Secondary Field in Social Anthropology

The Department of Anthropology offers a secondary field in Social Anthropology. (NOTE: The secondary field in Archaeology is administered by the Committee on the Study of Archaeology.)

Social anthropology is concerned with the social and cultural diversity of contemporary human communities and groups. Social anthropologists study a wide range of topics, including gender, race and ethnicity; religion and belief; economic development; illness, healing and global health; human rights and political violence; popular culture and the role of media in society; food and consumption; and the impact of globalization. Ethnographic research methods emphasize intensive participant observation of community life over an extended period of time, in settings such as urban neighborhoods, college campuses, global markets, refugee camps, hospitals, and government office and courtrooms as well as in rural towns and backcountry settlements.

A secondary field in social anthropology can be a valuable complement to many concentrations, especially for students who are interested in an international career or simply wish to become informed citizens of a globalized world. Social anthropology courses emphasize skills that enable students to operate in different cultural environments, skills that can be transferred to careers in education, journalism, law, business, medicine, politics and public service, as well as in humanitarian and development fields.

There are several options to consider in planning a secondary field in Social Anthropology. You might wish to explore the wide range of departmental offerings in order to gain a general sense of the field. Or you may prefer to focus on a particular world region, such as Asia, Latin America, or Africa and the African diaspora, or specialize in a particular topic or approach. Some popular areas of specialization include:

Whether you choose a general or a focused approach, the social anthropology advising team (Director of Undergraduate Studies, Assistant Head Tutor, and Undergraduate Coordinator) can help with planning and course selection for the secondary field. In some cases, students may also wish to discuss their plans for a focused secondary field with an appropriate member of the Department faculty.

Whichever approach you choose, your transcript will indicate that you have taken a Secondary Field in Anthropology.

Requirements: 4 half-courses
Four half-courses in Social Anthropology are required to complete the secondary field. There is no fixed sequence in which these courses must be taken, but at least one of them – ordinarily the first course taken – should be a designated entry course. Entry courses, which are intended to provide a broad overview of the discipline of social anthropology, include ANTH 1600, “Introduction to Social Anthropology”; all Gen Ed courses taught by regular Social Anthropology Program faculty; and other courses identified on the courses page on department website as “entry” courses.

The other three courses can be drawn from any departmental or cross-listed courses offered by regular Social Anthropology faculty. One of these may be a Freshman Seminar. Graduate courses offered by Social Anthropology program faculty may, with instructor’s permission, be taken for secondary field credit. One course in Archaeology taught by a member of the Department faculty can be counted for credit toward the Social Anthropology secondary field. All must be taken for a letter grade, with the exception of the Freshman Seminar, which must receive a grade of SAT. Letter graded courses must receive a grade of C or better to count for the secondary field.

Secondary field students are encouraged, but not required, to enroll in Anthropology 97z: Sophomore Tutorial in Social Anthropology, and may, with DUS approval, take Anthropology 98za: Junior Tutorial in Social Anthropology.
Under ordinary circumstances, courses taken abroad will not be counted towards a secondary field unless they are taught by a regular member of the Social Anthropology Program faculty of the Anthropology Department.
Courses taken in Harvard Summer School will normally not be counted towards the Social Anthropology secondary field, except for those taught by regular faculty in the Social Anthropology Program of the Anthropology Department.

Medical Anthropology
Medical Anthropology is concerned with questions of health; illness and health care in society; cultural differences in health practices and outcomes; the culture of biomedical institutions and healing professions; cross-cultural comparisons of health care systems; the lived experiences of illness and disability; social suffering owing to societal catastrophes; cultural barriers facing the implementation of therapeutic and preventive programs among poor or marginalized communities in industrialized and developing societies; and the interrelationships between political, moral, and medical experiences.

Medical Anthropology involves ethnographic studies of patients, families, and practitioners as well as ethnographies of science and technology. Cross-cultural comparisons center on studies of hospitals and clinics along with religious and complementary and alternative healers. Research often focuses on narratives of illness, clinical and public health communication, and how ethnicity, race and the societal differences shape biological and psychological reactions to suffering. What characterizes Medical Anthropology and differentiates it from related fields is the priority given to the study of culture, local worlds, and the embodiment of meanings, values, and local practices.

Students of Medical Anthropology often go on to careers in global public health, clinical medicine, and humanitarian assistance, and also many other professions and social roles that are enabled by studying how individuals, cultural groups, and whole societies respond to health and social problems. Students are encouraged to study abroad and often do field placements in hospitals, clinics and disease-specific research projects, especially in poor and middle-income societies.

Here are two examples of courses of study focusing on Medical Anthropology:

Anthropology of Human Rights
The Anthropology of Human Rights explores human rights from multiple perspectives, including the theoretical or philosophical aspects of human rights, the practical problems of implementation and protection, the institutional dimensions, and, in particular, the dilemmas associated with the use of human rights in cross-cultural or comparative perspective. Human rights theory and institutions are used as major vehicles for addressing conflict at various social and political levels, and in diverse geographical contexts. Intense and protracted conflict around the world inevitably leads to a call by individuals and institutions to protect the human rights of victims and to use a human rights framework to seek redress from violators. In addition, globalization has created a dynamic in which human rights theory and practice have come to form the foundation for a variety of initiatives including international development and foreign aid, civil society projects, bilingual education, community conflict resolution, gender equality, truth and reconciliation commissions, and the protection of children, among many others.

This subfield reflects the importance of anthropological methodologies and theories to many of the most socially and politically relevant questions of our times. It also draws upon debates that have infused classic political and ethical theory: the nature of the just society; the rights of individuals and of collectives; the forms and content of democracy; the nature of social rights and social obligations. Thus, among the goals of this secondary field are providing students with a solid grounding in the philosophical underpinnings of human rights, preparing them to critically analyze current debates in the theory and practice of human rights.

Here is one example of a course of study focusing on the Anthropology of Human Rights:

Political Ecology and Development
The Anthropology of Political ecology and Development examines human social relationships with the natural environment from multiple perspectives, including social, political and economic dimensions of resource utilization and control; the politics of environmental conservation and degradation; the impact of economic and technological interventions on local social worlds.

This subfield emphasizes the important role anthropology has played in critical understandings of the interactions between various agents—states, NGOs, business, mediators, volunteers—who are trying to modify the economic, technical, political or/and social life of specific ecologies the world over, especially in impoverished, formerly colonized regions. Through this perspective, we are able to illuminate the dynamics of trends like offshore extraction, nuclearization, legal pluralism, sea-life depletion, deforestation, indigenous rights advocacy, wilderness preservation, and global environmentalism; the spread and consequences of international development and international aid projects in their transnational and local contexts.
One of the goals of this secondary field is providing students with a solid grounding in the conceptual and methodological tools for hand-on independent research, advocacy, and activism surrounding the world of international development and human-environment change.

Here is one example of a course of study focusing on the Political economy of Development:

Media Anthropology
Media anthropology offers training in the use of documentary media such as film, photography and sound recordings in ethnographic settings, as well as anthropological perspectives study on art, mass media, and, more broadly, the sensuous elements of human social experience – sight and images; sound; taste; tactility, dance and movement.
This subfield includes sensory ethnography, the interdisciplinary approach for the making of anthropologically informed works of media that combine aesthetics and ethnography, and permits us to reveal different dimensions of social worlds from written anthropological accounts.

Here is one example of a course of study focusing on Media Anthropology:

Other Information
With the exception of Freshman Seminars offered by Social Anthropology faculty, all courses must be taken for a letter grade and students must earn a C or higher for the course to count toward the secondary field.

Student participation in study abroad programs or internships, through which they can get their own cross-cultural experience, is especially encouraged. If a student has received Harvard credit for courses taken in a Harvard-approved overseas studies program, that student may petition for permission to count one or two courses (one course per semester of overseas study) toward the requirements of the Anthropology secondary field.

Courses in Social Anthropology offered by the Harvard Summer School and approved for Harvard College credit may be counted towards the secondary field in Anthropology without requiring approval by the Secondary Field Adviser, as long as the courses are appropriate to the subject matter or focus of the secondary field. Courses in other schools at Harvard may be taken for credit but require cross-registration and prior approval per signature by the Secondary Field Adviser.

Advising Resources and Expectations
To discuss the secondary field in Social Anthropology, or for specific questions about secondary field requirements, contact the Anthropology Department Director of Undergraduate Studies, Professor Steven Caton (caton@wjh.harvard.edu) or the Assistant DUS for Social Anthropology, Dr. Andrea Murray (aemurray@fas.harvard.edu). For general information, please contact the Anthropology Department’s Undergraduate Coordinator, Elizabeth “Penny” Rew (rew@wjh.harvard.edu) or stop by the Undergraduate Office at 352 William James Hall.

Contacts

	Director of Undergraduate Studies Steve Caton - Professor of Contemporary Arab Studies - Social Anthropology Program William James Hall 318 (617) 495-1886 caton [at] wjh.harvard.edu | website
	Assistant Head Tutor for Social Anthropology Andrea Murray - Lecturer on Anthopology - Social Anthropology Program William James Hall 402 aemurray [at] fas.harvardedu
	Undergraduate Program Coordinator Elizabeth (Penny) Rew William James Hall 352 617 495-3814 rew [at] wjh.harvard.edu