The department is committed to comparative research that seeks theories that allow for the enormous diversity in human life. The program offers a holistic approach to the study of humans and exposes students to the traditional subdisciplines of anthropology while ensuring that they also receive intensive training in particular problems within one subfield. Archaeologists in the department are committed to the belief that the material remains of ancient societies provide significant insights into the dynamics of sociocultural evolution. The department has developed an archaeology program that focuses on key transformations in cultural evolution the origins of art and symbolism archeology and gender the emergence of food production and the development and collapse of chieftaincies and early states. The research and training program in our department is distinguished by its unique commitment to integrating laboratory based and field based research.

We have state of the art laboratories in genetics and molecular systematics, and in paleoanthropology, with superb facilities for both research and teaching in these areas. In addition, faculty and students are conducting primatological and paleoanthropological research at sites in south america, asia and africa. This two year program prepares graduates to apply the principles and techniques of skeletal biology and genetic research in biological anthropology to a variety of contexts, including those in the forensic sciences i.e. Medical examiner’s office, coroner’s office, armed forces, criminal justice, law enforcement, mass disasters. The program can also be useful training for students who are preparing for admission to doctoral programs in bioarchaeology, skeletal biology and human evolution. Program includes 36 points of coursework, a laboratory or field internship, and a research based m.a.

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Click here for more information cultural anthropologists in the department share a belief that study and research must be firmly grounded in rigorous training in general social and cultural theory, both in contemporary writings and in the classics of anthropology and sociology. The faculty also believes that basic ethnography remains the cornerstone on which all cultural anthropology rests and are concerned with the representation of anthropological knowledge in writing and film. Working closely with cultural anthropologists in the department, linguistic anthropologists examine how language use and choice shape the cultural and social diversity of communities and persons. Anthropology funding information franz boas founded columbia university's department of anthropology on the eve of the 20th century making it the first phd program in the united states. Originally founded on the concept of the four field approach to the study of human culture and society, the department now focuses its graduate program on sociocultural anthropology and archaeology. However, the department continues its historical emphasis on rigorous language training and analysis, extended ethnographic research, and cultivating a historically informed and evidence based form of critical thought about the world. Program in sociocultural anthropology has had a long and distinguished history in generating the doctoral degrees of many of the most important figures in the discipline, ranging from the first columbia generation of margaret mead and ruth benedict to the newest generation of field defining sociocultural anthropologists.

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Noted for its encouragement of interdisciplinary pursuits, its cutting edge theoretical training, and its emphasis on rigorous language study and fieldwork, the ph.d. Program in sociocultural anthropology combines the rich opportunities within the department dissertation writing groups, weekly boas seminars with invited guest speakers, and proposal writing workshops and affiliate programs at columbia and the abilities to take courses at other many research universities in the new york city area. Sociocultural faculty research interests span the range of the domains most critical to contemporary sociocultural anthropology, including continental philosophy, law, political anthropology, semiotics and post semiotics, ecology and ecocriticsm, science and technology studies, native studies, aesthetics, affect theory, media including film, photography, and sound recording , and new media. Area specializations are similarly diverse faculty expertise is concentrated in but not limited to the areas of africa, the middle east, asia including insular southeast asia , north and south america, the caribbean, and oceania. Students from the department have had great success in securing fieldwork grants, dissertation write up fellowships, postdoctoral fellowships, and tenure track teaching positions. Close dialogue between archaeological and sociocultural scholarship is a hallmark of the columbia program, and the phd program in archaeological anthropology complements the socio cultural program in its emphasis on rigorous training in theory and methods. We understand archaeology as a broad and varied discipline that stretches from the study of the deep past to the material traces of the contemporary world.

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Our faculty members take diverse approaches to the archaeological past and present day material culture, but find common ground in a critical orientation toward the relationship between human worlds and material things and places. Collectively our research ranges over questions of materiality, epistemology, semiotics, landscape, religion, empire, human animal relations, and historical process, encompassing archaeological research in many parts of the world, including madagascar amp the indian ocean crossland , the american southwest fowles , new york city rothschild , palestine boyd and the andes d’altroy. Archaeology at columbia also benefits from a robust commitment to interdisciplinarity. We encourage anthropology students to benefit from the expertise of the many archaeology faculty in other departments at columbia e.g. The columbia center for archaeology is hosted by the department of anthropology, and creates a space for conversations between the many archaeologists found across columbia university, and in new york more widely. It runs a regular seminar series, providing a forum for faculty and students to participate in the exchange of ideas and to discuss recent field research it also sponsors student conferences. Archaeologists in anthropology are also involved with other centers and institutions at columbia e.g.

The department of anthropology also has formal ties to the american museum of natural history. Which affords additional opportunity for training and consultation of comparative collections and archives. Finally, our doctoral students are also able to take advantage of the resources offered by the ma program in museum anthropology.

Students are relatively free to design their own program of study both within the discipline and across disciplines, within a framework of requirements set by the field or the graduate school. Since individual students' backgrounds and objectives differ, it is not possible to define a typical program. The actual program for each student is determined by the student in consultation with, first, their temporary advisors, and then with the three or four faculty who form their special committee.

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Dissertation research typically takes 1 2 years, followed by 1 2 years of dissertation writing. Entering students can therefore expect to spend a minimum of six years as full time students before receiving the doctoral degree. The director of graduate studies will assign entering students a temporary advisor from the members of the field. This advisor will help the student develop a preliminary program of study and research, advising the student on how to fulfill the field requirements or, where applicable, on how to petition for exemption.

During the first year of graduate study, all students in sociocultural anthropology are required to take a two semester sociocultural proseminar in anthropological theory. In addition to this core sequence, all students in sociocultural anthropology must take the development of anthropological thought and research design before completing the admission to candidacy examination see below. This core would constitute four of the approximately fifteen to eighteen courses students would take while pursuing a normal two to three year program prior to the admission to candidacy exam.

Students with previous graduate training in anthropology may, in consultation with their advisors, petition the director of graduate studies and the graduate affairs committee to waive one or more of these requirements. Students who have formed their special committee can petition their committee directly. During the first two years of study, all students in archaeological anthropology are strongly encouraged to take the two semester sociocultural proseminar in anthropological theory, the development of anthropological thought seminar, and research design. In addition, all students in archaeological anthropology must take one graduate level course in archaeological theory and the one credit introduction to cornell archaeology class offered each fall prior to completing the admission to candidacy examination. Graduate students in archaeology are strongly advised, moreover, to be informed of subject matter and issues in related subfields, and the disciplines that articulate with their individual programs of study and professional aspirations, e.g. Sociocultural anthropology, biological anthropology, the natural sciences, humanities based archaeologies, area studies, statistics, etc. Regardless of subfield, students with previous graduate training in anthropology may, in consultation with their advisors, petition the director of graduate studies and the graduate affairs committee to waive one or more of these requirements.