Department of Anthropology
Faculty
Chair
- Carolyn M. Rouse
Director of Undergraduate Studies
- Julia Elyachar
Director of Graduate Studies
- Carolyn M. Rouse
Professor
- João Biehl
- John W. Borneman
- Agustin Fuentes
- Rena S. Lederman
- Serguei A. Oushakine
- Laurence Ralph
- Carolyn M. Rouse
Associate Professor
- Elizabeth A. Davis
- Julia Elyachar
Assistant Professor
- Hanna Garth
- Ryo Morimoto
- Lauren Coyle Rosen
- Jerry C. Zee
Associated Faculty
- Amy B. Borovoy, East Asian Studies
Lecturer
- Mark Drury
- Onur Gunay
- Jeffrey D. Himpele
Visiting Professor
- Didier Fassin
Program Information
Information and Departmental Plan of Study
Prerequisites
Students who wish to concentrate in the Department of Anthropology must take one anthropology course (any level) prior to junior year or have permission from the director of undergraduate studies.
Early Concentration
A sophomore may apply for early concentration through consultation with the director of undergraduate studies.
Program of Study
Anthropology concentrators must take nine departmental courses, including the core courses ANT 300 (Ethnography, Evidence and Experience) and ANT 301 (The Ethnographer's Craft). All concentrators are required to participate in a senior seminar the fall semester of their senior year. The seminar is designed to help students write their senior theses.
Students concentrating in anthropology choose one of three tracks.
The Sociocultural Anthropology track is for students who want to explore a number of foundational subfields within anthropology. For students who choose the Law, Politics, and Economics or Medical Anthropology track, the selection of required and elective courses is geared toward rigorous study in these respective subfields. The courses in each track ensure that students, regardless of track, have a systematic understanding of the scope, methods and theories within the discipline of anthropology by the time they graduate.
A cognate course may be used to satisfy a departmental in any track. Students are allowed up to two cognates. The cognate may be an anthropology course taken during study abroad and/or a course offered by another department or program at Princeton that the director of undergraduate studies has reviewed and deemed to be relevant to a student's independent work or correspond to a student’s course of study (i.e. track). Proposed cognates must be approved by the department.
Well prepared undergraduates may take graduate seminars for departmental credit. To enroll in a graduate seminar, the student must have the approval of the director of undergraduate studies and the instructor of the course. Actual course offerings every year are more extensive than what is listed in the Undergraduate Announcement, so students should always check Course Offerings.
Departmental Tracks
Concentrators are automatically placed in the Sociocultural Anthropology track unless they formally declare that they are opting into the Medical Anthropology track or the Law, Politics, and Economics track. Concentrators are encouraged to decide as early as possible and must declare their chosen track on or before the first day of the spring term of their junior year.
The transcript degree for all concentrators will be A.B. in Anthropology. Students who successfully complete the curriculum of their chosen track will receive a departmental attestation on Class Day and may note their track concentration on their resumés.
Sociocultural Anthropology Track
The Sociocultural Anthropology Track (SCA) is for students who want to explore a number of foundational topics within the field of anthropology (e.g. religion, gender, ritual, language, medicine, politics, economics, kinship, psychology, visual anthropology, law). In addition to exploring a variety of topics, students in this track are deeply immersed in the history of the discipline.
The SCA track requires nine courses total; three are required and the other six are electives selected according to distribution by course level.
Required Courses (3)
ANT 300 Ethnography, Evidence and Experience
ANT 301 The Ethnographer's Craft
ANT 390 History of Anthropological Theory
Elective Courses by Distribution (6)
Two foundational 200-level courses (one may be a cognate approved at this level)
One 300-level course in addition to 300, 301, 390 (may be a cognate approved at this level)
One advanced 400-level topical course (may be a cognate approved at this level)
Two free electives (may be another ANT course at any level and/or a cognate)
Possible Cognates (2)
Students in SCA are allowed to take two cognates as explained under the Elective Courses by Distribution and Program of Study sections above.
Senior Thesis
Students in SCA can choose any anthropological topic for the senior thesis, provided the methodological and theoretical approach taken is approved by a student's senior thesis adviser.
Medical Anthropology Track
The Medical Anthropology Track (MedAnth) is for students interested in all aspects of medicine, from biology to therapeutic systems to cultural ideas and practices of health and wellbeing. Choosing this track allows students who are interested in the sciences, policy, the humanities and the subfield of medical anthropology to focus their undergraduate training around these topics.
The MedAnth track requires nine courses total; four are required and the other five are electives selected from category groups explained below. Students in this track are allowed to substitute up to two of the five elective courses with a class taught within the Department of Anthropology but outside MedAnth. Students are also allowed to satisfy departmental courses using two cognates.
Required Courses (4)
ANT 300 Ethnography, Evidence and Experience
ANT 301 The Ethnographer’s Craft
One Foundational Medical Anthropology course offered by the Department including: Medical Anthropology (ANT 240), Medicine and the Humanities (ANT 340), Psychological Anthropology (ANT 305), Race and Medicine (ANT 403)
One Biological Anthropology course offered by the Department or a cognate Biological course including: ANT 206 (or another course on human evolution), ANT 428 (Mythbusting Race and Sex: anthropology, biology, and 'human natures'), an approved EEB or MOL course
Elective Courses (5)
Two Medical Anthropology and/or Science and Technology courses, for example: Introduction to Anthropology (ANT 201); The Anthropology of Disaster (ANT 219); Sensory Anthropology (ANT 331); Ethics in Context (ANT 360); Global Pharmaceuticals (ANT 405); Multispecies Ecologies in the Anthropocene (ANT 426); Disability, Difference, and Race (ANT 461); Critical Perspectives in Global Health (GHP 350/ANT 380); an additional foundational medical or biological anthropology course, or an ANT/ENV or ENV/ANT course taught by a member of the ANT faculty
One Medicine and Society course taught outside the department (department approval is required and counts as a cognate unless cross-listed by ANT), for example: History of Science, Global Health, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Molecular Biology, Psychology, Neuroscience, Sociology, School of Public and International Affairs; or an additional Medical Anthropology and/or Science and Technology course
Two Anthropology courses on any subject, or one ANT course and a department approved cognate. The department encourages MedAnth students to take History of Anthropological Theory (ANT 390) if they can fit it into their schedules.
Courses satisfying each of the four required course categories are offered annually. Courses satisfying the elective course categories are typically taught every other year, although some may be offered annually and others less frequently. A list of pre-approved MedAnth courses will be published each semester before course enrollment begins.
Possible Cognates (2)
MedAnth students are allowed to take two cognates (as defined under Program of Study above). A department cognate for a MedAnth student might include a course taught in departments or programs listed above under Medicine and Society courses or others, such as African American Studies; Ecology and Evolutionary Biology; Engineering; regional studies including but not limited to AMS, EAS, LAS, NES; and/or courses taken during study abroad.
Senior Thesis
Anthropologists consider the body the existential ground of culture, so students in MedAnth can choose any anthropological topic for the senior thesis, provided the methodological and theoretical approach taken is approved by a student's senior thesis adviser.
Law, Politics, and Economics Track
The Law, Politics, and Economics Track (LPE) is for students interested in three well-established fields within the discipline of anthropology. Students in this track are introduced to comparative studies of law, politics, development, and microeconomics (what anthropologists call exchange) across cultures.
The LPE track requires nine courses total; three are required and the other six include departmental electives focused on the law, economics and politics (see examples from list below). Students in this track are allowed to substitute up to two of the six elective courses with a class taught within the Department of Anthropology but outside the LPE track. Students are also allowed to take two cognates.
Required Courses (3)
ANT 300 Ethnography, Evidence and Experience
ANT 301 The Ethnographer’s Craft
ANT 390 History of Anthropological Theory
Elective Courses (6)
A few examples of LPE electives are shown below. These courses are typically taught every other year, although some may be offered annually and others less frequently. A list of pre-approved LPE courses will be published each semester before course enrollment begins.
- Courses pertaining to economics: Economic Life in Cultural Context (ANT 203); Debt (ANT 225); Economic Experience in Cultural Context (ANT 303); The Anthropology of Development (ANT 314); Economic Anthropology and American Pop Culture (ANT 350); a course on food anthropology
- Courses pertaining to politics: #BlackLivesMatter (ANT 244); Political Anthropology (ANT 304); Rituals of Governing (ANT 453); Revolt (319); Catastrophes across Cultures: The Anthropology of Disaster (ANT 219); Urban Anthropology (ANT 227); Communist Modernity: The Politics and Culture of Soviet Utopia (SLA 420/ANT 420); Conspiracy Theory and Social Theory (ANT 406)
- Courses pertaining to law: The Anthropology of Law (ANT 342); Policing and Militarization Today (ANT 223); Labors of Consciousness: Culture, Capital, Moral Economy (ANT 417)
Possible Cognates (2)
LPE students are allowed to take two cognates (as defined under Program of Study above). Appropriate cognates for LPE might include Introduction to Microeconomics (ECO 100), a course taught in the Politics Department, a regional studies course, courses taken during study abroad and/or anthropology courses taught outside the Law, Politics, and Economics track.
Senior Thesis
Students in LPE must write a senior thesis on a topic related to law, politics, and/or economics, broadly defined. The methodological and theoretical approach taken must be approved by a student’s senior thesis adviser.
Independent Work
Junior Independent Work. Independent work in the junior year involves an original paper, usually based on library research. Normally, field research is not appropriate for this paper. In the fall, students develop a detailed problem statement and annotated bibliography on a subject relevant to the student's interests, as a research proposal for approval by the department. In the spring, students write a paper based on the research initiated in the fall, in consultation with their adviser.
Since the junior paper topic is chosen before the final track declaration deadline, junior papers, unlike senior theses, do not have to be related to a student’s chosen track. Junior independent work, regardless of track, is meant to teach students how to do a review of the anthropological literatures related to a student’s area of interest.
Senior Independent Work. In the senior year, independent work consists of a thesis, or a comparable project including a substantial written component, on a subject relevant to the student's interests using a methodological and theoretical approach approved by the department. Field work is encouraged but not required. A required senior seminar that meets periodically during the fall term of the senior year is designed to help students write their senior theses.
Senior Departmental Examination
In the spring of senior year, after the thesis deadline, all concentrators must complete a departmental examination designed to test their knowledge of anthropology as it relates to their area of expertise.
Additional Information
Special University Programs. Students who choose to concentrate in the department are encouraged to take advantage of opportunities for individual study under special University programs. For example, under the Study Abroad Program, students may enrich their programs at Princeton with a term or a year of anthropological study abroad. Under the Field Study Program it is possible for concentrators to conduct intensive field study in the United States. The International Internship Program organizes internships for students abroad, usually during a summer term. The Program for Community-Engaged Scholarship also provides opportunities for independent research. Students should consult with the director of undergraduate studies about these and other possibilities.
Interdepartmental Programs. Students concentrating in the department may participate in programs such as: African American studies, African studies, American studies, East Asian studies, environmental studies, European cultural studies, gender and sexuality studies, global health and health policy, Hellenic studies, humanistic studies, Latin American studies, Near Eastern studies, creative and performing arts, various languages and cultures programs, and the Program in Law and Public Affairs.
Ethnographic Studies for Non-Majors. Students interested in learning ethnographic methods, but are unable to major in Anthropology, are encouraged to take the department’s methods courses: ANT 300 and ANT 301 as well as ANT topics courses. Non-Anthropology majors are also welcome to sign up for any ANT faculty office hours if help with independent ethnographic research is needed.