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Anthropology

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Questions about these requirements? See the contact info at the bottom of the page. 

Graduate students who wish to pursue the secondary field at the PhD level in anthropology should identify a faculty advisor from the regular faculty of the Department of Anthropology as early as possible in their graduate career to develop a plan of study. The faculty advisor shall be responsible for overseeing the student’s progress through the secondary field. Upon the advice and counsel of the faculty advisor, the student should contact the coordinator for the program advisory committee (see below) to apply for the secondary field in anthropology.

Graduate students must meet the following requirements in order to have the secondary field officially recorded on their transcript. 

Requirements

Four elective half‐courses are required for the satisfactory completion of the secondary field in anthropology at the PhD level. The four courses must all be ones designated as graduate—or advanced undergraduate/graduate—level courses and must be ones taught in the Department of Anthropology at Harvard. At least one of these courses ordinarily will be ANTH 2910: Theories of the Social; ANTH 3628 Anthropological Research Methods; ANTH 2070: Archaeological Theory; or ANTH 2250a Contemporary Issues in Archaeology. The selection of courses that will count toward the secondary field shall be made in close consultation with the student’s faculty advisor and shall conform to a clearly articulated intellectual rationale. A proposed plan for studies, including the selection of courses and its rationale, shall be submitted by the candidate to the PhD secondary field program advisory committee for approval. Anthropology courses that do not fit with a subsequently or previously approved intellectual rationale for the secondary field risk not being counted as fulfilling the requirements for the secondary field. 

Graduate students who wish to take an archaeological field school for credit for their program of studies must receive approval of the field school from their advisor and the program coordinator in advance of registering for the field school.

All course work taken for completion of the secondary field must be passed with a grade of B+ or better.

Program Coordinating Committee

An overall program coordinator, who will normally be the Director of Graduate Studies in Anthropology, and the two additional faculty members—ordinarily the Director of the Archaeology Program and the Director of the Social Anthropology Program—shall be named by the chair to oversee and coordinate the PhD secondary field program. The Coordinating Committee will have the responsibility for accepting and evaluating applications to the program, advise on the assignment of advisors to candidates, approve proposed plans of studies, serve as liaison between secondary field candidates and the department’s Office of Graduate Studies, and generally work to ensure the smooth functioning of the secondary field program. 

Contact Info

Anthropology Website

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