Five College Course Information

This form is displaying subjects and courses being taught for the semester 2025F.

During the first week of course preregistration for spring and fall terms, you may register for a total of four academic courses, including a maximum of two Five College courses. This limit does not apply during the add/drop periods. However, According to Amherst College policy, students may register for a maximum of two Amherst College courses per semester.

Note: Co-curricular courses are not included in course limits.

Course	Title (click to view description)	Credits	Meeting Info
ANTHR-105-01	Intro to Cultural Anthropology	4.00	TTH 03:15PM-04:30PM
	Introduces the analysis of cultural diversity, including concepts, methods, and purposes in interpreting social, economic, political, and belief systems found in human societies.
ANTHR-105-02	Intro to Cultural Anthropology	4.00	WF 01:45PM-03:00PM
	Introduces the analysis of cultural diversity, including concepts, methods, and purposes in interpreting social, economic, political, and belief systems found in human societies.
ANTHR-105-03	Intro to Cultural Anthropology	4.00	WF 11:30AM-12:45PM
	Introduces the analysis of cultural diversity, including concepts, methods, and purposes in interpreting social, economic, political, and belief systems found in human societies.
ANTHR-105-04	Intro to Cultural Anthropology	4.00	MW 10:00AM-11:15AM
	Introduces the analysis of cultural diversity, including concepts, methods, and purposes in interpreting social, economic, political, and belief systems found in human societies.
ANTHR-216BE-01	Black Ethnographers	4.00	MW 11:30AM-12:45PM
	The aim of this class is to underscore the significance of Black perspectives and contributions within the field of anthropology. Black anthropology, and especially Black feminist anthropology, has historically been sidelined within anthropological discourse. In this course, we will collectively challenge this historical erasure by centering the work of Black ethnographers. By delving into works spanning continental Africa, the Caribbean, and the United States, students will begin to understand the vast impact Black ethnographers have had both in and outside the field of anthropology.
ANTHR-216PR-01	Precarious Labor	4.00	MW 01:45PM-03:00PM
	What do scholars and policy makers mean by the term "precarious labor"? How have transformations in global capitalism contributed to the proliferation of poorly paid work conducted in unsafe conditions in the Global North as well as the Global South? How do nation-states' attempts to regulate migration contribute to the maintenance of unfree labor conditions? How has the globalization of precarious labor affected the organization of reproductive and care labor within families and households in different parts of the world? These questions will be examined through interdisciplinary scholarship on labor under neoliberal capitalism in the Global South as well as in the Global North.
ANTHR-216RC-01	Representing Race	4.00	MW 10:00AM-11:15AM
	This class takes a ~look~ at the components of racial representation in audio-visual media: How can ideas and theories be conveyed or communicated through a visual mode? What ethical concerns emerge when representing others in different media? Drawing from written texts, documentaries, graphic novels, and artwork, we will explore the myriad ways media creatives construct racial representations, and question the perceived boundary between research and art. Starting with early anthropological film, this class will move through both conventional and nontraditional material that is used to tell stories, make political statements, and represent people's lived experiences.
ANTHR-216RE-01	Anthropology of Reproduction	4.00	MW 08:30AM-09:45AM
	This course focuses on the biological and cultural components of reproduction and childbirth through cross-cultural perspectives. We explore the birth process across geographies, historical trends, and recent dialogues surrounding the technocratic model of birth, to understand the changing focus of birth as a medical condition. Indigenous birthing customs and beliefs from several different cultural contexts will be considered, as well as the contemporary rates of maternal mortality facing some today. We will also investigate how access to different types of maternal, fetal, and reproductive care is politicized across different times and places.
ANTHR-221-01	Anthropology of Media	4.00	MW 11:30AM-12:45PM
	This course critically examines how media make a difference in diverse peoples' lives. How are media produced, circulated, and consumed? Together, we will explore the material forms through which subjectivities, collectivities, and histories are produced; and the social practices of constructing and contesting national identities, forging alternative political visions, transforming religious practice, and producing new relationships. In this 21st century, media are not just indispensable to what is known, but also, to how we know. Case studies will include film, TV, photography, art, archives, journalism, and digital platforms; ethnographic examples will be drawn from around the world.
ANTHR-275-01	Research Methods	4.00	MW 10:00AM-11:15AM
	Topics include research design, ethical dilemmas, and the relationship between academic research and community based learning. Applied fieldwork and presentations are an integral part of this course.
ANTHR-316DM-01	Decolonizing Museums	4.00	W 01:30PM-04:20PM
	Museums collect, preserve, categorize, and exhibit objects, and through these practices, produce and circulate knowledge. This course takes "the museum" as an object of ethnographic inquiry, focusing especially on Indigenous peoples and their ways of knowing, being, and doing things. How might museums acknowledge the confronting truths of colonization, and the intergenerational and ongoing trauma endured by Indigenous peoples? How might this often-intercultural work offer possibilities for healing? Teaching and learning will be guided by principles of Indigenous sovereignty, and grounded in storytelling and in making things as Indigenous ways of transmitting knowledge.
ANTHR-316HD-01	Problematizing Humanitarianism	4.00	T 01:30PM-04:20PM
	The emergence of modern humanitarianism connecting different parts of the world is either lauded as evincing progress in human evolution, or criticized as masking the advancement of Western imperialism. In this course we will examine the complex and shifting relationships between gender, race, class, religious conceptions and practices of charity, the global spread of capitalism through colonialism and enslavement, and the emergence of international humanitarianism. Final projects for the course will be based on student research conducted in the Mount Holyoke College archives.
ANTHR-317-01	Play	4.00	M 01:30PM-04:20PM
	We associate play with childhood, a time of spontaneous and creative activity, in contrast to the boring routine of adult responsibilities. And yet play is more than just fun and games. It is through play that children develop lasting cognitive and social skills. For adults too, there can be serious play--play that has real consequence--play that shapes the intimate lives of individuals, as well as entire social formations. We will consider attempts to gamify work processes and settings in light of anthropological understandings of play. And we will attempt to gamify anthropology, designing games ourselves based on anthropological readings in order to better understand our discipline.