Director of Undergraduate Studies: Prof. John Pemberton, 858 Schermerhorn Extension; 854-7463; jp373@columbia.edu

Departmental Consultants:
Archaeology: Prof. Zoe Crossland, 965 Schermerhorn; 854-7465; zc2149@columbia.edu
Biological/Physical Anthropology: Prof. Ralph Holloway, 856 Schermerhorn; 854-4570; rlh2@columbia.edu

Departmental Administrator: Patrick McMorrow, 452 Schermerhorn; 854-4552; pm25@columbia.edu

Undergraduate Secretary: Marilyn Astwood, 452 Schermerhorn; 854-4552; mp20@columbia.edu

Departmental Office: 452 Schermerhorn; 854-4552

• http://www.columbia.edu/cu/anthropology

Anthropology at Columbia is the oldest department of anthropology in the United States. Founded by Franz Boas in 1896 as a site of academic inquiry inspired by the uniqueness of cultures and their histories, the department has fostered an expansiveness of thought and independence of intellectual pursuit. Cross-cultural interpretation, global socio-political considerations, a markedly interdisciplinary approach, and a willingness to think otherwise have, from the outset, informed the spirit of anthropology at Columbia. Boas himself wrote widely on pre-modern cultures and modern assumptions, on language, race, art, dance, religion, politics, and much else, as did his graduate students including, most notably, Ruth Benedict and Margaret Mead. In these current times of increasing global awareness, this same spirit of mindful interconnectedness guides the department. Professors in anthropology at Columbia today write widely on colonialism and postcolonialism; on matters of gender, theories of history, knowledge, and power; on language, law, magic, mass-mediated cultures, modernity, and flows of capital and desire; on nationalism, ethnic imaginations, and political contestations; on material cultures and environmental conditions; on ritual, performance, and the arts; on linguistics, symbolism, and questions of representation. They write as well across worlds of similarities and differences concerning the Middle East, China, Africa, the Caribbean, Japan, Latin America, South Asia, Europe, Southeast Asia, North America, and other increasingly transnational and technologically virtual conditions of being.

The Department of Anthropology traditionally offered courses and majors in three main areas: sociocultural anthropology, archaeology, and biological/physical anthropology. While the Sociocultural Anthropology program now comprises the largest part of the department and accounts for the majority of faculty and course offerings, Archaeology is also a vibrant program within Anthropology whose interests overlap significantly with those of Sociocultural Anthropology.  Biological/physical anthropology has shifted its program to the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology.

The Anthropology Department enthusiastically encourages cross-disciplinary and participation in study-abroad programs.

Sociocultural Anthropology

At the heart of Sociocultural Anthropology is an exploration of the possibilities of difference and the craft of writing. Sociocultural Anthropology at Columbia has emerged as a particularly compelling undergraduate liberal arts major. In recent years, the number of majors in Sociocultural Anthropology has more than tripled. Undergraduates come to Sociocultural Anthropology with a wide variety of interests, often pursuing overlapping interests in, for example, performance, religion, writing, law, ethnicity, mass-media, teaching, language and literature, history, human rights, art, linguistics, environment, medicine, film, and many others fields of study, including geographical areas of particular interest and engagement. Such interests can be brought together into provocative and productive conversation with a major or concentration in Sociocultural Anthropology. The requirements for a major in Sociocultural Anthropology reflect this intellectual expansiveness and interdisciplinary spirit.

Anthropological Archaeology

Archaeologists study the ways in which human relations are mediated through material conditions, both past and present. Particular emphases in the program include the rise of ancient states and empires, especially in the indigenous Americas; the impact of colonial encounters on communities in the American Southwest and highland Madagascar; and the development of urbanism, especially in New York City. Issues include the political, economic, social, and ideological foundations of complex societies; archaeological theory and its relationship to broader debates in social theory, technology studies and philosophy. Faculty members also teach and research on questions of museum representations, archaeological knowledge practices, and the socio-politics of archaeology. The program includes the possibility of student internships in New York City museums and archaeological fieldwork in the Americas and elsewhere.