About Us

The Department of Anthropology is a tight-knit community of faculty and students who learn from one another. As an undergraduate department with a focus on cultural anthropology, faculty and students work together in and outside the classroom through innovative pedagogy, research assistance, faculty talks and roundtables, and informal meetings and get-togethers.

The Department’s faculty are not only active scholars but also regularly engage with policy makers, the media, and non-governmental organizations. The faculty’s scholarship and advocacy are a part of what has been termed “public anthropology,” a form of anthropology that entails a commitment to social justice, equality, and ethical practice. This commitment to social justice, both in and out of the classroom, dovetails with Georgetown’s mission to understand — and take action on — issues of injustice close to home and across the globe.

Faculty have conducted research throughout the world, but a key area of focus of the department is the United States. Faculty research and teaching areas of interest include human rights, legal anthropology, political ecology, postcolonialism, social movements, migration, trafficking, war, security, violence, bioethics, incarceration, policing, labor, class, religion, race and gender. 

Anthropology courses give students the tools and analytical framework to examine the cultural logic undergirding various communities around the world. Our courses prompt the questioning of how power shapes individuals’ lives and how social change happens. Anthropological thinking and methods can be used in range of settings, such as academia, government agencies, law, courts, businesses, non-profit organizations, advocacy groups, human rights groups, and hospitals, to name just a few of the myriad ways students can use their anthropological training after graduation.