Question by Erinne: What is the difference between "international studies" and "cultural anthropology"?
I am trying to find out the difference between "international studies" major and "cultural anthropology" major. I want to know I am going to be studying the right thing when I attend college. I love different cultures, people, languages, and travels. My favorite classes were world history and world geography. I am not interested in foreign political relations as I've been seeing whenever I research "international studies". Can you help me clarify the difference? Thanks!
Best answer:
Answer by Desk3Bound
Actually there is very little difference between cultural anthropology and sociology. There is more overlap between those two than international studies.
International studies is more akin to political science.
Add your own answer in the comments!
International Studies is much more wide-ranging than Cultural Anthropology.
ReplyDeleteAt my university at least, the International Studies degree is an eclectic one that uses classes from a number of different departments, including anthropology. It also draws upon political science, biology, geography, economics foreign language, and various other subjects.
ReplyDeleteThe introductory and senior seminar courses for International Studies do tend toward the political science focus, however, which does draw a lot on theories which you may find dry and devoid of a humanistic, cultural element. While a few political theorists do pay strong attention to culture, like Samuel Huntington, they are often put on the backburner by the mainstream consensus, which favors class differences and economic differences as being stronger forces than cultural ones on the global system.
If you'd like to focus primarilly on culture, I'd suggest majoring in anthropology and minoring in international studies - The two do go hand in hand.