Overview of the Capstone Experience for the Anthropology Major

 

All students majoring in Anthropology are required to take Anth 400, a seminar intended only for anthropology majors that, in most cases, will be taken during the final semester of senior year. The seminar is offered in the spring term each year and the course description that appears in the catalog is as follows:

 

Anth 400: Anthropology Seminar

Intensive culminating research experience for anthropology majors. Seminar is designed around particular topics or debates, which provide unifying themes for students' individual research projects. Course guides students as they consolidate their understanding of the anthropological perspective. Prerequisites: Anthropology 103, 106, and 300; or consent of instructor. (Offered once a year.)

 

There are four major goals of the seminar: (1) to provide students with a clear understanding of contemporary issues that face anthropologists and which are reflected in current anthropological research and writing. This will build on their previous course work and experiences to deepen and make more sophisticated their understanding; (2) to explore the possibilities of using one’s anthropology major after graduation; (3) to engage students in doing their own culminating research project as a means to solidify research, writing, and presentation skills; and (4) to allow students to reflect on their learning and development as anthropologists. How these goals are accomplished will vary somewhat depending on the instructor leading the seminar, the interests and composition of the specific group of students enrolled, and the contemporary issues of concern to anthropologists at the time the course is being offered. However, here are some general comments on how we currently approach these four general areas of development.

 

Exploring Contemporary Issues

Anthropology is a very broad discipline in terms of its scope and interests. One of the central goals of the seminar is to explore contemporary research questions being asked by anthropologists today. Readings by respected figures in anthropology are used to help illustrate the field’s relevance as a place from which to take on important topics to which anthropologists, by virtue of their particular methodological and theoretical perspectives, can contribute. In recent years, these topics have included human, women’s, children’s, and indigenous rights, globalization, economic development, intellectual property rights, media representations of non-Western peoples, and others. By using state-of-the-art contemporary writings, we hope to expose our students not only to what anthropologists are concerned with today, but demonstrate the ongoing vitality of the field in response to the contemporary concerns and questions of our own time. Engagement with this literature allows students to draw together aspects of their previous course work and to consider how an anthropological perspective complements or makes problematic perspectives they have encountered in other disciplines, including philosophy, political science, economics, women’s studies, and environmental studies. This aspect of the seminar also engages students in a discussion of anthropological ethics that complements the discussion begun in Anth 323, Field Methods in Anthropology.

 

Considering the Possibilities of an Anthropology Major

A second aim of the capstone experience is to help students think in practical terms about how to most effectively use their anthropology major after graduation. Through discussion and practical exercises, students work on identifying the abilities, skills, and forms of knowledge that they have developed through the coursework in anthropology and through other experiences, such as study abroad. Time is devoted in the seminar to learning about different career paths that people with an education in anthropology have followed, including the appropriateness of graduate study in anthropology or related fields. Students are encouraged to meet with Career Services on their own and/or representatives from Career Services are invited to class to engage students in further analysis of their abilities and likely career interests. Discussing careers and the practical side of what one can do with an anthropology degree, whether one continues in graduate school or not, is an essential component of our capstone experience.

 

Design and Implementation of a Culminating Research Project

The seminar provides a structured environment for students to do a major research project of their own design and present their work-in-progress and final results to the members of the seminar. The goal is to strengthen the research, writing, and oral presentation skills of our majors. A typical senior seminar would have a series of fixed deadlines to keep the various phases of the research project on track (such as annotated bibliography, outline, rough draft, and final draft) and each student will be expected to do a final presentation of their work to the class. By providing a structured course environment for researching, writing, and presenting original work, all students will have some form of culminating intellectual experience through participation in the senior seminar.

 

Reflection and Personal Assessment

Students reflect on their personal intellectual growth through writing exercises and discussion that provide another opportunity for synthesis and consolidation of the major. The goal of this aspect of the seminar is to encourage students to consider to what extent the concepts, perspectives, and methods they have learned in the classroom have become part of their own worldview and part of their personal intellectual strengths. Although closely related to the other goals described above, this goal is aimed at expanding anthropology beyond the academic, the pragmatic, or the intellectual.

 

The Honors Thesis

Writing a thesis is currently optional for students majoring in Anthropology and is only possible for students interested in receiving honors in the major. The current procedure is outlined in the course catalog and on our department website. Typically students will first enroll in Anth 452 (Individualized Study) and develop a thesis proposal, which must be approved by the department. Once the proposal is approved, a supervising committee of three department members is formed. The student enrolls in Anth 460, which is described in the catalogue as follows:

 

Anth 460: Research Course

Individual investigation of a research topic in anthropology under the guidance of a faculty member. Topic must be approved by department. Project culminates in written and oral presentations of a formal paper to the faculty. Required for Department Honors. Students must submit a proposal a minimum of two weeks before the end of the semester preceding the proposed study. Prerequisite: Consent of department faculty; open to juniors and seniors only. (Offered by special arrangement only.)

 

Students writing an honors thesis are not exempt from taking the Anthropology Seminar (Anth 400). For additional information on honors thesis, please consult the Department of Sociology and Anthropology website.