Human Biocultural Diversity
Requirement: ENVS 101 or ENVS 137 for students admitted to Loyola University for Fall 2012 or later. No requirement for students admitted to Loyola prior to Fall 2012 or those with a declared major or minor in the Department of Anthropology, Department of Biology, Department of Chemistry, Department of Environmental Science, Department of Physics, Bioinformatics, Forensic Science or Neuroscience.
This course examines human variation through a biocultural approach, with specific attention paid to historical and contemporary ideas of race. We explore genetics and how evolution by natural selection has favored important adaptations, how those specific adaptations have helped humans migrate and survive across the planet's habitats, and socio-cultural and scientific ideas about race that have resulted in inequalities.
Outcomes: Students will gain an understanding of how biocultural approaches help us understand human variation, with specific attention paid to skin color and the idea of race; Students will learn how scientific racism in anthropology contributed to our ideas of race, and how that can be seen in contemporary US society.
This course examines human variation through a biocultural approach, with specific attention paid to historical and contemporary ideas of race. We explore genetics and how evolution by natural selection has favored important adaptations, how those specific adaptations have helped humans migrate and survive across the planet's habitats, and socio-cultural and scientific ideas about race that have resulted in inequalities.
Outcomes: Students will gain an understanding of how biocultural approaches help us understand human variation, with specific attention paid to skin color and the idea of race; Students will learn how scientific racism in anthropology contributed to our ideas of race, and how that can be seen in contemporary US society.