Current Course Offerings

For questions about specific courses, reach out to the instructor of that course; for questions about majoring or minoring in anthropology or about specific degree requirements, reach out to the Director of Undergraduate Studies, Dr. Lucas Delezene, at delezene@uark.edu.

Fall 2025

1000-Level Courses

  • Introduction to Biological Anthropology
    • An introduction to the field of biological anthropology using evolution and human variation as unifying concepts. Areas include human genetics, race, speciation, primate and human evolution, and human variation and adaptation. 
    • ANTH 10143/10141
      • MWF 12:55-1:45pm
      • TTh 2-3:15pm
      • Associated lab times vary
    • Honors Introduction to Biological Anthropology Lecture and Lab (ANTH 101H3)
      • MWF 2-2:50pm
      • Associated lab times: W 12-1:50pm, Th 12-1:50pm, or Th 4-5:50pm
    • Online Introduction to Biological Anthropology (ANTH 10143) (asynchronous)
  • Introduction to Cultural Anthropology
    • Introduction to the nature of culture and its influence on human behavior and personality: comparative study of custom, social organization, and processes of change and integration of culture. 
    • ANTH 10203 (Koziol)
      • MW 10:45-11:35am
      • MW 11:50am-12:40pm
      • TTh 11-11:50am
      • TTh 12:30-1:20pm
      • Associated drill times vary
    • Honors Introduction to Cultural Anthropology (ANTH 102H3)
      • MW 4:35-5:50pm
      • TTh 8-9:15am
      • TTh 11am-12:15pm
    • Online Introduction to Cultural Anthropology (ANTH 10203) (asynchronous)
  • Introduction to Archaeology
    • Archaeology studies the human past through contextual analysis of artifacts, archaeological sites, and landscapes. This course introduces archaeological methods and theories, significant discoveries and current debates in the discipline. 
    • ANTH 10303 (Hermes)
      • MW 10:45-11:35am (Lecture)
      • F (one lab section of 50 min is required)
        • 6 sections available

3000-Level Courses

  • Approaches to Archaeology (Vining)
    • Study of the field of archeology including method, theory, analysis and interpretation with substantive worldwide examples.
    • ANTH 30203; T 2-5:20pm
  • The Anthropology of Religion (D’Alisera)
    • An exploration of rituals, symbols, and rules that shape religious life. Religion is viewed broadly, considering activities that invoke powers beyond the reach of ordinary senses. Examining a variety of cultures, we explore what people say and do as they participate in activities such as magic, healing, pilgrimage, and contemporary religious movements.
    • ANTH 31203; MW 4:35-5:50pm
  • Evolution of the Human Mating System (Plavcan)
    • Examines basic principles governing the evolution of sexual behavior and anatomy in mammals, compares the features of human mating systems to those of primates, and explores models for the origin of fundamental features of the human social system.
    • ANTH 33203; TTh 3:30-4:45pm
  • Archaeology of Inequality (Klehm)
    • Inequality, be it class and caste, the ability or inability to feed or clothe oneself or one’s family, or unequal access to opportunities; seems to define the modern world. But, is inequality a necessary outcome of human progress? When did inequality begin in the human past, where, and why? How is inequality justified? This course takes a long-term approach to human history to discover the origins and spread of inequality, and how archaeology can contribute to our understanding of inequality in the present. We look at material evidence to reconstruct the decisions people made and how it impacted their lives, as we learn about the rise and fall of states and empires and how people have coped with inequality in an ever-changing, connected world.
    • ANTH 39003-002; TTh 11am-12:15pm
  • Anthropology of Tourism (Serio)
    • In this course, we will explore the anthropology of tourism. Students will learn about how travel shapes relationships, experiences, and identities of both host communities and tourists. From heritage tourism and spiritual tourism to dark
      tourism and ecotourism, students will consider a range of perspectives and narratives centered on travel and tourism.
    • ANTH 39003-003; MWF 11:50am-12:40pm
  • Honors Colloquium: Violence, Death, and Ruination (Odabaei)
    • This seminar explores forms and experiences of violence, death, and ruination as part of life in both ordinary situations, as in the case of aging or illness, and extraordinary ones, such as an environmental catastrophe or an outbreak of civil war. How, we will ask, are these phenomena experienced, identified, and debated? How do people relate to death and dying in everyday life? What forms of living and dying emerge when destruction obliterates the very landscapes and horizons of life? 
    • ANTH 392H3-002; Th 3:30-6:15pm

 

4000/5000-Level Courses

  • History of Anthropological Thought
    • This course tracks the development of anthropological thought through and beyond the discipline of anthropology. Students will become familiar with the rise of the discipline amidst colonialism and the Enlightenment. They will be introduced to key figures and debates in critical social theory and in French structuralism, British social anthropology, and American cultural anthropology. Throughout the course, and particularly when turning to the history of anthropology in the US, we will attend to the various ways race and racism has been conceptualized and debated.
    • ANTH 40103; TTh 12:30-1:45pm
  • Dental Science (Paul)
    • Introduction to the study of the human dentition including its anatomy, morphology, growth and development, and histology.
    • ANTH 45203/55203; TTh 9:30-10:45am
    • Grad core class
  • Introduction to Raster GIS (Vining)
    • Theory, data structures, algorithms, and techniques behind raster-based geographical information systems. Through laboratory exercises and lectures multidisciplinary applications are examined in database creation, remotely sensed data handling, elevation models, and resource models using boolean, map algebra, and other methods.
    • ANTH 45503/55503; W 2-5:20pm
  • Archaeology of Asia (Hermes)
    • This course covers an introduction to the paleoanthropology and prehistoric archaeology of Asia, concentrating on Central Asia, China, Japan, Mongolia, Korea, Eastern Russia (including Siberia and the Russian Far East), and Southeast Asia. The temporal span ranges from the mid-Miocene epoch (ca. 15 million years ago) to the Iron Age, with emphasis on the later Stone Age through the Metal Ages.
    • ANTH 49003-002/51503; MW 3:05-4:20pm
    • Grad core class
  • Quaternary Environments (Villasenor)
    • An interdisciplinary study of the Quaternary Period including dating methods, deposits, soils, climates, tectonics, and human adaptation.
    • ANTH 50503; TTh 3:30-4:45pm
    • Grad core class
  • Applications of Cultural Method and Theory (Erickson)
    • Review of the nature and history of cultural anthropology; recent theories and practical implications and applications of various methods of acquiring, analyzing and interpreting cultural anthropological data.
    • ANTH 51003; T 3:30-6:15pm
    • Grad core class
  • Statistics in Biological Anthropology (Terhune)
    • This course is focused on reviewing and implementing statistical methods frequently employed in biological anthropology. Through lectures and hands-on exercises students will learn how and when to implement particular statistical techniques.
    • ANTH 51503-002; TTh 2:00-3:15pm
    • Grad core class
  • Applications of Method and Theory in Biological Anthropology (Plavcan)
    • Review of the nature and history of biological anthropology; recent theories and the practical implications and applications of various methods of acquiring, analyzing, and interpreting data.
    • ANTH 53003; TTh 8-9:15am
    • Grad core class
  • Anthropology Seminar and Professional Development Series (Terhune)
    • This series will provide graduate students with professional development training, interspersed with discussion of current research and events in anthropology.
    • ANTH 5000V (1 credit hour, can be repeated for multiple semesters); Time/Day TBD

 

Spring 2025

1000-Level Courses

  • Introduction to Biological Anthropology
    • An introduction to the field of biological anthropology using evolution and human variation as unifying concepts. Areas include human genetics, race, speciation, primate and human evolution, and human variation and adaptation. 
    • ANTH 10143/10141
      • MWF 10:45-11:35am (Terhune)
      • TTh 2-3:15pm (Delezene)
      • Associated lab times vary
    • Honors Introduction to Biological Anthropology Lecture and Lab (ANTH 101H3)
      • TTh 2-3:15pm
      • Associated lab times: W 12-1:50pm or Th 10-11:50am
    • Online Introduction to Biological Anthropology (ANTH 10143) (asynchronous)
  • Introduction to Cultural Anthropology
    • Introduction to the nature of culture and its influence on human behavior and personality: comparative study of custom, social organization, and processes of change and integration of culture. 
    • ANTH 10203 (Koziol)
      • MW 10:45-11:35am
      • MW 11:50am-12:40pm
      • TTh 11-11:50am
      • TTh 12:30-1:20pm
      • Associated drill times vary
    • Honors Introduction to Cultural Anthropology (Serio) (ANTH 102H3)
      • MW 3:05-4:20pm
      • TTh 9:30-10:45am
      • TTh 11am-12:15pm
    • Online Introduction to Cultural Anthropology (ANTH 10203) (asynchronous)
  • Introduction to Archaeology
    • Archaeology studies the human past through contextual analysis of artifacts, archaeological sites, and landscapes. This course introduces archaeological methods and theories, significant discoveries and current debates in the discipline. 
    • ANTH 10303 (Vining)
      • MWF 10:45-11:35am
    • Associated lab times:
      • W 12:55-1:45pm
      • F 12:55-1:45pm
      • Th 2-2:50pm

3000-Level Courses

  • Bones, Bodies, and Brains in Evolutionary Perspective (Terhune)
    • This course will review the anatomy of the human body, comparing this anatomy with primates, mammals, and vertebrates, and it will consider how the major features of the human body emerged throughout evolution.
    • ANTH 30403; MWF 9:40-10:30am
  • Geospatial Applications and Information Science (Ali)
    • An introduction to the methods and theory underlying the full range of geographic information science and collateral areas - including GNSS, remote sensing, cadastral, spatial demographics and others. 
    • ANTH 35403 (Online only)
  • Religion in Latin America (Erickson)
    • Examines contemporary implications of Latin America's unique religious heritage. An exploration of multiple Latin American religious traditions, with sustained focus on key theoretical concerns: conversion, vernacular vs. orthodox expressions, the blending of indigenous and European cosmologies, devotion and ritual, and the articulation of ethnic, gendered, and religious identities.
    • ANTH 35503; TTh 11am-12:15pm
  • Bioarchaeology: Bodies of the Past (Paul)
    • Bioarchaeology is the study of human remains recovered from archaeological contexts. An overview of the field's history, ethical considerations, and relationship to the broader social sciences and STEM fields. Focuses on interpreting an individual's lived experience from their skeletal remains and mortuary context to reconstruct past phenomena.
    • ANTH 35903; TTh 12:30-1:45pm
  • Topics in Anthropology: Our Place in Nature (Villaseñor)
    • This class will interrogate the idea of natural and pristine spaces from an ecological, human evolution, and humanities perspective.
    • ANTH 39003 Sec 1; MW 3:05-4:20pm
  • Topics in Anthropology: African Archaeology (Klehm)
    • Africa has the longest archaeological record in the world. The archaeology of the last 10,000 years of African prehistory provides global perspectives on novel adaptations by hunter-gatherer communities, early herding and farming, cities and kingdoms that spanned the continent, and the long-standing connections that Africa has to the world preceding colonialism. The course engages in a variety of African case studies that have shaped Africa as we know it today, as well as where perceptions of the past and ongoing struggles for conversation and repatriation make archaeology relevant in today’s world.
    • ANTH 39003 Sec 2; TTh 12:30-1:45pm
  • Topics in Anthropology: Anthropology of Doing Good (Serio)
    • This course critically examines the idea of “doing good” through the lens of anthropology. Topics include volunteering, humanitarian aid, voluntourism, and short-term mission work.
    • ANTH 39003 Sec 3; MWF 12:55-1:45pm

 

4000/5000-Level Courses

  • Anthropology of the City (D’Alisera)
    • Explores the implications of several pivotal urban and cultural trends and how representations of the city have informed dominant ideas about city space, function, and meaning.
    • ANTH 40503; MW 4:35-5:50pm
  • Cultural Resource Management (Kowalski)
    • Concentrated discussion of management problems relative to cultural resources, including review and interpretation of relevant federal legislation, research vs. planning needs, public involvement and sponsor planning, and assessment of resources relative to scientific needs. No field training involved; discussion will deal only with administrative, legal and scientific management problems.
    • ANTH 44403/54403; MWF 10:45-11:35am
  • Queer Middle East (Middle East Cultures) (Odabaei)
    • Queer Middle East is a theoretical, ethnographic, literary, and filmic exploration of experiences of the self, forms of intimacy, and expressions of gender and sexuality in modern Middle East that fall outside dominant paradigms of secular modernity.
    • ANTH 45303; TTh 9:30-10:45am
  • Primate Adaptation and Evolution (Ungar)
    • Introduction to the biology of the order of Primates. This course considers the comparative anatomy, behavioral ecology and paleontology of our nearest living relatives. 
    • ANTH 46103/ 56203; TTh 9:30-10:45am
  • Seminar in Anthropology: Pilgrimage (Erickson)
    • This class seeks to examine pilgrimage in its broadest sense – from the practice’s religious characteristics (pilgrimage as a rite of passage involving intentional movement across a landscape, the possibility of spiritual transformation, the coexistence of the orthodox and the heterodox) to the term’s metaphorical implications – pilgrimage as a modern search for identity, heritage, and homeland. Through an examination of both iconic/historic pilgrimage practices and secular pilgrimages, we will explore the ways in which pilgrimage has been defined and studied by historians, scholars of religion, anthropologists, and other social theorists. This course will enable the student to engage the various approaches and questions that are central to cultural analysis, including: the relationship between nostalgia and seeking, the ethics of doing fieldwork in sacred spaces, the link between movement and transformation, the phenomenology of place-making, material religion, and communitas vs. conflict.
    • ANTH 49003 sec 4/59003 sec 11; Th 2-4:45pm
  • Seminar in Anthropology: Ancient DNA Technology, Applications, and Ethics (Hermes)
    • Paleogenomics has exploded in the last decade. The field now reaches more than 2 million years into the past and examines humans, animals, plants, bacteria, and viruses to address critical questions of evolutionary and cultural concern. This class covers this revolutionary discipline through seminar discussions about ancient DNA technology, how it is applied, and the complex ethical matters it raises.
    • ANTH 49003 sec 3/59003 sec 12; TTh 11am-12:15pm
  • Seminar in Anthropology: Ethnography: The Writing of the Other (Odabaei)
    • This graduate seminar explores interrelated yet distinct practices of ethnography and anthropology by taking as its primary site of inquiry anthropological and literary interventions that are centrally concerned with questions of human finitude. We inquire about the work of description, narration, and remembrance on the one hand, and of theory, concepts, and critique on the other, asking how these tasks come together and diverge as they relate to the world of death and contemporary predicaments of loss and destruction.
    • ANTH 49003 sec 5/51503 sec 2; T 2-4:45pm
  • Seminar in Anthropology: Hominin Paleobiology (Delezene)
    • “Hominin Paleobiology” is a comprehensive survey of the fossil record of human evolution, focusing on the roughly seven million years since we last shared a common ancestor with African apes. We will examine fossil evidence in light of recent developments in systematics, functional morphology, and molecular evolution. The class will also emphasize the importance of geological and ecological contexts of human evolution. Lectures are augmented with case studies from the professor’s research.
    • ANTH 49003 sec 6/51503 sec 3; TTh 12:30-1:45pm

 

6000-Level Courses

  • Society and Environment (Vining)
    • This course examines the complex interrelationships between human societies and the natural environment. Drawing on diverse and interdisciplinary perspectives in archaeology, ethnography, history, geography, and palaeo-environmental studies, readings and discussion will explore the co-production of social and environmental systems over time.
    • ANTH 60303; W 2-4:30pm