Welcome

Yale University’s Department of Anthropology was officially founded in 1937 and traces its origins of research and teaching to work done within the Peabody Museum of Natural History (1866) and the Institute of Human Relations (1928). The Department is home to over 30 faculty and nearly 120 graduate students and undergraduate majors.

The Chair of the Deparment of Anthropology is Anne Underhill. The Director of Graduate Studies is David Watts. The Director of Undergraduate Studies is William Honeychurch. Contact information for Academic Directors can be found here. 

View the Anthropology Department’s Commitment to Anti-Racism

Anthropology Department Phase 2 Reactivation Plan

News

Congratulations to Amy Johnson

February 24, 2021
Dr. Amy Johnson, who graduated in December 2020 with a PhD in the combined program in Anthropology and the School of the Environment, has accepted a three-year appointment as Research Fellow, Faculty of Engineering and Environment, Department of Geography and Environmental Sciences, Northumbria... Read more

Drawing on Panter-Brick’s research, Short Documentary wins at Raw Science Film Festival

February 8, 2021
The pioneering work of an interdisciplinary team, led by our own Catherine Panter-Brick, was featured in Terror and Hope: The Science of Resilience which took Best Documentary Short at the Raw Science Film Festival. Research was conducted in partnership with Mercy Corps, We Love Reading,... Read more

Catherine Panter-Brick publishes on Humanitarian Action on the U.S.-Mexico border

February 8, 2021
Catherine Panter-Brick’s recent ethnographic work on solidarity, faith, and social justice on the US-Mexico border was published in the Journal of Refugee Studies.  It shows how anger, courage, and faith in social action drives everyday humanitarianism at the border, a site of civic and faith-based... Read more

Helen Siu’s recent film Denise Ho: Becoming the Song

February 8, 2021
Helen Siu is executive producer of an 83 min documentary film Denise Ho: Becoming the Song, premiered by Kino Lorber on July 1, 2020. Siu raised the funds internationally, researched and worked with NY-based director/producer Sue Williams. It features the artistic career and activism of Cantopop... Read more

Collaborative article with Drs. Fernández-Duque and Valeggia on synchronization of sleep and the lunar cycle

February 2, 2021
In a recent paper published in Science Advances, scientists at the University of Washington, the National University of Quilmes in Argentina and Yale University report that sleep cycles in people oscillate during the 29.5-day lunar cycle: In the days leading up to a full moon, people go to sleep... Read more
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