Anthropology, Ph.D.
COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS
About the Program
Anthropology comprises four subdisciplines, all of which are well represented at Temple: Archaeology, Biological Anthropology, Linguistic Anthropology, and Sociocultural Anthropology. The Department also offers specialized courses and training in the Anthropology of Visual Communication, which draws primarily on Linguistic Anthropology and Sociocultural Anthropology. Doctoral students typically specialize in one of these areas, but interdisciplinary study and research are encouraged.
Time Limit for Degree Completion: 7 years
Campus Location: Main
Full-Time/Part-Time Status: Full-time status is strongly encouraged, although some students may be able to complete the degree program on a part-time basis.
Interdisciplinary Study: Anthropology is an inherently interdisciplinary field of study.
Study Abroad: Study abroad is not required, but many students conduct their independent research outside the United States.
Areas of Specialization: Faculty members specialize in such areas as anthropology of visual communication, archaeology of the eastern United States and tropical Americas, historical archaeology, human evolutionary biology, human genetic and physiological variation, language socialization, political economy of language, politics of cultural identity and difference, and sociocultural dynamics of globalization.
Job Prospects: Well over 100 doctoral degrees have been conferred by the Department of Anthropology since 1976. Approximately 45% of doctoral graduates hold full-time faculty positions in colleges or universities, while another 20% hold full-time research positions in academic or non-academic settings. Another 20% hold degree-related policy and administrative positions, and 10% are engaged in other professional activities.
Non-Matriculated Student Policy: Non-matriculated students are generally restricted to the following four courses:
Course List
| Code |
Title |
Credit Hours |
| ANTH 8003 | Approaches in Cultural Anthropology | 3 |
| ANTH 8004 | Approaches in Linguistic Anthropology | 3 |
| ANTH 8005 | Approaches in Physical Anthropology | 3 |
| ANTH 8006 | Approaches in Archaeology | 3 |
Taking coursework as a non-matriculated student does not ensure acceptance into the doctoral program if the student later applies for admission. If a non-matriculated student is later admitted into the doctoral program, a maximum of 9 credits of non-matriculated coursework may be applied toward the degree.
Financing Opportunities: Outstanding applicants are nominated for Temple University's Presidential, University, and Future Faculty Fellowships, which provide four years of tuition remission, a living stipend, and other benefits. Limited numbers of Teaching and Research Assistantships are also available for well-qualified applicants. Students are strongly encouraged to apply for external grants and fellowships.
Admission Requirements and Deadlines
Application Deadline:
Fall: January 5; December 10 international
Before preparing and submitting the application for admission, the applicant should, if at all possible, establish personal contact with at least one faculty member in Temple's Department of Anthropology. This should be a faculty member whose areas of research interest overlap with those of the applicant, and who could potentially serve as her/his faculty advisor.
APPLY ONLINE to this graduate program to begin the application process and receive your TUid number.
Next, visit http://cla.temple.edu/interfolio/anthro-phd to create or log in to your Interfolio account. Complete the supplemental program application and upload scanned copies of all supporting documents to your account, with these exceptions:
- Scores for the GRE and TOEFL, if applicable, must be reported directly by ETS to institution code 2906.
- Official electronic transcripts must be sent to anthgapp@temple.edu or the originals mailed to:
Yvonne Davis, Graduate Coordinator
Temple University College of Liberal Arts
Dept. of Anthropology
1115 W. Polett Walk, 210 Gladfelter Hall (025-21)
Philadelphia, PA 19122-6089
Letters of Reference:
Number Required: 3
From Whom: Letters of recommendation should be requested from individuals who are well positioned to evaluate the applicant's academic abilities and accomplishments as well as her/his potential for graduate study.
Master's Degree in Discipline/Related Discipline: A master's degree is not required.
Bachelor's Degree in Discipline/Related Discipline: A baccalaureate degree (B.A./B.S.) is required, but it need not be a degree in Anthropology.
Statement of Goals: In approximately 800 to 1,000 words, address your main area(s) of scholarly interest; the specific research topic that you intend to make the focus of your graduate studies; the experiences that have led you to graduate studies in Anthropology; the specific reasons for your interest in Temple's graduate program in Anthropology and the faculty members with whom you envision yourself working most closely; and your career goals.
Standardized Test Scores:
GRE: Required. GRE scores are evaluated in the context of all other materials required for admission.
TOEFL: 79 iBT or 550 PBT minimum
Advanced Standing: After completing the first academic year, a student who entered the doctoral program with a master's degree in Anthropology (or a closely related field) may petition the Department's Graduate Committee for advanced standing. The maximum number of advanced standing credits that can be accepted is 24.
Program Requirements
General Program Requirements:
Number of Credits Required: 48
Required Courses:
Course List | Code | Title | Credit Hours |
| ANTH 8003 | Approaches in Cultural Anthropology | 3 |
| ANTH 8004 | Approaches in Linguistic Anthropology | 3 |
| ANTH 8005 | Approaches in Physical Anthropology | 3 |
| ANTH 8006 | Approaches in Archaeology | 3 |
| Total Credit Hours | 48 |
Language Examination: Each doctoral student must pass a written examination of proficiency in a language other than English, preferably by the end of the second year.
Culminating Events:
Dissertation Research Proposal:
Students must have an approved doctoral dissertation research proposal in order to advance to doctoral candidacy. The research proposal must be approved by the student's advisory committee before s/he takes the doctoral qualifying examinations. Students whose proposed research involves working with human or animal subjects must apply for approval from Temple's Institutional Review Board (IRB).
Doctoral Qualifying Examinations:
Each student must pass a set of doctoral qualifying examinations before being advanced to doctoral candidacy. These examinations are intended to evaluate the student's knowledge of the field, readiness to perform doctoral research, and preparedness to write a doctoral dissertation. No student may take the qualifying examinations more than twice. The doctoral qualifying examinations should be completed no more than one term after the student finishes her/his coursework.
Advancement to Doctoral Candidacy:
A doctoral student is advanced to doctoral candidacy when s/he has completed all requirements for the doctoral degree except the research, writing, and defense of the doctoral dissertation. These requirements include completing all required coursework, writing an acceptable dissertation research proposal, passing the doctoral qualifying examinations, and fulfilling the language proficiency requirement. A student cannot be advanced to candidacy with a grade of "I" (Incomplete) or "NR" (No Record) on her/his transcript.
Doctoral Dissertation:
The doctoral dissertation must constitute a significant, original, research-based contribution to scholarship in the student's field of study. It must also conform to the rules set out in the "Dissertation and Thesis Handbook" of the Temple University Graduate School.
Upon advancement to doctoral candidacy, each student must form a Doctoral Advisory Committee. This committee must include at least two Graduate Faculty members from the Department of Anthropology, one of whom serves as the student's primary academic advisor and as chair of the committee. The committee may also include one or more Graduate Faculty members from other Temple schools/colleges, departments, or programs; faculty members from other universities; and/or other doctorally trained experts. The members of the Doctoral Advisory Committee supervise the student's doctoral research and the writing of the dissertation.
The completed dissertation is read and evaluated by a Dissertation Examining Committee, which consists of the members of the Doctoral Advisory Committee plus at least one additional Graduate Faculty member from Temple not from the faculty of the student's home department. A faculty member from another university or other doctorally trained expert may also serve as the additional committee member. In addition to being evaluated and approved by the committee members in its written form, the completed doctoral dissertation must be presented and defended orally by the doctoral candidate.
Courses
ANTH 5006. Quantitative Analysis of Anthropological Data. 3 Credit Hours.
The primary goal of this course is to provide students with a solid grounding in basic statistical techniques/methods as applied to anthropological data. Such data is highly variable in form due, in part, to the diversity of research questions being asked and to the methods of collection. The ultimate goal of this course is to bring together various data sets and methods so that students might better assess the results/interpretations presented in the anthropological literature. New quantitative concepts will be presented each week along with examples/applications of the concepts and practice problems. The problems associated with the main course text will be solved using a hand calculator; more complex data sets and problems will require the use of computer statistical software [i.e., SPSS (available on all University machines)].
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
ANTH 5170. Methods in Archaeology. 3 Credit Hours.
Methods and procedures used in the practice of archaeology with topical foci varying by semester. Semester long topics include: cultural resource management; sediments, soils, and geomorphology in archaeology; pottery analysis; and lithic analysis. As an example, the lithic analysis focus provides hands-on experience in analyzing lithic assemblages through experimental replication of stone tools, experimental use of stone tools, microscopic analysis of experimental and archaeological specimens, and classification of lithic assemblages. The first half of the course consists of laboratory exercises in making, using, and analyzing stone tools and flaking debris. The second half of the course is devoted to the conducting of independent research projects by class members on some aspect of lithic analysis. Because topics change, 5170 may be taken more than once.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may be repeated for additional credit.
ANTH 5171. Comparative Early Civilizations. 3 Credit Hours.
This comparative analysis of the rise of early civilizations uses archaeological and historical information to examine the development of ancient societies. It focuses on problems of the Neolithic revolution and the autochthonous transformation of kin-based communities into stratified societies and the subsequent formation and development of archaic states.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
ANTH 5172. Seminar in Northeastern Prehistory. 3 Credit Hours.
The archaeology and prehistory of the native peoples of the Middle Atlantic Region are examined in detail, and in the broader context of cultural developments in the Northeast and Eastern Woodlands of the United States. Although the seminar employs cultural historical periods as a way to present information, cultural diversity across time and space are emphasized. Basic descriptive data dealing with prehistoric cultures are presented, as well as the variety of interpretations of native lifeways upon which they are based. Included in the course is information derived from cultural resource management studies, the results of which are infrequently published.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
ANTH 5177. Approaches to Historic Sites in Archaeology. 3 Credit Hours.
Students examine the central questions, values, and goals of historical archaeology, gaining a working knowledge of its basic concepts and methods. A material culture approach is used as archaeological objects are presented in sites where they express a series of concepts related to our understanding of status, wealth, self identity, consumerism, and symbolism. A holistic framework is used to present material evidence together with documentary, oral, and other data. A variety of sites will be examined in order to introduce many important subfields of historical archaeology such as landscape archaeology, urban archaeology, industrial archaeology, and underwater archaeology. The course also will demonstrate how such evidence illuminates the modern world and its relevance to our own time and place.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
ANTH 5180. Historic Sites in Archaeology. 3 Credit Hours.
A seminar on the archaeology of sites dating from the colonial period and later periods in American history. Topical focus varies; contact the instructor for details.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may be repeated for additional credit.
ANTH 5189. Field Session in Archaeology. 6 Credit Hours.
Techniques and concepts of field archaeology, including survey and excavation. Students will be expected to spend the greatest part of the session in the field during the excavation of a prehistoric or historic occupation site. The location of field projects shifts from year to year. Previous locations have included coastal Maryland, the New Jersey Pine Barrens, the Middle and Upper Delaware Valley, and Valley Forge.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may be repeated for additional credit.
ANTH 5310. Theories and Methods in Cultural Anthropology. 3 Credit Hours.
This course examines anthropological approaches to visual and material consumption in social life. Through readings in both classic social theory and contemporary theory and ethnography, we will investigate how images and things acquire meaning, organize social life, and constitute identities through different consumptive processes. Questions to be addressed include: How do people create social identities, hierarchies, or senses of collective belonging through consumption practices? How do images and objects acquire value or significance in different consumption contexts - from gift exchange to internet surfing to shopping? What is the relationship between images, objects, money, and morality in different societies? How can we understand the commodity form ethnographically? What can consumption reveal about processes of state formation and globalization - from the creation of imagined communities to the creation of inequalities? What are the differences between the consumption of visual media versus material objects?
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may be repeated for additional credit.
ANTH 5322. Anthropology and Development. 3 Credit Hours.
Economic Anthropology is the study of how economic systems articulate with culture on a variety of scales. This class examines basic paradigms of study in economic anthropology, theories of money and value, and ethnographies of exchange. We will look at how the commodification, production and/or sale of goods in formal, informal and black markets affect people in very different ways. We think through the role of the state, of religion, power struggles and advertising in shaping these markets.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
ANTH 5325. Culture, History, and Power. 3 Credit Hours.
This course examines how both western and non-western societies have defined the domain of "politics." While looking at a range of ethnographies on different forms of politics, we will also attempt to understand how anthropologists historically have studied politics, and how anthropological notions of politics have changed through time.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
ANTH 5326. Problems in the Anthropological Study of Religion. 3 Credit Hours.
This course examines some of the major themes, methods, and intellectual traditions of the study of religion in anthropology. Considered as a comparative study of religious practice, this course seeks to understand thought and behavior in worship, iconography, pilgrimage, domestic and congregational performance, mythology and cosmology, trance, dance, sacrifice, ritual experience and other dimensions of religious life as well as the way that these facets of religious culture interrelate. The study of religion in a historically complex circumstance will provide the means to examine the processes of accommodation and tension that exist in a multi-religious environment.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
ANTH 5328. Seminar in Social Organization. 3 Credit Hours.
This seminar focuses on anthropological analysis of social structures, including kinship, families and households, social networks, voluntary organizations, and bureaucracies
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
ANTH 5332. Medical Anthropology. 3 Credit Hours.
Examines biocultural and sociocultural approaches to the understanding of multiplex human experiences of health, disease, and affliction. Introduction to the major theoretical schools and critical issues of contemporary medical anthropology. Explores six topical areas: biocultural perspectives on disease and health; ethnomedicine; medical pluralism; medicine and social control; international health development; and the relationships between culture/ society and scientific biomedical representations.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
ANTH 5335. Anthropology and Social Policy. 3 Credit Hours.
Examines "applied" domain and different ways of "using" anthropological knowledge, ranging from critiques of international and federal social policies as products of the state and private interests to participative anthropology that moves toward political action and empowerment, to working for the state and private corporate centers as a way to make a living. Evaluates the efficacy of different types of work for progressive social change and examines the possibilities of how to make our research matter more in relation to major public issues.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
ANTH 5355. Anthropology of Sexuality and Gender. 3 Credit Hours.
Explores anthropological literature on gender as a means of exposing the hidden assumptions about power, language, and gender that inform anthropological theory. Theoretical critiques of this literature will be used to reassess anthropology and to generate a systematic approach to the study of gender. (Prior to fall 2015, the course title was Gender Theory.)
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
ANTH 5358. Race and Class in North America. 3 Credit Hours.
American Culture: Conformity and Diversity. This course focuses on North American ethnographies and their role in the development of North Americanist anthropology. This includes examining dominant debates about the cultural and structural intersection of race, class, gender, and other axes of difference. Other topics include the global spread of North American power, expertise in science and technology, and cultural forms in the twentieth century.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
ANTH 5366. Contemporary Perspectives in Urban Anthropology. 3 Credit Hours.
Examines the development of urban anthropology from the early debates of the 1970s to redefinitions in the 1980s. The emerging paradigm of intensive studies of local social processes within larger macrostructural contexts is the focus.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
ANTH 5389. Fieldwork in Ethnography. 3 Credit Hours.
This class encourages students to explore the world around them from an ethnographer's perspective; that is, to observe, hear and listen to people and the settings around them with attention to history and the social, political, economic, and ideological structures that provide the context for actors' agency. We will conduct short fieldwork exercises, write fieldnotes and an analytic paper, and conduct an oral history interview. We will also consider what ethical issues fieldworkers encounter as they pursue their research, read classic and more recent examples of ethnographic writing, and engage in debate about different forms of anthropological methods and writing.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
ANTH 5396. History of Anthropological Theory. 3 Credit Hours.
Clarifies various intellectual currents in contemporary anthropology, their relationships to intellectual and social developments, and debates in the broader society. Concerned with the development of anthropological thought as it has been shaped by Western society and the emergence of various intellectual tendencies. Surveys the antecedents of anthropology in the major intellectual currents of the early modern era and its crystallization during the Age of Revolution. Focuses in detail on what happened after the social sciences were professionalized in the late 19th century.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
ANTH 5428. Theory and Methods in Culture and Communication. 3 Credit Hours.
This course explores the history and development of visual culture. Considered are: the history of perception and how mechanical and digital reproduction have had an impact on the sensuousness of the gaze-in-culture; how various intellectual movements in the 20th century effected visual reproduction. The course provides a solid historical foundation with which students can enhance their comprehension of contemporary visual culture.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
ANTH 5434. Anthropology in Feature Films. 3 Credit Hours.
Students will critically review a series of feature films that include topics, themes, and subject matter often treated within anthropology and related human sciences. It is clear that American feature films usually thought of as 'Hollywood films' can be very influential in establishing or reinforcing social and cultural stereotypes of 'states of knowledge' about peoples living in various parts of the world. Viewership of these materials, either as films shown in movie theaters or as their videotape counterparts seen on home television screens, certainly exceeds the size of audiences in introductory anthropology courses in the U.S. The potential for influence and false senses of familiarity is enormous.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
ANTH 5438. Anthropology of Mass Media. 3 Credit Hours.
This course examines the relationships between various types of media (film, radio, television, Internet, newspaper, telephone, performance) and power relations, control, and cultural representation. We will look at reception studies, and social construction of "news watching," the construction of "others" and the maintenance of "otherness" in media, as well as the international politics of media messages and the power of media in influencing our opinions about the world.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
ANTH 5439. Anthropology and Photography. 3 Credit Hours.
A critical examination of an anthropological approach to photography. Special attention will be given to a socio-cultural history of photography in the U.S. Examples from documentary, fine art, and commercial photographic genres will be shown, discussed, and compared to ethnographic studies. Field methods, models of analysis, and ethical issues will also be included. Required readings, active class participation. No exams. Students keep a journal and write several short essays. Note: Knowledge of camera technology and darkroom procedures is helpful but not required.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
ANTH 5444. Anthropological Problems in Visual Production. 3 Credit Hours.
The introduction of visual recording techniques to a sample of problems in the anthropology of visual communication. Discussions will include ways anthropologists construct problems, develop observational strategies, select appropriate image-making technology, work in field conditions, among others. Strategies of representation connected to the integration of cultural and film theories will be explored in conjunction with a wide range of film examples. Students will be introduced to the department's production facilities and do short exercises in image making, viewing, and interpretation.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
ANTH 5458. Anthropology of Public Culture. 3 Credit Hours.
Explores museums, exhibitions, galleries, and festivals as a form of public culture. Activities include critical reading of relevant literature and an examination of films, CD-ROM's, Internet web sites as well as field trips to local institutions.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
ANTH 5501. Language, Power, and Agency. 3 Credit Hours.
This seminar examines the varied ways in which individuals and groups use language in constituting, maintaining, resisting, challenging, subverting, and transforming power relations. These issues are considered at multiple levels of analysis, from face-to-face interactions to performances to the production and circulation of media at national and global levels. A central goal is to develop critical perspectives on the place of language and communicative practice in contemporary social theory.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
ANTH 5504. Language as Social Action. 3 Credit Hours.
This seminar examines language use and other communicative practices as forms of action through which individuals and groups create, sustain, and transform their lifeworlds. Drawing largely on ethnographic materials, it considers a broad range of the semiotically, culturally, politically, ideologically, and discursively mediated activities that, taken together, constitute human sociality. The seminar emphasizes the collection, analysis, and presentation of original ethnographic data. Toward these ends, each seminar participant develops an independent research project involving participant observation and naturalistic audio-video recording of communicative practices (both verbal and non-verbal) in local settings.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
ANTH 5509. Language Socialization and Cultural Reproduction. 3 Credit Hours.
Language socialization research is concerned with the processes whereby children and other novices, through interactions with older or otherwise more experienced persons, acquire the knowledge, orientations, skills, and practices that enable them to function as (and crucially, to be regarded as) competent members of their communities. This seminar examines language socialization and cultural reproduction as both universal and culturally specific phenomena. Topics explored include theoretical and methodological approaches to socialization; cross-cultural variations in ways of teaching and learning; socialization of children and of other novices; the agency of learners; the socialization of identities, roles, and statuses; and socialization processes as a site of innovation and change. Using the resources of the Linguistic Anthropology Teaching Laboratory, seminar participants collect, analyze, and present ethnographic audio-video data from various local settings (schools, churches, community organizations, workplaces, etc.) in which socialization can be observed.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
ANTH 5510. Methods in Linguistic Anthropology. 3 Credit Hours.
Survey of methods and problems in linguistic anthropology.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may be repeated for additional credit.
ANTH 5770. Methods in Physical Anthropology. 3 Credit Hours.
Methodological training for graduate students in physical anthropology and the Biocultural adaptation program. Topics include population genetics and demography, osteology, energy flow models, and human physiology.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may be repeated for additional credit.
ANTH 5796. Biocultural Adaptation of Human Populations. 3 Credit Hours.
This course explores the manner in which the adaptation concept has been used in cultural and biological anthropology. Evaluations of optimization models, thermodynamic models, evolutionary stable strategy theory, cultural materialism and selection models are conducted in a seminar format. Discussions will focus on the extent to which the behavioral and biological characteristics of human populations can be explained in an "adaptive" context. Students will critique specific models and the way they have been applied to groups living in stressful environments.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
ANTH 5797. Reproductive Biology of Human Populations. 3 Credit Hours.
A survey of physiological and biochemical variability in human populations examined as a function of environmental adaptation. Emphasis on the responses of different populations to discernible environmental stresses.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
ANTH 5798. Seminar in Evolutionary Biology. 3 Credit Hours.
In-depth review of the synthetic theory of evolution, and special topics in evolutionary theory. Emphasis placed on the history of evolutionary thinking, the sources of variation in human populations, evolutionary processes, behavioral ecology, the levels of selection and problems in phylogenetic reconstruction. Anthropologically relevant models will be used throughout the course.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
ANTH 8003. Approaches in Cultural Anthropology. 3 Credit Hours.
Examination of the major theoretical debates that have informed cultural anthropology by analyzing how these perspectives have shaped the development of the ethnographic form. Topics include: structural-functionalism, professional and symbolic approaches, political economy, gender theory and post-structuralism.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
ANTH 8004. Approaches in Linguistic Anthropology. 3 Credit Hours.
Linguistic anthropology is concerned with the dynamic inter-relationships among language, culture, and society. This course provides an overview of theoretical and methodological approaches through which language can be studied in its social and cultural contexts as a means of communication as well as a medium of power, a means of production, and a commodity of value. Language is regarded as a cultural resource, and communicative practices are treated as forms of social action that vary significantly from one place and time to another. The role of language in sociocultural processes of reproduction and change are examined, revealing that communicative practices and their social organization are not just reflections of pre-existing social structures and cultural patterns, but are in fact constitutive of society and culture.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
ANTH 8005. Approaches in Physical Anthropology. 3 Credit Hours.
Survey of theories and methodologies used in physical anthropology. Development of physical anthropological theory and practice, genetics, hominid evolution, human population variation, primate history and ethnology, ecology, demography, and physiological anthropology.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
ANTH 8006. Approaches in Archaeology. 3 Credit Hours.
Examines the methods and theories used in archaeological research and provides an overview of human history that has been revealed by archaeological research. Topics covered include the historical development of archaeology, the nature of archaeological evidence, measuring and organizing time, analyzing spatial relationships, interpreting material culture, explanations in archaeology, hunter-gatherers in prehistory, agricultural origins, origins of complex societies, historical archaeology, and current trends in archaeology.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
ANTH 8011. Teaching of Anthropology. 3 Credit Hours.
This course is a workshop on issues in the teaching of anthropology in general and, more specifically, on the teaching of introductory courses in Temple's Department of Anthropology. Weekly meetings will cover general pedagogical issues such as writing a syllabus, evaluating student writing, constructing class assignments, grading and similar matters. Sample syllabi will be collected and reviewed, along with the textbooks that have been used for various introductory classes. Students will interview those who have experience in teaching introductory courses and will create a syllabus of their own for a course relevant to their individual subfield in anthropology.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
ANTH 8110. Problems in Archaeology. 3 Credit Hours.
Consideration of special theoretical and methodological problems in archaeology. Topical and area emphasis varies by semester.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may be repeated for additional credit.
ANTH 8310. Problems in Socio-Cultural Anthropology. 3 Credit Hours.
A seminar oriented to specific research issues. Topics vary from semester to semester.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may be repeated for additional credit.
ANTH 8315. Writing for Anthropologists. 3 Credit Hours.
Reading and analysis of key ethnographic texts. Major topics include: development of ethnography as a genre in the twentieth century; regional patterns in ethnographic data and their relation to theory formation; postmodern critiques of ethnography; the influence of ethnography on other disciplines; and the use of ethnographies in teaching anthropology.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
ANTH 8320. Problems in Ethnology. 3 Credit Hours.
Reading and analysis of key ethnographic texts. Major topics include: development of ethnography as a genre in the 20th-century; regional patterns in ethnographic data and their relation to theory formation; postmodern critiques of ethnography; the influence of ethnography on other disciplines; and the use of ethnographics in teaching anthropology.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may be repeated for additional credit.
ANTH 8330. Problems in Anthropological Methodology. 3 Credit Hours.
A seminar in research design and grant writing for advanced students.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may be repeated for additional credit.
ANTH 8340. Advanced Seminar in Social Anthropology. 3 Credit Hours.
Oriented to specific research issues. Topics vary by semester.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may be repeated for additional credit.
ANTH 8344. Seminar in Expressive Culture. 3 Credit Hours.
This course explores the major anthropological approaches to the relationship between objects and social life, with a particular focus on art as especially illuminating. Using examples from Africa, the Middle East, Oceania, Europe, and the United States, the following themes are analyzed: how and why are objects categorized (e.g., as art objects, ritual objects, or ethnographic objects); the debate over the cross-cultural applicability of "art" and "aesthetics"; the ideologies of the "artist" in different societies; the ways that different objects are used to define groups of people (e.g., according to clan, race, gender, class, nationality); the relationship between the exchange/circulation of objects and social relations between different groups; the commoditization of objects; the international trade in tourist objects and art; and the role of museums and anthropologists in representing cultures through objects.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
ANTH 8366. Violence: An Anthropological Approach. 3 Credit Hours.
In this seminar we will establish a set of key concepts with which to better understand the phenomenon of violence historically and in modern times. We begin with experiences of violence recorded by men and women in the past, focusing first on slavery and then on war and terrorism. In subsequent weeks we consider how words, pictures, and physical harm make violence, how violence silences people, and how it creates unsafe spaces. We will be concerned, too, with why and how violence is structured and expressed at home, in courts, in prisons, and in "business."
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
ANTH 8408. Approaches in the Anthropology of Visual Communication I. 3 Credit Hours.
The course has a survey approach; the theoretical overview is grounded in a perspective that applies concepts of culture to processes of visual communication.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
ANTH 8409. Approaches in the Anthropology of Visual Communication II. 3 Credit Hours.
Examination of an anthropological approach to the study of the uses of the body, space, and the built environment, film, photographic, and television theories of construction and reception, art and aesthetics, cyberspace, and museums.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
ANTH 8429. Problems in the Anthropology of Visual Communication. 3 Credit Hours.
Advanced seminar devoted to problematic aspects of visual media, research, fieldwork, production, exposition of issues central to relationships of anthropology, media, and visual communication. Topics vary by semester.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
ANTH 8435. Seminar in Visual Anthropology and the Arts. 3 Credit Hours.
A seminar oriented to specific research issues, with topics varying from semester to semester.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
ANTH 8550. Current Issues in Linguistic Anthropology. 3 Credit Hours.
A themed seminar devoted to key areas of contemporary research in linguistic anthropology and allied fields of study. The seminar theme varies according to the instructor's areas of expertise, students' areas of interest, and curricular needs. Contact the instructor for details.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may be repeated for additional credit.
ANTH 9082. Independent Study. 1 to 12 Credit Hour.
Special study on a particular aspect of anthropology under the supervision of an appropriate faculty member. No more than six semester hours can be counted toward degree requirements.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may be repeated for additional credit.
ANTH 9982. Independent Study. 1 to 12 Credit Hour.
Specialized study and research under the supervision of a faculty member while in the coursework phase of the program.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may be repeated for additional credit.
ANTH 9994. Preliminary Examination Preparation. 1 to 6 Credit Hour.
Registration required each semester while preparing for the Preliminary examinations.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may be repeated for additional credit.
ANTH 9996. Master's Essay. 1 to 12 Credit Hour.
Students who are doing research and writing for their M.A. thesis should register for this class. Credit does not count toward either the 24 s.h. requirement for MA or the 48 s.h. requirement for the Ph.D.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may be repeated for additional credit.
ANTH 9998. Pre-Dissertation Research. 1 to 6 Credit Hour.
Intended for students who have completed their qualifying and comprehensive exams and are preparing the dissertation proposal.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may be repeated for additional credit.
ANTH 9999. Dissertation Research. 1 to 6 Credit Hour.
Only students elevated to candidacy and writing the dissertation should register for this course.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Student Attribute Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Student Attributes: Dissertation Writing Student.
Repeatability: This course may be repeated for additional credit.
Contacts
Department Contacts: