UW-Milwaukee: Department of Anthropology

The department maintains a four-field approach to anthropology. Members of our faculty specialize and teach courses in cultural, biological, and linguistic anthropology and archaeology. However, there is considerable integration and interaction between subdisciplines both in course content and in faculty and graduate student research programs. Several research foci cross-cut and link faculty research programs and teaching:

  • The department's range of archaeological research reflects a broad interest in both theoretical and applied aspects of the field. Nine archaeologists regularly teach and conduct research with regional specialties that include Midwest/Great Lakes, Mesoamerica, Peru, and Germany. Theoretical and topical specialties include gender studies, lithic analysis, ceramic analysis, faunal analysis, pollen and phytolith analysis, mortuary studies, human osteology, Geographic Information Systems, Celtic studies, urbanization, development of complex societies, historic archaeology, maritime adaptations, historic preservation, site formation processes and archaeological method and theory.
  • Cultural Resource Management is tightly integrated into the academic program of the department through the Historic Resource Management Services program. Students have the opportunity to combine theory, methodological training and professional experience.
  • The department maintains a strong commitment to Museum Studies with our partnership with the Milwaukee Public Museum. Through intense coursework and a wide variety of internships, the program combines contemporary theory with practical training in exhibit design and museum administration.
  • The study of contemporary Euroamerican institutions and ideologies is represented in projects on Western and Eastern medicine, bioethics, urban education, ethnicity and nationalism.
  • The anthropology of religion is reflected in research on concepts of suffering and healing, conversion, immigrant religious communities, new religious movements and the archaeological manifestations of belief systems and ritual behavior.
  • Human complexity and variability is represented in approaches to cultural and biological development, including the study of non-human primates, human hormonal and immune responses, linguistic variation and development and the material manifestations of cultural adaptation in archaeological contexts.