The major in Anthropology gives a firm grounding in this comparative discipline concerned with human cultural, social, and biological diversity. Anthropology deals not only with that small proportion of humankind in Europe and North America but with societies of the entire world, from the remotest past to the present day. It is thus an essential part of a sound liberal education, helping us to see our world from a perspective that challenges ethnocentric assumptions. The major in Anthropology covers the evolution of human and nonhuman primates and the evolutionary biology of living people; world prehistory and the emergence of civilization; diversity and commonality in social organization and culture; the importance of culture for understanding such topics as sickness and health, gender and sexuality, environment and development, media and visual culture, urban life and sport, economic organization and politics, law and society, migration, and religion; and language use as cultural behavior. The subfields of anthropological inquiry—archaeology, biological anthropology, sociocultural anthropology, and linguistic anthropology—together offer a holistic perspective on humankind and its development.

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