Welcome to the homepage of the Anthropology Department at Western Michigan University. Look around to discover a bit about the people who make up the department, the courses we teach, and the research we engage in. If you are new to Anthropology, considering it as a major or minor, or a prospective graduate student, you will find much of interest and of use in these pages.

We are located on the first floor of Moore Hall, across the street from Waldo Library, and down the hall from the Academic Skills Center. The Department Office is Room 1005 in Moore Hall: our administrative assistant is Lauretta Eisenbach (269-387-3969).

Our first departmental newsletter, the Participant/Observer, is now available for download by clicking here. If you did not receive a copy and would like to be added to our mailing list for future mailings, please send your name and address and a note to Lauretta via email.

We have completed on campus interviews of four candidates for the biological anthropology position and plan to make a job offer in the immediate future.

Sarah Hill spent time poking along the U.S.-Mexico border near El Paso, Texas this past summer. There she found small “recycling” operations that buy all manner of materials – from various plastics to ferrous and non-ferrous metals. In recent years, China’s growing economy has driven up the prices of reclaimable materials so much so that formerly value-less wastes now claim a hefty price. While metal prices have spiked the most – unleashing a rash of metal thieving across North America – plastic prices have also climbed considerably. In the transition from waste to resource several critical elements are involved: cheap storage space – such as this lot in a desolate, un-urbanized area of the borderlands, proximity to major trans-oceanic transit routes – this spot is on a highway that leads to a border crossing that funnels directly to shipping lanes on the Pacific – and finally cheap labor. The materials in this corral will need to be sorted before the various plastics can be sent to reclaimers, and sorting is dirty, tedious work that can only be done by hand.

The U.S.-border makes an ideal place to engage in the recovery business: somewhat ironically the material in this corral may move back and forth across the border from its initial construction to its eventual disposition.

• Our program's core purpose is to provide students with anthropological knowledge and with critical thinking skills through teaching, mentoring, and conducting both scholarly and applied research.
• We see anthropology as a means to enhance the understanding of the human condition by integrating historical, cultural, and biological perspectives.
• Through teaching, research, and example we aim to broaden our appreciation of human diversity past and present; to explore issues of cultural and biological change; and to gain awareness of and affect the conditions that give rise to social differences and inequalities.
• The intent of these efforts is to provide students and faculty with an academic environment for liberal thinking that will encourage the appreciation and exploration of human diversity; the application of modern technologies to document and solve social problems; and respect for the diversity of ideas in teaching, research, and its practical applications.