Anthropology Major Requirements

The anthropology major at Trinity focuses on cultural anthropology, which is the interpretive study of human beings as they are culturally constituted and as they have lived in social groups throughout history and around the world. As such, it is a comprehensive and comparative discipline that embraces human life in all of its diversity and complexity. Broad in focus, it seeks to understand in a non-ethnocentric manner why people - in both "exotic" and familiar settings - do what they do and what accounts for human differences as well as similarities. It asks how people use material and symbolic resources to solve, in often varying 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 dialogues with other disciplines.

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

SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS

Ten courses with a minimum grade of C-, including:

• 1. Three core courses. Anthropology 201: Introduction to Cultural Anthropology; Anthropology 202: History of Anthropological Thought; Anthropology 301: Anthropological Methods.
• 2. Two ethnographic courses. Examples include Anthropology 210: Peoples of Europe; Anthropology 270: Peoples of Africa; Anthropology 362: Peoples and Cultures of the Caribbean; Anthropology 370: Bringing It All Back Home: the Anthropology of the Contemporary United States.
• 3. Two courses on anthropological issues. Examples include Anthropology 206: Sex, Gender and Power; Anthropology 207: Anthropological Perspectives on Women and Gender; Anthropology 220: Cities in Anthropological Perspective; Anthropology 240: Public Policy and Applied Anthropology; Anthropology 281: Anthropology of Religion; Anthropology 289: Religion and Culture Change; Anthropology 330: The Anthropology of Food; Anthropology 350: The Concept of Progress; Anthropology 360: The Politics of Culture.
• 4. Two electives in Anthropology or in cognate subjects. Examples include International Studies 294: Art and Symbols in Africa; Classical Civilizations 216: Archeological Method and Theory; Music 113: World Music; Music 222: Introduction to Ethnomusicology; Sociology 214: Race and Ethnicity.
• 5. The Senior Seminar (Anthropology 401, Senior Seminar in Contemporary Anthropological Issues) which serves as the major's senior exercise.

In addition, students who wish to qualify for Honors in Anthropology must write a two-credit senior thesis. Honors will be awarded to those whose thesis is granted an A- or better and who have a minimum grade average of B+ for the courses comprising their major.

Click here for more details on requirements for the honors thesis.

>