Requirements and Courses

Program Requirements

Anthropology majors can design a course of study in various topical, area, and theoretical orientations. 

  • Moderation Requirements
    In order to moderate into the major, students must complete the following three courses with a 3.0 grade point average:
    • Introduction to Cultural Anthropology
    • Two 200-level courses in anthropology (One of these must be in anthropology; one may be cross-listed from another program)
  • Graduation Requirements
    Following moderation, the graduation requirements for the major include four additional courses plus the Senior Project.
    • A Methods Course
      • Doing Ethnography (only offered in the Spring semester) OR
      • Archaeological Methods (if the student intends to complete a senior project in archaeology)
    • Contemporary Cultural Theory (only offered in the Fall semester)
    • Two additional Anthropology courses
      (one of these must be a 300-level seminar)
    • Senior Project includes the following:
      • One non-credit Senior Colloquium (for students who begin Senior Project in the Fall) AND
      • Two 4-credit courses: Senior Project I & Senior Project II
  • Second Focus
    A second focus in Anthropology requires students to complete five courses in the program. One of these must be Introduction to Cultural Anthropology. The other four may be electives at any level. Of the four electives, only one may be cross-listed from another program. Moderation is not required for the Second Focus area.

Courses

Course Work in Anthropology
Students in the Bard Archaeology Field School unearth fragments of Palatine history in Germantown, near the Bard campus.

Course Work in Anthropology

Anthropology courses approach seemingly “natural” ideas such as indigeneity, race, gender, sexuality, and class as cultural constructions that change over time. They critically examine, for instance, the international division of labor, growth of the media, and global commodification of culture. Many classes apply this anthropological perspective to a variety of sources, ranging from traditional ethnographies to novels, travel literature, music, films, and new forms of electronic media. The program has a film library, which includes ethnographic and experimental films, and some recording equipment for the purposes of student research. The program also administers a student research and travel fund, the Harry Turney–High Fund, to support work on Senior Projects.

Current Courses in Anthropology

Affiliated Programs

Anthropology encourages and maintains crucial ties to other disciplines across campus. Many anthropology students complement their interests with courses that explore similar theoretical and topical themes in historical studies, religion, literature, political sciences, sociology, environmental studies, and history and philosophy of science, and the Human Rights Program. Anthropology students also enhance their study of identity formations with courses in gender and sexuality studies, Jewish studies, and the comparative and critical studies of race. Courses in African and African diaspora studies, Asian studies, and Latin American and Iberian studies provide students with increased historical and cultural depth in a particular area of the world.