“Anthropology is indispensable for understanding how our past shapes our present and could shape our future.”
- Jared Diamond
What is the
International Anthropology Olympiad?
The International Anthropology Olympiad was created to bring the discipline of Anthropology to high school students with the goal being to foster an appreciation and understanding of the most human field of study.
This challenge comes in the form of two stages: Regional and International.
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Regional stage will be an academic essay
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International stage will be a global debate.
See our Rules and Guidelines for full submission requirements and debate instructions. All essays must be independently written and submitted in PDF format, with a 1000 word limit.
We wanted to give students the opportunity to discover the study of what it means to be human and show admissions offices their ability to research, understand, and articulate the complexities of anthropology.
We challenge students around the world to analyze the systems that shape human lives, aspects like:
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Rituals
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Religions
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Politics
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Language
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Power
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Kinships
to name a few.
Essays and debates are reviewed by the panel of leading professors, anthropologists, and scholars listed below.
“Olympiads like this one give students rare access to international recognition in subjects like anthropology that are often underrepresented in traditional academic competitions.”
— Ria Jagasia, Former Johns Hopkins Admissions Officer
Judges Panel
Our distinguished panel includes scholars of biological anthropology, cultural theory, archaeology, post-colonial studies, and indigenous knowledge systems. These judges bring decades of research, fieldwork, and teaching to the Olympiad and are united by one goal: recognizing the next generation of brilliant thinkers in anthropology.
Dr. Rachel Linwood
PhD, Anthropology – University of California, Berkeley
PhD Minor, Linguistics – University of California, Berkeley
MA, Social Anthropology – University of Chicago
BA, Anthropology – Harvard University
Dr. Rachel Linwood is a professor of anthropology whose research integrates cultural theory, ethnographic practice, and historical analysis, with specializations in identity, kinship, and postcolonial societies. Dr. Linwood currently serves as Chair of the Anthropology Department at the University of Michigan and lectures annually at Yale University. She has authored over 65 peer-reviewed publications and led numerous international research initiatives on cultural memory, indigeneity, and the politics of representation.