Anthropology
What is Anthropology?
Anthropology studies all things human, past, present, and future. In the social sciences, anthropology is the most holistic discipline and is divided into four fields of practice: cultural anthropology, archaeology, human biological evolution, and linguistic anthropology. The origins of anthropology rest in a Western legacy of exploration, conquest, and colonization of non-white Indigenous “others” worldwide. In the United States, anthropology developed alongside the view that Native American Peoples would become extinct and that people of color were inferior. As a result, race, ethnicity, and race relations in the US remain a central topic in anthropology. Despite anthropology's racist underpinnings and long-held colonial program, the discipline has a record for being at the forefront of the world’s most daunting challenges. The collection and exchange of human information are the heart of anthropology, and students rigorously prepare to understand the human body, culture, and the natural world.
Anthropology at LA Trade-Tech
At LA Trade-Tech, anthropology is a study that trains, listens, teaches, and heals. Our students are encouraged to contribute to the learning through their storytelling and lived experiences. On any given day, the city of Los Angeles (home of the Gabrielino, Kizh, and Tongva Nations) is the cultural crossroads of the Western Hemisphere. LA is where the thoughts, ideas, and practices of Indigenous Peoples worldwide come together.
Anthropology here is authentic, unapologetic, and pressing for change. Students learn from food customs, modern and traditional medicine, big city politics, and the natural environment, and incorporate hands-on practicums and service learning. Our instructors reflect students' strengths and make connections through equity-minded teaching and anti-racist work. Anthropology at LA Trade-Tech is reciprocal and Indigenous, where students train to become better human beings while uncovering what makes them richly unique.
Our Anthropology Laboratory
All anthropology classes take place in F5-315, our anthropology laboratory. Here, we house a small but growing collection of fossil hominid skeletons, disarticulated skeletons, stone tools, and replica artifacts. Of unique value, the laboratory contains a collection of ceramics made by local Indigenous artists that are used in teaching archaeology and modern craftwork. In addition, the lab is in the early stages of planning a depository of scholarly books and articles devoted to studying ancient Olmec culture and archaeology. Hands-on practicums in the anthropology laboratory involve making pottery, stone tools, clothing, ArcGIS Maps, educational materials, and healing/medical tools. All hands-on work is meant to improve the health and well-being of students and society.
A Closer Look at Our Lab
Our laboratory currently houses a small but growing collection of fossil hominid skeletons. We have replica modern human skeletal collections and a limited number of monkey and ape skulls, including one fully articulated chimpanzee. This collection allows anthropology students to:
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Learn the bones of the human body.
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Learn the mechanics of bipedality (up-right walking).
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Understand human health from a human skeletal perspective.
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Understand human evolutionary relationships.
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Appreciate non-human primate species of the world.
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Prepare for advance study in sciences, forensics, and medicine.
Our laboratory currently houses a collection of ceramics that reflect Mesoamerica's art styles, household practices, and philosophies made by Indigenous artists from the surrounding community. The assemblage includes various pottery forms (plates, bowls, figurines, air instruments, etc.) and stylistic traditions, some dating back thousands of years. This collection allows anthropology students to:
- Study modern ceramics as an avenue to understand the sacred past.
- Comprehend ceramic technologies as a way to build and model future technologies.
- Touch, handle, draw, photograph, and document the human material record for preservation.
Coming Spring 2025
The Olmec Library will serve as a scholarly depository for books, volumes, and articles accessible to all students and faculty at LA Trade-Tech. In addition to books, the library will offer a variety of learning materials, including maps, magazines, photos, and posters. Its primary focus is on studying ancient Olmec culture and society, Olmec art and archaeology, as well as Mesoamerica as a whole. The collection features many rare and limited edition books, non-US volumes, and works that have long been out of print. These resources provide essential humanistic insights about the common Olmec and their neighboring cultures, much of which remains unfamiliar to those outside the research community. The Olmec civilization, with material remains dating from the Early Formative Period (1800 BC to 900 BC) of Mesoamerica, offers valuable lessons for students about:
- Early Native American technologies.
- Ancient human health and medicine.
- Interregional interactions in Mesoamerica.
- The modern human experience in the diaspora.
- Native and Indigenous practices for the future.
Depository List of Learning Materials
Under Construction
Every semester, students enrolled in the Human Biological Anthropology Laboratory use clay to model the human skeletal system and the hominid family tree.
Anthropology Faculty at LA Trade-Tech
More about Prof. Garcia...
Contact:
Garciasa@lattc.edu
Curriculum Vitae
Hello everyone! My name is Santiago Andrés Garcia. I was born in Monterey Park, California, and am of Ixtlahuacán-Jaliscan lineage and ancestry (Mexico). I am a full-time Professor of Anthropology at LA Trade-Tech College, overseeing the newly formed Anthropology Laboratory. I have taught humanities and anthropology courses for over fourteen years.
My purpose in life is to teach and inspire students to help them achieve their personal and educational goals. As an Indigenous Chicano Anthropologist, I am adamant about revitalizing and preserving ancestral knowledge systems. I strive to imagine and build sustainable health, food, and family living practices. The biggest questions of the day deal with the human body and its relationship to the land. How did humans evolve and coexist alongside plants and animals? What role did the Earth’s natural resources play in our growth as complex human beings? How did humans survive in severe stress when unfavorable conditions dominated night and day? What Native medicines have humans harnessed over time, and how did the body heal?
In addition, I have an established and growing record of equity-minded scholarship and engagement. I am an NEH/ACLS Public Engagement Scholar (2022) and a Mellon/ACLS Community College Fellow (2019). In 2015, I received the ASA Gloria E. Anzaldúa Award for my work with students of color. I have published in the AMAE Journal, the Journal of Latinos and Education, Genealogy, Ethnic Studies Pedagogies, the Kendall Hunt Chicanx Studies reader “In Search of Our Brown Selves.”, and most recently in an ACLS Special Edition volume on community college teaching.
List of Publications
Garcia, S.A. (in press). Reflections on Scholarship and Equity-Minded Teaching at Rio Hondo College and Los Angeles Trade-Technical College, in American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS): Exploring the Institutional Landscapes at a Range of Two-year Colleges. Edited by Carmen Carrasquillo and Brian Stipelman. New York. ACLS
Garcia, S. A., and Pricilla Yvette Hernandez (2023). Animal Artifacts and Narratives of the Mesoamerican Clay-Figurine Project, Ethnic Studies Pedagogies Journal, Vol. 1, No. 1, 110-125. https://www.ethnicstudiespedagogies.org/ARCHIVES/
Márquez, C. I., and Santiago Andrés Garcia (2021). Mom’s Healing Altar and Dad’s Obsidian Blade: Building the Indigenous Xicana/o Family Healthcare Kit, in In Search of our Brown Selves: A Transdisciplinary College Reader, 2nd Ed., 231-242. Edited by E.C. Orozco, and Silvia E. Toscano. Iowa: Kendall Hunt Publishing. http://whereareyouquetzalcoatl.com/marquezandgarcia2021.pdf
Garcia, S. A., and Claudia Itzel Márquez (2021). Cultivating Positive Health, Learning, and Community Through the Return of Quetzalcoatl and the Venus Star, Genealogy, Vol. 5, No. 2, 53. https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy5020053
Garcia, S.A. (2021). Contesting trauma and violence through Indigeneity and Decolonizing Pedagogy at Rio Hondo Community College, Journal of Latinos and Education, Vol. 20, No. 4, 376-396. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348431.2019.1603749
Garcia, S.A., Arciga, M., Sanchez, E., Arredondo, R. (2018), “A medical archaeopedagogy of the human body as a trauma-informed teaching strategy for Indigenous Mexican-American Students”, AMAE Journal, Vol. 12, No. 1, 128-156. http://dx.doi.org/10.24974/amae.12.1.388
Garcia, S.A. (2014). Modeling household building sustainability (HBS) with wood, stone, and paint: Achieving spatial wellness in a West Walnut household of the San Gabriel Valley, USA, International Journal of Development and Sustainability, Vol. 3, No. 4, 865-894. http://isdsnet.com/ijds-v3n4-18.pdf
Anthropology Classes at LA Trade-Tech
ANTHRO 101 - Human Biological Evolution examines the evolution of the human species. Students learn about cells, DNA, genetics, and the four forces of evolution (migration, mutations, genetic drift, and Natural Selection). The class begins with the colonial history of anthropology and how the field, with its unethical collection of human biological material, contributed to the subtle destruction of “other” Indigenous peoples. This class emphasizes the skeletal system and how humans evolved alongside plants, animals, and the environment. The class incorporates hands-on practicums where students learn from a collection of fossil hominid skeletons, replica fossils, and our closest biological relatives, the living monkeys and apes. The course plan prepares students to understand the human body and how it heals and grows.
ANTHRO 102 - Human Ways of Life: Cultural Anthropology examines the human experience, past, present, and future. Students learn how people in different parts of the world obtain food, exchange goods, organize themselves, marry, raise children, gain power, worship, and go to war. The class begins with the colonial history of anthropology and how the field, with its early ethnocentric models and unethical practices, contributed to the subtle destruction of “other” Indigenous peoples. The class emphasizes how anthropology can help address modern social, political, and environmental issues threatening the human body and fundamental human rights. The class challenges students to reflect on themselves critically and ask how they contribute to their communities' health and well-being.
ANTHRO 103 - Archaeology: Reconstructing The Human Past examines the theories and methods of archaeology as a practice for understanding the human experience, past, present, and future. Students learn about the colonial history of archaeology and its modern multi-discipline approach. Topics covered include excavation methods, laboratory techniques, reconstructing the human past, and ethical practices in archaeology. The class incorporates hands-on practicums and service learning projects where students prepare and make food, pottery, stone tools (lithics), clothing, medicines, and expressive materials. In the process, students create materials that serve as gifts, educational relics, and healing tools. By taking this approach, students create Indigenous modes of archaeology, often left out of the White/Eurocentric school of anthropology.
ANTHRO 111 - Laboratory in Human Biological Evolution examines the theories and methods used to understand human biological evolution. Unlike the lecture, the laboratory emphasizes and devotes more time to using the scientific method in a series of hands-on practicums. Students learn from a collection of fossil hominid skeletons, replica artifacts and fossils, and our closest biological relatives, the living monkeys and apes. In this laboratory, students must observe primates in a captive setting (the Los Angeles Zoo) and make one trip to the Natural History Museum to observe natural materials and human material collections. Students learn to approach and solve critical human conditions by understanding human diets, genetics, variation, diseases, medicine, the natural world, living primates, and the human skeletal system.
Why take Anthropology at LA Trade-Tech?
Students gain significant advantages from training in humanistic methods throughout all anthropology courses. You will learn to observe human behavior attentively and ethically, gather and share information, and forge authentic connections with individuals. Your voice and contributions will be valued, and all current anthropology classes fulfill transfer and degree requirements.
LA Trade-Tech does not offer an AA in Anthropology. Why not?
After being idle for many years, we are a committed program with growing resources. Our program plan for the next seven years includes developing new courses, building an anthropology laboratory, offering an AA degree in Anthropology, and hiring new faculty.
What can I do with my anthropological training?
All anthropology students receive training to become critical thinkers and real-world builders. Anthropologists make excellent teachers, counselors, advisors, policy advocates, and environmentalists. Those with an advanced Anthropology degree work in research, law, policy, STEM, and medical fields.
Anthropology at LA Trade-Tech Program Materials
Anthropology LA Trade-Tech Program Materials are intended for K-12 educational institutions interested in promoting our program to high school students. They are also available to all students interested in pursuing anthropology at LA Trade-Tech. The materials can be downloaded in PDF format and should only be used for educational purposes. We also have a foldable brochure for Anthropology at LA Trade-Tech; check it out! Scroll down to view and download.
Contact Anthropology at LA Trade-Tech College
Maria E. Martinez, Chair
Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences
Martinme5@laccd.edu
Santiago Andres Garcia
Professor of Anthropology
Garciasa4@lattc.edu / LA Trade-Tech College
Sgarcia@riohondo.edu / Rio Hondo College
Adriana Jackson
jacksoa@laccd.edu
Gregory A. Mattson
Mattsog@elac.edu
Michael J. Carter
Cartermj@lattc.edu
Ion Motkin
Motkinir@lattc.edu