The anthropology doctoral program at UCSC consists of three tracks: cultural anthropology, anthropological archaeology, and biological anthropology.

Although applicants are accepted only for the doctor of philosophy (Ph.D.) program, students may obtain an en route master of arts (M.A.) degree after fulfilling specific requirements during the first two years.

The theme of emerging worlds—culture and power after progress—unites the research interests of faculty in the cultural anthropology graduate program.

Our concentration on “emerging worlds” and on the construction of anthropological knowledge is especially well suited for drawing together diverse scholars and specialists in challenging and enriching conversations. Rather than reproduce the boundaries among the traditional subfields of anthropology, we explore how recombination of these approaches can elucidate specific anthropological problems.

The Ph.D. program in anthropological archaeology focuses on the pre-colonial and early post-colonial history of Africa, the Caribbean, and western North America. It is distinctive in insisting that theories of power, production and exchange, human ecology, gender, ethnicity, and technological practice be explored through rigorous laboratory and field research methods.

The Ph.D. program in biological anthropology has a methodological emphasis in innovative approaches to human and non-human primate ecology and diversity founded on our expertise in genomics and isotope biochemistry, as well as a longstanding expertise in skeletal biology and its application in bioarchaeology and forensic anthropology.