• Anthropology

    Anthropology

  • Contact Us

    General Admission Contact
    The New School for Social Research
    Office of Admission
    72 Fifth Avenue, 1st floor
    New York, NY 10011
    212.229.5600 or 800.523.5411
    [email protected]

    Admissions Liaison
    [email protected]

    Department of Anthropology
    6 East 16th Street, 9th floor
    New York, NY 10003
    Tel: 212.229.5757 x3016
    Fax: 212.229.5595

    Mailing Address
    79 Fifth Avenue, 9th floor
    New York, NY 10003

    Chair 
    Hugh Raffles

    Senior Secretary
    Charles Whitcroft

    Student Advisor
    Jack Jiang

    Anthropology Student Handbook

  • Admission Links

  • Through cutting-edge empirical, historical, and ethnographic scholarship, students and faculty in the Department of Anthropology address the urgent social and political problems of the 21st century. Founded in 1971 and regarded as one of the leading anthropology graduate programs in the US, the department is dedicated to interdisciplinary breadth and innovative research with emphasis on fieldwork and archival research, the role of the imagination in theoretical reflection and writing, multimedia exploration and experimental methodologies.

    With a strong record of job placement and grants, the department offers students in both the MA and PhD programs the tools to navigate the uncertain and intertwined worlds in which we live. Outside of coursework, the department offers teaching opportunities, a robust public lecture series, an end of year conference, field outings and collaborations with arts venues, community organizations, and activists in New York and around the world.

    Students participate in departmental life through the Anthropology Students Association and the development of their own projects. Examples of student projects include work on robotics and loneliness in Japan; activism in Afro-Dutch communities in Suriname, Curaçao, and the Netherlands; accompaniment in assisted dying in Switzerland; AI and spirits in the production, interpretation, and representation of memory related to the legacy of Transatlantic Slavery in Nigeria; underground psychedelic practices in Taiwan.

    Get to know the Anthropology community here and through the program’s student-run blog, AnthroBlog. 

    Get to know the faculty and their work.

  • Anthropology Degrees

    The Department of Anthropology offers MA and PhD degrees. All anthropology students at The New School enter through the MA program. Students who complete MA requirements with sufficient distinction may apply for admission to the PhD program. MA students may wish to enrich their study by focusing on areas within anthropology, including Anthropology and Design, and Science and Society.

  • Take The Next Step

Submit your application

Undergraduates

To apply to any of our undergraduate programs (except the Bachelor's Program for Adults and Transfer Students and Parsons Associate of Applied Science programs) complete and submit the Common App online.

Undergraduate Adult Learners

To apply to any of our Bachelor's Program for Adults and Transfer Students and Parsons Associate of Applied Science programs, complete and submit the New School Online Application.

Graduates

To apply to any of our Master's, Doctoral, Professional Studies Diploma, and Graduate Certificate programs, complete and submit the New School Online Application.