Also see Department Website:
http://web.gc.cuny.edu/Anthropology

The Ph.D. Program in Anthropology provides training in the discipline’s four subfields: archaeology, cultural anthropology, linguistic anthropology, and physical anthropology. In addition to course work, students have opportunities for fieldwork experience through faculty-directed practicums and summer research funding. The four-field requirement, together with opportunities for fieldwork and teaching, provides
graduates with credentials not commonly available from doctoral programs.

Subfields
Archaeology pursues major issues in anthropological theory while providing rigorous training in archaeological method. Faculty research specializations include studies of rise of the state, gender relations, historical archaeology, lithic analysis, prehistory, historical ecology, zooarchaeology, and the application of archaeological data and methods to global change research. Regional specializations include but are not limited to Mesoamerica, historical sites in the U.S., and the NorthAtlantic.

Cultural Anthropology focuses on the material bases of inequality,analyzed in local/global contexts, combining historical and ethnographic approaches. It emphasizes the role of cultural interpretations in maintaining and reproducing power, as well as the role of identity politics, including nationalism, race/racism, diasporas, and social movements. Faculty are working toward a broad interdisciplinary synthesis of political-economic perspectives with insights from literary and cultural studies. Other strengths are medical anthropology, space and place studies, urban theory and ethnography, globalization, and human-environment relationships. Area expertise includes Eastern and Western Europe, Latin America/Caribbean, the United States, and the Middle East.

Linguistic Anthropology studies the role of language in culture and society, including its use in the manipulation of power, the production of ideology, and the deployment of speech genres in social interaction. Applications include language and communication in legal, medical, and educational settings, as well as in intercultural affairs.

Physical (Biological) Anthropology emphasizes evolutionary approaches to human and nonhuman primate biology in four main areas: comparative morphology, paleontology, biogeography, and systematics of humans and other primates; primate ecology and its relationships to both social behavior and conservation; genetics and its relationships to systematics, population biology, and disease vectors; and the biology of modern and recent humans, with a focus on adaptation, osteology, and bioarchaeology.

Affiliated Institutions
NYCEP (New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology, www.nycep.org), consisting of CUNY, Columbia University, New York University, the American Museum of Natural History, and the Wildlife Conservation Society.