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• PhD Program in Anthropology and Middle Eastern Studies

Admissions to the PhD in Anthropology and MES has been paused and will not be accepting applications for fall 2024.

The joint program in Anthropology and Middle Eastern Studies is designed for students interested in enriching their program of study for the PhD in Anthropology with firsthand knowledge about the Middle East based on literacy in its languages and an understanding of its cultural traditions. As a student in an interdisciplinary program you are a full member of the Department of Anthropology cohort, but also have an intellectual home at CMES and access to CMES faculty, facilities, and resources.

Students in the joint PhD Program in Anthropology and Middle Eastern Studies fulfill all the  requirements for the PhD in Social Anthropology  in addition to the language and area studies requirements established by the Committee on Middle Eastern Studies.

Language Requirements

Each student must demonstrate a reading knowledge of one of the following European languages: German, French, Italian, or Russian. This requirement may be fulfilled either by a departmental examination or by satisfactory completion of two years of language study. The student must also demonstrate a thorough knowledge of a modern Middle Eastern language: Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, or Turkish. Depending on the student’s specialization, another Middle Eastern or Islamic language (e.g., Kurdish, Urdu) may be substituted with the approval of the Committee on Joint PhD Programs. The expectation is that the student learn the languages necessary to teach and work in his or her chosen field.

Program of Study in Anthropology and MES

The graduate program in social anthropology and Middle Eastern Studies requires a minimum of sixteen half-courses, three of which are in Middle Eastern history, economics, religion, or political science, and twelve of which are in anthropology. The twelve required anthropology half-courses include the proseminar “History and Theory of Social Anthropology” (2650a and b); a half-course on the ethnography of one’s area of specialization is recommended but not required. A half-course in archaeology is recommended but not required. First-year students must attain at least a B+ in each half of the proseminar.

A list of current Middle East–related courses is available on this site at the beginning of each semester ; the Anthropology Department courses are available at my.harvard.edu .

Social anthropology PhD candidates are required to take written and oral examinations toward the end of their third term of study. Candidates must pass these examinations before they may continue their PhD work. More details are available in the Department of Anthropology’s  Program Guidelines for students .

Dissertation

The dissertation prospectus must be read and approved by a committee of three faculty members no later than the end of the third year. The dissertation will normally be based on fieldwork conducted in the Middle East, or in other areas of the world with close cultural ties to the region, and should demonstrate the student’s ability to use source material in one or more relevant Middle Eastern languages. Satisfactory progress of PhD candidates in the writing stage is determined on the basis of the writing schedule the student arranges with his or her advisor.

Timeline for Student Progress and Degree Completion

• Coursework: One to three years.
• Examinations: General exams must be passed by the end of the second year of study.
• Dissertation Prospectus: Must be approved by the end of the third year.
• Dissertation Defense and Approval: The candidate’s dissertation committee decides when the dissertation is ready for defense. The doctorate is awarded when the candidate passes a defense of the dissertation.
• Graduation: The program is ideally completed in six years.

For more details on these guidelines, see the Middle Eastern Studies section  of the Harvard Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (Harvard Griffin GSAS) Policies site and the Department of Anthropology’s guidelines for PhD students in social anthropology . Admissions information can be found in the Applying to CMES  section of this site and on the Harvard Griffin GSAS website .

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Anthropology

Undergraduate Program

Anthropology brings global, comparative, and holistic views to the study of the human condition, exploring the enormous range of similarities and differences across time and space. It includes the study of how human behavior has evolved as well as how language, culture, and society have shaped and continue to shape the human experience. At Harvard, the Anthropology Department is divided into two programs: Archaeology and Social Anthropology.

Graduate Programs

The Department of Anthropology offers coursework and training leading to the Ph.D. in two principal fields of specialization—archaeology and social anthropology—that have their own programs of study and examination procedures. The department also offers an AM in medical anthropology.

Students enrolled in the Master of Liberal Arts program in Anthropology and Archeology will explore human cultures and societies, and gain a deep understanding of our global complexities and their implications on the human experience.

The graduate program in archaeology provides informed, critical examinations of core issues; comprehensive training in principal methods and theories of anthropologically-oriented archaeology; and direction and support for PhD candidates preparing for research and teaching positions in a wide variety of domains of archaeological practice.

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Harvard Griffin GSAS strives to provide students with timely, accurate, and clear information. If you need help understanding a specific policy, please contact the office that administers that policy.

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Questions about these requirements? See the contact info at the bottom of the page. 

Graduate students who wish to pursue the secondary field at the PhD level in anthropology should identify a faculty advisor from the regular faculty of the Department of Anthropology as early as possible in their graduate career to develop a plan of study. The faculty advisor shall be responsible for overseeing the student’s progress through the secondary field. Upon the advice and counsel of the faculty advisor, the student should contact the coordinator for the program advisory committee (see below) to apply for the secondary field in anthropology.

Graduate students must meet the following requirements in order to have the secondary field officially recorded on their transcript. 

Requirements

Four elective half‐courses are required for the satisfactory completion of the secondary field in anthropology at the PhD level. The four courses must all be ones designated as graduate—or advanced undergraduate/graduate—level courses and must be ones taught in the Department of Anthropology at Harvard. At least one of these courses ordinarily will be ANTH 2910: Theories of the Social; ANTH 3628 Anthropological Research Methods; ANTH 2070: Archaeological Theory; or ANTH 2250a Contemporary Issues in Archaeology. The selection of courses that will count toward the secondary field shall be made in close consultation with the student’s faculty advisor and shall conform to a clearly articulated intellectual rationale. A proposed plan for studies, including the selection of courses and its rationale, shall be submitted by the candidate to the PhD secondary field program advisory committee for approval. Anthropology courses that do not fit with a subsequently or previously approved intellectual rationale for the secondary field risk not being counted as fulfilling the requirements for the secondary field. 

Graduate students who wish to take an archaeological field school for credit for their program of studies must receive approval of the field school from their advisor and the program coordinator in advance of registering for the field school.

All course work taken for completion of the secondary field must be passed with a grade of B+ or better.

Program Coordinating Committee

An overall program coordinator, who will normally be the Director of Graduate Studies in Anthropology, and the two additional faculty members—ordinarily the Director of the Archaeology Program and the Director of the Social Anthropology Program—shall be named by the chair to oversee and coordinate the PhD secondary field program. The Coordinating Committee will have the responsibility for accepting and evaluating applications to the program, advise on the assignment of advisors to candidates, approve proposed plans of studies, serve as liaison between secondary field candidates and the department’s Office of Graduate Studies, and generally work to ensure the smooth functioning of the secondary field program. 

Contact Info

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Jennifer LeBlanc

Jennifer manages all aspects of the graduate programs in the Department of Anthropology, including admissions and academics for the PhD in Archaeology and the PhD in Social Anthropology.

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Harvard asks students about sexual assault and misconduct in third survey since 2015

Navigating Harvard with a non-apparent disability

Yes, it’s exciting. Just don’t look at the sun.

Anticipate, accommodate, empower.

Nadine Gaab, Michael Ashley Stein, Andrew Clark, Arthur Kleinman.

Photos by Jon Chase/Harvard Staff Photographer; photo illustration by Judy Blomquist/Harvard Staff

Nikki Rojas

Harvard Staff Writer

How to ensure students with disabilities have an equal chance to succeed?

Second in a four-part series on non-apparent disabilities.

Nearly one in four Americans has a disability, according to the CDC . Many disabilities — such as chronic pain, learning disabilities, diabetes, and depression — are “non-apparent,” or not immediately obvious to others, presenting their own set of challenges.

So how can professors design their classes to give all students an equal chance to succeed?

The Law School’s Michael Ashley Stein — who has taught classes such as “Disability, Human Rights, and Development” at Harvard Law School and “Disability Law and Policy” at Harvard Kennedy School — finds it useful to draw connections across affinity groups.

“People of color might point out racism and women and others might point out sexism. To me, all those prejudices and civil- and human-rights-violating type actions are grouped under ableism,” said the visiting professor and co-founder and executive director at the Law School’s Project on Disability . “It’s important when teaching disability to create those linkages, and to create the kind of affinity and solidarity that reaches across groups.”

A tool favored by Andrew Clark , senior lecturer on music and director of choral activities at Harvard, is the Universal Design for Learning framework geared to different types of learners. It gives students options to demonstrate what they’ve learned.

“I have in the last 10 years been in many settings with students where they’ve talked openly about depression or anxiety, whereas 40 years ago, they would not have talked about it.” Arthur Kleinman

Clark began teaching “Music and Disability” in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences in 2016. He was inspired by his early years working at a music camp for individuals with disability and chronic illness and a desire to learn more about the intersection between music and disability studies. Students examine musicians or specific works with disability narratives and consider “how disability justice is enacted and embodied.”

“There’s a difference between accommodation and anticipation,” Clark said. “If we can design our classes — as well as extracurricular activities and student life — to anticipate every person rather than to accommodate everyone, that’s true inclusion. That’s making students feel empowered rather than accommodated.”

Nadine Gaab , associate professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, who has centered her work on non-apparent disabilities for more than 20 years, uses the messaging platform Slack to offer students multiple ways to communicate, incorporates scholars with disabilities in her syllabus, and has flexible participation and assignment submission policies.

This spring, Gaab is teaching “Children with Learning and Developmental Differences.” Students learn about the challenges faced by children with conditions such as dyslexia, dyscalculia, and dysgraphia, as well as the teachers, administrators, and medical teams working with them.

“We identify a number of different barriers that prevent us from delivering optimal care for children with invisible and visible disabilities,” Gaab said. “We then identify solutions in educational and community settings that could work in response to those challenges.”

Students apply what they’ve learned to real-world community spaces by identifying accessibility problems and proposing solutions — some of which have already been implemented, Gaab noted.

Mental health, particularly among students, is of interest to psychiatrist Arthur Kleinman . The Esther and Sidney Rabb Professor of Anthropology in the FAS, professor of medical anthropology in global health and social medicine, and professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School has been teaching for more than 40 years and has noticed marked changes in how students approach mental health issues.

“People are much more open about this,” said Kleinman, who noted that he used to discourage students from disclosing mental health issues because of stigma.

“I have in the last 10 years been in many settings with students where they’ve talked openly about depression or anxiety, whereas 40 years ago, they would not have talked about it. The responses they get today are also very different. They’re very supportive.”

While the professors say the stigma around non-apparent disabilities and mental health are lessening, they also agreed that more can be done to create more inclusive learning and research environments — at Harvard and beyond.

“It’s an extra cognitive load,” explained Gaab. “It’s extra-hard work to fit into a system that’s designed for the average learner. It’s really important to make sure that students recognize that in themselves, and faculty are aware, that it’s not that students are lazy or even ‘stupid.’ They’re really trying hard.”

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• University Disability Resources serves as the central resource for disability-related information, procedures, and services for the Harvard community.
• Students who wish to request accommodations should contact their School’s Local Disability Coordinator.
• The 24/7 mental health support line for students is 617-495-2042. Deaf or hard-of-hearing students can dial 711 to reach a Telecommunications Relay Service in their local area.
• Harvard Law School Project on Disability

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Can School Counselors Help Students with "FAFSA Fiasco"?

• Posted April 1, 2024
• By Elizabeth M. Ross
• College Access and Success
• Education Finances
• Education Policy
• Inequality and Education Gaps

Doreen Kelly-Carney, Ed.M.’93, fondly describes the school that she helped start 27 years ago as “The Little Engine That Could.” Tuition is free at the Academy of the Pacific Rim Charter Public School (APR) in Boston’s Hyde Park neighborhood, and students apply through a lottery system. The majority of its learners are students of color, and many come from immigrant families. APR prides itself on offering students intensive and personalized help in every aspect of the college search, application, and financial aid process, beginning in ninth grade. It’s a level of support that resembles what you would find at a wealthy independent school. Seventy percent of its alumni go on to graduate from colleges and universities, some of whose prestigious insignia grace the school’s website .

APR is not a place where the co-directors of college placement, Kelly-Carney and Diane Scott, Ed.M.’97, typically struggle to get their students across the federal aid application finish line, but this year has been different. Why?

The pain points

The rollout of the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form, used to determine a student’s eligibility for grants, scholarships, federal work study funds, and loans, has faced delays, mathematical errors, and technical difficulties that have put even the most seasoned and well-resourced school counselors, like Kelly-Carney and Scott, to the test this year. 

The glitchy December 30 debut versus the traditional October 1 start for the FAFSA “pushed everything back for us,” explains master's student Daniel Gutierrez, a college counseling intern at APR. Gutierrez and the college placement team found themselves doing a lot of financial aid work in January, at the same time as regular decision college application deadlines, which created “a double burden on students trying to get their college essays finished … and being worried about the FAFSA,” he says. 

At APR’s annual FAFSA assistance night for students and parents this year, gone was the usual air of calm and quiet confidence conveyed by the college counseling team. “That night was pretty chaotic,” admits Scott who has worked at the school since 2002, because the new process has been “so problematic.”

Around 30 percent fewer high school students have submitted the FAFSA compared with last year, as of March 22, according to the National College Attainment Network .

Challenges for first-generation and low-income students

Gutierrez says he encountered “totally weird” and unexpected issues when trying to help students and parents set up their FSA IDs — the first step in the new and supposedly simpler financial aid application process this year. Concerns included disappearing electronic signatures and cell phone numbers that showed up in the financial aid system as still belonging to their previous owners rather than APR students and families.  

Separate usernames and passwords for parents and students to complete their individual sections of the new FAFSA form have made the process “much more difficult from a counselor perspective,” says Scott, especially when trying to assist immigrant and low-income families who work multiple jobs and have limited English proficiency and time.

The new FAFSA form’s ability to draw on federal tax data from the IRS — meant to make the transfer of tax information easier — has led to additional layers of security and challenges, too. For example, when Kelly-Carney tried to help a student and her mom by setting up a phone call in her office with a federal student aid helper, she says they were left on hold for almost an hour. When they finally got through, Kelly-Carney says she was asked to take the call off speakerphone so the representative could speak privately with the parent, but the mother struggled to understand the questions she was being asked.

Hiring more counselors 

This year’s unique challenges and obstacles underscore how crucial counselors can be in helping students and families access financial aid. In fact, research shows that when schools hire more school counselors, students receive significantly more aid dollars. However, while the American School Counselor Association recommends a 250-to-1 ratio of students to school counselors, the ratios differ greatly from state to state and the national average is 385-to-1. APR has a senior class of just 61 students.

“You can’t get the results everybody wants with a [traditional] guidance counselor at a school with a big caseload, having to do course scheduling and social emotional counseling, lunch duty, college counseling, alternative pathways, because we know how many hours it takes per kid,” explains Kelly-Carney who once worked as an admissions officer at Harvard College and excels, with her colleagues, in helping talented students get into some of the most highly selective schools in the country including ones that meet full demonstrated financial need.

Preparing for "summer melt"

Some colleges and universities have extended their enrollment deadlines beyond May 1 this year to give prospective students more time to consider delayed financial aid packages. Kelly-Carney and Scott welcome the move but they also worry about unintended consequences, such as an adverse impact on summer melt — when college-bound students fail to turn up in the fall because they have been overwhelmed by the many administrative tasks they have to complete to get there. While the counselors hope to apply for extra funding so they can hire Gutierrez to work this summer to support APR students, they are concerned about the implications of enrollment delays nationally.

In the best of years there are “so many talented, talented students in our country that are totally falling through the cracks because they don’t have the knowledge and the support” they need to steer themselves successfully through the college and financial aid application process, explains Scott. This year has already been so much harder.  

Parts 1 and 2 of our FAFSA series:

Tips for navigating financial aid, getting to college: fafsa challenges for first-gen students.

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