Anthropology (ANTH)

ANTH 101. Introduction to Anthropology. 3 Hours.

A survey of the study of humans through exploring human experiences cross-culturally and through time. Topics include: similarities and differences in people's thoughts, interactions, and communicative practices within more-than-human communities. Successful completion of this course satisfies the Cultures and Peoples requirement for graduation.


ANTH 201. Introduction to Archaeology and Physical Anthropology. 3 Hours.

The study of humanity from the perspective of two of the four main subfields of anthropology. Archaeology studies humankind through time, since the species' appearance in the evolutionary record until the historical era, and across the wide geographical range of hominins. Physical anthropology studies humankind as evolving from biological organisms in all of our variations stretching from the tropical to the polar regions and from pre-birth to death. Successful completion of this course satisfies the Cultures and Peoples requirement for graduation.


ANTH 205. Anthropology of Childhood. 3 Hours.

An experiential learning course that will apply general principles of ethnographic fieldwork while studying childhood through an anthropological lens. Topics address the overarching question of how we build sustainable communities, specifically exploring how children conceptualize sustainability and local activism. Students will be placed in a semester-long, child-centered internship which will give them first-hand experience in working with children in the Spartanburg community. In addition to regular course sessions, students will spend three hours each week as part of their internship.


ANTH 225. Human Ecology. 3 Hours.

An ecological approach to an examination of the relationships between natural resource bases and the human societies they support. Successful completion of this course satisfies the Cultures and Peoples requirement for graduation.


ANTH 280. Selected Topics in Anthropology. 1 to 4 Hours.

Introductory-level independent research or exploration in topics not offered in the regular department courses.


ANTH 300. Ethnography. 3 Hours.

An introduction to qualitative methods in anthropological research, including case studies, participant observation, and interviews. Students will apply these methods in their own study of a social scene. Successful completion of this course satisfies the Cultures and Peoples requirement for graduation.

Prerequisite: ANTH 201 with a minimum grade of D or ANTH 305 with a minimum grade of D or ANTH 311 with a minimum grade of D or ANTH 312 with a minimum grade of D or ANTH 313 with a minimum grade of D or SOC 101 with a minimum grade of D.


ANTH 305. Building Sustainable Communities through Engagement. 3 Hours.

Students are exposed to the realities, challenges, and aspirations of Spartanburg's Northside neighborhood and the multiple ways in which sustainability is conceptualized and practiced in everyday life. The community engagement component of this course requires students to spend additional hours each week learning from and working with the Northside in various capacities. By the end of the semester, students will identify either an internship or a service-learning project based in the Northside that they will develop the following semester.


ANTH 310. Ethnographic Film. 3 Hours.

This course in visual anthropology leads the student through a series of case studies about peoples around the world as they represent themselves and as they are represented by others in film and writing. To expand students' social science research skills, this course teaches students how to interpret visual documentations of culture and how to produce films. Students will explore cross-cultural patterns and differences in human societies by viewing films about peoples from Australia, the Canadian Arctic, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, India, Indonesia, and many other places. Successful completion of this course satisfies the Cultures and Peoples requirement for graduation.


ANTH 311. Ecological Anthropology. 3 Hours.

Explores the ways people perceive and manage ecosystems using an evolutionary, comparative, and interdisciplinary approach. Successful completion of this course satisfies the Cultures and Peoples requirement for graduation.


ANTH 312. Medical Anthropology. 3 Hours.

Explores understandings of health, disease, and the body using a comparative biocultural approach to examine medical systems throughout the world. Successful completion of this course satisfies the Cultures and Peoples requirement for graduation.


ANTH 313. Cultures of Southeast Asia and Oceania. 3 Hours.

Explores the geographical, historical, cultural, religious, and ecological characteristics of the people of this region. Successful completion of this course satisfies the Cultures and Peoples requirement for graduation.


ANTH 314. Prehistory and History of Native American Culture in the Southeast. 3 Hours.

Explores the prehistoric and historic Native American Cultures of Southeastern North America. Successful completion of this course satisfies the Cultures and Peoples requirement for graduation.


ANTH 405. Research Seminar - Sustainability, Community & Service Learning. 3 Hours.

A continuation of ANTH 305 where service learning projects will be put into practice. Combining ethnographic research with community engagement students will continue to develop and implement projects collaboratively. These projects are all connected to sustainability and community building between Wofford and the Northside.

Prerequisite: ANTH 305 with a minimum grade of D.


ANTH 412. Global Health. 3 Hours.

Global Health encourages students to integrate information about local, lived, experiences of health with broader sociopolitical processes. This course uses the methodology of cross-cultural comparison to explore underlying patterns in human health and to study theories that explain health-related phenomena in diverse communities. Students learning will focus on how major transformations in human health articulate with demographic, nutritional, and epidemiological transitions as well as how wellbeing links to immigration, modernization, urbanization, environmental change, and other ongoing global flows.


ANTH 470. Independent Study in Anthropology. 1 to 4 Hours.

The student independently pursues a specific anthropology topic under the guidance of a departmental faculty member.


ANTH 480. Advanced Topics: Anthropology. 1 to 4 Hours.

Advanced-level independent research or exploration in topics not offered in the regular department courses.