Master of Arts [M.A] [Anthropology] From University of Massachusetts

The Anthropology Graduate Program at UMass Amherst strives to produce leading scholars, educators and public intellectuals. Graduates of the program have gone on to secure prestigious awards, post-doctoral and tenure track positions in academia as well as high impact positions in nongovernmental organizations.

Our flexible graduate program allows students to craft their own program of study in any of the subfields. We encourage students to pursue innovative work that cuts across subfields and disciplines. Students work closely with their advisors and committee members to choose courses and research directions. We offer both a master’s and a PhD. Students can expect to take three to four semesters of coursework for the Master’s and an additional four years of research and training for the PhD.

We offer a variety of funding opportunities through teaching and research assistantships. Most students can expect five years of funding from the Department. We also offer additional funding for conference travel, pre-dissertation pilot studies, and dissertation writing fellowships.

The goal of the MA program is to enable the student to acquire the intellectual foundation and the skills to pursue a career as a professional anthropologist. To do that the student needs to demonstrate the capabilities to complete an MA thesis. This includes the ability to formulate anthropologically interesting problems, the critical ability to apply an appropriate methodology in linking empirical observations with a theoretically informed generalization, a working familiarity with a body of data (e.g. population, cultural area or period), and the ability to demonstrate these competencies in writing.