Courses

ANSC 2301: The World in the Twenty-First Century. An examination of some of the major currents of contemporary life. Topics such as globalization, development, consumerism and mass society, environments and ecology, communication between cultures, human migration, religion and secularism, terrorism and violence, modernity and postmodernity. Alternate years.

ANSC 2311. Introduction to the Social Sciences. The social sciences are the disciplines among the contemporary human sciences that focus on human societies and cultures, in particular institutional structures as they pattern ways of living. Topics treated in this course include basic concepts of the social sciences; research methods; social structure and social power; socialization and identity; class; social institutions (e.g., family, churches, education, healthcare, government and economy); and contemporary social problems (e.g., race and gender discrimination and social stereotyping). Alternate years. This course is also designed to help students planning to apply to medical school to prepare for the social, behavioral and psychological sciences portions of the MCAT examination.

ANSC 3311: The Arts in Contemporary Cultures. An exploration of the arts in contemporary societies, with focus on topics such as avantgardism, technical innovation and artistic experimentation, the development of mixed media, the technical and aesthetic reorganization of public and private space, the economics of artistic production and consumption, the changing relationship of artist to audience, problems of the relationship of art works to social and natural reality, and the influences of alternative cultural traditions. Spring of odd-numbered years.

ANSC 3312: Science, Technology, and Society. A study of the characteristics and growth of the modern sciences, their effects on society and culture, and the emergence of technological civilization. Topics such as the nature of scientific research and the application of sciences, big science vs. little science, the limits of scientific and technical knowledge, the political and economic power of science and technology, effects on individual and social ways of life, the rise of technicized industry and mass media, the relations between science, technology, and religion, and ethics in science and technology. Spring of even-numbered years.

ANSC 3320: Introduction to Public Health. This course will introduce students to the basic tenets of public health. Through the course, students will develop a broad understanding and knowledge about the history of public health, core functions and components of public health and how these different components (Epidemiology, Biostatistics, Environmental Health, Social and Behavioral Health, and Health Policy and Management) blend together to better serve the health of the population.

ANSC 3331: Conceptual Foundations of the Human and Social Sciences. An investigation into the historical emergence and durable legacy of the modern disciplines that aim to scientifically understand human societies and cultures. Includes the reading of authors central to fields like anthropology, sociology, linguistics, and social psychology. Topics such as the significance of the concepts 'society' and 'culture,' debates about the scientific character of social and human sciences, the differentiation of the various fields of the human sciences and their relations to other disciplines, the fundamental interdisciplinarity of the human sciences, and future prospects for the social, behavioral, and human sciences. Alternate years.

ANSC 3334. Philosophical Anthropology of the Contemporary World. Since the middle of the twentieth century, the human sciences have increasingly been divided between rigorous empirical work and ambitious "grand theory." This course will feature a small number of researchers who have addressed the tension between philosophical and scientific ambitions and striven to understand human being and human existence as a synthesis of the biological, cultural, social, psychological, and spiritual. Alternate years.

ANSC 3V50-3V54, 4V50-4V54. Special Topics in the Human Sciences. Courses offered according to the interest of students and availability of professors.

ANSC 3V57. Human Sciences Internship. A 1-3 credit-hour practicum providing field experiences for students in advanced research methods or service-learning. The internship will result in a significant research paper or related project. The location and terms of the internship require the express agreement of the student, the faculty
sponsor, and the Chair, and the availability of field placement. Students must follow all university guidelines for internships. Graded Pass/ No Pass.

ANSC 4320: Global Health. Global health recognizes that determinants of health encompass problems, issues, and concerns that transcend national boundaries. Moreover, effective global health interventions transcend unilateral disciplinary limitations. This course approaches global health from a multidisciplinary (public health and anthropology) perspective to understand the successes and failures of the global health approach, its impact on individual lives, and how scholars and practitioners can work together to improve human health. We will consider how health is influenced by factors such as age, gender, culture, race/ethnicity, social class, and geography. Public health problems and their solutions will be analyzed in light of individual risk factors as well as larger structural forces, and we consider the rights of the individual versus the welfare of the public. We examine the ways our understandings of health and well-being shape, and are shaped by, the health care system, our own values, and our assumptions. Catholic social teaching will be considered in relation to these topics where appropriate.

ANSC 4341: Tradition and Innovation. The dynamism and transformative power of Western civilization (and any future global civilization that derives from it) is unintelligible without recognizing that the modern West is an outgrowth of classic works and institutions and that these works and institutions have produced an ethos encouraging change. The course considers topics such as the nature of history and tradition; the nineteenth-century emergence of historical/historicist philosophies and the subsequent questioning of tradition's value; the interplay of tradition, authority and cultural change; the nature and power of what is classic; differences between traditionalism and tradition; negative and dysfunctional traditions (e.g., racism and anti-Semitism); the role of education and the university in transmitting the past and facilitating the future; the challenges to tradition of science and technology; and the difficulties of achieving a fully integrated life in the face of the specialization and destabilization of human work and activities. Alternate years.

ANSC 4V61. Directed Readings and Research. Special course of 1-3 credit-hours of reading and research, determined by the express agreement of the student and the professor and approved by the Chair. For advanced students only, as needed.