Anthropology Major

Requirements for the Major in Anthropology

The Anthropology Major is designed to offer breadth in the discipline. In addition to the three required courses, students majoring in anthropology must take a minimum of five electives chosen on the basis of individual interest, in consultation with their advisor. An approved statistics course and a senior exercise are also required. All courses taken for the major or a minor, or for the Public Policy Analysis/Anthropology Major, must be taken for a letter grade with achievement of a grade better than a C-. (In the event of a failure to meet this requirement, if a student wishes credit toward the major (or minor) for the course, the student must repeat it; additional course credit toward graduation is not earned in such a case).

All three required courses must be taken at The Claremont Colleges. Upon declaring a major in anthropology, a student must select an advisor from among the Pomona anthropology faculty. Anthropology majors are required to plan their programs in close consultation with their advisors.

Though not required, anthropology majors are encouraged to participate in the College’s Study Abroad Program or a summer field program in order to gain experience in a culture other than their own. The Anthropology Department allows a maximum of two elective courses taken abroad.

The senior exercise may be based on library research or original fieldwork that may be conducted as part of a semester abroad. The senior exercise must be completed in the same subfield as that of the student’s methods course. Students must have a minimum of two readers for the senior theses. One reader must be a Pomona Anthropology Department faculty member.

Exceptions or substitutions to these requirements must be approved by petition to the department chair.

1. Required anthropology (ANTH) courses:
   1. Introduction to Sociocultural Anthropology (ANTH 002 PO )
   2. Methods in Anthropological Inquiry (ANTH 105 PO )
   3. Theory in Anthropology (ANTH 153 PO )
   4. Electives. Any anthropology course at The Claremont Colleges may be chosen as an elective (five minimum), excluding courses that have substantial overlap with the required courses listed above. The department strongly suggests that students take courses from the various anthropological subfields (sociocultural, linguistic, physical, applied) if possible. Courses offered through other departments will be considered for elective credit on a case-by-case basis, as will transfer courses and up to two courses taken through study abroad.
2. Statistics. Students are required to take one full course in statistics chosen from an approved set of options, which includes such courses as ECON 057 PO , MATH 058 PO , POLI 090 PO  and PSYC 158 PO .
3. Senior Exercise. A senior exercise is required of all students. By the end of the junior year, each student must submit a senior exercise plan. The senior exercise requirement may be met by completing a thesis (ANTH 191 PO ) or a project (ANTH 192 PO ) such as a video or exhibition, or by participating in a senior apprenticeship involving collaborative work on a faculty-student project. Normally, work on the senior exercise will begin in the fall of the senior year.

Requirements for a Public Policy Major in Anthropology

Students interested in careers in which their anthropological training is applied to problems of public policy may choose to major in public policy analysis with an emphasis in anthropology. The requirements for this major include the five-course public policy sequence and an approved statistics course (see Public Policy Analysis Program ); ANTH 002 PO , ANTH 102 PO , and ANTH 105 PO ; two of the following: ANTH 052 PO , ANTH 053 PO , ANTH 107 PO , ANTH 153 PO , ANTH 003 PZ  or ANTH 086 PZ ; and one anthropology elective.