Anthropology, BA

Return to: Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences

Anthropology is concerned with how humans and human societies evolve culturally and biologically. Anthropology explores the differences and similarities among human cultures and the biocultural processes that influence human biological diversity. It integrates a wide range of perspectives on human behavior, culture, and society. Students will become familiar with the basic concerns of four sub-fields of anthropology: archaeology, biological anthropology, cultural anthropology, and anthropological linguistics.

The anthropology program offers archaeology courses covering many geographic regions (Latin America, Africa, Europe, North America, among others), techniques of analysis, and issues in prehistory. Opportunities for student involvement in archaeological work are provided through museum collections, participation in research with faculty and graduate students, and a periodic summer field school.

Courses in biological anthropology focus on evolutionary theory, human biological diversity, bioarchaeology, forensic anthropology, and human and nonhuman primate evolution.

Cultural anthropology is represented by a wide variety of courses on culture areas including the Pacific, Caribbean, Latin America, China, Japan, South Asia, Eastern Europe and the United States. Classes provide cross-cultural studies of topics such as medical anthropology, food, social and political organization, sex roles, kinship, ethnicity, folklore, religion, and multispecies relationships.

Linguistic anthropology examines language and other sign systems (semiotics) in context, focusing on the complex relationship between language, society, and culture. Courses in linguistic anthropology include issues surrounding language and power; language and identity; media and society; semiotic anthropology; poetics and storytelling; language and decolonization; language and migration. 

The anthropology major requires the completion of 33 credits.