Anthropology (Ph.D.)

Basic Degree Information/Description

The Ph.D. program in Anthropology at UTSA offers a four-field approach to training and research in environmental anthropology. Environmental anthropology develops empirical understandings of how humans culturally construct and organize their environments, and of the power relations embedded in these activities. The over-riding research agenda is one of praxis, the merging of theory and practice toward new syntheses, new ways of understanding, and new forms of engagement. At base, therefore, environmental anthropology is an applied social science, expressly directing anthropological knowledge toward the resolution of real-world problems. The doctoral program in anthropology at UTSA will prepare leading professionals for applied fields as well as academic research and teaching careers. Graduate course offerings view environmental anthropology through multiple lenses: political economy, landscape ecology, cultural ecology and evolution, medical anthropology, and primate conservation and behavioral ecology.

Why pursue a Ph.D. in Anthropology at UTSA?

• Four-field training
• The focus of anthropology and the environment
• Varied field opportunities

Career Options

• Museum curators and anthropologists
• Cultural resource management
• Teachers
• Applied anthropology in non-governmental organizations
• Further graduate work, e.g. PhD, MPP, MPH, MD

Research Opportunities

Faculty research specializations include:

• Archaeology of the Maya lowlands and Andean South America
• Archaeology of Texas and the Greater Southwest
• Primate behavioral and conservation ecology in Southeast Asia and Africa
• Conservation and mining practices in the South Pacific
• Indigenous and environmental politics in lowland and Andean South America
• The cultural anthropology of Texas and the Plains
• Medical anthropology of the U.S.-Mexico border region