Anthropology is the global social science. It is the study of the human condition everywhere; its cultural, linguistic, and biological diversity; and how it evolved and developed from the prehistoric past into the globalizing present. Anthropology is an interdisciplinary 14 credit major that intersects with programs and departments across the University. Students may major in anthropology as a whole (General Anthropology), or choose to concentrate in Biological Anthropology, Archaeology, Cultural and Linguistic Anthropology, or specialize in two thematic concentrations: Medical Anthropology and Environmental Anthropology.
Environmental Anthropology is a thematic concentration that investigates how human societies create and change geologies and climates up to a planetary scale, and the ways that anthropologists have questioned the division between cultures and nature. Students may choose to study topics from contemporary society to the impact of environmental change over long spans of time. Students have the opportunity to do original fieldwork, engage in research with the collections of the Penn Museum and the resources of the Center for the Analysis of Archaeological Materials (CAAM) and study abroad. After they fulfill the foundational course requirements in anthropology, students take three distribution electives from the four themes of Political Ecology, Science Technology and the Environment, Material Worlds, Landscapes and Archaeology; and Biology, Environment and Health.
The minimum total course units for graduation in this major is 34. Double majors may entail more course units.