Faculty in the Department of Anthropology are involved in exciting new research areas.

Some examples:

  • Professor Jeffrey Cole is currently exploring alternative agriculture, with a focus on beginning farmers in New London County. Students in his course, Cultivating Change (ANT 450), are contributing to this project. He is also examining the intersections of food and migration in the United States.
  • Professor Anthony Graesch is pursuing two research streams, including the archaeological study of household organization on the Pacific Northwest Coast and the ways that human action is influenced by objects and built space in modern urban environments. Students in his course, Urban Ethnoarchaeology (ANT 482), are contributing to an ethnoarchaeological study of cigarette smoking and bar identity.
  • Professor Catherine Benoit's research examines the legal status of Indigenous peoples and other immigration issues in the Caribbean.
  • Professor Manuel Lizarralde's research pursuits include an ongoing ethnobotanical study of plant use in South American Indigenous villages as well as a new study of the performance attributes of ancient bow-and-arrow technology used by Ötzi, the 5000-year old iceman discovered in the Ötztal Alps.
  • Professor Christopher Steiner’s research is focused on African art and material culture. He has written about the history of the African art market, and the role of African middlemen as cultural brokers between African producers and Western consumers. His current work is a biographical account of Dr. George W. Harley, a medical missionary in Liberia from 1925 to 1960 who acquired masks and other artifacts both for museum collections and early African art collectors.

The department of anthropology enjoys a working and teaching relationship with the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center in nearby Mashantucket, Connecticut.

A selected list of anthropology resources for research is available from the Charles E. Shain Library at Connecticut College, maintained by the College's reference librarians. The guide helps students identify materials useful for research in anthropology. Reference librarians are always available to assist in the search for relevant reference books based on the ethnic group or region under study.