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The College of Arts & Sciences
The Department of Anthropology faculty conduct ethnographic and archaeological as well as biological research that brings hard-won fieldwork to the development of cutting edge social and cultural theories. Our students and faculty work around the globe: from Ithaca, India and Indonesia to the Caribbean and Central America; from Japan, Africa and Nepal to China and the Caucasus; and from the circumpolar North to the Global South.
During the rebuilding of McGraw Hall, workers have made several discoveries, and faculty are reusing and studying materials from the building in the classroom. Built in 1872, McGraw Hall is one of Cornell University's oldest buildings and home to College of Arts and Sciences departments of anthropology and history and the archaeology program.
Professor Chloe Ahmann's book, Futures After Progress: Hope and Doubt in Late Industrial Baltimore, received an Honorable Mention for the Gregory Bateson Book Prize.
"Anthropology challenges the way you think about the world, but that challenge can also become one of the most rewarding parts of the major."
Scholars in Cornell’s College of Arts and Sciences are redefining trauma research across humanities, examining delayed memory’s effects on individuals, culture and history. Their insights from many different academic disciplines, including literature, history, archaeology and psychoanalysis connect trauma, testimony and collective witness.
Seniors in the Humanities Scholars Program (HSP) in the College of Arts & Sciences at Cornell University will showcase their research at an all-day conference May 1 at the A.D. White House. Their work spans across humanities fields and also highlights intersections with science, technology, business, law and other disciplines.
Nia Whitmal, a doctoral candidate in anthropology in Cornell’s College of Arts and Sciences, studies wealth accumulation strategies of Harlem’s Black property-owners and real estate agents. In an interview, Whitmal says a Zhu Family Graduate Fellowship benefits her work.
Anthropology provides the global perspective and critical thinking skills that will open doors to a wide range of career paths. The major will also prepare you for graduate study in anthropology.
The Anthropology Collections include approximately 20,000 items representing human activity around the world from the Lower Paleolithic to the present. Archaeological and ethnographic materials are about equally represented.
Alumni and friends interested in supporting the Department of Anthropology can visit our Giving Page. Thank you to all of our alumni and friends who support our programs. Your gifts mean so much to our students and faculty members.
Cornell University is located on the traditional homelands of the Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ' (the Cayuga Nation). The Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ' are members of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, an alliance of six sovereign Nations with a historic and contemporary presence on this land. The Confederacy precedes the establishment of Cornell University, New York State, and the United States of America. We acknowledge the painful history of Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ' dispossession, and honor the ongoing connection of Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ' people, past and present, to these lands and waters. This land acknowledgment has been reviewed and approved by the traditional Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ' leadership.