Anthropology, Minor

Introduction

Anthropology explores the diversity of humankind by asking what it means to be human. Anthropologists examine this diversity through the common thread of culture building on the premise that all cultural beliefs, values, and practices can be understood when examined in their own cultural context. By examining human behaviors comparatively, anthropologists learn to avoid ethnocentrism, the tendency to interpret practices as strange on the basis of preconceptions derived from one’s own cultural background. Anthropologists learn how to make the strange familiar and the familiar strange and thereby provide frameworks for cross-cultural understanding at the micro and macro level.

Program Learning Outcomes

• Employ the anthropological thinking to describe how an individuals’ life experiences are shaped by social structures and categories (e.g., race, class, gender, sexuality)
• Demonstrate an understanding of the major questions, concepts, ethical issues, and methodologies that inform the field of anthropology
• Apply anthropological concepts and theories to understand contemporary social issues and/or public debates about these issues
• Use anthropological research methods (e.g., interviews, participant observation, field notes) to develop an understanding of social life, organization, and change
• Communicate anthropological concepts and/or research in a manner that is appropriate for the intended audience (e.g., academic, lay audience)