Anthropology is the study of humankind including the origin and evolution of our species and the life of ancient and modern people. The field has four subdisciplines. Physical Anthropology focuses upon human biological nature. Cultural Anthropology deals with human society in the past and present. Anthropological Linguistics studies language as part of human behavior.
Archaeology studies the remains of past cultures to reconstruct former lifestyles.
The Department has a long-standing graduate program which trains students in all aspects of anthropology, focusing especially on Asia and the Pacific region. The training emphasizes field research. In any one year we have students engaged in such projects as excavating an ancient religious temple on Tahiti, recording ritual life in rural Java, or analyzing the social system of a Japanese factory. Specific faculty interests lie in Hawai'i, Samoa, Tahiti, Micronesia, China, the Philippines, Indonesia, Japan and Thailand. For information on the Department's plans for the future see its Mission Statement and Strategic Plan .