Created in 1978, the Department of Anthropology is a pioneer and a benchmark of excellence, offering a wide range of courses at all academic levels. The degree in Anthropology offers an adequate basic training in social and cultural anthropology and biological anthropology, reflecting the diversity of approaches and themes that characterise contemporary anthropology. The MA in Anthropology has three areas of specialisation – Contemporary Themes, Visual Cultures and Primatology and Environment. The Department also collaborates on the MA programme in Migration, Interethnicities and Transnationalism and the MA programme in Urban Studies. In addition to the NOVA FCSH PhD in Anthropology, the Department offers two PhD programmes in association with Iscte-IUL: the NOVA FCSH/Iscte-IUL PhD in Anthropology and the PhD in Anthropology: Policies and Images of Culture and Museology.

With strong connections to research, the Department’s lecturers are part of the CRIA Centre for Research in Anthropology, an inter-university research unit with four hubs at NOVA FCSH, Iscte-IUL, UCoimbra and UMinho respectively; and of the IHC Institute of Contemporary History.