Our doctoral program specializes in Cultural Heritage and Applied Anthropology. Students in this program focus not only on cutting-edge research but also the application of anthropology to one or more central issues of the 21st century. These include the preservation of heritage and traditions, whether objects, landscapes, or language, international social issues, particularly global development and health delivery, or understanding the biological basis of humankind. This program requires more extensive coursework than the M.A. and, even more importantly, the achievement of independent professional-level scholarship demonstrated by the completion of a major research project presented to the faculty as a dissertation. This comprehensive yet individualized program provides seasoned professionals and recent B.A. and M.A. graduates alike an opportunity to earn a Doctorate.
Cultural heritage studies analyze 'heritage' as an archaeological, ethnohistorical, social, biological, linguistic, and legal construct. Heritage reflects a socially and personally important set of cultural, linguistic, and biological attributes that have developed through historical processes, which have social and legal meanings and consequences. The concept recognizes diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds while grounded in principles of the unity of heritage for all people. Different notions of heritage are explored from a theoretical perspective using various anthropological and other relevant paradigms. The course of study covers topics such as cultural resource management, social impact assessment, the interaction between cultures, the invention of tradition through time, cultural landscapes, cultural property, biological heritage issues, and retention of culture and language. An overlapping concern of the Ph.D. program is applied anthropology, the use of the anthropological perspective to solve real-world problems, including cultural heritage, medical anthropology, and a host of international development issues.
