BA/BS in Anthropology

Anthropology at Bates considers the full range of human life, with particular focus on social and cultural diversity. The department's strengths lie in sociocultural anthropology, supplemented by archaeology and linguistics. Faculty emphasize how societies confront change and how people negotiate authority and inequality. Students practice reading widely, reasoning across complicated evidence and presenting findings in writing and aloud. Fieldwork is an important part of the method, and majors may join faculty projects through class work or self-directed research. The program stresses a global outlook while encouraging students to scrutinize the customs of their own society. Training in cultural analysis suits graduates for work in public health, education, nonprofit organizations, journalism and graduate study. Many learn to view familiar institutions with new eyes, an ability that carries across professions.