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Welcome to the Department of Anthropology! If you are having difficulties accessing your class or reaching your instructor, please email the department chair, Prof. Larissa Swedell (LSwedell@qc.cuny.edu) and/or our department administrator, Ms. Shakiela Greene (Shakiela.Greene@qc.cuny.edu).  You may also email us with any other questions you may have or to schedule an in-person or video appointment for advising.  If you have questions about a specific course you are enrolled in, please email your instructor. All email addresses may be found on our People page.


The Fall 2021 course list is available here: Fall 2021 course list

If you'd like to declare Anthropology as a major or minor, go here.

If you are interested in learning more about our specialized minors -- Human Ecology, Cultural Heritage and Memory, Power and Inequality, and Health and Culture -- go here.

Over the past year we have confronted the devastation of COVID-19 and the inequalities it has exposed.  Like the rest of the world, we have witnessed excessive use of force in policing that disproportionately affects communities of color.  We have seen efforts to quash peaceful protests.  We are also experiencing efforts to cut public education in New York City, despite the socioeconomically and ethnically diverse communities CUNY serves and the upward social mobility it fosters.

 

Over the decades we have worked to empower students of color and strived to fight injustice.  That is our heritage; it is grounded in the legacy of Hortense Powdermaker; the respect for the efforts and martyrdom of our student, Andrew Goodman, a civil rights worker who was murdered in Mississippi in 1964; and the accomplishments of our current alumni and students who represent the diversity of the people we serve but also reflect the educational obstacles presented by persistent inequalities.  We will humbly continue to work to live up to the standards set for us, and to demand change.

 

In her study of race in Mississippi in the 1930s in a community where there were still people who had been born as slaves and slave owners, our founder, Hortense Powdermaker, wrote of the hope that African American interlocutors placed in education: “They looked to education as the great and indispensable foundation of democracy. Education was to fit every citizen for participation in government, and to spread the doctrine that every citizen should be allowed to participate. It was viewed as the gateway to equal opportunity, the threshold of a new and better life” (1939: 299-300).

 

To achieve that goal, our alumna, Dr. Leith Mullings, encourages us to forge an antiracist anthropology.  This means that we must challenge all forms of racism, including current forms that “seek to make the social appear natural and ruthless inequality appear as common sense“ (Mullings 2005, 679). 

 

Based on the actions of Andrew Goodman, we have to ask ourselves, what are we willing to give up to bring about change?

              

In seeking to foster the hope that Powdermaker documented, pursue the course of action that Dr. Mullings advocates, and respect the legacy of Andrew Goodman, we condemn the following:

 

1.            The use of force, intimidation, and bias in law enforcement that results in people of color being treated differently than their white peers;

2.            The persistent inequalities that lead to disproportionate levels of illness and death in communities of color, and the associated public policies that create unequal access to healthcare;

3.            The persistent underfunding of public education in one of the richest cities in the world.




 
ABOUT THE ANTHROPOLOGY DEPARTMENT:

The Anthropology Department at Queens College aims to give students a knowledge of human origins and development, the varieties of human cultures, and cultural and social complexities of our species. A major in Anthropology provides the necessary preparation for graduate work in the field, as well as valuable background for careers in education, international studies, medicine and allied professions, sociology, and social work, as well as for participation in community organizations. Students wishing to major in anthropology may choose between two tracks: general anthropology and pre-professional anthropology. Students must declare their intention to major in anthropology by requesting a department adviser and by completing their concentration form in consultation with the adviser. Pre-professional majors are especially encouraged to work closely with a faculty adviser. Although course requirements are designed to prevent premature undergraduate overspecialization, there is sufficient flexibility to permit a student toemphasize cultural, biological, or archaeological anthropology. The selection of elective courses in the field of interest (both from within and outside the department) should be done in consultation with a faculty adviser from the respective sub-discipline.


         

THE DEPARTMENT AT WORK





NEWS & UPDATES
Welcome back QC students! Check out our four NEW specialized minors: Human Ecology, Power and Inequality, Cultural Heritage and Memory, and Health and Culture. For more information regarding these new minor requirements, click here.
Congratulations to our most recent crop of outstanding anthropology majors earning Honors and High Honors and departmental awards! For a list of 2021 award recipients, follow this link.
Professor Murphy Hallburton recently wrote an editorial piece in The Hindu on COVID vaccine patents and the Indian pharmaceutical industry. To read the article, click here.
Professor Miki Makihara was interviewed by CBS Sunday Morning for a piece on Easter Island. For more details, click here.
We are pleased to announce Anthropology Peer Tutoring sponsored by the Anthro Society. See attached pdf for more details.
Anthropology Adjunct Instructors, Jemima Georges and Katarina Evans received research grants to support their PhD research. Georges received a DDIG from NSF and Evans was the recipient of a L.S.B. Leakey Foundation Grant. For more information on the funded projects, click here.
Professor Jim Moore retired at the end of January 2021, after 40 years of research, teaching, and service to the Queens College Community. For more on Professor Moore's work and contributions to the field and the QC community, click here.

In Spring 2020, the department introduced the Warren DeBoer Memorial Scholarship in memory of Dr. DeBoer, a former QC Anthropology professor. This scholarship is given to the most promising junior student concentrating in archaeology. To learn more about the award or to make a donation in honor of Dr. DeBoer, click here.

Juan Luis Rodriguez's upcoming book "Language and Revolutionary Magic in the Orinoco Delta" (Bloomsbury Press) on linguistic practices and national politics in rural Venezuela will be available in October 2020. For more information on this book and how to pre-order, click here.

Karen Strassler's new book, "Demanding Images" is an account of Indonesia's turbulent democratic transition, as well as an analysis of images in the era of digital media and neoliberal democracy. For more book information, click here.

Are you a QC Anthropology alum who would like share news about your life, career, research and/or family? Please refer to the Anthropology Alumni page for more on how to keep in touch with our department!

Follow QC Anthropology on Facebook: @QCAnthro, and get regular updates on new courses and upcoming events.


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