Sociocultural Anthropology

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).

We conduct research all over the world: in cities like Havana, Detroit, and Tokyo; in environments like the rainforests of New Guinea, the deserts of Jordan, and the metros of Moscow; and with people as diverse as rappers in Tanzania, water-safety technicians in Mexico, and bureaucrats in Pakistan.

Sociocultural Anthropology is the study of people’s lives in the round. We aim to grasp social existence across all its dimensions (cultural, religious, institutional, political, sociological, technological, bodily, economic, and so forth), and to understand the relations among them. Our research is based on both in-depth, on-the-ground, fieldwork in the present and historical inquiry into the past.