ANTH 488 - Caribbean Histories and Cultures

This short two-week immersive course moves beyond the sun, beach and sand modalities of experiencing the Caribbean and instead helps students develop an interdisciplinary understanding of the culture, history and socio-political factors that have given rise to this dynamic region. Special attention is given to moving beyond a linguistically singular and myopic vision of the Caribbean, to one that emphasizes its complexities and contradictions through a comparative lens.

ANTH 488 - Caribbean Primatology

Primates are among the most social animals. This course will introduce you to primates in an up close and experiential way through observations of free-ranging monkeys, vervet monkeys, as they go about their daily lives. We will first introduce you to the group of mammals in the Order Primates and give you a brief overview of the evolutionary context of primate ecology and social behavior. We will examine ecological choices and behaviors that impact the way primates survive, succeed and reproduce in this natural habitat.

Field Recording Methods and Site Documentation

Three quarter credits.This course will train you in basic fieldwork recordation and analysis techniques, resulting in documentation such as architectural plans, textual descriptions, photographs, and interpretative drawings. Preparing for a proposed publication project will afford you the opportunity to explore a wide range of construction techniques and form/plan types through a series of case studies. In addition, you will collect ethnographic data and descriptions of certain objects and their uses, such as kitchen utensils or historic farming and milling equipment.

Food and Culture in Greece: Past and Present

“Food and Culture in Greece” is an active and intensive, three-week program that allows participants to develop an intimate, hands-on appreciation for the role of food in Greece’s rich and storied past and to see how it mediates social, political, environmental, cultural and economic processes in contemporary life as well. Through structured engagements with influential texts in food studies and Greek food, culture and history and guided encounters in key food related locations (ancient and contemporary) across the country participants will gain important insights into Greek cuisine in the thr

Food and Culture in Italy

Why does it matter what people eat, and how does our relationship to food reflect who we are? How can comprehension of food ways enrich our experience abroad? This course is an interdisciplinary analysis of foodways in Italy, with a special focus on Tuscany, using the tools of anthropology, history, geography, sociology, journalism and marketing. We'll examine the issues affecting the world's food today, how food production and consumption are changing and Italy's strategies for protecting its diverse food traditions.

Archaeology of Curaçao and the Caribbean

In this program we will explore the archaeology of Curaçao and other Pre-Columbian settlements in the Caribbean islands. With a focus toward examining migration theories, settlement patterns, subsistence strategies and the development of cultural complexity through time, we will examine the rich archaeological and historical record of a region that often receives little attention from introductory textbooks and discussions of world prehistory.

Preservation Field Practicum in Croatia

Three quarter credits.In Preservation Field Practicum: Restoration and Revitalization Efforts of Traditional Stone Environments
 you will work alongside University of Oregon faculty and local professionals of traditional practice to begin various phases of a rural revitalization project for the island of Brač, just off the Dalmatian Coast in the Adriatic Sea. The course will cover the fundamentals of masonry and wood construction in a hands-on format: from methods of dressing and laying stone, to wood preservation techniques in the context of traditional Croatian practices.



Reading Cultural Landscapes from a Conservation Perspective



Three quarter credits.Discussion groups and application models, directed by the academic instructors, will focus on heritage conservation issues, heritage protection policies, and architectural documentation requirements—comparing practices in the US with those in Croatia. The history of urban growth and the changes in town form within the region will provide a framework for policy and preservation practice discussions led by professionals from the Trogir Ministry of Culture, professors of Ethnography from the University of Zagreb, and University of Oregon faculty.

More than Just a Game - Football as a Philosophical, Anthropological, and Sociological Subject

There are many reasons for the global success of football. The game fulfils our longing for triumph and endorses our knowledge of failure. It produces heroes and losers, demonstrates that we have to fight to reach our aims, but also shows the importance of cooperating and interacting. Thus football acts as a theatre of existence, in which life can both mirror and transcend itself. The class will take a look behind the scenes and identify the mechanisms that make football so popular.
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