Drawing on the sub-disciplinary strengths of socio-cultural, linguistic, and archaeological Anthropology, we provide students with a critical introduction to human variation across time and space. With expertise both abroad and in the United States, faculty and students examine topics such as culture and communication, language preservation, colonial legacies and inequalities, health and well-being, ethics and care, and indigenous worlds and belonging.

Roy Wagner, a visionary theorist of cultural meaning and creativity, died on September 10, 2018, at his home in Charlottesville, Virginia. He was known for his work on kinship, ritual, and myth in Papua New Guinea and for his experiments in representing anthropological thought as a “reciprocity of perspectives” that helped to inspire the “ontological turn."

Who is responsible for ensuring access to clean potable water? In an urbanizing planet beset by climate change, cities are facing increasingly arid conditions and a precarious water future. In Well Connected, anthropologist Tessa Farmer details how one community in Cairo, Egypt, has worked collaboratively to adapt the many systems required to facilitate clean water in their homes and neighborhoods.

Three new Assistant Professors joined the Anthropology Department in the Fall Semester: Dr. Sebastian Jackson (socio-cultural), Dr. Ernesto Benitez (socio-cultural), and Dr. Roberto Rosado-Ramirez (archeology).