WELCOME TO
THE FIVE-YEAR B.A.-M.A PROGRAM
IN PRACTICAL ANTHROPOLOGY

This handbook provides students with information about courses and career opportunities related to the Five-Year B.A.-M.A. Program in Practical Anthropology. The information should help you make your way through the procedures and courses required for graduation. Before preparing your schedule each semester, we recommend you review its contents carefully. The brief course descriptions should aid you in selecting courses of special interest to you.

PRACTICAL ANTHROPOLOGY AS A CAREER

The Program in Practical Anthropology trains students for the expanding employment market for nonacademic anthropologists. In recent years, anthropologists have gained employment in community services, conservation, international development, alcohol and drug abuse treatment programs, area agencies serving the elderly, mental health programs, teaching, private sector corporations, museums, hospitals and international business and consulting agencies. A recent survey of our graduates revealed that they were able to obtain employment as: Associate Registrar, American Museum of Natural History; Archaeological Consultant, Ellis Island Project; Social Worker, New Jersey Division of Youth and Family Services; Researcher, Department of Communication and Research, A.T.&T; Research Assistant, Kessler Rehabilitation Institute; Research Assistant, Russell Sage Foundation; Educational Director, South Street Seaport Museum, Research Coordinator, Mount Sinai-NYU Medical Center; Administrative Assistant, Department of Criminal Justice, Rutgers University; Graduate Office, Montclair State University; and Director, Montclair State University Service Learning Program.

Program Overview

The combined Five-Year B.A.-M.A. Program in Practical Anthropology provides a challenging and integrated approach to your undergraduate and graduate education in anthropology. In this program, you get a BA and an MA in a most efficient and inexpensive way. Its primary objective is to help you acquire the knowledge, skills, and experience required to pursue a career in applied anthropology in nonacademic settings. Its emphasis is on the practice and utilization of anthropological knowledge rather than on the production of knowledge through basic research. Reflecting faculty expertise, the curriculum covers such areas as: urban anthropology, development anthropology,  medical anthropology, anthropology and nutrition, culture change and modernization. The program also requires completion of courses in qualitative and quantitative research methods used by practicing anthropologists. Your apprenticeship, PRAN 520, is a supervised fieldwork experience in the practice of anthropology that culminates in PRAN 620, your writing of a post-apprenticeship treatise based on your applied project.

MOVING THROUGH THE PROGRAM

Students progress through the program as follows:

1. Entering Practical Anthropology Majors (Freshmen through Junior Year)
   

Students declare PRAN as their major by completing the "Undergraduate Change of Major/Minor Form" and submitting it to the Academic Advising and Tutorial Center. Forms are available at the Academic Advising and Tutorial Center or in the Anthropology Department office (Dickson Hall 427).

2. Selecting an Apprenticeship Advisor and an Apprenticeship Committee
   

In anticipation of being granted Advanced Status a student should ask a member of the Anthropology Department faculty to serve as his or her Apprenticeship Advisor. Selection of an Advisor should be based on the student and professor having mutual research interests. The Apprenticeship Advisor, the PRAN Program Coordinator, the Anthropology Department Chairperson, and, if necessary, another faculty member from the Anthropology Department or an allied discipline will serve as the student’s Apprenticeship Committee. (See the Apprenticeship in Anthropology section below.)

3. Advanced Status
   

Students apply for advanced status to the PRAN Program’s Admission Committee at the end of the second semester of their junior year. The Committee is composed of the Department Chairperson, the PRAN Program Coordinator, and a member of the faculty who, provided the student is granted advanced status, will serve as the student’s Apprenticeship Advisor. To be granted advanced status students must meet the following requirements:

1. completion of 98 s.hrs. of course work
2. a cumulative grade point average of 3.0
3. a major grade point average of 3.0
4. the demonstration of satisfactory written, verbal, and methodological skills as evidenced by the completion of relevant course work and effective interaction with faculty, peers and non-academic professionals.
5. a positive recommendation by the Admission Committee.

Students granted advanced status may carry a total of 9 s.hrs. of graduate courses (i.e., 3 s.hrs. in the first semester of their senior year and 6 s.hrs. in the second) for which graduate tuition is charged. A student may not enroll in more than a total of 15 s.hrs. while taking graduate courses during their fourth year. Students who are not granted advanced status may complete the program requirements of the traditional major and be awarded a baccalaureate degree in anthropology.

4. Graduate Matriculated Status

During the second semester of their senior year, students must file an official MSU graduate application. Standardized tests such as the GRE are not required. Instead the Program Coordinator will provide a qualitative evaluation of the candidate to the Graduate School Office. Eligibility requirements for graduate matriculated status are:

• a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or higher
• a major grade point average of 3.0 or higher advanced status.
  
  

(MSU Graduate School Office)

 Apprenticeship in Anthropology

A student’s apprenticeship experience constitutes a 24 s.hrs. sequence of courses.

PRAN 420 Pre-Apprenticeship in Anthropology I  
3 s.hrs.

PRAN 430 Pre-Apprenticeship in Anthropology II 
3 s.hrs.

PRAN 520 Apprenticeship in Anthropology
9 s.hrs.

PRAN 620 Post-Apprenticeship in Practical Anthropology
9 s.hrs.

In this sequence of courses a student moves from choosing a research problem, outlining a set of objectives, and conducting a literature review in Pre-Apprenticeship I (PRAN 420), to selecting a research site, designing a project, developing an apprenticeship contract, and generally laying a foundation for the apprenticeship in the Pre-Apprenticeship II course (PRAN 430). As an outgrowth of this preparation students implement their practical projects in the Apprenticeship (PRAN 520) course. Under the guidance of the student’s Apprenticeship Advisor, the PRAN Program Coordinator, and the site supervisor, the student finalizes the project design, collects data while conducting the apprenticeship field work, and writes an agency report. The Post-Apprenticeship Treatise (PRAN 620) is required of each student. The treatise is a formal, systematic, and more academic written account based on the agency report. This synthesizing document should indicate the student’s ability to derive practical recommendations from an analysis of the data gathered during the apprenticeship. The treatise will be evaluated by the student’s apprenticeship committee which consists of his or her Apprenticeship Advisor, and, if necessary, the PRAN Program Coordinator, the Anthropology Department Chairperson, another faculty member from the Anthropology Department or an allied discipline.

Transfer Students

Students who transfer to Montclair State University with an A.A. degree, enter the program in the Fall semester of the Junior Year. In New Jersey State regulations governing community colleges, the minimum number of general education requirements for the A.A. degree is 45 semester hours. It is anticipated that transfer students will have met at least an equal number of general education semester hours as Montclair students in their first two years of college work. However, it is unlikely that transfer students will have completed 18 semester hours of anthropology courses, nor fulfilled all specific general education requirements - e.g., non-laboratory science. Deficiencies must be made up in one summer session between the junior and senior year, and by adjustments in course selections in the student’s junior and senior years. Undeclared students and change-of-majors entering the program will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis to ensure that program requirements are met. Transfer students with a B.A. degree will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. If admitted to the Program by the PRAN admission committee, students in this category are considered deferred matriculation graduate students. They typically must complete between five and six additional courses with a minimum grade point average of 3.0 before being granted graduate matriculated status in the program.

ANTHROPOLOGY COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

Basic Core Requirements

ANTH 100 Cultural Anthropology
Analysis of transcultural data; basic methodologies, concepts and goals of anthropology; the nature of culture, its role in human experience and its universality.

ANTH 101 Physical Anthropology
The biological basis of human evolution including surveys of human paleontology, primatology and race. The relationship of culture to human development.

ANTH 102 Anthropological Linguistics
Linguistic systems analyzed through informants (speakers) of non-Indo-European languages, and through published data from a variety of Amerindian and African languages. The relationship of linguistic structure and theory to cultural systems.

ANTH 103 Prehistoric Archaeology
The development, method and theory of anthropological archaeology, analysis and interpretation of prehistoric cultural data by means of audio-visual, field and participatory involvement.

Required Track Courses

ANTH 201 Contemporary Practical Anthropology
The uses of anthropology in contemporary societies by stressing the skills and knowledge needed for the development of practical solutions to current problems. Special attention placed on policy decision-making, community development, cultural resource management, advocacy and social impact assessment.

ANTH 210 Urban Anthropology
Dynamics of acculturation; relationships between the study of cities and urban life and culture in urban subcultures and the broader urban community; values, personality, behaviors and other aspects of the adjustment of people whose lifestyles set them apart from the dominant society.

ANTH 300 Methods in Anthropological Research and Practice
Overview of nonstatistical research methods commonly used in anthropology, including participant observation, interviewing, questionnaire design, cultural domain analysis, ethnographic decision tree analysis, and network analysis. Emphasis on practical experience in applying these methods to research and applied problems. (Prerequisite: ANTH 201.)

ANTH 401 Seminar in Anthropological Theory
Development of anthropological theory during the past 100 years. Various subdisciplines of cultural and social anthropology are explored and applied to similar bodies of data. (Prerequisite: 6 semester hours in Anthropology.)

PRAN 531 Regional Studies in Practical Anthropology
Anthropological approaches to primary and secondary data sources and participatory methodologies in exploring contemporary issues in the New York/New Jersey metropolitan area. Focal issues will vary from semester to semester.

ANTH 550 Culture Change
Dynamics of cultural preservation, transmission, and change. Factors and conditions which retard and/or stimulate culture change are considered in transcultural perspective. A unit of study devoted to the psycho-cultural consequences of rapid change.

Ethnology Requirement

ANTH 110 Anthropology of Multicultural America
Analysis of the diversity of racial, ethnic, religious, occupational and other subcultures and subgroups within the U.S. Emphasis on the character of American culture. Subpopulations are examined in relationship to each other and to the mainstream culture.

ANTH 115 Cultures of the Middle East
The Middle East culture area in anthropological perspective. Emphasis on the nature of different interlocking cultural systems which are adaptations to environmental stresses in the Middle East. The concepts of culture and society will be explored in the context of course materials.

ANTH 120 Native North Americans
Amerindian cultures north of Mexico; representative tribes, their world views, and their adaptations to the environment, each other and European contact.

ANTH 130 Cultures of Southeast Asia
Anthropological survey of selected tribal and peasant societies of Burma, Thailand, Laos, Kampuchea (Cambodia), Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines. Recent socio-cultural changes.

ANTH 140 Non-Western Contributions to the Western World
Survey of scientific, medical, artistic, and other contributions from cultures outside the mainstream of European, North American, and Judeo-Christian history that influence our lives in the West today.

ANTH 150 Native Latin Americans
Study of indigenous peoples of Latin America. Surveys earliest evidence of human occupation of Middle and South America and the Caribbean; diverse origins of food production; intellectual achievements; political organization; material contributions to world culture; and aspects of early European contact and conquest.

ANTH 170 Peoples of Africa
Diversity in the lifestyles of representative African cultures; prehistory, culture change, and contemporary problems in sub-Saharan Africa.

Topical Anthropology Courses

ANTH 220 American Folk Culture
American oral (folklore) and material (folklife) folk culture. Different folk traditions as well as analytical theory concerning them. Student presentation and analysis of material folk culture.

ANTH 230 Anthropology of Conflict and Violence
Types of conflict and violence including war, crime, family and sexual violence, class and ethnic violence, and genocide; biological determinist and cultural explanations of violence; theories of nonviolent social change.

ANTH 240 Human Variation
Origins, adaptations and evolution of races from a physical anthropology perspective. Misconceptions about race, intelligence and racism as well as theories and explanations of human variations.

ANTH 270 Archaeology of Ancient Middle America
Archaeology of ancient cultures of Middle America. Two majors units - (1) Northern Mesoamerica, the Gulf Coast, Oaxaco and Central Mexican Aztecs (2) Ancient Maya of Mexico and Central America.

ANTH 310 Anthropology of Work
Human work across cultural space and historical time.  Various subsistence strategies (e.g., foraging, pastoralism, agriculture and industrial) are covered.  Forms of work, the social relations of work, the meanings of work, and social stratification along lines of gender, class, race/ethnicity, age.

ANTH 330 Anthropology of Food & Nutrition
Cultural effects on diet, nutritional status, disease, and ecology; anthropological contributions to the study of food and food habits.

ANTH 350 Anthropology of Aging & the Aged
Influences of cultural systems on the processes of aging. Special emphasis placed on the behaviors and meanings attached to the stages of growing older in a variety of cultural systems.

ANTH 360 Cultural Ecology
Relationships between culture and the bio-physical environment, as well as the cultural environment. Emphasis on primitive and non-Western cultures.

ANTH 370 Experimental Archaeology
The manufacture, use, preservation, analysis and cataloging of prehistoric artifacts made of stone, bone and wood. (Prerequisites: ANTH 103 or ANTH 270.)

ANTH 380 Anthropology of Women
Anthropological literature on women and women’s issues in our own and pre-industrial, non-capitalistic societies. Connections between environment, technology and gender roles are investigated, and the amount of power women have in different societies over their own lives and those of 9thers is assessed. The place of women in each society’s symbolic system is also analyzed.

ANTH 405 Psychological Anthropology
Transcultural focus on the interrelated nature of culture and human behavior. Interdisciplinary courses with emphasis on mutual dependencies of anthropological and psychological theory and method. Work with bicultural informants.

ANTH 414 Selected Issues in Anthropology
Identification and analysis of contemporary issues and problems in anthropology, e.g., models of society, new directions in anthropological inquiry and methodology, etc.

ANTH 425 Anthropology of Religion
Patterns of religious beliefs and behaviors which relate to sacred, supernatural entities. Origin theories, divination, witchcraft, mythology and the relationship of religious movements to other aspects of culture.

ANTH 430 Field Methods in Linguistics
Focuses on the development of the student’s skill in gathering and analyzing linguistic data. Complements the more theoretically oriented courses in linguistics. (Prerequisites: ANTH 102 or LNGN 210.)

ANTH 440 Medical Anthropology
Examination of cross-cultural concepts of illness, health and medical care. Ecological and historical aspects of diseases in human evolution are also studied.

ANTH 460 Field Methods: Visual Anthropology
Opportunities to explore potential uses of photography in anthropological research and practice. Each student is guided in the development of a project which demonstrates the significance of recording and interpreting visual data in the study of selected aspects of culture, social interaction patterns, and/or individual behavior.

ANTH 470 Field Methods in Archaeology
Provides practical field experience in the various aspects of survey and excavation techniques. A specific area will be surveyed and a site will be excavated.

ANTH 480 Independent Research in Anthropology
Directed research towards the preparation of written papers, stressing fieldwork, library research and problem orientation. A tutorial without formal class meetings.

ANTH 510 Ethnology
A graduate introduction to the "science of peoples, their cultures and life histories as groups." Ethnographic and ethnological methodology and theory. Primarily for graduate students with limited or no previous course work in cultural anthropology.

ANTH 520 Anthropology and International Communication
How to apply anthropological concepts to the practical world of international business, diplomacy and service. Focus on the integration of verbal and non-verbal communication, as well as on cultural and personal values in the context of differences (rather than similarities) between members of different countries/cultures. Emphasis on educating students to interaction and communicate in new cultural and /or international settings.

ANTH 530 Development Anthropology
A critical review of theories of development with emphasis on anthropological contributions to development debates. Selected case study examination of the role of anthropologists in formulating, executing, and evaluating development programs and projects.

 ANTH 538 Ethnopsychology
An interdisciplinary course on convergencies of theoretical and methodological concepts from anthropology and psychology. A cross-cultural focus on the relationship of culture to personality, cognition, stress, mental disorders, and aging. (Prerequisite: Undergraduate work in psychology or anthropology.)

ANTH 540 Anthropology of Cities
A cross-cultural investigation of urbanism and urbanization. Utilizing anthropological monographs, the comparative method will be employed to discover recurrent patterns of adaptation to urban environments.

ANTH 547 Woman: A Cross-Cultural Perspective
Physiological and psychological aspects of women studied cross-culturally, and their implications for contemporary society. Morphological and psychological developments from conception to death in various cultures, inferences about the roles of women in society.

ANTH 560 Applied Medical Anthropology
Selected theoretical and practical problems encountered by applied medical anthropologists in the cross-cultural identification of disease and delivery of health care services. Special emphasis is placed on the role of applied medical anthropologists in local and international health care institutions and programs. The course includes consideration of ethical problems encountered by anthropological practitioners.

ANTH 570 Prehistoric North America
General background in Native American archaeology, and theory and method in this subdiscipline. Selected culture areas and problems relating to time depth, cultural interaction, and the nature of archaeological evidence north of Mexico.

ANTH 601 Independent Anthropological Research
Under faculty guidance, the student works independently throughout the academic year on a delimited program in anthropology. Course includes presentation of proposal, execution and write-up of research, and oral defense of findings.

Apprenticeship in Anthropology

PRAN 420 Pre-apprenticeship in Anthropology I
Students design their apprenticeship in anthropology by completing the following tasks in cooperation with the program’s director: identification of potential organizations for internship placement; initial agency visitations; selection of internship setting; and identification of a practical research problem. Prior to preparing an apprenticeship contract, each student is required to review related literature, produce a statement of objectives, and formulate a preliminary plan for conducting the project.

PRAN 430 Pre-apprenticeship in Anthropology II
This course provides instruction regarding the process of research site selection and project design. Students identify potential organizations for eventual internship placement. Emphasis is placed on the systemic gathering and analysis of information about both public and private sector organizations in the greater New York/New Jersey metropolitan area. This includes initial organization visitations relative to selecting an internship setting, the identification of a practical research problem, developing an apprenticeship contract, and preliminary research project.  (Prerequisite PRAN 420)

PRAN 520 Apprenticeship in Anthropology
As an outgrowth of their pre-apprenticeship experiences, students are required to implement their practical anthropological fieldwork projects. Under faculty guidance and agency supervision, students collect and analyze data, and write a preliminary agency report. These experiences afford students the opportunities both to test their knowledge and to gain disciplined practice in their profession. (Prerequisite: PRAN 430)

PRAN 620 Post-apprenticeship Thesis
The preparation and approval of a formal and systematically written monograph, based on an applied anthropology apprenticeship conducted in an agency or other appropriate setting. (Prerequisite: PRAN 520)

HONORS, AWARDS AND PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

1. Antoinette C. Bigel Research Fellowship
   The Antoinette C. Bigel Endowment Fund established in September, 1996, exists to support undergraduate and graduate students in anthropology to participate in supervised field work in anthropology. Awards are made annually and carry a maximum amount of $2,500 depending on the availability of funds.
   
   
2. Lambda Alpha
   The Department of Anthropology is a charter member of Lambda Alpha, the National Collegiate Honor Society for Anthropology. This organization encourages and stimulates scholarship and research in anthropology by recognizing and honoring superior achievement in the discipline. The minimum requirements for student membership are:
   
   

   a.  Undergraduates must be currently enrolled and have completed not less than twelve semester hours in anthropology. Undergraduates must have an average of not less than 3.5 in anthropology courses and a cumulative average of not less than 3.0

   b.  Graduate students must be in good departmental standing with a 3.3 cumulative average.

3. The Anthropology Club
   The Anthropology Club, organized and run by students, provides a major source of contact between faculty and students. Membership in the Club is open to majors, minors, and non-majors. The Club sponsors numerous programs and social functions throughout the year, and publishes a newsletter, The Participant Observer, which details faculty news, student activities, and anthropological events occurring in the metropolitan area. Aside from providing opportunities for informal student-faculty exchanges, the Club also serves as a forum for departmental decision-making. Student opinion is not only solicited, but it is a significant component in decisions affecting curriculum, professional organizations, and future departmental directions.
   

4. Professional Associations
   Student membership is encouraged by the following professional associations:
   
   American Anthropological Association
   http://www.ameranthassn.org/
   4350 North Fairfax Drive
   Suite 640
   Arlington, VA 22203-1621
   
   Society for Applied Anthropology
   http://www.telepath.com/sfaa/
   P.O. Box 24083
   Oklahoma City, OK 73124
   
   National Association for the Practice of Anthropology
   http://www.ameranthassn.org/napa.htm
   4350 North Fairfax Drive
   Suite 640
   Arlington, VA 22203-1621
   
   Practicing Anthropology
   http://www.telepath.com/sfaa/
   P.O. Box 24083
   Oklahoma City, OK 73124
   

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CONTACT:
DR. KENNETH BROOK, COORDINATOR
PROGRAM IN PRACTICAL ANTHROPOLOGY
DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY
MONTCLAIR STATE UNIVERSITY
UPPER MONTCLAIR, NJ 07043
(973) 655-4119 OR

( brookk@mail.montclair.edu )