how long to get a phd in anthropology

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Department of anthropology.

PhD Program

The emphasis in the Graduate Program is on training candidates for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.  This degree certifies that, in addition to having a sound knowledge of anthropology as a whole, the holder has been trained to do independent research at a professional level of competence in at least one of the major subfields of Anthropology (Anthropological Archeology, Biological [Physical] Anthropology, Cultural Anthropology, Linguistic Anthropology).

Joint PhD Program

Applicants should apply to only one program within GSAS (Graduate School of Arts and Sciences). If you are interested in another department within GSAS, you may include this in your personal statement. Upon review, our faculty will decide if the candidate is a good fit for our department or if another program is more suited to their academic interests.

Applicants may, however, apply to more than one school simultaneously (i.e.: Penn Medical School, Penn Graduate School of Education, Graduate School of Arts & Sciences). In the case of a dual degree, Anthropology will be the secondary department and funding will come from the primary department. For more information about the MD/PhD program click here .

Course Requirements

The PhD degree requires a minimum of twenty (18) course units (one unit per course); a normal full-time program consists of three to four units per term.  Of these units, at least twelve (12) must be taken at this University. Up to eight (8) course units may be transferred from another institution.  Students should request credit transfer from the Graduate Group Chair after the first year of residence. 

All PhD students must complete successfully a core program of four courses in the first year.  The first-year courses cover the four subfields of anthropology and are mandated by the Graduate Group (GG).  These courses include ANTH 6000, 6010, 6020, and 6030. Failure to complete the first year core courses with a final grade (i.e., no Incompletes) by the end of the second semester disqualifies a student from continuing in the program.  The Graduate Group will determine the action to be taken. 

Comprehensive Examinations (PhD Preliminary Exams)

The Comprehensive Examinations (Comps) are taken during the last week of May of the student's first year, following completion of the first-year core courses.  Held over eight hours on two consecutive mornings, the Comps will cover the field of anthropology as presented in the first year core program and focus upon an integration of the material discussed therein.  In addition to formal course work, further opportunities for preparation for the Comps include departmental colloquia and lectures, the basic anthropological references in the Van Pelt Library and the University Museum Library, and ethnographic and archaeological collections of the University Museum. 

Core course faculty will evaluate the Comps and the student's first-year academic record within two weeks after the exams are completed.  Faculty approval of both is necessary for the students to able to continue to work toward PhD Candidacy and/or the MA Degree in the department. 

Foreign Language Exam

Students pursuing the PhD (and MA)  degree in Anthropology are required to demonstrate a reading knowledge of one foreign language used in written source material or scientific literature relevant to the student's professional career.  Language examinations may be taken in French, German, Spanish, or Russian (or other languages with permission of the Graduate Group).  Dates for language examinations will be arranged by the Department.  Students are strongly urged to take the language examination at the first opportunity but, in any case, are encouraged to complete the requirement by the end of their second year.  The language exam must be completed before the student is able to take the Oral Examination.   Students whose first language is not English are exempt from the requirement.

At the time of matriculation, students shall work together with the GG Chair to determine an appropriate advisor, if they have not already done so.  An advisor will work with a student on a regular basis in order to determine the shape of the student's program from semester to semester.  As the student gains familiarity with other faculty within the GG, he/she may invite those professors to serve on his/her Oral Examination and Dissertation Committees.  It is expected that the core members of the committees will be determined by the time the student is defending his/her field statements and dissertation proposal (in most cases, by the end of the third year) during the Oral Exam (see below).  When special expertise is required, additional committee members may be appointed from outside the GG or the university.  The Advisor is responsible for initiating regular meetings with the student for the purpose of guidance.  These meetings occur at least once per semester, at least until the student has passed the Oral Examination. 

Oral Examination (PhD Candidacy Exam)

When course work, the language exam and the Comps have been completed, the student is eligible to stand for the Oral Examination (Oral Exam).  At least one year must have lapsed since the completion of the Comps before the Oral Exam can be taken.  At least one semester in advance, after consulting with her/his Committee, the student should reserve a date for and petition the GG Chair to take the Oral Exam.   

The Oral Exam will concentrate mainly on the student’s specialized fields of interest, theoretically and geographically, and on his/her program of proposed research.  The student, in conjunction with his/her advisor, and the GG Chair, will determine the appropriate fields of examination (see examples of approved fields in the Graduate Handbook) and produce Oral Exam statements summarizing research on those topics.  In addition, the student must generate a PhD dissertation proposal.  This proposal should demonstrate the student’s ability to plan and execute independent research in accordance with professional standards. 

Two weeks prior to the Oral Exam, the student is required to submit the PhD dissertation proposal and three Oral Exam statements on areas of concentration for distribution to the Graduate Coordinator (“tabling”).  The proposal and statements should be reviewed and approved by the Oral Exam Committee before being tabled.  While the Oral Exam is open to all members of the GG, a quorum of five GG members, including the student’s advisor, the GG Chair and other Oral Exam Committee members, must be present in order for the Oral Exam to proceed.

Within one month following successful completion of the Oral Exam, the PhD candidate, in consultation with the Oral Exam Committee, must produce a final version of the proposal for approval by the Graduate Group and submission to the Graduate Division.

PhD Dissertation

The PhD dissertation proposal should demonstrate the candidate's ability to plan and execute independent research in accordance with professional standards and to present its results in a manner that is coherent and readily intelligible to fellow professionals.  The dissertation is based on the candidate's own field investigation and is written under the direction of a Dissertation Committee appointed by the GG Chair.  The Dissertation Committee will consist of a student’s Advisor and 2-4 other faculty members who are usually appointed at the time the student passes his/her oral examination.  At least two members of the Dissertation Committee must be active members of the GG.

After the Dissertation Advisor and Committee reads and approves a complete, “defendable” or “close to completion” (but not necessarily the final) version of the dissertation, the PhD Candidate will schedule the Dissertation Defense.  The version of the dissertation for the Dissertation Defense should include all chapters, including the introduction and conclusions, and a complete literature cited section that have been read and approved.

At least two weeks in advance of the Dissertation Defense, the PhD Candidate must make a physical and a digital version of the dissertation available to the Graduate Group (“tabling”).  The digital version is sent with an announcement of the Dissertation Defense to the entire Graduate Group.  At the public defense, the PhD Candidate will present his/her research and respond to questions from the Dissertation Committee members and others in attendance.  The Dissertation Committee, in concert with the Graduate Chair, will determine if the PhD Candidate has passed the defense.

Upon passing the Dissertation Defense, the newly minted PhD must submit a final copy (consisting of two copies for the University and one copy for the Department) to the GG for final acceptance, according to Graduate Division guidelines.

Program Planning

Each student's program of study and research is an individual one and the timing will vary from person to person.  The total years to degree has traditionally ranged from 5 (for students transferring in) to 9 (with allowance for MA degree and/or additional time in the field).  The general schedule provided below may be used as a template for planning purposes.  While this schedule reflects the five-year funding package, it is expected that students will apply for external research funds to support dissertation research during their third and fourth years, which will extend their Ben Franklin funding by a year.

• Core courses
• Basic courses in area of specialization
• Comprehensive Examination (spring) 

Second Year

• Specialized courses, seminars, tutorials
• Grant writing course
• Teaching Assistant
• Completion of Language Exam (fall or spring)
• Completion of course requirements
• Apply for dissertation research grants
• Oral Examination & submission of Dissertation Proposal

Fourth Year

• Dissertation Research (preferrably supported by external research funding in Fourth Year or Fifth Year) 
• Dissertation Research, Writing, and Submission (with outside research funding Fourth Year or Fifth Year)

Sixth Year (if necessary)

• Dissertation Writing and Submission

Students must complete all course requirements, the foreign language requirement, the Comps, and the Oral Exam within a period of five consecutive years.  The granting of a leave of absence or research leave does not extend this limit.

Graduate Program

The Anthropology graduate program provides students with excellent training in theory and methods, enabling them to pursue an advanced graduate degree in many subfields of Anthropology, including archaeology, ecology, environmental anthropology, evolution, linguistic, medical anthropology, political economy, science and technology, and sociocultural anthropology.

The doctoral program prepares students to conduct independent research and analysis in Anthropology.  Through completion of advanced course work and rigorous skills training, the doctoral program prepares students to make original contributions to the knowledge of anthropology and to interpret and present the results of such research.  Eligible PhD students from other disciplines at Stanford University may also pursue a PhD Minor in Anthropology. See PhD Program Flyer for more information.

The department offers a Coterminal MA degree in Anthropology for current Stanford undergraduates seeking to obtain a MA degree while completing their BA degree in the same or different department. The department also offers a Terminal MA degree in Anthropology for Stanford graduate students, either in anthropology or in other disciplines, who have fulfilled the MA degree requirements for the MA 'on the way to the PhD'.

Over 1,500  doctoral dissertations  have been completed in the department since 1895.  Anthropology alumni pursue successful careers in teaching, research, or non-academic careers in the United States and worldwide.

Beyond the Classroom

In close collaboration with Stanford  faculty members  and  department leadership , our graduate students organize number of event series that contribute to the department's intellectual life and community.  The Graduate Student Organization (GSO) representatives act as a liaison between the department leadership and the graduate student body, actively participating in department issues, and providing a supportive community for the first-year PhD student cohort as well as other for other PhD and M. graduate students. Graduate students also engage with unique research, curricular, and professionalization activities. 

Fields of Study

Our graduate s tudents may choose from the following Department tracks: 1) Archaeology; 2) Culture and Society.  Students work closely with faculty members who are engaged in research informed by a wide array of theoretical perspectives from political to spiritual. Subfields in Archeology include: cities, gender and sexuality, and materiality. Students interested in Culture and Society can focus on a wide range of issues such as: linguistic anthropology, culture and mind, medical anthropology, and global political economy.   Explore each Research Area and its faculty .

The Anthropology Department offers 5 years of financial support to PhD students.  No funding is offered for student enrolled in the co-terminal and terminal MA programs.

Join dozens of  Stanford School of Humanities and Sciences students  who gain valuable leadership skills in a multidisciplinary, multicultural community as  Knight-Hennessy Scholars  (KHS). As a scholar, students join a distinguished cohort, participate in up to three years of leadership programming, and receive full funding for up to three years of Doctoral studies at Stanford. The KHS application deadline is October 11, 2023. Learn more about  KHS admission .

How to Apply

Please review admissions for policies and requirements for each degree program by visiting the specific degree program page listed above. Please also consider reviewing the Stanford School of Humanities & Sciences'  Guide on Getting into Grad School  to explore which graduate program may best suit your interest, what graduate committees look for, and the benefits and challenges for pursuing a graduate degree.

Program Contacts

Angela Garcia

Lochlann Jain

Ph.D. in Anthropology

Earn Your PhD in Anthropology

Our Ph.D. program in anthropology is designed to provide a broad background in the field with a primary emphasis on sociocultural anthropology, biological anthropology, or archaeology. The degree prepares students for careers in academia, consulting, or other applied professions in the discipline. 

The major foci of research and instruction in sociocultural anthropology include religion, law and politics, ethnicity, gender, history and anthropology, problems of social change and economic development, culture and the environment, cognition and culture, and medical/psychological anthropology. The study of the Islamic world, East and Southeast Asia, and Africa are the greatest strengths among our sociocultural faculty and students. 

In biological anthropology, our faculty and students primarily study living and fossil human and non-human primates, including their evolutionary morphology, behavior, genomics, and sensory adaptations. For more information on ongoing research in biological anthropology, visit our laboratories page . 

Finally, the major foci in archaeology include human-environment interactions, urbanism, households, and material culture viewed in deep historical perspective. Faculty and students are primarily interested in Mesoamerica, North America, and the Mediterranean. To learn more about research and fieldwork in archaeology, click here .

PhD Learning Outcomes

• Demonstrate mastery of the fundamentals of the traditional four subfields of American anthropology (social/cultural anthropology, archaeology, biological anthropology, and linguistic anthropology) sufficiently to make them effective and competent teachers of introductory undergraduate courses in general anthropology, social/cultural anthropology, and/or biological anthropology.
• Demonstrate the ability to conceive, plan, propose, carry out, and write up a major piece of anthropological research, related to current theoretical discourse in their chosen subfield and constituting a significant contribution to the discipline.
• Be able to make compelling and interesting presentations of their ideas and findings to audiences of professional anthropologists in several forms—oral, written, and graphic.
• Carry out all these tasks in a manner consonant with the highest prevailing standards of ethical and professional conduct in research and teaching.

Each year, Boston University’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GRS) offers incoming Ph.D. students Dean’s Fellowships, which include full tuition, a living stipend, and health insurance for five years; along with a new summer stipend beginning in 2021.

For more information on financial aid for doctoral students, visit the GRS page on fellowship aid .

Anthropology

Ph.d. program.

• Graduate Studies

The graduate program in Brown’s anthropology department encourages a diversity of doctoral research agendas in socio-cultural anthropology, anthropological archaeology, and linguistic anthropology.

Our program balances a rigorous curriculum of core classes with more specialized training in advanced courses. Our graduate seminars and independent study courses provide an engaging and rigorous tutorial approach to training. Graduate courses offered this academic year are listed on  Courses@Brown .

Brown’s graduate program is primarily PhD granting; students are not admitted to the department solely to seek a Master’s degree. Doctoral students complete requirements for a Master’s degree during their course of study, as well as additional requirements described below.

Degree Requirements

Generally awarded as part of the overall requirements for a Ph.D.

Four core courses

• ANTH2010: Principles of Cultural Anthropology
• ANTH 2020: Methods of Anthropological Research (or equivalent)
• ANTH 2501: Principles of Archaeology
• ANTH 2800: Linguistic Theory and Practice
• Four approved electives
• A Master’s Thesis
• 12 additional elective courses beyond the 8 required for the Master’s Degree (or the fulfillment of equivalent through coursework at another university) 
• Preliminary examinations in three topics
• One year of teaching experience, usually as a teaching assistant
• Approved research proposal for doctoral research
• Foreign language requirement (if required by the candidate’s doctoral committee)
• Dissertation, based on independent field research

More detailed information about the program, including a general outline of the timeline for completing the program, can be found in the  Anthropology Graduate Handbook . 

Specialized Ph.D. Tracks

They choose a topic within Anthropological Demography as one of their preliminary examination topics, participate in the activities of the Working Group in Anthropology and Population, and attend the regular colloquia of the Population Studies and Training Center (PSTC). PSTC also has a set of requirements trainees must meet. Special fellowships are available to students in this program.

More information @ PSTC

The program offers specialized courses, funds field-based research, provides fellowships, hosts visiting faculty, and promotes collaborative research initiatives with partner institutions in the global south. The program builds on a core group of faculty internationally renowned for their research and scholarship in the area of development and inequality. Program activities are open to all PhD students at Brown. All trainees and fellows are eligible for summer fieldwork research grants.

More information @ Watson

Medical anthropology is a subfield of anthropology that seeks to understand human experiences of health, illness, and suffering. Medical anthropologists study topics such as global health, local health systems, indigenous medicine, violence and trauma, disability and the body, gender and sexuality, biotechnology, bioethics, and social suffering. Brown’s PhD program offers an array of opportunities for students seeking specialized training in medical anthropology. Brown’s anthropology faculty are actively engaged in researching a wide variety of topics within the subfield of medical anthropology, including HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases, mental illness, reproductive health, gender and sexuality, violence and trauma, biotechnology, language and medicine, anthropology of drugs, and bio-archaeology.

For more information, contact  Professor Daniel J. Smith or  Professor Katherine A. Mason.

Graduate School

Anthropology

General information, program offerings:, director of graduate studies:, graduate program administrator:.

The Department of Anthropology prepares students for knowledgeable teaching and significant original research in sociocultural anthropology, also enabling them to bring anthropological concepts, findings, and approaches to bear on cross-disciplinary scholarship, public understanding, and public policy. The Doctor of Philosophy in anthropology is the final degree in the graduate program.

Additional departmental requirements

Sample of written work 25 double spaced pages maximum . Entering students are very strongly advised to have prior training in sociocultural anthropology (that is, a master’s degree and/or undergraduate coursework, although this need not be a full undergraduate major).

Program Offerings

Program offering: ph.d..

The Ph.D. in Anthropology involves two academic years (four semesters) of coursework prior to the Ph.D. qualifying examination, dissertation field research, and the writing of a dissertation. First-year plans of study require enrollment in the two-semester Proseminar (ANT 501-502): a sequence taught by two instructors that covers both historical and contemporary texts and topics. First-year students are also required to enroll in the Coseminar (ANT 503a/b), a fall semester sequence of one full-term or two half-term courses whose instructors change each year and whose themes are anchored in the instructors' areas of expertise. Like first-year students, second-year students are required to enroll in the Coseminar. First- and second-year students are all required to enroll in the department's Field Research Practicum (ANT 505), which is offered every other year in the spring. Third-year students are all required to enroll in the department’s half-term Grant-Writing Practicum (ANT 506) offered in the fall. Assigned work for all courses must be completed by the end of the spring semester, prior to readmissions, for students to be eligible for summer funding.

Overall, first- and second-year students take a minimum of three graded graduate seminar courses per semester: at least two taught by department or associated faculty (required and/or elective) and one elective course that may be taken within or outside the department. Many of the department's elective courses are organized as half-term seminars so as to expose students to diverse faculty and a wider array of fields and themes. Half-term seminars count as one half of a course and must be paired with a second half-term seminar (by the end of the second year) to fulfill the departmental requirement for one course. Each semester, students choose their elective classes in consultation with the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS).

By the start of spring classes in the second year (4th semester), students must identify two advisors who agree to serve as co-chairs of their General Examination committee and inform the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS) and Graduate Program Administrator (GPA). In consultation with the faculty, the DGS will assign a reader for each student in the fall of the third year. The reader is an outside member of the Committee who evaluates the written and the oral components of the Examination along with the students’ co-chairs.

Language(s)

Students are required to demonstrate competence in one language besides English related to their intended field research site. Students are urged to fulfill the language requirement early in the fall of their first year of study. Satisfaction of this language requirement is a prerequisite for the General Examination.

Additional pre-generals requirements

In September of their first year, students are assigned two first-year mentors, one for each semester. There is no expectation that students will choose these mentors as their General Examination co-chairs or dissertation advisors. Mentors will occasionally invite students out for coffee and informally help them orient to the department and the university. Students are encouraged to discuss their questions and concerns with their mentors during these meetings.

The First-Year Examination, taken in May, is a comprehensive assessment of students' grasp of the foundations of sociocultural anthropology, organized around the readings and discussions of the Proseminar (ANT 501-502). Both Proseminar instructors read and evaluate the Examination.

General exam

Along with successful completion of first- and second-year departmental courses and passing the First-Year Examination, passing the General Examination is a prerequisite for students to be advanced to Ph.D. degree candidacy. The written component of the General Examination consists of two essays, 7500-9000 words each (15,000-18,000 words total), and bibliographies relating to theoretical/topical and area scholarship developed by students in consultation with their co-advisors. These essays are submitted to the student’s co-advisers toward the end of the fall semester of the 3 rd year, at least two weeks before the oral component of the General Examination.

The oral component of the General Examination (held following the submission of the General Exam essays) involves a discussion of the written essays among the student and the members of their General Exam committee.

Completion of all coursework from previous semesters and completion of the language requirement are prerequisites for the General Examination.

Qualifying for the M.A.

The Master of Arts (M.A.) degree is normally an incidental degree on the way to full Ph.D. candidacy and is earned after successfully passing all parts of the General Examination. It may also be awarded to students who, for various reasons, leave the Ph.D. program, provided that the following requirements are met: successful completion of all coursework through the first two years of study, and completion of the language requirement.

All graduate students are required to complete a minimum of two Assistantship-in-Instruction (AI) appointments to qualify for graduation. These are typically held as one appointment during the second year of study and one during the third year of study. First-year graduate students are not permitted to hold AI appointments.

Post-Generals requirements

Following the General Examination, early in the spring semester, students will submit a draft of their dissertation fieldwork proposal (3000-5000 words) to their Exam Committee co-chairs. At this time, any language competence required for a student’s proposed fieldwork will be considered by their co-chairs as part of the feasibility of the proposal. On the basis of feedback from their co-chairs, students will make any necessary revisions and schedule a date to present their fieldwork proposal to the department in the first half of the spring semester, before spring break. Students may not advance to candidacy until their fieldwork proposal is approved by their co-chairs and presented to the department. 

While many students can accomplish dissertation fieldwork using their University fellowship, the department strongly encourages students to apply for external funding for several reasons: as an important professionalizing experience; as a means for gaining the time and flexibility that sociocultural anthropologists often need to meet fieldwork's travel and language fluency demands; and finally, because doing so typically enables students to “bank” one year of University fellowship support for later use during post-fieldwork analysis and writing, subject to the financial policies of the Graduate School.

Dissertation and FPO

Students who have passed the General Examination are eligible to submit a dissertation based on original research. This research is supervised chiefly by the student’s committee co-chairs (designated as dissertation “readers”), though a student’s third dissertation committee member may also play an advising role. Departmental acceptance of the dissertation (achieved once the student's two dissertation readers have both approved a revised draft) qualifies the candidate for the final public oral (FPO) examination. This examination is based on the dissertation but extends beyond it to matters of the discipline as a whole and confirms the candidate’s readiness for a career in the profession. The FPO may be held anytime during the academic year, based on a departmental request to the Graduate School one month prior to the proposed examination date. Typically, in addition to the two committee co-chairs (“readers”), the student’s third dissertation committee member and one additional faculty member are appointed as dissertation "examiners" for FPO purposes. Subject to approval by the department and the Graduate School, one of these additional “examiners” may be a relevant specialist of the student's choosing from outside Princeton. There are at least three principal examiners, all of them normally members of the Princeton faculty at the rank of assistant professor or higher, at least two of whom have not been principal readers of the dissertation. At least one of the examiners must be from the student's home department. The student and all examiners should be present in person. In no case may there be fewer than two examiners who participate in person. 

• Serguei A. Oushakine (acting)

Director of Graduate Studies

• Elizabeth A. Davis

Director of Undergraduate Studies

• Agustin Fuentes
• J. Kehaulani Kauanui
• Serguei A. Oushakine
• Laurence Ralph
• Carolyn M. Rouse

Associate Professor

• Julia Elyachar

Assistant Professor

• Amelia M. Frank-Vitale
• Hanna Garth
• Ryo Morimoto
• Ikaika Ramones
• Jerry C. Zee

Associated Faculty

• Aisha M. Beliso-De Jesús, Effron Center Study of America
• Amy B. Borovoy, East Asian Studies
• Damien Droney
• Thalia Gigerenzer
• Jeffrey D. Himpele
• Aniruddhan Vasudevan

Visiting Professor

• Lucas Bessire
• Didier Fassin
• Glenn H. Shepard

For a full list of faculty members and fellows please visit the department or program website.

Permanent Courses

Courses listed below are graduate-level courses that have been approved by the program’s faculty as well as the Curriculum Subcommittee of the Faculty Committee on the Graduate School as permanent course offerings. Permanent courses may be offered by the department or program on an ongoing basis, depending on curricular needs, scheduling requirements, and student interest. Not listed below are undergraduate courses and one-time-only graduate courses, which may be found for a specific term through the Registrar’s website. Also not listed are graduate-level independent reading and research courses, which may be approved by the Graduate School for individual students.

ANT 501 - Proseminar in Anthropology

Ant 502 - proseminar in anthropology, ant 503 - co-seminar in anthropology (full-term), ant 503a - co-seminar in anthropology (half-term), ant 503b - co-seminar in anthropology (half-term), ant 504a - advanced topics in anthropology (half-term), ant 504b - advanced topics in anthropology (half-term), ant 505 - field research practicum, ant 506 - grant-writing practicum, ant 521 - topics in theory and practice of anthropology (half-term), ant 522 - topics in theory and practice of anthropology, ant 522a - topics in theory and practice of anthropology (half-term), ant 522b - topics in theory and practice of anthropology (half-term) (also las 532), eas 548 - the quest for health: contemporary debates on harm, medicine, and ethics (also ant 548), eas 549 - japan anthropology in historical perspective (also ant 549), eas 550 - topics in social theory and east asia (also ant 550), hum 599 - interpretation (also ant 599/com 599), sla 515 - language & subjectivity: theories of formation (also ant 515/com 514).

Ph.D. Degree

Students enter the Ph.D Program, based upon a vote of the faculty, at the time the M.A. degree is conferred or, if entering with a master’s degree, when all requirements demonstrating basic knowledge in the field of anthropology are completed.

The Ph.D Program

The Ph.D degree requires further study in a more specialized branch of anthropology, requiring at least one further year of academic study.  Students are expected to demonstrate knowledge of the discipline by successful completion of: (1) the Written Qualifying Examination administered by a three-member Departmental Doctoral Committee, (2) the Oral Qualifying Examination administered by a four-member Ph.D Doctoral Committee and, (3) the writing of an original dissertation based on original research.  The dissertation is expected to be a significant contribution to anthropological literature and knowledge.

Beyond basic requirements, each student’s program of study is unique. Accordingly, academic advising for graduate students in the department is primarily conducted on an individual basis by a student’s faculty adviser. The department’s graduate adviser is primarily responsible for counseling students in regard to program requirements, policies, and university regulations. Upon admission, students will be assigned both a primary and a secondary first-year adviser.

Student progress is periodically reviewed at faculty meetings. Students entering the program with a master’s degree are expected to be evaluated no later than their sixth quarter (spring quarter of their second year). At the Student Review Meeting, which occurs once per academic quarter, the full faculty evaluates the student’s progress in the program: formation of three-member departmental advisory committee; completion of the Proseminar and core courses; and evaluation of the Master’s research paper or thesis. Possible outcomes of the Student Review for students entering with a Master’s degree are: a) continuation to the Ph.D. program requirements; b) one-quarter extension to complete remaining requirements; and c) recommendation for academic disqualification from the Ph.D. program. All students are notified in writing about the outcome of the faculty discussion concerning their continuation to the doctoral program or degree progress. Students continue to be reviewed periodically throughout their time in the PhD program. The purpose of these reviews is to assess academic progress and help to ensure timely completion of the PhD.

Students entering the program with a Master’s degree

Students who are entering the graduate program with a Master’s degree, whether or not in anthropology, are required to demonstrate basic knowledge of the discipline before being permitted to begin the requirements for the doctorate. It is expected that students accomplish this during the first year of academic residence through the following:

• Nominating a three-member departmental advisory committee.
• Completing the Proseminar (Anthropology 200).
• Taking the core course or methods course with a passing grade of B or better.
• Petitioning that course work completed elsewhere, or at UCLA as an undergraduate, constitutes the equivalent of such courses.
• Passing the subfield’s core course examination given in the Spring Quarter.
• Submitting to the student’s departmental advisory committee, for evaluation, a master’s paper or a research paper that was written while in graduate status in their former Master’s program.

Additional Course Requirement for Students in the Sociocultural and Psychocultural-Medical Program: All students in the Sociocultural and Psychocultural-Medical program are required to take Anthropology 283 – Proposal Writing, typically offered in the Spring. Students must consult with their three-member departmental advisory committee chair before enrolling. Students are expected to complete the course in their second year but may complete it no later than the quarter they hold their qualifying examination. Students who entered the graduate program with a Master’s degree must complete this course by their ninth quarter (third year) in the program.

A grade of B or better is required in any core course taken at UCLA. If students received a grade of B-, C+, or C, they may not repeat the core course, but must take the core course examination and pass or be subject to being recommended for academic disqualification. If a grade of C- or below is received, students may repeat the course, but must receive a grade of B or better the second time the course is taken, or be subject to being recommended for academic disqualification.

Only when these requisites have been met are students permitted to begin the requirements for the Ph.D. degree. Completion of 40 units is not required.

Students who completed the M.A in Anthropology at UCLA

Students who are entering the graduate program without a Master’s degree must complete all of the M.A. degree requirements en route to the Ph.D. Following completion of the M.A. degree requirements and permission by the faculty to begin the Ph.D. requirements, students are expected to enroll in three seminars, each with a different faculty member, between receipt of the M.A. degree from the department and taking the doctoral qualifying examinations.

Additional Course Requirement for Students in the Sociocultural and Psychocultural-Medical Program: All students in the Sociocultural and Psychocultural-Medical program are required to take Anthropology 283 – Proposal Writing, typically offered in the Spring. Students must consult with their three-member departmental advisory committee chair before enrolling. Students are expected to complete the course in their second year but may complete it no later than the quarter they hold their qualifying examination. Students who completed the M.A. degree requirements must complete this course by their 12th quarter (fourth year) in the program.

Foreign Language Requirement

Fulfilling the foreign language requirement  is not a requirement to be eligible to apply to the graduate program.

The department requires proficiency in a second language for all students in the Ph.D. program in anthropology. It is the responsibility of the student’s three-member departmental doctoral committee to determine what language(s) are required for their particular program of study.

If the requirement for second language proficiency is to be waived, students must prepare a request for a Ph.D. language requirement waiver, which consists of a letter justifying the request, addressed to the committee and filed with the graduate adviser. The committee must then draft a letter of approval, to be placed in the student’s file. If alternate research skills that are deemed necessary for the program of study for the student’s dissertation have been identified and satisfied, these are noted by the committee. However, no specific other courses or skills are obligatory.

If foreign language proficiency is required, proficiency will be determined by the three-member departmental doctoral committee and may include but is not limited to:

• Completion of an appropriate level of language instruction; or
• Demonstration of previously acquired language skills through documentation or an examination; or
• Submission of an annotated bibliography, in English, of selected publications (in the selected language) that are related to the student’s dissertation topic.

The bibliography may be supplemented by a related analytical examination question or further translation examination.

For students required to demonstrate foreign language proficiency, all monitoring of the requirement takes place within the department. The committee chair is responsible for consulting with other committee members about the language requirement and plans for proficiency testing, and notifying them of the results of those tests, or otherwise providing them with copies of the documentation of proficiency.

Written and Oral Qualifying Examinations

The qualifying examinations for the Ph.D. degree consist of a written and an oral examination. The timing of these examinations is set in consultation with the members of the doctoral committee. Students must be registered and enrolled to take the qualifying examinations. The committee for each examination determines the conditions for reexamination should students not pass either portion of the qualifying examinations.

Departmental members of the doctoral committee administer the written portion of the qualifying examination. The fields and format of the examination are to be determined by the student’s departmental doctoral committee. There must be a minimum of two weeks between completion of the written examination and the scheduled date for the oral portion of the qualifying examination.

The University Oral Qualifying Examination is primarily a defense of the dissertation proposal. This examination is administered by the four-member doctoral committee.

Doctoral Dissertation

Doctoral candidates must complete an approved dissertation that demonstrates the student’s ability to perform original, independent research, and constitutes a distinct contribution to knowledge in the principal field of study.

Final Oral Examination

The department does not require a final oral defense of the dissertation. However, individual doctoral committees can institute this requirement if they deem it important to do so; this decision is made by the doctoral committee.

Time to Degree

Full-time students admitted without deficiencies normally progress as follows:

Entering without a Master’s degree

• Completion of M.A. degree  and approval to begin the Ph.D. requirements: End of sixth quarter
• Selection of three internal members of the doctoral committee: During ninth quarter
• Four-person doctoral committee nomination: End of 11th quarter
• Completion of foreign language requirement, unless exempted: During 12th quarter
• Completion of written and oral qualifying examinations: Expected by end of 12th quarter
• Advancement to candidacy: Expected by end of 12th quarter
• Final oral examination (dissertation defense), if applicable: Expected by end of 24th quarter
• Normative time-to-degree: 24 quarters (8 years)

Entering with a Master’s degree

• Selection of three internal members of the doctoral committee: During sixth quarter
• Approval to begin the Ph.D requirements: End of sixth quarter
• Four-person doctoral committee nomination: End of eighth quarter
• Completion of foreign language requirement, unless exempted: During ninth quarter
• Completion of written and oral qualifying examinations: Expected by end of ninth quarter
• Advancement to candidacy: Expected by end of ninth quarter
• Final oral examination (dissertation defense), if applicable: Expected by end of 21st quarter
• Expected time-to-degree: 21st quarter (7 years)

If feasible, students may complete the program before the expected or normative time-to-degree.

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Ph.d. program.

Our doctoral program offers students solid training in theory, contemporary research methods, and proposal writing with the aim of enabling students to develop an anthropology sensitive to the challenges and complexities of human experience and of our times.

Two PhD Tracks

Students have the option, with permission of the dissertation committee advisor, of leaving for the field after five or after six semesters. If they leave after five semesters, they will take 15 courses in total (three per semester) and convene their committee for a Portfolio workshop in December of that fifth semester. At the workshop they will discuss their grant proposals, three annotated reading lists (with 25 citations each), and a course syllabus (for a class to be taught in the future). If they leave after six semesters, they will take 18 courses in total (three per semester) and convene their committee for a Portfolio workshop in April of their sixth semester. At the workshop they will discuss their grant proposals, three annotated reading lists (with 35 citations each), and a course syllabus (for a class they will teach in the future).

If students receive external funding for fieldwork, they can spend a year and a half in the field (with one semester covered by the department and two by their grant). If they do not receive external funding, they will remain in the field for one year (with the one year covered by the department).

Funding (tuition, fees and stipend) for each student is guaranteed for five years, or five and an half for those who receive external funding for their fieldwork. The department is not responsible for the financial support of those who do not finish within these time frames, but will work closely with each student who does not finish to find external funding to cover continuation fees, health insurance, and stipends.

Students who choose the 3-year (six-semester) plan are required to take 18 graded courses. The program’s required courses (two semesters of Theories, Fieldwork Methods, and Grant Writing) comprise four of these 18. An additional six courses must be graduate seminars with primary faculty in Cultural Anthropology. Two of the 18 courses must be in a discipline outside Cultural Anthropology. A student on this plan may take a maximum of five independent studies. 

Students who choose the 2.5-year (five-semester) plan take 15 graded courses. The program’s required courses (two semesters of Theories, Fieldwork Methods, and Grant Writing) comprise four of these 15. An additional five courses must be graduate seminars with primary faculty in Cultural Anthropology, but the department strongly encourages taking six. Under exceptional circumstances, and with support of their committee chair, students on the 2.5-year plan may petition the DGS to allow 8 courses with primary faculty. Two of the 15 courses must be in a discipline outside Cultural Anthropology. A student on this plan may take a maximum of three independent studies.

Students on either plan have the option to take up to two graduate seminars in Anthropology at UNC-Chapel Hill. These may be counted towards the required courses with primary faculty in Cultural Anthropology.

Required Courses

• Theories:  The two-semester Theories course (CULANTH 801-802), taken in Fall and Spring of the first year, focuses on core debates and themes within the history of socio-cultural anthropology and related fields.
• Research Methods:  The Research Methods seminar (CULANTH 803), taken in the Spring of the second year, focuses on ethnographic methods, grant writing, and reading list annotation.
• Grant Writing:  The Grant Writing seminar (CULANTH 804), taken in the Fall of the third year (the fifth semester), focuses on the development of grant proposals for dissertation research support.

Other Requirements

• Plan of Study
• Portfolio of Work
• Foreign Language Requirement
• Research or Teaching Service
• Summer Field Research
• Department Colloquia
• Dissertation

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Cultural Anthropology PhD students are encouraged to apply for a certificate in another department or field. Our students have acquired certificates in: Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies; African and African American Studies; Latin American and Caribbean Studies; Asian and Middle Eastern Studies; Documentary Studies; International Development Policy. 

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For matriculation in the Fall of 2025, the Department of Anthropology at Harvard will be accepting PhD applications for the  Archaeology program and the MD-PhD program . Applications for the PhD in Social Anthropology, as well as for the AM in Medical Anthropology will not be accepted. The temporary pause on graduate-level Social Anthropology admissions is due to limited advising capacity among departmental faculty.

Admissions decisions.

Decisions on admission are made by a faculty committee. The graduate admissions committee selects well-qualified applicants who represent a range of interests and backgrounds to form a diverse cohort. The committee reads and evaluates all applications and consults with other departmental faculty on areas of specific theoretical, topical, or regional expertise. There is no automatic allocation of slots in the program for specific areas. The committee also attempts to balance advising loads and priorities across the members of core departmental faculty who are actively engaged in graduate training.

Admissions Numbers 

The Anthropology Ph.D. program receives over 300 applications each year, of which only 1-2% lead to offers of admission. Each year the program receives many more applications than we can possibly accept and with great regret must turn down many very well qualified candidates. The number of students we can admit each year is determined by the Dean of theHarvard Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. We do not learn the final number of admissions until March of each year.  

Statement of Purpose

A statement of purpose is not a biographical narrative. A persuasive statement of purpose (1) clearly describes the applicant’s proposed areas of research; (2) justifies the applicant’s research interests in terms of the relevant existing scholarship, the applicant’s personal intellectual motivation, and the applicant’s background and/or training; (3) explains why the Anthropology faculty and curriculum at Harvard are ideal for supporting the applicant’s training and research. We strongly encourage applicants to read the publications of the faculty they are applying to work with. A clear connection with faculty research and teaching is the best gauge of an applicant’s potential “fit” with the Department.

Personal Statement

A core part of the Harvard Griffin GSAS mission is to identify and attract the most promising students to form a dynamic and diverse community. We are committed to educating individuals who reflect the growing diversity of perspectives and life experiences represented in society today and who will contribute to our commitment to sustain a welcoming, supportive, and inclusive environment. Please share how your experiences or activities will advance our mission and commitment. Your statement should be no longer than 500 words.

Writing Samples 

The admissions committee pays particularly close attention to the writing samples submitted by applicants. Applicants should carefully select an example of your best academic writing that demonstrates your capacity for rigorous analysis and independent work. It is not essential that the writing sample be directly related to the topics or areas that you are proposing to study in the future.

Letters of Recommendation 

All letters of recommendation are due at the same time as the application. Applicants must provide the email addresses for three recommenders when you apply.  Harvard Griffin GSAS requires your recommenders submit their letters via an online recommendation system. We are unable to accept letters submitted through a recommendation dossier service.  

All students admitted to the PhD programs in Archaeology and Social Anthropology receive five years of full funding which includes four years of summer research funding. Typically, the first two years of graduate study are fully funded (tuition, health insurance and stipend), during the third and fourth years, tuition and health insurance are covered and students receive their stipend via teaching fellowships. Full funding (tuition, health insurance and stipend) is also provided during the dissertation completion year. Students are expected to obtain external funding for their field research. For more information on funding and aid, please refer to the Harvard Griffin GSAS Funding webpage .

Language Proficiency 

Prior preparation in languages related to an applicant’s intended area or areas of specialization is advantageous. Current language abilities should be explained in the application essay. Students in the graduate program are required to demonstrate that they have sufficient abilities for research in both a language they will use for conducting fieldwork and in a language in which there is a body of anthropological writing relevant to their proposed research.

Test Scores

• GRE Scores - Optional  
• English Proficiency - Required (may not be waived) 

TOEFL or IELTS examinations are required of all applicants whose native language is not English or who have not received a bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university where the primary language of instruction is English; a master's degree is not accepted as proof of English proficiency. The Harvard Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences sets the regulation that "a minimum score of 80 on the Internet based test (IBT) on the TOEFL i or a minimum score of 6.5 on the IELTS is required for consideration by the Graduate School." We will not waive this requirement.  

Applicants who took tests more than two years ago (i.e. before September 1, 2021, for fall 2023 admission) must retake them. No test other than the iBT TOEFL , TOEFL Home Edition, IELTS Academic, or IELTS Indicator will be accepted as proof of English proficiency; a master’s degree is not accepted as proof of English proficiency.  For more information on sending TOEFL/IELTS scores, please refer to the Harvard Griffin GSAS Admissions Webpage .

Faculty Research Interests

Potential applicants who have substantive questions about the research interests of faculty and/or their own preparation and background for graduate study at Harvard may write directly to faculty members with whom they believe they share interests. 

Please be aware, however, that because of the high volume of inquiries about the program and the large number of applicants, it may not always be possible for faculty to fully answer all inquiries. 

Retired, Affiliated, and Visiting Faculty

Retired faculty (emeritus and emerita professors) do not normally teach courses nor are they involved in training new graduate students. Student should not apply with the intention of studying with retired faculty.  

Although we encourage our students to work and take courses with faculty from across the university, applicants should not list visiting faculty, faculty affiliates, lecturers, or college fellows as faculty of interest in their applications. 

As part of the admissions process, the admissions committee invites semi-finalists for a virtual interview. There is no other interview. 

Visiting the Department 

Potential applicants may visit Harvard prior to submitting an application, but it is not necessary. Applicants considering a visit to campus should make arrangements well in advance. 

Individual faculty members handle their own calendars and appointments, so a visitor should contact faculty members directly to arrange appointments. 

Application Information 

The deadline to apply for Fall 2025 is December 1, 2024. Late applications will not be accepted. 

How to Apply

All application materials and instructions are available on the Harvard Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences website . Most questions can be answered on the Harvard Griffin GSAS website or the information below. Additional questions about applying to the Ph.D. program in Anthropology should be sent to [email protected] .  When applying to the Ph.D. program in the Anthropology Department, you must upload all supporting documents to your online application prior to submission - do not send any materials to the Anthropology Department. 

A completed application consists of the following:

• Admissions Form (submitted online)
• Statement of Purpose (not to exceed 1000 words)
• Personal Statement (not to exceed 500 words)
• A copy of your transcript from each college/university attended
• Writing sample that should not exceed 20 pages (double-spaced), not including bibliography; do not send a longer sample with instructions to read a particular section
• Three letters of recommendation (must be submitted via the link provided. Do not send hard copies and we are unable to accept letters via dossier services)
• Recent TOEFL and/or IELTS scores  (if required). If you are unsure, please refer to the Harvard Griffin GSAS Admissions website

A previous background of study in anthropology is not a prerequistite for admissions. However, successful candidates, whether they have studied anthropology previously or not, must be able to state clearly their interests in anthropology and demonstrate familiarity with intellectual issues in current anthropological theory and method. 

Harvard Griffin GSAS does not discriminate against applicants or students on the basis of race, color, national origin, ancestry or any other protected classification.

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Anthropology

Share this page, fall 2025 admissions update.

Admissions to the PhD in social anthropology and the AM in medical anthropology have been paused and will not be accepting applications for fall 2025. The PhD in archaeology will be accepting applications, and the MD/PhD program will be accepting applications.

The Department of Anthropology is one of the world’s leading institutions for anthropological research. Our PhD programs provide in-depth conceptual and methodological training in archaeology and social anthropology , with faculty whose work covers every time period—from the Paleolithic to the present—and every major world area. The department also offers an AM in medical anthropology .

You will have the unique opportunity to work with a world-renowned faculty that has a long tradition of foundational research across nearly every continent. You will have access to a wide range of resources including the Harvard Medical School, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, various area centers such as the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, Korea Institute, Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, Asia Center, and Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. You will also have access to extensive archaeological and anthropological collections of the Peabody Museum, an important resource for both research and teaching.

Projects that students have worked on include “Archaeology of the 19th and 20th Century Chinese Labor Migrants,” “Zooarchaeology in Ancient Mesopotamia,” and “Mass Media in Indonesia.” Our PhD graduates are now on the anthropology faculties at some of the top universities in the world. Others have secured positions with Facebook, the World Bank, and various museums.

Additional information on the graduate program is available from the Department of Anthropology , and requirements for the degree are detailed in Policies .

Areas of Study

Archaeology (PhD only) | Medical Anthropology (AM only) | Social Anthropology (PhD only)

Admissions Requirements

Please review the admissions requirements and other information before applying. You can find degree program-specific admissions requirements below and access additional guidance on applying from the Department of Anthropology .

Academic Background

Previous concentration in anthropology is not required; however, applicants must be able to clearly state their interests in anthropology and demonstrate familiarity with intellectual issues in current anthropological theory and method.

Writing Sample

For PhD applicants, a writing sample is required as part of the application and can be a term paper or thesis no longer than 20 pages (double spaced) not including bibliography. Do not submit a longer sample with instructions to read a particular section. Applicants should select an example of their best academic writing that demonstrates their capacity for rigorous analysis and independent work. It is not essential that the writing sample be directly related to the topics or areas that you are proposing to study in the future.

Statement of Purpose

A statement of purpose is not a biographical narrative. A persuasive statement of purpose (1) clearly describes the applicant’s proposed areas of research; (2) justifies the applicant’s research interests in terms of the relevant existing scholarship, the applicant’s personal intellectual motivation, and the applicant’s background and/or training; (3) explains why the anthropology faculty and curriculum at Harvard are ideal for supporting the applicant’s training and research. We strongly encourage applicants to read the publications of the faculty they are applying to work with. A clear connection with faculty research and teaching is the best gauge of an applicant’s potential “fit” with the Department. 

Personal Statement

Standardized tests.

GRE General: Optional

Theses & Dissertations

Theses & Dissertations for Anthropology

Anthropology Faculty

See list of Anthropology faculty

APPLICATION DEADLINE

Questions about the program.

PhD in Anthropology

Our PhD program focuses on three subfields: archaeology, biological anthropology, and sociocultural anthropology. We prepare students for a position as a college or university-level researcher and/or teacher, or for an advanced non-academic research position.

A master’s degree is not required for admission, and students with a bachelor’s or master’s degree are welcome to apply .

Are we the right PhD program for you?

Brown bag series.

All graduate students are encouraged to attend their weekly subfield brown bag or reading group.

The program you choose should have faculty with expertise in the area (both theoretical and geographical) in which you intend to concentrate. One way to assess your match with our department is to read through our  faculty profiles  or by looking through the  research specialties and themes  that our program emphasizes.

Additionally, since the PhD requires a minor field of study we encourage you to explore faculty research areas and topics in other related departments at the University .

Sociocultural Anthropology

Students are expected to take two core seminars in anthropological theory. In addition, students are expected to become familiar with a range of topics within sociocultural anthropology. This can be fulfilled by taking at least two graduate-level seminars on topics outside your area of specialization. 

Students are also required to take the core methods seminar that covers topics such as fieldwork techniques, conceptualizing research, research proposal writing, and ethics in sociocultural anthropology. The core theory seminars and the methods seminar are taught in alternate years. Students may also conduct independent study or directed reading courses with individual faculty.  

Please see the list of current and regularly taught graduate seminars in anthropology as well as the  faculty research and regional specializations . 

For more information about this program, see our graduate student handbook .

Biological Anthropology

In our biological anthropology program we offer training and research opportunities in two main areas: paleoanthropology and behavioral biology. We prepare students for academic positions as researchers and teachers, and also for advanced, non-academic research positions in the public and private sectors. The behavioral ecology specialty involves the study of the behavior and ecology of living primate species, including humans, through field studies and the analysis of long-term data. 

Please see the list of current and  regularly taught graduate seminars  in anthropology as well as the  faculty research and regional specializations . 

Archaeology

The program in archaeology offers training and research opportunities in the use of anthropological theories and interpretive strategies in the reconstruction of historic and prehistoric pasts based on material culture, the application of faunal and lithic analysis to questions in paleoecology and evolutionary theory, and the application of archaeological science to the reconstruction of site formation. 

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The PhD program in Anthropology at the University of Virginia is designed to lead students from a common and broad acquaintance with fundamental issues of anthropological theory to their own individually tailored agenda of original scholarly research and writing. The accent throughout is on preparation to make a valuable contribution to knowledge through field research, analysis, and writing.

For a more detailed description of the specific requirements of the PhD program in Anthropology at the University of Virginia, please visit  Program Description .

For more information on the program contact the Director of Graduate Studies.        

The program of study for the PhD in Anthropology emphasizes:

• Studies in history and theory of anthropology that give students a broad view of the field
• Integration of theory and ethnographic research
• Collaboration and inspiration across the three sub-disciplines of Socio-Cultural Anthropology, Archaeology, and Linguistic Anthropology
• Training in grant writing
• Mentoring for intensive field research
• Training and experience in teaching
• Mentoring for job placement
• Strong ties to other University departments, programs and centers

All incoming students for the PhD are supported with a six-year funding package as well as additional grants for foreign language study, conference travel, and preparatory research during summers.  The first year of our PhD program is devoted primarily to achieving a solid grounding in social theory through a set of “common” and elective courses emphasizing critical engagement with the history of anthropology and contemporary anthropological theory. In the second year, students focus on developing mastery of the existing bodies of scholarship on their research topics and areas. Working closely with faculty, they prepare two essays that critically review the “state of the field” in two areas of scholarly literature relevant to their planned dissertation research. During the summers following this first and second years of coursework, most PhD students visit their chosen field areas to assess the feasibility of research on their planned topics, to establish preliminary contacts, and to study local languages. In the third year of study, PhD students complete any remaining coursework and write their dissertation research proposal and grant applications.  Students who have passed their proposal and received funding carry out field research for one year or more. After returning from their field research, they write up their dissertation in consultation with the faculty members on their dissertation committee.

The information contained on this website is for informational purposes only.  The Graduate Record, found at www.virginia.edu/registrar/catalog/grad.html , represents the official repository for graduate academic program requirements.

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The Department of Anthropology at the University of Chicago offers doctoral programs in sociocultural and linguistic anthropology and in archaeology.

The program in sociocultural and linguistic anthropology offers opportunities to pursue a wide range of ethnographic and theoretical interests. While the Department does not emphasize a particular theoretical perspective, it is well known for its attention to classic problems in social theory along with an engagement with the latest developments in theories of history, culture, politics, economics, transnational processes, space and place, subjectivity, experience, and materiality. 

Shared topical interests among its members include culture and colonialism; postcoloniality and globalization; gender and sexuality; historical anthropology; history and social structure; politics and law; political economy; religion; ritual; science and technology; semiotics and symbolism; medicine and health; and subjectivity and affect. Africa, the Caribbean, East Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, Oceania, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the United States of America are among the geographic areas of faculty research.  

Coursework and study with faculty in other departments enable the student to pursue interdisciplinary interests, language training, and other regional studies.

The archaeology program enables students to articulate archaeology, history, and sociocultural anthropology, with emphasis on the integration of social and cultural theory in the practice of archaeology.

Current faculty specialize in the archaeology of Latin America (the later prehistory and colonial periods of the Andes and Mexico), Europe and the Mediterranean (the “Celtic” Iron Age and Greco-Roman colonial expansion), the Southeastern U.S. (urban history, colonialism, landscapes), East and Southeast Asia (from the Neolithic to the early colonial periods), and West Africa (history, landscape, complexity and political economy), as well as ethnoarchaeology in East Africa and experimental archaeology in South America.

Research interests include: urbanism; state formation; colonialism; industrialization; art and symbolism; spatial analysis; politics; ritual and religion; human-environment interactions; agricultural systems; material culture; economic anthropology; political economy; the archaeology of the contemporary; and the socio-historical context and the history and politics of archaeology. Faculty members have ongoing field research projects in Bolivia, Mexico, China, Cambodia, France, Senegal, and the United States (New Orleans). The program in anthropological archaeology also has strong ties to many other archaeologists on campus through the  UChicago Archaeology Nexus (UCAN) .

Teaching in physical anthropology, mainly directed towards evolutionary anthropology and primatology, is offered by Russell Tuttle.

In addition to linguistic anthropology as a sub-field within the Department of Anthropology, there is also a joint Ph.D. program available to students who are admitted to both the Department of Anthropology and the Department of Linguistics . Administratively, the student is admitted to, and remains registered in, the primary, or “home” department, and subsequently seeks admission to the second department in joint residence status. Students approved to pursue the joint degree program must complete the requirements of both departments, including the distinct introductory and advanced courses stipulated by each, the departmental qualifying examination in appropriate special fields, and the language requirements, including additional foreign languages for the Linguistics Ph.D. The student’s dissertation advisory committee consists of three or more members of the faculty; at least one must be a member of the Department of Anthropology but not of the Department of Linguistics, and at least one in Linguistics but not in Anthropology. After approval by the advisory committee, the student’s dissertation proposal must be defended at a hearing open to the faculty of both departments. Generally, an Anthropology student may apply to Linguistics for the joint degree program at the end of the second year or later, after having successfully completed the first-year program in Anthropology and the core (first-year) coursework and examinations in Linguistics. However, students should declare interest in the Joint Degree Program on the initial graduate application to the Department, and should discuss this interest personally with linguistic anthropology faculty soon after arrival on campus.

Although Anthropology has no other formal joint degree programs, students admitted to Anthropology may subsequently petition the University to create a joint program with another department. For instance, there is considerable precedent for pursuing a joint Ph.D. in Anthropology and History . To create this joint program, Anthropology students spend their first year taking the required first year courses in the Anthropology Department; in the second year, they take a two-quarter history seminar and write an anthropologically-informed Master’s paper in coordination with that seminar which will be acceptable to both Departments. The Master’s degree is awarded by one of the two departments and is accepted for equivalence by the other. The Anthropology student then applies for admission to History at the end of the second year or later, having already demonstrated a proficiency in both disciplines. Applicants to Anthropology who are interested in a joint degree program with History should declare interest at the time of the initial application.

Also by petition, it has been possible for students to create other joint Ph.D. programs. In recent years, individual programs combining Anthropology and Art History , South Asian Languages and Civilizations , East Asian Languages and Civilizations , Slavic Languages and Literatures , Conceptual and Historical Studies of Science , and Cinema and Media Studies have been created. An M.D./Ph.D. program is coordinated through the MeSH program in the medical school. A J.D./Ph.D. with the University of Chicago Law School or another law school is also possible, and we have facilitated joint degrees with the School of Social Services Administration at the University of Chicago.

Such individually-created joint degree programs begin in the second year of graduate studies or later. In all cases, students complete the separate program requirements for each degree, with no additional residence requirement, and write one Ph.D. dissertation that separately meets the dissertation requirements of each department. The specifics of each joint degree program, such as any requirements that may be jointly met, any overlapping examination areas, and the composition of the dissertation committee, are agreed upon by both departments at the time of the petition.

Students interested in pursuing an ad-hoc Joint Ph.D. should consult with the Dean of Students Office to understand the application process.

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How Long Does It Take to Get a Ph.D. in Anthropology?

Elissa hansen, 26 sep 2017.

In 2011, 555 students graduated with anthropology Ph.D.s in the U.S., according to the National Science Foundation. Anthropology doctoral students’ median time to degree since beginning graduate school was 9.6 years, the longest in the social sciences. However, most anthropology doctoral programs are designed to take five to six years to complete.

Explore this article

• Master’s Program
• Course Work Phase
• Dissertation Phase
• Staying on Track

1 Master’s Program

87 percent of students who received doctorates in anthropology in 2011 earned a master’s degree before entering their doctoral program, according to the National Science Foundation. After four years of undergraduate study, then, students typically go to school for another two years before beginning their doctoral course work. Some programs that offer both master’s and doctoral degrees admit graduates of their master’s program directly into their doctoral program, which can cut down on the number of credits needed in the doctoral program and on the time to degree.

2 Course Work Phase

Students take two to three years of course work while enrolled in an anthropology doctoral program. In addition to core courses in theory and research methods, students generally choose course work in their area of interest. For example, the subfields of sociocultural and archaeological anthropology each encompass further subspecialities. Students who study, say, the African diaspora take different courses than those who focus on South Asian language change. Students work closely with their program coordinator and their academic adviser, once they’ve chosen one, to select courses that prepare them for their dissertation research.

3 Dissertation Phase

Students who pass their qualifying examinations and demonstrate comprehensive knowledge of their field enter the dissertation phase of the program. Most U.S. programs give students five or six years of doctoral funding, meaning they have between two to four years to produce the dissertation. In anthropology, students conceptualize, carry out and write up original research in their field, with the goal of producing a book-length study containing several chapters. Anthropology doctorates take longer than average social-science doctorates because the norm in the field is to write a long dissertation. At the University of Minnesota from 2007 to 2013, for example, anthropology dissertations were exceeded in length only by history dissertations, averaging just below 300 pages.

4 Staying on Track

Prospective doctoral students can use several tactics to stay within their degree program’s time limit. They should choose their academic adviser as early in the program as possible, ideally arriving at the school knowing with whom they want to work, so they can begin planning the dissertation project. Once students begin drafting chapters, they can form small writing groups with other students to keep themselves accountable by setting frequent deadlines. Students who meet regularly with their adviser also tend to complete their doctorates faster, according to Rosemary G. Feal of the Modern Language Association. And because many students must teach as they earn their degree, they should ask faculty and more advanced students to share course materials with them to reduce their preparation time for each class period.

• 1 National Science Foundation: Survey of Earned Doctorates: Doctorate Recipients by Subfield of Study, 2001–2011
• 2 National Science Foundation: Survey of Earned Doctorates: Statistical Profile of Doctorate Recipients in Social Sciences Fields, 2011
• 3 New York University Department of Anthropology: Graduate Program
• 4 FlowingData.com: Length of the Average Dissertation
• 5 Boston University Anthropology: FAQ
• 6 Chronicle of Higher Education: Brandeis Tries a New Tactic to Speed Students to the Ph.D.

About the Author

Elissa Hansen has more than nine years of editorial experience, and she specializes in academic editing across disciplines. She teaches university English and professional writing courses, holding a Bachelor of Arts in English and a certificate in technical communication from Cal Poly, a Master of Arts in English from the University of Wyoming, and a doctorate in English from the University of Minnesota.

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