The list below summarizes Anthropology courses that undergraduates may take as organized by subfield. Students should consult the course schedule for semester-specific offerings, which may also include special topics courses. The department also offers internships (ANTH 4560 and ANTH 4570) and service-learning opportunities.
We encourage students to take one or two introductory courses (all at the 1000 level) in their freshman or at the latest their sophomore years of study. The 6000-level courses are specifically designed for undergraduate as well as graduate students, and all junior and senior majors may choose freely from among these offerings
Course descriptions can be found in the Tulane's Course Catalog. For information about a course that is not listed or to find out more about course attributes, please email the Anthropology Undergraduate Coordinator (nkatin@tulane.edu).
Archaeology
Archaeologists study the cultural past; they discover ruins, and the material remains of what historic and prehistoric people built and made, and piece together the puzzle of what life was like in earlier times. Course offerings in archaeology include:
- ANTH 1040 Ancient Societies
- ANTH 2340 Introduction to Archaeology
- ANTH 2350 Architecture and Power in the Ancient World
- ANTH 2360 Ancient Trade and Commerce
- ANTH 3260 Highland Mexican Prehistory
- ANTH 3320 Archaeology of Gender
- ANTH 3430 Archaeology of Cultural Landscapes
- ANTH 3435 Disasters in Past Societies
- ANTH 3560 Environmental Archaeology
- ANTH 4130 North American Prehistory
- ANTH 4150 African Prehistory
- ANTH 4260 Archaeology of the U.S. Southwest
- ANTH 4270 Roots of Western Civilization
- ANTH 4410 Olmec and Maya Civilization
- ANTH 4610 Ceramic Analysis
- ANTH 4620 Lithic Analysis
- ANTH 6100 South American Archaeology
- ANTH 6130 Southeastern U.S. Prehistory
- ANTH 6230 Archaeological Theory
- ANTH 6240 Technical Analysis in Archaeology
- ANTH 6250 Old World Paleolithic Prehistory
- ANTH 6260 Highland Mexican Prehistory
- ANTH 6430 Archaeology of Cultural Landscapes
- ANTH 6434 Disasters in Past Societies
- ANTH 6810 Introduction to Maya Hieroglyphics
Biological Anthropology
Biological (or as it sometimes called, physical) anthropology is a biological science that focuses on the evolution, behavior, and variation (genetic and morphological) of humans, our living primate relatives, and the fossil remains of our hominid ancestors and their relatives. Course offerings in biological anthropology include:
- ANTH 1010 Introduction to Biological Anthropology
- ANTH 3120 Anthropology of Sex and Reproduction
- ANTH 3140 Primate Behavior and Ecology
- ANTH 3450 Methods of Observation in Behavioral Research
- ANTH 3720 Adaptation and Human Variability
- ANTH 3730 Principles of Forensic Anthropology
- ANTH 3735 Bioarchaeology of Human Sacrifice
- ANTH 3740 Human Sociobiology
- ANTH 3745 Bioarchaeology of Mummies
- ANTH 3750 Bones, Bodies and Disease
- ANTH 3755 Human Osteology
- ANTH 3760 Primate Evolution and Adaptation
- ANTH 4510 Species Concepts in Human Paleontology
- ANTH 4990 Senior/Honors Research
- ANTH 5000 Senior/Honors Research
- ANTH 6020 The Neandertal Enigma
- ANTH 6120 Anthropology of Sex and Reproduction
- ANTH 6140 Primate Behavior and Ecology
- ANTH 6480 Human Functional Morphology
- ANTH 6490 Evolution of Behavior
- ANTH 6500 Human Evolution
- ANTH 6745 Advanced Mummy Studies
Cultural Anthropology
Cultural anthropology (also known as sociocultural anthropology) is the branch of the discipline concerned with documenting the wide range of institutions, beliefs, practices, and technologies of contemporary human populations around the world. Courses in the cultural subfield include:
- ANTH 1020 Cultural Anthropology
- ANTH 1050 Native America: Introduction
- ANTH 2030 The Anthropology of Women and Men
- ANTH 3010 Hunters and Gatherers
- ANTH 3060 South American Indians
- ANTH 3110 Cultures of Sub-Saharan Africa
- ANTH 3160 Peoples of the Pacific
- ANTH 3190 Economic Anthropology
- ANTH 3195 Financial Lives
- ANTH 3200 Magic, Witchcraft and Religion
- ANTH 3330 Anthropology of Gender
- ANTH 3350 Cultures & Religion
- ANTH 3360 Anthropology of Cities
- ANTH 3370 Locating Southeast Asia
- ANTH 3385 Creoles & Creolization
- ANTH 3395 Ethnography of Performance and Identity in N.O. and Fr. LA
- ANTH 3470 Many Faces of Islam
- ANTH 3480 African Modernities
- ANTH 3510 Ethnicity & Nationalism
- ANTH 3550 Social Change, Sustainability, and Postcolonial Identity in the Caribbean
- ANTH 3570 Indigenous Movements in Latin America
- ANTH 3580 The Politics of Fieldwork
- ANTH 3700 Environmental Anthropology
- ANTH 3710 Historical Ecology of Amazonia
- ANTH 3770 Global Vietnam
- ANTH 3850 The Four- Field Model
- ANTH 4080 Race & Nation in Spanish Caribbean
- ANTH 4210 Seminar in Historical Ecology
- ANTH 6060 South American Indians
- ANTH 6210 Development of Anthropological Theory
- ANTH 6270 Culture & Romantic Love
- ANTH 6320 Social Structure
- ANTH 6340 Medical Anthropology
- ANTH 6350 Cultures & Religion
- ANTH 6385 Creoles & Creolization
- ANTH 6395 Ethnography of Performance and Identity in N.O. and Fr. LA
- ANTH 6510 Ethnicity & Nationalism
- ANTH 6520 Field Methods in Social & Cultural Anthropology
- ANTH 6570 Indigenous Movements in Latin America
- ANTH 6580 The Politics of Fieldwork
- ANTH 6710 Historical Ecology of Amazonia
Linguistic Anthropology
Linguistics is the scientific study of language. Language is a, if not the, particularly human ability. The study of this ability includes the study of definitional characteristics, the acquisition and loss of language, its formal properties of sound, meaning, and juxtaposition, and the social contextualization of its use. Courses in this subfield include:
- ANTH 1030 Languages of the World
- ANTH 2020 Visual Languages Across Cultures
- ANTH 3290 The Nature of Language
- ANTH 3300 History of Writing
- ANTH 3310 Historical Linguistics
- ANTH 3400 Language and Culture
- ANTH 3420 Semantics: Linguistic Approaches to Meaning
- ANTH 3440 Dialectology
- ANTH 3441 Lexicography
- ANTH 3520 Diaspora Yoruba
- ANTH 3535 Native American Language and Linguistics
- ANTH 3590 Introduction to Syntax
- ANTH 3630 Linguistic Phonetics
- ANTH 3640 Phonology
- ANTH 3650 Morphology
- ANTH 3660 Discourse Analysis
- ANTH 3670 Language & Acquisition
- ANTH 3680 Language and Power
- ANTH 3690 Language and Gender
- ANTH 3780 Language Death
- ANTH 4520 Diaspora Yoruba
- ANTH 4930 Languages of Louisiana
- ANTH 6400 Language and Culture
- ANTH 6415 Pidgins and Creoles
- ANTH 6420 Linguistic Field Methods
- ANTH 6700 Spoken Nahuatl
- ANTH 6720 Spoken Yoruba
- ANTH 6800 Spoken Yucatecan Maya
- ANTH 6820 Classical Yucatecan Maya
- ANTH 6840 Beginning Kaqchikel (Maya) Language
- ANTH 6845 Beginning K’iche Language
- ANTH 6850 Intermediate K'iche' Language
- ANTH 6855 Advanced K'iche' Language
- ANTH 6860 Introduction to K’iche’ Culture
- ANTH 6870 Kaqchikel Maya Culture