Courses
The following graduate courses in anthropology are offered in by the department. Click on the link for additional information, including prerequisites (if any), from the university catalog.
Anth 507: The Archaeology of Landscape
This course is an exploration of the economic, social, political, and ideological dimensions of natural and cultural landscapes. Students will read and discuss approaches from critical geography, social theory, anthropology, archaeology, and related disciplines.
Anth 509: Language Evolution
Exploration of the development of human language as the result of evolutionary and other processes.
Anth 511: Cross-Cultural Studies in Ethnography I
Comparative study of the cultural areas of the world, emphasizing the effects of ecology in the differential development of culture.
Anth 512: Cross-Cultural Studies in Ethnography II
Comparative study of the cultural areas of the world, emphasizing the effects of ecology in the differential development of culture.
Anth 541: Individual Study Project
Course may be repeated for credit with permission of department chair.
Anth 542: Osteology Directed Study
This course gives students the opportunity to learn lab techniques and work with real archaeological collections. Students will develop the skills needed to identify and curate archaeological assemblages of faunal and human skeletal material. Students will have the opportunity to develop independent projects. May be repeated once for credit.
Anth 572: Quantitative Anthropology
An examination of the theory and techniques of quantitative analysis in anthropology with particular emphasis on practical application.
Anth 595: Seminar in Linguistics
Cross-listed as Ling 595.
Anth 601: Anthropological Theory and Methods
Study of the history of theory and methods in the field of anthropology.
Anth 602: Globalization and the US South
This course is an analysis of the US South within a global context. Cross-listed as SSt 612.
Anth 603: Studies in Empire and Revolution
This is an interdisciplinary seminar investigating colonial and postcolonial eras with focus on subjugation, resistance, and revolutionary action across class, racial, gender, national, and religious boundaries. Cross-listed as Soc 603.
Anth 604: Professional Development I
This is a 1-hour professional development course designed to introduce incoming anthropology graduate students to the department, faculty, and the discipline.
Anth 605: Professional Development II
This is a 1-hour course designed to marshal second-year anthropology graduate students through the thesis-writing process.
Anth 606: Seminar in Cultural and Linguistic Anthropology
Anth 607: Seminar in Biocultural Anthropology
Anth 608: Seminar in Archaeology
A review of the major theoretical development in archaeology with an emphasis on the implications for methods and applications.
Anth 609: Seminar in Research Design & Methodology
Training in the fundamentals of research design from conceptualization to execution. Students learn techniques for framing an orginal research question, doing background research, and conducting actual research.
Anth 610: The Mississippian Shatterzone
This advanced course examines the consequences of European contact on the indigenous societies of the American South, ca. 1540-1730.
Anth 611: Advanced Anthropology of Politics & Power
This seminar in political anthropology considers the exercise and legitimization of power in state and nonstate societies. Focusing on theories of power, this course examines a variety of contemporary topics such as sovereignty, citizenship, hegemony, discipline, and national security.
Anth 612: Earth/Water/Fire:Advanced Ceramic Analysis
This course is designed to teach methods and techniques for the analysis of ceramic materials from prehistoric sites by combining theory and analytical procedures with hands-on experience in the laboratory. Students will survey a variety of “high tech” and “low tech” approaches to ceramic analysis so as to move beyond the traditional chronological concerns of typology to issues of production, exchange, function, design, social interaction, and technological and stylistic evolution. Students will also examine quantitative methods for the manipulation and interpretation of ceramic data.
Anth 613: Public Archaeology: Theory and Method
This course provides theoretical and practical experience in public archaeology in the United States. Topics covered include the history and implementation of legislation affecting cultural resources, and a variety of field and lab methods used by current practitioners.
Anth 614: Advanced Legal Anthropology
This advanced course is a comparative study of the foundations of social order and legitimization of how power is exercised within state and nonstate societies.
Anth 615: Fundamentals of Linguistic Science
Anth 616: Rise and Fall of the Mississippi World
This course examines the archaeological and ethnohistorical reconstruction of the pre-Columbian Mississippian world of the Southeastern Indians (1000 CE to 1700 CE).
Anth 617: Historical Archaeology
The course will demonstrate how researchers work with not only archaeological data but also historical documents, oral histories, and ethnographies in order to interpret the recent past. Students will get a comprehensive survey of methods, theories, and discoveries in historical archaeology.
Anth 618: Archaeology of Mississippi and the South
This course provides an advanced overview of the archaeological study of prehistoric and historic Native American societies in Mississippi and the southeastern United States. It includes an overview of archaeological research in the region and focus on issues, archaeological sites, and data from the major cultural periods.
Anth 619: Advanced Dental Anthropology
This advanced laboratory class explores the application of data from human and nonhuman dentitions to anthropological questions. Topics covered include dental anatomy, development, evolution, variation, and pathology.
Anth 620: Studies in Ethnography
May be repeated for credit for a maximum of 9 hours.
Anth 621: Readings in Anthropology I
Review of the major contributions of leading anthropologists.
Anth 622: Readings in Anthropology II
Review of the major contributions of leading anthropologists.
Anth 626: Archaeology of Maya Civilization
Students will explore the world of the ancient Maya in Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize through archaeology. The course covers architecture, politics and economy, art, hieroglyphs, and aspects of peoples’ everyday lives from fashion to food, festivals, and funerals.
This laboratory-based course is an introduction to human skeletal anatomy geared toward advanced students and graduate students. It combines forensic and archaeological methods to teach students how to identify and analyze human bone from archaeological sites.
Anth 644: Advanced Archaeological Science
This methods lab-based class introduces graduate and advanced students to techniques and technologies archaeologists use to reconstruct the past, from ancient stones to modern phones.
Anth 650: Archaeozoology: Animal Use in History
This course uses analysis of animal bones from archaeological sites to explore how people used animals for food, in religion, and as work animals and companions in the past. An equal emphasis is placed on laboratory methods and anthropological theory.
Anth 651: Human Mobility: Adv Studies in Migration
This advanced course explores ancient and modern human migration, including where population movement occurs, who is moving, and how we define individuals and groups of migrants as adventurers, victims, invaders, and refugees. Examples include the U.S. southern border, the Mediterranean Sea, Mississippi, and other places on the landscape to understand human mobility. We also study how anthropologists reconstruct mobility using biological anthropology, archaeology, and linguistics.
Anth 653: Field Methods in Archaeology
Training in excavation methods and interpretation of results through supervised field work.
Anth 654: Linguistic Anthropology
The complex intersections of language, culture, race, ethnicity, and gender will be explored through social interactions and their dynamics. Cross-listed as Ling 653.
Anth 670: Archaeology of Political Systems
This course is designed to examine the archaeology of ancient political systems. Specific goals include discussing the major trends, concepts, and perspectives in the transformation of political organizations and social integration. A secondary goal is examining the empirical evidence for, and archaeological correlates of, political organization. The course will not cover all theories about past political systems, or serve as a survey of the rise and development of political forms in complex societies around the world. Rather, it is intended to be a direct and focused course dealing with several key aspects of political systems and how archaeologists identify and theorize about such systems using the archaeological record.
Anth 675: Advanced Digital Archaeology
This course provides an in-depth overview of the technologies that are being used to discover, analyze, interpret, present, and display archaeological materials. Students will be able to understand how these technologies work, what they can be used for, and their limitations.
