Courses in this concentration focus on the interrelationship of culture, society, health, and the body in a global context. Students pursuing this course of study will gain skills and expertise of great relevance for healthcare-related careers, including public health, medicine, and psychological services as well as a strong foundation for graduate studies in a variety of fields. This is a good major for pre-med/pre-health students who are interested in developing critical thinking, ethical frameworks, and cultural competencies. The analytic reasoning and community engagement abilities developed in this concentration are increasingly sought after by employers in a wide range of professions.

Core Courses Include:

209 Approaching Death: Case Studies

216/Lab Anatomy of the Human Body/Lab

273 People and Pathogens

292V Violence in American Culture

297M Disease, Famine, & Warfare: Intro to Human Adaptability

215 Forensics Myth and Reality

297VC Violence and Conflict in Prehispanic America

305 Anthropology of Growth & Development

312 Medical Anthropology

313 Nutritional Anthropology

320 Skeleton Keys: Research Techniques in Physical Anthropology

321H Violence in American Culture

340 Medical Anthropology and Global Health

341 Building Solidarity Economies

372 Human Variation

394EI Evolutionary Medicine

397BP Biology of Poverty

397GR Gender, Race, & the Body

397DD Bioarchaeology of Violence

397GB Global Health: Biosocial Perspectives

397LA Health in Latin America

397SD Sustainability or Sustaining Development?

415 Women's Health Across the Life Course

494BI Global Bodies

494RI Religion, Evolution, and Human Biology

In this concentration, students learn to examine and interpret the range of human experience through material culture while also exploring ways to protect and care for archaeology sites, cultural landscapes, and both tangible and intangible heritage. Attention is given to community-based approaches with an emphasis on archaeology’s potential for contributing to social justice. Along with practical fieldwork experience – whether locally in Massachusetts or internationally— students can explore diverse and engaging topics like GIS (geographic information system) and community-mapping; public archaeology through comics & community theater; heritage tourism; and material remnants of societal violence and the intersection of race, class, and gender.

Core Courses Include:

220 Intro to Native American Studies

230 Race & the American Museum

242 W.E.B. DuBois: In Our Time

269 North American Archaeology

292V Violence in American Culture

297GC Gaelic/Celtic Cultural Heritage

215/Lab Forensics: Myth and Reality

297M Disease, Famine, & Warfare

297N Violence & Conflict in Pre-Hispanic Americas

325 Analysis of Material Culture

326 Historical Archaeology

357 Afterlives of Slavery

367 Archaeological Survey Methods and Practices

375 South American Archaeology

396C Archaeological Lab Research

397 Archaeology and Social Complexity

397DD Bioarchaeology of Violence

398 Archaeological Lab Internship (doing)

494CI Comics, Cartoons, and Communication Anthropology

494AD Archaeology of the African Diaspora

497DG Indigenous Archaeology

497/697 Critical Indigenous Theory & Method

In addition to proposing the formalized concentrations, students may work with their advisor to design a departmentally approved individual focus which must include two foundation courses and four core concentration courses.

General Anthropology Courses can Include:

204 Race, Culture and Education

210 Economies and Cultures

212, Science, Technology & Society

216/Lab Anatomy of the Human Body

230 Race and the American Museum

242 W.E.B Dubois in our Time

345 Urban Anthropology

395W Gender, Nation, and Body Politics

415 Women's Health Across the Life Course

494CI Comics, Cartoons, and Communicating Anthropology