News | Department of Anthropology

Featured Anthropology Minor: Shuqian Lyu

"I am interested in visual anthropology and ethnography, particularly in topics such as ethics, representation, and emerging fields like sensory ethnography."

Featured Anthropology Major: Anna Rose Marion

"Studying topics in environmental anthropology has allowed me to investigate the cultural, political, and social dimensions of human interactions with the environment across temporal and spatial scales."

trees with pink blossoms in front of a clock tower and a library building

CIAMS members receive awards from Society for American Archaeology

Matthew Velasco, assistant professor of anthropology in the College of Arts and Sciences, and Anna Whittemore, doctoral candidate in anthropology, received awards from the Society for American Archaeology (SAA) at the SAA annual meeting on April 25.

Glass shelves in wooden cases holding pieces of pottery

Cornell anthropology opens Collaboratory May 14

The new Anthropology Collaboratory gathers many of the university’s anthropology collections and laboratories together in one place in Olin Library.

Featured Anthropology Major: Jacqueline Cheng

"To find oneself is, I believe, the greatest achievement anyone can make while in school."

Featured Anthropology Major: Alexander Bentley

"Since I’m particularly interested in bioarchaeology and archaeological science, studying anthropology has allowed me to engage with questions of health, identity, and power from an interdisciplinary perspective."

Featured Anthropology Major: Lucy Friedman

"I attribute anthropology’s interdisciplinary nature, combined with the unique course content taught by the department's knowledgeable faculty, to helping me develop my academic passion."

Featured Anthropology Minor: Emma Garcia

"I found the Anthropology minor towards the second half of undergrad, and it has still greatly impacted me for the better."

Painting in blues and oranges, showing people standing in lines, wearing medical masks

Conference explores post-Covid-19 global health biopolitics

A conference May 5-7, “The Biopolitics of Global Health After Covid-19,” will combine biopolitical and anthropological inquiry to spark a cross-disciplinary dialogue about (post-) pandemic discourses and practices of global health.

Five elephants of various sizes wade in a water hole

In ‘Silence’ spring conference, Fellows ‘attend to what is not there’ 

On April 25, seven Society for the Humanities’ Fellows will present their projects in progress during the annual Spring Fellows’ conference, highlighting the various ways that the theme of silence has been explored –

A&S undergrad unearths miniature Hercules statue in Italy

Each summer, CIAMS helps many Cornell students experience the thrill of archeological discovery.

Fred Gleach Retires

Curator Frederic Gleach retired at the end of December.

Recent Books by Anthropology Faculty

Check out these books.

Anthropology in the News: 24/25

Please see a select list of recent articles mentioning Anthropology faculty members.

Awards and Accolades 24/25

We celebrate the successes of our faculty and graduate students.

Kurt Jordan and Steve Henhawk — Ben Altman

Project Team for “Reconceptualizing Haudenosaunee Studies” Receives New Frontier Grant

Anthropology Professor Kurt Jordan is part of the project team that received a 2024 New Frontier Grant.

Cornell's central campus with lake beyond

Cornell Center for Social Sciences names 2025-26 Faculty Fellows

12 faculty members from seven colleges have been named 2025-26 Faculty Fellows with the Cornell Center for Social Sciences.

A man on a camel with a red turban standing amidst ruins, with a broken column next to him and desert mountain sin the background.

Experts call for 'accountability' before restoring Syria heritage sites

Cornell experts comment on the restoration of Syria's damaged and looted historical sites.

Documenting Uyghur history for the sake of the future

Zilala Mamat '26 has been traveling abroad to document the stories of Uyghur people.

Bohannon, Manne event focuses on female body image, evolution

"Is Fat Female? Evolution, Feminism, and Getting the Story Right” takes place in person March 5; a virtual conversation between the two will be livestreamed March 6.

Two people wearing fashionable red, white and black winter clothing sit back to back on a large rock, each holding a book. They are surrounded by snow

Your January 2025 reads

This month’s featured titles – most by A&S authors – include a work of nonfiction about honeybees, a kids’ picture book, and a novel set in rural Nova Scotia.

Alison Rittershaus Joins the Department of Anthropology

Alison Rittershaus recently joined the Department of Anthropology as Lecturer and Curator of the Anthropology Collections.

Vilma Santiago-Irizarry Retires

Professor Vilma Santiago-Irizarry retires after thirty years.

Chloe Ahmann book cover future after progress

Ahmann's Book Recognized by Anthropology and Environment Society

Chloe Ahmann's book, Futures After Progress: Hope and Doubt in Late Industrial Baltimore, receives honorable mention for the Julian Steward Book Award.

Ancient ship underbody, just a skeleton of wood

Manning honored for contributions to archaeology

Sturt Manning, received the P. E. MacAllister Field Archaeology Award at the Annual Meetings of the American Society of Overseas Research (ASOR) in Boston in November.

Conference considers medicine from historical standpoint

The Nov. 2 conference will focus on an interdisciplinary approach.

Archaeology conference focuses on cultural erasure

“Unearthing Unseeing: Archaeology, Heritage, and Forensics in the Shadow of State Violence” will highlight new approaches to cultural remains caught up in contemporary conflicts and past trauma.

Short films from Rural Humanities course selected for festivals

Three short documentaries produced in a Rural Humanities Seminar, taught by PMA Associate Professor Austin Bunn, are headed to film festivals this fall.

Campus buildings seen from above, under a partly cloudy sky

Engaged faculty network grows with 28 new fellows

Fellows will spend the year developing a community-engaged course, project or publication, while also joining a network of scholars committed to advancing the university’s public engagement mission.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author from Jerusalem to speak Oct. 10

Nathan Thrall will talk about his most recent book, “A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy.”

A crowd of about 75 people stands behind a low box full of dirt; six people in the front hold shovels with red handles during a ceremonial "groundbreaking" event

Celebration kicks off McGraw Hall project

More than 75 people, including university leaders, donors and members of the College of Arts & Sciences Advisory Council, celebrated the start of the $110 million McGraw Hall renovation project Sept. 19 with a “groundbreaking” ceremony.

Four people work at a plastic patio table in the midst of ancient ruins: they are archaeologists on an excavation site

Modeling an ancient house and garden in 3D

Cornell researchers have received a $150,000 NEH Digital Humanities Advanced Grant to create a 3D virtual modeling project based on the Casa della Regina Carolina, a large Pompeian house.

Cornell expert reflects on Sri Lanka election

Scholar Daniel Bass comments on this week's presidential election in Sri Lanka, the first since a 2022 economic meltdown that forced the resignation of Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

Detail of a woven cloth showing figures dressed in red and yellow

Language ‘Sustainability through Collaboration’ Conference at Cornell

Cornell, the only institution offering regular multilevel instruction in all six of the major Southeast Asian languages – Burmese, Indonesian, Khmer, Filipino (Tagalog), Thai and Vietnamese – will host a conference on the teaching of these languages on Sept. 19-21.