Courses

Anthropology

ANTH 2280 Medical Anthropology (Spring, Fall)

Medical Anthropology is a growing and important new subfield within general anthropology. Medical Anthropology compares different cultures' ideas about illness and curing. Although disease is a concept referring to a pathological condition of the body in which functioning is disturbed, illness is a cultural concept: a condition marked by deviation from what is considered a normal, healthy state. Treatment of illness in Western industrial societies focuses on curing specific diseased organs or controlling a specific virus. In many so-called "traditional" societies greater emphasis is placed on the social and psychological dimensions of illness. In this course we will learn that different cultures, even in the United States have different ways to talk about illness, and that the American medical community is at times as "culture bound" as anywhere. "Science" does not stand outside culture. (3.0 Units)

Content Credit: Department of Anthropology

American Sign Language

ASL 3400 Deafness in Literature and Film (Cross-listed with ENGL 3992)

This course will study the contradictory and telling ways that deaf people have been depicted over the last three centuries in addressing the question: What does deafness signify, especially in a western society that is centered upon speech? Our approach will be contrapuntal, juxtaposing canonical texts and mainstream films with relatively unknown works by deaf artists.

Content Credit: American Sign Language Program