For Undergraduates
Anthropology: A Way of Comprehending a Complex World
What is Anthropology?
Anthropology as a field of inquiry is both basic and comprehensive. It is basic in addressing itself to fundamental questions of human distinctiveness, survival, and change. It is comprehensive in its embrace of the full diversity of peoples and cultures, as well as attending to the constraints and aspirations that distinguish them: the social, ecological, political, religious, artistic, economic, and technical dimensions of the vast human project that appears wherever Homo sapiens is found, both in the past and in the present.
A key concern of anthropology is to understand the human species —its origins, evolution, differentiation, and the structures that reflect forms of social life, defining in their various ways persons, families, societies, and nations. Explorations into the nature of the human experience also sheds light on such questions as: what is common to all humans, what aspects of behavior derive from biological or environmental bases, and what features are acquired through socialization and the acquisition of cultural knowledge.
Anthropologists have long been interested in large and complex societies as well as the small, exotic, and relatively simple groups. Making sense of local systems, in addition to transnational or global movements, and of the links between these levels of integration demands theoretical schemes that encompass large nations like the United States, Spain, Brazil, Mozambique, Japan, and India, as well as peoples and cultures of smaller states, tribal groups, and neighborhoods. Hence, the subcultures, formal and informal institutions, regional and urban communities, ethnic identity, religious solidarity, elites, and the marginalized receive attention.
Choosing a Major in Anthropology
For a student pursuing a liberal education, anthropology offers an exciting and broadening choice as a major. For an undergraduate preparing for later, more specialized training, anthropology provides a sound and well-balanced, intellectual background for many career choices. Former majors have gone into a wide variety of fields, including business; public service; the professions of medicine, law, and teaching; and the arts. Certain graduates have also chosen anthropology as a profession and have continued their studies so as to obtain advanced degrees and then university posts or positions in government, museums, or a variety of other organizations.
Linking Anthropology to Your Other Passions
Our department has many strengths and encourages cross-disciplinary work in areas where anthropology overlaps with courses offered elsewhere in the college. Current faculty research has as its geographical focus such areas as the United States, Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East, India, China, Japan, and Europe. Among the social/cultural anthropologists, specializations include medical, urban, ecological, economic, film, political, ritual, and religious interests. Among the archaeologists, specialists in West Africa, the Ancient Near East, and the Americas are represented. The biological anthropologists have research experience in such areas as nutrition, disease, infancy, paleosteology, forensics, fossil analysis, and demography.