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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

  • Michigan State University anthropologist explores Maya land governance in Belize
    In Dr. Laurie Medina’s new book, Governing Maya Communities and Lands in Belize: Indigenous Rights, Markets, and Sovereignties, she examines the decades-long struggle by Q’eqchi’ and Mopan Maya communities in Belize to win state recognition of their Indigenous right to lands on which they have depended for generations.  During the 1990s, in response to a Read More
  • Michigan State University hosts Maya educator to discuss cultural and educational initiatives 
    Preserving Maya culture matters greatly to Filberto Rash and Dr. Gabriel Wrobel.  Rash, a Q’eqchi’ Maya and principal of the Tumul K’in Center of Learning in the Toledo District of Belize, spent a week on campus in January as a guest of Wrobel, a professor and associate chair of the Department of Anthropology. The two Read More
  • New study explores how Indigenous Knowledge shapes child development
    Associate Professor Dr. Heather Howard of Michigan State University’s Department of Anthropology has always been interested in the politics of food.  “I’ve long been interested in the socio-cultural dimensions of nourishment and how these connect to knowledge about illness and disease,” Howard said. Howard is part of Wiba Anung—a collaborative partnership between MSU and the Read More
  • Bone Needles Uncover New Insights Into Clovis Culture and Ice Age Life
    Tiny bone needles discovered at an archaeological dig site in Wyoming are helping tell the story of Indigenous communities during the Ice Age in North America. Dr. Madeline Mackie, faculty for the Department of Anthropology at Michigan State University, co-authored a new bone needle study in the scientific journal PLOS ONE. “These needles offer a Read More
  • Meet New Faculty Member: Dr. Madeline Mackie
    For some, the Ice Age is best understood through the 2002 animated film with a woolly mammoth, ground sloth, and smilodon. For Dr. Madeline Mackie, new assistant professor of anthropology, it’s a bit different. Mackie, originally from Southern California, knew from a young age that she wanted to be an anthropologist.  During her undergraduate years Read More
  • High school students explore forensic anthropology at MSU
    High school students from the Minority Student Achievement Network (MSAN) recently got a behind-the-scenes look at Michigan State University’s Forensic Anthropology Lab (MSUFAL). In November, these students spent the day on campus meeting MSU students and faculty while exploring labs. Dr. Carolyn Isaac, assistant professor of anthropology and director of MSUFAL, shared how impactful it Read More