Department of Anthropology

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

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With the help of alumni, donors and friends of Anthropology, we provide scholarships to reward meritorious students and assist those who face financial burdens in funding their education.

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Undergraduate Programs

Anthropology Major

Anthropology is the study of human beings; their cultures, biology, behaviors, and their changes through time (evolution).

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Anthropology Minor

Because we study all aspects of humans, anthropology is holistic and inter-disciplinary and anthropologists work hand-in-hand with other sciences such as biology, physiology, sociology and psychology—just to name a few.

Integrative Human Biology Minor (IHB)

Engage in research in human form and function, human evolution and biological variation, human behavior, and the roles humans play in local and global ecosystems. Students will acquire the broad but rigorous background they will need as professionals in the 21st-century health sciences and many other fields that engage directly with aspects of human adaptation and welfare.

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Have a question about anthropology? Ready to declare?

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GRADUATE DEGREES

M.S. in Anthropology & M.A. in Anthropology

Graduate students engage in cutting edge research that crosses disciplinary and sub-disciplinary lines to address questions about human biology, behavior, culture and evolution.

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Ph.D. in Anthropology

Our Department takes a theoretically-driven, empirically-informed perspective focusing on the following specific areas of expertise: archaeology, genetics, behavioral ecology, paleoanthropology, hunter-gatherer behavior, and human and non-human primate behavior.

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Laboratories

Archaeological Center

Grants

Upcoming Events

Fall 2021 Colloquium Speaker Series

Polly Wiessner

University of Utah; Arizona State University

"Justice systems in small scale societies:wrong-doings and social responses"

Thursday, December 2nd @ 2:15PM

RSVP HERE for Zoom information

Click to read Abstarct

"Justice systems in small scale societies:wrong-doings and social responses"

Abstract:

Resolving injury, insult, infringement or freeloading is essential to cooperation and collective action in all societies. Nonetheless, from the time of Durkheim until now, for small scale societies, punishment has been proposed to be the means by which a moral community sanctions norm violations to promote cooperation, and perhaps enable cultural group selection. I will discuss the drawbacks of the punishment model for small-scale societies where third-party punishment has high costs, damages group unity, and risks alienating productive members. The punishment model is impoverished, given that humans have so many skills to apply to the resolution of disruptive wrong-doings or violations of custom, for example, language, perspective taking, empathy, dispositions for reconciliation, and social learning. I will then give detailed examples from my ongoing work on justice systems among the Ju/’hoansi Bushmen of the Kalahari and Enga of Papua New Guinea, as well as ones from other acephalous societies, to understand the development of justice systems in response to the need for collective action and larger group formation.

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