Skip to main content
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
Department of Anthropology

Search

Apply
Make a gift
Menu
    • Undergraduate Admissions
    • Graduate Admissions
    • Student Financial Aid
    • Visit Illinois
    • Virtual Academic Advising
    • Undergraduate Programs
    • Graduate Programs
    • Course Listing
    • Archaeology
    • Biological Anthropology
    • Sociocultural & Linguistic Anthropology
    • Anthropology Labs
    • Undergraduate Students Resources
    • Graduate Students Resources
    • Faculty & Staff Resources
    • Campus and Community
    • Anthropology In-Action
    • External Awards for Faculty and Graduate Students
    • Labor, Health, Equity, Action Project (LHEAP)
    • Virtual Convocations
    • News
    • Jobs
    • Administration & Staff
    • Faculty
    • Affiliate Faculty
    • Graduate Students
    • Anthropology Newsletters
    • Give to Anthropology
    • PhD Alumni
    • Stay Connected
    • Search
  • congratsgraduates2022
  • Courseguidefeatured
  • ukraine
  • brinkworth
  • Harrisson Award Announcement
  • Path to Freedom
  • congratsgraduates2022
    Check out our amazing graduates!
    Learn More
  • Courseguidefeatured
    Registration for Fall is Available!
    Explore our course guide
  • ukraine
    Statement on Ukraine

    Anthropology Stands in Solidarity with the Russian, East European, and Eurasian Center and Department of Slavic Languages & Literatures Statement

     

    Learn More
  • brinkworth
    Reducing the carbon footprint through single-use plastics reuse
    Learn More
  • Harrisson Award Announcement
    Faye V. Harrison to Receive 2022 Bronislaw Malinowski Award
    Learn More
  • Path to Freedom
    Anthropology in honor of Black History Month
    Learn More

Why Anthropology?

The Department of Anthropology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has a long tradition of scholarly excellence and leadership in our discipline. Founded in the late 1950’s, Illinois anthropology has a rich history of innovative, interdisciplinary and engaged anthropology. Today we have robust programs in Archaeology, Biological Anthropology, and Sociocultural and Linguistic Anthropology offering undergraduate majors and minors as well as graduate degrees.

Through our student-centered curricula, speaker and colloquia series, and field schools, internships and research opportunities, we serve students with interests ranging from human biology, to environment and society, to economics, forensic sciences, linguistics, international studies, cultural heritage management and museum studies, and more. The list is open-ended, reflecting the endless variety of things you can “do” with anthropology; please click through to learn more about our courses, our faculty and our graduate and undergraduate programs.

At its core, our department is committed to training students in the fundamental concepts and methods of our discipline and in the history of anthropology and of the interdisciplinary and historical contexts that have shaped it. We believe this foundation is integral to our discipline’s continuous process of meaningful renewal, and key to the success of our students, whether they intend further academic study, formal professional training in fields such as business, law or medicine, or seek to develop a broad comparative perspective on the human condition 

 

horizontal rule

Diversity in Anthropology: Our commitment

In line with discussions at the national level by the American Anthropological Association, we recognize that race, gender, class, religion, disability, language, and sexuality matter in all of the sub-disciplines of anthropology, not simply as topics of study, but in terms of the politics of scholarly practice.

As a discipline that has grappled with serious critique of its connections to racial and colonial formations, we believe that we have an important responsibility to develop “best practices”, in our graduate curriculum and our disciplinary philosophy, that serve and value all our students.

 

Departmental Meetings/Discussion Sessions on Decolonizing Anthropology

 

horizontal rule

  • Job Announcement: Instructor or Visiting Assistant Professor in Biological Anthropology 

    College of Liberal Arts and Sciences University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign   The Department of Anthropology at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign invites applications for an Instructor or Visiting Assistant Professor in Biological Anthropology with scholarly interests in one or more of the following: paleoanthropology, human evolutionary anatomy and biomechanics. The University...
    Read full story Job Announcement: Instructor or Visiting Assistant Professor in Biological Anthropology 
  • Extended Deadline: Public Service Assistant Specialist - Job Post Announcement

    University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign  The Public Service Archaeology & Architecture Program is searching for three Public Service Assistant Specialists that will conduct all levels of cultural resource investigations throughout the Midwest as part of a University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign-based cultural resources management program. Position requires in-State and out-of-State...
    Read full story Extended Deadline: Public Service Assistant Specialist - Job Post Announcement
  • Faye V. Harrison to receive Society for Applied Anthropology’s Malinowski Award

      Faye V. Harrison has been named the 2022 recipient of the Society for Applied Anthropology’s Malinowski Award and will deliver the Malinowski Address at the Awards Ceremony on Friday, March 25 in Salt Lake City, Utah. According to the award’s description: The Bronislaw Malinowski Award is presented to an outstanding social scientist in recognition of efforts to understand and serve the...
    Read full story Faye V. Harrison to receive Society for Applied Anthropology’s Malinowski Award

More Department News

  • Professor Jane Desmond is quoted in the New York Times
    Building on the momentum of public outreach for anthropological work, a NYT Opinion article on mourning pets...
    Read full story
  • Professors Lisa Lucero and Ripan S Malhi are quoted in the New York Times
    Anthropology Professors Lucero and Malhi are featured in a New York Times article (...
    Read full story
  • Professor Malhi's genomic research on present-day members of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe
    A genomic study led by Professor Ripan S Malhi challenges the notion that the Ohlone emigrated to the San Fransisco Bay Area between A.D. 500-1,000. The research links the DNA of eight present-day members of resent-day members of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe with that of ancestors who lived in the area...
    Read full story
More News

Events

More Events

Faculty Spotlight

  • hughes cris

    Dr. Cris Hughes

    Community engagement and excellence in research and practice are some of the core strengths of the Department of Anthropology. Clinical Associate Professor Cris Hughes is contributing to this tradition with a long list of achievements to celebrate!   In one of her latest accomplishments, Dr. Hughes achieved Active Diplomate status with the American Board of Forensic Anthropology, after a rigorous certification process. Since 1977, only 163 professionals have been awarded the ABFA Diplomate status, and Dr. Hughes now serves as one of the only two active Diplomates in our state. Dr. Hughes...
More Spotlights
  • farro
    ANTH 399

    Archaeology of Food

    This class explores the methods of analysis and the types of material culture and data that archaeologists use to examine diet, foodways, and cuisine in past societies. Using archaeological case studies from both the Old and New World, topics covered include transitions to agriculture, animal...
    Course Description for ANTH 399
  • S. Asia
    ANTH 221

    Archaeology of South Asia

    Explores the archaeology of South Asia from the earliest occupations of the subcontinent to the present. South Asia is home to one of the first urbanized societies, over 40 World Heritage sites, and some of the 21st centuries largest megacities. We will critically examine how these diverse...
    Course Description for ANTH 221
  • ANTH 399
    ANTH 399

    Industrial Heritage & Communities

    ANTH 399 examines the legacy of the Industrial Revolution in the United Kingdom and the United States where former industrial sites (such as textile mills, coal mines, chocolate factories) have been transformed from abandoned and unproductive blights on the landscape into major tourist attractions...
    Course Description for ANTH 399
  • fieldschool
    ANTH 449

    North American Archeology

    Methods, techniques, and results of archaeology in North America; focuses on divergent approaches to the regional archaeology of North America; and surveys and synthesizes the archaeology of the subcontinent. 3 undergraduate hours. 3 or 4 graduate hours. Prerequisite: ANTH 220 or consent of...
    Course Description for ANTH 449

Department of Anthropology
College of Liberal Arts & Sciences

109 Davenport Hall
607 S. Mathews Ave.
Urbana IL, 61801
(map)

Tel: 217-333-3616
Fax: 217-244-3490
Email: anthro@illinois.edu

Calendar
Facebook
linkedin
Twitter
  • Additional resources

    • Department Login
    • Faculty Resources

Search form

  • Copyright
  • Privacy Notice
  • Accessibility
  • ATLAS
  • Site login