FYS: Courses
 

 
Contact FYS
 
 

300 Steele Building
CB# 3504
UNC-Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
27599-3504

email: fys@unc.edu
phone: (919)843-7773

 
 


Course Descriptions

Anthropology

ANTH 050 [006E]: Skeletons in the Closet
Social & Behavioral Science/Other (SS) [GC Social Science]
Dale Hutchinson

The human skeleton has served for centuries as a symbolic representation of death and the afterlife. In many societies, it is the skeletonized corpse that is ritually cleansed during the final rites of ancestral passage outside of this world. Beyond the symbolism, human skeletal remains are fundamental in modern scientific inquiries regarding how human nutrition and health changed as humans made economic, social, and political changes. Within forensic contexts, human skeletal remains often provide valuable information about crimes of humanity. In this course, we explore the various applications of the study of the human skeleton to modern behavioral and biological investigations, as well as various emotional concerns about the use of ancestral human remains in scientific research.

ANTH 051 [006E]: Environmentalism and American Society
Social & Behavioral Science/Other (SS) [GC Social Science]
Dorothy Holland

This seminar takes on the social problem of environmental degradation. We examine the environmental movement as a transformative process linked to changing systems of power and privilege, consumer desire, and culturally developed attachments to place and nature. Students conduct original group research project on the environmental movement in North Carolina.

ANTH 052 [006E]: Asian Cultures, Asian Cities, Asian Modernities
Social & Behavioral Science/Other (SS) [GC Social Science]
Donald Nonini

Together in this seminar, we will study the global cities of Southeast Asia that are central to defining Asian cultures and Asian modernities. Using the methods of anthropology and geography, we will examine and experience the peoples, spaces, places, and cultures of modern contemporary cities such as Singapore, Bangkok, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, and Manila. These rapidly growing cities play key roles in Southeast Asian economies, governments, and pop cultures, and are connected to us by globalization. As we study them, we will learn not only about Southeast Asia, but about cultures, cities, and different ways of being modern.

ANTH 053 [006E]: Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Natural Selection and the Nature of Humans
Social & Behavioral Science/Other (SS) [GC Social Science]
Paul Leslie

Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection is central to one of the most profound revolutions in the history of thought, generating stunning insights but also misunderstanding and tragic abuse. This seminar aims to provide a clear understanding of how natural selection works, and how it doesn't. We examine objections to the theory; how the environmental and health problems we face today reflect processes of natural selection; and recent attempts to understand why we get sick, how e respond to disease, why we get old, and why we choose mates the way we do.

ANTH/AMST 054 [006E]: The Indians' New Worlds: Southeastern Indian Histories from 1200 to 1800
Historical Analysis (HS); North Atlantic World (NA); The World Before 1750 (WB); US Diversity (US) [GC Social Science & Cultural Diversity]
Michael Green

By AD 1200, most Southeastern Indians were farmers who lived in societies ruled by hereditary chiefs. After 1500, encounters between Indians and Europeans changed the lives of all concerned, but the changes took place in and were shaped by existing cultures. This seminar uses reading, discussion, and lecture to examine the cultures of Southern Indians and to understand how European exploration and colonization changed those cultures. Students will learn how archaeologists and historians work, both separately and together, to study the past of Native societies. Students will study and analyze archaeological artifacts, Spanish accounts of Southeastern Indians, and other primary materials in class. These activities, along with various role-playing exercises, will directly involve the students in the study of Native people in the period of Mississippian transition. Grades will be awarded for class participation, two short papers and a final essay exam.

ANTH 055 [006E]: The Modern Corporation: From the English East India Company to Wal-mart
Social & Behavioral Science/Other (SS) [GC Social Science]
Matthew Hull
Corporations have emerged as the dominant governance institutions on the planet. The largest among them reach into virtually every country in the world and exceed most governments in size and power. While corporations are characters in the larger stories of industrialization and capitalism, this seminar will emphasize the specific features of public corporations and their historical and contemporary relations to individuals, states, families, ethnic and racial groups, and other social actors. How did corporations emerge? How are they controlled and by whom? Under what circumstances do they exercise military force? How do we participate in them as consumers, employees, and stockholders, and what are the conflicts among these forms of participation? What rights should corporations have? How should we engage them as citizens? We will examine these questions with reference to corporate activities in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, with particular emphasis on the greatest early joint stock corporation, the English East India Company, and today's largest corporation, Wal-Mart.

ANTH 056 [006E]: The Art of Healing, the Science of Curing
Social & Behavioral Science/Other (SS) [GC Social Science]
Kaja Finkler

There has been a burst of interest in alternative healing in the United States, with more and more people going to alternative healers in America. In this seminar, we will ask the question; "Why do 21st century Americans seek alternative healers in light of modern western medicine's great advancements?"
To answer this question, we will learn about different kinds of healing beliefs and practices in the United States and in other cultures, including Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East, as well as about social, economic, political and ethical aspects of our lives. we will explore how these healing systems are the same and different from Western medical practice and what they tell us about ourselves and about different cultures.

ANTH 057 [006E]: Today in Africa
Social & Behavioral Science/Other (SS) [GC Social Science]
Robert Daniels

Mainstream American news sources report little from Africa other than outbreaks of mass violence, starvation, and political struggle, ‘explained’ without much knowledge of the local area or its history. However, in the last few years, the Internet has dramatically improved our access to knowledge about
contemporary Africa. We will focus on African daily news reports on the Web, and track major stories as they develop . Together we will identify lines of inquiry to fill in the background. Some readings will be assigned initially; others will be determined as the course progresses and distributed electronically. Grades based on short papers, class presentations, and participation in discussion.

ANTH 058 [006E]: Germs and Governments, Trees and Traffic Jams
Social & Behavioral Science/Other (SS) [GC Social Science]
Carole Crumley
Is there a single framework that can describe the intricacies of snowflakes, tree leaves, clouds, bacteria, computers, traffic jams, and languages? Do there exist ideas so flexible that they can link biology and anthropology, geology and music, history and computer science? The things that we make and think, not to mention the physical world in which we live, are enormously complex. But what does 'complex' mean? A new field called complexity theory may offer a means to make sense of all kinds of complexity. The course will ground students in the fundamentals of complex systems thinking, then explore its utility in contemporary society.

ANTH 059:  The Right to Childhood: Global Efforts and Challenges
Social & Behavioral Sciences/Other (SS), Communication Intensive (CI), Global Issues (GL)
Patricia Swain

Do children have special needs and rights?  There appears to be broad international agreement (expressed in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child) that all children deserve family, identity, education, play, health care, and nutrition and should be protected from exploitation, sexual abuse, military service, and work that is hazardous or interferes with education.  In wealthy countries, tremendous resources are devoted to the full development of children's capacities. Yet millions of children today work dangerous jobs, are deprived of education, are separated from their parents, and are even forced to be slaves, prostitutes, or soldiers.  In this seminar we ask: what forces work against ensuring basic rights for all children? to what extent do global connections base privileges for some on deprivation for others? what is being done to improve children's situation and or heal them from past abuses? how do international efforts like the UN's figure into local struggles?

ANTH 0060H: Crisis and Resilience: Past and Future of Human Societies
Historical Analysis (HS); Beyond the North Atlantic (BN); Communication Intensive (CI)
Patricia McAnany
The goal of this seminar is to encourage students to take a long view of human society and to examine responses to crises engendered by both political and environmental forces. Cases to be discussed in the seminar reach back to Mesopotamia (3rd millennium B.C.), Classic Maya and U.S. Pueblo dwellers of the first millennium A.D. but also include contemporary situations such as the Rwandan genocide, nations such as Haiti that are alleged to be “failed” states, and the global crisis of environmental sustainability. Students will gain familiarity with evaluating primary sources in archaeology, history, and environmental studies.  The ultimate aim of the seminar is to foster critical analytic skills that aid in evaluating narratives (in both scholarly and popular media) about societal crises and human resilience. 



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