Archaeologists and biological anthropologists examine what it is to be human by studying primates, fossils, archaeological remains and both historical and contemporary societies. Humans are immersed in social and ecological worlds that mutually shape our bodies, actions, and understandings (including mātauranga Māori). Explores the past and present reality of being human, and the evolutionary journey to become human.
Explores the connections between culture, creativity, and society through anthropological concepts, Mātauranga Māori, and relevant examples. It covers issues and problems faced by communities locally and globally, using a range of mediums such as whakapapa, material culture, performing arts, media and grassroots movements to illustrate how anthropology can help understand the complexities of creativity and the creation of knowledge.
An examination of current concepts in archaeological research and their place in the development of archaeological thought. How archaeology makes use of its methods and theories to understand the past. An introductory laboratory component. This course is essential for students who may wish to continue their study of Archaeology at Stage III.
Explores issues fundamental to understanding humans’ place in nature from a biocultural perspective. What led to the evolution of bipedalism, large brains, and language? How do we define species in the fossil record? How can we reconstruct ancient diets and ecologies? The course will examine how new discoveries and advancements in biology are reshaping understandings of our evolutionary history.
Examines music's role in the construction and reinforcement of identity. Considers a range of culturally constructed concepts including class, gender and ethnicity; also considers the impact of mass mediated sound and unique nature of music in the cultural diaspora. Examples and case studies range from the ritual musics of Africa and the classical music of South Asia to East Asian pop.
Examines the diversity of extant nonhuman primate species, including their behaviour, ecology, and conservation, and also the importance of primatology toward an understanding of our own species. Specifically, students will critically examine the results of primatological inquiries in order to gain insight into the comparative evolutionary approach, especially with respect to the applicability of such efforts to the study of humans.
The shift from a hunter-gatherer way of life to one based on village life and agriculture is foundational for the development of complex society. The course considers what socio-cultural changes were involved as Holocene societies developed in different parts of the world and how the relationship between humans and the environment changed.
Examines the first 600-700 years of human settlement in Aotearoa New Zealand from an archaeological perspective, from Polynesian arrival through the early historic period. Themes include Māori origins in East Polynesia, adaptations to Aotearoa’s temperate environment, changing patterns of resource use, Māori material culture and arts, the development of fortified sites or pā, and the emergence of classic Māori society.
Medical Anthropology draws on biological and social/ cultural anthropology to address issues of human health and disease. A distinct subfield, it includes studies of the co-evolution of humans and diseases, human ecology, cultural constructions of health and illness, medical knowledge and healing practices, and the political economy of health. Students are asked to research, think and write analytically about these topics.
Explores uses of photography and film in the production and dissemination of anthropological knowledge. Emphasises the choices in subject matter, imagined audience, composition, construction of narrative (or not), and mode of representation that are made at all stages in the production of ethnographic images. Uses ethnographic images to reflect on construction of ethnographic texts.
Multiple anthropological frameworks explore the scholarly and Education 689 and popular understandings of race and racism, and question contemporary perspectives. Why do these concepts have such social and political potency? What are the impacts of concepts of race and practices of racism and anti-racism on individuals, families, communities, nation- states and empires, in Aotearoa New Zealand, the Pacific, and elsewhere?
African-American popular music and culture from the mid- 1930s through the early 1960s, including styles such as blues, R 'n' B, and early Rock 'n' Roll. Considers issues of racial and gendered representation, creativity, the popular music industry, the place of music in the development of 'youth culture' and stylistic trends. Individual performers, recordings and performances, are also examined.
Examines contemporary and historical understandings of kaumātuatanga and kaumātua roles in Māori society. Topics include: leadership within Māori society; tuakana-teina, gendered roles and complementarity; whanaungatanga and important relationships; health inequities and policies; emerging health partnership models; and the diversity of kaumātua groups.
Examines the relationship between migration and imperialism in the Americas through the framework of critical anthropology as a discipline and through the use of contemporary case studies. This course critically engages with the role of the United States as an imperial power in and draws significantly from decolonial, post-colonial work and work produced by scholars in Latin America.
This course acknowledges the colonial history of anthropology and imagines an anthropology that is relevant now and for the future, with Aotearoa-New Zealand not as just a site of study but an active producer of anthropological knowledge. Explores anthropological concepts via contemporary settings and Mātauranga Māori to demonstrate the usefulness of anthropology in addressing fundamental local and global issues.
From hip hop to reggae to pop, this course explores Pacific popular music genre, artists and songs as well as relevant musical techniques, modes of distribution and processes of fusion and change. It probes the positions and possibilities of Pasifika pop musics by discussing critical questions about culture, authenticity, modernisation, consumerism, identity and musical (ex)change.
Human remains reflect the lives of the dead as well as the lives of those who buried them. The course introduces students to the various ways in which we can study the dead. It covers three areas: the interpretation of mortuary practices, the interpretation of past lives from skeletal remains, and the practice of burial archaeology in the southern hemisphere.
Explores economic systems cross-culturally, including modes of production, forms of exchange, and ideas about property and consumption. Questions and critiques Euro-American assumptions about human nature, social persons, and the ubiquity and morality of markets and market exchange.
Examines cultural and historical variations in how societies understand and experience the human body. The focus will be primarily on social, historical, and political-economic approaches. Topics such as labour, sport, health, illness, sexuality, gender, and religious ritual will be considered. Explores the cultural construction and social experience of the human body in a diverse range of settings.
Anthropological approaches to religion and world-view. Includes cross-cultural approaches to meaning, belief, religious experience, ritual and myth. Issues of religion, ideology, syncretism, symbolism in social conflict and change. Considers local and world religions.
Globally, archaeological features and historic monuments are increasingly threatened by urban development, looting, antiquities trafficking, and effects of climate change. Using an archaeological perspective, state-of- the-art recording technologies, community partnerships, legislation, management systems, and the role of museums in conservation and exhibition will be examined. Case studies from Aotearoa, Pacific and elsewhere illustrate major issues, contradictions, and controversies, alongside effective heritage management.
A seminar-style course covering a range of current topics and methods in ethnomusicology. Examines selected theories, methods, and perspectives on the roles and meanings of musical activity in contemporary human culture. We will view music as a symbolic component of cultural expression and as both focus and paradigm for cultural structures and behaviours.
The archaeology of the Pacific region, including colonisation, settlement patterns, interisland trade, traditional navigation, cultural change, emergence of complex societies and ethnohistory.
Participation in a field school involving an intensive introduction to all aspects of excavation and subsequent laboratory analysis and report preparation.
Anthropological approaches to religion and world-view. Includes cross-cultural approaches to meaning, belief, religious experience, ritual and myth. Issues of religion, ideology, syncretism, symbolism in social conflict and change. Considers local and world religions.
Examines conceptualisations, realities and consequences of equality and inequality cross-culturally. Considers whether there are egalitarian societies and whether inequality is inevitable. Covers types and systems of inequality such as slavery, gender inequality, caste and class, as well as differences between economic and political inequality, and between equality of opportunity and equality of results.
Explores East Asia from the ethnomusicological perspective and illuminates how music negotiates boundaries and constructs varying identities in China, Japan, and Korea, while affirming a distinct cultural identity generally referred to as "East Asian". Using different musical practices of East Asia as case studies, it examines multiple approaches and methodologies used in studying East Asian music.
Examines how human populations change over time, what factors underlie patterns of disease and death, and why demography is so important to the study of epidemics. The course will explore the use of demographic methods and theories of demographic and epidemiological transition to examine fertility, morbidity, mortality, and migration from an anthropological perspective, with a particular focus on infectious disease dynamics.
Addresses the main principles of heritage conservation focusing on the rationale rather than treatment methods. Special emphasis is given to the fields of: conservation of place, archaeological, architectural, ethnographic and fine art conservation. Provides students with a cultural orientation to conservation where issues are examined through several contexts, including anthropological studies and conservation science.
A directed reading and individual study course, offered in exceptional circumstances, to prepare students in the methodologies of a selected sub-discipline of Anthropology, with the agreement and under the supervision of appropriate staff.
Adopts evolutionary and biocultural perspectives in examining patterns of human growth and maturation. Human developmental patterns are placed within an evolutionary framework using evidence from non-human primates and earlier hominid remains. Variability within and among human populations in growth and developmental timing is considered in terms of genetics interacting with physical, biotic and social factors.
Examines the diversity of extant nonhuman primate species, including their behaviour, ecology, and conservation, and also the importance of primatology toward an understanding of our own species. Specifically, students will critically examine the results of primatological inquiries in order to gain insight into the comparative evolutionary approach, especially with respect to the applicability of such efforts to the study of humans.
Examines how anthropology has been used in interventions that affect people’s lives, and how anthropology has contributed to public policy and public discourse. Considers ethical, methodological and theoretical complexities of anthropology’s engagement in development and advocacy. Finally, the course will consider how anthropologists fit into the bigger picture of transnational governmentality, policy and economy.
Introduces standard laboratory methods for analysing artefacts and generating material culture data to answer questions about the past. Quantitative observations, classification, and hypothesis testing will be emphasised. Course content will be relevant to a range of archaeological research, including research in heritage management contexts. Analysis of Australasian and Pacific Island materials will form the basis of laboratory work when possible.
Examines cultural and historical variations in how societies understand and experience the human body. The focus will be primarily on social, historical, and political-economic approaches. Topics such as labour, sport, health, illness, sexuality, gender and religious ritual will be considered. Explores the cultural construction and social experience of the human body in a diverse range of settings.
Explores the ways in which gender and sexual identities are both reflected in and modified by mainstream popular music: from 'girl power' to boy bands; from outwardly gay and lesbian artists to the gay appropriation of heterosexual female divas; from the camp masculinity of heavy metal to lesbian rock and riot grrrls; from women-hating gangster rappers to powerful women in the recording industry.
Anthropological examination of the interplay between cultural values, local and national politics, and international health programs and initiatives. Examines how experiences of medical care and ideas of illness and health vary across different cultural groups and socio-cultural settings.
Human remains reflect the lives of the dead as well as the lives of those who buried them. The course introduces students to the various ways in which we can study the dead. It covers three areas: the interpretation of mortuary practices, the interpretation of past lives from skeletal remains, and the practice of burial archaeology in the southern hemisphere.
Medical Anthropology draws on biological and social/ cultural anthropology to address issues of human health and disease. A distinct subfield, it includes studies of the co-evolution of humans and diseases, human ecology, cultural constructions of health and illness, medical knowledge and healing practices, and the political economy of health. Students are asked to research, think and write analytically about these topics.
Explores the use of visual images in the production and dissemination of anthropological knowledge. Examines the choices made in the production of photographs and films, and the politics of representation. The examination of choices made in producing images will be used to consider choices made in the production of anthropological texts.
Explores economic systems cross-culturally, including modes of production, forms of exchange, and ideas about property and consumption. Questions and critiques Euro-American assumptions about human nature, social persons, and the ubiquity and morality of markets and market exchange.
Examines contemporary and historical understandings of kaumātuatanga and kaumātua roles in Māori society. Topics include: leadership within Māori society; tuakana-teina, gendered roles and complementarity; whanaungatanga and important relationships; health inequities and policies; emerging health partnership models; and the diversity of kaumātua groups.
Examines the concept and construct of “whiteness” within the construct of the "settler state" through the lens of critical anthropology. Explores the development of white supremacy as an ideology and expression of social and political power and provides students with the conceptual and intellectual frameworks to consider the invisibility of whiteness as a social habit.
Provides students with an opportunity to demonstrate their integrated knowledge and growth in the major. Students are encouraged to make connections between their academic learning in anthropological science and the professional world. Specific topics will vary by year, but will feature projects designed to incorporate both independent and collaborative work, as well as the potential for public engagement.
Covers all aspects of cultural resource management as it relates to archaeological sites and heritage with a particular focus on New Zealand archaeology and Māori heritage. There is an emphasis on site identification, recording and interpretation in the field. Legal aspects and the roles of archaeologists and iwi in cultural resource management are also covered.
Considers the diverse fields in which Anthropology may be applied to peoples and cultures in the contemporary world, including, for example: environmental and development issues; land and resource conflicts; mediation and advocacy; human rights; cultural heritage; social policy; business and industry; communications; marketing; medical investigations; museums and other representational activities. Addresses practical and ethical issues that arise in these areas.
A survey of the design, implementation, analysis, interpretation, and dissemination of research in biocultural anthropology. It provides a holistic overview of both qualitative and quantitative approaches to biocultural anthropological scholarship.
Based on seminars, workshops and field research, the course prepares students to understand the foundations of anthropological ethnography and the ethical issues it entails, and to become proficient ethnographers in the field, in archives and at the desk. The course provides instruction and practice in research design and proposal writing in socio-cultural anthropology.
Advanced theories and methodologies for the ethnomusicological analysis of live musical performances and other behaviours across all genres and cultures. Primary attention is given to ethnography and participant- observation supported by analysis of industrial, cultural, musical, and mediated phenomena.
A directed reading and individual study course to prepare students in the methodologies in a selected sub-discipline of Anthropology, under supervision of appropriate staff.
Examines the social anthropological practice of ethnography of health and illness in community and clinical settings, including 'non-Western' and 'Western' cultural contexts, through critical readings of recent ethnographies in medical anthropology. Considers ethnographic and anthropological theory, ethics, methodology and application.
Advanced ethnomusicological theories and methodologies for the analysis of data that are obtained from mediated performance, archival sources, material culture and recorded music and image.
A directed reading and individual study course to prepare students in the methodologies in a selected sub-discipline of Anthropology, under supervision of appropriate staff.
A directed reading and individual study course to prepare students in the methodologies in a selected sub-discipline of Anthropology under supervision of appropriate staff.
A seminar focused on critical understanding of the political, social and economic expansion of European countries around the world and its cultural consequences. Themes may include: cultural encounter, causes and effects of colonisation, interpretations of the other by colonisers and colonised, Creole cultures, slavery, race, resistance and Education 693 and accommodation, gender, demography, environmental impacts.
Calls for the Anthropocene, a new geological epoch, recognise long-term, consequential effects of human societies, regardless of size, economics or socio-political complexity, on environments, organisms and ecosystems. When did the Anthropocene begin? How do we track socio- natural interactions over deep time? What might the past offer the future? This course explores how archaeology contributes to these and related questions.
Focuses on ethical research methods in anthropology, from study design and consultation to dissemination of findings. We will examine various ethical dimensions of biocultural research and the relevant guidelines, codes of ethics, and laws that apply to such research. Students will propose a research project involving human participants and draft an institutional ethics board application.
Advanced method and theory in human osteology. Coursework is a combination of seminars and practical workshops covering the areas of biocultural frameworks, ethics, taphonomy, human identification, dental anthropology, palaeopathology and biomolecular approaches. Work is focused upon method and theory as applied in the southern hemisphere.
A practical and theoretical exploration of the methodological principles and research methods in contemporary primatology. Students build a working understanding of behavioural data collection and analysis, as well as developing tools for the assessment of populations and habitats.
Students learn observational, ethnographic and quantitative social anthropological research methods by designing and carrying out a small class research project. Ethical and methodological issues are introduced.
Examines recent anthropological contributions to debates about intellectual property. These include concepts of ownership, the objectification and appropriation of indigenous knowledge, creativity, bioprospecting, the protection of intangible cultural property, and the effects of global flows of information on persons, privacy and the ownership of ideas.
Explores kaitiakitanga and environmental stewardship. Introduces students to contested sites in Aotearoa, New Zealand, each with their own unique stories and guardians who have a duty of care for natural environments. This is anthropology for now and the future, with locations and people not considered as sites to be extracted from but rather active co-producers of anthropological knowledge.
An analysis of foundational and current theoretical works in social anthropology and their relevance to understanding contemporary societies and cultures. The course examines anthropological approaches to long-standing disciplinary debates and contemporary issues of wider public debate.
Investigates contemporary evolutionary theory as it applies to humans and other primates. How has the extended evolutionary synthesis changed understandings of human and primate evolution? Topics include: plasticity, adaptation, modes of selection and niche construction.
Explores the ethical dimensions of new and innovative approaches to the study of the behaviour and biology of humans and other primates. What emerging developments help us to understand the complexity of human and alloprimate lives? And what ethical dilemmas do they raise? Topics include: biocultural dynamics, multi-species entanglements and health in past and contemporary societies.
Uses geographic information systems (GIS) and other computer programmes to examine the spatial organisation of data, and the relationship of archaeological sites, features and artifacts to other archaeological remains, and the environment. The social processes underlying these spatial configurations will be a particular focus.
A critical analysis of the history of archaeological method and theory focusing on issues in the philosophy of science, systematics, and major schools of thought from Antiquarianism to post-modernism.
A topic in one of the sub-disciplines of Anthropology to be selected in consultation with a supervisor.
A topic in one of the sub-disciplines of Anthropology to be selected in consultation with staff.