Dept. of Cultural Anthropology records, 1973 - 1992

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Summary

Creator:
Duke University. Department of Cultural Anthropology
Abstract:
The Duke University Dept. of Anthropology was formed in the 1972/1973 academic year, after the joint Dept. of Sociology and Anthropology, which had existed from 1941 to 1972, split into two separate departments. In July 1988, the disciplines in the Dept. of Anthropology divided into the Dept. of Cultural Anthropology and the Dept. of Biological Anthropology and Anatomy. The Dept. of Cultural Anthropology focuses on the study of cultures around the world. Records include two brief subject files including clippings and a newsletter, as well as a few documents relating to the Anthropology Majors Union, from the 1970s. In addition, the records include a syllabus and selected course papers from Cultural Anthropology 105.S01: Campus Politics, taught by Orin Starn in 1992.
Extent:
0.5 Linear Feet
Language:
English.
Collection ID:
UA.25.15.0001
University Archives Record Group:
25 -- Trinity College of Arts and Sciences
25 -- Trinity College of Arts and Sciences > 15 -- Cultural Anthropology

Background

Scope and content:

Department of Cultural Anthropology records include two brief subject files dating from the 1970s, when the Anthropology Department included all cultural and biological subdisciplines in one academic department. The files include clippings and a newsletter, as well as a few documents relating to the Anthropology Majors Union. In addition, the records include a syllabus and selected course papers from Cultural Anthropology 105.S01: Campus Politics, taught by Orin Starn in 1992. Most of the course papers focus on cultural phenomena at Duke University.

Biographical / historical:

The Duke University Department of Anthropology was formed in the 1972/1973 academic year, after the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, which had existed from 1941 to 1972, split into two separate departments. In July 1988, the disciplines in the Department of Anthropology divided into the Department of Cultural Anthropology and the Department of Biological Anthropology and Anatomy.

The Duke Department of Cultural Anthropology offered this description of its undergraduate course of study in 2005: "Cultural anthropology focuses on the study of cultures around the world. Understanding and living with diversity is one of today's urgent challenges. Our planet has grown much more interconnected... Cultural anthropology is the discipline that studies how people create and define... distinct ways of living... The discipline no longer limits itself only to "primitive" lifeways, having expanded to encompass the study of both non-Western and Western societies. Topics of study now range from ethnic and race relations to gender, sexuality, nationalism, law, medicine, and popular culture. New methods and theories have arisen to understand these complex phenomena, influenced by such currents of thought as feminism, postmodernism, political economy, cognitive science, and psychoanalysis. Among the broad concerns of cultural anthropology today are: Under what conditions is culture invented? Under what conditions do cultural understandings gain force, persist, and spread? How does culture intersect with history, economics, and politics?" [http://culturalanthropology.duke.edu/ugrad/]

Acquisition information:
The Dept. of Cultural Anthropology Records was received by the University Archives as a transfer in 1976-1996.
Processing information:

Processed by University Archives staff

Completed 1996

Encoded by Jill Katte, April 2005

Finding aid updated by April Blevins, January 2024

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Subjects

Click on terms below to find related finding aids on this site. For other related materials in the Duke University Libraries, search for these terms in the Catalog.

Names:
Duke University. Department of Cultural Anthropology
Duke University -- Students
Duke University. Dept. of Anthropology
Duke University -- Curricula

Contents

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Restrictions:

Access restricted. Some materials closed by donor request until 2062.

Terms of access:

Copyright for Official University records is held by Duke University; all other copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

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Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Dept. of Cultural Anthropology Records, Duke University Archives, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.