DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS TO M.A. AND PH.D. PROGRAMS:
Special Admission Requirements
In addition to the requirements listed below, all students must
submit 1 official transcript showing courses and grades per school
attended, a Statement of Academic Purpose, a writing sample ( course
paper, term paper, etc.) and 3 letters of evaluation from academic
sources. All international students whose native language is not
English or whose undergraduate degree is from an institution in a
country whose official language is not English must submit scores of
the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or IELTS. For more
information, refer to our Admissions Information and Frequently Asked Questions pages.
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DEGREE:
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PHD
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Free-Standing Master's
(including Museum M.A. in Museum Anthropology)
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Deadline for Fall Admission
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December 1
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February 8
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Deadline for Spring Admission
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no spring admission
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no spring admission
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Resume/CV
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yes
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yes
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Writing Sample
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yes (10-15 pages)
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yes (10-15 pages)
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GRE General
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yes
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yes
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GRE Subject
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no
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no
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Miscellaneous
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none
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none
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The Department of Anthropology at Columbia University offers a full-time doctoral program of instruction which prepares students for teaching at the university level, for museum and archaeological work, and for independent research and writing. The department also offers an M.A. degree which may be pursued through full-time or part-time study. Fields of study include sociocultural anthropology, archaeology, and biological anthropology.
Other institutions in the area, including the regional Institutes at Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs, and New York's museums, enrich the Columbia experience. In addition, students may participate in the consortium of graduate schools in the metropolitan area including New York University, The City University of New York, and the New School for Social Research.
Students in the Biological Anthropology Program may participate in the New York Consortium of Evolutionary Primatologists (NYCEP) and the Center for Environmental Research and Conservation (CERC).
Research facilities include several archaeology and biological anthropology laboratories, the Center for Studies in Ethnomusicology, the American Museum of Natural History, the National Museum of the American Indian, the University libraries, and the computer center.
Additional information on the Department of Anthropology's graduate programs and admissions can be found on the GSAS website.
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Fields of Study
SOCIOCULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
Columbia has a long and distinguished history in the fields of social and cultural anthropology and many of the most important figures in the discipline have been members of its faculty. Franz Boas, Margaret Mead, Ruth Benedict, Julian Steward, Ralph Linton, and Robert Murphy to name but a few, defined the parameters of social and cultural anthropology during their years in the Columbia Anthropology department. The present faculty builds upon the excellence of the past by expanding into new areas of research at the forefront of anthropological scholarship, including the relationship between political economy and ritual, nationalism and religion, meaning systems social change, gender and race relations, and the impact of profound economic transitions on culture at the local and national level. We approach these conceptual interests from a variety of theoretical perspectives—symbolic and historical anthropology, ethno history and economic analysis, aesthetic and political theory—among them. Our subfield orientations include the study of legal, linguistic, medical, and political systems in urban, suburban, and rural societies.
Students are able to pursue this range of anthropological concerns in a myriad of geographical settings since the expertise of the faculty includes the study of North Africa and the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa, Europe, South Asia, Central and South America, East Asia (including China, Japan, and Korea), Native North America, and the contemporary United States.
Students in cultural anthropology are also encouraged to take advantage of Columbia's strengths in related departments. Eight interdisciplinary, regional institutes within the University provide opportunities for area-based studies focusing on the Soviet Union (the Harriman Institute), East Asia, Western Europe, the Middle East, East Central Europe, American Culture Studies, African Studies, Latin American and Iberian Studies, and Southern Asia. Doctoral students in anthropology may pursue "certificates" in area studies through these institutes of our School of International and Public Affairs. This enables anthropology students to work closely with fellow area specialists in history, economics, and political science. The Center for Research in the Social Sciences provides further avenues of interdisciplinary research at the intersection of anthropology and sociology.
ARCHAEOLOGY
Anthropological archaeology is highly diverse at Columbia, encompassing prehistoric, historic, and ethnoarchaeological approaches. Linked in various ways with the American Museum of Natural History, the program has particular strengths in North American, Andean, and African archaeology, but we accommodate a very wide range of student research interests. Common to all teaching and research is a strongly anthropological orientation and a respect for fieldwork and data analysis.
Advanced courses and seminars cover such areas as the Southwestern United States, Andean South America, and Africa; course are also periodically taught in the archaeology of Egypt and the Near East. The range of theoretical and topical issues includes materiality, gender and social status, empires, landscape, and political and economic organization. Training is also offered in museology and lab and data analysis.
Opportunities to participate in faculty research vary from year to year. In recent years members of the archaeology faculty have conducted prehistoric and historic research in Peru, Argentina, Manhattan, New Mexico, and Madagascar. Graduate students have worked in those locations, as well as Egypt, Cyprus, Ireland, Panama, and England. The faculty encourages field research early in graduate training, and funding is available for student fieldwork.
Although a basic core of archaeological knowledge and expertise is essential for all students, the program allows a great deal of flexibility to accommodate particular interests. Programs of study that crosscut traditional boundaries are encouraged. Columbia offers many kinds of specialized research within the University, and New York City offers many more. Archaeology students may draw on the educational and scientific resources of Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory, Columbia's Department of Art History and Archaeology, the Anthropology Department at the American Museum of Natural History, and many more museums.
BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY
The study of biological anthropology at Columbia began at the turn of the century with the anthropometric work of Franz Boas. Today, this field continues to focus on the evolutionary significance of biological diversity in humans and their closest relatives, the nonhuman primates. Among our faculty, three critical areas of research are represented: the evolution of the human brain and comparative primate neuroanatomy; the genetics of wild primate populations and primate molecular evolution and systematics; and the behavioral ecology of wild and captive primates.
Doctoral study in these areas of biological anthropology is now offered by the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology (E3B), which offers the Ph.D. in Evolutionary Primatology. Columbia has offered a Ph.D. program in Evolutionary Primatology for nearly a decade with most aspects of the progrm coordinated with the New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology (NYCEP). NYCEP, a consortium of the City University of New York, Columbia University, New York University, the American Museum of Natural History, and the Wildlife Conservation Society, provides a multi-institutional venue for graduate training leading to the Ph.D., which emphasizes all aspects of the behavioral, morphological and evolutionary biology of primates. Course offerings in this program are coordinated across the NYCEP institutions. Click here for further details about the Evolutionary Primatology Ph.D. program.
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Program Contacts
If you are interested in joining one of our programs please contact the appropriate advisor listed below. Please contact individual faculty members for information about their research interests or the content of their courses.
Anthropology
Elizabeth Povinelli
Chair of Anthropology Department
Office: 458 Schermerhorn Extension
Phone: (212) 854-1467
Email: [email protected]
Terence N. D'Altroy
Office: 962 Schermerhorn Extension
Phone: 212-854-2131
Email: [email protected]
Claudio Lomnitz
Director of Undergraduate Studies
Office: 858 Schermerhorn Extension
Ext. Phone: 212-851-5932
Email: [email protected]
Ellen Marakowitz
M.A. Advisor
Office: 468 Schermerhorn Extension
Phone: 212-854-8268 Email: [email protected]
Nadia Abu El-Haj
Director of Graduate Studies - Ph.D. Advisor
Office: 411G Milbank, Barnard College
Phone: (212) 854-7628
Email: [email protected]
Nan Rothschild
Research Professor
Barnard College
Director of Museum Studies
Columbia University
Office: 954A Schermerhorn Extension
Phone: 212-854-4977
Email: [email protected]
Archaeology
Brian Boyd
Adjunct Assistant Professor
Center for Archaeology
Office: 961A Schermerhorn Extension
Phone: 212- 854-1390
Email: [email protected]
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