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| Cornell University Department of Anthropology | |
|---|---|
| Name | Cornell University Department of Anthropology |
| Established | 1893 |
| Parent institution | Cornell University |
| Type | Academic department |
| City | Ithaca |
| State | New York |
| Country | United States |
Cornell University Department of Anthropology is an academic unit at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, offering scholarship and training in cultural anthropology, archaeology, and biological anthropology. The department participates in interdisciplinary initiatives across Cornell and with external institutions, contributing to research on human evolution, social inequality, material culture, and heritage preservation. Faculty and students engage with museums, laboratories, and field sites worldwide.
The department traces roots to the late 19th century alongside institutions such as Smithsonian Institution, American Museum of Natural History, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, and scholarly movements exemplified by figures associated with Lewis Henry Morgan, Franz Boas, and Alfred Kroeber. Early Cornell anthropologists collaborated with organizations like the New York State Museum and expeditions comparable to those led by Hiram Bingham and Roy Chapman Andrews. Throughout the 20th century the department intersected with projects tied to National Science Foundation, National Endowment for the Humanities, and professional bodies such as the American Anthropological Association and the Society for American Archaeology, reflecting broader shifts observed in histories of Claude Lévi-Strauss-era structuralism and Clifford Geertz-style interpretive anthropology.
Cornell offers graduate programs leading to the PhD with concentrations in archaeology, sociocultural anthropology, and biological anthropology, structured similarly to programs at Harvard University, Yale University, and University of Chicago. Undergraduate majors and minors draw on courses connected to colleges including the College of Arts and Sciences and cross-listed programs related to Africana Studies, Asian Studies, Latinx Studies, and public archaeology initiatives akin to those at University College London. Professional training emphasizes field methods inspired by methodologies used at Çatalhöyük, Tell Brak, and comparative approaches resonant with work at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.
Faculty research spans collaborations with scholars associated with Jane Goodall, Richard Leakey, Leda Cosmides, and institutions like the American Museum of Natural History, the Brookings Institution, and the Rockefeller Foundation. Active research areas include paleoanthropology, bioarchaeology, ethnography, political ecology, visual anthropology, and material studies, intersecting with debates influenced by Michel Foucault, Pierre Bourdieu, and Bruno Latour. Grants and projects have involved funding agencies such as the National Institutes of Health, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the European Research Council. Faculty publication venues and collaborations connect to journals and presses associated with Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, Annual Review of Anthropology, and the Journal of Anthropological Archaeology.
Key facilities include laboratories for stable isotope analysis, ancient DNA, and osteology comparable to equipment at Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and the Natural History Museum, London. Collections and museum collaborations involve the Cornell Collections alongside partnerships with the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, the American Museum of Natural History, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and regional repositories like the New York State Museum. Fieldwork logistics and curation practices mirror standards used by projects at Çatalhöyük Research Project, The British Museum, and the Institute of Archaeology (UCL), supporting stewardship consistent with protocols associated with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act and international heritage frameworks such as UNESCO conventions.
Graduate and undergraduate students participate in groups and activities linked to national organizations such as the Society for American Archaeology, American Anthropological Association, and regional chapters similar to those of the Archaeological Institute of America. Student-run reading groups, labs, and colloquia invite visiting scholars who have lectured at venues including Columbia University, Princeton University, and Stanford University. Field schools and study abroad programs often coordinate with projects in regions associated with Mesoamerica, Andes, East Africa, and Southeast Asia, and with institutional partners like the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.
Alumni and associated scholars include individuals who have held positions at institutions such as Harvard University, Yale University, University of California, Berkeley, University of Oxford, and who have contributed to public discourse alongside figures like Margaret Mead, Lewis Henry Morgan, Franz Boas, Mary Leakey, and Ian Hodder. Others have served in leadership roles at organizations including the National Endowment for the Humanities, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, World Bank, and major museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the American Museum of Natural History.
The department engages in collaborative initiatives with centers and programs such as the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the Atkinson Center for Sustainability, the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies, and international partners like the Max Planck Society, Smithsonian Institution, and university collaborators including University of Cambridge, University of California, Los Angeles, and Australian National University. Projects span archaeological excavations, long-term ethnographic research, bioinformatics for ancient DNA studies, and policy-relevant work interfacing with agencies such as the National Science Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.