Overview

The Anthropology program of Northwestern University will help students develop an understanding of cultures around the world and across time. Understanding cultural, biological, and linguistic differences and similarities is central to almost any career.

The Department is strong in a wide variety of fields:

• African ethnography including research in West, South, and North Africa, Anglophone and Francophone Africa, Islamic and non-Islamic groups, and urban and rural populations.

• In the Americas, we have a concentration in urban United States. Several faculty focus on political economy along with a comparative perspective on race, gender and youth culture.

• Archaeology specialties in complex societies and urbanism, in subsistence and political economies, and in gender identity. Regionally the department is strong in Mesoamerica, the Caribbean and African diaspora and England and Europe (AD1200-1800).

Career paths

Graduates enter such fields as health care, law, education, business and personnel management, advertising, market research, journalism, recreation, counseling, community development, international development, women’s services, museum work, radio and television, public relations, environmental services, government, forensics, and contract archaeology.

Students are also well prepared for an advanced degree:

• Students pursuing a medical degree have an important perspective on biological, social and cultural foundations of behavior.

• Students pursuing a master’s or PhD in anthropology or other social science field have historically been accepted into very competitive graduate programs.