Department of Anthropology and Archaeology

Our program allows students to directly engage with contemporary anthropological topics and applied research. The Department of Anthropology and Archaeology focuses on modern issues of inequality, environmental and social justice, cultural heritage ownership, and activism. Geographic areas of focus include the Caribbean, Central and South America, the Chesapeake Bay Region, and several other areas of the United States. 

We emphasize learning by doing and offer many options for experiential education. We offer a major or minor in anthropology, and contribute to several interdisciplinary minors including:

• ethnomusicology
• international studies
• American studies
• arts management and entrepreneurship
• black studies
• gender studies
• justice, law, and society
• Latin American studies
• museum, field, and community education
• public health

Our new course with the national Inside-Out program engages students in collaborative learning with incarcerated women in Delaware. With Digital Scholarship in Museum Partnerships (DSMP), students in the Museum Studies course collaborate with local communities to curate and conserve cultural materials and oral histories while developing online virtual reality (VR) exhibits.  

Students who participate in our faculty-led trips study the interrelationship between culture and environment in the Southwestern United States, the intersection of music and culture in Cuba, and international development in Tanzania. There are many opportunities for studying abroad or participating in a departmental archaeology field school.