Anthropology

About the Department

Dr. Dvera Saxton, Department Chair
Peters Business Building, Room 385
Direct Line: 559.278.0887
Department Line: 559.278.3302
Email: dsaxton@mail.fresnostate.edu
socialsciences.fresnostate.edu/anthropology/

Anthropology is concerned with everything that is human, in all parts of the world and throughout all eras of human existence, past and present. It is unique among the social sciences in its holistic scope: meaning, anthropological methods and approaches seek to understand human experiences as a whole within their social, political, economic, and environmental contexts.

The breadth of anthropology is reflected in its four subfields. Biological anthropology concerns the biological aspects of humanity, including human evolution, genetics, forensic anthropology, and primatology. Cultural anthropology explores the diversity of human culture including differences and similarities among human groups. Archaeology explores human material culture of the past and present. Linguistic anthropology investigates the nature of language and the critical role it has played in the development of human behavior. At Fresno State, we are an Applied Anthropology program, which means we mobilize the tools and techniques of our discipline to help address human problems. The central concept of culture binds the all anthropological subfields into an integrated discipline.

Our program has three goals:

to provide students with background in the conceptsand bodies of knowledge used and produced by anthropologists.
to provide students with training on the application of anthropological theory and method to problems in archeology, biological/forensic and cultural anthropology.
to prepare students to apply anthropological concepts to real world problems and effectively communicate results.

Both the anthropology major and minor expose students to all four subfields of the discipline with a strong emphasis on applied research and career pathways. The major consists of two parts. The core curriculum introduces both data and theory in a logical sequence of courses from introductory to advanced. The elective curriculum enables students to focus on a specific subfield and to prepare for advanced study or employment in a wide variety of fields. The minor offers a briefer and but balanced survey of the discipline, designed to complement any major whose graduates need to understand and interact with people from different cultural backgrounds.

Interesting Classes You Might Take

What You Can Learn

Appreciation of cultural differences and human variation
Basic methods and strategies for archeological, forensic, and cultural research
Critical thinking on race, human intelligence, religion, political systems, and other topics
Applications of anthropological approaches to support communities’ goals and needs

Special Resources and Facilities

The Anthropology Department provides students with specialized training in archaeological, ethnographic, biological and forensic fieldwork and methods. We offer three different field schools, host two laboratories dedicated to archaeological analysis and forensic case work, and the Institute for Public Anthropology. We require students to complete internships as an essential aspect of their development. The department helps place advanced students as interns with a wide variety of agencies and organizations in our region. We also work closely with the Office of Tribal Relations, the American Indian Studies Program, the Asian American Studies Program, and the Geography Department’s Global Information Systems’s Certificate Program to enhance our program offerings and add value to students’ degrees.

Career Opportunities

The Department of Anthropology provides undergraduate training (major or minor) in anthropology. Majors select an area of emphasis in Archeology, Cultural or Biological Anthropology, and may further specialize in some of the subfields of these areas, such as forensic anthropology, cultural resource management, or health anthropology. Our students have gone on to pursue graduate study, as well as careers in the public and private sector, including but not limited to: the U.S. Forest Service, CalTrans, California State Parks, the National Park Service, county Coroner’s offices and sheriff and police crime scene investigation units, community based organizations, public schools, community colleges, 4-year universities, user experience research in the tech industry, museums, tribal governments, private cultural resource monitoring firms, and more.

What You Can Earn

Additional employment opportunities are posted on the Society for Applied Anthropology website

Programs

Certificates

Bachelor

Minor

Courses

Anthropology

Asian American Studies