The Anthropology Department offers a wide range of courses where you will learn about people: who we are, where we come from, and where we may be going. Our courses and program promote awareness and appreciation for cultural diversity, as well as an eye toward what unites us as a human species.
We offer in-person courses at both the Watsonville and Aptos campus, as well as online.
Resources for Anthropology Students
Anthropology Tutoring
The College provides anthropology tutoring at no additional cost to students! Our tutors are successful students trained to help you. Tutoring is being offered online.
Have questions about degree requirements and transfer?
Academic Counselors are here to help! Services are being provided remotely.
Global Perspectives of Food and Culture was my first anthropology class and the instructor's [Rachel Mitchell's] teaching, engagement, and kindness made me switch my major.
The Anthropology Program
By combining a number of subfields (biological anthropology, cultural anthropology, archaeology, linguistics, and applied anthropology), anthropology bridges the natural sciences, the social sciences, and the humanities. Anthropology majors learn a broad comparative approach to the study of humanity the world over, both past and present.
Some of our courses deal with the biological origins, evolution, and variations of humankind; others examine how we "know" about the distant human past; while others focus on the comparative study of contemporary world cultures. The department offers courses that satisfy degree and transfer requirements in the social, behavioral, and life sciences.
Program Student Learning Outcomes
After completing the Anthropology Program, students will be able to:
- critically analyze theories of human behavior and cultural change using the anthropological perspective, an holistic approach to observing humans as beings integrated by biology, culture, and language throughout time and space.
- access, evaluate, and synthesize various forms of anthropological literature and data including material culture, ethnographic data, and human and nonhuman primate anatomy.
- apply quantitative and qualitative methods and perspectives to analysis of anthropological materials and research questions.
- communicate and present anthropological knowledge and the results of anthropological research to different audiences.
I knew nothing about Anthropology when I walked into that first Archeology Course, but I found a deeply caring, compassionate and driven career archeologist in Dustin McKenzie [the instructor].
Learn about Anthropology programs at nearby transfer institutions.
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