Fall 2024 Anthropology GR6168 section 001

History of Archaeology Theory

History of Archaeology Th

Call Number 18760
Day & Time
Location
M 2:10pm-4:00pm
951 EXT Schermerhorn Hall [SCH]
Points 4
Grading Mode Standard
Approvals Required None
Instructor Severin Fowles
Type SEMINAR
Method of Instruction In-Person
Course Description

This seminar examines the history of archaeological thought from its antiquarian beginnings in the 19th century, through archaeology’s professionalization and redefinition as an anthropological science during the mid-20th century, to the emergence of archaeology as a critically self-reflexive discipline during the late-20th century, defined by complicated intellectual ties across the sciences, social sciences, and humanities. Our driving questions are epistemological. How have archaeologists understood the project of interpretation? How have they articulated their relationship to data? What has come to count as evidence and what has not? How have archaeologists organized material remains in the present to make claims about the past? What questions have been posed about past cultures, and how were these “cultures” constructed as objects of study in the first place? Is archaeology best understood as a generalizing science, a historically oriented humanity, or both—and how and why has the discipline’s answer to this question evolved over time? How do the situated positions of archaeologists within contemporary society impact the claims they make about the past? 

Web Site Vergil
Department Anthropology
Enrollment 7 students (15 max) as of 10:07AM Friday, December 13, 2024
Subject Anthropology
Number GR6168
Section 001
Division Interfaculty
Note Open to grad students in Arch & Anth - CU GSAS, CUNY Grad Ce
Section key 20243ANTH6168G001