Mission Statement

The mission of the anthropology program is to create a learning environment through which students can come to understand and appreciate human diversity, develop a critical perspective on their own society, and examine their role as citizens in a complex, global community.

Throughout its history the discipline of anthropology has been committed to documenting and explaining biological and cultural diversity, fostering cross-cultural understanding, and using anthropological knowledge to address real-world problems, in particular those arising from social, political, and economic inequalities. The anthropology program strives to achieve these objectives locally through its emphasis on a four-fields major, its incorporation of historical, feminist, and applied perspectives, its ongoing commitment to service courses reaching a broad range of students, and its service to the campus and wider communities.

Though the program's goals arise out of the discipline, they are consistent with the mission of the college. Whether students envision a career in archaeology, communications, or medicine, whether they take a single anthropology course or many, our offerings are designed to help them "deal reflectively with challenges facing human beings in the world" and to "seek the significance of learning for responsible human life." Furthermore, the defining characteristics of anthropology- the holistic approach and critical analysis- emphasize the same broad-based, critically informed understanding of the world that is the essence of the liberal arts. The lens of anthropology is thus an invaluable tool for moving students "Beyond immediate interests and present knowledge" and enabling them to develop as "whole persons who are resilient enough to confront and evaluate the changing society in which they serve." It is no coincidence that a high proportion of our majors go on to do a year or more of volunteer service following graduation from college, and often enter service-oriented careers. Regardless of whether or not they define their life's work as anthropology, and many of them continue to think of themselves as anthropologists and use their anthropological training both to understand and change the world around them.

What is Anthropology?