Anthropology is the most holistic of all the social sciences. Students majoring in anthropology at Vanderbilt take courses in the four subfields of anthropology, each of which looks at humanity from a different perspective. These subfields include ethnology, the study of living people; archaeology, the study of past cultures through their material remains; physical or biological anthropology, the study of biological adaptation, diversity, and the evolution of the human species; and anthropological linguistics, the study of language, linguistic variation, and relationships among languages. The central, unifying concept in the four subfields that makes anthropology a holistic discipline is culture. Anthropology students develop a broad understanding of cultural expressions around the world and are encouraged to reach their own personal synthesis of humanistic and scientific studies of the nature of humankind. This preparation is useful in all professional careers.

Program of Concentration in Anthropology

The major in anthropology requires completion of at least 30 hours of course work, as follows:

1. Three 100-level surveys (Anthropology 101, 103, and 104) covering three major subfields of anthropology: cultural anthropology, physical anthropology, and archaeology.

2. A minimum of three hours from each of the groups below:

• Group I-Comparative Anthropology and Anthropological Theory: 130, 206, 218, 223, 224, 226, 228, 232, 233, 234, 237, 240, 250, 263, 264, 265, 284;
• Group II-Archaeology and Physical Anthropology: 106, 173, 207, 209, 211, 212, 213, 216, 217, 218, 225, 227, 229, 230, 231, 239, 245, 246, 248, 251, 270, 271, 272, 273 ;
• Group III-Ethnography, Ethnohistory, and Linguistics: 102, 201, 203, 210, 214, 219, 220, 235, 241, 243, 244, 247, 249, 255, 256, 257; Science, Technology, and Humanities 260;

3. A seminar on anthropological theory (206 or 284). The seminar may not also be used to count toward Group I credit above.

4. At least 18 hours of credit must be at the 200 level.

5. With the approval of the student's major adviser, a maximum of 3 hours of credit from the following list of courses may be counted toward the major requirement. The course chosen must be relevant to the student's program.

Biology 105, 205, 239; Geology 150; Linguistics 200, 202; Mathematics 127a, 127b, 180; Psychology 242; Religious Studies 130, 131, 235, 237, 254, 256; Sociology 201, 202, 220, 230, 261.