Cultural Anthropology

Cultural Anthropology is the study of human culture and society through examination, analysis and interpretation of social and cultural similarities and differences. This is accomplished primarily through ethnographic and ethnological research. Cultural Anthropology at UAlbany is marked by its dedication to advancing diversity through the relative nature of identity and culture in a world system. Politics, economics, and society play integral roles in forming and providing interpretations for the themes explored by anthropologists in Meso- and North America and Circumpolar Europe. From historic anthropology to political economy to medical anthropology to ethnoarchaeology, the department's projects in ethnography offer an array of topics for students to get involved in as illustrated below.

Burnt-Over Field: The Presbyterian Mission in Guatemala, 1882-1903
Construction of an ethnography of the Presbyterian mission in Guatemala.

Comparative Ethnoarchaeology of Gender and Subsistence
Deciphering women's and men's roles in the formation of the archaeological record to reassess the concept of sexual division of labor.

Institute for Mesoamerican Studies
The Institute for Mesoamerican Studies (IMS) is a non-profit educational research institute dedicated to the study and dissemination of knowledge concerning the peoples and cultures of Mesoamerica (Mexico and northern Central America).

Mothering Disabled Children
Examination of the experiences of mothers of infants and young children with disabilities to determine the impact of mothering disabled children on definitions of personhood, concepts of the body, and the meaning of motherhood.

Nahuatl Theater Project
Production of a reference collection of texts, translations, and analyses for the Nahuatl-language theater that developed in colonial Mexico as Spanish and Nahua writers scripted new plays on Christian themes and adapted European plays for native audiences.

Politics of Maya Spirituality
Examination of the increase in participation, increased visibility, and formalization of Maya spirituality from modern historical, juridicial, linguistic, and ethnographic perspectives.