MA in Anthropology - Anthropology and Migration in Ames United States | Iowa State University

Migration refers to the relocation of individuals from one location to another. In modern times, this encompasses tourists, diplomats, international students, those seeking improved economic prospects, refugees escaping conflict and oppression, and people displaced by environmental factors. Anthropologists use ethnographic research to study the social motivations and constraints behind migration, the disparities that grant some greater freedom of movement than others, how migrants establish comfort and belonging in unfamiliar settings, and their strategies for overcoming cultural and social obstacles in new communities.
Faculty in ISU's anthropology department investigate migration through diverse lenses across various regions and historical contexts: they study African diaspora pilgrimages to Ghana, how kinship ties help Indigenous communities preserve connections to ancestral lands despite forced removals by U.S. colonial policies, the movement patterns of hunter-gatherer societies, and how prior refugee experiences shape the lives of Palestinians displaced from Syria—a nation that has hosted Palestinian refugees for over seventy years.