Program Requirements

  • Total Units Required: 33 credit units
  • Grade Requirement: C– or better; Pass/No Pass grades do not count for the major.

Required Courses

ANTHRO 1510Introduction to Human Evolution3
ANTHRO 1520Introduction to Cultural Anthropology3
ANTHRO 1530Introduction to Archaeology3
Total Units9

Elective Courses

Students must complete 24 advanced credit units (3000 level or higher) of elective courses, of which 9 credit units must be at the 4000 level.

Courses with anthropological themes and content can be counted toward the Anthropology major and minor. Examples of such courses include the following:

AFAS 3062Islam, Culture and Society in West Africa3
AFAS 3105Transnational Black Feminisms3
AFAS 3113Culture, Politics, and Society in Francophone Africa3
AFAS 3201Race, Education & Inequality: From Segregation to Reform3
AFAS 3304Race and Global Health Inequities: Social determinants and Intersectionality3
AFAS 3601Beyond Sea, Sunshine and Soca: A History of the Caribbean3
AFAS 4010Who's Afraid of Black Marxism? The Crises of Capitalism and Futures of Solidarity3
AFAS 4040Gender, Sexuality, and Change in Africa3
AFAS 4104Black Decolonial Thought: Conceptualizing Epistemic Violence From Frantz Fanon to Achille Mbembe3
AFAS 4236Blackness in Brazil3
AFAS 4350Theorizing Blackness: A Genealogy of Radical Thought in the Black World3
AMCS 2270Topics in Native American Culture3
COMPLITTHT 4052Citizenship: Historical, Cross-Cultural, and Interdisciplinary Perspectives3
ENST 3710Introduction in GIS3
GLOBAL 3006Global Health and Language3
JIMES 3184A Rainbow Thread: A History of Queer Identities in Judaism and Islam3
JIMES 3540Anthropological and Sociological Study of Muslim Societies3
LATAM 3160Cultures of Health in Latin America3
PUBHLTHSOC 2000Introduction to Global Health3
PUBHLTHSOC 4011Water and Health in the Colonial and Postcolonial World3
PUBHLTHSOC 4020Topics in Public Health & Society3
RELPOL 3070Islam, Gender, Sexuality3

Students should consult with the program coordinator or Director of Undergraduate Studies to make sure a course offered outside of Anthropology will count toward their major/minor.

Additional Information

  • Students should register for any courses listed under Anthropology (ANTHRO) in the Bulletin to have the credit units count toward the Anthropology major. Courses that are housed in other departments can be counted towards the Anthropology major/minor. Note: Advanced courses used to satisfy the requirements of one program cannot also be counted toward another major/minor per Arts & Sciences policy.
  • Courses taken Pass/No Pass and courses in which a student earns less than a C– do not fulfill the major/minor requirements.
  • A maximum of 12 credit units of nontraditional courses — including WashU Continuing & Professional Studies, study abroad, transfer (non-study abroad), honors, and directed-research courses — may be counted toward the advanced electives in the major. Please find more detailed information below.

WashU Continuing & Professional Studies (CAPS)

Anthropology courses taken in person through WashU Continuing & Professional Studies (CAPS) may be counted toward the Anthropology major/minor. A maximum of 6 credit units from CAPS courses may be counted toward the electives. Required introductory courses taken through CAPS do not count toward the maximum number of credit units that can be counted toward the major/minor. Enrollment in CAPS courses requires approval from the Program Coordinator or the Director of Undergraduate Studies.

Study Abroad

The Anthropology department recognizes and accepts courses from a number of semester- and year-abroad programs. Specific information about study abroad policies is available on the Anthropology Department website or by consultation with the department study abroad coordinator. Students may petition to count up to 6 credit units of study abroad elective credit toward the general Anthropology major. Students should contact the Anthropology study abroad coordinator to discuss the requirements for study abroad credit and to gain approval for the transfer of credit.

Transfer Credit

Students who wish to transfer credits from other institutions (non-study abroad units) for use toward the major in Anthropology must have approval from the Director of Undergraduate Studies. With approval, students may transfer a total of 9 credit units from other U.S. institutions. Students who completed the Anthropology subject test for the International Baccalaureate with a score of 5 or higher can count the corresponding credit hours toward their general degree credit hours but not toward the Anthropology major.

Senior Honors

Anthropology majors in the College of Arts & Sciences who wish to conduct a research project for Latin Honors, who have a minimum grade point average of 3.65, and who have received the approval of a faculty advisor and the department honors coordinator may be enrolled in the honors program. Latin Honors involves both the demonstration of acquired knowledge (based in part on GPA) and a report on an original research project. Two courses, ANTHRO 4960 Senior Honors Research (fall semester) and ANTHRO 4961 Senior Honors Thesis (spring semester), are available to allow students to receive credit for the extra research involved in the honors thesis. Students may count one of these courses toward their 4000-level course credit requirement for the major.

Research

Many Anthropology courses include research components and final projects. Majors can also take part in research at the beginning, intermediate, or advanced level in any subdiscipline and gain credit through approved directed research with faculty who have ongoing research projects. Other options include research in an anthropology lab or field research in archaeology, paleoethnobotany, geoarchaeology, zooarchaeology, genetic studies, geographic information systems, human ecology, paleoanthropology, stable isotopic analyses, and primate studies. Students may count a maximum of 3 credit units of directed research (ANTHRO 2900 Introduction to Directed Research, ANTHRO 3900 Intermediate Directed Research, ANTHRO 4988 Advanced Directed Anthropological Research I, ANTHRO 4989 Advanced Directed Anthropological Research II) with any individual faculty member toward the major.

Internships

Anthropology majors may gain pre-professional experience by taking part in supervised internships in businesses, cultural institutions, and community agencies. Students must have department approval for an internship and must work with an anthropology faculty sponsor during the fall or spring semester. Internships (ANTHRO 3000 Internships in Anthropology) may only be taken for Pass/No Pass credit and do not count toward the major credit requirements.

Contact Info

Contact:Erin Coleman
Phone:314-935-5309
Email:colemane@wustl.edu
Website:http://anthropology.wustl.edu