ANTH 218(S) Colliding Cultures: The Anthropology and History of Contact*
Living in the age of the Internet, global media, and massive intercontinental migrations, we all recognize the impact that culture contact has in shaping human experience in the twentieth century. How important, however, was culture contact in the recent and distant past? What can the different contexts of past culture contact tell us about the future? This course examines the role of culture contact in all of its diverse forms, from the diffusion of isolated cultural information to migration and full-scale invasion. A multidisciplinary approach to the study of culture contact is advocated here by integrating the theoretical perspectives of anthropological archaeology, ethnography, history, biology, population genetics, and geography in the examination of specific case studies from the Stone Age to the nineteenth century. The true significance of the Information Age and the modern globalization of human society can only be understood once the complex processes of culture contact are placed in their proper context. Class format: seminar. Requirements: weekly 1- to 2-page response papers and one final research paper. No prerequisites. Open to first-year students.