Good anthropology PhD programs for food studies/human-animal relations?

Graduate School
1

<p>I’m currently a rising junior at a small Midwestern liberal arts college. I’m majoring in anthropology and Spanish and I’m trying to find programs for PhD’s in anthropology that might match my interests. I’m currently working on a summer project that deals with political economy of food choice (Marx, Wilk) but I’d also like to tie it into animal welfare/human-animal relationships either toward the end of this summer or next summer. I might also do a variation of this project in Costa Rica when I study abroad.</p>

<p>Can you think of any programs that might have professors who do this kind of work? My advisor thinks it’s too early for me to find professors because I still have two years of undergrad left and I might (will) change my mind about interests, but I’m super curious if anyone comes to mind. </p>

<p>And, I don’t know if these topics are too narrow. I’ve heard that when you’re going into grad school, you need to have broader interests.</p>

2

<p>The first thing in your order of business is the GRE. IMO better get it out of the way early so you have one less stress factor when you need everything else done. Sure you don’t get to use the 4 free score reports but some peace of mind is worth the extra $100.</p>

<p>If I’m not mistaken it’s entirely doable as a rising junior. I myself pulled the trigger on the GRE about 9 months before I’m scheduled to turn in my applications…</p>

<p>That said, even if you found a reputable program that dealt with food studies and/or human-animal relations, you still need a decent GPA (3.5+) as well as a good set of GRE scores (70th+ percentile on V, 50th percentile+ on Q) now that you have a summer project under the belt.</p>

3

<p>University of Oxford’s anthro programmes are quite reputable. I did manage encounter a person who was studying food related anthro there (PhD). And no, it’s not too early; you can actually start mailing potential supervisors in the UK. In the UK, you’re expected to specialize so if you have no marked interest or aptitude in something narrow the UK system might not appeal to you.</p>