Anthropology

Anthropology - the study of humanity in its broadest sense - is, according to the late cultural anthropologist Eric Wolf,  "the most humanistic of the sciences and the most scientific of the humanities." At Tulane, anthropology is divided into four subdisciplines: anthropological archaeology, biological anthropology, anthropological linguistics, and socio-cultural or cultural anthropology. These subdisciplines or fields are interconnected. Anthropologists at Tulane often straddle the boundaries of the subdisciplines, and they collaborate with scholars from other departments and schools of the University. Anthropology is perhaps the world's oldest transdisciplinary field of study. At Tulane, anthropologists study topics as seemingly disparate as two million year-old fossil hominins in Africa, capuchin monkeys in Costa Rica, the impact of Islam in West Africa, Mayan hieroglyphic texts, political movements in Mexico, indigenous use of the environment in the Amazon, variations in spoken New Orleans English - and much more!

The roots of Tulane's Department of Anthropology date from 1924, when the Department of Middle American Research (now the Middle American Research Institute [MARI]) was founded on the Uptown Campus. Anthropology courses were first offered at Tulane during the 1938-1939 academic year, and by 1947, anthropologists were employed in a Department of Sociology and Anthropology. A separate four-field Department of Anthropology was established in 1968. In 2010, the Department and MARI moved into newly-renovated space in Dinwiddie Hall. The Department of Anthropology has since 1990 more than doubled in size and diversity of the faculty, and course offerings today reflect that growth. 

Tulane's Department of Anthropology has long been known for its focus in the areas of archaeology, cultural anthropology, and linguistics of Mesoamerica (the region from Central Mexico to El Salvador), and the department retains that area of emphasis. In addition, today the geographical teaching and research interests of our faculty include, in addition to Mesoamerica, North America (especially the southeastern United States and the Gulf South); South America (especially the Andes and the Amazon); lower Central America and the Caribbean;  West Africa; the South Asian subcontinent; Southeast Asia; and Europe.

If you’re working toward a bachelor’s degree, your first stop is our admission office. Last year, more than 150 international students pursued undergraduate degrees at Tulane. Let our counselors help you with entry requirements, academics, living in New Orleans, tuition, and more. (Don’t rule us out based on cost: We offer up to $23,000 in need-based financial aid to international students who qualify and who have not already been awarded that amount or more in merit scholarships.)

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