Anthropology

Overview

You will work with faculty in an R1 university who are committed to individual student mentorship. Areas of faculty expertise include bioethics and climate change; militarization and biotechnology; political economy and markets; food and culture; health and culture; urbanism; transnationalism; bioarchaeology; zooarchaeology; and paleopathology. Faculty have won the Wenner-Gren and Fulbright fellowships and are the recipients of National Science Foundation grants.

You will learn the history of critical inquiry in the discipline of Anthropology and how to approach and develop your own topic of research; you are trained in fieldwork and ethnographic methods appropriate for your plans and goals; and are guided through the research and writing process central to completion of a thesis or project. In the process, you will also learn about the ethics of conducting research.

George Mason Univeristy Graduates of the Anthropology MA program are prepared to address theoretical and applied questions in health, human rights, education, public policy, conflict analysis, urban studies, and many other areas of national and international importance. 

Coursework in related fields such as sociology, cultural studies, women and gender studies, and history, for instance, may also be used to enhance a student’s program of study. Some students also take courses in Mason’s School of Conflict Analysis and Resolution and the Schar School of Policy and Government.

Career options:

The program prepares students for careers in government, the private sector, non-governmental organizations, museums, and numerous other fields, or to pursue a doctorate in the field.