Overview
The Department of Anthropology offers students the opportunity to study humankind from the broadest historical and geographical perspective. Courses in the department offer knowledge of social and cultural aspects of behavior as well as the physical nature of humans. Lower division courses are intended to give a general understanding of human evolution, prehistory, and the nature of human cultures while upper division courses elaborate particular themes.
Students seeking information on the Undergraduate Program may contact Frances Bright at f.bright@berkeley.edu. Students seeking information on the Graduate Program may contact Tabea Mastel at tmastel@berkeley.edu.
The Anthropology Library
The Anthropology Library, 230 Anthropology and Art Practice Building, is part of the campus library system. It contains nearly 70,000 bound volumes and receives 965 current serial titles. The Anthropology Library houses a large reading room and facilities for reading microfilm. It is open to all members of the University but primarily serves the faculty and students of the Anthropology Department.
Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology
The Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology, located in the Anthropology and Art Practice Building, offers opportunities for student research, employment, and internships. The museum operates independently and interested students should inquire at museum offices in 103 Anthropology and Art Practice Building.
Undergraduate Program
Anthropology: BA, Minor
Graduate Programs
Anthropology: PhD, with specializations in archaeology, biological anthropology, and sociocultural anthropology
Folklore: MA (through the interdisciplinary Folklore Program)
Medical Anthropology: Joint PhD (in cooperation with UCSF)
Faculty and Instructors
Faculty
* Sabrina C. Agarwal, Professor. Bioarchaeology, skeletal biology, gender research, biological and evolutionary anthropology, osteology and osteoporosis, health and disease, paleopathology .
Research Profile
Charles L. Briggs, Professor. Linguistic and medical anthropology, social theory, modernity, citizenship and the state, race, and violence.
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Lawrence Cohen, Professor. Social cultural anthropology, medical and psychiatric anthropology, critical gerontology, lesbian and gay studies, feminist and queer theory.
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Terrence W. Deacon, Professor. Neuroscience, anthropology, cognitive neuroscience, evolutionary biology, neurobiology, semiotics, primates, linguistic theory.
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Nicholas Dirks, Professor. History and anthropology of South Asia, social and cultural theory, history of imperialism, historiography, cultural studies, globalization.
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Mariane C. Ferme, Professor. Material culture and agrarian landscapes, gender, historical anthropology, Sierra Leone, contemporary Africa, political culture, transitional justice in post-conflict societies.
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Daniel Fisher, Associate Professor. Social Cultural Anthropology, Anthropology of Media, Aboriginal Australia, Music and Sound, Art and Expressive Practice, Photography, Ethnographic Film and Video, Citizenship and the State, Bureaucracy .
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Daena Funahashi, Assistant Professor. Medical anthropology, psychological anthropology, sociocultural anthropology.
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Junko Habu, Professor. Japan, anthropology, archaeology, climate change, sustainability, East Asia, Jomon hunter-gatherers.
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William F. Hanks, Professor. Social and cultural anthropology, linguistics, shamanism, language, Yucatan Mexico, Maya culture.
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Christine Hastorf, Professor. Anthropology, archaeology, paleoethnobotany/archaeobotany, ancient plant use, foodways, Andean South America, ritual, agriculture.
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Cori Hayden, Associate Professor. Latin America, Mexico, social and cultural anthropology, kinship, anthropology of science, technology, and medicine, post-colonial science, gender, queer studies.
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Charles Hirschkind, Associate Professor. Islam, anthropology, religious practice, media technologies, political community, Middle East, Europe.
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James Holston, Professor. Citizenship, Brazil, architecture, law, planning, the United States, cities, democracy, political and social anthropology, urban ethnography, the Americas.
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Rosemary Joyce, Professor. Latin America, anthropology, gender, archaeology, sexuality, museums, cultural heritage, ethics, Central America, feminism.
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Andrew Wooyoung Kim, Assistant Professor. Intergenerational trauma, culture and mental health, psychiatric epidemiology, stress physiology, epigenetics, developmental origins of health and disease, biocultural anthropology, racial justice, critical and decolonial approaches to biological anthropology.
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Nicholas Laluk, Assistant Professor. Decolonization, indigenization, indigenous methodologies, Tribal sovereignty-driven research, Indigenous Archaeologies, Southwest U.S.
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Kent Lightfoot, Professor. California archaeology, coastal hunter-gatherers, North American archaeology, archaeology of colonialism, indigenous landscape management.
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Xin Liu, Professor. History and/of anthropology, contemporary trends in social theory, social/cultural anthropology, comparative societies, capitalism and culture, America and China/East Asia.
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Lisa A. Maher, Associate Professor. Archaeology, hunter-gatherers, prehistory, geoarchaeology, landscape use, stone tools technology, emergence of social complexity.
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Karen Nakamura, Professor. Cultural anthropology, Disability Studies, LGBT movements, minority social movements and identity politics, visual anthropology and ethnographic filmmaking, Japan.
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Stefania Pandolfo, Professor. Cultural anthropology, Islam, Middle East, theories of subjectivity, postcolonial criticism, anthropology and literature, the Maghreb, mental illness.
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Aarti Sethi, Assistant Professor. Agrarian Anthropology; Rural Life; Feminist Anthropology; Political Economy; Comparative Religion; South Asia; Debt and Capitalism; Cinema and Media Culture; Ecstatic Experience, Embodiment and Aesthetics; Theories of Mind, Language and Subjectivity; Caste, Structural Violence and Socio-Economic Inequality.
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Jun Sunseri, Associate Professor. Historical archaeology, zooarchaeology, ceramic material science, GIS, landscape archaeology, experimental archaeology, community-engaged scholarship, outreach, foodways, actualistic research.
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Sarah Vaughn, Assistant Professor. Cultural anthropology, (Post)colonial Science studies, environment, expertise, climate change, vulnerability, critical theories of race and racialization, theories of liberalism, Caribbean/Latin America.
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William A. White, Assistant Professor. Historical archaeology.
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Laurie Wilkie, Professor. Anthropology, historical archaeology, oral history, material culture and ethnic identity, family and gender relations, North America, Northern California, Caribbean Bahamas, African consumerism, creolization, multi-ethnic community.
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Alexei Yurchak, Associate Professor. Language, Discourse, power, social theory, late socialism, theories of ideology, subjectivity, popular culture, ideology, Soviet and post-Soviet culture and society, post-socialism, telecommunications, linguistics, speech synthesis.
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Emeritus Faculty
Brent Berlin, Professor Emeritus.
Stanley H. Brandes, Professor Emeritus. Cultural anthropology, ritual and religion, food and drink, alcohol use, visual anthropology, Mediterranean Europe, Latin America, Spain, Mexico.
Margaret W. Conkey, Professor Emeritus. Anthropology, gender, archaeology, prehistoric art, hunter-gatherers, feminist perspectives, Paleolithic art, rock art.
Phyllis C. Dolhinow, Professor Emeritus. Anthropology, development, ecology, physical anthropology, primate social behavior, human behavior, evolution .
Nelson H. Graburn, Professor Emeritus. Social and cultural anthropology, kinship, art, tourism, Japan, circumpolar, China, Heritage, Inuit.
John A. Graham, Professor Emeritus.
Eugene A. Hammel, Professor Emeritus. Kinship, social anthropology, stratification, statistical and formal analysis, computer applications, peasant society and culture, demography, Balkans.
Patrick V. Kirch, Professor Emeritus. Historical anthropology, Oceania, ethnoarchaeology, Melanesia, Polynesia, environmental archaeology, prehistoric agricultural systems, human paleoecology, ethnobotany.
Donald S. Moore, Professor Emeritus. Ethnicity, development, cultural politics, race, and identity, spatiality and power, governmentality, environment, postcolonial theory, Africa.
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Laura Nader, Professor Emeritus . Latin America, Mexico, social anthropology, comparative ethnography of law, dispute resolution, conflict, controlling processes, comparative family organizations, the anthropology of professional mind-sets, ethnology of the Middle East, contemporary U S .
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Aihwa Ong, Professor Emeritus. Anthropology, transnationalism, governance, citizenship, global cities, migration, Asian biomedical science, Southeast Asia, South Asian Art.
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Jack M. Potter, Professor Emeritus. Anthropology, social anthropology, U S , Thailand, classical social theory, peasants, change, ethnographic film, China.
Nancy Scheper-Hughes, Professor Emeritus. Critical medical anthropology, violence, genocide, inequality, marginality, childhood, family, psychiatry, deinstitutionalization, medical ethics, fieldwork ethics, globalization medicine, social/ political illness, disease, AIDS, Ireland, Brazil, cuba.
Research Profile
M. Steven Shackley, Professor Emeritus. Northwest Mexico, anthropology, archaeology, North America, geochemical analysis.
Ruth Tringham, Professor Emeritus. Archaeology, Central European, Eastern European, Mediterranean, Anatolian prehistory, early agriculturalists, neolithic, bronze age, prehistoric architecture, household archaeology, feminist practice of archaeology, multimedia (hypermedia).
Contact Information
Department of Anthropology
232 Anthropology and Art Practice Building
Phone: 510-642-3392
Fax: 510-643-8557
Undergraduate Student Affairs Officer
Frances Bright
215 Anthropology & Art Practice Building
Phone: 510-642-3616
Graduate Student Affairs Officer
Tabea Mastel
213 Anthropology & Art Practice Building
Phone: 510-642-3406