Anthropology

Number of Concentrators: 33.

1952 Commencement Honors: Cum 2; Magna 0; Summa 0.

To the uninformed, Anthropology concentration is a living exception to the rule that a barrel of monkeys is fun. But in actuality, the field emphasizes man and his works more than his ancestors, and furthermore there are a number of students, a growing number, who have been highly satisfied with it an a major.

The accent is not on large enrollment, however, as the Department prides itself on offering concentrators considerable individual attention without a formal tutorial program. Although the staff annually turns out some of the nation's leading anthropologists, it is equally concerned with the interested dabblers, who make up fully four-fifths of the majors.

Far be it from the Anthropology Department to fall behind in University evolution, and Chairman Earnest A. Hooton has made the field less intensive in recent years so that his concentrators can pass their General Education and language requirements, and also be premeds or members of an R.O.T.C. unit of they choose.

Honors Requirements

Although all Anthropology seniors take divisionals and generals, only honors candidates and borderline cases are now given oral exams. In addition, students seeking degrees with distinction must write a thesis and take eight instead of the normal six courses in the field. While few graduated with honors last June, several other concentrators received cums in General Studies.

Anthropology courses have in recent years put less stress on detail and have been more palatable to the average student; in some instances, intensive readings and bi-weekly seminars have replaced lectures. The only mandatory courses are Anthropology 1 and 10, and students may select two of the six (or eight) on their program from a wide range of related subjects in the Social Relations, Biology, or Geology Departments.

Lower Level Courses

The popular Anthropology 1 and 10 courses, by the way, are strongly recommended to non-concentrators for upper level Gen Ed and distributional requirements.

Advanced courses in the concentration are divided into two sub-fields, Physical and Cultural Anthropology, with the latter being broken down further into Archaeology and Ethnology. Those in the Physical area will sooner or later have to cope with 102, reputedly the roughest course in a rough Department.

Previously, most of these courses were offered only alternate years because of a shortage of full-time lecturers, and the student had a difficult time working out his schedule. The addition of two prominent visiting professors next fall, however, will solve or at least alleviate this problem.

The Department's leading physical anthropologist is, of course, Hooton, and the cultural field includes men like Kluckhohn, Brew, Movius, Oliver, Pelzel, and Willey.

Their headquarters is the well-equipped Peabody Museum; hence the Anthropology concentrator has a long walk and a somewhat difficult road once he's there, but few who try it are sorry.