The Ph.D. Program in Anthropology at the Graduate Center, City University of New York, invites applications for Fall 2026 admission. We are seeking candidates with a strong interest in Linguistic Anthropology. Successful applicants typically receive a five-year funding package that includes a full tuition waiver and a stipend.

The Ph.D. Program in Anthropology at the Graduate Center, City University of New York, invites applications for Fall 2026 admission. We are seeking candidates with a strong interest in Linguistic Anthropology. Successful applicants typically receive a five-year funding package that includes a full tuition waiver and a stipend.

Program Highlights

• Vibrant Scholarly Community: Join a dynamic hub for linguistic anthropology with robust faculty mentorship and a critical mass of scholarly engagement.
• Student-Led Groups: Our monthly Graduate Linguistic Anthropology Meetings (GLAM) and sociolinguistics lunches foster a strong, collaborative cohort.
• Cross-Subfield Training: We train students to integrate linguistic anthropological perspectives with archaeology, biological anthropology, and in particular, cultural anthropology.
• Location: Our campus in the heart of New York City offers unparalleled academic and cultural resources.

Our Approach 

Our ethnographic and historically informed approach examines language in social life with a focus on power and inequality. We explore how language entangles with social categories (race, class, gender, indigeneity), other meaning-making systems (food, money, landscapes), and emergent technologies.

Our recent Ph.D. graduates have found employment both within and beyond academia.

Linguistic Anthropology Faculty

• Jillian Cavanaugh: Language ideology, language shift, gender, materiality, heritage food production; Italy, Europe
• Miki Makihara: Language revitalization and activism, political economy of language, indigeneity and democracy; Rapa Nui, the Pacific, Chile, Latin America
• Sarah Muir: Semiotic ideologies and moral economies, narrative genres, investment and finance, social inequality; Argentina, Latin America
• Angela Reyes: Race, register, semiotics, discourse; US, Philippines
• Diane Riskedahl: Language and politics, semiotic landscapes, protest rhetoric, solidarity activism, migration and displacement; Lebanon, the Middle East
• Juan L. Rodríguez: Discourse-centered approaches, state formation, diasporic identities, populism; Venezuela, Chile, Latin America

We encourage applicants to review the diverse interests of our faculty in other subfields for potential cross-disciplinary work: Faculty Directory Link

Virtual Open House

Friday, October 17, 2025, 2:30 – 3:30 PM (Eastern Time). Meet faculty and students to learn more about the program.  

Register Here: Zoom Registration Link

Apply

• Application Deadline: December 1, 2025
• Online Application: Apply Here
• Anthropology Admissions Info: Learn More
• University Fellowship Info: Learn More
• Contact: Miki Makihara, Linguistic Anthropology Subfield Coordinator (miki.makihara@QC.CUNY.EDU)