1 Harvard University –United  States

Harvard College was established in 1636 by vote of the Great and General Court of Massachusetts Bay Colony, and was named for its first benefactor, John Harvard of Charlestown. Harvard is America's oldest institution of higher learning, founded 140 years before the Declaration of Independence was signed. The University has grown from nine students with a single master to an enrollment of more than 18,000 degree candidates, including undergraduates and students in 10 principal academic units. An additional 13,000 students are enrolled in one or more courses in the Harvard Extension School. Over 14,000 people work at Harvard, including more than 2, 000 faculties. There are also 7,000 faculty appointments in affiliated teaching hospitals. Our mission, to advance new ideas and promote enduring knowledge, has kept the University young. We strive to create an academic environment in which outstanding students and scholars from around the world are continually challenged and inspired to do their best possible work. It is Harvard's collective efforts that make this university such a vibrant place to live, to learn, to work, and to explore.

Social Anthropology Graduate Program Overview

The field of social/cultural anthropology is changing rapidly in response to economic and political developments in the post-Cold War world. Harvard's Social Anthropology Program is now focusing on issues of globalism, ethnic violence, gender studies, "new" nationalisms, diaspora formation, transnationalism and local experience, medical anthropology, and the emerging cultures of cyberspace.

Faculty members have built ties to colleagues in the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard's regional centers (e.g., Davis Center of Russian Studies, Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, and Asia Center), the Barker Center for Humanities, the Afro-American Studies program, and the professional schools (especially the Harvard Medical School).

Our graduate students (drawn from over 30 countries) expect to work in the worlds of academe, government, NGOs, law, medicine, and business.

Our mission during the next two decades is to develop new methodologies for an anthropology that tracks cultural developments in a global economy increasingly defined by the internet and related technologies.

Social Anthropology Program faculty are keenly aware that material culture is a key element in the study of globalism and the new world economy. Accordingly, we are cooperating with Peabody Museum staff who share our interests in redefining the study of popular culture, art, and the origins of industrial society. Research at the Peabody Museum also makes it possible for us to maintain close ties to our departmental colleagues in the Archaeology Program.

Anthropology brings a global and comparative perspective to the study of human beings, exploring a wide range of topics across space and time. The field is linked through its subdisciplines to many other fields in the social sciences, humanities, and natural sciences.

The Anthropology Department offers specialized focus on Archaeology and Ancient Civilization; Cities, Urbanism, and Transnationalism, Culture; Ecology and Materiality; Economy, Markets, and Modernity; Gender and Sexuality; Health and Medicine; Historical Anthropology; Linguistic Anthropology; Political Anthropology; Race And Ethnicity; Religion; Science and Technology; Sensory Ethnography; Space and Landscapes; and State, Sovereignty, and The Law.