How Studying Anthropology Changes Students

Abstract

Student research fellows at three universities (Illinois State University, St. Mary's College of Maryland, and Wheaton College) conducted ethnographic research among peers in anthropology programs to better understand students’ experiences in the major and their career goals. In this article, we highlight student narratives of personal and intellectual growth. We found that current majors had more to say about how they had been transformed by anthropology than about the specific anthropological skills relevant to future careers. We posit that students’ personal growth, including greater empathy and open-mindedness, and intellectual growth, including cross-cultural understanding and the ability to think critically, developed through students’ integration into departmental communities of practice.