History and Background

     The institute was originally incorporated as the Anthropology Group within The Institute of Sociology and Anthropology, founded in August 1987; at that time only conferring master’s degrees.  In August 1998 the two groups of the original institute split and Anthropology became an independent degree granting institute.  Prior to this split, The Anthropology Group received approval from the Ministry of Education in 1995 to establish a doctoral program, and began officially enrolling students in June 1996, becoming the first doctoral program in anthropology in Taiwan.  

     The Institute currently employs 12 full-time faculty (2 professors, 6 associate professors, and 4 assistant professors), 3 honorary/emeritus faculty, 1 jointly appointed assistant professor with the university General Studies program, and 3 jointly appointed faculty with Academia Sinica.  Each year, depending on actual teaching needs various part time instructors are also employed. The current number of enrolled graduate students includes 42 Master’s and 14 Doctoral students.  All full-time faculty teach half of their coursework within the Bachelor’s program of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences.

     In terms of practical research and teaching, our institute places great emphasis on the close integration of class work and field research; insisting upon in-depth ethnographic, archaeological, or laboratory research.  The goal of the Institute of Anthropology is to become an international research and teaching institution.  In terms of promoting internationalization, the institute is involved in a variety and breadth of activities.  These include: encouraging faculty and student participation in international academic conferences, publishing in international venues beyond Taiwan, promoting short-term student visits to overseas academic institutions, inviting internationally renowned scholars to give lectures, and hosting writing workshops.  The institute also actively assists students in carrying out field research overseas (in particular in Southeast Asia and mainland China). At present, several faculty members are also engaged in transnational research projects.

     In 2018, the institute of Anthropology started to plan a new English taught program in Austronesian Studies, the first of its kind in the region. It is scheduled to begin in Fall 2021.