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The Department of Anthropology, established by Franz Boas in 1902, is the oldest in the United States and remains a center of disciplinary innovation and theoretical leadership. The department’s faculty members are actively engaged in research and writing about issues of both pressing contemporary relevance and historical significance. Our scholars work in regions and language traditions around the globe and in the United States, as do our students. We operate doctoral degree programs in both sociocultural anthropology and archaeology, and host two distinct MA programs, one in sociocultural anthropology and the other in museum anthropology. In addition, we offer rigorous undergraduate training toward both the major and the concentration, and welcome students from other disciplines into our classes. More.

STATEMENT OF ETHICS ON RESEARCH AND STEWARDSHIP OF CULTURAL MATERIALS

The Department of Anthropology at Columbia University is committed to the ethical pursuit of knowledge, and the responsible stewardship of that which is entrusted to us in the course of our research, including diverse materials of cultural value and significance.

We are also heirs to a lengthy history of anthropological research; as such we are committed to the ethical stewardship of objects and collections that were generated or acquired by our predecessors. To that end, we are engaged in an ongoing process of identifying and inventorying materials on site, consulting with relevant authorities to determine provenance, and working to ensure the well-being and, where appropriate, repatriation of objects and materials of cultural value and significance to the communities whence they originated. Further information.

The research interests of our faculty and students cover a broad range of theoretical and empirical questions, and our scholarly and personal engagements traverse an equally wide range of geopolitical and territorial domains. Broadly speaking, these interests can be grouped under the thematic headings indicated by the icons below. On the pages linked to the icons, you will find: a brief description of the issues and the Department’s historical relationship to them; a list of faculty members whose research and writing addresses these themes; a list of courses covering related questions and problems; and select publications on these subjects by our faculty members.