I am considering majoring in Anthropology but my school requires a minor. What should I choose?

Question

My interest is social/cultural anthropolgy and I want to become a teacher of anthropolgy so more schooling will be necessary. Also, I read at one grad school that proficiency in foreign language would be helpful and actually required.

Any thoughts?

Answer 1

This is kind of mercenary, but one thing to consider is the program length of the minor and the availability of classes.  At my school, most minors are 20-21 credits, but an Economics minor was only 15 credits.  Being able to shave two classes off my list of things to do before I graduate was very welcome.

Answer 2

I chose Classical Civilizations as my minor because of my interest in Greek and Roman Archaeology.  Why don't you get a minor in the foreign language you are going to study (I studied German).  I don't know if this helps or not, but good luck in your future studies.

Answer 3

History.

Answer 4

this might not be related at all but u can minor in economics which is really easy to do....in my perspective, two pretty different majors will give u more options. with economics u would also be able to get a MBA in business.

Answer 5

Think about why you want to major in anthropology.  Is there aparticular world region that attracted your interest?  Then I would pick something to reflect that, i.e. Latin America Studies or Spanish if I was interested in anthropological done in Latin America or Chinese if I was interested in work in China.  If you are interested a particular sub-topic of anthropology, like human trafficking or gender roles then I would choose something such as human rights or international law, or women's studies.  The nice thing about anthropology is that you can make connections with many other disciplines and it's makes it easier and more interesting for you if your two specialty areas were somehow related.

Answer 6

If you're in the US, Spanish is a must-know 2nd language. I took 2 years & never regreted it. (I still suck at speaking it).

I like the idea of studying economics as a minor (opined below). Linguistics is also an option -- as an anthropologist, you could do interesting field work with a linguistics background.

Answer 7

I would recommend that you choose either sociology or a foreign language (Spanish is really the best one right now...employers are always watching resumes for this one).  I am an Anthropology major too.  And if you are going into Cultural Anth., these are really the best two choices for your field.  Sociology will really help you to find a job with that degree because it also deals with people and culture and those in the social work field are VERY employable too, so if you don't start teaching right away...you can always double working for a social service agency.  I suggest that you speak to your school counselor about it, but they will probably recommend the same minors.

Answer 8

This depends on what your interests are.  You have the option of finding a minor that allows you to go deeper into your area of study, or finding a minor that will give you more skills in another area.  Middle eastern studies seemed interesting at my school.  There were some interesting geography classes as well.  Sometimes your favorite anthropology teacher may have classes cross-listed with another department, this other department may have something interesting for you.  

minoring in another language may be helpful, but i know a lot of people were having problems finding jobs in the language they majored in. The minor may be different.  But would taking classes in the language be better than the intense essay writing in the upper level classes?

Since you want to teach, what does the education department have?

You also have the option of finding a safe route.  Finding something more marketable, like business, would allow you to have an easier fall back if you decide to get out of anthro in the future.