Integrative themes
Our PhD program distinguishes itself from other Anthropology PhD programs, where the focus is on the traditional anthropological subfields of cultural and biological anthropology, and archaeology.
This unique program aims to bring together faculty and doctoral students into research areas that transcend these traditional sub-disciplinary boundaries, and which are also of interest to the wider university community.
The program is built around four broad research foci that cross cut traditional subfield boundaries:
Evolution and Ecology
This research theme connects the traditional subfields of archaeology and biological anthropology to address questions of how humans and non-human primates relate to their environments over both short and long-term time scales.
Space, Place, Knowledge and Power
This research theme works across the subfields to understand the situated nature and ethics of knowledge production and circulation and the significance of ‘space’ including ‘place’, belonging, cultural landscapes, displacement, borders, land tenure, and build environments—in shaping human life.
Inequality, Culture and
Health
This research theme recognizes the significance of understanding the role of social inequality and cultural interpretations in shaping human experience and addressing pressing global issues.
Visual Anthropology and Materiality
This research theme connects the work of visual and cultural anthropologists with archaeologists who are investigating human visual communication and the cultural effects of the production, circulation and consumption of images and objects.