Bates College

Anthropology

Anthropologists investigate cultural variation, with particular attention to race, gender, ethnicity, political and social change, and human evolution. Anthropology is a comprehensive discipline offering students a broad, comparative, and essentially interdisciplinary approach to the study of human life in all its diversity.

Anthropologists are concerned with understanding human universals, on the one hand, and the uniqueness of individual cultures, on the other. At Bates the program includes archaeological and sociocultural perspectives.

Anthropology attempts to make sense, in a nonethnocentric manner, of everyday life in both familiar and distant settings. In this way the discipline enables students to achieve cultural competence in the broadest sense of the term—the ability to function effectively in complex environments, to analyze material from their own and other cultural perspectives, and to appreciate the value of human diversity. Some recent graduates have pursued careers in public health, medicine, community organizing, environmental law, international development, teaching, journalism, and museum work; some have gone on to graduate work in anthropology or archaeology.