ANTH 1Understanding Humans

3 credits · Anthropology · Penn State

ANTH 1 tells the story of humankind, how we as a species developed, and how modern Homo sapiens have developed more cultural complexity over time, moving, in the last 12,000 years, from a worldwide small population of hunter-foragers to a population so large that it strains the planet's resources, with nation-states competing for the loyalty of their citizens with powerful ethnic and religious enclaves and also with global corporations. All of these trends -- biological, demographic, and cultural -- are viewed from the perspective of evolution away from our earliest human patterns, toward the effects of demographic density and sociocultural complexity. The course takes a question-oriented approach to show the relevance of anthropology in today's world. Lectures are structured around what it means to be human -- from a perspective of either biological anthropology, sociocultural anthropology, archaeology, or linguistics. Overall the course has three main goals: 1) provide an introduction to anthropology's subject matter, human cultural and physical characteristics, throughout our species' geographical and chronological range; 2) introduce students to some of the biological, ethnographic, archaeological, and linguistic methods that anthropologists rely on to reach their conclusions; and 3) impart a framework of knowledge that will facilitate understanding of one's own place in human history, in the larger culture, community, family, and household.