Overview
The Anthropology and Design graduate minor is offered through The New School for Social Research.
The Anthropology and Design minor allows graduate students to explore the designed world through the conceptual frameworks and grounded methods of anthropology. Anthropologists and designers, working in tandem, can improve their own techniques of aesthetic
and ethnographic analysis, expand their repertoire of multimodal methods, and think more critically and creatively about the mediated and designed forums in which they perform and share their research.
The minor offers students the opportunity to study design and technology through an established discipline that prioritizes reflective methodology (including critique of ethnographic method itself), ethical frameworks of analysis, and awareness of the
political stakes of both research and creative practice.
Students in the minor are encouraged to participate in the student-led ADX exhibition, symposium, and future publications, as well as applied fieldwork.
Curriculum
This graduate minor requires successful completion of 9 credits. Students generally select one course from each of the subject areas in the chart below.
Course availability may vary from semester to semester. Some courses may be in development and offered at a later time. Students seeking to pursue alternative coursework in other subject areas to fulfill the minor should consult with the Anthropology
and Design faculty advisor. Please consult this spreadsheet for an archive of past courses and list of current
electives. Fall 2024 courses are hyperlinked below.
Learning Outcomes
A student who has completed this graduate minor should be able to:
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Center anthropological concepts and ethnographic methods in critical design practice, incorporate design methods and critical sensibilities into anthropological research and publication, and build their work on a foundation of feminist, anti-racist, and
decolonial values
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Develop critical frameworks within which to assess the opportunities and responsibilities that come with interdisciplinary research and practice and work to create supportive contexts for conceptual and methodological experimentation and inclusive collaboration
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Assess their educational experience itself as a designed field site and work collaboratively to refine the social, institutional, spatial, and technological apparatus designed to foster interaction and education
Faculty
Barbara Adams, Assistant Professor of Design and Social Justice
Eligibility
The Anthropology and Design graduate minor is available to graduate degree students across The New School.
Students can retroactively apply successfully completed courses toward a minor upon declaring or applying. After a student successfully completes a minor's requirements, the minor will appear on the student's academic transcript at graduation.
For questions about this minor, please contact Barbara Adams at [email protected].