Anthropology, Bachelor of Arts
The major in Anthropology provides students with a strong foundation in Cultural Anthropology and the perspectives and expertise it offers: knowledge of regions, peoples, cultures, international/global issues; skills to research, analyze, communicate, work and use information in global, cross-cultural settings; and the values of respect and concern for other cultures and peoples. The major also provides students experience in applying that knowledge to social problems that affect their own communities.
Learning Outcomes. Students will:
- Have a broad-based familiarity with the theories, positions, methodologies and topic areas that occupy the discipline of Anthropology.
- Develop a sense of the major historical trends in Anthropology from its origins to the present, including the discipline’s distinctive concern with humankind in all its aspects, the culture concept, cultural relativism, and ethnocentrism among other foundational ideas, the historical role of anthropology in relation to the colonized world, and the application of anthropological knowledge to the solution of human problems in global, cross-cultural settings.
- Understand and appreciate diversity in all its dynamic complexity, exploring the subject both at the level of the individual and of whole societies.
- Present a considered written interpretation of a passage from a primary source anthropological text, laying out the main conclusion(s) and the argument(s) that the text advances, evaluating their significance in relation to other arguments and positions within anthropology, and presenting a critical analysis of the text.
- Carry out a research project (fieldwork-based or library-based) that includes formulating and justifying a research question, collecting and analyzing data, and articulating conclusions.
- Work in fields that require a nuanced perception of cultural difference; the ability to analyze, contextualize and interpret culture/cultural behaviors and beliefs; and the ability to integrate multiple threads of inquiry into a comprehensive whole.
Credits.
| Anthropology Major |
36 |
| General Education |
42 |
| Electives |
42 |
| Total Credits Required for B.A. Degree |
120 |
Coordinator. Professor Johanna (Hanna) Lessinger, Department of Anthropology (212.237.8293, jlessinger@jjay.cuny.edu)
Advising information. Anthropology Advising Resources Page
Sample Four-year Advising Plan
Additional information. Students who enrolled for the first time at the College or changed to this major in September 2018 or thereafter must complete the major in the form presented here. Students who enrolled prior to that date may choose the form shown here or the earlier version of the major. A copy of the earlier version may be obtained in the 2017-18 Undergraduate Bulletin.
Foundational Course
| ANT 101 | Introduction to Anthropology | 3 |
Advisors recommendation: ANT 101 satisfies the Flexible Core: World Cultures and Global Issues area of the Gen Ed Program.
Total Credit Hours: 3
Part One. Topical Core
Required
| ANT 332 | Class, Race, Ethnicity and Gender in Anthropological Perspective | 3 |
Choose Three
Total Credit Hours: 12
Part Two. Methods and Theory Core
Required
| ANT 305 | Theory in Anthropology | 3 |
| ANT 325 | Ethnographic Research Methods in Anthropology | 3 |
| ANT 327 | Writing for a Multi-Cultural World: Ethnographic Writing | 3 |
| ANT 405 | Senior Seminar in Anthropology | 3 |
Total Credit Hours: 12
Part Three. Anthropology Electives
Choose three
Total Credit Hours: 9
Total Credit Hours: 36