Research Opportunities by Department
Undergraduate Research in the Department of Anthropology
Opportunities:
Original undergraduate research in the Department of Anthropology is usually done in the context of the senior honors thesis and independent study courses. Many upper-level courses such as the Advanced Topic seminars also provide opportunities for research.
Research opportunities can be built into and around the experience of studying abroad, for example, through the department’s summer program in Malawi. Students have used Barth-Crapsey Undergraduate Research Awards and participation in the McNair Program as resources for pursuing summer research projects. In 2001, two students organized an on campus conference to showcase undergraduate research and to celebrate the centennial of famous American cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead.
The academic culture in Anthropology is centered about the individual investigator and students are encouraged to develop and pursue independent projects as they work their way through the Anthropology curriculum. Opportunities to pursue team projects are available in ANT 227, Local and Global Market Research.
Research projects recently pursued by Anthropology undergraduate majors and Take Five students include:
- Kristin L. Dowell '99, “Dialogues in Clay: Innovation, Appropriation, and Feminism in Contemporary Pueblo Pottery”
- Rhadika Dewan '03, “Miss World in Whose World?: Contesting Globalization and the Nation during the 1996 Miss World Pageant in Bangalore, India”
- Nisha Puntambekar '07 "Health Care in India: An Exploration of Health Inequality in Pune, Maharashtra"
- Adam Machson-Carter '07 "Indigenous Social Movements and Alternative Modernities in Bolivia"
- Collette Carmouche '08, “Urban Landscape Dilemmas: Visual Signs of Grief and Community Revitalization in Rochester, New York”
- Matthew Bielecki T5 '09 "The Politics of Immigrant Incorporation in Europe: A Comparative Study of Muslims in France and the Netherlands"
- Reema Singh '10 "The Burmese Refugee Experience: A Study of Karen Refugees in Rochester, NY"
How to get started:
Pursue appropriate coursework and do well in classes so that an independent project and honors thesis in the senior year are feasible. Students are introduced to ethnographic methods such as participant-observation and interviewing from the very start of the Anthropology curriculum and are encouraged to design and carry out field research. Typically, strong students develop a plan for an independent project during their junior year so that they can complete and report on their work during the senior year.
