Anthropology Department introduces Areas of Focus

At the beginning of this year, the Anthropology Department implemented Area of Focus, a new pilot program. This initiative organized the department’s courses into four main categories: Environment and Ecologies; Health, Science, and Technology; Justice and Liberation; and Creativity and Cultural Expression.

The Areas of Focus are an optional aspect of the department and, because they are still just a pilot program, will not appear on official transcripts. They can, however, be on CVs and job applications, which can be an asset when searching for a job.

Students who wish to pursue Areas of Focus have to take three or more elective courses in their chosen area.

Due to the optional nature, students are not limited when they choose an Area of Focus, if they do choose to pursue one. They are able to take other Anthropology courses, and some of the courses offered by the department span over two or more Areas of Focus.

Professor Mary Beth Mills is excited for the pilot program in its first year.

Anthropology, by nature, is wide-ranging. There are several different types of anthropologists, all with vastly different skill sets, so courses in the department cover many topics, some of which vary significantly  from each other.

“The major is broad ranging and sometimes students aren’t sure how to navigate through it, so areas of focus are a way to offer some coherence and cohesion if they’re of interest,” she said.

Mills pointed out that while the Areas of Focus help organize the department into clear categories, the Anthropology Department has remained fundamentally the same.

“It’s not going to transform or change the anthropology program in any way, but it offers some structure for how students may move their way through the program,” she said.

Most importantly, the Areas of Focus will familiarize students with the conventions of anthropological study. Most people do not encounter anthropology until college, and many never encounter it at all. Many people do not know how to talk about anthropology, or describe what it is. The Areas of Focus will help solidify what students are learning in a way that everyone can understand.

“Areas of Focus offer another way to talk about what you’re learning in anthropology and why it matters, because the areas of focus overlap with some of the interdisciplinary programs on campus or other kinds of professional sorts of interest that students have,” Mills said.

Professor Winifred Tate, the Chair of the Anthropology Department and a political and legal anthropologist, agrees with Mills that the Areas of Focus will help students with interdisciplinary pursuits, due to the new clarity that they offer.

“We thought it would be helpful to allow students who see the different opportunities within the major to develop areas of specialization and to make the skills that they’re building through the major more legible to people after graduation,” Tate said.

While the pilot program is specifically aimed at Anthropology majors and minors at the moment, Tate pointed out that the Areas of Focus will benefit all students, regardless of if they’re in the Anthropology Department, as they will help all students recognize classes that align with their interests.

“For people that are not Anthropology majors, it could also help make visible the connection within anthropology to the work that they’re doing,” she said.

Tate hopes that the Areas of Focus will help all students recognize how valuable anthropology is, regardless of if someone is majoring or minoring in it, because they highlight how many different disciplines anthropology covers and how people with interests in many areas can find something that interests them in the anthropology department.

“Our major allows space for people to explore a lot of different areas, so we encourage students to take a wide variety of classes — a lot of students double major — and we have a minor that’s very active. This is just one more thing that will help students see the way that they can put together classes that helps them to develop deeper understanding around particular dimensions of anthropology and the study of these different arenas,” Tate said.

The Areas of Focus show that the anthropology Department is turning over a new leaf. The new program helps students learn how to talk about what they are learning, makes experience in anthropology more accessible for employers, and helps students not affiliated with the department see what is available to them, which also lines up with their interests.

It may just be a pilot program for now, but the Areas of Focus will undoubtedly change the way students and the College look at the Anthropology Department.

~ Mairead Levitt `25