Anthropology Ph.D.
Program description
The Department of Anthropology offers graduate education in sociocultural and linguistic anthropology, archaeology, and biological anthropology. The program admits students only for the PhD, although some students do earn a master's degree as part of their PhD program.
Major areas of faculty research and graduate student training in sociocultural and linguistic anthropology include art and visual culture, critical theory, queer theory, feminist theory, critical disability studies, environment, ecology, and the Anthropocene, cultures of capitalism, language and modernity, colonialism and imperialism, experimental writing, gender, race, and sexuality, medical anthropology, memory and haunting, religion, multi-species ethnography, new materialisms, legal and political anthropology, economic anthropology, anthropology of race and racism, philosophical anthropology, science and technology studies, sovereignty and the state, and temporality and futurity. Regional specializations include Europe, the Pacific, the Middle East, North America, the Caribbean, and East Asia.
The program in archaeology applies social and ecological theories to produce new anthropological insights into the roles of material culture and the environment in indigenous, prehistoric, and historical contexts. Our archaeologists apply a range of scientific methods in the field and the laboratory to understand human-environmental interactions in the past, and to advance knowledge of landscape use and site formation processes. Regional specializations include Europe, Asia, Latin America, and North America.
The program in biological anthropology offers training and research opportunities in two main areas: paleoanthropology and molecular anthropology. The paleoanthropology speciality combines biological anthropology, vertebrate paleobiology, and Paleolithic archaeology to interpret the evolution and behavior of hominins and other primates through the application of evolutionary theory to the analysis of skeletal morphology, faunal remains, community analysis, and site taphonomy. The molecular anthropology speciality studies the population history of humans by using ancient DNA and modern genomic methods to investigate processes such as migration, admixture, and adaptation, as well as historic trends in disease and health. Students also benefit from training and expertise in primate behavior and ecology, stable isotope paleoecology, phylogeography, geochronology, and phylogenetic methods through close collaborations and co-advising with faculty in other departments.
Major areas of faculty research and graduate student training in sociocultural and linguistic anthropology include art and visual culture, critical theory, queer theory, feminist theory, critical disability studies, environment, ecology, and the Anthropocene, cultures of capitalism, language and modernity, colonialism and imperialism, experimental writing, gender, race, and sexuality, medical anthropology, memory and haunting, religion, multi-species ethnography, new materialisms, legal and political anthropology, economic anthropology, anthropology of race and racism, philosophical anthropology, science and technology studies, sovereignty and the state, and temporality and futurity. Regional specializations include Europe, the Pacific, the Middle East, North America, the Caribbean, and East Asia.
The program in archaeology applies social and ecological theories to produce new anthropological insights into the roles of material culture and the environment in indigenous, prehistoric, and historical contexts. Our archaeologists apply a range of scientific methods in the field and the laboratory to understand human-environmental interactions in the past, and to advance knowledge of landscape use and site formation processes. Regional specializations include Europe, Asia, Latin America, and North America.
The program in biological anthropology offers training and research opportunities in two main areas: paleoanthropology and molecular anthropology. The paleoanthropology speciality combines biological anthropology, vertebrate paleobiology, and Paleolithic archaeology to interpret the evolution and behavior of hominins and other primates through the application of evolutionary theory to the analysis of skeletal morphology, faunal remains, community analysis, and site taphonomy. The molecular anthropology speciality studies the population history of humans by using ancient DNA and modern genomic methods to investigate processes such as migration, admixture, and adaptation, as well as historic trends in disease and health. Students also benefit from training and expertise in primate behavior and ecology, stable isotope paleoecology, phylogeography, geochronology, and phylogenetic methods through close collaborations and co-advising with faculty in other departments.