The graduate program in cultural anthropology at WSU emphasizes three constellations of subject matter within the broad range of the subdiscipline: (1) psychological and medical anthropology; (2) children, family, and gender; and (3) ecological anthropology. Within these specialties the cultural anthropology faculty has ongoing research and experience in Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, North America, Oceania, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. The cultural anthropology program offers an MA and a PhD.  Cultural anthropology emphasizes the importance of conducting original field-based research as part of their graduate training.

The graduate program in cultural anthropology at WSU emphasizes three constellations of subject matter within the broad range of the subdiscipline:

Ecological anthropology
Psychological and medical anthropology
Children, family, and gender

Within these specialties the faculty in cultural anthropology reflect interest and field experience in Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, North America, Oceania, South Asia, and Southeast Asia.

The cultural anthropology program offers an MA and a PhD. Cultural graduate students are exposed to basic issues in the four fields of American anthropology through core courses in archaeology, evolutionary anthropology, and linguistics. They explore the subdiscipline of cultural anthropology through a variety of required and elective courses within the department, as well as courses in other departments, if such classes are appropriate for their research interests. The PhD in cultural anthropology offers highly individualized training in a variety of areas according to the student’s interests and the specializations of the faculty. PhD students are expected to develop research proposals in cooperation with their advisors in order to obtain outside grant support for their doctoral research.

All graduate programs in cultural anthropology emphasize the importance of fieldwork. Both MA and PhD students are expected to conduct original field research as part of their graduate training. Competence in a foreign language at both the MA and PhD levels is required of all students.

Please contact the Cultural Anthropology Graduate Coordinator or Student Representative for more information:

Cultural Coordinator: Julia Cassaniti (julia.cassaniti@wsu.edu)
Student Representative: Daniel McCloskey

Cultural Graduate Requirements

Cultural Anthropology Faculty

DR. JULIA CASSANITI

Interests: Psychological anthropology, medical anthropology, cognitive psychology, Theravada Buddhism, mental health, religion and ritual, gender, agency, contemporary social issues in Thailand, Southeast Asia
Email: julia.cassaniti@wsu.edu

Dr. BARRY S. HEWLETT

Interests: Medical anthropology, hunters and gatherers, infant and child development, evolutionary cultural anthropology, international development. Sub-Saharan Africa (on the Vancouver campus)
Email: hewlett@vancouver.wsu.edu

DR. COURTNEY L. MEEHAN

Interests:  Hunters and gatherers, evolutionary theory, infant development. Sub-Saharan Africa
Email: cmeehan@wsu.edu

DR. ANNE PISOR

Interests: Collective action, culture contact, migration, development anthropology, Latin American anthropology, human behavioral ecology, evolutionary psychology, behavioral economics, social psychology, applied statistics.
Email: anne.pisor@wsu.edu

DR. MARSHA B. QUINLAN

Interests: Sociocultural anthropology, medical anthropology, Ethnobotany, ethnomedicine, psychological anthropology, maternal and child health. Caribbean, South America, Africa
Email: mquinlan@wsu.edu

DR. ROBERT QUINLAN

Interests:  Behavioral ecology, psychological and medical anthropology, ethnographic science, vulnerability and resilience, mixed methods, collaborative research, Africa
Email: rquinlan@wsu.edu

Dr. Clare M. Wilkinson

Interests: Gender and work, art, colonialism, cinema. South Asia (on the Vancouver campus)
Email: cmweber@vancouver.wsu.edu