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Anthropological Sciences 433

I. Course Title: The Ancient & Living Maya: Anthropological Perspectives on Maya Culture

II. Course Number: ANSC 433

III. Credit Hours: 3 credits

IV. Prerequisites: ANSC 106, ANSC 301

V. Course Description:

This course will explore Maya culture from a wholistic anthropological perspective. We will discuss the origin and development of Maya cities in the pre-Columbian past, examine what transpired when Spanish Conquistadors arrived in the region, and follow the changes that occurred in Maya culture from the Colonial Era to the present. Students will stretch their anthropological muscles by engaging with linguistic analyses, ethnographic studies, ethnohistorical sources, and old-fashioned dirt archaeology.

Note(s): Cultural and Behavorial Analysis designated course.

VI. Detailed Description of Content of the Course:

1. Introduction the Maya

In the first unit of this class, students will be introduced to the broad outline of Maya culture history, starting with the first farming villages in Northern Central America (ca. 1200 BC) to present day Maya communities and their global impacts. Students will also review critical ethnographic and archaeological methods, as well as be introduced to principles of ethnohistory.

2. The Ancient Maya

In this unit, students will engage with primary and secondary sources from archaeological research of the pre-Columbian period Maya in order to understand how material remains can be used to build up a picture of a once complex living culture.

3. A Clash of Cultures

In the third unit of this course, students will be challenged to understand how Maya culture changed with the arrival of Spanish Conquistadors. Few indigenous sources exist for this period, so students will engage with ethnohistoric methods, that is they will attempt to understand Maya cultural change through the lens of written sources created by Spanish Conquistadors and Priests who themselves barely understood the people they were describing.

4. Understanding the Maya Today

In the final unit of this class, students will explore ethnographic accounts of, and primary sources from, Maya people in the recent past. These anthropological sources will provide a richer picture of cultural activities then our original archaeological sources could provide, but will also present a culture after 500 years of drastic change instigated by outside influences.

VI. Detailed Description of Conduct of Course:

This course will include a combination of original source readings, lectures, and discussions to present what we know of Maya culture over time. Students will also research a topic of their choosing, write a scholarly paper on that topic, and present the results of their findings to the class.

VII. Goals and Objectives of the Course:

This course is designated as A (Cultural or Behavioral Analysis) Area and fulfills the learning goal: To examine the context and interactions of culture(s) and/or behavior(s). Students will fulfill the learning outcomes in this area: describe behaviors, beliefs, cultures, social institutions, and/or environments and analyze the interactions of behaviors, beliefs, cultures, social institutions, and/or environments.

This course may be applied to the REAL Studies Minor in Cultural/Behavior Analysis.

Goal of the Class:

Students will apply anthropological methods learned in previous ANSC classes to develop a wholistic understanding of a foreign culture and how it has changed over time.

Learning Objectives:

Students will be able to apply archaeological, ethnohistoric, and ethnographic methods to understand Maya culture.
Students will learn to assess the strengths and weaknesses of difference sources of information in anthropological studies.
Students will be able to carry out scholarly research on a topic and communicate the results of that research in written and oral forms.

VIII. Assessment Measures:

Students may be evaluated on the basis of their performance in class discussions, examinations, papers, and/or oral presentations.

Review and Approval

August, 2020

March 01, 2021

August, 2021