Anthropology is the comparative study of human diversity through time and across the world. Its scope spans the humanities, the social sciences, and the biological, physical, and evolutionary sciences. As a history of the human species, anthropology studies all human biological and behavioral variation from the earliest fossil records to the present; it includes the study of nonhuman primates as well. As a social science, anthropology aims at uncovering the patterns of past and present societies. As one of the humanities, anthropology seeks to understand the ways cultural meaning and political power have shaped human experience.
At the University of WisconsinMadison, anthropology consists of three subfields: archaeologythe investigation and analysis of the remains from past cultures, uncovered through excavation; biological anthropologythe study of human evolution and the roots of the biological and genetic diversity found among contemporary peoples; and sociocultural anthropologythe comparative study of society, politics, economy, and culture, whether in historical times or in our contemporary moment. UWMadison also offers some classes in anthropological linguisticsthe analysis of language and its place in social life. Comparative and empirical workand fieldwork in particularare the hallmarks of anthropology on this campus.
Thus, anthropology at UWMadison is characterized by a comparative point of view, a focus on humans and societies in all their variation and similarity, and an effort to reveal and understand the complex but organized diversity that has shaped the human condition, past and present.
