Anthropology

ANTHROPOLOGY

Anthropology is the study of humans and our biological relatives across time and space. It is the only field to address the diversity of the human experience in its biological, cultural, and historical contexts. We see our long-term vision as a department that addresses and analyzes social, biological, and environmental problems. We have identified four broad themes that address these problems and potential solutions in ways that cut across the subdisciplines: ecology and evolution; human responses to local and global crises; cultural, ethical, and political practices of worldmaking; and collaborative and public anthropology. In 2019, our department was ranked 3rd (tied) in the country for AAU public universities by Academic Analytics based on our scholarly output.

Read the Departmental Statement on Systemic Racism and Violence

Explore the anthropology subdiscipline programs

Lance Holly holding an arrow head in the field

Archaeology

The archaeology subdiscipline provides continuous geographic coverage of ancient societies from the Plains of North America through the Southwest and Mesoamerica to the Intermediate Area. The native societies we focus on range from egalitarian hunter-gatherers through middle-range societies to the city-states and empires of Mesoamerica. The faculty’s theoretical and topical interests include human ecology, ethnoarchaeology, agency, and social theory, lithic and ceramic analyses, remote sensing, disasters in ancient and modern times, and geophysical applications in archeology

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Biological Anthropology

The biological anthropology faculty at CU have interests and research strengths that cross subdisciplinary boundaries and foster collaboration with faculty and graduate students in other disciplines and sub-disciplines. We share an interest in human ecology, the broad integrative area of anthropology that focuses on the interactions of culture, biology, and the environment. We also share an interest in the processes of globalization, which are rapidly changing many aspects of the modern world. As biological anthropologists, we are well-positioned to analyze the impact of globalization on the interaction between biology and behavior, and to analyze human and primate adaptations to changing environments and declining biodiversity.

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Picture of a Chinese women in formal dress

Cultural Anthropology

Among the topical interests of the cultural anthropology faculty are gender and sexuality, culture and power, modernity and consumption, kinship and relatedness, tourism and popular culture, medical anthropology, science and technology studies, human and political ecology, pastoralism, conservation and sustainability, museums, semiotics, concepts of “care,” nationalism and ethnic identity, racial constructs, post-colonialism, refugees and citizenship, and history and memory. Areas of regional expertise in the department include Latin America and the Caribbean, Native America, East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Tibet, East Africa, Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, and Papua New Guinea, as well as their respective diasporas around the world.

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Why Study Anthropology?

Study anthropology if…

You want to understand what it means to be human through time, from our earliest ancestors, and across the many cultures of the world.
You want a different view of the world.
You want to hear the voices of other peoples who share this world with us, but whose lives are often far different from our own.
You want a global perspective.

Anthropologists get to ask and answer the big questions about humanity. Who are we? Where do we come from? Where are we going? If these questions – and many other questions about humanity interest you, study anthropology!