Ph. D. in Anthropology

Faculty Subdisciplines

The department’s faculty specializes in the four traditional subdisciplines of anthropology: archaeology, biological anthropology, cultural and social anthropology and anthropological linguistics. These subdisciplines provide the theoretical and applied foundation for the faculty’s teaching and research. Within these subdisciplines, faculty training, experience, current research, and teaching are focused on specific topical and methodological areas, as described below.

Archaeology

The department trains archaeologists who intend to specialize in historical archaeology. We train archaeologists to work in public settings, management environments, and in the academy; they are encouraged to undertake research on the political uses of the past, museum interpretations of importance to local communities, and understanding and enhancing the role of cultural resource management (CRM) and applied archaeology in American society. The faculty encourages research on changing physical environments, analysis of health, changing patterns of disease and nutrition, and the study of ethnicity, class, and race. Those who have an interest in prehistory and who already have training in their field will be welcomed into the doctoral program to specialize in CRM, public interpretation, and private or public working environments, including museum settings.

The department’s three historical archaeologists, Mark Leone, Paul Shackel and Stephen Brighton work on issues of creating alternative histories. They use post-modern theories that include methods for deconstruction and theories which understand the use of histories to influence modern politics. The historical archaeologists study landscapes, museum exhibits, use of the media and the role of constructions of the past in local political contexts. Active excavations are used to understand local histories, their impact on national identities for minority members, and the role of reconstructed and rebuilt landscapes and urban environments in shifting power relations. Using materials from the 18th through the 20th centuries Leone, Shackel and Brighton focus on ideology, class, minorities, and races. Historical archaeology is strong in studies of the African Diaspora, the Irish Diaspora, ties between archaeological practice and community identity, and the use of media to influence political decisions. Training is provided in laboratory analysis, GIS, web-based communication, and field settings.

The department maintains close ties to many distinguished archaeologists who have taught courses or provide internships for graduate students. Drs. Charles Hall, Barbara Little, Francis McManamon, and Stephen Potter all have adjunct faculty status. Historical archaeology is also strengthened through ties to other departments across campus.

Biological Anthropology

The department trains biological anthropologists in the areas of human biodiversity, physiological anthropology, adaptation, and contemporary human variation. The application of these specializations includes, but is not limited to, studies of health disparities, environmental risk differentials, evolutionary medicine, and ancestral lineage reconstructions. Training is cross-disciplinary and successful students will take courses in a broad range of supportive fields such as nutrition, biology, andbiostatistics, as well as establish a solid grounding in anthropology. Ideal students should have a background in biological sciences theory and research methods and their biocultural application among modern human groups.

Biological anthropology has a long and distinguished history of applied work. Solid theoretical and applied training is available in biological anthropology and health (e.g., biocultural analyses of health disparities, computational bioanthropology) , biological anthropology and the environment (e.g., human variation / adaptation in response to plant-based toxins), biological anthropology and heritage (e.g., anthropological and molecular genetics of the African Diaspora, ancestry, ethics and identity formation, bioethics of genetic databases and DNA banks). Biological anthropology research is both laboratory- and field-based. Dr. Fatimah Jackson is the senior biological anthropologist on faculty. Adjunct faculty members include Dr. Cynthia Wilczak, Dr. Alain Froment, Ms. Marilyn London, and Dr. Teresa Leslie.

Cultural and Social Anthropology

There are presently seven full-time and several part-time faculty members in the department who are cultural and social anthropologists. Our full-time cultural and social anthropologists are Erve Chambers, Janet Chernela, Judith Freidenberg, Michael Paolisso, William Stuart, Tony Whitehead, and Aubrey Williams. These faculty members have a strong commitment to applied cultural analysis and to engaged scholarship that is broadly participatory and directed to diverse stakeholder interests and concerns. A core interest of the cultural and social anthropologists is the study of learned and shared knowledge and behaviors, and how such knowledge and behaviors affect, for example, the health care “cultures” of different communities (including those of the organizations mandated to serve them), uses of the environment, tourism and heritage resource development, religious groups, Native American identity and change, aging, and relationships between gender constructs and health and social risks. Most of the cultural and social anthropologists are contributing research and public service that is directly relevant to the needs of our local communities, the State of Maryland, the Washington D.C. metropolitan area, and national organizations. These same faculty members also maintain connections and research activities in numerous international settings, including the Caribbean, Central and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia.

The research methods employed by the department’s cultural and social anthropologists include the traditional inductive ethnographic methods of participant observation and interviewing, life and oral histories, analyses of discourse and text, visual anthropology, and quantitative methods. Individual faculty members have skills in evaluation research, cognitive research methods, social and cultural assessment, and community-based development. Several faculty members also maintain a strong interest in applied interdisciplinary research opportunities, and all are engaged in activities that are relevant to the department’s areas of concentration, which are described below. Potential students interested in pursuing a graduate degree in the area of cultural and social anthropology should consult the individual faculty profiles provided on the department’s web page. Interested students are also encouraged to contact individual faculty with interests similar to theirs.

Anthropological Linguistics

As a medium for thought, a vehicle for cultural transmission, and a means of social action, linguistic anthropology – the study of language in the context of human social and cultural diversity – is central to the discipline of anthropology as a whole. It is at the intersection of biology, history, culture, identity, cognition, and social life. The department’s linguistic anthropology subfield emphasizes the integration of social theory and language in context and practice. The subfield trains students to explore how social and cultural formations are grounded in linguistic practices. Training focuses on methodologies that utilize naturally occurring speech, explored ethnographically and in relation to such social issues as social groupings and distinctions; relations among meaning, power, and agency; the ways in which cultural patterns and social relations are shaped and reproduced through public performance and talk-in-interaction; community formation and transformation; history, memory and language; conflict and solidarity; identity negotiation; participatory structures and context; forms of address and social relations; processes of building common knowledge; processes of transmitting knowledge; the production of power; regional, gender, generational and ethnic speech choices; iconicity and social representation. It offers insights and trains students in understanding the ways in which people negotiate, contest, and reproduce cultural forms and social relations through language, the ways in which language provides insights into culture, human society and the ways in which individuals perceive themselves in and as members of groups. As an anthropological endeavor, the subfield makes use of cross-cultural and cross-linguistic data to explore the ways language is embedded in social life and practices. Ethnographic context is at the center of the endeavor. Janet Chernela, who advises students in this subfield, has published on narratives, gender and language, performance, public discourse, policy and development discourse, and building common ground in cross-cultural, local-global interactions. William Stuart’s work on “new religions” and “fundamentalism” involves attention to the linguistic and other symbolic aspects of such cultural forms.