Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology

Students with Kalo
(HPU students work the Kalo fields in Kahana Valley, Oahu)		 Our mission is to inspire and enable students to become effective and responsible citizens of a global community by engaging with cultural and social difference. We aspire to give students the competency and emotional intelligence to be able to create positive change both within themselves and around them.

The anthropology major stresses two goals: the refinement of intellectual skills and the nourishing of "citizen scholars." The certificate programs are a valuable means for emphasizing the cross-disciplinary trends increasingly popular in the social and physical sciences. When students graduate with a degree in anthropology, they are prepared professionally to enter the world trained in their certificate areas. This means that graduates will find employment opportunities in the health care industry, social service agencies, international and local corporations, educational institutions, nongovernmental organizations, and not-for-profit groups. Certificates are available in:

Certificates are offered on a stand-alone basis or as components of the Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in Anthropology.

Program Objectives

Students who major in anthropology will:

  • Engage with differences that they normally do not experience in everyday life and, rather than simply tolerating (or being threatened by) them, use these differences as an engine for their own personal growth as citizens in a global world.
  • Understand - through the use of contextual analysis and comparison - the political and cultural frames of reference that shape their perceptions and behaviors in everyday life - the hegemonies that shape our understandings. 
  • Gain the analytical and presentational skills to conceive of and demonstrate more just and compassionate visions of reality.
  • Feel empowered - both personally and with the tools of analysis necessary - to carry out the above goals or, to phrase it another way, to feel motivated to actively and effectively engage with the world around them in socially productive ways
  • Be prepared to undertake graduate work in anthropology or other disciplines at any institution, if they choose.

Degree Requirements
Anthropology Certificates