Courses in the FIG:
UGST 109 FIG Seminar
XXXX | XXXX | XXXX | XXXX | 1 Credit
This FIG introduces students to the fields of archaeology, paleontology, and museum studies through experiential, interdisciplinary learning. We will explore opportunities for research and careers within these and related fields, including how to safeguard cultural resources, fossils, and landscapes through careers in Cultural Heritage Management. Students participating in this FIG will have hands-on experience in an archaeological laboratory, learning about artifact analysis, documentation, and cataloguing. In addition, students will tour exhibits, collections, and other laboratory spaces within the Museum of Natural and Cultural History, highlighting the ways Anthropology, Native American and Indigenous Studies, and Museum Studies are connected. Students will meet with a wide variety of museum and cultural resources professionals to learn about their academic and career paths, challenges they have faced, and what they would recommend to students in preparation for the students’ own career and life goals.
ANTH 145: Principles of Archaeology
Science (>3) | Tuesday/Thursday | 8:30-9:50 | 10365 | 4 Credits
+Lab | Friday | 10:00-10:50 | 10367
This course is an introduction to the history of archaeology and its methods and theories. As we progress through the term, we will discuss how archaeology developed as a discipline and ways in which archaeological investigation is conducted and applied in the field. Students will become familiar with the modern methods that archaeologists use to locate, preserve, and manage cultural resources, theories that drive archaeological interpretation, and how studies of prehistory have enriched our understanding of humans through space and time.
ES 256: Introduction to Native American Studies
Social Science (>2) | >US | >AC | Tuesday/Thursday | 10:00-11:20 | 12262 | 4 Credits
It has been suggested that when approaching the topic of Native American Studies, most people start not at point zero, but at negative ten because they carry so many myths and stereotypes about Native Americans that unlearning misinformation is the first step in the learning process. This class will dissect some of those long-held myths about Native peoples and examine their impact on Native Americans and, in the process, provide students a fuller, more sophisticated understanding of contemporary and historical Native lives and communities. This class reflects the interdisciplinarity of the field of Native American Studies, drawing on history, anthropology, law, political science, literature, film and other media to produce holistic understandings of Native lives. Central themes include indigeneity, sovereignty, race relations, culture and cultural change, colonialism, treaties, federal Indian/Alaska Native/Native Hawaiian policy, the "Indian Renaissance" of the last forty years, death, trauma, survival, and official and unofficial discourses around Native identities. This course will also provide necessary foundations for students wishing to pursue more disciplinarily-focused advanced courses.
