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Departmental Information

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

Departmental Consultants

Archaeology
Prof. Terence D’Altroy
Art History and Archaeology
916 Schermerhorn
854-2131
tnd1@columbia.edu

Biological/Physical Anthropology
Prof. Ralph Holloway
856 Schermerhorn
854-4570
rlh2@columbia.edu

Departmental Administrator
Xiomara Perez-Betances
452 Schermerhorn
854-4552
xp1@columbia.edu

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

Departmental Office
452 Schermerhorn
854-4552

Departmental Web Site
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/anthropology/

Anthropology examines the interplay of social, cultural, political, economic, and physical factors in the construction of human communities and human subjects, addressing collective life as pragmatically built and imaginatively conceived. While a few majors go on to graduate school in anthropology, many take anthropology as a way of learning how to think and write creatively about complex relationships between seemingly disparate domains (e.g., relationships between forms of storytelling and forms of political economy). Anthropology majors have gone on to careers in writing, law, medicine, museums, and nonprofit organizations, as well as academia.

The Anthropology Department offers a wide range of courses and training in three main areas: (1) sociocultural anthropology, (2) archaeology, (3) biolog-ical/physical anthropology, and (4) a specialization that includes all three areas, called general anthropology.

Sociocultural Anthropology

Sociocultural anthropology comprises the largest part of the department and accounts for the majority of the faculty and course offerings. Sociocultural anthropology focuses on the ways in which human communities are produced, contested, transformed, and theorized. Specific topics addressed by the department’s faculty include colonialism and postcolonialism; gender; history; knowledge and power; language; law; the magic of the state; migration; mass-mediated cultures; modernity and flows of capital and desire; nationalism; political economy; ritual and performance; racial and ethnic imaginations and contests; transnational communities and perspectives; semiotics, symbolics, and questions of representation; and issues of violence. Geographical areas of emphasis include Africa, the Caribbean, China, Japan, Latin America, the Middle East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the United States.

Archaeology

Archaeology is the study of the formation and transformation of past human societies through examination of the material record. Particular emphases in the program include the rise of ancient states and empires, especially in ancient Egypt and the indigenous Americas; the impact of colonial encounters on communities in the American Southwest; and the development of urbanism, especially in New York City. Issues include the political, economic, social, and ideological foundations of complex societies, gender relations, systems of writing and other forms of communication, and museum representations. The program includes the possibil-ity of student internships in New York City museums and archaeological field work in the Americas and elsewhere.

Biological/Physical Anthropology

Biological/physical anthropology introduces students to the study of evolution, genetics, morphology, and behavioral ecology of human and nonhuman primates. Courses in environmental biology and related subjects, offered through the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology, supplement those available through the Anthropology Department. Students may develop opportunities to conduct research in conjunction with departmental faculty, or in related institutions like the American Museum of Natural History and the Wildlife Conservation Society (Bronx Zoo).

General Anthropology

The Anthropology Department offers a general major that integrates sociocultural, archaeological, and biological/physical anthropology. This program draws on material from the social sciences, the physical sciences, and the humanities. From this perspective, anthropology examines the sociocultural and biological constitution of the human species since its emergence.

Advising

Majors and concentrators should consult the director of undergraduate studies or the departmental consultants when entering the department and devising their program of study. Students who develop specialized interests within the department may select any willing faculty member as their adviser. Notification in writing to the director of undergraduate studies and the undergraduate secretary is required.