ANT 201-000: Concepts & Meth in Biol Anth (Spring 2011)

Biological Anthropology offers a broad perspective for studying the adaptation and evolution of the human species. Lectures and laboratory sessions examine the role of evolutionary theory in biological anthropology, focusing on such topics as primate biology and behavior, primate evolution, the fossil evidence for human evolution, the role of nutrition and dietary preferences in human evolution, and the transition to modern lifestyles. We will discuss the evidence used to interpret human adaptation in the past. We then shift this evolutionary and adaptive perspective to fundamental aspects of the human species, beginning with human adaptability and plasticity and continuing with population differences in heritable adaptation to food resources, climate and disease.  Armed with this deeper understanding of human variation, we will examine critical and often controversial topics such as biological insights into diet and health, race and racism, sexual behavior, stress, cooperation and violence. Lectures and labs will emphasize the scientific method and the nature of evidence, and students will be asked to constantly reflect on how we know what we know.