BA Anthropology

Anthropology is the study of the broad range and intimate specificity of human societies and cultures throughout the world. At Scripps, we focus on sociocultural anthropology, which explores the social orders and meanings that humans create. This is a comparative endeavor, as anthropologists look at existing cultures in the light of other cultural possibilities. The anthropology curriculum examines a broad range of topics including kinship and family relations; artistic, religious, linguistic, political and economic values and practices; health, medicine, and science; material culture; and the social meanings afforded all these human endeavors. Anthropology also emphasizes the grounding of theoretical interpretations in ethnographic fieldwork. The study of anthropology prepares students for any career in which an understanding and appreciation of the diversity of human activity is foundational. Anthropology at Scripps is part of a 5-C cooperative curriculum.