Anthropology Major

Study the diversity of human culture and the dynamics of social organization around the world, both past and present.

Across time and around the world, anthropologists explore the range of human life, cultures and social structures. The work is typically field-based using ethnographic methods.

Our major and minor are based on cross-cultural, bio-cultural and holistic approaches—including sociocultural, linguistic and applied—to the scientific understanding of human behavior and society.

Electives include Medical Anthropology; Globalization; Social Life of Media; and the Anthropology of Sports.

Majors are encouraged to experience another culture by studying abroad or participating in a summer field program. Your senior exercise may be based on library research or original fieldwork conducted during study abroad. A public policy major in anthropology is also available.

In class with Alexandra Lippman
In class with Visiting Assistant Professor of Anthropology Alexandra Lippman

What You’ll Study

    • The structure and dynamics of human culture
    • Theory and history of anthropology
    • Ethnography and field research methods
    • Statistics for math, politics, psychology or economics
    • Five electives chosen in consultation with your advisor
71
anthropology courses are taught at The Claremont Colleges.

Researching at Pomona

Carrie Zaremba ’22

Working Against Evictions

With PCIP funding, Carrie Zaremba ’22 conducted community-based research with the Right to the City Alliance (RTTC), a network of dozens of grassroots organizations across the U.S. committed to building a unified land and housing justice movement. Zaremba employed GIS spatial analysis and social movements theory to support RTTC’s anti-eviction campaign strategy.

Image
Devon Baker ’22
Devon Baker ’22

What I love about the Anthropology Department is how supportive it is of open-ended endeavors. As my own interests have shifted from housing policy, to education, to tech justice, the department and my advisor have encouraged those developments and supported my exploration.

Faculty & Teaching

The expertise of our anthropology faculty includes the people, politics and culture along the Silk Road; issues of health, human rights and sexuality in the Middle East; the interplay of language and culture; and the production of culture in film and American icons who go global.

Associate Professor Joanne Nucho

Our students have used anthropological methods to study everything from urban planning to climate change to public policy and law to music and art. In our classes, students develop the critical skills necessary to challenge taken-for-granted cultural domains and categories in the context of an always changing world. Anthropology teaches students to use every day experiences and stories to transform the critical questions they ask moving forward. Whatever our students do after studying Anthropology, whether they go to law school, medical school, work in community advocacy and organizing or develop a career in creative arts, they bring that sensibility to their work.