Students can receive an M.A. in anthropology as part of their work toward the Ph.D. The anthropology program does not accept students for a terminal M.A. degree. Please see below for general information about the MA program. Faculty of Arts and Sciences requirements for the master's degree also apply. Completion of a master's degree takes approximately two years. Requirements include 30 credits of coursework; a course in quantitative methods (for students in archaeology and biological anthropology) or a course in field methods (for students in cultural anthropology); a core course (cultural anthropology, archaeology, biological anthropology, or linguistics); and a research paper.
Complete MA requirements
Please see below for general information about the MA requirements. Faculty of Arts and Sciences requirements for the master's degree also apply. PhD students who later opt to leave the program with an MA should read the PhD requirements for additional clarification of certain requirements. Faculty of Arts and Sciences requirements for the master's degree also apply.
Course Credits
A minimum of 30 course credits in anthropology is required for the MA degree. Of these, at least 21 credits must be in formal courses (as opposed to readings courses, independent study, or thesis credits). The student may petition the Graduate Studies Committee to accept toward the total of 30 credits a maximum of six credits earned in another approved graduate school. Likewise, the student may petition the Graduate Studies Committee to accept courses taken in another department toward the total of 30 credits.
Advisory Committee
By the end of the first year, the student establishes an advisory/evaluation committee consisting of at least two graduate faculty members from the Department of Anthropology, including the student's advisor, plus at least one additional graduate faculty member who may be either from Anthropology or from another department. This committee will supervise and evaluate the MA paper. The student should petition the Graduate Studies Committee's approval of the composition of the advisory committee.
Core Course Requirement
Students switching to an MA only must pass the core course in their declared subfield by the end of their second term,
Method/Theory Requirements
Students in archaeology must pass with a B or better Anthropology 2534 or 2524. They may petition the Graduate Studies Committee to accept another course in quantitative methods in lieu of these. Students in biological anthropology or linguistics must pass with a B or better one course in quantitative methods selected from among those offered in the Department of Anthropology or elsewhere. They must petition the Graduate Studies Committee for approval of this course. Students in cultural anthropology must pass with a B or better one methods course approved by the Graduate Studies Committee and Anthropology 2750 or a comparable seminar approved for this purpose by the Graduate Studies Committee. (See the discussion of method/Theory requirements for the PhD.)
MA Paper
Students plan original research papers with their advisory committees. These committees will also evaluate the final papers. The student files a final copy of the paper with the department. Note that the required paper is not necessarily a "thesis" as defined in Faculty of Arts and Sciences requirements (although a thesis, as formally defined, would also satisfy the MA paper requirement).
Areas of Concentration
Students who wish to do so may designate cultural anthropology, biological anthropology, archeology, or anthropological linguistics as an area of concentration, depending on which subdiscipline's specific degree requirements they satisfy. Alternatively, students may designate medical anthropology as an area of concentration if they have taken Patients and Healers, Medical Anthropology 1, Medical Anthropology 2, and 12 elective credits from a list of approved courses. The area of concentration will be officially recorded on the student's transcript, but does not appear on the diploma. In any case the degree awarded is not in the area of concentration but simply in anthropology.
Graduation
See Faculty of Arts and Sciences requirements.
Statute of Limitations
Requirements for the master's degree should be completed within a period of four consecutive calendar years from the student's initial registration for graduate study. See Faculty of Arts and Sciences requirements for more details.