About the Anthropology Department

 Trinity College

The first interdisciplinary discipline... It synthesizes the disciplines of a liberal arts education and applies them to the real world. Anthropology is not just done in the jungle. As different ethnic groups come together and break apart -- from Los Angeles to Bosnia -- anthropologists strive to understand cultural difference and social change.

Why do people care about their heritages? Why do they fight for the right to practice their religions? How are cultural traditions invented, maintained, and transformed?

These are anthropological questions which demand understanding of the cultural landscapes that, as humans, we create and inhabit.

Why Study Anthropology at Trinity?

In many ways, it is a great time to study anthropology at Trinity and to be working in the field. The pressures of change all around the globe pose new and challenging questions about how societies will deal with themselves and with other societies. The colonial and post-colonial worlds have opened windows into cultures with values different from our own, values we must interpret in their appropriate contexts in order to coexist with mutual respect and benefit. The implications of everything from interpersonal relationships to geopolitical restructurings demand cross-cultural understanding, and to provide that understanding, Anthropology is moving to a central position among the social sciences.

The anthropologist, far from a "raider of the lost ark" -- a latter-day Indiana Jones -- seeks answers to questions that are compellingly relevant in the contemporary world. The problems we face as human beings in our perplexing modern times demand a way of thinking that faces complexity head-on. How, for example, are we to evaluate the effects on indigenous peoples when their rain forests are clear-cut in the name of what third-world governments describe as necessary economic development? What do we say if the indigenous peoples themselves want this development to occur? And, how can we be sure that development means the same thing to them as it does to us?

The world is characterized by a complicated mix of positions and interests that have to be unraveled and understood in a manner that takes complete social and cultural environments into consideration. The anthropologist in today's world is, in a very real sense, a human ecologist, and the opportunity for intellectual challenge and practical involvement has never been greater. As a student at Trinity facing current issues in anthropology, you will be acquiring a set of skills, a way of viewing the world, and a level of understanding that will be assets in any career path you choose.

A Chance To Be in at the Beginning

The Anthropology Program, which is a relatively new major at Trinity, focuses on cultural anthropology, the interpretive study of human beings as they have lived in social groups throughout history and around the world. The Program's recency presents students with an exciting opportunity.  It was developed and given independent status as a result of faculty and student demand, based partly on anthropology's growing relevance in the modern world. The Anthropology major at Trinity helps launch this exciting discipline on campus, while at the same time benefiting from close interaction between student and faculty which is a hallmark of education at the College.

Anthropology is a comprehensive and comparative discipline that embraces human life in all of its diversity and complexity. Broad in focus, Anthropology seeks to understand why people in both exotic and familiar settings do what they do and what accounts for human differences and similarities. It asks how people use material and symbolic resources to solve, often in very different ways, the problems of living in the world and with each other. To arrive at their interpretations, anthropologists interweave the sciences, social sciences, and humanities, engaging in continuous dialogue with other disciplines that enrich the learning experience.

A Glimpse into Ourselves

As with so many areas of study at Trinity, Anthropology is a voyage of self-discovery. The student must confront his or her own role within contemporary society and then place that society in the context of the broader world. Classroom exercises lend perspective to the reality of human interaction and open doors on the diversity that exists in parallel yet alien cultures. In one role-playing project, students are asked to explain American football to a native of Papua New Guinea. They must expect and answer questions of those born outside the United States about the cultural practices Americans take for granted. Why does one charge admission? Why must it be competitive to be enjoyable? Why must there be violence? Students begin to learn what their own cultural assumptions are and how they may have misunderstood other cultures whose members do not embrace these same assumptions.

Students majoring in Anthropology at Trinity study the discipline's history, methodology, and contemporary concerns. Since non-ethnocentric interpretations require familiarity with a particular culture, students take courses concerning distinct areas -- the Caribbean, Africa, Europe, the United States, or the Pacific. They also take courses that emphasize issues of broadly human concern, because interpretations of human similarities and differences can be achieved only through cross-cultural comparison. For electives, students may choose either additional Anthropology courses or appropriate courses in related departments and programs such as International Studies, Classics, Music, Sociology, and Women's Studies. Students work with an adviser to determine the exact mix of courses that will meet their particular objectives.

The Curriculum

Diversity is the benchmark of the Anthropology Program at Trinity. With the world as its combined classroom and laboratory, Anthropology explores issues and topics of a remarkable range and relevance. These include, but are not limited to:

Degree Requirements
The degree in Anthropology requires 10 courses, which include:

Core Courses (3):
Introduction to Cultural Anthropology
History of Anthropological Thought
Anthropological Methods

Ethnographic Courses (2)
Examples:
Peoples of Europe
Peoples of Africa
Peoples and Cultures of the Caribbean
Bringing It All Back Home: The Anthropology of the Contemporary United States

Anthropological Issues (2)
Examples:
Sex, Gender and Power
Anthropological Perspectives on Women and Gender
Cities in Anthropological Perspective
Public Policy and Applied Anthropology
Anthropology of Religion
Religion and Culture Change
The Anthropology of Food
The Concept of Progress
The Politics of Culture

Electives in Anthropology or in Cognate Subjects (2)
Examples:
Language, Meaning and Ideology
Arts and Symbols in Africa
Archeological Method and Theory
World Music
Introduction to Ethnomusicology
Race and Ethnicity
Senior Seminar in Contemporary Anthropological Issues

In addition, students who wish to qualify for Honors in Anthropology must write a two-credit senior thesis.

Independent Study

Students are encouraged to pursue areas of inquiry through independent study. The faculty will work with you to coordinate your specific area of interest with your academic goals. While foreign study is not a requirement of the major, students have the opportunity to design independent projects in countries and civilizations of interest. Recently, a Trinity student, studying Mexican Indian cultures, found himself in the state of Chiapas, in the middle of a peasant revolt which shook the pillars of Mexican society, but which represented a fascinating window on the anthropological implications of life in an underdeveloped area struggling for self-determination.

Foreign Study

Fall and spring semesters, as well as during the summer program, students of Anthropology may study at the Trinity College/Rome campus. Open to students in a variety of disciplines, including anthropology as well as art, music, literature, history, religion, and archaeology, the Rome program explores a city and region rich in cultural heritage and educational opportunities.

Trinity students may study in other approved foreign study programs as well. Nearly 40 percent of our undergraduates study away for a semester or a year, through a program in some 16 European countries or on five other continents.

Anthropology majors may find especially interesting a singular opportunity offered by Trinity in the form of on-site archaeological instruction and field experience at Caesarea Maritima in Israel. In this program Trinity participates in a consortium of colleges and universities sponsoring land and underwater excavations.

Internships

The Trinity internship program plays a major role in extending the academic process beyond the boundaries of the College. More than half of the undergraduate student body will participate in an internship at least once in their four years. These programs, which can be designed with the help of your faculty adviser, are limited only by the scope of your research interests and your ability to translate those interests into a meaningful academic program.

The Trinity Anthropology Program is fortunate to have a collaborative agreement with Hartford's Hispanic Health Council. Students have the opportunity to work with the medical anthropologists on the staff there in research projects and internships involving issues of health and disease in a culturally diverse urban context.

Life After Trinity

To make sense of one's own world and worlds different from our own is a rare and valuable skill in today's marketplace. Modern cultural anthropology as presented and explored through the major at Trinity is excellent preparation for a wide range of career opportunities. Students leave Trinity prepared for graduate study in Anthropology or in related disciplines. Their understanding of society and societies beyond our own is an excellent basis for graduate study along professional paths -- medicine, law, government, international affairs, and public policy. The intellectual honing that occurs through the Anthropology curriculum as part of the overall liberal arts program at Trinity also positions graduates for opportunities in the private sector, in business and management, and can lead to challenging and rewarding careers in any direction.