Bachelor of Arts [B.A] [Anthropology] From University of Illinois

College graduates with a background in anthropology thrive in a broad range of jobs and professions including global/international relations, social work, education, law, medicine and health professions, bioscience and technology, government, NGOs and business, as well as further graduate study in anthropology.

Professional anthropologists work as research scientists and teachers in museums, universities, and archaeological surveys; as staff members in government agencies, social service programs, and business firms in which international understanding of human and social concerns is important; or as independent consultants to such agencies, programs, and firms.

The Archaeology Concentration offers students a program to explore the human past through its material remains to understand cultural and societal change through time, and the role of heritage in the present. We offer many opportunities for students to conduct research with faculty in our archaeology labs, field schools, and in our extensive research collections.

The General Anthropology Concentration includes all four fields of anthropology:

• biological anthropology (biological diversity and evolutionary history of human and nonhuman primates),
• archaeology (human prehistory and the organization and growth of technology and society),
• sociocultural anthropology (daily life at home and abroad; identity and power in social contexts),
• linguistic anthropology (language and communication in cultural contexts).

The Human Evolutionary Biology Concentration offers students a program to examine the interconnections between genetics, environment and culture to address issues from human origins and morphology to forensics and modern health.

The Sociocultural and Linguistic Anthropology Concentration offers students a program of more focused coursework in these closely related fields. Sociocultural anthropologists study the daily lives of people around the world, both at home and abroad. They conduct field research to get a hands-on feel for people’s lives and passions and examine everything from beauty pageants to political protest marches, from Disney films to the lab practices of nuclear scientists. Sociocultural anthropology distinguishes itself from other disciplines by its conviction that these local and personal details offer a crucial window on the largest processes and problems of our time, from globalization to race relations and violence.