Anthropology BA and Minor Programs Specifics

Here we provide information on course requirements, course descriptions and an Academic Rhode Map for each program, a semester-by-semester plan to help you toward graduation in four years.

Course Requirements

Course Descriptions

Academic Rhode Map

Outcomes

Outcome 1: Students will understand the essential concepts of the four sub-disciplines of Anthropology. 

Outcome 2: Students will demonstrate an understanding of the ethical considerations of conducting research on human and animal subjects. 

Outcome 3: Students will demonstrate an ability to utilize anthropological concepts and content to understand the world around them.

Outcome 4: Students will demonstrate the ability to collect, analyze, and present data guided by anthropological theory.

Upon completion of this program, students will:

• understand the essential concepts of the four sub-disciplines of Anthropology
• demonstrate an understanding of the ethical considerations of conducting research on human and animal subjects
• demonstrate an ability to utilize anthropological concepts and content to understand the world around them
• demonstrate the ability to collect, analyze, and present data guided by anthropological theory

Why or in what ways is writing important to your discipline/field/profession?

Anthropology seeks to understand what it is to be human from a holistic perspective: through distant and recent time, globally across space and comparatively between human and nonhuman primate groups. Writing is a fundamental and necessary part of the practice of anthropology, from the collection of data during fieldwork to the communication and dissemination of results and conclusions to scholars and to the public in reports, articles and books. Capturing the nuances and complexities of behaviors in a variety of contexts, past and present, requires being able to write in a variety of styles and for a variety of purposes.

Which courses are designated as satisfying the Writing in the Discipline (WID) requirement by your department? Why these courses?

While students are introduced to writing in the discipline in the four introductory courses, the WID designated courses in the Anthropology Department are ANTH 233: Methods in Anthropology and ANTH 460: Senior Seminar. These are the two courses that bring together and build on skills and knowledge from other courses in the major and in which students learn how to ask and answer anthropological questions. In ANTH 233 students learn to use appropriate anthropological methods and to create a variety of written materials while in ANTH 460 they build on these skills to undertake a semester-long research project that culminates in a paper that conforms to anthropological writing conventions.

What forms or genres of writing will you learn and practice in your WID courses? Why these genres?

Students learn the conventions of anthropological writing as well as some of the different forms that anthropological writing can take while engaged in collecting and analyzing data for a series of formal writing projects. Students learn how to record observations; write analyses of data in report and narrative forms; write academic papers that conform to anthropological writing conventions.

What kinds of teaching practices will you encounter in your WID courses?

Practices that students will encounter include mandatory and voluntary drafting and revision; scaffolded assignments; peer and instructor feedback in writing and individual conferences; formal and informal writing; critical reading/deconstructing academic papers.

What should I be able to do when I have satisfied your WID requirement?

Use appropriate styles of writing to collect anthropological data based on a variety of field techniques and present your conclusions and the implications of that data, and you will have learned the power of using evidence-based writing to intervene in the world around you.

The Anthropology Department offers a general minor in anthropology, as well as several focused-minors that fit well with various majors offered across campus. 

• Anthropology Minor
• Archaeology Minor
• Biological Anthropology Minor
• Cultural Anthropology Minor
• Linguistic Anthropology Minor
• Medical Anthropology Minor