Course Seats Open

Looking for a course?  Prof. Anu Sharma, chair of Anthropology, wants to bring to your attention African Archaelogy, taught by Professor Sarah Croucher, which is open for first-years and sophomores and meets at 9 am on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

ANTH   256
Spring 2014
Crosslisting:   ARCP   256
Course   Cluster: African   Studies
Africa’s past is too often written about in clichés, with the darkness of   prehistory presumed to shroud most of that which archaeologists study. This   course will take a different approach through the archaeology of Africa’s   historic past, which includes those centuries of prehistory that are   historical in Africa by merit of their ties to oral histories of contemporary societies.Chronologically, we will begin with the origins of agriculture in sub-Saharan   Africa, moving on to ironworking, complex societies, urbanism, and the   archaeology of the recent and contemporary past. Topics of study will include   archaeological approaches to social identities and gender; ethnoarchaeology   (the study of contemporary material culture to inform the past) including   studies of potters, ironworkers, housing, and cuisine; the archaeology of   Islam and Christianity in Africa; studies of the African diaspora through   material approaches; and contemporary heritage issues on the continent.