Anthropology

About the Anthropology Area of Concentration

Students develop a solid knowledge of the scope and objectives of cultural anthropology and archaeology, and of at least one other sub-discipline (biological anthropology and/or linguistics). They also acquire in-depth critical knowledge of the theory and methods of anthropology. Students are encouraged to participate in fieldwork and develop their research skills and a critical perspective through the completion of a senior research project, conducted under the supervision of a faculty member in the program.

Students and faculty have cooperated in projects ranging from archaeological research in Florida, Mexico, Central America, and the Middle East to active planning for the homeless in Sarasota, from critiques of sexism in human evolutionary models to studies of the creolization process in Black English Vernacular. Students have conducted independent research worldwide, including studies of remote tribal groups in West Papua and Amazonian Peru. Theory and practice go hand-in-hand as students develop their understanding of the world and share this with fieldworkers, academics, and planners outside the New College community.

“I tell my students that archeologists have the most unlikely job of saving the lives of people who have passed. If it wasn’t for this work, we would know nothing about them.”

Uzi Baram
Professor of Anthropology and Heritage Studies
Director of New College Public Archaeology Lab