Welcome to the Department of Anthropology

The world is changing and shrinking. People from differing cultures, races, classes, and backgrounds meet and interact more often and more intensely than ever before. Anthropology, the study of humankind in broad perspective, is devoted to the proposition that the differences among us are understandable and enriching. It takes effort and discipline, however, to obtain such understanding and to appreciate human differences and similarities. Anthropology is devoted to discovering and explaining how humanity has developed differences and similarities whenever and wherever these have occurred.

Founded by Melville J. Herskovits in 1938, Northwestern’s Department of Anthropology is committed to fostering the historic diversity of the discipline by building an intellectual dialogue between humanistic and scientific perspectives. In particular the Department’s undergraduate and graduate programs emphasize the integration of the major anthropological subfields: archaeology, bioanthropology, cultural anthropology and linguistic anthropology. Undergraduate and graduate students are taught to harness these strengths in basic research as well as in the application of anthropology both inside and outside of academia.

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Events and News This Friday, May 16 starting at 2:30pm the Midwest Undergraduate Anthropology Research Symposium (MUARS) will be held at Norris Center in the Northwestern Room. This is the first ever gathering of anthropology undergraduates from local universities.  Students from De Paul, Loyola, UChicago, and UIC and Northwestern will be giving poster presentations about their undergraduate research. 2:30 - Registration (Northwestern Room at Norris) 3:00 - Keynote address and opening remarks (Northwestern Room at Norris) - William R. Leonard, Chair, Department of Anthropology,  Northwestern University 3:30 - 5:00 - Poster presentations (Northwestern Room at Norris) 5:00 - 6:00 - Reception and awards ceremony (Anthropology House, 1810 Hinman) Newly Updated: Chan Webpage

Department Chair William R. Leonard Director of Graduate Studies: Robert Launay Director of Undergraduate Studies: Helen B. Schwartzman Department of Anthropology Northwestern University 1810 Hinman Avenue Evanston, IL 60208-1330 Phone: 847-491-5402 Fax: 847-467-1778