Course Description
Every society has a story about its origins. Whether these narratives involve feuding gods, burning bushes, bipedal primates, or birds that lay eggs containing fully-formed (human) adults, they assign us an identity and give meaning to our world. Origin stories don’t just tell us about our pasts: they define the present and shape the future. Over the past 150 years, a new and particularly powerful origin story has taken root in our society. This most recent story, which we’ve named evolution, knits together theory and data from many fields –biology, genetics, archaeology, paleontology, and others –to account for changes in all life forms through a complex interplay between genes, behaviors, and environments. This course examines the science of human evolution through an anthropological lens. We explore the material building blocks of this narrative –the fossils, artifacts, genetic sequences, ethnographic analogies –and trace the ways they’ve been arranged to explain the natural/cultural world in which we live. Our survey will cover a span of 2 million years, highlighting moments in this trajectory that are considered critical revolutions in our species’ development. Chief among these are the initial appearance of anatomically-modern humans;the development of language, creativity, and symbolic expression; and the origins of agriculture and domestication. As we evaluate arguments surrounding each of these revolutions, we will also think critically about why so many versions of this origin story feature the same three plot twists.Why are these three points so central to the telling of this story when humans and human societies have undergone so many other important transformations? What can this origin story tell us about the storytellers themselves?
This is an exploration of science, perception, and the history of anthropology and archaeology.Despite the seemingly neutral language of science, we will be wading through highly political waters. Ultimately our path through the semester will show us as much about our evolutionary past as it reveals about our contemporary world
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, you will:
Format
This class is scheduled to meet twice each week, with all meetings occurring both remotely and (as best we can) synchronously. In addition to weekly lectures, you are also required to attend one section meeting each week. Section meetings are small, TA-led discussion classes that give you and a group of your peers a chance to explore ideas presented in lecture and in the readings in greater depth. Sections are also designed to help you build a sense of community with your classmates while we are limited to remote classroom interactions. Section assignments will be circulated in Week 3.
Texts
All texts for this course will be available as PDFs on our class CourseWorks page (or as links to an ebook in Library’s collections). We will be reading one short book from cover to cover(Marks 2017). It is available online through CLIO, but you may also wish to purchase a physical copy for a break from screen time. Reasonably-priced used copies of this book are available online or wherever you purchase books (check out bookshop.org for a remote alternative to Amazon):
Grades
The grade you earn in this course will bebased on:
Participation in online class activities–(10%): Participation can take many different forms. Here, it means active engagement with the topic at hand. Technological difficulties, time zone differences, and the numerous other challenges of remote learning may impact how you are able to participate: asking questions in class (lecture or section meeting), contributing to course discussion boards, and turning in essays that demonstrate careful reading of class texts all reflect participation.
Five response essays–(5 x 10% = 50%): These are brief, one-page, single spaced (~500 words) responses designed to get you thinking critically and creatively about course readings, lectures, and section discussions. A successful response will use class readings as concrete jumping off points for your own arguments.Full assignment guidelines are available under ‘Assignments’ on the class CourseWorks page; general topics and due dates are as follows:
Essay 1, Due 9/21: What ideas, images, or themes do you associate with human origins?