Anthropology | Penn Today

An ornate Anglican church with stained glass. Students stand near the pews listening to a frocked speaker.

In ‘Sacred Stuff,’ students explore religion through material culture

In the Penn Global Seminar “Sacred Stuff” taught by religious studies professor Donovan Schaefer, students visited religious sites in England.

An image of people picking through a dump with a handful of skyscrapers along the horizon

The anthropology of plastics in India

Doctoral candidate Adwaita Banerjee uses ethnographic research to document the ecological transition of the Deonar dumping ground, where thousands of Dalits and Muslim migrants mine the area for plastic that can be resold and recycled.

Katherine Scahill poses with her arms crossed in front of the Lerner Centeron Penn's campus.

Mindfulness, monasticism, and women in Thai Buddhism

Ph.D. candidate Katherine Scahill’s research engages with three communities of female Buddhist monks (bhikkhunī) in Thailand and their chanting traditions.

Lorraine Ruppert wears virtual reality headset.

Making virtual worlds

In a class this spring, Jeffrey Vadala of the Penn Brain Science Center taught students to analyze virtual reality landscapes and create their own.

Reconstructing heritage after war: what we learned from asking 1,600 Syrians about rebuilding Aleppo

In a co-authored survey of residents of the Syrian city of Aleppo, PIK Professor Lynn Meskell identifies four key themes for the reconstruction of heritage sites after conflict.

Going above and beyond in archaeology and museum work

Fourth-year Qi Liu has participated in every undergraduate program at the Penn Museum, done research for two senior theses in anthropology and art history, and joined excavations in the U.S. and abroad.

Uplifting Filipino communities abroad and at home

Fourth-year student Vernon Wells has been working with Indigenous peoples in the Philippines, research they will expand on through a Fulbright award, while strengthening the Southeast Asian community at Penn.

From Ancient Egypt to Roman Britain, brewers are reviving beers from the past

Patrick McGovern of the School of Arts & Sciences and Penn Museum oversaw the first hi-tech molecular analysis of residues found in bronze drinking vessels during a 1950s excavation of an ancient Turkish tomb.

Five from Penn elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2024

Dolores Albarracín, Charles L. Kane, Edward D. Mansfield, Virgil Percec, and Deborah A. Thomas are recognized for their contributions to mathematical and physical sciences and social and behavioral sciences.

Two Penn professors named 2024 Guggenheim Fellows

Wale Adebanwi and Deborah A. Thomas of the School of Arts & Sciences are among 188 fellows chosen in the United States and Canada.

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