BYU's Anthropology Program teaches students to describe, interpret, and understand human behavior in socio-cultural systems. The program offers emphases in Cultural Anthropology and Archaeology, as well as a double major and minor in Cultural Anthropology. Cultural Anthropology focuses on human societies in the present, with a focus on medical, psychological, linguistic, biocultural and visual approaches to analyzing social practices and institutions. Through class and field experiences, students learn professional methods involving participant-observation, interviewing, and other techniques in order to understand life in a single culture, a subculture, or a multicultural system. Graduates in this emphasis usually find employment with communities and institutions involved in local, national, or international development, or research projects involving specific cultural groups. Students in Archaeology explore deep human history by learning how to document and understand the range of cultural patterns practiced by past peoples, as well as the environments that supported human societies. Student participation in archaeological field excavations reinforces course work that emphasizes methodological approaches to solving the complex questions surrounding human cultural development. Archaeology also often utilizes interdisciplinary techniques drawn from biology, geology, history, classical studies, linguistics, epigraphy, etc. Hands-on interactions with the collections of the Museum of Peoples and Cultures provide essential experiences for students in all aspects of the Anthropology Program at BYU. The department also offers a Masters Degree in Anthropology, with a Museum Certificate as an optional program that may be added to the Anthropology Masters Degree. This Certificate makes students job-ready for museum and cultural heritage employment upon graduation.
Anthropology
