LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO

2024-2025 CATALOG

The Academic Catalog is the official listing of courses, programs of study, academic policies and degree requirements for Loyola University Chicago. It is published every year in advance of the next academic year.

Anthropology

About Us

Anthropology is a discipline that uniquely bridges the social and natural sciences. Students seeking a BA, BS, or minor in anthropology will study the diversity of humankind as manifest through time and across the globe. The scope of anthropology is vast, and is divided traditionally into four major subfields, each of which contribute distinct perspectives on the issues of what makes us human:

  • Archaeology focuses on understanding human behavior through the study of material culture recovered from the past.
  • Biological anthropology explores evolution, adaptation, and variation in past and modern human and primate populations.
  • Cultural anthropology investigates contemporary human cultures and the diversity of human social institutions.
  • Linguistic anthropology focuses on human language and communication, and their interrelationship with culture.

Together, these branches of study will inform students about modern human biological and cultural diversity, as well as our evolutionary origins, thereby enhancing students' understanding of the past, present and future of the human species.

The Anthropology Department offers a Bachelor or Arts in Anthropology, a Bachelor of Science in Anthropology, an anthropology minor, as well as a combined major in Sociology/Anthropology leading to a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology/Anthropology.  The department boasts a variety of special resources for students, including a biological anthropology laboratory; archaeology laboratory; anthropometric, photographic and bioplastic research material; and an ethnographic museum collection.

There is also an active Chardin Anthropology Club which organizes anthropology-related activities, guest speakers and field trips for interested majors.