Some of the things we study in Sociocultural Anthropology:

  • COLONIALISM & RELIGION. Catholic cathedral in a Tibetan community in Yunnan Province, China, built with funds the French forced the Chinese state to pay for the murder of French priests by Tibetan monks in 1904 (Mueggler)
  • BODY & GENDER. Parakuyo Maasai warriors with carefully coiffed hair (Askew)
  • NATIONAL IDENTITY. Giant posters of ideal modern youth in Budapest, the capital of Hungary, 2011 (Fehervary)
  • LIFE & DEATH. Funerary ritual, where exploding casket helps transport spirit to optimal rebirth in Chiang Mai, Thailand (Stonington)
  • FAMILY & POLITICS. Marriage Negotiations in Tamang village, Nepal, 2015 (Fricke)
  • HEALTH. Access to Healthcare- Twice-yearly group checkups are the only option for medical care in some remote ethnic-minority villages in N. Thailand (Stonington)
  • MIGRATION. Central American migrants ride the Mexican freight trains known as -La Bestia- (The Beast) towards the U.S.-Mexico border (de Leon)
  • TECHNOLOGY. Internet Cafe in Pyin Oo Lwin, Myanmar (McGovern).
  • RELIGION. Young Buddhist Lama instructed by head lama in Nepal Himalayas (Fricke)
  • CORPORATIONS & GLOBAL POWER. Headquarters in Switzerland
  • FAMILY & STATE. First day of school in Punjab (Hull)
  • MEDICINE & STATE. Community workers in a low income Mexico City neighborhood distributing -Social Capital- cards designed to promote social inclusion by the mayors office (Roberts)
  • ARCHITECTURE & SOCIETY. Housing & retail structure in India
  • COLONIALISM & RESOURCE EXTRACTION. Thumbs preserved in formalin, Wahi Museum, New Zealand (Kirsch).
  • POLITICS. Competing campaign hats in Varanasi, India (Hull)
  • MEDICINE. Medicinal herbs in preparation in a pharmacy in Lamphun, Thailand (Stonington)
  • ARTS & CULTURE. Parakuyu Maasai singing in Ceremonial Dress
  • LAW, POLITICS & BODIES. Undocumented migrants from Central American getting tattooed on the train tracks in Mexico (de Leon)
  • STATE & POLITICS. Maasai man holding his voter registration card (Askew)
  • INFRASTRUCTURE. Modes of transportation in India (Hull)
  • BODIES & SOCIAL STRATIFICATION. Billboard for Teeth-whitening in Hungary (Fehervary)
  • HEALTH. Public billboard for neglected tropical diseases in Bolgatanga, UER, Ghana (Renne)
  • HUMAN-ANIMAL SOCIALITY. Moscow Metro, passengers and dogs. (Lemon).
  • ENVIRONMENT & CORPORATE CAPITALISM. Jet-mining on the middle Mazaruni River, Guyana (Kirsch).
  • ETHNOGRAPHIC FILM. “Filming the Future of Detroit” premiere (Partridge)
  • ART, RITUAL & VALUES. The Loi-Kratong Festival uses floating lanterns to express collective & personal wishes amidst the transience of time, life and self. Chiang Mai, Thailand (Stonington)
  • RELIGION & PUBLIC ART. “Tagger Jesus,” a meta-graffiti mural in Moctezuma, Mexico. (Roberts)
  • LAW & POLICING. Coast Guard boats in Somalia (Dua).
  • WORK. Tea seller in New Delhi market. (Hull)
  • TECHNOLOGY. Pepper, Softbank’s humanoid robot. Harajuku, Tokyo (Robertson)
The sociocultural subfield is closely affiliated with the linguistic anthropology subfield, with overlapping faculty and courses.

The sociocultural faculty are also active in interdisciplinary programs, including: the Ph.D. Program in Anthropology and History, the joint Ph.D. programs in Anthropology and Social Work, the Medical Anthropology M.D./Ph.D. program, as well as with the university’s programs in Science and Technology Studies (STS), and Institute for Research on Women and Gender (IRWG).

CONTACT:  Professor Mike McGovern, Sociocultural Subfield Head