Research & Teaching

Advancing and Sharing Ideas

Anthropology and Geography faculty lead groundbreaking, challenging, and exciting research projects, in labs and afield. From northern Colorado to French West Africa, from the Virginia coast to the edge of the Serengeti, from Mesoamerican forest highlands to Croatian caves, the Mississippi River Valley to Mongolia, Anthropology and Geography faculty do firsthand research on five continents and bring that experience back to campus and classrooms.

Students benefit through courses that explore important global topics informed by professors' research interests. Faculty also offer and support internships and host practicums for students to take part in research in labs and at field study sites. Students may also may undertake an independent study with faculty guidance.

Student Research Opportunities

We have a variety of opportunities for students to assist with research and to develop practical skills such as GIS, artifact curation, geoarchaeological analyses, aerial and terrestrial remote sensing methods, and report writing. Internships, Practicums, and Independent Studies are available to students with a solid academic record with a minimum 2.9 GPA and a demonstrated commitment to their education. Anthropology and Geography professors maintain 15 Labs and Research Centers that are available to our undergraduate students for various learning and research opportunities. Our department also offers several field schools that enable students to apply ideas and methods gained in classrooms in working environments.

Internships, Practica, and Independent Study
Field Schools
Faculty Labs and Research Centers

Research Spotlight

Van Buren: Silver “Thieves," Tin Barons, and Conquistadors in Bolivia

In her new book, Silver "Thieves," Tin Barons, and Conquistadors (University of Arizona Press, 2024), Professor Mary Van Buren examines and writes on the cultural and economic consequences of artisanal and large-scale mining in Bolivia and the history of the country's independent mine workers. Van Buren, who has completed long-term research on Bolivian mining through her career, highlights how mining relied on a historically forced labor system of Indigenous people that began under colonial regimes, with impacts on people's livelihoods and the environment today.

Snodgrass: Exploring the roles of digital and spirtual avatars

In his 2023 book, The Avatar Faculty (University of California Press), Professor Jeffrey Snodgrass examines the parallels between spiritual and digital activities to explore the roles that symbolic second selves—avatars, whether spiritual or digital—can play in our lives. Snodgrass argues that avatars allow for the ecstatic projection of consciousness into alternate realities, potentially providing both the spiritually possessed and gamers access to superior secondary identities with elevated social standing. Snodgrass spoke with New Books podcast in Spring 2023 about the book and his research.

Kwiatkowski: Investigating Domestic Abuse in Vietnam

Professor of Cultural Anthropology Lynn Kwiatkowski received a 2024 CSU College of Liberal Arts Ann Gill Faculty Development Award to support her research and project titled “Domestic Violence, Legal Progressions, and Innovative Solutions in Northern Vietnam.” 

Kwiatkowksi's research delves into the sociocultural dynamics affecting the well-being of Vietnamese women who are victims of domestic abuse. Dr. Kwiatkowski embarked on her initial journey to Vietnam for this work in 2017 and is continuing her research during a 2024-25 sabbatical.

Fisher: Mapping for Symbols and Ancient City Life in Mexico

Professor of Archaeology Chris Fisher and colleague and former CSU Anthropology postdoc Rodrigo Solinis Casparius, of University of Illinois, Chicago, were awarded a National Science Foundation Senior Archaeology Award ($307,769) for their proposal, "Becoming Purepecha: Genesis of an Empire at Angamuco, Michoacan." The award will fund three years of summer field research in Mexico, with a focus on identifying symbols of imperial transition and excavating and mapping mortuary areas, public plazas, and household complexes at the archaeological site. Fisher and colleagues first detected the former city and an estimated 39,000 buildings in 2012, using LiDAR.
anthropology michael pante

Pante: Guess who's for dinner? Finding the oldest evidence of human ancestors' butchering

Research from Associate Professor Michael Pante and colleagues from the Smithsonian Institution and Purdue University has identified butchering marks on a 1.45-million-year-old hominin shin bone — the oldest evidence of humans’ close evolutionary relatives butchering and possibly eating one another. The research is the first application of the 3D quantitative method — developed and published by Pante — to a fossil specimen. Pante and coauthors spoke about their findings with National Geographic (paywall), Smithsonian Magazine, the Washington Post, and other media in Summer 2023.

anthropology michael pante

Department Research and Scholarship

Anthropology and Geography faculty publish findings in leading journals and present at national and international conferences across our disciplines. View the department's scholarship reports, which detail faculty peer-reviewed publications, grants and awards, presentations, and other accomplishments.

Faculty Research, Awards, and Presentations