Introduction and Philosophy | Faculty Subdisciplines | Areas of Research Concentration

Introduction and Philosophy

Anthropology is the study of the culture of humankind, done on a comparative basis, to include the whole of human society, its diversity, and its past. The Department of Anthropology offers graduate study leading to the Master of Applied Anthropology (M.A.A.) and the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degrees. Both degrees reflect the department’s interest and expertise in applied anthropology – the application of anthropological knowledge, anthropology-in-use, and practicing anthropology – in a variety of institutional and community settings. This application of anthropology is intellectually informed by theories and approaches of the four subfields of the discipline (archaeology, biological anthropology, cultural and social anthropology, and anthropological linguistics).  In addition, students are asked to focus in one of our areas of research concentration (anthropology of environment, anthropology of health, and anthropology of heritage).

An Applied Focus

The department’s commitment to applied anthropology includes research devoted to the generation and application of anthropological knowledge, perspectives and methods in the service of human problem-solving and decision-making, and support for the practice of anthropology in a variety of professional settings. In practice, the department faculty and students are interested in issues and problems related to human cultural and biological diversity, cultural understanding, the interactions between humans and their various environments, and ethnographic, archaeological, sociolinguistic, and biological research methods.

M.A.A. Program

The Master of Applied Anthropology (M.A.A.) is a program designed both for students interested in an anthropology career outside of academia and for those who plan on continuing to a Ph.D. The program has been offered at the University of Maryland since 1984, and graduates have successfully secured employment or pursued doctoral work in a variety of fields, including medical and health practice, urban and regional planning and development, community development, conservation and heritage resource development, cultural resource management, historical archaeology, and anthropological genetic and ancestry reconstruction. The focus of the M.A.A. program has been to participate in the building of anthropological practice.

Ph.D. Program

The doctoral program builds upon the department’s successful Master of Applied Anthropology (M.A.A.) degree and was begun in 2007. In our doctoral program, biological anthropology, archaeology, cultural and social anthropology, and anthropological linguistics work together to produce fertile training environments for graduate students and to facilitate powerfully integrated research projects. The department’s faculty encourages applicants for our doctoral program who are outstanding undergraduates, master’s level students in anthropology and related disciplines, and professionals in anthropology or in fields for which a doctorate in anthropology would be an ideal complement or final degree. We seek doctoral students who have proven a commitment to cultural and social anthropology, archaeology, anthropological linguistics, or biological anthropology and who have shown an understanding of how to use their professional knowledge in applying anthropological research to practical and applied circumstances. We seek to train professionals who come here in order to improve both their research and applications skills in the uses of anthropological knowledge. A major focus of the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) program is to direct original research and to encourage theoretical and methodological advancement in such a way as to reflect upon the specific practices of anthropology, with the aim of improving those practices and thereby increasing the value and usefulness of the discipline. Doctoral students are typically prepared for research and development careers outside of academic settings, as well as for academic careers in anthropology departments and other disciplinary settings.

We particularly encourage potential graduate students to enter this program who would like to use the scientific and scholarly traditions within the sub-disciplines to address problems within the one of our three areas of research concentration: environment, health, and heritage. Applicants to the Ph.D. program will be expected to indicate an interest in pursuing study related to one of these areas of concentration. Most faculty members maintain interests that intersect with one or more of the areas of concentration. Students seeking to pursue interests outside these areas may do so with departmental permission and the cooperation of a faculty advisor.

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 of health, heritage, and environment, 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, and biostatistics, 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. Alain Froment, Ms. Marilyn London, and Dr. Teresa Leslie.

Cultural and Social Anthropology

There are presently six 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, and Tony Whitehead. 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, 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.

Areas of Research Concentration

All graduate students are asked to focus in one the department's three areas of concentration. These areas of inquiry are designed around the strengths and interests of our faculty and often intersect across the traditional subfields defined in Anthropology. Students are therefore encouraged to draw upon the expertise of the entire faculty in their work within one of these three conceptual fields:

Anthropology of Environment

The focus for this area of concentration is on the management of natural resources and the study of cultural and behavioral factors as they impinge upon our understanding of the environment and our ability to respond to environmentally-based opportunities, problems, and crises. Faculty interests include human ecology, cultural and environmental conservation, culture and cognition in environmental decision making, gender and ethnic factors in environmental problem solving and conservation, environmental justice, ecotourism, and aspects of agricultural development and regional or community planning.

Anthropology of Health

The focus for this area of concentration is on the management of health resources and the study of biological, cultural, and behavioral factors as they contribute to our understanding of health and medical practices and disparities in the provision of human services. Faculty interests include community-based health research, health services program evaluation, health practices and services related to under-represented populations, aging, environmental health issues, anthropological genetics and genomic research, and the relationship between biological and cultural factors in the provision of health care and services.

Anthropology of Heritage

The focus for this area of concentration is on the management of heritage and cultural resources and the identification and study of both material and intangible cultural resources as they relate to our ability to understand the relationships between the past and the present. Faculty interests include historical archaeology, cultural resource management, applied folklore and oral history, heritage tourism development, biological heritage, relationships between culture and history, and health-based heritage practices.

The department does not view these areas of concentration as isolated categories, but rather in terms of their systemic interrelationships. In keeping with the synthetic and holistic nature of anthropological inquiry, the ways in which these areas overlap and relate to each other is as interesting and functionally important as is their particular character. Therefore, students will be encouraged to explore the interrelationships between their areas and the others.
Students seeking to pursue interests outside these areas may do so with departmental permission and the cooperation of a faculty advisor. Students thus seeking to depart from the areas of concentration must make clear their intent prior to their acceptance of admission.

Areas of study can include:

• anthropological contributions to such fields as :
• agricultural development
• natural resources management
• tourism and heritage development
• and urban and/or regional planning
• archaeology and tourism
• bio-cultural aspects of human nutrition
• bio-history of African peoples
• biological approaches to human disease
• broad development issues in "Third World"
• communities in the United States or abroad
• community-based development
• cultural and environmental conservation
• cultural and gender aspects of development
• cultural and heritage tourism
• cultural resource management
• development of communities, organizations, or individual / family units.
• folk life and oral history
• gene-environment interactions
• genomic modeling
• health issues
• historic archaeology
• historic preservation
• human-plant co-evolution
• local community development / organizing
• natural resources management
• public interpretation
• sustainable agricultural development
• tourism development and planning

The University of Maryland is part of the Consortium of Practicing and Applied Anthropology Programs (COPAA).