Academic Catalog 2022-2023 [ARCHIVED CATALOG]
Course Listing
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Courses listed below are grouped together alphabetically by subject prefix. To search for a specific course, please follow the instructions in the course filter box below and click on “Filter.”
Departments and interdisciplinary programs are described in detail on the Majors, Minors, and Other Programs page within this catalog. Please refer to the detailed sections on each area of study for more information. Requirements to fulfill a major or minor appear within each program or area of study.
All students must also complete the courses in the Common Curriculum (General Education), including Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) requirements and other requirements that pertain to the undergraduate degree. Courses are numbered as follows.
000-049 - Non-credit courses.
050-099 - Common Curriculum (General Education) courses and others that do NOT count toward the major.
100-199 - Introductory-level courses which count for the major.
200-299 - Sophomore/junior-level courses that can be taken by non-majors. (Some departments may use 200-249 and 250-259 to delineate between sophomore and junior level offerings.)
300-399 - Upper-level courses intended primarily for majors - these are courses representing the depth component of the major.
400-499 - All advanced courses for seniors, including those used to fulfill WS (Senior Writing Experience requirement), small seminars, research, thesis, and independent studies.
Wherever possible, the departments have indicated the instructor and the term during which a course is given. Some courses are offered only occasionally and are so indicated. The College retains the right not to offer a course, especially if enrollment is insufficient.
A few courses are not valued at full course credit, and some carry double credit.
A full course unit may be equated to five quarter-credit hours, or three and one-third semester credit hours.
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Asian Studies |
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AIS 499 - Asian Studies Senior Project 2 Course Units: 2.0
(TBD: Staff) Interdisciplinary investigation of a topic in Asian Studies. CC: WS
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Music |
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AMU 010 - Instrumental and Vocal Lessons Course Units: 0.0
(Fall-Spring: Liu) Private lessons are offered in voice, keyboard, guitar, wind, string, brass, percussion and world instruments once a week at a cost of $500 per term. Scholarships are available by application to music majors, IDs, and minors with demonstrated need to offset the cost of lessons. For registration information and a list of approved instructors see Shou-Ping Liu, Director of Performance.
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AMU 012 - Union College Japanese Drumming and Global Fusion Band Course Units: 0.0
(Fall-Spring: Matsue) The Union College Japanese Drumming and Global Fusion Band (Zakuro-Daiko) rehearses weekly on a variety of Japanese drums and other types of global instruments. The ensemble regularly performs both on- and off-campus. No previous musical experience is required, though members need to audition/interview to determine participation at the discretion of the instructor. See Professor Matsue. ISP: AIS
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AMU 014 - Union College Choir Course Units: 0.0
(Fall-Spring: Liu) The Union College Chorale performs works from a broad chronological and stylistic range, including western and non-western traditions. The ensemble performs at least once each term and normally performs at one off-campus venue each year. This ensemble is open by audition to all students and prior experience is not necessary. See Shou-Ping Liu, Director of Performance.
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AMU 015 - Union College Jazz Ensemble Course Units: 0.0
(Fall-Spring: Olse) The Union College Jazz Ensemble meets weekly and performs throughout the year in both formal and informal settings. Experience in improvisation is desirable but not required. Instrumentalists and vocalists are welcome to audition. See Professor Olsen.
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AMU 016 - Union College Chamber Choir Course Units: 0.0
(Not Offered this Academic Year) The Union College Camerata Singers is a select vocal ensemble that performs music from a span of five centuries. The ensemble performs one concert a year.
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AMU 017 - Union College and Community Orchestra Course Units: 0.0
(Fall-Spring: Liu) The Orchestra meets once a week and presents at least one concert each term. The Orchestra is open by audition to all students and members of the community. Section and principal chairs are assigned according to the audition results. See Shou-Ping Liu, Director of Performance.
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AMU 018 - Union College Early Music Ensemble Course Units: 0.0
(Fall-Spring: McMullen) The Union College Early Music Ensemble, open to both singers and instrumentalists, is devoted to the study and performance of music from the Middle Ages through the Early Viennese Era. Participants play on both modern instruments and reproductions of historic instruments, including the harpsichord. Emphasis is placed upon historical performance practices, as described in music treatises and other documents and as understood by scholars and performers today. The Ensemble, open by audition, rehearses twice a week. See Professor McMullen.
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AMU 100 - Elements of Music Course Units: 1.0
(Fall: Chandler; Winter: Oram ) An introductory survey of the main aspects of music theory and practice including rhythm, intervals, scales and keys, melody, harmony, and form, complemented by hands-on creative work in the Music Technology Studio. Designed for students with a minimal background in music CC: HUM
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AMU 101 - Music Theory: Materials and Design I Course Units: 1.0
(Fall: Chandler; Winter: Oram) This course investigates the functional harmonic practices of tonal music through listening, analysis, and written exercises. Additionally, the course covers important concepts related to design and structure of music, including phrasing and form. Prerequisite(s): Ability to read music. CC: HUM
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AMU 110 - Class Piano 1 Course Units: 1.0
(Fall: Liu; Spring: McMullen) This course, aimed at students with no experience in piano playing, integrates basics of music theory with learning to play the piano. Students will first learn to read treble and bass clefs at the keyboard and then come to an understanding of keys and basic harmonic principles while learning to play music from a variety of repertoires. CC: HUM
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AMU 111 - Class Piano 2 Course Units: 1.0
(Not Offered this Academic Year) A continuation of Class Piano I. Students learn to perform intermediate-level piano works from classical and popular music repertoires, develop sight reading skills, and learn to harmonize melodies with more than three chords. Prerequisite(s): AMU 110 or permission of the instructor. CC: HUM
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AMU 120 - Making Music, Shaping Selves: Introduction to World Music Course Units: 1.0
(Not Offered this Academic Year) Introduces music from various world areas including Africa, Latin America, Asia, and Europe through live performance, lecture, video and audio. Students will increase familiarity with a wide range of musical styles while also exploring the relationship between music, identity and society. Cross-Listed: ANT 148 CC: LCC, HUM
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AMU 125 - World Religions and Music Course Units: 1.0
(Not Offered this Academic Year) Music, deemed by some to be a gift from the Divine, continues to play an important role in the histories of all religions. Through an examination of three religions - Buddhism, Judaism, and Christianity - students will come to an understanding of the intricate relationships among music, theology, liturgy, ritual, and human religious expressions in different cultures and at different time periods. CC: HUM, LCC
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AMU 130 - American Music Course Units: 1.0
(Not Available this Academic Year) American music-cultures approached through performance, lecture, video, and audio. Survey samples from popular, classical, and folk traditions. CC: HUM
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AMU 131 - Music of Black America Course Units: 1.0
(Not Offered this Academic Year) Black music in America from its African beginnings to present-day pop styles, approached through live performance, lecture, video, and sound recordings. Special emphasis on gospel, blues, jazz, and rap. Prereq/Corequisite(s): Not open to students who have taken AMU 132 . CC: LCC, HUM ISP: AFR
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AMU 132 - The History of Jazz Course Units: 1.0
(Fall: Olsen) A study of the important personalities and trends in the evolution of jazz, approached through reading, video and sound recordings, and live performance. Prereq/Corequisite(s): Not open to students who have taken AMU 131 . CC: LCC, HUM ISP: AFR, AMS
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AMU 133 - Music of Latin America Course Units: 1.0
(Not Offered this Academic Year) Latin American music-cultures approached through live performance, lecture, video, and audio. Survey samples from folk, popular, and classical traditions, with special emphasis on the musics of Cuba and Brazil. CC: LCC, HUM
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AMU 134 - Music and Culture of Africa Course Units: 1.0
(Not Offered this Academic Year) Through an examination of traditional and popular music from across the continent, students will gain a better understanding of the integral role played by music in African culture. CC: LCC, HUM
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AMU 140 - Music Technology: Transforming Sound, Making Music Course Units: 1.0
(Fall: Chandler) An introduction to the tools and techniques of organizing sound in meaningful ways using computers. Students learn basic recording techniques, audio editing, mixing, sequencing, synthetic sound design, and basic compositional techniques in order to facilitate the creation of original, brief compositions.
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AMU 160 - From Chant to Mozart Course Units: 1.0
(Fall: McMullen) A study of compositions from the ninth century through the time of the French Revolution. Among the many topics included are Gregorian chant, music for kings and queens from the Renaissance, the effect of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation on music; the invention of opera (the predecessor of the musical); Vivaldi’s concertos, sacred music by Bach and Handel; and symphonies and operas by Haydn and Mozart. CC: HUM, JCAD, JCHF, JLIT, WAC ISP: REL
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AMU 161 - From Beethoven to Bernstein Course Units: 1.0
(Winter: McMullen) A study of compositions from the end of the eighteenth century through the present. A few of the composers we study are Beethoven, Chopin, Mendelssohn, Schubert, Clara and Robert Schumann, Wagner, Brahms, Debussy, Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Ives, Copland, Varese, Bernstein, and John Adams. CC: HUM, WAC, JCAD, JCHF, JLIT, WAC
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AMU 201 - Music Theory: Materials and Design II Course Units:
(Spring: Oram) This course is a continuation of the concepts introduced in AMU 101. The study of functional harmony and voice leading expands to include chromaticism and modulation. Students apply melodic, harmonic, and formal compositional techniques through creative projects. Prerequisite(s): AMU 101 or permission from the instructor. CC: HUM
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AMU 202 - Musical Thinking: World and Pop Course Units: 1.0
(Winter: Olsen) This course will examine music traditions outside the canon of Western classical music, including American folk, jazz and popular music as well as traditional and popular music from around the world. In order to better understand the theory and practice of these music’s, students will pursue topics including the dichotomy between oral tradition and written notation; various ways of organizing pitch, rhythm, and meter; and the process of transcription. Prerequisite(s): AMU 100 or AMU 101 or permission of the instructor. CC: HUM, LCC
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AMU 212 - Bach, Handel, and their Predecessors Course Units: 1.0
(Not Offered this Academic Year) This course is a study of music composed between 1600 and 1750. A few topics that we study are the origins and development of opera from Monteverdi through Handel; the relationship between opera and the modern-day musical; the influence of dance rhythms in vocal and instrumental music; and sacred and secular music by Bach and Handel. CC: HUM
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AMU 213 - Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven Course Units: 1.0
(Fall: McMullen) Vienna was the center of European art music from the late eighteenth century through the early nineteenth century. This course examines music by Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, as well as many less-known figures. Students come to an understanding of Vienna at one of the city’s greatest musical heights through a study of symphonies, string quartets, operas, and piano sonatas. CC: HUM, JCAD, JCHF, JLIT
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AMU 214 - Romanticism Course Units: 1.0
(Winter: McMullen) European art music of the nineteenth century saw the development of countless individual musical styles, as opposed to the more homogeneous sounds of previous generations. Through listening exercises, study of scores, and historical documents students learn to distinguish characteristics of music written by composers such as Chopin, Schubert, Clara and Robert Schumann, Verdi, Wagner, and Brahms, among others. CC: HUL, JCAD, JCHF, WAC
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AMU 215 - Music in the 20th & 21st Centuries Course Units: 1.0
(Not Offered this Academic Year) The study of significant styles and developments in the music of the last hundred years (both “classical” and popular), approached through analysis, performance, and composition. Prerequisite(s): AMU 101 or permission of the instructor. CC: HUM
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AMU 220 - Mapping Musical Lives: Ethnography of Performing Arts Course Units: 1.0
(Not Offered this Academic Year) This seminar explores the relationship between music and culture through live performance, discussion, video and audio, and workshops in a variety of world music areas. Students will also consider how one conducts research on performing arts, culminating in a focused project on music-making in the community. Students thus will encounter diverse peoples and their musical practices in cross-cultural comparison while also exploring research methodology through their own work. Cross-Listed: ANT 274 Prerequisite(s): AMU 101 , AMU 120 / ANT 148 or permission of the instructor. CC: LCC, HUM, JCHF, JSPE
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AMU 221 - From Rhythm and Blues to Radiohead: The History of Rock & Roll Course Units: 1.0
(Not Offered this Academic Year) Explores the historical development of Anglo-American rock-and-roll through lecture, video and sound recordings. This course will rely heavily on film, with an accompanying series featuring documentaries, concert films, musicals and more. Students will gain a greater understanding of the socio-cultural contexts that informed stylistic change, as well as consider the continued relevancy of rock today. Prerequisite(s): Permission of the instructor. CC: HUM
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AMU 223 - Global Hip Hop Course Units: 1
Hip hop has grown from its late 1970s NYC roots to become a vehicle for self-expression around the globe. After introductory topics including the basics of music, an overview of the music industry, and the roots of hip hop, the course will examine case studies in global hip hop culture. CC: HUM, WAC-R, JCAD, JCHF
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AMU 230 - Musical Theater & Opera Scenes Workshop Course Units: 1.0
(Not Offered this Academic Year) This class aims to help students discover their potential for singing, acting, and dancing through the performance of scenes from the opera and musical theater literature. Special emphasis will be given to the improvement of sight-reading. Through a combination of lecture and hands-on performance, students will also learn to understand the basics of voice types, vocal technique, and other performance-related issues in the field. Guest speakers and instructors will be invited to share their experiences with students to further their understanding of the vocal performance industry. CC: HUM
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AMU 231 - Chamber Music Workshop Course Units: 1.0
(Not Offered this Academic Year) Rehearsal and performance of chamber music primarily from Classical and Romantic periods. CC: HUM
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AMU 232 - Jazz Workshop Course Units: 1.0
(Not Offered this Academic Year) Students will perform, analyze, and compose music written in jazz idioms; students will develop skills in improvisation. CC: HUM
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AMU 233 - Japanese Drumming Workshop Course Units: 1.0
(Not Offered this Academic Year) This course introduces Japanese drumming, exploring its origins and subsequent development as a national art form following WWII, and then its ultimate spread globally as a voice of Asian-American activism. The course emphasizes performance on the drums and culminates in a final concert and performance project. No previous musical experience is required. CC: LCC, HUM, JCAD, JCHF ISP: AIS, GSW
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AMU 234 - Balinese Gamelan Workshop Course Units: 1.0
(Not Offered this Academic Year) This course introduces Balinese music and culture, exploring the importance of music, dance, and religion in the everyday life of Balinese people. The course emphasizes performance of Balinese gong kebyar (an orchestral form featuring xylophones, gongs, drums, and cymbals) and culminates in a final concert and performance protest. No previous musical experience is required. CC: LCC, HUM
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AMU 235 - Latin Percussion Workshop Course Units: 1.0
(Not Offered this Academic Year) The goal of this course is to give students an in-depth understanding of Afro-Cuban and Afro-Brazilian music through studying genres (rumba, son, mambo, salsa, comparsa, samba, forro) from inside the percussion section. In addition to ensemble work, students will research and transcribe Latin music styles. The course will culminate in a public performance/presentation at the end of the term. Entry to the course by audition; previous instrumental experience desirable but not required. CC: LCC
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AMU 240 - Music Technology II: Recording, Mixing, and Synthesizing Sound Course Units: 1
(Not Offered this Academic Year) This course focuses on the hardware and software tools, techniques, and practices necessary to produce polished pieces of music. Through both technical and creative projects, students dive deeper into concepts from acoustics and psychoacoustics, microphone placement and selection, recording practices, signal routing, sound processing and mixing, and synthesizer programming. CC: HUM
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AMU 250 - Soundscapes Course Units: 1
This course explores the interdisciplinary field of soundscape studies and acoustic ecology through reading, discussion, listening exercises, and written reflections. Students will encounter contemporary sound artists and the ways they have creatively engaged with the environment. Students will listen closely to, record, and analyze local soundscapes using field recording equipment, which will culminate in the creation of their own soundscape compositions. CC: WAC
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AMU 280 - Baroque Music Performance Course Units: 1
CC: WAC
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AMU 295H - Music Honors Independent Project 1 Course Units: 0.0
(TBD: Staff)
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AMU 296H - Music Honors Independent Project 2 Course Units: 1.0
(TBD: Staff) Prerequisite(s): AMU 295H
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AMU 301 - Music Theory: Materials and Design III Course Units: 1
(Fall: Olsen) Through score analysis and composition, this course goes further into the characteristics that define common musical forms. Students explore concepts in texture, timbre, orchestration, and longer form composition. Prerequisite(s): AMU 201 CC: HUM
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AMU 303 - Conducting Course Units: 1.0
(Not Offered this Academic Year) Fundamentals of conducting vocal and instrumental ensembles, including score reading and preparation, beat patterns, gestures, and rehearsal techniques. Prerequisite(s): permission of the instructor. CC: HUM
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AMU 304 - Introduction to Composition Course Units: 1.0
(Not Offered this Academic Year) The creation and notation of freestyle compositions with emphasis on individual instruction. Prerequisite(s): AMU 201 or permission from the instructor. CC: HUM
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AMU 305 - Vocal Arranging Course Units: 1.0
(Not Offered this Academic Year) Writing and arranging for the voice, in folk, classical, jazz, and popular contexts. Prerequisite(s): AMU 101 or permission of the instructor. CC: HUM
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AMU 306 - The Evolution of Popular Song Course Units: 1.0
(Not Offered this Academic Year) From minstrelsy and vaudeville through Tin Pan Alley, Motown, the Beatles, Burt Bacharach, and Billy Joel, this course will examine the creation, performance, transmission, and reception of popular song. In addition to analyzing lyrical/musical content as well as historical context, students will compose words and music in the styles of established master songwriters. Prerequisite(s): AMU 101 or permission of the instructor. CC: HUM
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AMU 307 - The Art and Music of Radiohead Course Units: 1.0
(Not Offered this Academic Year) This course focuses on the music and art of seminal rock group Radiohead. Formed in the 1980s in Oxfordshire, UK, Radiohead since has released nine critically acclaimed studio albums and more than 40 music videos, topping the charts for decades, and rivaling The Beatles for a top spot in the pantheon of British rock legends. They are widely respected not only for their musical innovation, involving creative modality and rhythmic organization but their ecological mindfulness, political edginess and industry changing approaches to the production of popular music, ever critical of consumer capitalism. This combination has allowed the group to maintain creative autonomy and authenticity, while garnering worldwide recognition and commercial success. The group’s emergence from British synth-pop and evolution to contemporary icons will be explored through reading, listening, musical analysis, and video. Prerequisite(s): Permission of the instructor. CC: HUM
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AMU 320 - Encounters with East Asian Music Cultures Course Units: 1.0
(Winter: Matsue) Through live performance, discussion, and composition, this course explores key characteristics of East Asian Music Cultures. Particular attention is paid to the processes of cultural exchange between China, Korea, Japan and the rest of the world that have resulted in the rich breadth of performance traditions expressed today. CC: LCC, HUM, JCAD, JCHF ISP: AIS, GSW
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AMU 340 - Early Music Seminar: Music of the Middle Ages and Renaissance Course Units: 1.0
(Not Offered this Academic Year) While distant in time, music of the Middle Ages and Renaissance resonates with modern times. Students learn how monks, troubadours, jongleurs, street and church musicians, and others dealt with many of the same topics expressed by today’s musicians, but using different musical languages. Students learn to hear, analyze, talk about, and write compositions in some of those musical languages from the ninth through the fifteenth centuries. Emphasis is on listening to a variety of repertoires. CC: HUL, HUM, WAC, JCAD, JCHF, JLIT
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AMU 490 - Music Independent Study 1 Course Units: 1.0
(TBD: Staff)
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AMU 491 - Music Independent Study 2 Course Units: 1.0
(TBD: Staff)
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AMU 492 - Music Independent Study 3 Course Units: 1.0
(TBD: Staff)
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AMU 497 - Music One Term Senior Project Course Units: 1.0
(TBD: Staff)
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AMU 498 - Music Two Term Senior Project 1 Course Units: 0.0
(TBD: Staff)
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AMU 499 - Music Two Term Senior Project 2 Course Units: 2.0
(TBD: Staff) Prerequisite(s): AMU 498 CC: WS
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GPM 490 - Global and Popular Musics Course Units: 1.0
(TBD: Staff)
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Anthropology |
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ANT 110 - Introduction to Cultural Anthropology Course Units: 1.0
(Fall, Winter, Spring: Staff) The basic concepts, methodology, and findings of cultural anthropology. Examines the similarities and diversity of human societies through in-depth case studies and cross-cultural comparisons. CC: LCC, SOCS, JCHF, JSPE
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ANT 111 - Cultures Through Film Course Units: 1.0
(Fall, Spring: Leavitt) This course explores other cultures as they are portrayed in ethnographic and documentary film. The course introduces students to ethnographic film and to the broad range of cultures and issues that are the subjects of these films. CC: LCC, SOCS, JCAD, JCHF, JSPE
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ANT 130 - Food and the Self Course Units: 1.0
(Not Offered this Academic Year) What is the relationship between food and the body? What are the boundaries of food and the body? Are you what you eat or how you eat? This course looks at anthropological approaches to eating, consumption, identity, the body and food, while also examining current controversies such as obesity, genetically modified foods, and food taboos. While much of the course concerns itself with the cultural and historical construction of the American diet, it also draws examples from other cultures. CC: LCC, SOCS
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ANT 131 - Anthropology of Consumption Course Units: 1
CC: LCC, SOCS
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ANT 148 - Making Music, Shaping Selves: Introduction to World Music Course Units: 1.0
(TBD: Staff) Introduces music from various world areas including Africa, Latin America, Asia, and Europe through live performance, lecture, video and audio. Students will increase familiarity with a wide range of musical styles while also exploring the relationship between music and society. Cross-Listed: AMU 120 CC: LCC, HUM, SOCS
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ANT 170 - Myth, Ritual and Magic Course Units: 1.0
(Winter: Bedford) This course examines some of the theoretical issues surrounding myth, ritual and magic as well as specific examples of their cultural expression. How do people make sense of themselves, their society and the world through myth and ritual? How do cosmology and belief systems help them gain and organize knowledge about the world and themselves? The course will be examining a number of “occult” and “esoteric” practices, that is, practices that were not commonly known to all members of society, including sufism, kabbalah, alchemy, and shamanism. Cross-Listed: REL 170 CC: LCC, HUM, SOCS
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ANT 181 - Anthropology of Sub-Saharan Africa Course Units: 1.0
(Not Offered this Academic Year) This course offers an ethnographic and ethnological survey of the diverse peoples and cultures of sub-Saharan Africa. To gain insight into the lives and experiences of peoples from across the region, we will examine both historical and contemporary forces that continue to shape political, economic, and sociocultural development. The course is organized thematically around a series of readings that give students an overview of the continent, its history and key topics in African anthropology. Anthropological approaches will be used to understand many of the challenges and innovations experienced across sub-Saharan Africa, including political conflict and democratization, development dilemmas, disease etiologies and witchcraft, popular culture, urbanization and environmental conservation. Through lectures, course readings, and discussions, students will enhance their knowledge of both Africa and anthropology. CC: LCC, SOCS
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ANT 184 - Contemporary Japanese Society Course Units: 1.0
(TBD: Staff) An anthropological introduction to contemporary Japanese society and culture. Provides an historical overview, then explores in greater depth such topics as family structure, education, religious traditions, the work place, women, and contemporary social problems. CC: LCC, SOCS
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ANT 205 - Men and Masculinity Course Units: 1.00
(Fall: Khan) This course examines the construction of gender through the study of men and masculinity. The primary focus of gender studies has been on women and femininity but in recent decades scholars have increasingly emphasized that gender is a relational construct and cannot be understood without also examining men and masculinity. In this course we examine how male roles are defined across societies and how men must live up to and abide by different ideals of masculinity. Understanding this gives us insign into crucial social issues related to family, religion, politics and economy. CC: LCC, SOCS, JCHF, JSPE
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ANT 210 - The Anthropology of Poverty Course Units: 1.0
(Spring: Witsoe) Why has urban poverty remained so entrenched in the United States, even amidst the unprecedented economic expansion of the postwar period? This course will seek to answer this question by exploring the relationships between race, public institutions, economic change and inequality within American society. In doing so, the course will examine the theoretical and practical dimensions of anthropology’s engagement with poverty. We will begin by examining theoretical approaches for understanding the persistence of poverty in the United States, as well as the major policy frameworks that seek to reduce poverty. In addition, the course will cover anthropological critiques of these approaches and anthropological accounts of the everyday realities and struggles of poor people. Students will do internships in local organizations dealing with poverty and will use this experience to reflect on larger debates. CC: LCC, SOCS, WAC, WAC-R, JCHF, JSPE ISP: AMS
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ANT 211 - Anthropology of Intimacy Course Units: 1.0
(Winter: Leavitt) Sex, love and marriage are all expressions of human intimacy, yet practices vary widely across societies. This course looks at universal needs for intimacy in cultural context. It begins with how men and women are defined culturally. Then it considers a range of sexual activities as societal demands or expressions of love. How does a given society define romantic love? How is homosexuality regarded? How does love magic work? Intimacy is steered through culturally defined roles, from sex workers to men playing the roles of women. Sexual antagonism sees men and women as dangerous to each other; how does love and marriage work in such societies? Marriage practices, from arranged marriage to marriage based on love, from polygamy to monogamy, all arise based on cultural demands as well. The course includes a look at romance and the emotional legacy of sexual assault on college campuses. CC: LCC, JCHF, JSPE ISP: GSW
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ANT 214 - Language and Culture Course Units: 1.0
(Winter: Brison) This course examines the complex relationship between culture and language. Lectures and readings will use case materials drawn from North America, Southeast Asia, the Caribbean, Oceania, and Europe to explore theories about how language is shaped by, and in turn shapes, culture and social relations. We will start by looking at the influence of linguistic categories on the way we view the world around us. We will look at color terminology, racial and ethnic categories, pronoun use, and differences in vocabulary used to talk about men and women. Next, we will turn to cultural differences in communicative behavior. We will examine theories that suggest that males and females, and members of various ethnic groups, use language differently in everyday social interaction. These differences in communicative strategies lead to systematic miscommunication and perpetuate stereotypes. We will then turn to the ways changes in communicative technologies such as the internet and cellphones change social relations. Finally, we will explore the ways that language reflects and supports social class, and the patterning of language use in multilingual nations. CC: LCC, SOCS, JCHF, JSPE
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ANT 220 - Women’s Lives Across Cultures Course Units: 1.0
(Not Offered this Academic Year) Examines women’s lives in different cultures through detailed case studies and film, focusing on common experiences (e.g., motherhood, work), gender-based inequality, and sources of women’s power and influence. It also examines topics that exclusively or disproportionately affect women (e.g., female genital cutting, domestic violence, rape, sex tourism) as well as the varied forms feminism takes in other cultures. CC: LCC, SOCS
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ANT 221 - Law, Culture, and Society Course Units: 1.0
(Not Offered this Academic Year) Law is everywhere but it is not everywhere the same. How do diverse social, cultural and historical contexts shape the workings of law? This course introduces students to a series of critical perspectives about what law is and how it contours the fabric of everyday life. Students will learn how key legal issues such as dispute management, decision-making, and reconciliation are actualized in different settings. The ultimate goal of the class is to equip students with the tools to critically evaluate legal processes in multicultural and plural societies. The course begins with a consideration of customary practices and conflict resolution in non-Western societies and then looks at how anthropology helps us to understand law in contemporary societies. CC: LCC, SOCS, JCHF, JSPE
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ANT 222 - Childhood in Anthropological Perspective Course Units: 1.0
(Fall: Brison) This course examines childhood across cultures. Lectures and readings will use case materials drawn from North America, Europe, Africa, Oceania, and Asia to explore ways in which culture affects how parents deal with children. We will also examine the acquisition of culture by young children. We will look closely at ways in which different cultural practices shape the experience of childhood from infancy to adolescence. Topics addressed will include: beliefs about infants, language acquisition, cultural differences in theories about learning, the nature of schools in various cultures, the role of play and mass media in shaping children, the cultural shaping of gender identity, and adolescent initiation rites. CC: LCC, SOCS, GCHF, GSPE ISP: GSW
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ANT 223 - Multiculturalism: Race, Religion, and the Nation-State Course Units: 1.0
(Not Offered this Academic Year) Cultural diversity in terms of race, ethnicity, and religion is the focus of a great deal of controversy in many nations. This class examines the politics surrounding cultural difference in nation-states and the paradoxes of “multiculturalism,” a popular strategy that on the one hand, validates cultural difference, and on the other hand, can be seen as reinforcing divisions and barriers. Does multiculturalism benefit racial, ethnic and religious minorities or does it construct barriers to equal opportunity? How can we get beyond multiculturalism to appreciate the benefits of cultural diversity? CC: LCC, SOCS, JCHF, JSPE
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ANT 225 - Gender and Society Course Units: 1.0
(Winter: Khan) An examination of the role gender plays in human life. How does being labeled and socialized to be male or female shape peoples’ daily life and life chances? How do our culture and others regard people who do not fit mainstream conceptions of maleness or femaleness? The course will discuss the concepts of gender and sex, gendered behavior and expectations, “third genders” (e.g., the North American berdache, the Indian hijra), homosexuality, transgendered individuals and sex-reassignment surgery, and cross-cultural similarities and differences. CC: LCC, SOCS, JCHF, JLIT, JSPE ISP: GSW
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ANT 226T - Education and Culture Course Units: 1.0
(Not Offered this Academic Year) This course examines the relationship between educational systems, on the one hand, and their cultural and social environment, on the other hand. The course will consider such as issues as: 1) the relationship between schools and ethnic and national identity; how do educational systems attempt to construct national identities? Do they succeed? How are ethnic divisions reinforced or mediated by educational systems? 2) the relationship between imported international educational models and local cultures: how do the assumptions embedded in imported educational models conflict with local understandings about authority, knowledge, and society? 3) the ways that cultural assumptions are implicit in classroom routines; how can we analyze classroom routines to reveal the “hidden curriculum” of assumptions about knowledge, authority, and the qualities needed to be a good and successful person. Students will conduct participant observation in a local school, will read and discuss works on education and society and will analyze local schools in papers. CC: LCC, SOCS
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ANT 227 - Policing the Americas: Law and Order in the Western Hemisphere Course Units: 1.0
(Fall: Samet) The Western Hemisphere is a violent place: drug wars in Mexico, street gangs in Central America, mass killings in the United States, and everywhere soaring rates of violent crime. What kinds of responses are emerging to problems of law, order, and public security in the Americas? How are these responses reshaping our societies? To what extent is the current situation the legacy of failed security policies? What is the role of the police and policing in all of this? This class adopts an anthropological perspective on the practice of policing. It looks at policing as the production of law and order-not just by local cops on the beat but also by actors involved in national and international security. The focus is on the Western Hemisphere and the influence of the United States on the ideals, institutions, and practices of policing. Key topics include: immigration, incarceration, deportation, frontiers, the movement of licit and illicit goods, democratic rights, and the regional impact of U.S. security initiatives including the Cold War, the War on Drugs, and the War on Terrorism. These topics will be grounded in studies of policing and police reform in the United States, Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, and Mexico. By the end of the semester, students will have a working knowledge of critical issues in contemporary policing as well as the legal, socio-cultural, and economic factors behind the emerging models of police in the Americas. CC: LCC, SOCS, JCHF, JSPE ISP: AMS, LAS
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ANT 230 - Medical Anthropology Course Units: 1.0
(Winter: Brison) An examination of beliefs about illness, healing, and the body and how these are shaped by culture and society. Topics include healing practices across cultures, political forces shaping medical practice in the U.S., and birthing practices in different cultures. CC: LCC, SOCS, GCHF, GSPE ISP: GSW,STS
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ANT 232 - Bombs to Buddhism: Fatalism, Technology, and Modern Japanese Culture Course Units: 1.0
(TBD: Staff) An exploration of Japanese culture through critical reading of a variety of texts including classic literature, historical accounts, contemporary fiction, manga (Japanese comics), anime (Japanese animation), and film. Throughout the course, students will question what religious beliefs, natural disasters and historical events have shaped Japanese media, which, in turn, will deepen our understanding of contemporary Japanese society. The importance of such disparate phenomena as Buddhism, the dropping of the nuclear bomb, the 1954 film “Godzilla;’ and the mega - manga ”Akira” will be considered. CC: LCC, SOCS
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ANT 233 - Anthropology of Humanitarian Aid Course Units: 1.0
(Not Offered this Academic Year) What does it mean to help others? When is it an imperative and when is it an option? What considerations arise when the subject of assistance is in another country, a member of a different religion, or another culture? This course draws upon global case studies of humanitarian intervention in order to encourage students to engage critically with the complexity of what seems like an unequivocal good: humanitarian aid. Humanitarian aid plays a significant role in today’s society, from the United States’ recent and very complex engagement with the Ebola outbreak to aid that is dispensed as part of disaster relief. This course explores the ethics and politics of humanitarianism in global perspective. It addresses the cultural specificity of global humanitarian aid and the ways that humanitarianism has been theorized historically. This course examines the growing debate over the philosophical, moral, political, cultural and operational practices of such interventions. CC: LCC, SOCS
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ANT 234 - Health and Healing in Africa Course Units: 1.0
(Not Offered this Academic Year) This course will explore the diversity of health-related beliefs and practices across Africa. We will firmly situate perspectives and approaches to health and illness within a broad sociocultural and historical context, also helping to challenge stereotypes associated with the continent. By cultivating a deeper knowledge of how African communities perceive and treat afflictions as well as international responses to health crises (e.g. Ebola), we will develop a cross-cultural perspective that expands our understanding of global, as well as local, health and healing. CC: LCC, SOCS
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ANT 237 - Gangs and Youth Violence Course Units: 1.0
(Spring: Samet) Bloods. Crips. Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13). The 18th St. Gang (M-18). Latin Kings. The names have become synonymous with senseless violence. Both feared and fetishized, the street gang became a focal point of urban politics in the United States and Latin America during the late twentieth century. Beginning with the neoliberal reforms of the 1980s, young, poor, minorities have found themselves at the center of a socio-economic crisis that has been accompanied by the rise of zero-tolerance policing. For the purposes of this class, the youth gang phenomenon will serve as a window in to the experience of racial, ethnic and economic marginalization under late capitalism. We will explore the context that gives rise to gang violence through a combination of anthropological, sociological, and historical approaches. By the end of the quarter, students will be familiar with the macro-social factors that shape both gangs and the politics of urban violence in the Americans. CC: LCC, SOCS, JCHF, JSPE ISP: AFR, AMS, LAS
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ANT 238 - Anthropology of War Course Units: 1
Why do humans fight wars? This course provides a cross-cultural, ethnographic perspective on this vital question that, in the nuclear age, may determine our collective destiny. Our case studies will be drawn from classic anthropological studies of warfare amongst hunter-gatherers - including the Mohawk who fought for the land upon which Union College is located - as well as recent and current conflicts. Is war caused by human nature and, if so, how? Are warlike societies more patriarchal and unequal? How does making war and defending against invasion change culture and society? When, if ever, is war justifiable? Is a human future without war possible? CC: LCC, SOCS, GCHF, GSPE
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ANT 239 - Family and Kinship Course Units: 1.0
(Not Offered this Academic Year) This course provides an analysis of families in the U.S. and other cultures. The aim is to develop an appreciation for the variety of ways that family life can be organized as well as an understanding of the causes and consequences of different family and kinship patterns. CC: LCC,SOCS, GCHF, GSPE ISP: AIS, GSW
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ANT 240 - Technology, Culture & Society Course Units: 1.0
(Not Offered this Academic Year) Examines the role of technology in cultural change and the role of culture in technological change. Particular attention will be given to: the Internet and other so-called “virtual community” formations, graphic design and other media, “reality” TV, cross-cultural advertising, and popular music. CC: LCC, SOCS
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ANT 241 - Environmental Anthropology Course Units: 1.0
(Winter: Khan) This course examines anthropological approaches to the environment and environmentalism. It asks questions such as: How does culture shape our perception of nature? What can conflicts over environmental protection, natural resources and human manipulations of natural materials tell us about contemporary societies? What does it mean to call an issue “political” or “cultural,” versus “scientific” or “technical”? Students will develop the critical analysis skills to examine the natural world as a site of cultural politics, using anthropological concepts to examine environmentalism in diverse geographical and historical settings, including the Amazon, the Niger Delta, the suburban mall, and the Union campus. CC: LCC, SOCS, GCHF, GSPE ISP: ENS, STS
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ANT 242 - Economic Anthropology Course Units: 1.0
(Spring: Khan) This course explores the social and cultural dimensions of production, exchange and consumption. Do all people everywhere seek to accumulate property, and to maximize profits? Is “rationality” the same in every culture? Do all think the same way about debt, bribery, gambling or marriage payments? Do human economies evolve inexorably-for example, from public to private property, from cowrie shells to electronic money, or from gifts and barter to sale and credit? Or is the picture more complex and the direction inconstant? Is there really any such thing as a “free” gift? What does The Godfather have to do with the exchange of necklaces and armbands in the South Pacific? Who wins and losses from “globalization”? Why do people value things? CC: LCC, SOCS, GCHF, GSPE
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ANT 243 - Anthropology and International Development Course Units: 1.0
(Not Offered this Academic Year) Faith in twentieth-century development and progress has been severely shaken by the environmental crisis and the failures of the international development assistance. What is development? What is the third world? How was it made? What problems does it face and how is it changing? What are the causes of failure in development / aid programs? Drawing on a variety of ethnographic materials and case studies, this course discusses the nature of economic and social changes in post colonial societies and underdeveloped areas in the West / North, offers a critical analysis of sustainable development, and introduces the students to the practices, anthropological and otherwise, of planning policy interventions. The course shows how anthropological knowledge and understanding can illuminate “development issues” such as rural poverty, environmental degradation and the globalization of trade. CC: LCC, SOCS, GCHF, GSPE
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ANT 244 - Urban Anthropology Course Units: 1.0
(Not Offered this Academic Year) Throughout history cities have been celebrated as spaces of inclusion and diversity, so that it is all too easy to overlook the pervasive reality of exclusion, poverty, and injustice. This class looks at the promise and perils of urbanization in the 20th and the 21st centuries. The approach is anthropological, however the course also draws on materials from geography, urban planning, and political economy to understand the history, development, and everyday experience of urban space CC: LCC, SOCS, GCHF, GSPE ISP: LAS
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ANT 245 - Sport, Society, and Culture Course Units: 1.0
(Winter: Witsoe) The comparative study of the role of sport in society. Topics include the meaning of play and sport; the evolution of sport; sport and socialization; ritual in sport; sport and gender; sport and race; sport and education; sport, conflict and violence; and sport and cultural change. CC: LCC, SOCS
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ANT 246 - Anthropology of Human Rights Course Units: 1.0
(Fall: Witsoe) In recent years, anthropological discussions of human rights have gone beyond the traditional debate between universalism and relativism sparked by the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Marginalized peoples who are the traditional subjects of anthropological research are increasingly using human rights rhetoric to advance their own causes or draw attention to their plight. This course will examine philosophical and anthropological discussions of human rights and contemporary debates and controversies surrounding human rights. In particular, we will examine the deployment of truth commissions in the aftermath of political violence, the role of human rights NGOs, contested claims of suffering, and human rights interventions. CC: SOCS, LCC, GCHF, GSPE
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ANT 247 - Living with Globalization Course Units: 1.0
(Not Offered this Academic Year) In recent decades, technologically-enabled increases in flows of capital, people, things, images and ideas around the world have resulted in the process of global integration and compression commonly called “globalization.” In this course we will explore globalization from the perspective of anthropology, tracing its consequences both for the world’s economic and political systems, and for the everyday lives of people around the globe. Topics will include: cultural dimensions of changing labor practices and systems of production, the role of globalization in cultural homogenization and differentiation, the ways the migrants, refugees, tourists and others forge new supra-national forms of sociality and identity, and the role of media flows and commodity consumption in the production of global identities. CC: LCC, SOCS
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ANT 250 - Humans and Animals Course Units: 1.0
(Not Offered this Academic Year) This course examines representations and practices of human-animal relations across cultures. It will begin with examining beliefs about the nature of animals across cultures, including the ways they are similar to and different from humans. We will then look at the many varying relationships between humans and animals in different cultures and will show how these are shaped by social systems CC: LCC, SOCS Note: Electives (only one cross-listed course can count for the major or minor)
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ANT 252 - Anthropology of Christianity Course Units: 1.0
(Not Offered this Academic Year) Although Christianity has its historical roots in the Mediterranean world, during its 2000 year history it has migrated to almost every geographical area of the globe giving rise to many vibrant local Christianities with distinct and culturally specific identities. While many people associate contemporary Christianity with Euro- Americans, scholars point to Christian churches dating from the 5th century in North Africa and in India. Scholars argue that the demographic center of Christianity has already shifted to the Global south. This course investigates the ways Christianity has been shaped by contact with different world cultures and the social processes and religious changes implicit in the acculturation of Christianity in diverse geographical regions and cultural contexts. Questions addresses will include: i) how has Christianity been localized in various areas of the world?; ii) what is the appeal to Pentecostalism in the global south? Is it a conservative force directing attention away from social inequalities or does it challenge social inequalities? iii) what kinds of transnational networks are formed by contemporary Christians and how do these shape new kinds of identities?; iv) what is the appeal of apparently patriarchal and conservative forms of Christianity to women, who form the majority of Christians in most areas? CC: LCC, SOCS
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ANT 254 - Anthropology of Religion Course Units: 1.0
(Winter: Leavitt) Comparative study of religious behavior and ideology. Examines the ways that a wide array of religions help individuals to cope with life problems and reinforce social groups. Examines debates about the extent to which religion shapes human motivation and about the relationship between religion and society. CC: LCC, SOCS, JCHF, JSPE ISP: REL
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ANT 255T - Culture and Work Course Units: 1.0
(Not Offered this Academic Year) This course, offered on the India term abroad, takes a broad perspective on the relationship between culture and work. Course readings, assignments and discussions, will prompt students to consider how work activities are shaped by culture and the larger social context by examining: I) institutional cultures involving idiosyncratic authority structures, routines, shared knowledge and so on; ii) how local cultures are influenced by their place in larger international production chains. CC: LCC
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ANT 256 - Anthropology of Islam Course Units: 1.0
(Spring: Khan) This class provides an anthropological perspective on Islam, one that tries to understand Islam as a living tradition. There are well over a billion Muslims in the world who speak countless languages and reside in dozens of nation-states. The immense diversity of Islamic practice and Muslim life is bewildering and defies any simple generalization. However, this diversity need not blind us to the themes that connect Islam and cut across Muslim life around the world. While not an exhaustive survey of Islamic practice and ways of life, this class focuses on the themes that connect Islam across diverse regions and peoples. These themes include: Islamic authority, conceptions of gender, the importance of Islamic law, and the value of Islamic community. In this class, we look beyond local variation to understand Islam as a living tradition. CC: LCC, SOCS, JCHF, JSPE ISP: AIS, REL
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ANT 258 - Anthropology of Media Course Units: 1.0
(Winter: Samet) How do communications media reshape ourselves and the worlds we inhabit? This course examines the influence of media on contemporary society. It focuses on identity formation and the different ways that scholars have approached the relationship between media and our taken-for-granted norms, practices, and beliefs. Readings draw from a wide range of disciplines and intellectual traditions, including cultural studies, critical media theory, critical race studies, feminist studies and communication. However, the fundamental approach is anthropological. Our aim is to understand how everyday media practices relate to larger issues of personal, social and cultural identity. To this end, the class moves back and forth between theory and ethnography so that students develop both a sense of key questions in the field and an idea about how to answer them. CC: SOCS, WAC, GCHF, GSPE ISP: STS
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ANT 260 - Tourists and Tourism Course Units: 1.0
(Not Offered this Academic Year) This course examines the practice of tourism as a way of knowing the world and constituting the self. It also explores the role of tourism in the lives of those who act as hosts to tourists. Topics include the role of tourism in the essentialization and commodification of culture, the emergence, organization, and effects of mass tourism, the cultural dynamics surrounding several kinds of niche tourism, and the possibility of socially and ecologically responsible tourism development. CC: LCC, SOCS
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ANT 265 - The Museum: Theory & Practice Course Units: 1.0
(Not Offered this Academic Year) This course is designed to introduce students to the work of museums through an internship at a Schenectady Museum and accompanying seminar. Articles from anthropology and history (including art history) expose you to the range of practical (e.g., exhibit design, collections policy, planning educational programs) and theoretical issues scholars study (e.g., intellectual property, commodifying culture, whose voice and history should be heard). The internship at a Schenectady Museum gives hands-on experience with museum work and the day-to-day issues museum staff confront. Several field trips introduce different types of museums. Cross-Listed: HST 265 CC: LCC, SOCS
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ANT 270 - Political Anthropology Course Units: 1.0
(Not Offered this Academic Year) The course introduces anthropological approaches to the study of politics. We will examine influential theories of power, democracy and the state and apply them to understanding particular cases in various areas of the world. Topics covered will include: ethnographies of local politics, democratic elections, ethnographies of bureaucracy and other state institutions, ethnographic accounts of the political implications of development practice, and ethnographies in and of the “world system.” We end by exploring the implications of globalization for studying politics and the state. CC: LCC, SOCS, GCHF, GSPE
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