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anthropology is the study of the human species.
The discipline of Anthropology advances our collective understanding of who we are, where we came from, how we differ from one another, and what those differences mean. Anthropology is rooted in core values of mutual respect, equal rights, freedom of expression, and freedom from discrimination. As one of its early practitioners, Ruth Benedict of Columbia University, wrote in the aftermath of the destruction wrought by World War II, the goal of anthropology “is a world made safe for difference.”
undergraduate programs
Earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Anthropology prepares students with the research skills and conceptual tools they need to enter any field or profession that benefits from understanding the causes and the range of variation in human experience, activity, identity, and values. Our alumni currently work in financial services, education, law, medicine, government, social services, the arts, and in corporate settings ranging from Fortune 500 companies to small family businesses. Read more >>
graduate study at charlotte
Watch our informational video about our program and applications for Fall 2025.
- Check out our other videos about faculty research and application processes.
- Dual Degree MA/MPH program now accepting applications! Click here for more information
- Anthropology MA program now accepting applications! Click here for more information
Recent News
Dr. Jonathan Marks retires from UNC Charlotte this year after 25 years with our Anthropology Department. An internationally recognized authority on human and primate genetics and evolution as well as the history and ethics of science, Dr. Marks has published seven books since joining our department, along with dozens of articles and book chapters in […]
Lennin Caro (B.A. Anthropology 2014, M.A. Anthropology 2017) has been named the Director of the Camino Research Institute, which conducts research on the characteristics and needs of Charlotte’s Latino community. Camino is a broad-based social services organization providing healthcare and other services. Lennin has worked at Camino since 2020 and according to the organization’s official […]
Mississippi native Camille Richardson is working with colleagues at UNC Charlotte to recover the history of the Rosenwald Schools, institutions established in the early twentieth century to help educate rural African-American children. Along with local organizations and with graduates of the Mt. Vernon Rosenwald School in Lincoln County, NC, Richardson is engaged in both archaeological […]
Dr. Vanessa Castaneda graduated from Charlotte in 2009 with a BA in Anthropology and Latin American Studies. She continued her scholarly journey with a Master’s degree in Latin American Studies at New York University, and then a Ph.D at Tulane. She has conducted extensive fieldwork in Brazil. For the past two years she has worked […]
Can genetic tests really provide us with firm insights into the kind of diet or fitness program that’s best for us? Or even into our own national ancestry? Professor Jonathan Marks urges us to be skeptical of the claims made by commercialized genetic testing. Commenting recently on the Genetic Literacy Project website, Marks has noted […]
UNC Charlotte’s Niner Times contributor E. Alexander Zimmerman writes in a recent column about the dangerous devaluation of the humanities in the contemporary university. He quotes anthropologist Dr. Jonathan Marks’s observation that “”Science can tell you how to clone a dinosaur. Humanities can tell you why that’s probably not a good idea. . . In […]