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
- Anthropology Undergraduate Sam Lavake awarded Forensic Sciences Foundation GrantAnthropology undergraduate senior Sam Lavake has been awarded a Field Grant by the Forensic Sciences Foundation. This grant will be used to support her Dean’s Assistantship this year. Sam’s research proposal was titled “Validation of Three-Dimensional Photogrammetry Models to Document Cranial Trauma”. From the American Academy of Forensic Sciences website: Each year the Forensic Sciences
- New Book by Associate Professor Dr. Elizabeth Drexler: Infrastructures of Impunity: New Order Violence in IndonesiaDepartment of Anthropology Associate Professor Dr. Elizabeth Drexler announces the publication of her new book, Infrastructures of Impunity: New Order Violence in Indonesia, available now from Cornell University Press. From the publisher’s website: In Infrastructures of Impunity Elizabeth F. Drexler argues that the creation and persistence of impunity for the perpetrators of the Cold War
- Department of Anthropology Ph.D Candidate Jeff Burnett Awarded Wenner-GrenDepartment of Anthropology Ph.D candidate Jeff Burnett has been awarded the Wenner-Gren Enagaged Research Grant for his proposal titled “Oak Bluffs Historic Highlands Archaeology Project”. For this project Jeffrey will be conducting a landscape study that utilizes archaeological methods, archival data, and oral histories and stories to map the beginnings and growth of a Black
- Department of Anthropology Ph.D. Candidate Emily Milton publishes in Bioarchaeology InternationalDepartment of Anthropology Ph.D. candidate Emily Milton, along with co-authors Dr. Jordi Rivera Prince of Brown University and Ph.D. candidate Melina Seabrook of Harvard University, have published an article in Bioarchaeology International. The article is titled “Reconciling Identity Narratives: Creating Collaborative Space with Isotopic Baselines.” The article provides a critical perspective on the use of
- Alum Assistant Professor Mari Isa (Texas Tech University), Professor and Chair Todd Fenton, and Ph.D. candidates Alex Goots and Elena Watson publish in Forensic Science InternationalLead author and MSU alum Dr. Mari Isa of Texas Tech University, Department of Anthropology Professor and Chair Todd Fenton, current MSU Anthropology Ph.D. candidates Alex Goots and Elena Watson, and engineering colleagues Patrick Vaughan and Dr. Feng Wei, have published a collaborative article titled “Effects of input energy and impactor shape on cranial fracture
- Department of Anthropology Ph.D. Candidate Rhian Dunn awarded 2023 Graduate Research Fellowship by the National Institute of JusticeThe Department of Anthropology is pleased to announce that Ph. D. candidate Rhian Dunn is one of 24 doctoral students who have been awarded the 2023 Graduate Research Fellowship by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ). The NIJ is the research, development, and evaluation agency for the United States Department of Justice, which aims to