Department of Anthropology
Who We Are
We are proud to be a nexus for world-changing interdisciplinary collaboration.
We offer undergraduate and graduate anthropology degree programs. Our strength is our four-field approach: we focus on archaeological, biological, linguistic, and sociocultural anthropology through innovative education and research.
- Archaeology investigates past societies through their material and written remains
- Biological anthropology focuses on the evolution of humans as a species and the interaction of human biological variability with culture
- Linguistic anthropology explores the interconnections among language, culture, thought, and social structure
- Sociocultural anthropology is the comparative study of communities in their local and global contexts
We aim to create a vibrant and welcoming intellectual community for individuals whose research agendas, political commitments, national origins, racial identities, gender expressions, religious practices, and sexual orientations put them at odds with dominant institutions.
Aligning closely with the American Anthropological Association Declaration on Anthropology and Human Rights, and the wider mission of the University of California, we engage in rigorous academic teaching, training, research, and public service to promote cultural understanding and social and environmental justice, while empowering our students to change the world.
Our faculty members are engaged in a shared vision of innovative education and theory-building and are committed to applying theory in a way that serves our local communities and the world.
We boldly tackle significant research problems through targeted inquiry, while welcoming insights from unanticipated new discoveries.
Employment
The Department of Anthropology is seeking applications for a Professor and Chair to join our dynamic department. Research focus may include living or past populations, including the intersecting social, material, and biological aspects of human life. This search is part of our departmental commitment to transforming anthropology through research, rigorous academic teaching, training, and public service to promote cultural understanding and social, racial, and environmental justice, while empowering our students to change the world.
Department Statements
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Statement on the UCR Radiocarbon Laboratory
The faculty of the Department of Anthropology at the University of California, Riverside are appalled and strongly condemn past practices by the UCR Radiocarbon Laboratory regarding the approach to and handling of Native American human remains and cultural items. Current members of the Department are committed to collaborative engagement with Indigenous and descendant communities; engagement that is based on respect, transparency, and continuous conversation for the furtherance of accountability. The knowledge that a former and late member of the Department not only opposed but continued to oppose the Native American Graves and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) is reprehensible. The more recent discovery that this faculty member intentionally kept Native American remains and cultural items hidden from the University so that they could not be repatriated is simply shocking. The Department recognizes the deep and grievous harm these actions have caused and acknowledges NAGPRA as a critical piece of legislation, along with CalNAGPRA. We fully support the rights of Native Americans with respect to the treatment, repatriation, and disposition of Native American human remains, funerary objects, and sacred objects as part of their cultural patrimony. We do not tolerate such past practices and will do all in our power to engage in reparations with Indigenous representatives and communities, including and exceeding repatriation of human remains, and a thorough reexamination of all our curation practices. Practices stemming from colonial and genocidal legacies that still plague the discipline, have no place in Anthropology.
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Statement on Anti-Asian Violence
UCR Anthropology unequivocally condemns the murderous, racist, and misogynistic acts in Atlanta on March 16, 2021, the recent upsurge in anti-Asian violence across the USA and elsewhere, and the discourses of scapegoating and blame that have circulated during the COVID-19 pandemic. We are appalled by the prevalence of violence targeting Asian women in particular ( https://socialinnovation.ucr.edu/news/2021/03/16/there-were-3800-anti-asian-racist-incidents-mostly-against-women-past-year ). As a department, we stand with the Asian/American and Pacific Islander members among our faculty, graduate and undergraduate students, staff, and research collaborators, and pledge to recognize, speak out, and fight back against anti-Asian racism wherever we encounter it. We also endorse the statement by UCR Chancellor Kim Wilcox of February 19 ( https://insideucr.ucr.edu/announcements/2021/02/19/violence-against-asianamerican-and-pacific-islander-community ), even as we are saddened, horrified and enraged by events since then. With the campus as a whole, we affirm the Chancellor’s statement of solidarity:
We pledge our full solidarity with the Asian/American and Pacific Islander community on campus and beyond and support the efforts by student organizations; our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion office; and faculty and staff to address violence and discrimination against Asian/Americans and Pacific Islanders.
We also recommend these Community Resources on Anti-Asian Violence, compiled and shared with us by the UCRFTP Cops Off Campus Collective: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1J7QeqRJrcBj1ovXaOLXI8ip4qvmY_iywIaE-9-jL49s/edit?ts=6054ced8# -
Statements on Policing and Anti-Black Racism
- May 2021 Updated Statement to the University of California, Riverside Leadership and Community
- UCR Anthropology Statement on October 1 Teach-In Against Anti-Blackness
- July 2020 Statement to the University of California, Riverside Leadership and Community
- Department Response to Unethical Possession and Handling of the Remains of MOVE Children
UCR Anthropology shares the collective outrage at the treatment of the remains of the people killed during the bombing of MOVE in Philadelphia on May 13, 1985. We endorse our colleagues' statements and calls for action presented below:
We have also issued our own Statement Concerning Our Human Osteological Collections.