Anthro-425
Hunter-gatherer Lifestyles, Past and Present
Dr. Jean Hudson (UWM)
Abbreviated Syllabus (this version dates to 2016)
Introduction
Hunter-gatherer lifestyles are an essential part of both human cultural diversity and human evolution.
This class is designed as an upper-level anthropology class. It assumes you can apply basic concepts
and vocabulary from our introductory classes in the four subfields (archaeology, socio-cultural,
physical, and linguistics).
Readings
This class relies on articles & book chapters that are made available to you at no additional cost as
either: 1) pdf files via our class D2L site; 2) links to full text items available digitally via our library;
or 3) hardcopies via our library reserve system. There is no single required textbook.
Basic Structure of the Class
We begin the class with an overview of how and why anthropology studies hunter-gatherers,
followed by several weeks of reading and discussing case studies of particular hunter-gatherer
groups. The final weeks of the class are devoted to comparison of these groups and evaluation and
debate of generalizing themes, including topics such as: ecological perspectives; cultural approaches
to cooperation and conflict resolution; degrees of social egalitarianism; archaeological “signatures”;
use of residential, community, and landscape space; and models for human evolution.
Grading
For undergraduates the course grade is based equally on: 1) participation as demonstrated by
attendance and engagement in class discussions, group work, and writing exercises; 2) three multiple
choice quizzes; 3) two short essays; and 4) a final project that builds from the two short essays and
cites to class readings. For graduate students items 3 and 4 are replaced by a draft and final version
of a single, longer paper. For all student work there is an over-arching emphasis on the ability to use
specific data to support an argument, and to evaluate such data for their sources, strengths, and
weaknesses.
The Full Syllabus
The full syllabus and reading schedule will be available via D2L when it is updated for the current
semester.