This highly personal academic environment within a large university maximizes the interaction between student and faculty while offering a variety of scholarly and professional resources. The programs prepare students to enter all research and policy conversations about education and the application of anthropology in other fields. The programs are built on the premise that one can claim to apply anthropology only to the extent that one has been rigorously trained in the theory and methodology of the discipline. Theoretical emphasis is given to social and political processes, culture theory, and psychological anthropology. All of this is done from a strong cross-cultural and comparative perspective.
Methodological emphasis is placed on intensive and systematic ethnography.
The faculty has a distinguished record of publications and research projects illustrating these premises. Most of this work has been conducted in the United States, Africa, the Caribbean and South America, and Europe. In addition, location in New York City allows students easy access to a myriad of prestigious academic and research institutions and provides a natural laboratory for student research on ethnicity, migration, and urban life. Through the Inter-University Doctoral Consortium students may take courses for needed course requirements at the Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York, Fordham New School for Social Research, and New York University. The programs are conducted in collaboration with the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, other profession- al schools, and several area institutes of Columbia University.