Sociology and Anthropology (SOA)

This introductory course presents the student with a critical analysis of the basic sociological perspectives, common concepts, prevalent theories, and widely used research methodologies. Using a number of sociological theories, a variety of pressing national and global social issues are critically analyzed.

Anthropology is a holistic approach to the study of peoples across time and space with an emphasis on cultural diversity. Students will be introduced to four sub-fields within anthropology, specifically, physical anthropology, linguistics, cultural anthropology, and archeology. Students will explore diverse topics ranging from the origin and timing of human evolution, to the effects of globalizing popular culture in non-western societies.

Archaeology is a sub-discipline of anthropology that utilizes the material remains of everyday life to explore the past. While Archaeologists engage with many of the same issues as cultural anthropologists (e.g., social inequality, identity, colonialism), they must approach these issues from alternative perspectives using different research methods. In this course, students will consider how archaeologists formulate research questions, find and excavate archaeological sites, analyze artifacts and interpret data in order to form understandings about life in the past.

This course delves into issues in language and culture from a linguistic perspective. It explores the complex intersections of language, culture, race, ethnicity, and gender through social interactions and their dynamics. Students learn about and discuss the tools and techniques that inform inquiry in these frameworks in order to better understand issues of language and inequality, language and power, language ideology, and the construction of social relationships. Students also consider language change, including language shift, pidgins, creoles, and language endangerment.

This course is an introduction to the sociological study how majority and minority groups based on race, ethnicity and nationality emerge, interact, and are influenced by institutions such as economy, politics, media, education, health care, and the criminal justice system. Race relations transcend national boundaries, and immigration and migration flows are a major dynamic historically and in the contemporary social landscape.

This course provides an introduction to North American Indian societies. The class takes an anthropological approach that explores diversity in the cultural practices and material culture of Native American groups across the continent. Course topics will include adaptation to the environment, belief systems, gender roles, architecture and European colonialism. Students in the course will also engage with modern issues facing Native American communities such as heritage preservation and environmental, economic and social justice.

Popular culture represents the form of creative expression we use in everyday life. This course will present basic theories and approaches to the scholarly study of popular culture, focusing on the ways in which popular culture reflects the values of our society. The effect of various mass media (TV, film, recording industry, print, radio) on modern American culture and the movement of popular culture around the world will also be explored.

In this course students engage with the archaeology of cultures across the globe. This course surveys the prehistory of Africa, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Americas beginning with the evolution of humans and then covering major transitions in world prehistory including the origins of agriculture and the rise city states.

This course is designed to investigate how sexuality in various parts of the world intersects with economics, politics, and social conditions. We will ask such questions as: Is sexuality culturally constructed or biologically determined? How do notions of the erotic differ within and between cultures? Do young people 'come of age' the same way all over the world? What is the relationship between sexuality and practices? What are the conditions under which the state might control or restrict sexual practices? How do anthropologists research human sexuality?

Fulfills Core requirement in Social Science. This course provides an overview of the sociological approaches to intersectionality. Intersectionality is a critical framework that allows for the examination of the interconnections between social identities and how people at the intersections of those identities experience the world. For example, women in the context of this course would not be treated as a single homogenous group. Instead, students will learn about how the experiences of women in the world depend on their particular combination of ethnicity, sexual orientation, class and other social locations.

This course is designed to explore and analyze the social contexts of health, illness, and the body. We will investigate how anthropologists and sociologists approach health and disease from a bio-cultural understanding. For instance, how do sociocultural systems shape perceptions of the body, disease patterns and notions of healing? How do healing systems vary across cultures? How are infectious diseases shaped by political and economic factors? Analysis of how Western medical sciences influence our understanding of the body will also be studied.

Fulfills core requirement in Social Sciences. This course examines why people migrate across international borders, how states/nation develop discourses around migrant identity and how the politics of immigration evolve over time. By taking this course, students should be able to understand the contemporary social context of migration into and out of the United States.

This course presents the student with an introduction to the nature of sociological theory and the major theoretical developments that have shaped the fields of sociology and anthropology. Emphasis is placed upon major theorists, their biographies, and the intellectual traditions which influenced their development, as well as each theorist's contribution to the field. Particular attention is given to the pertinence of theory and to the understanding of social systems, culture and change in the contemporary world.

Most of us spend an inordinate amount of time in organizations as workers, clients, citizens and consumers. The ways in which gender relations shape organizations and their actors - and how organizations shape gender - are significant areas of inquiry in the social sciences. In this course, we will link classic organizational literature to current articulations, including fiction and film, to analyze the intersections of gender and sexuality with race, class, disability and occupational status in organizational contexts and how these relations shape other areas of our lives.

This course examines the archaeology of the Northeastern United States from its initial colonization by Paleoindian people through the early historic period (15,000 BCE-1950 CE). The course will survey important sites, artifact types, and ethnohistoric traditions of contemporary indigenous communities. Students will gain an understanding of historic preservation practices and issues in the region.

Fulfills core requirement in Social Science. A summer program which offers a field school in archaeology. Students participate in all aspects of the archaeological process, beginning with developing a research design, continuing with survey, excavation, and documentation, and concluding with cataloging and analysis of artifacts.

Cultures worldwide participate in and are affected by the new global cultural economy. In this class we will explore the effects of flows of people, technology, finance, and information on local cultures around the world with an emphasis on struggles for justice. We will cover a range of issues including the changing economies of the global South, the rise of ethnic conflicts and nationalism, the effects of mass media, and global environmentalism. Understanding the logic of the modern capitalist world system will be central to our analysis of these issues. Sophomore or higher academic standing is required.

This course introduces students to the processes involved in studying artifacts in the post-excavation phase of archaeological investigation. Topics covered include preliminary curation techniques, stratigraphic sequencing, feature analysis, and the completion of written archaeological reports. The notion of ethics and responsibilities underlying archaeological investigation is emphasized. This is a laboratory course.

Fulfills the Core Requirement in Social Science. This course urges students to think about medicine and healthcare as sets of norms, policies and practices that are not just scientifically constructed, but socially constructed as well. The Widespread success and acceptance of medicine and healthcare is partly dependent upon the exploitation of and experimentation on marginalized populations. By the end of this course, students should be well versed in the history of how American physicians approach race and how past experiences racialized medical practices shape people's relationship with medical institutions today.

Human cultures, social institutions, individuals' lives and the natural environment are all interrelated in the production, distribution, preparation and sharing of food. Over time food has also become defined as a commodity rather than an individual right, ensuring that some segments of our global community encounter food insecurity sporadically or as a chronic condition of their lives. In this course, we explore "food matters" through a sociological lens, focusing on both the significance of food and the environmental and social consequences of contemporary food-related policies and practices.

Fulfills core requirement in Social Science. Generations of activists have made it their mission to bring about social change by collectively challenging the status quo of powerful, political, social, economic and cultural systems. This course will cover historical accounts of how and why movements develop and the impact that they have on norms, public policies and laws in the United States. Students will also be identifying the repertoires of contention that different movements utilize to bring about change.

These courses provide opportunities for introduction of specialized, in-depth study of specific subject areas in Sociology and Anthropology.

In this course, we explore the complex interrelationships among gender, sexuality and violence. Building on historical and theoretical understandings of the cultural and social-structural foundations of gender violence, we will study topics such as sexual harassment, rape, intimate partner violence, and the use of gender violence in war. Current and potential responses to gender violence in communities, organizations and public policy will be studied both in the literature and in our local community.

This course provides in-depth investigation of a specific topic in Sociology or Anthropology that involves data collection, analysis, interpretation, and written presentation. Topic will be determined by faculty member who is acting as research adviser. Variable credit allows students to accumulate single credits over several semesters towards a total of 3 (or more) that will count as one of the SOA electives for BA.

This course allows students to apply their skills and knowledge outside the classroom while gaining practice work experience at an approved agency.

Course work arranged for majors to pursue avenues of learning outside the existing offerings of the department.