College of Liberal Arts

   Welcome to the Department of Anthropology at Purdue University!

We are a dynamic department of anthropologists devoted to exploring human diversity across time and space by pursuing excellence in research, learning, and engagement.  We offer bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees, and our graduates are pursuing a broad spectrum of careers.

Our 17 full-time anthropologists  engage in research that covers archaeology, bioarchaeology, and ancient societies; ethnography, world cultures, popular culture, and human diversity; human and primate biology, ecology, adaptation, and evolution; social change in health, development, technology, and the environment; and language, communication, and symbols.  Our faculty has on-going research projects in Africa, Asia, Europe, and North and South America, and they have an excellent record in grants, publications, and applications of their research to address real world problems.

We offer a diverse array of method, theory, and area studies courses at all levels to prepare our 100 anthropology majors, 28 graduate students , and students from other disciplines at Purdue, to engage purposefully and critically with the world around them.  For students who are prepared to engage in research, we offer opportunities to collaborate with faculty or to work under supervision on independent projects.  We encourage our students to take opportunities for experiential education, including summer field schools around the world, study abroad opportunities, or other hands-on research .  Next year we are introducing a new study abroad opportunity in Brazil, to work on community issues in the rain forest with the Kayapo Indians, led by Professor Zanotti.  Students can also take advantage of international opportunities across the disciplines in the College of Liberal Arts or in collaboration with other colleges at Purdue.  Whether you are looking for an international internship, an archaeology dig, or a creative interdisciplinary experience, we’ll help you find an opportunity to enhance your education.  We also offer courses in the honors program and opportunities for students to earn departmental honors.

We hope you will enjoy exploring this website and learning more about our people and our research.  From time to time we will post updated newsletters.  We also welcome visitors to our campus, and we hope that our alumni and interested members of the public will feel welcome to attend our departmental events or call our staff to schedule a visit.

Please feel free to contact the Anthropology Department with any questions at anthropology@purdue.edu

Ellen Gruenbaum
Department Head

Anthropology Department Happenings

For more information about any of these news items click here.

• Dr. Bryce Carlson has authored a paper on diurnal variation in nutrient consumption appearing in this month's issue of the American Journal of Primatology.  With co-authors Dr. Jessica Rothman and Dr. John Mitani, Dr. Carlson showed that wild chimpanzees at Kibale National Park, Uganda preferentially consumed 2 common dietary resources late in the day when their nutritional quality was highest.  This study suggests chimpanzees may be capable of tracking changes in nutritional composition on the order of hours, not just weeks or months. For more information click here.
• The Anthropology Department is pleased to invite students to submit papers for the 2013 Brazil Abroad scholarship competition.   Check out the flyer and find out more information about the program here.
• Franco Lai has won the 2013 Center for Research on Diversity and Inclusion Graduate Student Award for Research Excellence! Her award-winning paper is titled "Sexualities in Transnational Migrant Circuits: Female same-sex relations among female domestic migrant workers in Hong Kong."  For further information about the award click here.
• Professor Evelyn Blackwood was recently awarded a Title IX service award as a pioneer, advocate, and mentor in the area of gender equity. Congratulations Dr. Blackwood!  Click here for Purdue Today's feature of Dr. Blackwood's accomplishments.
• Are you planning on applying to the Anthropology Graduate Program for Fall 2013?  Please join us for a visitation day on Monday, October 22 to learn about graduate study at Purdue!  For more information and to RSVP, please contact Talin Lindsay at anthgrad@purdue.edu.”
• Jennifer Studebaker (M.S. May 2012) has just started a new position as Office Coordinator at the Society for Ethnomusicology at Indiana University.  She reports that she really likes the position and will be learning a lot about non-profit organization management.  Congratulations, Jennifer!
• A publication based on MS research by PhD student, Sarah Schrader, is now available online in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology: “Activity patterns in New Kingdom Nubia: An examination of entheseal remodeling and osteoarthritis at Tombos”
• Doctoral student Ryan Plis and Dr. Evelyn Blackwood received the Center for Research on Diversity and Inclusion 2012 award for the best paper in the category of Faculty research.  The paper is entitled: Trans Technologies and Identities in the United States.  It will be published in Technologies of Sexuality and Sexual Health, Lenore Manderson, editor, Routledge, 2012.
• The Spring issue of THiNK magazine features the work of several anthropology faculty members and students.  We invite you to check out the news here.
• Dr. Evelyn Blackwood and Dr. Su’ad Abdul Khabeer presented papers at the Center for Research on Diversity and Inclusion's Spring Symposium on March 29, 2012.   Papers presented focused on cultural marginalization (Abdul Khabeer) and Trans Embodiment (Blackwood).
• Doctoral student Elizabeth Wirtz was recently awarded a Purdue Research Foundation Grant for her dissertation work "Measuring the Impact of Physical and Structural Violence on Somali Refugee Women's Perceptions of Fertility and Motherhood in Kakuma Refugee Camp, Kenya”
• Ian Lindsay recently presented a talk at the 2011 Chicago Humanities Festival entitled "Can you Dig It?: Technology in the Archaeological Record."  Read more...
• Andrew Buckser has been named an American Council on Education Fellow for 2011-2012. 
• The American Anthropological Association’s Association for Queer Anthropology is very pleased to announce that Evelyn Blackwood has been awarded the 2011 Ruth Benedict Book Prize in the category “Outstanding Monograph” for Falling into the Lesbi World: Desire and Difference in Indonesia (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2010). 
• Join us at the Anthropology Fall Open Houseon Friday, November 11 to learn about graduate study at Purdue!  The event will begin at 10:00am in Stone Hall Room B2 and will include a chance to learn about our MS and PhD graduate degree programs, funding options and faculty research projects. 
• Wiping Away the Tears Symposium: The Battle of Tippecanoe in History and Memory. Free and open to the public. November 3 - 5, 2011  Purdue University.
• Dr. Evelyn Blackwood was recently interviewed by The Daily Beast about her research among the Minangkabau in West Sumatra, Indonesia. 
• Dr. Cooper was recently awarded a $512,950 grant from the National Science Foundation's Arctic Social Sciences Program for a 3-year program of research titled "Prehistoric Native Copper Technology in Northwest North America: Innovation, Diffusion, and Heritage."
• Dr. Laura Zanotti recently returned from Brazilian Amazon, where she co-taught a study abroad course on indigenous peoples and conservation. 

For more information on these news items and past news click here.

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