THE SOCIAL SCIENCES

Beginning concentrators in most fields have some idea of what they are getting into. If they don't know much about the methods of their discipline, they are at least somewhat familiar with the nature of the subject matter. In Anthropology, on the other hand, there are always a few concentrators who choose the field for the wrong reasons and regret it later. There are also several who subject Anthropology because, likewise they aren't well informed.

Anyone considering an Anthropology concentration who has not had Anthropology 1 ought to do some reading before he makes his decision Patterns of Culture or Margaret Mead paperbacks will not do, but a short introductory work like Oliver's Invitation to Anthropology, (which takes little more than an hour to read), a couple of articles from Man, Culture and Society or a similar collection, and one or two ethnographies or site reports will give some idea of what the field is like.

Anthropology involves plenty of theory, most of it dealing with data on specific peoples and culture areas. Although this data is not always as pedestrian as kinship charts and lists of archaeological eras would indications it seldom titillates like quaint sexual customs and recipes for shrinking heads do.

Unless you already find anthropology interesting, the courses at Harvard are unlikely to sell you on the subject. Most of the professors are good though not often brilliant in their fields, and few lecture well. Boyd Irven DeVore, William W. Howel and one or two others are both good and entertaining teachers, but most are both dry and cautious.

Most concentrators choose between physical and cultural anthropology their sophomore year. Those who choose physical take eight half-courses in evolution, human morphology, and related topics in biology, plus two half-courses in cultural anthro.

Sophomore group tutorial, which is the same for all, is graded but does not count towards course requirements. Junior and senior tutorial, for honors candidates only, is more specialized. Those in cultural anthropology must choose between archaeology tutorial, which involves a lot of field technique, or tutorial in social anthropology.

For those who are really serious about the subject there are a number of opportunities for summer work