Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of human beings and humankind in the broadest sense. Anthropologists study present and past human cultures and societies, human and non-human primate biology and evolution, and language in social contexts.
Chair: Larissa Swedell
Office: Powdermaker 314
Phone: 718-997-5510
E-mail: LSwedell@qc.cuny.edu
For Anthropology Advising:
Anthropology at QC
Anthropology’s unique cross-cultural and deeply temporal approach to understanding human diversity is perhaps the smartest and most practical route that a general liberal arts student can select. A major or minor in anthropology can be easily supplemented with a variety of relevant courses focused on any number of specific career goals and orientations. If a solid liberal arts foundation is your first educational goal, consider a major in anthropology. It offers a way of “seeing” and “reading” the world that is in increasing demand in these changing multicultural times.
For a printable overview of Anthropology and the majors and minors, click here.
Looking to the past, preparing for the future
A major or minor in anthropology provides the necessary preparation for a variety of careers, including education, international studies, medicine and allied professions, social work, corporate consulting, market research, museum work, community organizing, academia, and many more. Students may focus mainly in one of the anthropological subfields – cultural, biological, archaeological, or linguistic anthropology – or they may follow a more general program of study that includes all four subfields.
Explore Anthropology at QC
Anthropology News
Welcome back to the Fall 2025 semester
September 2025
Explore our current semester’s course offerings here.
Prof. Makihara and Rodríguez publish book with Berghahn Press
September 2025
Prof. Makihara and Rodríguez recently published their new book “Language and Political Subjectivity: Stancemaking, Power and Politics in Chile and Venezuela” with Berghahn Press. They present an ethnographic and historical perspective on how Indigenous and diasporic communities, with their political subjectivities, expand over sociohistorical changes and struggles in the transformation of Chilean democracy and Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution.
Prof. Plummer and team publish on earliest raw material transport in Oldowan tool production
September 2025
Prof. Thomas Plummer and a team of researchers working on the Homa Peninsula publish on the earliest evidence of raw material transport used in the production of Oldowan tools dating back nearly 3 million years. The article, led by Dr. Emma Finestone (Cleveland Museum of Natural History) can be found here: Science Advances and is summarized in AP News, ScienceNews, and Popular Science.