Anthropology B.A.

Anthropology is an interconnected discipline and majors are urged to acquire a broad background especially in the natural and social sciences and the humanities. Recommended areas of study are biology, economics, English, geography, geology, history, communication studies, linguistics, Native American studies, philosophy, political science, psychology, religious studies, and sociology.

Bachelor of Arts - Anthropology

College Humanities & Sciences

Catalog Year: 2016-2017

Degree Specific Credits: 36

Required Cumulative GPA: 2.0

Note: There are no prerequisites to the undergraduate major. The major requires 36 credits in Anthropology, Linguistics, or Native American Studies, 12 of which must be the core offerings. In addition to the core courses, students are required to have a course in quantitative methods. Students must complete the core courses and the quantitative course with a letter grade of C- or better

Lower Division Core Courses

Rule: Complete all courses

Show All Course Descriptions Course Credits
Show Description ANTY 210N - Intro to Physical Anthropology
Offered autumn and spring. An introduction to human evolutionary biology including processes of evolution, primate studies, hominid paleontology, and human variation.
 3 Credits
Show Description ANTY 220S - Culture & Society
Offered autumn and spring. Study of social organization of non-western societies; emphasis on variations in ecology, social structure, economic, political and religious beliefs and practices.
 3 Credits
Show Description ANTY 250S - Intro to Archaeology
Offered autumn and spring. What archaeologists do and how they reconstruct past human cultures. Methodological and theoretical approaches to understanding and explaining past human societies.
 3 Credits
Show Description LING 270S - Intro to Ling
Offered autumn and spring.  An introduction to the field of modern linguistics and to the nature of language. Emphasis on the ways different cultures develop symbol systems for representing meaning.
 3 Credits
Minimum Required Grade: C- 12 Total Credits Required

Anthropology or Cognate Electives

Rule: Complete 12 credits.

Note: Speak to your academic adviser for a full list of approved Anthropology or Cognate electives.

Minimum Required Grade: C-
12 Total Credits Required

Upper Division Writing Requirement

Rule: Complete either an upper-division writing course from approved list in catalog, or one of the following courses listed below.

Show All Course Descriptions Course Credits
Show Description ANTY 314 - Principles of Forensic Anthro
Offered autumn. Prereq., ANTY 210N.  A study of techniques for recovering skeletal material, identifying and interpreting human skeletal remains, keeping records, interacting with the law enforcement system and documenting human rights abuses.
 3 Credits
Show Description ANTY 400 - History of Anthropology
Offered autumn. Prereq., ANTY 101H and 220S. The development of theory and method in cultural anthropology to the present. Various archaeological, ethnological and socio-psychological theories in the light of historical anthropology.
 3 Credits
Show Description ANTY 402 - Quan Ethnographic Field Methds
Offered autumn. This course is designed to enhance student understanding of field methods that generate quantitative data describing human behavior. The toolkit of a student completing this course will include knowledge of basic methods that will get you from observing behavior to discussing your research and findings in a professional manner in oral or written formats.
 3 Credits
Show Description ANTY 403E - Ethics and Anthropology
Offered intermittently. Prereq., ANTY 101H or 220S, or consent of instr. Ethical and anthropological modes of inquiry in relation to each other. Focus on the sociocultural subfield as well as ethical issues in physical anthropology and archaeology.
 3 Credits
Show Description ANTY 408 - Advanced Anthro Statistics
Offered intermittently. Prereq., ANTY 401 or consent of inst. Focus on techniques used for microcomputer-based data management and multivariate analysis.
 3 Credits
Show Description ANTY 450 - Archaeological Theory
Offered autumn odd-numbered years. Prereq., ANTY 250S. Historical trends and current major theories and methods in archaeology.
 3 Credits
Show Description ANTY 451 - Cultural Resource Management
Offered autumn. Introduction to the laws and practice of cultural resource/heritage property management. Focus on the management of archaeological sites, historic structures, and traditional cultural places due to federal laws. Emphasis is on laying foundation of CRM practices for students interested in pursuing it as a potential career.
 3 Credits
Show Description ANTY 455 - Artifact Analysis
Offered spring. Prereq., ANTY 250S and consent of instr. Laboratory approaches and techniques for analyzing material culture from technological, stylistic, and chronological perspectives.
 3 Credits
Show Description LING 473 - Language and Culture
Offered spring. Prereq., LING 470.  Technical study of the relationships between grammatical categories and world view. This course co-convenes with LING 573.
 3 Credits
Show Description LING 484 - NA Indigenous Lang & Ling
Offered autumn odd-numbered years. Prereq. LING 470. Description and analysis of grammatical features of Indigenous languages of North America. This course co-convenes with LING 584.
 3 Credits
Minimum Required Grade: C- 3 Total Credits Required

Subarea I-Theory and Methods

Rule: Complete 3 credits in Theory and 3 credits in Methods

Minimum Required Grade: C-
6 Total Credits Required

Anthropological Theory

Rule: Complete one of the following

Show All Course Descriptions Course Credits
Show Description ANTY 312 - Human Evolution
Offered autumn. Prereq., ANTY 210N. An exploration of the fossil and archaeological records of the evolution of human beings, and of current methods and theories used in interpreting these data.
 3 Credits
Show Description ANTY 400 - History of Anthropology
Offered autumn. Prereq., ANTY 101H and 220S. The development of theory and method in cultural anthropology to the present. Various archaeological, ethnological and socio-psychological theories in the light of historical anthropology.
 3 Credits
Show Description ANTY 403E - Ethics and Anthropology
Offered intermittently. Prereq., ANTY 101H or 220S, or consent of instr. Ethical and anthropological modes of inquiry in relation to each other. Focus on the sociocultural subfield as well as ethical issues in physical anthropology and archaeology.
 3 Credits
Show Description ANTY 404 - Anthropological Museology
Offered spring even-numbered years. Prereq., ANTY 101H. Introduction to anthropological museums, museum work and museum theory.
 3 Credits
Show Description ANTY 415 - Emergence Modern Humans
Offered spring. Prereq., ANTY 210N. An exploration of the emergence of "modern" humans and their relationships with Neanderthals. Exploration of what it means to be "a modern human" through an examination of human evolutionary history.
 3 Credits
Show Description ANTY 430 - Social Anthropology
Offered spring even-numbered years. Seminar style senior capstone course for cultural anthropology students. This course focuses on bringing theory and methods together in written and visual ethnography.
 3 Credits
Show Description ANTY 450 - Archaeological Theory
Offered autumn odd-numbered years. Prereq., ANTY 250S. Historical trends and current major theories and methods in archaeology.
 3 Credits
Show Description ANTY 456 - Historic Archaeology
Offered spring. Prereq., ANTY 250S or consent of instr. Understanding and interpreting the past through historical archaeological remains, methods, and theories. Focuses on historical archaeological sites and topics from the American West, but also examines the field’s global perspective.
 3 Credits
Show Description ANTY 458 - Arch of Hunter-Gatherers
Offered autumn even-numbered years. Introduction to the archaeological study of hunter-gatherer societies. Primary emphasis on archaeological method and theory.
 3 Credits
Show Description LING 470 - Linguistic Analysis
Offered autumn. An in-depth examination of the formal properties of language, concentrating on the core areas of linguistic analysis (phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics).
 3 Credits
Minimum Required Grade: C 3 Total Credits Required

Anthropological Methods

Rule: Complete one of the following

Show All Course Descriptions Course Credits
Show Description ANTY 402 - Quan Ethnographic Field Methds
Offered autumn. This course is designed to enhance student understanding of field methods that generate quantitative data describing human behavior. The toolkit of a student completing this course will include knowledge of basic methods that will get you from observing behavior to discussing your research and findings in a professional manner in oral or written formats.
 3 Credits
Show Description ANTY 408 - Advanced Anthro Statistics
Offered intermittently. Prereq., ANTY 401 or consent of inst. Focus on techniques used for microcomputer-based data management and multivariate analysis.
 3 Credits
Show Description ANTY 412 - Osteology
Offered autumn. Prereq., ANTY 314 and consent of instr. A detailed examination of the human skeleton with an emphasis on identifying individual bones and their structures. Specifically extended to fragmentary skeletal elements. Direct hands-on experience required.
 4 Credits
Show Description ANTY 413 - Forensic and Mortuary Arch
Offered spring. Prereq., ANTY 314 and consent of instr. Practical approaches to locating, documenting and recovering human skeletal remains, including surface scatters and burials. Emphasis on interpretations of evidence for recovery scene formation and mortuary behavior.
 3 Credits
Show Description ANTY 416 - Dental Anthropology
Offered intermittently. Prereq., ANTY 210N. The use of information from teeth in investigating evolutionary trends, the relationships between human groups, subsistence change, and culture change.
 3 Credits
Show Description ANTY 431 - Ethnographic Field Methods
Offered spring odd-numbered years. Prereq., ANTY 220S or consent of instr. Introduction to socio-cultural anthropological methods including participant observation, interviewing and narrative techniques and analysis of qualitative data.
 3 Credits
Show Description ANTY 451 - Cultural Resource Management
Offered autumn. Introduction to the laws and practice of cultural resource/heritage property management. Focus on the management of archaeological sites, historic structures, and traditional cultural places due to federal laws. Emphasis is on laying foundation of CRM practices for students interested in pursuing it as a potential career.
 3 Credits
Show Description ANTY 454 - Lithic Technology
Offered autumn odd-numbered years. Prereq., ANTY 250S and consent of instr.  Analysis of stone artifacts and debitage.
 3 Credits
Show Description ANTY 455 - Artifact Analysis
Offered spring. Prereq., ANTY 250S and consent of instr. Laboratory approaches and techniques for analyzing material culture from technological, stylistic, and chronological perspectives.
 3 Credits
Show Description ANTY 466 - Archaeological Survey
(R-12) Prereq., ANTY 250S. Offered autumn. A field course in Montana archaeology.
 1 To 12 Credits
Show Description ANTY 476 - Methods for Native Languages
(R-6) Offered Spring. In an effort to highlight promising methodologies that will advance the success of Native language acquisition and instruction, students will be exposed to an innovative methodology while being instructed in an Indigenous language.
 3 Credits
Show Description ANTY 495 - Field Experience:
(R- 12) Offered intermittently. Prereq., consent of instr. Organized field experience in anthropology.
 1 To 12 Credits
Show Description LING 474 - Historical Linguistics
Offered spring even-numbered years. Prereq., LING 470. An introduction to the study of language change over time. Topics include: methods for studying language change (the comparative method and internal reconstruction); types of language change (sound change, borrowing, analogical change, lexical, syntactic, and semantic change); and explanations for language change. The principles of historical reconstruction and comparative method in the analysis of linguistic variation and change. This course co-convenes with LING 574.
 3 Credits
Show Description LING 475 - Linguistic Field Methods
Offered spring odd-numbered years.  Prereq., LING 470.  Writing up linguistic data; developing techniques for eliciting linguistic data by working with a native speaker of a less commonly taught language. This course co-convenes with LING 575.
 3 Credits
Minimum Required Grade: C- 3 Total Credits Required

Subarea II, III, IV

Rule: Complete 6 credits from 2 of 3 Subareas

Minimum Required Grade: C-
6 Total Credits Required

Subarea II: Human Adaptation and Diversity

Rule: Complete one of the following

Show All Course Descriptions Course Credits
Show Description ANTY 122S - Race and Minorities
Offered autumn. Analysis of the development and concept of race as a social category and the processes of cultural change within and between ethnic groups.
 3 Credits
Show Description ANTY 133H - Food and Culture
Offered spring. Examination of the ways culture shapes the satisfaction of a biological need; food production, preparation, choices, customs, taste, taboos, beverages, spices and food distribution around the globe.
 3 Credits
Show Description ANTY 211N - Anthropological Genetics
Offered intermittently. Genetics-related problems that confront individuals and society. Variation and natural selection in human populations. Designed for non-biology majors.
 3 Credits
Show Description ANTY 310 - Human Variation
Offered autumn. Prereq., ANTY 210N or consent of instr. Introduction to human biological variation, and to the methods and theories that are used to explain the distribution of variable features.
 3 Credits
Show Description ANTY 333 - Culture and Population
Offered autumn, even-numbered years. The relationship between population processes and culture to the human condition; survey data, methodologies, theories of demographic and culture change.
 3 Credits
Show Description ANTY 417 - Adaptation & Nutritional Anth
Offered intermittently. Prereq., ANTY 210N. An examination of the adaptation of human populations to the environment and food supply via evolutionary, physiological, and cultural mechanisms.
 3 Credits
Show Description ANTY 418 - Ecol Genet Var Human Pops
Offered spring. Prereq. ANTY 310. Human genetic variation examined from a molecular perspective. Emphasis on the role of infectious disease and other factors as a selective factor in human evolution and exploration of the implications of these associations for human genetic variation.
 3 Credits
Show Description ANTY 426 - Culture, Health and Healing
Offered autumn. Cross-cultural comparisons of theories and concepts and health and illness. Examination of the impact of these concepts upon health practices and treatment of disease around the world.
 3 Credits
Show Description LING 375X - Endangered Languages
Offered intermittently. Survey of endangered languages and the communities in which those endangered languages are spoken. Topics to be addressed include linguistic diversity, language endangerment, language shift and loss, language maintenance efforts, and prospects for the future of these languages.
 3 Credits
Show Description NASX 388 - Native Amer Health & Healing
Offered alternate years. Examination of traditional and contemporary uses of medicine in Native American societies.  Issues covered will include current health conditions of American Indians, and the relationship from a cultural perspective on health, healing and medicine.
 3 Credits
Minimum Required Grade: C- 3 Total Credits Required

Subarea III: World Societies and Cultures

Rule: Complete one of the following

Show All Course Descriptions Course Credits
Show Description ANTY 141H - The Silk Road
Offered autumn and spring. Introduction to the study of the human communities, cultures, and economies in Central and Southwest Asia along the ancient four thousand mile-long Silk Road.
 3 Credits
Show Description ANTY 241H - Central Asian Culture and Civ
Offered autumn even numbered years. Introduction to Central Asia's history, culture and ways of thinking. Focus on the political and social organization of Central Asia and cultural changes as expressed in art and interactions with China, India and the Middle East.
 3 Credits
Show Description ANTY 251H - Foundations of Civilization
Offered intermittently. Focus on the worldwide evolution of human society from Stone Age hunter-gatherers to the beginnings of modern civilization. Approached through the colorful and exciting world of archaeologists and the sites they excavate.
 3 Credits
Show Description ANTY 254H - Arch Wonders of the World
Offered spring even numbered years. This course highlights the classical civilizations of the ancient world, fields such as Egyptology and Classical Archaeology, and the major archaeological discoveries which are associated with them.
 3 Credits
Show Description ANTY 323X - Native Peoples of Montana
Offered spring. The history and culture of the Indian tribes in Montana.
 3 Credits
Show Description ANTY 330X - Peoples and Cultures of World
(R-9) Offered autumn and spring. Study of the peoples of various geographic regions and their cultures.
 3 Credits
Show Description ANTY 347 - Central Asia and Its Neighbors
Offered intermittently. Analysis of the human communities and cultures of Central and Southwest Asia, with particular emphasis on the importance of relationships with neighboring countries and civilizations since ancient times.
 3 Credits
Show Description ANTY 351H - Archaeology of North America
Offered autumn. The origins, backgrounds and development of Pre-Columbian American peoples and cultures.
 3 Credits
Show Description ANTY 352X - Archaeology of Montana
Offered spring. The origins, distributions and development of aboriginal cultures in Montana and surrounding regions.
 3 Credits
Show Description ANTY 353 - PaleoIndian Archaeology
Offered spring or winter, even-numbered years. Examines archaeological, linguistic, biological and skeletal data to determine from where and when Native Americans arrived in North America.  Examines archaeological sites from such diverse places as Montana, Siberia, Virginia, and Chile to answer the most intriguing question in contemporary American archaeology today:  how, when and from where did people first arrive in the Americas?
 3 Credits
Show Description ANTY 354H - Mesoamerican Prehistory
Offered spring odd-numbered years. The development of civilization and prehistoric states in the New World. Prehistoric lifeways and the effects of European contact on these cultures.
 3 Credits
Show Description ANTY 442 - Cities/Landscapes Central Asia
Offered spring odd numbered years. Analysis of the main centers of civilization and culture, rich sites and monuments of Central Asia and Southwest Asia since ancient times.
 3 Credits
Show Description ANTY 444 - Artistic Tradtns Central Asia
Offered autumn odd-numbered years. Analysis of the study of human artistic creativity and scientific innovations of various cultures in Central and Southwest Asia since ancient times.
 3 Credits
Show Description ANTY 457 - Arch of the Pacific Northwest
Offered autumn odd-numbered years. Introduction to the study of archaeology in the Pacific Northwest region inclusive of the Northwest Coast and Columbia/Fraser-Thompson Plateau. Understanding hunter-gatherer adaptations, evolution of social complexity, and ancient history of contemporary native peoples in the region.
 3 Credits
Show Description ANTY 459 - Archof the Arctic/Subarctic
Offered spring even-numbered years. Introduction to the study of Arctic and Subarctic archaeology emphasizing the Pleistocene and Holocene prehistory of North America and eastern Siberia. Understanding of methodological problems associated with archaeology in a northern context, the evolution of Inuit, Eskimo, Aleut and Athapaskan cultures, and hunter-gatherer adaptations to northern interior and coastal environments.
 3 Credits
Show Description ANTY 465X - Arch of the SW United States
Offered intermittently. The development of the prehistoric communities in the southwestern United States from ancient times to the dawn of history in the area.
 3 Credits
Minimum Required Grade: C- 3 Total Credits Required

Subarea IV: Concepts and Issues

Rule: Complete one of the following

Show All Course Descriptions Course Credits
Show Description ANTY 216 - Primates in Peril
Offered intermittently. An overview of the living primates and their behavior with a focus on conservation issues that have an impact on primates.
 3 Credits
Show Description ANTY 314 - Principles of Forensic Anthro
Offered autumn. Prereq., ANTY 210N.  A study of techniques for recovering skeletal material, identifying and interpreting human skeletal remains, keeping records, interacting with the law enforcement system and documenting human rights abuses.
 3 Credits
Show Description ANTY 326E - Indigenous Peoples & Globl Dev
Offered spring odd-numbered years. This class will examine the impact of global development on tribal and Indigenous peoples. Topics will include land issues, health, employment, and cultural change caused by global development and explore how these societies are resisting and adapting to their changing world.
 3 Credits
Show Description ANTY 336 - Myth, Ritual and Religion
Offered autumn odd-numbered years. Theories and practices concerning supernatural phenomena, and the comparative study of world religions and cosmological traditions of indigenous peoples throughout the world.
 3 Credits
Show Description ANTY 349 - Social Change in NnWstrn Socts
Offered autumn, odd-numbered years. Study of the processes of change, modernization and development.
 3 Credits
Show Description ANTY 422 - Mind, Culture and Society
Offered autumn even-numbered years. Prereq., ANTY 220S or consent of instr. The study of socialization, personality, cognition, and mental health cross-culturally.
 3 Credits
Show Description ANTY 423 - Culture and Identity
Offered spring. The comparative study of identity formation along and across racial, ethnic, and ethno-national lines. Emphasis on issues of ethnogenesis, cultural resistance, transformation, domination, colonialism as well as sharing to understand both the cultural commonalties and differences in identity formation.
 3 Credits
Show Description ANTY 427 - Anthropology of Gender
Offered spring. Comparative study of the history and significance of gender in social life.
 3 Credits
Show Description ANTY 435 - Drugs, Culture and Society
Offered intermittently.  Drug use in a cross-cultural perspective.  The role of drugs in cultural expression and social interaction.  Examination of the prehistory of drug use, drug use in traditional non-Western and Western societies, and drug use in the context of global sociocultural change.
 3 Credits
Show Description ANTY 440 - Contemporary Issues of SE Asia
Offered intermittently. Prereq., ANTY 102H. An examination of the major issues that affect the contemporary experience of South and Southeast Asians.
 3 Credits
Show Description LING 473 - Language and Culture
Offered spring. Prereq., LING 470.  Technical study of the relationships between grammatical categories and world view. This course co-convenes with LING 573.
 3 Credits
Show Description LING 477 - Bilingualism
Offered autumn. Prereq., LING 270S or equiv. Societal and individual bilingualism:  topics include language policy, maintenance, interference, code-switching and mixting, and bilingual education.
 3 Credits
Show Description LING 484 - NA Indigenous Lang & Ling
Offered autumn odd-numbered years. Prereq. LING 470. Description and analysis of grammatical features of Indigenous languages of North America. This course co-convenes with LING 584.
 3 Credits
Show Description LING 489 - Morphology
Offered spring.  Prereq., LING 470.  A survey of the morphological features of several unrelated languages to provide the student with a broad overview of how languages compare and contrast. This course co-convenes with LING 589.
 3 Credits
Show Description NASX 306X - Contemp Global Iss Indg People
Offered Autumn. An examination of the major issues that affect the contemporary experiences of Indigenous Peoples of the Americas, and other global communities.
 3 Credits
Minimum Required Grade: C- 3 Total Credits Required