Anthropology

[ undergraduate program | courses | faculty ]

Social Science Building
http://anthro.ucsd.edu

All courses, faculty listings, and curricular and degree requirements described herein are subject to change or deletion without notice.

The Graduate Program in Anthropology (AN75)

The Department of Anthropology offers graduate training in sociocultural (including psychological and linguistic) anthropology, anthropological archaeology, and biological anthropology. The graduate program is designed to provide the theoretical background and the methodological skills necessary for a career in research and teaching anthropology at the university level, and for the application of anthropological knowledge to contemporary problems. It is assumed that all students enter with the goal of proceeding to the doctoral degree.

Admission to the graduate program occurs in the fall quarter only.

Any decision to waive a requirement for either the master’s degree or the PhD must be made by a majority of the faculty.

Graduate Advising

One member of the departmental faculty functions as the vice chair of graduate studies (VCGS). A member of the department staff functions as the graduate coordinator. The role of both is to inform students about the graduate program, to approve individual registration forms, and to give advice generally and give assistance with respect to administrative matters.

First-Year Mentors

Each first-year student is assigned a faculty mentor in the student’s subdiscipline, as well as a second faculty contact. Students are encouraged to meet regularly with their mentors for course planning and guidance in meeting specific requirements and recommendations for their subdiscipline.

After successful completion of the second-year requirements, the student must form their doctoral committee. The chair of the student’s doctoral committee serves as the student’s major adviser.

Evaluation

In the spring of each year, the adviser and the faculty as a whole evaluate each student’s overall performance in course work, apprentice teaching, and research progress. A written assessment is given to the student after the evaluation. If a student’s work is found to be inadequate, the faculty may determine that the student should not continue in the graduate program.

First-Year Requirements

First-year requirements include the successful completion of required core and elective courses and submission of a portfolio of all written work (term papers, commentaries, reading responses, etc.). The written work will be evaluated by subfield faculty according to a process agreed upon by that group of faculty. The portfolio will be due the last day of finals week in winter quarter.

Required First-Year Courses

• ANTH 230. Departmental Colloquium (four quarters, one unit each). Students must attend anthropology department colloquia, which occur on occasional Mondays and Wednesdays as announced.
• ANTH 281A-B. ProSeminar (two units each). These seminars are held in the first two quarters of the first year of graduate study with presentations by faculty members and visitors about current research and interests and topics related to anthropology careers. When appropriate, a short preliminary reading list will be given for the particular lecture.
• At least two core seminar courses, plus one graduate course in another subfield, taken for a letter grade.
• Three or more elective courses taken for a letter grade, chosen with the faculty mentor.

Core Seminar Requirement

Students are required to take the core seminar in their chosen subfield, along with graduate courses in two other subfields, for a letter grade. At least one of these two other courses must be a core seminar course in an external subfield; the second may be either a core seminar or a graduate elective in another external subfield. Students will complete these core requirements in their first year, unless the core seminar in the student’s chosen field is not available. We encourage students to take the broadest range of core seminar courses possible.

Six core seminar courses are offered in the graduate program in anthropology:

• ANTH 280A. Core Seminar in Social Anthropology. Core seminar focuses on individual action and social institutions. (four units)
• ANTH 280B. Core Seminar in Cultural Anthropology. Core seminar focuses on personal consciousness and cultural experience. (four units)
• ANTH 280C. Core Seminar in Psychological Anthropology. Core seminar focuses on motives, values, cognition, and qualities of personal experience. (four units)
• ANTH 280D. Core Seminar in Anthropological Archaeology. Integral part of the training for graduate students focusing on anthropological archaeology. It is one of a set of core anthropology courses available to graduate students; required of anthropological archaeology students but open for students in other subfields. (four units)
• ANTH 280E. Core Seminar in Biological Anthropology. This seminar will examine the central problems and concepts of biological anthropology, laying the foundation for first-year graduate students in biological anthropology as well as providing an overview of the field for graduate students in other areas of anthropology. (four units)
• ANTH 280F. Core Seminar in Linguistic Anthropology. This seminar examines the theoretical and methodological foundations and principal research questions of linguistic anthropology, providing the fundamentals for graduate study in this area. Required for students specializing in linguistic anthropology and open to other students. (four units)

Notes:

1. Not all anthropology core seminars are offered every year. Please check the quarterly UC San Diego Schedule of Classes issued each fall, winter, and spring for specific courses.
2. Core seminars may be open to graduate students from other departments with instructor’s permission.
3. ANTH 280A-B are both considered core courses within the sociocultural track.

Second-Year Requirements

All students are required to complete the second-year requirements by the end of winter quarter of the second year. Rare exceptions may be made on a case-by-case basis by petition approved by the mentor, VCGS, and department chair.

Second-year requirements include:

1. Successful completion of the first-year requirements (above) plus at least four additional elective, letter-grade courses. Elective courses can be graduate seminars or up to a maximum of three upper-division undergraduate courses in the first and second years. Undergraduate classes may not include classes for which the student is also a teaching assistant. At least two of these elective courses must be within the anthropology department. Other electives may be taken outside of the department with the approval of the mentor.
2. A specialty exam writing assignment (e.g., 7500–8000 word reading list-based exam) evaluated by subfield faculty. This written exam will be based on work directly leading to the dissertation. The specialty exam will be due the last day of finals week in winter quarter.The specialty exam will be graded either Fail, MAPass, or PhD Pass. Students whose exams are judged “MA Pass” will be awarded a terminal master’s degree and will not continue. Students judged “PhD Pass” are qualified to continue to the third year.
3. All students continuing to the third year must choose the chair of their doctoral committee before the end of their second year.

The Master of Arts Degree

Students entering the doctoral program need not complete a master’s degree before continuing toward the doctorate. Entering students who already have a master’s degree in anthropology are not permitted by university regulations to receive a second social science or related-field master’s degree.

A master’s degree may be awarded if:

1. a student receives an MA Pass grade on the second-year specialty exam, meets all second-year requirements, and leaves the program.
2. a student receives a PhD Pass grade and meets all second-year requirements and decides to leave the program in the third year or beyond.
3. a student receives a PhD Pass grade and meets all second-year requirements and requests a master’s degree.

Third-Year Requirements and Candidacy

Continuation to the third year in the doctoral program is granted to students who have satisfactorily completed the second-year specialty exam with a grade of PhD Pass and who have completed all required course work at a level of excellence that indicates promise of professional achievement in anthropology to a majority vote of the faculty.

The third year is dedicated to preparing for PhD candidacy in coordination with the doctoral chair and committee. Requirements for the third year include:

1. successful completion of two additional elective courses for a letter grade.
2. submission of a grant proposal for dissertation research (if the student is applying for funding).
3. Students must choose two internal members of the doctoral committee by the end of the fall quarter of their third year, and the full committee of a minimum of four members as soon as possible thereafter in the third year.
4. completion and defense of the dissertation research proposal by the end of the third year.

The successful defense of the third-year requirements will result in advancement to candidacy for the doctorate.

 

The Doctoral Degree

Requirements for Doctoral Degree

1. Required Courses

In order to achieve candidacy, students must complete the specified six letter-grade courses in the first year, four in the second year, and two in the third year, for a total of twelve letter-grade courses.

2. Apprentice Teaching

In order to acquire teaching experience, each student is required to serve as a teaching assistant for at least one quarter anytime during the first four years of residency. This experience may take place either in our department or in any teaching program on campus. The relevant course in the anthropology department is ANTH 500: Apprentice Teaching, taken for four units and S/U grade. Upon petition, this requirement may be waived by the anthropology faculty.

3. Foreign Language

Unless a student is planning on fieldwork in English-speaking areas, knowledge of one or more foreign languages may be essential for the successful completion of a PhD in anthropology at UC San Diego. Students will determine specific language requirements for their degree in consultation with the faculty and their doctoral committee.

4. Formation of the Doctoral Committee

All students who are continuing must choose the chair of their doctoral committee by the end of their second year. They must choose two more internal anthropology members of the doctoral committee by the end of the fall quarter of their third year, and the full committee of at least four members should be constituted as soon as possible thereafter, in anticipation of the student’s process of advancing to candidacy. The fourth committee member must be from outside the anthropology department, must also have an academic specialty different from the student’s own, and must be tenured. Proposed members from other UC campuses, other universities, or industry are exceptions and must be requested in writing. The final composition of the committee is approved by the Division of Graduate Education and Postdoctoral Affairs (GEPA). The chair of the doctoral committee ordinarily serves as the student’s adviser for the remainder of the student’s program.

5. The Dissertation Research Proposal

Advancement to candidacy will be based on the submission and defense of a dissertation research proposal. The proposal will typically build on the second-year written exam to demonstrate competence in particular areas of theory, methods, and/or regional studies and propose the dissertation research project. Students may enroll in ANTH 296 during the quarters in which they are writing their dissertation research proposal. The research proposal must be completed with the oral qualifying examination of the proposal by the end of the third year. The dissertation research proposal must be submitted to the student’s committee at least three weeks prior to the examination.

6. Advancement to Candidacy

Advancement to doctoral candidacy must take place no later than the end of the spring quarter of the third year. Students may advance to candidacy as early as the spring quarter of the second year, if all candidacy requirements have been satisfied by that time and with agreement of the graduate adviser, the student’s dissertation adviser, and other members of the committee. Advancement requires the successful completion of all course work requirements, the dissertation research proposal, and an oral qualifying examination administered by the student’s committee.

Successful completion of the oral qualifying examination marks the student’s advancement to doctoral candidacy. These exams will be open to the public to the extent that university regulations allow.

7. Dissertation and Dissertation Defense

Upon completion of the dissertation research project, the student writes a dissertation that must be successfully defended in an oral examination conducted by the doctoral committee and open to the public. The doctoral chair will schedule and determine the format of the public examination in consultation with the committee and candidate. This examination may not be conducted earlier than three quarters after the date of advancement to doctoral candidacy. A full copy of the student’s dissertation must be in the hands of each of the student’s doctoral committee members four weeks before the dissertation hearing. An abstract of the student’s dissertation must be in the hands of all faculty members ten days before the dissertation defense. It is understood that the edition of the dissertation given to committee members will not be the final form, and that the committee members may suggest changes in the text at the defense. Revisions may be indicated, requiring this examination to be taken more than once. Acceptance of the dissertation by the university librarian represents the final step in completion of all requirements for the PhD.

8. Time Limits

We expect advancement to candidacy in the third year. Precandidacy status may be extended to the fourth year only in exceptional circumstances. Candidates for the doctorate remain eligible for university support for six years. Instructional support (teaching assistantships, readerships, and tutors) is limited to six years in total (eighteen quarters). Normative time, which is the expected time to complete all requirements for the PhD, is six to seven years for anthropology students.

9. Additional Requirements for the PhD in Anthropological Archaeology

Students must choose all courses in consultation with their faculty mentor or chair. Archaeology students must take at least two sociocultural areal or topical courses (upper division or graduate) or two adviser-approved courses in other social science or humanities departments that are relevant to their regional or theoretical focus of study. Each student must take at least one archaeology course focusing on cultures of the Old World and one archaeology course focusing on cultures of the New World. Anthropological archaeology students are required to take at least one course in quantitative methods (statistics or GIS). Because archaeology is closely allied to earth science, the biological sciences, and computer science and engineering, students are required to take at least one course in any of these fields that is relevant to their interests. Finally, graduate students in anthropological archaeology are required to seek and obtain archaeology field and laboratory training. This requirement may be fulfilled by working with the anthropological archaeology track faculty in the Department of Anthropology or with archaeologists at other institutions.

Anthropology Interdisciplinary Specializations

Anthropology offers six interdisciplinary specializations that follow the anthropology requirements with some additional requirements.

Specialization in Anthropology and Cognitive Science (AN77)

This specialization is currently being revised.

Specialization in Anthropogeny

This is a transdisciplinary graduate specialization in anthropogeny with the aim of providing graduate students the opportunity to specialize in research and education on explaining the origins of the human phenomenon. The aim is to rectify the absence of existing training programs that provide such a broad and explicitly transdisciplinary approach—spanning the social and natural sciences—and focusing on one of the oldest questions known to humankind, namely, the origins of humans and humanity. This specialization is not a stand-alone program but aims at providing graduate students who have just embarked on their graduate careers with the opportunity to interact and communicate with peers in radically different disciplines throughout the duration of their doctoral projects. Such communication across disciplines from the outset is key to fostering a capacity for interdisciplinary “language” skills and conceptual flexibility.

Admission to the Specialization

The anthropology graduate program will advertise the specialization to those students in our programs who have an interest in human origins. Qualifying applicants will have the opportunity to enroll for the specialization.

Specialization Requirements

Students pursuing this specialization will be required to take a series of courses in addition to research rounds over four years of study. It is advised that students begin their course work in their third year.

1. Course Work: Introduction to Anthropogeny (BIOM 225) and Advanced Anthropogeny (BIOM 229) are each taken once in the winter and spring of the student’s third year. Current Topics in Anthropogeny (BIOM 218) is to be taken every quarter for four years.
2. Research Rounds: Monthly seminars during which all participating students talk about their respective research.

Qualifying Examination

Anthropology students in the anthropogeny specialization must meet the departmental requirement for advancement to candidacy. In addition, students must meet internal deadlines, mentoring provisions, and proposal standards of the anthropogeny specialization track.

Dissertation

PhD students must complete a dissertation, which meets all requirements of the home program. In addition, it is expected that the PhD dissertation is broadly related to human origins and will be interdisciplinary in nature.

Time Limits

It is expected that students will retain the same time to degree as students not pursuing this specialization. Additional course load consists only of two regular courses (two quarters, twenty lectures each). The third proposed course takes place only three times a year from Friday noon to Saturday evening.

Specialization in Critical Gender Studies (AN79)

Students in the doctoral program in anthropology may apply for a specialization in critical gender studies to complement their course work and research in anthropology.

The Critical Gender Studies Program is built on the intellectual foundations of intersectional feminist thought and queer studies, and incorporates the interdisciplinary methodologies, intersectional frameworks, and transformational epistemologies central to contemporary gender and sexuality studies. The graduate specialization in critical gender studies provides specialized training in gender and sexuality for students currently enrolled in a UC San Diego doctoral program. Through advanced course work in critical gender studies and its affiliated departments, graduate students in the specialization develop an understanding of gender as necessarily linked to other social formations, including sexuality, race, nation, religion, (dis)ability, and structures of capital. At the same time, doctoral students engaging gender and sexuality studies have the opportunity to develop their work among peers who take up similar questions in their scholarship.

Admitted students are required to complete five courses in addition to their home department’s core requirements, consisting of two core courses and three electives. The core courses are Advanced Studies in Critical Gender Studies (CGS 200), to be taken shortly after admission to the specialization, and Practicum in Critical Gender Studies (CGS 299), to be taken in the student’s final two years of dissertation writing. Electives may be chosen from a list of preapproved seminars in participating departments (students may petition other courses with significant gender/sexuality studies content) and may be taken at any time during the student’s tenure at UC San Diego. Admitted students must also include at least one member of their dissertation committee from the list of CGS core or affiliate faculty.

For more information about the graduate specialization in critical gender studies, please visit http://cgs.ucsd.edu.

Specialization in Anthropology with Interdisciplinary Environmental Research (AN80)

A graduate specialization in the Program for Interdisciplinary Environmental Research (PIER) is available for select doctoral students in anthropology. PIER students seek solutions to today’s environmental challenges.

The PhD specialization is designed to allow students to obtain standard training in their chosen field and an opportunity to interact with peers in different disciplines throughout the duration of their PhD projects. Such communication across disciplines is key to fostering a capacity for interdisciplinary language skills and conceptual flexibility.

Specialization Requirements

Complete all course work, dissertation, and other requirements of the doctoral degree in anthropology.

• Sixteen-unit interdisciplinary boot camp (summer, SIO 295S–295LS)
• Eight units from a secondary field (outside the home department)
• Six units (three quarters) Interdisciplinary Environmental Research Forum (SIO 296)
• At least one chapter of the dissertation will be broadly related to environmental research and will be interdisciplinary in nature.

Application Requirements

We advise students to begin PIER in their third year upon completion of core anthropology course requirements.

The following items should be combined into a single PDF document and submitted to cmbc@ucsd.edu.

• Student’s CV
• Half-page abstract of proposed thesis work
• Up to one-page statement of student’s interest in interdisciplinary environmental research including career goals.
• Nomination letter from adviser acknowledging student’s academic ability and interdisciplinary environmental interest. The letter must include a commitment for summer stipend support.

Admission to the Specialization

Students are admitted into the anthropology doctoral program. Admission to PIER is a competitive process with six to eight students granted admission each year from across ten participating UC San Diego departments. Selected applicants will have the opportunity to enroll in the specialization.

PIER Fellowships

When funding is available, all applicants will be considered for one year of PIER Fellowship support.

Specialization in Anthropology and Science Studies (AN81)

Students interested in the anthropology of science, technology and medicine may seek participation to the Science Studies Program, a doctoral program that brings together graduate students from the Departments of Anthropology, Sociology, History, Philosophy, and Communication. Students in the program pursue a cross-disciplinary curriculum leading to dissertation research in the anthropology of science, technology, or medicine, broadly conceived. Students may seek participation in the Science Studies Program at the same time they apply for admission to the Department of Anthropology, or may, in certain circumstances, request to be accepted into the program at some point after entering the University of California San Diego.

The additional requirements of the Science Studies Program compliment those of the student’s home graduate department. However, there are some distinct curricular requirements in the first two years of the program. In place of the elective classes in Anthropology, the core of the interdisciplinary curriculum is a three-quarter seminar sequence taken in the first year, the first two quarters being an interdisciplinary introduction to science studies and the third quarter (taken twice) being devoted to special topics in science studies which vary from year to year. The program also hosts a weekly colloquium which the students are required to attend in the first two years and for which they get course credit. Finally, there is an internship requirement, which may take the form of preparatory fieldwork. Students who already have experience in scientific or medical settings such as laboratories, hospitals, or clinics may apply to waive this requirement.

For more information about the Science Studies Program visit https://sciencestudies.ucsd.edu/.

Specialization in Anthropology and Computational Social Science (AN82)

Computational social science (CSS) integrates large-scale data analysis with formal, causal models from social science domains to not only improve predictions but also guide extrapolation and intervention beyond existing data. Students pursuing the specialization will find a clear path to accessing training in computational social science, a formal mechanism for recognizing their efforts, and access to a broad network of relevant scholars.

Eligibility

The graduate specialization in computational social science is only available to students currently enrolled in a PhD program at UC San Diego in the following School of Social Sciences departments: anthropology, communication, cognitive science, economics, education studies, ethnic studies, linguistics, political science, psychology, and sociology. Doctoral students in these departments may apply for the specialization through the CSS administration, housed in the Department of Psychology, with the endorsement of the student’s primary research adviser and department chair. Students are eligible to join the CSS specialization at any time precandidacy; postcandidacy requests are reviewed on a case-by-case basis and may require additional justification relating to time to degree.

Requirements

In addition to the PhD requirements of their home department, admitted students are required to complete the following requirements:

• Three quarters of CSS 209. Computational Social Science Research Seminar.
• Three courses from a list of electives, at least one of which must not count toward the home department PhD requirements, with at least one of these electives drawn from the subset of “advanced data” courses.
• Appointment to the dissertation committee of at least one CSS affiliated faculty member not affiliated with the student’s home department.
• Satisfactory completion of a dissertation including a technical and/or computational social component.

Anthropology Department Resources

The Melanesian Studies Resource Center and Archive

These facilities embody the substantial interests in the Pacific Basin that are represented on the UC San Diego campus and the special prominence of the UC San Diego Department of Anthropology in the study of cultures and societies of Oceania and especially of Melanesia. In cooperation with the UC San Diego libraries, the Melanesian Studies Resource Center and Archive has two major projects. First, there is an ongoing effort to sustain a library collection of monographs, dissertations, government documents, and journals on Melanesia that make UC San Diego the premier center for such materials in the United States. Second, there is an endeavor to collect the extremely valuable unpublished literature on Melanesia, to catalog such materials systematically, to produce topical bibliographies on these holdings, and to provide microfiche copies of archival papers to interested scholars and to the academic institutions of Melanesia. This innovative archival project is intended to be a model for establishing special collections on the traditional life of tribal peoples as dramatic social change overtakes them. In the near future, anthropological research on tribal peoples will take place largely in archives of this kind. These complementary collections will support a variety of research and teaching activities and are already attracting students of Melanesia to this campus.

The Melanesian Studies Resource Center and Archive are directed by members of the Department of Anthropology faculty, in collaboration with Geisel Library.

The Archaeological Research Laboratories

Archaeology laboratories were established at UC San Diego in 1995. The present facilities are geared to the study of lithics, ceramics, biological remains, geoarchaeology, and other materials relevant to faculty expeditions in the old and new worlds, including Belize, Mexico, Israel, Jordan, Puerto Rico, and Peru. Multimedia research, AutoCAD, and other computer-based studies are carried out in the lab. Undergraduate and graduate students are encouraged to participate in lab studies.

The Biological Anthropology Laboratories

The biological anthropology laboratories have twin missions in teaching research. They house collections of modern skeletal material and fossil hominid casts used for teaching both at the lab and in local outreach presentations. The primary research focus involves a large collection of histological sections and computerized images of living and postmortem human and nonhuman primate brains that were obtained through magnetic resonance scans. These are reconstructed in 3-D using state-of-the-art equipment for comparative analysis and study of the evolution of the human brain. Undergraduate and graduate student involvement in the lab is welcomed.

The Linguistic Anthropology Laboratory

The Linguistic Anthropology Laboratory is a research facility providing equipment and a research environment for state-of-the-art analysis of language, culture, and society, especially using audio, video, and photographic recordings of natural interaction. The laboratory has a variety of computer workstations for multimodal editing and analysis, as well as a high-speed network and large capacity server for storing and sharing high quality digitized materials. The lab also has excellent projection and sound facilities and can serve as a seminar room for classes and group discussions. Anthropology students and faculty with interest in multimodal recording and analysis are encouraged to use the laboratory for research and discussion, and to participate in its regular workshop meetings.

The Anthropology of Modern Society Faculty Research Group

The Anthropology of Modern Society is a project of graduate training and research dedicated to the critical study of modernity and its counterpoints. The group is concerned with the changing nature of membership in modern society. Its participants focus on issues of citizenship and democracy; social formations in tension with the nation-state; modern subjectivities; social and religious movements; governmental rationalities and public works, transnational markets and migrations; relations of local to global processes within the current realignments of regional, national, and transnational sovereignties; and the social life of cities as making manifest these kinds of concerns. Participants are committed to reorienting anthropological theory and ethnographic practice toward such contemporary social and political problems. Guiding this project is the group’s interest in combining critical theory with a comparative and empirically grounded study of cases to constitute an anthropology of modernity.