Brandeis Anthropology Resources
Brandeis Anthropology Graduate Student Web Forum
The Brandeis Anthropology Graduate Student Web Forum is a site for the exchange of information and words of wisdom about graduate study in anthropology, and for general discussion about anthropological scholarship. The Forum is restricted to Brandeis graduate students and faculty, and provides an informal supplement to the formal guidelines in the Anthropology Department Graduate Student Handbook. All graduate students and faculty are invited to contribute to the site, which has a wealth of archived postings about taking classes, comp exams, specialist essays, fieldwork, teaching, the job market, and many other topics. Users are asked to sign up for automatic email notification of new postings to the site. Click here to reach the Brandeis forums page. You will need to log in as a user in order to view the Anthropology Graduate Student Web Forum.
Greater Boston Anthropology Consortium (GBAC)
The anthropology faculties of Brandeis, Tufts University, and Wellesley College constitute the Greater Boston Anthropology Consortium (GBAC), a cooperative arrangement among the three institutions. GBAC sponsors joint speakers, combined student activities, and encourages cross-enrollment at the undergraduate and graduate levels. In addition, graduate students at Brandeis may enroll in graduate courses in several other Boston-area institutions, including Boston College, Boston University, and the Graduate Consortium in Women’s Studies at Radcliffe College. The GBAC consortium will hold its Second Annual Student Anthropology Conference on Friday, March 4, 2005 at Brandeis University. To see abstracts and the schedule for the 2005 conference, click here: Second Annual Student Anthropology Conference.
Libraries
The social science collections of the University are housed in Goldfarb Library and Farber Library. These materials are accessible at the library and through an online catalog system, LOUIS. The Library has facilities for users to do computerized searches of bibliographic databases such as the Social Science Index, the MLA Index, and other periodical indices. The Interlibrary Loan Office provides books or photocopies of materials not owned by the University. Brandeis is a member of the Boston Library Consortium, composed of twelve academic and research institutions in the area. A collection of anthropology books journals donated by the late Robert Manners is housed in the Graduate Study Room.
Research Consultant Program
Among the resources of the Anthropology Department are Visiting Research Associates and Professors Emeriti who are available for student consultations. This program is not intended as a substitute for the help and advice available from departmental professors, but rather to provide students with access to anthropologists having special interests that augment those of our teaching staff. The program is therefore research oriented and open to graduate students who are preparing to undertake dissertation research and undergraduates intending to write an honors thesis or do independent study. To set up an appointment you may contact the individual by email using the personal email address listed on the Faculty page. When no email address is given, send the name of the person you wish to consult together with a very brief description of the topic you wish to discuss to: anthropology@brandeis.edu. For further information, see the Academic Administrator.
Material Culture Study Center
The department has curatorial responsibility for a teaching collection of art and artifacts from Africa, Asia, Australia, the American Southwest, Mesoamerica, the Near East, South America, and Oceania--all available for student research. The Center has a digital camera, lighting equipment, a computer and scanner, storage cabinets, and a 1000-volume research library. A rotating selection of objects is on display at the department.
Colloquium Series and Departmental Lectures
An important part of the intellectual life of the department is the Colloquium Series, a regular program of invited lectures by faculty members and outside scholars. This lecture series provides an excellent way for graduate students to hear about current work in the various subfields of anthropology, to participate in formal and informal questioning after the talk, and to make personal contact with visiting scholars. The department also sponsors workshops focused on the practice of anthropology. Throughout the academic year informal lunch sessions provide opportunities for students and faculty to discuss topics of mutual interest.
Symbolic Form Study Group (SFSG)
This informal group of faculty and students meets several times each semester to discuss issues related to the cross-cultural study of symbolic forms, including images, performances, and texts. The group invites guest scholars to lead discussions of exemplary publications.
Economic Anthropology Working Group
This seminar includes includes faculty and advanced graduate students from Brandeis and other universities. It meets to discuss a topic, a draft of a paper written by a group member, or newly published work in the field.
Center for Materials Research in Archaeology and Ethnography (CMRAE)
Students interested in material culture studies from both an archaeological or ethnographic perspectives may also take courses offered through the Center for Materials Research in Archaeology and Ethnology (CMRAE), a Boston-area consortium based at MIT comprised of faculty from the host institution as well as from Brandeis, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston University, Harvard University, Tufts University, UMass Boston, and Wellesley College.