Upon completing the bachelor of arts program in anthropology, students will be able to:
1. demonstrate knowledge and critical understanding of the concept of
culture as an organizing idea of anthropology, as well as an integral,
adaptive, and infinitely variable characteristic of human society;2. demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the concept of race as a
social construction and not a biological fact, yet a concept that has
powerful effects on population groups around the world, the organization
of societies, and the allocation of resources, rights, and privileges
within various societies;
3. demonstrate an understanding of cultural relativism, the principle that
people's norms and values derive their meaning within a specific social
context; and differentiate the discipline's cultural relativist
perspective from ethical relativism, or the view that all moral
principles are equally valid to anthropologists;
4. demonstrate knowledge in the methods of anthropological data
collection, including ethnography and participant observation, as well
as contemporary techniques of digital data collection (ethnographic
photography, ethnographic film, and virtual ethnography);
5. develop skills in analyzing the portrayal of social difference in
society, and the ways in which the politics of cultural, racial, ethnic,
gender, and class difference operates in other areas of the world;
6. develop knowledge of some world areas and a comparative perspective on major anthropological issues; and
7. develop and demonstrate skills in critical theoretical analysis,
conduct independent research, and communicate ideas effectively both
orally and in writing.
