cultural anthropology. Emphasis on structural and functional analysis, including critiques of pertinent classical and contemporary works.
ANT 4361 Ethnographic and Analytical Methods in Ethnomusicology (3)
Cross-listed as MUS 4360
See MUS 4360 for course information.
ANT 4362 Applied Anthropology (3)
Cross-listed as ENV 4362
Pre-requisite(s): Upper level standing or consent of instructor
An introduction to applied anthropology where major research components are identified and specific fields such as medical, nutritional, environmental anthropology, and Third World development are discussed.
ANT 4365 Primate Behavior (3)
Pre-requisite(s): Upper-level standing or consent of instructor
The complex social behavior of primates. Includes field trips. Graduate students produce a comprehensive research paper.
ANT 4369 Seminar in Anthropology (3)
Cross-listed as ENV 4369
Pre-requisite(s): Consent of instructor
Debate of current theoretical issues that reflect the continually changing nature of the discipline. Students will address all sides of a currently debated issue, drawing upon their studies in anthropology and related fields. Faculty participation.
ANT 4371 Evolutionary Medicine (3)
Pre-requisite(s): Upper level standing or instructor consent
Application of evolutionary theory to medicine using insights from evolutionary theory (biology) and human evolutionary ecology (biological and cultural anthropology) to inform our understandings of human health, development, and disease.
ANT 4372 Sex, Hormones, and Behavior: Human Reproductive Ecology (3)
Pre-requisite(s): Upper level standing or instructor consent
Recent developments in human reproductive biology, human reproductive ecology, and fertility analysis. The major features of the human reproductive process are considered using a combination of demographic, physiological and evolutionary approaches.
ANT 4373 One Health: Connecting Global Health and Conservation Medicine (3)
Pre-requisite(s): Upper level standing or consent of instructor
Analysis of the collaborative efforts among physicians, public health professionals, veterinarians, and social scientists to understand infectious disease exchange at the interface of human, wildlife, and livestock populations, and the varying ecological and cultural contexts in which these disease spillovers take place.
ANT 4380 Bioarchaeology (3)
Advanced osteological approaches to the study of human skeletal remains from archaeological sites, with an emphasis on the study of human diet and health in prehistory.
ANT 43C9 Anthropology Capstone (3)
Pre-requisite(s): ANT 1404, 2305, and 2307; and senior standing
Integration of knowledge and experiences acquired from anthropology courses, research, and field school.
ANT 4416 Human Evolutionary Anatomy (4)
Cross-listed as BIO 4415
Pre-requisite(s): Upper-level standing or consent of instructor
Survey of regional and systemic human anatomy viewed from a comparative evolutionary perspective. Non-human primate and non-primate vertebrates will be used to illustrate the unique characteristics of human anatomical structures that have been honed by natural selection throughout our evolutionary history.
ANT 4660 Field School in Global Health (6)
Pre-requisite(s): Instructor or Departmental approval
Field training in the methods and techniques of Global Health research at either domestic or international locations. Topics will vary by year and location.
ANT 4670 Field School in Archaeology (6)
Pre-requisite(s): Consent of instructor
Field training in archaeological excavation, survey, artifact processing, and analysis of material culture.
ANT 4680 Field School in Cultural Anthropology (6)
Cross-listed as ENV 4680
Pre-requisite(s): Consent of instructor
Residence for five to six weeks in a selected area to observe and analyze social, economic, and environmental systems.
ANT 4690 Field School in Biological Anthropology (6)
Pre-requisite(s): Consent of instructor
Training in research techniques to gain an understanding of the methodology and its application in field research in various topics related to biological anthropology.
ANT 4V15 Research Methods in Cultural Anthropology (3-6)
Pre-requisite(s): Consent of instructor
Lecture and field experience in the methods and techniques of social and cultural anthropology. May be repeated for a total of six semester hours with different topics.
ANT 4V16 Archaeological Research (3-6)
Cross-listed as ARC 4V16
Pre-requisite(s): Consent of instructor
Independent library and lab research focused on a current topic in archaeology. May be repeated for a total of six semester hours with different topics.
ANT 4V17 Research Methods in Biological Anthropology (1-6)
Pre-requisite(s): Upper-level standing or consent of instructor
Lecture and lab experience in the methods and techniques of biological anthropological research. May be repeated for a total of six semester hours with different topics.
ANT 4V18 Research in Global Health (1-6)
Lecture, lab, or field research in various aspect of Global Health. May be repeated for a total of six semester hours with different topics.
ANT 4V20 Epidemiological Research Design (1-6)
Pre-requisite(s): Upper level standing and instructor consent
Application of epidemiological skills and methods to research questions. Emphasis on designing studies that will address real world clinical problems in cross-cultural context. May be repeated for a maximum of 6 hours.
ANT 4V70 Special Topics in Anthropology (1-6)
Pre-requisite(s): Consent of instructor
A reading-research project in selected areas of ethnology, archaeology, or physical anthropology. May be repeated for credit up to a total of six semester hours, provided topic is different.
ANT 4V9R Research (3)
Pre-requisite(s): Consent of instructor
Undergraduate research undertaken under the supervision of a faculty member. May be taken for a maximum of 6 hours.