Field Schools

Field Schools in Anthropology

Faculty in the Anthropology Department offer students several opportunities to learn the fieldwork process first hand through field schools in cultural anthropology, biological anthropology, and archaeology. These are actual fieldwork experiences, in which students learn anthropological methods and apply them in the contexts of field research sites under the guidance of faculty researchers.  

Students receive one or two course credits for participation in field schools, and the programs may be counted toward graduation in the major and the minor. In addition, student research conducted as part of a field school can, in some cases, be continued or expanded for use in preparing a senior thesis to satisfy the thesis requirement in the anthropology major. We also encourage participation from students majoring in other, related fields, and in the past such students have expanded their field school research to prepare theses in those fields.  

Individual field schools may have unique prerequisites. Usually a minimum requirement is an introductory course in the relevant field of study. Costs, which also vary, usually include tuition, equipment costs, lodging, meals, and transportation while on the field school. Students usually pay separately the costs of transportation between their homes or the College and the field school site. Other costs, such as passports and any needed vaccinations or preventative medications, are also not covered by the costs of individual programs. Dickinson students who are eligible for financial aid should inquire about options for financial assistance at the Financial Aid Office.  

Please see the individual field school pages for more specific information about these opportunities.  

Ethnographic Field School in Tanzania  

Archaeological Field School in Tennessee 

Previous Field Schools:       1999          2000          2005 

For more information:
Professor Karen Weinstein
Anthropology Department
Dickinson College
Carlisle, PA 17013
e-mail: weinstek@dickinson.edu
(717) 245-1281