Anthropology
About the Program
Bachelor of Arts: 182.0 quarter credits
Students majoring in anthropology broaden their understanding of the diversity of cultures and ways of life in the global environment through theoretical courses, content area courses, and specialized courses in field techniques and methodology.
The Anthropology major is a small, highly specialized program that provides students with an exceptional background in theory, methodology, and field experience for the workplace or graduate training.
The Bachelor of Arts degree is a four year program, with a single six month internship in the junior year. The core of the major is an internship program and corresponding seminar taken each year for a total of 12 credits. The seminar requires presentation of research and facilitates the transformation of field experiences into ethnographic writing, films and other products. The class is restricted to anthropology majors and has been designed to provide students with the opportunity to be mentored by faculty and to establish peer-mentoring relationships with other students both within and outside of formal classes. This seminar is a place where fieldwork can be planned and issues of participant observation that come up in other courses can be discussed and analyzed.
Additional Information
Caroline Chmielewski
Program Coordinator
Department of Culture & Communication
Building 47-118
215- 895-2455
chmielcm@drexel.edu
For more information specific to the field of anthropology, contact:
Anthony P. Glascock, PhD
Professor of Anthropology
Culture and Communcation
anthony.philip.glascock@drexel.edu
For more details about the Anthropology major, visit the Culture and Communication department's Anthropology web site.
Degree Requirements
| General Requirements | ||
| ENGL 101 | Expository Writing and Reading | 3.0 |
| ENGL 102 | Persuasive Writing and Reading | 3.0 |
| ENGL 103 | Analytical Writing and Reading | 3.0 |
| UNIV H101 | The Drexel Experience | 2.0 |
| Two Mathematics Courses | 6.0-8.0 | |
| Two Science Courses | 6.0-8.0 | |
| Foreign Language Courses | ||
| A minimum of two consecutive language courses * | 8.0 | |
| Humanities and Fine Arts | ||
| LING 102 | Language and Society | 3.0 |
| COM 150 | Mass Media and Society | 3.0 |
| Two Humanities and Fine Arts Courses | 6.0 | |
| Social and Behavioral Sciences | ||
| ANTH 110 | Human Past: Anthropology and Prehistoric Archeology | 3.0 |
| ANTH 330 | Media Anthropology | 3.0 |
| COM 355 | Ethnography of Communication | 3.0 |
| SOC 101 | Introduction to Sociology | 3.0 |
| International Studies | ||
| ANTH 310 | Societies In Transition: The Impact of Modernization and the Third World | 3.0 |
| International Studies Elective | 3.0 | |
| Studies in Diversity | ||
| ANTH 101 | Introduction to Cultural Diversity | 3.0 |
| ANTH 215 | Anthropology of Gender | 3.0 |
| Anthropology Requirements | ||
| Community Research | ||
| SOC 270 | Theory of Applied and Community Sociology | 3.0 |
| ANTH 370 | Ethnographic Methods | 3.0 |
| ANTH 390 | Seminar in Ethnography (3-credit course taken 4 terms) | 12.0 |
| Methods Sequence | ||
| COM 220 | Qualitative Research Methods | 3.0 |
| SOC 250 | Research Methods I | 3.0 |
| SOC 364 | Computer-Assisted Data Analysis | 3.0 |
| Theory Sequence | ||
| COM 210 | Theory and Models of Communication | 3.0 |
| SOC 260 [WI] | Classical Social Theory (WI) | 3.0 |
| ANTH 410 | Cultural Theory | 3.0 |
| Anthropology Program Requirements | ||
| Select ten of the following: | 30.0 | |
| Biblical Archaeology: The Archaeology of Israel and Jordan | ||
| Worldview: Science, Religion and Magic | ||
| Topics in World Ethnography | ||
| Aging In Cross-Cultural Perspective | ||
| Urban Anthropology | ||
| Psychological Anthropology | ||
| Approaches to Intercultural Behavior | ||
| Anthropology of Cyberspace | ||
| Culture and the Environment | ||
| Family and Kinship | ||
| Special Topics in Anthropology | ||
| Intercultural Communication | ||
| International Communication | ||
| Sociology of Aging | ||
| Race and Ethnic Relations | ||
| Wealth and Power | ||
| Sociology of Education I | ||
| Electives | ||
| Free Electives | 49.0 | |
| Total Credits | 182.0-186.0 | |
:
| * | At least one foreign language course must be at the 200-level. |
Writing-Intensive Course Requirements
In order to graduate, all students must pass three writing-intensive courses after their freshman year. Two writing-intensive courses must be in a student's major. The third can be in any discipline. Students are advised to take one writing-intensive class each year, beginning with the sophomore year, and to avoid “clustering” these courses near the end of their matriculation. Transfer students need to meet with an academic advisor to review the number of writing-intensive courses required to graduate.
A "WI" next to a course in this catalog may indicate that this course can fulfill a writing-intensive requirement. For the most up-to-date list of writing-intensive courses being offered, students should check the Writing Intensive Course List at the University Writing Center. Students scheduling their courses can also conduct a search for courses with the attribute "WI" to bring up a list of all writing-intensive courses available that term. Transfer students need to meet with an academic advisor to review the number of writing-intensive courses required to graduate.
Sample Plan of Study
| Term 1 | Credits | |
|---|---|---|
| ANTH 101 | Introduction to Cultural Diversity | 3.0 |
| ENGL 101 | Expository Writing and Reading | 3.0 |
| UNIV H101 | The Drexel Experience | 1.0 |
| Math Elective | 3.0-4.0 | |
| Foreign Language Course | 4.0 | |
| Term Credits | 14.0-15.0 | |
| Term 2 | ||
| ANTH 110 | Human Past: Anthropology and Prehistoric Archeology | 3.0 |
| ENGL 102 | Persuasive Writing and Reading | 3.0 |
| UNIV H101 | The Drexel Experience | 1.0 |
| Math Elective | 3.0-4.0 | |
| Foreign Language Course | 4.0 | |
| Term Credits | 14.0-15.0 | |
| Term 3 | ||
| ANTH 390 | Seminar in Ethnography | 3.0 |
| ENGL 103 | Analytical Writing and Reading | 3.0 |
| SOC 101 | Introduction to Sociology | 3.0 |
| SOC 260 [WI] | Classical Social Theory | 3.0 |
| SOC 270 | Theory of Applied and Community Sociology | 3.0 |
| Term Credits | 15.0 | |
| Term 4 | ||
| ANTH 215 | Anthropology of Gender | 3.0 |
| COM 150 | Mass Media and Society | 3.0 |
| COM 220 | Qualitative Research Methods | 3.0 |
| Lab Science Elective | 3.0 | |
| Humanities/Fine Arts Elective | 3.0 | |
| Term Credits | 15.0 | |
| Term 5 | ||
| ANTH 370 | Ethnographic Methods | 3.0 |
| COM 210 | Theory and Models of Communication | 3.0 |
| SOC 250 | Research Methods I | 3.0 |
| Lab Science Elective | 3.0 | |
| Humanities/Fine Arts Elective | 3.0 | |
| Term Credits | 15.0 | |
| Term 6 | ||
| ANTH 310 | Societies In Transition: The Impact of Modernization and the Third World | 3.0 |
| ANTH 390 | Seminar in Ethnography | 3.0 |
| LING 102 | Language and Society | 3.0 |
| SOC 364 | Computer-Assisted Data Analysis | 3.0 |
| Anthropology Program Requirement* | 3.0 | |
| Term Credits | 15.0 | |
| Term 7 | ||
| ANTH 330 | Media Anthropology | 3.0 |
| Free Electives | 12.0 | |
| Term Credits | 15.0 | |
| Term 8 | ||
| ANTH 390 | Seminar in Ethnography | 3.0 |
| Free Elective | 4.0 | |
| Anthropology Program Requirements* | 6.0 | |
| Term Credits | 13.0 | |
| Term 9 | ||
| Anthropology Program Requirements* | 6.0 | |
| Free Electives | 6.0 | |
| Term Credits | 12.0 | |
| Term 10 | ||
| ANTH 410 | Cultural Theory | 3.0 |
| COM 355 | Ethnography of Communication | 3.0 |
| Anthropology Program Requirements* | 6.0 | |
| Free Electives | 6.0 | |
| Term Credits | 18.0 | |
| Term 11 | ||
| Anthropology Program Requirements* | 6.0 | |
| Social and Behavioral Sciences Elective | 3.0-4.0 | |
| Free Electives | 12.0 | |
| Term Credits | 21.0-22.0 | |
| Term 12 | ||
| ANTH 390 | Seminar in Ethnography | 3.0 |
| Anthropology Program Requirement* | 3.0 | |
| Free Electives | 9.0 | |
| Term Credits | 15.0 | |
| Total Credit: 182.0-185.0 | ||
| * | See degree requirements. |
Internship/Career Opportunities
Internships
Internships can take place in metropolitan areas or in remote international settings more traditional for anthropological work. Metropolitan internships can range from working with non-profit organizations that use ethnography to understand community needs, to working with marketing firms that use ethnographic methods to study the patterns of consumer behavior. Additional opportunities may include working with school districts, corporations, and other organizations that use ethnographic research to understand the intimate forms of interaction among members of various social groups. Internships in these settings allow students to participate in the development of anthropological research to understand corporate structure and leadership patterns, consumer behavior, and the role of community service programs in larger urban areas.
International internship opportunities can include governmental organizations as well as non-governmental organizations (NGOs) using ethnographic research in order to investigate how people think about issues and the problems with which they are faced. Some of the kinds of internship work students may undertake throughout the world can include environmental efforts, healthcare initiatives, economic development programs and social change projects.
All internships will be offered in the fall/winter cycle. Students complete their internships in the junior year, allowing them to produce final products (e.g. portfolios, research papers, anthropological videos or other appropriate products) out of their field research in their senior year.
Post-Graduate Opportunities
Many corporations, schools and health-care institutions are using ethnographic field techniques and qualitative methods in order to understand their markets and clientele, or for that matter, their own organizational structure. The Anthropology major prepares students for employment in these areas, as well as for further graduate work in anthropology, public policy, law and other social and behavioral sciences.
Visit the Drexel Steinbright Career Development Center page for more detailed information on post-graduate opportunities.
Minor in Anthropology
The anthropology minor provides students in other fields with a cross-cultural awareness that will enable them to interact with a variety of people in a wide range of situations. By giving students a respect for and understanding of the basis of cultural variation, the minor can facilitate working in international settings. Even for students working within the United States, anthropology offers increased sensitivity to ethnic and population diversity. Medicine, law, counseling, nursing, and nutrition are only a few of the fields in which clients and professionals may come from different parts of our heterogeneous society.
| Required (Core) Courses | ||
| ANTH 101 | Introduction to Cultural Diversity | 3.0 |
| ANTH 110 | Human Past: Anthropology and Prehistoric Archeology | 3.0 |
| ANTH 210 [WI] | Worldview: Science, Religion and Magic | 3.0 |
| ANTH 370 | Ethnographic Methods | 3.0 |
| ANTH 410 | Cultural Theory | 3.0 |
| Select three of the following: | 9.0 | |
| Anthropology of Gender | ||
| Media Anthropology | ||
| Biblical Archaeology: The Archaeology of Israel and Jordan | ||
| Topics in World Ethnography | ||
| Aging In Cross-Cultural Perspective | ||
| Urban Anthropology | ||
| Societies In Transition: The Impact of Modernization and the Third World | ||
| Approaches to Intercultural Behavior | ||
| Anthropology of Cyberspace | ||
| Culture and the Environment | ||
| Family and Kinship | ||
| Special Topics in Anthropology | ||
| Total Credits | 24.0 | |
Courses
ANTH 101 Introduction to Cultural Diversity 3.0 Credits
Examines the diversity that exists in human culture. Uses lectures, films, and discussions to examine and illustrate the relationship between humans and their social/cultural systems.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
ANTH 110 Human Past: Anthropology and Prehistoric Archeology 3.0 Credits
Examines human origins from the australopithecines to the present, including both the physiological and archaeological records. Discusses new finds and new interpretations of evolution.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
ANTH 120 Biblical Archaeology: The Archaeology of Israel and Jordan 3.0 Credits
Examines the archaeology of Israel and Jordan from the earliest human occupation until the Persian Conquest in 535 B.C. Discusses many places described in the Old Testament in an archaeological context.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
ANTH 210 [WI] Worldview: Science, Religion and Magic 3.0 Credits
Examines anthropological and archaeological evidence of the worldviews of non-literate people, as shown in the practice of ceremony, magic, sorcery, and witchcraft, and the role of shamans and priests. This is a writing intensive course.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
Restrictions: Cannot enroll if classification is Freshman
ANTH 212 Topics in World Ethnography 3.0 Credits
Examines the peoples and cultures of the selected cultural areas. Emphasizes indigenous cultures and the effects of modernization on these cultures.
Repeat Status: Can be repeated multiple times for credit
ANTH 215 Anthropology of Gender 3.0 Credits
This course takes an ethnographic approach to the study of gender socializations and gender roles. We will address issues of sex roles, the cultural construction of gender categories, the forms of gender inequality, and the ways cultures engage in gender based power relationships. While these issues will be dealt with in specific and local ethnographic contexts, students will be encouraged to make comparisons across the contexts and to compare these works with their own experience.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
ANTH 220 Aging In Cross-Cultural Perspective 3.0 Credits
Examines the status, roles, and treatments of elderly people in various societies throughout the world and among minority groups in the United States.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
ANTH 240 Urban Anthropology 3.0 Credits
This course will give students the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the major themes in urban anthropology and how they relate to other areas of research in anthropology and the social sciences in general. Students will focus on the research methods used by urban anthropologists as well as read different ethnographic cases of urban life.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
ANTH 250 Anthropology of Immigration 3.0 Credits
By examination of key ethnographical texts, the course covers basic theoretical and topical approaches to the anthropology of immigration, including: immigration and emigration; transnationalism and globalization; reception contexts; ethnic economies, enclaves and ethnic businesses; global economic strategies for migrant households; refugees, the state and immigration; culture, identity, and adaptation and assimilation.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
ANTH 255 Psychological Anthropology 3.0 Credits
The course is an overview of the field of Psychological Anthropology. It examines issues live nature vs. nurture; personality and "madness"; ethnopsychologies; and cognition. The attempt is to always recognize the salience and significance of culture when considering these issues.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
Restrictions: Cannot enroll if classification is Freshman
ANTH 310 Societies In Transition: The Impact of Modernization and the Third World 3.0 Credits
Looks at the impact of 20th-century technology on traditional societies. Uses area studies from Africa, Asia, and elsewhere to explore institutions such as the family, the polity, the economy, and religion.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
Restrictions: Cannot enroll if classification is Freshman
ANTH 312 Approaches to Intercultural Behavior 3.0 Credits
Examines theory and case studies related to working and living outside the United States. Includes topics such as culture shock, cultural relativity, and ethnocentrism. Selects specific geographic culture areas for case studies.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
ANTH 330 Media Anthropology 3.0 Credits
This course will introduce students to the anthropological study of media including traditional forms of mass media as well as new media such as the Internet. Students will be exposed to the theories and methodologies of media study from an anthropological perspective. Students will also engage in their own ethnographic studies of media to gain first hand experience with the methods of anthropology.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
ANTH 340 Crete Through The Looking Glass 3.0 Credits
Students are guided through the techniques of fieldwork and participant observation to attend several customs and practices through various fieldtrips. Traveling is a course requirement used toward the completion of a research project. While "at home", students reflect on their experiences through a looking-glass process.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
Restrictions: Cannot enroll if classification is Freshman
ANTH 345 Visual Anthropology 3.0 Credits
Introduces students to the subdiscipline of visual anthropology through an overview of visual theory and a survey of ethnographic photography and film. Students will learn to evaluate ethnographic visual representation as well as develop their own skills as visual anthropologists through documenting and representing cultural phenomena.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
Prerequisites: ANTH 101 [Min Grade: D]
ANTH 350 Anthropology of Language 3.0 Credits
Explores how humans organize cultural activities though language and vice versa. After covering a short history of linguistic anthropological study and method, materials include ethnographic study of language and socialization, verbal art and linguistic performance, language and cultural categories, writing and literacy, and language ideologies.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
ANTH 355 Anthropology of Cyberspace 3.0 Credits
This course will focus on how the internet and new media have changed the way we think about space and time, the ways we works and engage in leisure activities. We will bring the approach of anthropology to the study of these new media in order to ask key questions about social life.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
ANTH 360 Culture and the Environment 3.0 Credits
This course explores the interplay between culture and the environment by examining both ethnographic accounts from around the world and archeological materials from the last 14,000 years. Special attention is paid to the changing cultural view of the environment over the last two centuries.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
ANTH 363 Sacred Traditions of the East 3.0 Credits
This course introduces the student to sacred traditions of Asia: Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism. It will attempt a historical-comparative investigation of these traditions. It will emphasize the practice and philosophical underpinnings of these traditions, as well as the interplay between integration of the folk or popular aspects and the abstracts or esoteric.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
ANTH 365 Family and Kinship 3.0 Credits
The course investigates the concepts of family and kinship from an anthropological perspective. It looks at the family as a critical and contradictory location at the intersection of global and transnational forces. Using anthropological concepts such as status and role, it will explore changing gender relationships, sexual expression, parenting and aging.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
Restrictions: Cannot enroll if classification is Freshman
ANTH 370 Ethnographic Methods 3.0 Credits
The course introduces students to ethnographic research methods through eight hands-on assignments: 1) selecting a site; 2) establishing rapport; 3) operationalizing hypotheses; 4) using qualitative and quantitative data gathering techniques; 5) taking field notes ; 6) analyzing data collected; 7) synthesizing these data; and 8) writing an ethnographic report.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
Restrictions: Cannot enroll if classification is Freshman
ANTH 380 Special Topics in Anthropology 3.0 Credits
This course will explore current issues and debates in Anthropology. It will be conducted as a seminar. The topic will vary each term.
Repeat Status: Can be repeated multiple times for credit
ANTH 390 Seminar in Ethnography 3.0 Credits
The Seminar in Ethnography is a course for anthropology majors. This is a peer-mentoring practicum where students are given the opportunity to present their own ethnographic fieldwork and get feedback from other students in the seminar. All anthropology majors will be in the seminar together. Juniors and seniors will be presenting mature research as well as mentoring the freshmen and sophomores.
Repeat Status: Can be repeated 3 times for 12 credits
Restrictions: Can enroll if major is ANTH.
ANTH 410 Cultural Theory 3.0 Credits
Explores controversial issues and questions, such as sociobiology and what it means to be human, as they have been and are being studied by those concerned with human origins and development. Reviews major thinkers in the history and theory of anthropology, including modernists and postmodernists.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
Restrictions: Cannot enroll if classification is Freshman
ANTH 499 Directed Studies in Anthropology 12.0 Credits
Provides supervised study of special subjects in anthropology. See department for topics and terms offered.
Repeat Status: Can be repeated multiple times for credit
