About Anthropology at UF
Anthropology lies at the intersection of the multiple approaches to the study of humankind that characterize other disciplines–biological, social, cultural, historical, linguistic, cognitive, material, technological, and aesthetic–because of its unique holistic perspective. These multiple approaches are encapsulated in the four traditional subfields that have composed the discipline since its establishment in the 19th century: sociocultural, archaeological, biological, and linguistic anthropology. Anthropologists typically engage in particularistic research (devoted to specific topics, regions, theoretical, and methodological concerns) that ultimately contributes to the “big questions” about human experience.
The department mission is to maintain the vision of anthropology encapsulated in these strengths among its faculty, graduate students, undergraduate majors, and other students taking anthropology courses, and to foster an understanding of anthropology within the university community and beyond.
Characteristics of the UF Anthropology Department
Specific characteristics of the UF Anthropology Department that distinguish it among its peers are listed here:
- Many faculty conduct research at the boundaries of the subdisciplines within anthropology and at the boundaries of anthropology and other disciplines.
- Whereas numerous other anthropology departments have become factionalized along subdisciplinary or theoretical lines, UF Anthropology has gained national attention and high regard for conscientiously maintaining a holistic approach that is fostered by making connections across methodological and disciplinary borders.
- The department has a high number of faculty with joint appointments in other campus units. Many department faculty are otherwise actively involved in research and teaching with other campus units.
- The department values empirical, theoretically and methodologically informed research, respecting the different approaches and perspectives employed by individual faculty. Both quantitative and qualitative research are pursued, with interests spanning the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities.
- The department fosters the development of regional expertise in the culture, history, or language of a specific area. Traditional regional strengths are Latin America, Africa, and North America, with the more recent addition of faculty specializing in Asia and Europe.
- The department values both “academic” and “applied” research. By choice and training a high proportion of graduate degree holders pursue careers outside of academia.
- The department is deeply committed to international and intercultural research and education. The research of many faculty members and students takes place in other countries and involves international researchers and audiences. Numerous courses taught by the department have a strong international component. The department has a high number of international students and some international faculty.
- Several faculty members are involved in developing anthropological education in other countries through collaborations with counterparts at their universities and the teaching of international field schools.
Thematic Clusters
Anthropological research is quite diverse. No department can pay equal attention to all anthropological topics or provide global coverage. UF Anthropology faculty and graduate student interests have converged around certain topics that provide programmatic foci, producing collaborative research and attracting qualified undergraduate and graduate students. These foci are presented here as six thematic clusters:
- The New Ecologies: culturally mediated interactions between humans and their environments
- Ecological Anthropology, Anthropology of Environmental Disasters, Zooarchaeology, Anthropogenic Environmental Impacts (past and present), Primatology
- Long-term Perspectivism: analyses of historical and evolutionary processes and changes to our species and human culture
- Historical and Prehistoric Archaeology, Ethnoarchaeology, Historical Ecology, Paleoecology, Paleoanthropology, Historical Anthropology, Ethnohistory, Historical Linguistics, Evolutionary Anthropology, Cultural Heritage Management
- Biocultural Anthropology: the interrelationship of biology and culture
- Medical Anthropology, Bioarchaeology, Forensic Anthropology, Skeletal Biology, Molecular Anthropology, Genetics, Race and Gender Studies, Gerontology, Primatology
- Multiscalar Processes and Structures: the intersection of macro (e.g., national, global) processes, institutions, and forces with micro (e.g., local, subgroup) contexts
- Anthropology of Development, Political Economy, Transnationalism, Diaspora, Sovereignty and Citizenship, Entrepreneurship, Cultural Heritage Management
- Cultural Representations and Communication: the analysis of cultural representations and expressions and various forms of communication
- Anthropological Linguistics, Cognitive Studies, Oral history, Ethnohistory, Visual Anthropology, Symbolic Anthropology, Museum Studies, Anthropology of Art
- Rights: analyses of social conflict and justice, particularly indigenous rights
- Legal Anthropology, Social Justice, Race, Class and Gender, Forensic Anthropology, Anthropology of Development
Many of these programmatic foci relate directly to pressing social, biological, and environmental issues. They constitute areas in need of innovative research and they have substantial practical applications.
Department Synergy
Expertises within the six thematic clusters cut across anthropological field specializations. They intersect with one another at various points, allowing for an unusual synergy within as well as between clusters that typifies the integrative interdisciplinarity of the UF Anthropology Department. Here are a few examples among many:
- Forensic Anthropology research is enhanced by collaboration with colleagues focusing on Molecular and Medical Anthropology, even as the perspective of forensic anthropology strongly informs Human Rights and Social Justice issues as well as the anthropology of Environmental Disasters.
- Cultural Heritage Management intersects with Development, Indigenous Human Rights, and issues of National Sovereignty but will also have strong ties with Archaeology and the analysis of representations such as Oral History and Museum Studies.
- Our Medical Anthropology program is enriched by collaborative research in Ecological Anthropology, the Anthropology of Development, and Human Rights.
- Historical Ecology fits well within numerous clusters because it incorporates human-environmental (and by extension cultural and biological) interactions over the long term, examining the dynamic intersections of macro- and micro-phenomena from the past into the present.
- Diaspora Studies builds upon the Department’s long standing commitment to African and African-American Studies as well as expertise in Latin America and the Caribbean. It bridges older concerns with migration and newer interests in transnationalism, engaging a long-term perspective. It provides a focal point for discussions of race and population genetics that draw on the expertises of cultural, biological, linguistic, and archaeological anthropologists.
