The Meaning of Ancient Chinese Cities
   Learn how ancient Chinese cities were constructed to capture and redistribute the life force of the universe. You'll never look at the Forbidden City or the towered walls of Xi'an in quite the same way after you understand their underlying purpose. (prepared for the spring of 2017)

Found History: Europe Through the Eyes of Papa Robitschek, a Jewish Industrialist & Philosopher, 1916 to 1929.
   Papa Robitschek - prose stylist, satirist, poet, industrialist and Jewish philosopher. He created a fourteen-year graphic postcard blog containing hundreds of entries. Though scattered, over 200 survived to be found decades later on eBay. Papa Robistchek is our window on Viennese culture, the expansion of the role of women in early 20th Century Europe, the rise of the Pan-Germanic movement that led to the Nazis, and Jewish moral philosophy. By turns, Papa Robitschek becomes the Patriot, the Wunderrebi, a minor devil (the Krampus), the Conductor of "Future Music", even Clio the Muse of History, among others. He designed his cards from scratch, using graphic elements to deepen and extend the meaning of his words. (prepared in the winter of 2012)

The Rise of Hydraulic Civilization on the Nile
   Have you ever pondered over the wonders of ancient Egypt? The religious mysteries that live on in Masonic tradition? The artistic vision that continues to influence our own sense of style? This course considers the underlying geography, technology, economic organization, and social structure that created and sustained ancient Egyptian kingdoms for a period 3,000 years, and which made Egypt one of the centers where ancient civilizations first arose. (prepared in the summer of 2012)

What Constitutes an Archaeological Culture? - A case study from the Puget Sound Basin
   How archaeologists connect the remains the excavate with the people who left them behind depends on the anthropological concept of culture and what it implies about human behavior. The Pacific Northwest presents a situation in which application of the anthropological concept of culture to First Nations' societies leads to a very different picture than the application of the archaeological concept of culture to remains left behind by the same peoples. This course considers the ethnology and archaeological remains of the greater Puget Sound region in an effort to resolve this problem. (prepared in the spring of 2012)

Language, Thought and Reality
   This course presents the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, which states that their language controls how people think about and act in the world. Considered are the history of the hypothesis, the cultural context, how languages and cultures change, the linguistic problem and evidence, the basis for language in the brain and what this implies for the hypothesis, and what we are likely to discover in the near future. (prepared in the fall of 2011)

The Cannibal Woman Society in Cultural Perspective
   Autochthonous Northcoast societies suffered from artificial economic bubbles of their own making. Sound familar? These bubbles grew and burst within the Potlatch system. They become so severe after the population was decimated by diseases, that the Canadian Government outlawed the Potlatch, itself. In normal times, when economically advantaged classes flourished, such economic bubbles were frequent, normal, and resorbed without difficulty. How did they do it? Why, they called in the Cannibal Woman Society. Learn how this society saved their communities from economic collapse. (prepared in the fall of 2010)

The Mystery of the Namoratunga
   The Turkana of northern Kenya believe that stone pillars mark places where ancient dancers were turned to stone. The first Namoratunga visited by archaeologists was described as an astronomical observatory of the ancient Cushites, but others have shown this to be unlikely. This course centers on the first excavation of a Namoratunga on the shore of Lake Turkana at the foot of the Jarigole Hills. This 4,000 year-old site, made by the first keepers of domestic stock in Eastern Africa, reveals the earliest evidence for long-distance trade in Subsaharan Africa and a ceramic tradition of incredible beauty and complexity. (prepared in the spring of 2010)