Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Outreach and Public Engagement

History of the Department

Undergraduate students performing anthropological research in the Enloe Lab.

Undergraduate Programs

The Anthropology Department offers both B.A. and B.S. degrees in anthropology, as well as an anthropology minor. The department offers four specialized tracks for students wishing a greater focus within the major.

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Museum Studies lecturer Heidi Lung instructing a student.

Museum Studies

The Museum Studies Certificate program combines history, theory, and experiential learning to create a forward-looking curriculum preparing professionals for graduate school or work in a wide range of museums and cultural institutions.

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Graduate students, undergraduate students, and field researchers at the Bolores dig site.

Graduate Programs

The Department of Anthropology grants both M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Anthropology, and also offers a specialized M.A. in Cultural Resource Management, working closely with faculty and staff from the Office of the State Archaeologist.

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Residents carve out space for clothes-drying in the Point neighborhood of Durban, South Africa.

Faculty Research

Faculty in our department pursue research in all four subfields of Anthropology, and conduct research at locations around the globe, including East, South, and Southeast Asia; Europe; southern Africa; North America; South America; and the Pacific.

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We acknowledge the University of Iowa sits on traditional homelands of many Native American peoples. We honor these beginnings and recognize the ongoing dedication and importance of Indigenous culture within our communities and within the land that we gather, live, learn, and work on in our anthropological practice. 

The University of Iowa Acknowledgement of Land and Sovereignty represents an official and public recognition that the institutions where we work and learn today are built on Native lands.

Faculty in the Department of Anthropology recognize that statements of land acknowledgement cannot undo histories of Native removal and dispossession, but symbolic acts are an important first step in the decolonization process. For those who wish to learn more, the department offers numerous courses that address the history and present experiences of Native Peoples in North America as well as indigenous populations in other parts of the world.