Anthropology is a comprehensive discipline that offers students a comparative and essentially interdisciplinary approach to the study of human life in all its diversity. Anthropologists are concerned with understanding human universals, on the one hand, and the uniqueness of individual cultures, on the other. Today its focus ranges from complex industrial societies to traditional ones, as well as those known only by way of the archeological record.
Anthropology can be useful to students both intellectually and practically.
Like most liberal-arts disciplines, it teaches students to think in a critical and comparative way and exposes them to fundamental parts of the Western intellectual tradition. It also gives students a perspective on their position in a world of cultural diversity. The anthropology department at Bates offers an introductory course in social and cultural anthropology, as well as an introductory course in archeology and physical anthropology. In addition, we recommend that students take courses that focus on geographical areas such as native North America, Africa, Greece and the Caribbean. The department strongly encourages students to take advantage of the College's various study abroad programs, which include junior year abroad, fall semester abroad, and off-campus Short Term units.