Anthropology

Anthropology BA Learning Outcomes

The Anthropology major has the following learning outcomes:

• Broad knowledge of archaeological, biological, sociocultural, and linguistic anthropology
• Familiarity with the history, methods, and current theoretical debates in the field
• General knowledge of, and developed skills working with, empirical and anthropological evidence
• Proficiency in library research, data interpretation, synthesis, and writing
• Proficiency formulating and answering relevant questions through critical reasoning, making use of current primary scientific literature, identification of appropriate sources, reading and understanding of papers, and discriminating research quality

Required: Anthropology 1, 2, 3, 4. Each course must be taken for a letter grade, and students must have an overall grade-point average of 2.0 or better.

Transfer applicants to the Anthropology BA major with 90 or more units must complete as many of the following introductory courses as possible prior to admission to UCLA: one human evolution course, one archaeology course, one sociocultural anthropology course, and one culture and communication course.

Refer to the UCLA transfer admission guide for up-to-date information regarding transfer selection for admission.

The major is designed for students interested in an anthropological understanding of human behavior. One of the strengths of anthropology is its cross-cultural holistic and integrative approach with many fields, such as biology, history, linguistics, the social sciences, and many of the humanities.

To gain a comprehensive understanding of the discipline as a whole, students must take two courses in the sociocultural anthropology field and one course in each of the other three fields (see Scope and Objectives). Students may take any upper-division course in the given area to fulfill this requirement. Each course must be taken for a letter grade, and students must have an overall grade-point average of 2.0 or better.

Students must complete 11 courses (44 to 52 units) as follows: (1) two upper-division courses in the sociocultural anthropology field and one in each of the other three fields (archaeology, biological anthropology, and linguistic anthropology), (2) one upper-division regional cultures course, (3) one upper-division history/theory course selected from 100, 110, 111, 120, 124Q, 130, 131, 136A, 140, M150, (4) one upper-division methodology course selected from 110, CM110Q, C117, 126P, 135, 138P, M138Q, 151, 195CE, and (5) three additional upper-division anthropology courses.

Students are strongly encouraged to enroll in 3 to 4 units of 89 and/or 189 courses to gain small seminar experience. Ideally, at least one of the units should be at the upper-division level.