The Department of Anthropology at Michigan State University engages in the discipline as a humanistic science of cultural and biological diversity across time and space. Our strength is in our diversity of approaches to this fundamental inquiry. Our faculty specializes in socio-cultural anthropology, archaeology, medical anthropology, physical anthropology, and anthropological linguistics. We work towards an understanding of the human condition, past and present, in countries across the world and in our own backyards. Our undergraduate and graduate students are trained to be critical thinkers. We offer undergraduates research opportunities inside and outside the classroom, and our graduates find that their degrees have prepared them for a wide variety of experiences within and outside the discipline. I encourage you to explore this new website and see for yourself the many approaches to anthropological research practiced by our faculty and graduate students, and visit us often here or on Facebook to keep up on the achievements of our faculty, students, and alums.
News & Updates
- Melanie Pitt named Outstanding Senior Graduating Senior Melanie Pitt of Farmington Hills, Mich. has been chosen by the Department of Anthropology as this year’s Outstanding Senior. Pitt said she was elated and shocked when she heard the news. “It was very unexpected,” Pitt said. “I don’t tend to expect much from what I have done, but it was a nice
- Associate Professor Dr. Elizabeth Drexler publishes in Visual Anthropology ReviewDepartment of Anthropology Associate Professor and Director of Peace and Justice Studies Dr. Elizabeth Drexler published an article in Visual Anthropology Review. The article is titled, Seeing Gaslighting: Photo-Dialogues and Structural Injustice. Focusing on gaslighting, the article reveals a process that manipulates perception to obscure systemic inequality and injustice and produce complacency and/or inability to perceive complicity in an
- Associate Professor of Anthropology Dr. Heather Howard co-publishes chapter in Michigan Salvage: Bonnie Jo Campbell and the American MidwestAssociate Professor of Anthropology Dr. Heather Howard co-published a chapter in Michigan Salvage: Bonnie Jo Campbell and the American Midwest. “Indigeneity in Once Upon a River” and accompanying teaching activity, “What’s your Indigenous narrative?” In this chapter, Howard-Bobiwash examines transformations in the tropes of indigeneity in Bonnie Jo Campbell’s Once Upon a River (2011), from
- Associate Professor of Anthropology Dr. Heather Howard co-publishes an article in the Epidemiologic ReviewsAssociate Professor of Anthropology Dr. Heather Howard co-publishes an article in Epidemiologic Reviews with Danielle Gartner (Assistant Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, MSU, primary author), Madeline Nash (Doctoral Student, Sociology, MSU) and Ceco Maples (Undergraduate Major in Anthropology, MSU). The review article is titled, Misracialization of Indigenous People in Population Health and Mortality Studies: A Scoping Review to
- MD-Ph.D. Student Jessica Ding Wins an Honorable Mention in Shao Chang Lee Scholarship Fund Best Paper CompetitionThe Department of Anthropology is pleased to announce that MD-Ph.D. student Jessica Ding has won an honorable mention in the Shao Chang Lee Scholarship Fund Best Paper Competition through the Michigan State University Asian Studies Center. The Shao Chang Lee Scholarship Fund was established by friends and colleagues of the late Professor Lee to provide scholarship awards
- Dr. Masako Fujita coauthors published articleAssociate Professor of Anthropology Dr. Masako Fujita recently coauthored Does the immune system of milk increase activity for infants experiencing infectious disease episodes in Kilimanjaro, Tanzania? which appears in the American Journal of Human Biology. Read the article here: Does the immune system of milk increase activity for infants experiencing infectious disease episodes in Kilimanjaro,