School of Arts and Sciences
MAJOR AND MINOR DESCRIPTIONS BY DEPARTMENT
ANTHROPOLOGY
Anthropology is concerned with how humans and human societies evolve, with the differences and similarities among human cultures, and with the cultural and biological basis for human behavior. Anthropology integrates a wide range of perspectives on human behavior, culture, and society. Students become familiar with the basic concerns of four subgroups of anthropology:
- Archaeology offers courses covering many geographic regions (Latin America, North America, and China), techniques of analysis, and issues in prehistory. Museum collections, internships in cultural resource management, and a summer field school provide opportunities for student involvement in archaeological work.
- Physical anthropology offers classes on evolutionary theory; human genetics; osteoarchaeology; and human and nonhuman primate evolution, anatomy, morphology, and behavior.
- Cultural anthropology offers a wide variety of courses on cultural areas including the Pacific, Latin America, China, Japan, South Asia, Eastern Europe, and the United States. Classes provide cross-cultural studies of topics such as medical anthropology, food, social and political organization, gender roles, kinship, ethnicity and nationalism, folklore, religion, and conflict and violence.
- Anthropological linguistics offers courses on the nature of languages around the world, focusing on the relationship of language to other aspects of culture and society. Among the courses offered are Gypsy Language and Culture and Writing Systems of Ancient Mesoamerica.
For more information on the major and the Department of Anthropology, visit www.pitt.edu/~pittanth.
Major Requirements
The anthropology major requires the following:
- A total of 30 credits including the following required core courses:
- ANTH 0780 Introduction to Cultural Anthropology
- ANTH 0680 Introduction to Physical Anthropology
- ANTH 0582 Introduction to Archaeology
The core courses satisfy prerequisites for most upper-level courses and are generally taken during the freshman and sophomore years.
- ANTH 1750 or one of the other designated under-graduate seminars.
- An additional 18 credits in any anthropology courses will complete the major. A student may choose to concentrate in one of the four subgroups listed above. One of the courses must be a writing (W) course offered within the department. Linguistics and quantitative analysis courses, though not required for the major, are highly recommended.
The requirements of the program make it possible to pursue a double major in many disciplines such as biology, psychology, religious studies, history, and geology. Students who declare anthropology as a second major should consult with the anthropology advisor as soon as possible to ensure fulfillment of anthropology requirements.
A major in anthropology also combines well with a variety of area studies certificate programs as well as with certificates in women’s studies, global studies, geographic information systems, and historic preservation.
Students with an overall GPA of 3.25 or above and a GPA in anthropology courses of 3.50 or above will be graduated from the department with honors, pending the submission and acceptance of a paper representing substantial student research. The honors paper may be an expanded version of a paper from a course or may result from independent research. The successful completion of a linguistics course is recommended.