Anthropology is a vibrant discipline that explores the diversity of ways of life, as well as the commonality of the human condition across the world. Anthropologists work in both far away places and “at home,” analyzing the contemporary moment as well as the distant past. We study not only cultural practices, but also the dynamics of power and inequality, change, and global processes.

Attending to these facets of human life, anthropology at Wellesley encompasses socio/cultural studies, historical work, archeology, and biological analysis of human characteristics and practices. Putting these methods into conversation, an education in anthropology orients students to understanding and analyzing human nature and how culture operates in their own everyday lives, as well as the lives of others.

The anthropological perspective is inherently multicultural and multidisciplinary. By studying anthropology, students are “led out” (educo) of their own personal backgrounds to appreciate the incredible cultural diversity of humanity, receiving an exceptionally broad liberal arts education.

Particular thematic strengths of our faculty and curriculum include: 

• Particular thematic strengths of our faculty and curriculum include:
• Nationalism and Ethnic Rivalry
• Cultures of Health and Medicine
• Archaeology and the Reception of Antiquity
• Anthropology of Media and Visual/Digital Culture
• Forensic Anthropology
• Gender and Class
• Ethnography of the Built Environment
• Politics of Development
• Human Origins, Evolution, and Variation

Our faculty carries out field research in places as varied as Wellesley, Massachusetts; Nepal; the Balkans; Bolivia; Sudan; Iceland; and Central Asia.