The department is committed to comparative research that seeks theories that allow for the enormous diversity in human life. Our program of study includes a holistic approach to the study of humans and seeks to expose students to all four of the traditional subdisciplines of anthropology - Archaeological Anthropology, Sociocultural Anthropology, Linguistic Anthropology, and Physical Anthropology. The emphasis, however, is on intensive training in one subfield. Our faculty also encourage study outside anthropology, where the related fields of biological sciences, statistics, languages, media, history, and the humanities enrich the understanding of particular problems.

The department also maintains ties with the Departments of Africana Studies, American Studies, Asian/Pacific/American Studies, Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS), Cinema Studies, French Studies, History, Linguistics, Middle Eastern Studies, Museum Studies, and Religious Studies.

This webpage includes recent documentaries produced, directed, and shot by students in the yearlong seminar on ethnographic documentary video production, the capstone of the Program in Culture and Media. The first portion of the course is dedicated to instruction, exercises, and reading familiarizing students with fundamentals of video production and their application to a broad conception of ethnographic and documentary approaches. Assignments undertaken in the fall raise representational, methodological, and ethical issues in approaching and working through an ethnographic and documentary project. Students develop a topic and field site for their project early in the fall term, begin their shooting, and complete a short edited tape by the end of the first semester. This work should demonstrate competence in shooting and editing using digital camera/audio Final Cut Pro non-linear editing systems. Students devote the spring semester to intensive work on the project, continuing to shoot and edit, presenting work to the class and completing their ethnographic documentaries.

Every year new documentaries from the video production seminar are presented in a public screening at "Docs On the Edge: A Documentary Showcase." Many of these works have been featured at film festivals and picked up for distribution, as noted in the information on each piece.

David C Privler
Faculty Secretary
Tele: (212) 998-8588
anthropology@nyu.edu

Tracey Donvito
Graduate Secretary
Tele: (212) 998-8553
td38@nyu.edu

Nicole Hughes
Webmaster/Undergraduate Secretary
Tele: (212) 998-8552
nicole.hughes@nyu.edu

Jen LeClair
Lab Manager/Center for the Study of Human Origins Administrator
Tele: (212) 992-9785
jen.leclair@nyu.edu

Uli Fernandez
Lab Coordinator
Tele: (212) 998-3819
urf1@nyu.edu

Jennie Tichenor
Departmental Administrator
Tele: (212) 998-8554
jennie.tichenor@nyu.edu