{"id":78734,"date":"2026-09-08T11:15:56","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T18:15:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=78734"},"modified":"2026-09-08T11:16:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T18:16:09","slug":"where-anthropology-meets-disease","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/where-anthropology-meets-disease\/","title":{"rendered":"Where anthropology meets disease"},"content":{"rendered":"

History not only lives in books. It can be found\u00a0in the physical traces people leave behind, including their bones. A class at NAU teaches students how disease outbreaks can be understood through an anthropological lens, focusing on what human\u00a0remains\u00a0and historical accounts\u00a0reveal about\u00a0the spread\u00a0of disease\u00a0and\u00a0the\u00a0impact of epidemics.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In\u00a0<\/span>ANT 105: Plagues, Bones and History<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0students study the relationship humans have with diseases and how plagues are presented not just as isolated events, but\u00a0also\u00a0as forces that shaped communities and economies.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Corina\u00a0Kellner<\/span><\/b>,\u00a0a professor in the Department of Anthropology, is a biological anthropologist who studies people from the past and how they weathered various social, cultural,\u00a0economic\u00a0and political changes.\u00a0After the COVID-19\u00a0pandemic, she wanted to bring an anthropological perspective to the study of plagues and diseases to show how they have influenced human history.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy specialty is\u00a0in\u00a0ancient Peru,\u201d Kellner said. \u201cIn my field, we look at bones and\u00a0cemeteries,\u00a0and I\u00a0wanted to bring that\u00a0perspective to\u00a0the\u00a0study of diseases.\u00a0In the class, we go over things like the Black Death\u00a0in\u00a0the\u00a01300s\u00a0in Europe and Asia, we cover the flu pandemic of 1918\u00a0and discuss\u00a0tuberculosis, which\u00a0is a\u00a0scourge\u00a0that we don\u2019t see a lot in the United States,\u00a0but it is kind of rising again. We look at\u00a0sexually\u00a0transmitted infections and what that means in terms of shame and morality,\u00a0and\u00a0we also\u00a0look at other\u00a0different aspects\u00a0of disease.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Students study context clues\u00a0to gain\u00a0insight into how people died\u00a0and how they were buried.\u00a0\u00a0For\u00a0example, in a lecture where students go over what the remains of people with syphilis on their bones look like and how to figure out whether they used a mercury cure when they were alive.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The class covers general studies and liberal studies requirements for Social and Political Worlds.\u00a0Kellner said\u00a0there\u00a0are\u00a0typically only a handful of anthropology majors in the class, while\u00a0the majority are biology\u00a0and biomedical students.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI recommend this class to anyone who went through the COVID-19 pandemic because we were bearing\u00a0witness\u00a0to something that our ancestors\u00a0witnessed\u00a0too in their lives,\u201d\u00a0Kellner\u00a0said. \u201cI\u2019ve\u00a0had a couple of business students in the past and remember the one time I had a\u00a0marketing major. The final project was perfect for him since students\u00a0have to\u00a0create some kind of informational piece about a disease to create awareness.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The class is divided into four or five topics throughout the\u00a0semester,\u00a0and students have journal assignments where they can give Kellner feedback and where she can see how they are\u00a0synthesizing the material.\u00a0They work with a free textbook and\u00a0supplement their research with\u00a0videos and web pages.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe final topic we cover is public health, what it means and what measures we have to take to keep ourselves safe,\u201d Kellner said. \u201cWe need to be careful with misinformation and disinformation about disease and public health. We need to be more patient and kinder to one another when diseases hit. The biggest feedback I have gotten from students is that they thought of diseases as just biology, but with this class, they were able to see the cultural,\u00a0social\u00a0and economic impact they have. We\u00a0need to be more active in combating diseases and understanding the science behind everything.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For more information about ANT 105: Plagues, Bones and History, visit\u00a0<\/span>NAU\u2019s class catalog<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Check out more cool classes:<\/p>\n

Where crime scenes come to life<\/a><\/p>\n

When sociology goes pop<\/a><\/p>\n

Mapping joy<\/a><\/p>\n

Tasting history<\/a><\/p>\n

Stories etched in skin<\/a><\/p>\n

A classroom without borders<\/a><\/p>\n

Get more stories from the Student Edition of the NAU Reivew.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Northern<\/a>Mariana Laas | NAU Communications
\n(928) 523-5050 | mariana.laas@nau.edu<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

History not only lives in books. It can be found\u00a0in the physical traces people leave behind, including their bones. A class at NAU teaches students how disease outbreaks can be understood through an anthropological lens, focusing on what human\u00a0remains\u00a0and historical accounts\u00a0reveal about\u00a0the spread\u00a0of disease\u00a0and\u00a0the\u00a0impact of epidemics.\u00a0 In\u00a0ANT 105: Plagues, Bones and History,\u00a0students study the relationship…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3019,"featured_media":78735,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,1829],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78734","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research-academics","category-student-edition"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78734","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3019"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78734"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78734\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78741,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78734\/revisions\/78741"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}