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Department of Anthropology
Anthropology is about human diversity, human biology and ethnicity. It is about all
aspects of human culture. In this regard, anthropology is often described as a “holistic”
discipline. This means anthropology does not consider what humans do in isolation but as
integrated parts of a larger whole. Therefore anthropologists study human cultures and their
languages, politics, ideologies, morals, histories, traditions, arts, kinship systems, economies,
ecologies, geographies, et al, with equal vigor.
Though it has existed for only a few years as a department, the Department of
Anthropology at Southern Connecticut State University has demonstrated educational and
scholarly strength. It offers students a Bachelor of Science degree (with five concentrations) and
a Bachelor of Arts degree (see below). Currently the Department has between 50-60 majors.
Currently the Department has six full-time anthropologists and seven adjunct faculty members
covering the fields of cultural, biological and linguistic anthropology and archaeology.
Additionally, the department is shaping its faculty in strategic ways. For example,
important linkages have been established with other departments, such as the Foreign Language
Department, with whom Anthropology has collaborated in the creation of a Linguistics minor.
Demonstrating the Department’s commitment to interdisciplinary studies, faculty has dual-listed
many of its course offerings, including: Language and Culture, listed with Foreign Languages;
Global Women’s Issues, duel listed with Women’s Studies; American Tongues, cross-listed by
Foreign Language and Political Science; Language, Gender, and Sexuality, listed with Foreign
Language and Women’s Studies, and Special Topics: Visual Anthropology, listed with the
Communications Department. The Anthropology program also has cross-listed with Geography,
Public Health, Sociology and Journalism.
As a complement to teaching, the Department has demonstrated a vital intellectual life.
Much of this vitality springs from the active research that full-time faculty members engage in.
Faculty members have published scholarly research on paleo-archaeological, linguistic and
cultural subjects in East Africa, the Caribbean, India, Peru, Southeast Asia and Central Asia.
Reports of one member’s research (Dr. Michael Rogers) have appeared in The New York Times,
The Hartford Courant, Reuters, The Associated Press and the New Haven Register in addition to
scholarly venues.
Faculty members’ research also has been integrated into the department’s curriculum, in
ventures such as the Tanzania Field School at Laetoli, which has been co-directed by Dr. Marie
Selvaggio and Dr. Michael Rogers. Students also have joined faculty in research projects in the
Dominican Republic, Ethiopia and India. Locally, anthropology students have the opportunity to
work an archaeological site at the West Rock Nature Center, with whom the Department has a
collaborative relationship.
Students majoring in Anthropology have six options. For the Bachelor of Science degree
students may choose a general concentration or may concentrate in one of anthropology’s four
distinct fields – cultural anthropology, archaeology, physical (or biological) anthropology, and
linguistic anthropology. Students also may chose to enroll in a Bachelor of Arts degree in
anthropology, which is more general in nature.
Students who opt for one of Bachelor of Science degrees are expected to complete
internships. Anthropology internships are varied, ranging from archaeological fieldwork in
Connecticut or abroad to linguistic fieldwork among ethnic groups in New Haven. Ethnographic
fieldwork has been conducted in a variety of venues, such as elementary classrooms in the New
Haven area and resort areas of the Dominican Republic. Internships also have been conducted at
Yale’s Peabody Museum, the Human Relations Area File (HRAF), the Nathan Bryan House in
Orange, the Tanzania Field School, and the West Rock Nature Center, to name a few.
The Department’s Anthropology Club also is quite active in encouraging both majors and
non-majors to develop an interest in a discipline whose primary interest is an understanding and
appreciation of human diversity. Members of the club have traveled as a group to several places,
such as San Juan, Puerto Rico; New Orleans, and San Jose, CA, to meet and mingle with other
student anthropologists, scholars and professional anthropologists.