Anthropology
The Anthropology major is designed to develop a critical awareness and understanding of the diversity of peoples and cultures and of the relevance and application of anthropological perspectives and methods to contemporary issues. The major provides a well-balanced intellectual and practical background for a broad range of careers and fields of graduate study, particularly those that require culturally-sensitive approaches or multicultural perspectives. Geographically, we specialize in the Caribbean, Latin America, and Latinos in the U.S. Topically, our courses cover issues central to our contemporary global society: questions of race class and gender; power and violence; cross-cultural constructions of masculinity and femininity; environmental injustice; global inequality; migration and identity; and advocacy and activism. Anthropology majors acquire solid grounding in both the social and cultural theory employed and generated by anthropologists and the ethnographic methods that define our discipline.
A critical component of the Anthropology major is the period of in-depth ethnographic research
described below.
Students seeking a major in Anthropology complete the requirements for a BA degree.
Students are strongly encouraged to participate in study abroad programs and are required to complete a period of in-depth ethnographic research during which they collect data for their capstone.
This research period must be completed by end of the Fall semester of their senior year and must entail a minimum of four weeks of intensive research or its equivalent. Students must prepare a proposal for the ethnographic research they plan to conduct, and must submit the proposal to the anthropology faculty for approval at least six weeks before beginning their research. The proposal should state the research question, describe the fieldwork site, provide a rationale for the methods to be used, and include a bibliography of relevant literature on the research problem and/or site. Students may conduct their research through a variety of ways, including the following: field component of approved intercultural study program, such as School for International Training (SIT), Minnesota Studies in International Development (MSID), or Higher Education Consortium for Urban Affairs (HECUA); independent research supervised by Southwestern Anthropology faculty; or an approved summer field program offered by another institution.
Major in Anthropology
Required Courses :32 semester hours, including Anthropology 35-103, 203 (to be taken in the sophomore or junior year), 214 (to be taken in the sophomore or junior year), 964 (Capstone, to be taken in the spring of the senior year); Sociology 34-113 or 123; 15 additional hours of Anthropology above the introductory level (eight of these hours may be in Sociology).
Additional requirements for the Anthropology major:In depth ethnographic research project to yield data for use in capstone as described above; successful completion of a senior oral examination during the last semester of study.
Minor in Anthropology
Required Courses :18 semester hours, including Anthropology 35-103; fifteen additional semester hours of Anthropology, at least nine hours of which must be above the introductory level (four of these hours may be in Sociology).
