Department of History and Anthropology

Congratulations to the 2012 LAS Spring Awards recipients for History & Anthropology!

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At Butler University, the disciplines of History, Anthropology, and Geography share the same home because they address the same fundamental questions about life. We are singular amongst U.S. universities in bringing together these three disciplines at the undergraduate level. Prospective majors in both History and Anthropology take together a freshman course, introducing them to each other and to the disciplines and inter-disciplinary work and becoming themselves a community. Members of the department offer expertise in wide-ranging areas of the world: United States, Latin America, East Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. Within these areas we offer courses on the fundamental conditions that shape human life past and present: citizenship, politics, war, gender, race, class, sexuality, language, economics, religion, thought. The department offers a small student-faculty ratio, individual attention, abundant opportunities for undergraduate research. Most of our students also study away from Butler, either abroad or in Washington DC, offering them a taste of this increasingly global world we inhabit.

"What makes us unique"

• One of the only joint History and Anthropology Departments in the country, and as such one of the only formal programs where undergraduates can learn about the topical, methodological, and theoretical linkages between the two disciplines
• A strong commitment to helping students develop the skills of critical thinking, textual analysis, and effective writing-skills that will be great assets no matter what career paths they pursue in the future
• Small class size and faculty-student ratio that guarantees one-on-one attention, mentoring and guidance to all majors and minors
• A program that strongly encourages students to study abroad, pursue internship opportunities, and use ethnographic projects to explore other interests that may help them make career-related decisions upon graduation
• Strong relationships with the Indiana State Museum, the Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA), and other local institutions that provide excellent support for class-related projects as well as internship opportunities to our students

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