Program Requirements and Opportunities

Published annually, the Course Catalog sets out the requirements of the academic programs--the majors, minors, and concentrations. Each Bryn Mawr student must declare a major before the end of the sophomore year. Students may also declare a minor or a concentration, but neither is required for the A.B. degree. Students must comply with the requirements published in the Course Catalog at the time when they declare the major, minor and/or concentration.

The Course Catalog also sets out the College requirements. Students must comply with the College requirements published at the time they enter Bryn Mawr College.

For more information, visit the Catalog Homepage to view the current content. To view Catalogs from previous academic years, visit the Catalog Archives page.

Students may complete a major or a minor in Anthropology. Within the major, students may complete a concentration in Geoarchaeology.

Anthropology is a holistic study of the human condition in both the past and the present. The anthropological lens can bring into focus the social, cultural, biological and linguistic variations that characterize the diversity of humankind throughout time and space. The frontiers of anthropology can encompass many directions: the search for early human fossils in Africa, the excavations of prehistoric societies and ancient civilizations, the analysis of language use and other expressive forms of culture, or the examination of the significance of culture in the context of social life.

Major Requirements

Requirements for the major are ANTH 101, 102, 303, 398, 399, an ethnographic area course that focuses on the cultures of a single region, and four additional 200- or 300-level courses in anthropology. Students are encouraged to select courses from each of four subfields of anthropology: archaeology, bioanthropology, linguistics or sociocultural. ANTH B303 fulfills the major writing intensive requirement.

Students may elect to do part of their work away from Bryn Mawr. Courses that must be taken at Bryn Mawr include ANTH 101, 102, 303, 398 and 399. (ANTH 103 at Haverford may be substituted for ANTH 102.)

Minor Requirements

Requirements for a minor in anthropology are ANTH 101, 102, 303, one ethnographic area course and two additional 200- or 300-level courses in anthropology.

Honors

Qualified students may earn departmental honors in their senior year. Honors are based on the quality of the senior thesis (398, 399) and grade point average in courses taken for the anthropology major.

Concentration in Geoarchaeology

The Department of Anthropology participates with Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology and Geology in offering a concentration within the major in geoarchaeology.

Cooperation with Other Programs

The Department of Anthropology actively participates and regularly contributes to the minors in Africana Studies, Environmental Studies, Gender and Sexuality Studies, and Health Studies. In addition, Anthropology cross-lists several courses with Biology, Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology, German, Growth and Structure of Cities, History, Peace and Conflict Studies, Political Science, and Sociology. Anthropology at Bryn Mawr also works in close cooperation with our counterpart department at Haverford College.

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