Program Requirements and Opportunities
Published annually, the Course Catalog sets out the requirements of the academic programs--the majors, minors, and concentrations. Each Bryn Mawr student must declare a major before the end of the sophomore year. Students may also declare a minor or a concentration, but neither is required for the A.B. degree. Students must comply with the requirements published in the Course Catalog at the time when they declare the major, minor and/or concentration.
The Course Catalog also sets out the College requirements. Students must comply with the College requirements published at the time they enter Bryn Mawr College.
For more information, visit the Catalog Homepage to view the current content. To view Catalogs from previous academic years, visit the Catalog Archives page.
Students may complete a major or a minor in Anthropology.
Anthropology studies the human condition as it has been evolutionarily, historically, and culturally conditioned, ranging from sociocultural and linguistic anthropology, which focus on social, political, and cultural dynamics in contemporary contexts, to biological anthropology and anthropological archaeology, which focus on human evolution and past cultural change. Bryn Mawr's Anthropology major provides an opportunity to explore the social, cultural, biological and linguistic variations that characterize the diversity of humankind in the past and the present.
Major Requirements
Requirements for the major are ANTH 101, 102, 303, 398, 399, and five additional 200- and 300-level elective courses in anthropology, one of which is an ethnographic area course that focuses on the cultures of a single region. Students are encouraged to select courses from each of the four subfields of anthropology: archaeology, bioanthropology, linguistic, and sociocultural anthropology.
For the class of 2024 and 2025, the major writing intensive requirement is fulfilled by taking ANTH 303 (WI). Beginning with the class of 2026, the major writing intensive requirement is fulfilled by taking two writing attentive (WA) courses: ANTH 303 (WA) and one other 300-level WA course in the Anthropology department at Bryn Mawr.
Required courses that must be taken at Bryn Mawr are: ANTH 101, 303, 398, and 399. ANTH 103 at Haverford may be substituted for ANTH 102. Beginning with the class of 2026, students must take at least three out of their five elective courses in the Bryn Mawr Anthropology department.
Minor Requirements
Requirements for a minor in anthropology are ANTH 101, 102 (or H103), 303, one ethnographic area course and two additional 200- or 300-level courses in anthropology.
Honors
Qualified students may earn departmental honors in their senior year. Honors are based on the quality of the senior thesis (398, 399) and grade point average in courses taken for the anthropology major.
Cooperation with Other Programs
The Department of Anthropology actively participates and regularly contributes to the minors in Africana Studies, Environmental Studies, Gender and Sexuality Studies, and Health Studies. In addition, Anthropology cross-lists several courses with Biology, Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology, German, Growth and Structure of Cities, History, Peace and Conflict Studies, Political Science, and Sociology. Anthropology at Bryn Mawr also works in close cooperation with our counterpart department at Haverford College.
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Contact Us
Department of Anthropology
Dalton Hall
Bryn Mawr College
101 N. Merion Avenue
Bryn Mawr, PA 19010
Phone: 610-526-5030
Fax: 610-526-5655