Undergraduate Focus:  The Department of Anthropology offers an undergraduate major (Visual Track) and minor in visual anthropology and a program of graduate studies in the anthropology of visual communication, leading to a Ph.D. degree in anthropology.  Areas of inquiry include historical and contemporary forms of (a) visual events, such as ritual, spectacle, performance, etc.; (b) visual objects, such as art, architecture, clothing, the body, etc.; (c) media, such as television and various forms of indigenous media; and (d) visual communication through video, film, photography, and new forms of digital imaging. The goal of the program is to prepare students for career paths that utilize anthropological knowledge, such as university teaching and research as well as jobs in tourism, museum, theater, media, advertising, and web development/management.

The focus has two primary objectives: (a) to train students to understand the relevant social, cultural, political, economic, and religious dimensions of these visual forms and (b) to provide technical competency in communicating anthropological knowledge in a visual format, including video, film, photography, and others made possible by computer technology. The program maintains strong ties with the linguistic anthropology program within the Department of Anthropology and with other programs within the university, including Film and Media Arts, Photography, Theater, Dance, Art History, Journalism, and Urban Studies. In previous years, students have enrolled in additional graduate seminars in these programs.

The department is equipped with a Visual Laboratory that supports courses and student projects that make use of audio-video data. For students interested in integrating linguistic data with their work, the Linguistic Anthropology Program is also equipped with a laboratory that provides additional resources, including a Macintosh computer station and necessary accessories for analyzing linguistic data. The Visual Laboratory is well equipped with state-of-the-art technology for recording, analyzing, and editing digitally recorded audio-video data. The resources of the Visual Laboratory are also used for exploring new ways of producing (a) anthropological and ethnographic cinema and (b) interactive products for the World Wide Web. In addition to a dark room facility for photography projects, there is also an equipment room where students can check out equipment, such as cameras and accessories, for field projects. In the past, students have carried out projects in the United States, South America, South and East Asia, the Middle East, New Zealand, and Europe. Projects carried out among indigenous populations are particularly encouraged.

Graduate Focus: The traditional areas of study within the anthropology of visual communications i.e., the study of film, photography, performance, art, dance, media, home media and indigenous media will continue to be offered. The most significant change will be the department’s recognition of New Media as a focus of study and the overarching recognition that all of visual anthropology is encompassed in an orientation that recognizes a globalizing and transnational social universe. 

Professors Niyi Akinasso, Paul Garrett, Jayasinhji Jhala and Denise O'Brien are the primary faculty for this orientation.  The Department aspires to add new faculty in the near future.  With that in mind, Professors Paul Stoller and Gray Gordon have visiting faculty appointments for this year (2004-2005).  Other resources in the university include Professors Paul Swann and Roderick Coover of the Film Department, Miles Orwell of English, Gerald Silk of Art History, Noel Carroll and Philip Alperson of Philosophy who are supportive of innovative cross-disciplinary work.

If you are a prospective graduate student intending to apply for admission, we urge you to contact Dr. J. Jhala, Program Director  jjhala@temple.edu (e-mail); 215-204-7727 (voice mail).

Liluye with Rajput celebrators, Jodhpur, India 1996.