Sociology and Anthropology Courses
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Fall 2024▲
See complete information about these courses in the course offerings database. For more information about a specific course, including course type, schedule and location, click on its title.
Introduction to Anthropology: Investigating Humanity
SOAN 101 - Brown, Christopher
This course is an introduction to the four subfields of anthropology: physical/biological anthropology, archaeology, linguistics, and cultural anthropology. The course explores how we humans understand each other, what we do, and how we got to where we are today. Topics include human evolution; cultural remains in prehistorical and historical contexts; connections among language and social categories like gender, class, race, and region; and social organization in past and present contexts. Concepts such as culture, cultural relativism, ethnocentrism, and global and local inequalities are discussed.
Introduction to Sociology: Investigating Society
SOAN 102 - Perez, Marcos E.
An introduction to the field of sociology including both micro and macro perspectives, this course exposes students to key topical areas in the discipline and includes readings that show the range of research methodologies in the field today. The sociological meaning of concepts such as social group, nation, state, class, race, and gender, among others, are discussed. Topics may include social inequalities, group processes, collective action, social networks, and the relationship between social organization and the environment.
FS: First-Year Seminar in Anthropology: Race, Reproduction, Immigration: 1924-2024
SOAN 181C - Bell, Alison K.
At the centennial of 1924, we look back at key events of that year and ask how current dynamics compare to them. In 1924 Congress passed an act that favored immigrants from northwestern Europe, restricted those from southeastern Europe, and completely excluded Asians. The Virginia General Assembly passed the Racial Integrity Act – eliminating the legal existence of Native Americans by recognizing only two categories of humans, “white” and “colored” – and the Eugenical Sterilization Act that required compulsory sterilization of people deemed “unfit” to reproduce. The Supreme Court took up Virginia case as Bell v. Buck (1927), ruling that preventing the proliferation of “imbeciles” was in the national interest. Students will learn to take anthropological perspectives on these developments, seeking to understand (which does not mean to agree with) people’s thinking, their behavior, and the cultural, social, economic, and political landscapes from which these legal acts grew. Historical perspectives will support our consideration of current events, including how race now figures in debates about immigration, the Supreme Court’s recent decision about abortion, and ways that science and politics engage with reproduction through gene-editing technology, for example, and proto-natalism.
FS: First-Year Seminar in Anthropology: You Cannot Wear That: Race, Fashion and Religion in the West
SOAN 181D - Oubou, Hafsa
Why does a piece of attire on the heads of Muslim women create so many controversies in the U.S. and Europe? This class explores the racialization of Muslim women through the politics of secularism, gender, and laws. Within growing Islamophobia in the West, Muslim women have increasingly become a systematic target for racist incidents. We will consider the intersection of gender, religion, and race through a number of cases, including the “headscarf affair” suspending Muslim girls from school in France, the attacks on Sikh men wearing turbans in post-9/11 U.S., and the banning of face-covering clothing worn in public in the Netherlands. Engaging with a comparative and transnational approach to veil-wearing in the Middle East, we will examine ethnographic, literary, and audiovisual works, including those written and made by Muslim women. We will explore the idea of veiling in relation to many topics, including state policing, feminism, racism, education, sports, fashion, performance, and cultural appropriation.
Archaeology
SOAN 206 - Gaylord, Donald A.
An examination of anthropologically-oriented archaeology. Specific subjects to be considered will include the history of the subdiscipline, theoretical developments, field techniques, substantive contributions for the prehistoric and historic subareas and recent developments in theory and methodology.
Race and Ethnic Relations
SOAN 228 - Robinson, Candice C.
An examination of why and how society creates and maintains racial and ethnic boundaries in the US. We discuss some of the crucial questions, which include: What conditions constitute a privileged group and an oppressed group? Why and how do racial/ethnic minority groups, the poor, and women experience discrimination, oppression, and exclusion in social life? Is there any racial discrimination against privileged racial/ethnic groups? How can ordinary people, policymakers, and social scientists contribute to improving race and ethnic relations among different social groups in the US?
Personal Networks and Social Capital
SOAN 244 - Eastwood, Jonathan R. (Jon)
This course will be a hybrid seminar/research lab that covers some of the most important findings and methods in the study of personal networks, with an emphasis on the application of network methods to the study of social capital. In the lab portion of the class, we will learn how to do personal network analysis in R, covering topics like (a) sampling and gathering personal network data; (b) descriptive statistics that allow us to measure and study structural features of people's local social environments; and (c) models for linking those measures of local structure to individual-level predictors and outcomes of interest.
Poverty and Marginality in the Americas
SOAN 263 - Perez, Marcos E.
In recent decades, some global transformations have increased inequality and marginality in various regions of the world. Neoliberalism has generated both opportunities and challenges to human development In different countries. This course focuses on how the undermining of safety nets, the decline of models of economic growth centered on state intervention, and the internationalization of labor markets have affected societies in Latin America and the United States. Students analyze the structural causes of marginality and how the experience of poverty varies for people in both regions. We rely on anthropological and sociological studies to address key questions. How do disadvantaged individuals and families in the Americas deal with the challenges brought about by deindustrialization, violence, and environmental degradation? How do their communities struggle to sustain public life? What are the processes causing many people to migrate from one region to the other?
Special Topics in Sociology: Producing Culture from the Margins
SOAN 290C - Sutton, Alexander
How does our cultural-historical understanding of artists like Leonardo da Vinci and Ludwig von Beethoven inform how we categorize and evaluate artists like Jean-Michel Basquiat and Kendrick Lamar? This course will examine the creation of cultural objects (music, visual art, literature, film/television), with particular attention to representations of race, class, gender, sexuality, and the various intersections of marginality in the contemporary world. Drawing from the relevant literature in sociology, philosophical aesthetics, and cultural studies, we will look at how the production of contemporary culture perpetuates and challenges social inequality.
Special Topics in Sociology: Fines and Fees
SOAN 290H - Jones, Adrienne
Monetary sanctions are a consequential yet understudied aspect of the criminal legal system. While these fines, fees, and other costs are often marketed as “non-punitive”, research finds monetary sanctions can have serious consequences for those with limited financial means. This discussion-based course introduces students to features of the American system of monetary sanctions. Students explore the origins of monetary sanctions, the collateral consequences, or negative effects, individuals experience due to nonpayment and possibilities and limitations of public policy as a tool to alleviate the burden of these financial penalties. Drawing on a variety of sources- academic readings, policy reports, social media posts, etc.- students are encouraged to draw connections among course materials and themes of punishment, inequality, and justice.
Special Topics in Anthropology: Global Migration: Borders, Displacement, Mobility
SOAN 291Q - Oubou, Hafsa
Migration is an integral part of world history, and yet for the last two decades we have seen a significant increase in border control and policing. In this seminar, we will explore how people navigate this dilemma by focusing on how they experience migration, border crossing, and diaspora. The seminar guides students to understand how labor, race/ethnicity, gender, religion, class, environment, violence, nationality, and citizenship shape how people encounter frontiers, experience displacement, and live in diaspora in the United States, and it also offers a comparative perspective to migration in Europe and the Middle East. Through readings, films, music, lectures, and discussions, students will learn to engage with ethnographic tools to explore cross-cultural understandings and experience of migration that consider the history, the economics, and the politics of mobility. As a result, the seminar will address what global migration and border crossing can tell us more broadly about questions of culture, policies, and justice.
Special Topics in Anthropology: “Racial Integrity,” Eugenics, Immigration: 1924-2024
SOAN 291T - Bell, Alison K.
At the centennial of 1924, we look back at key events of that year and ask how current dynamics compare to them. In 1924 Congress passed an act that favored immigrants from northwestern Europe, restricted those from southeastern Europe, completely excluded Asians, and created the U.S. Border Patrol. The Virginia General Assembly created the Racial Integrity Act, eliminating the legal existence of Native Americans by recognizing only two categories of humans, “white” and “colored.” The Monacan Nation, on whose ancestral lands W&L exists, and other tribes still experience the ramifications of this act. In 1924 Virginia also passed Eugenical Sterilization Act, requiring compulsory sterilization of people deemed “unfit” to reproduce. The Supreme Court took up Virginia case as Bell v. Buck (1927), ruling that preventing the birth of “imbeciles” was in the national interest. The act served as a model for the Third Reich and has not been overturned. Students will practice taking anthropological perspectives on these developments, seeking to understand (which does not mean to agree with) people’s thinking, their behavior, and the cultural, social, economic, and political landscapes from which these legal acts grew. Historical perspectives will support our consideration of current events, including how race now figures in debates about immigration, the Supreme Court’s recent decision about abortion, and ways that science and politics engage with reproduction through CRISPR gene-editing technology, neo-eugenics, and proto-natalism.
Special Topics in Anthropology: Economic Anthropology
SOAN 291U - McCarty, Sue A. (Sue Ann)
Why do we tolerate vast differences in global wealth at the level of both individuals and nations? What does it mean when we say that something has “value”? Economic Anthropology studies the sophisticated networks of exchange and reciprocity that define human relationships, creating bonds of kinship, forming or breaking alliances, building global economies, and marking religious rites. Humans have been uniquely entangled with the Things that they produce, distribute, and consume from the very beginning of our species to the contemporary world. From oil to diamonds, marriage to birthdays, student debt to global development, from a mother’s milk to a deity’s blessings, from blood transfusions to conceptions of disease transmission, Economic Anthropology describes the complex systems of exchange that shape and are shaped by human culture. Among other topics, this course will discuss The Gift and reciprocity, egalitarian forms of social organization and class-based inequality, anthropological conceptions of capitalism, and the emerging dialogue about Degrowth.
Special Topics in Anthropology: The Archaeology of Living Things
SOAN 291V - McCarty, Sue A. (Sue Ann)
Death is never really the end for any living thing. Our bodies are consumed by other creatures, transported by currents and time, buried, cremated, and redeposited by loved ones, reutilized and represented in new ways. In the archaeological record of past societies, bodies are texts that tell the stories of the living. In this course, students learn how to read the text of the bodies of humans and animals through zooarchaeology (the study of animal bones and other remains in archaeological contexts) and bioarchaeology (the study of anatomically modern human remains in archaeological contexts). We will highlight the ethics of working with human and animal remains, working with descendant communities, and laws meant to remediate past violations, such as the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), as well as recent controversies. We will end the semester learning about the comparatively new subfield of ancient DNA with a series of case studies highlighting how aDNA has impacted our understanding of human origins, population movements, and social organization. The class is divided into two separate parts, a lecture and a lab. In the lab students will learn basic anatomy, learn to recognize pathologies, disease, and signs of trauma in the skeleton, learn basic concepts in identifying the sex and age of skeletons, learn how stable isotopes in teeth can be used to study both diet and population movements, and will work to identify and catalogue zooarchaeological remains.
Theorizing Social Life: Classical Social and Cultural Theory
SOAN 370 - Sutton, Alexander
Sociologists and anthropologists have traditionally approached their role as students of social and cultural phenomena from two different paradigmatic starting points: a so-called "Galilean" model and an "Aristotelian" model. Practitioners were thought that they could eventually arrive at covering laws as powerful as those of physics or, falling short of this ideal, arrive at significant generalizations about human phenomenon. This class explores the trajectory of this paradigmatic split among some of the founders of sociology and anthropology and how these theorists utilized their chosen paradigms to make sense of social and cultural life. We also explore the assumptions about human nature, society, and culture that informed each of these theorists approaches and the wider historical contexts influenced their thought.
Spring 2024▲
See complete information about these courses in the course offerings database. For more information about a specific course, including course type, schedule and location, click on its title.
Field Methods in Archaeology
SOAN 210 - Gaylord, Donald A.
This course introduces students to archaeological field methods through hands-on experience, readings, and fieldtrips. Students study the cultural and natural processes that lead to the patterns we see in the archaeological record. Using the scientific method and current theoretical motivations in anthropological archaeology, students learn how to develop a research design and to implement it with actual field excavation. We visit several field excavation sites in order to experience, first hand, the range of archaeological field methods and research interests currently undertaken by leading archaeologists. Students use the archaeological data to test hypotheses about the sites under consideration and produce a report of their research, which may take the form of a standard archaeological report, an academic poster, or a conference-style presented paper.
Laboratory Methods in Archaeology
SOAN 211 - McCarty, Sue A. (Sue Ann)
This course introduces students to archaeological lab methods through hands-on experience, readings, and fieldtrips. Students process and catalogue archaeological finds ensuring they maintain the archaeological provenience of these materials. Using the scientific method and current theoretical motivations in anthropological archaeology, students learn how to develop and test hypotheses about the site under consideration by analyzing the artifacts they themselves have processed. We visit several archaeology labs in order to experience, first hand, the range of projects and methods currently undertaken by leading archaeologists. Students then use the archaeological data to test their hypotheses and produce a report of their research, which may take the form of a standard archaeological report, an academic poster, or a conference-style presented paper.
Anthropology of the Global
SOAN 237 - Brown, Christopher
This course focuses on how globalized political, economic and social institutions impact the lives of people and communities around the world. Students will learn to apply and evaluate a range of anthropological theories related to globalization, carefully considering the kinds of evidence and forms of reasoning they rely on to generate explanations for complex, social phenomena. Emphasizing discussion and group presentations, the course also prompts students to develop techniques to communicate ideas (their own, as well as others’) related to the analysis of globalization.
Global Urban Sociology
SOAN 259 - Perez, Marcos E.
The course will explore the complexities of city life in an increasingly globalized world, focusing on three broad topics. First, we will examine the challenges caused by urbanization in both developed and developing societies: how to provide basic services for urban residents, avoid environmental degradation, and mitigate poverty, inequality, and violence. Second, we will discuss the economic role that cities have played during different historical periods. Third, we will consider how urban life may change in the future, looking especially at technology and climate change.
Special Topics in Sociology: Social Inequality in American Cinema
SOAN 290F - Sutton, Alexander
This course will examine how entertainment media shapes the American cultural imagination by closely analyzing a curated selection of feature films. The class will work together as a kind of “research team,” decoding and contextualizing aspects of each film to develop a working theory concerning media messaging and propaganda from a sociological view. Specifically, we will interrogate how American cinema constructs and represents social inequality in a variety of contexts. Drawing from social theory, public policy, and scholarly approaches to reading culture as texts, students will observe how cinema depicts myths and realities of social inequality, how those representations have changed over time, and how critical evaluation of entertainment media affects its cultural impact and efficacy from a social, economic, and political perspective. Through informed analysis via group discussion and debate, and individual reading and writing assignments, students will develop a critical understanding of how narrative, cinematic style, cultural symbols, and critical evaluation influence public perception, policy, and aesthetic discourse related to social inequality.
Special Topics in Anthropology: Global Migration: Borders, Displacement, Mobility
SOAN 291Q - Oubou, Hafsa
Migration is an integral part of world history, and yet for the last two decades we have seen a significant increase in border control and policing. In this seminar, we will explore how people navigate this dilemma by focusing on how they experience migration, border crossing, and diaspora. The seminar guides students to understand how labor, race/ethnicity, gender, religion, class, environment, violence, nationality, and citizenship shape how people encounter frontiers, experience displacement, and live in diaspora in the United States, and it also offers a comparative perspective to migration in Europe and the Middle East. Through readings, films, music, lectures, and discussions, students will learn to engage with ethnographic tools to explore cross-cultural understandings and experience of migration that consider the history, the economics, and the politics of mobility. As a result, the seminar will address what global migration and border crossing can tell us more broadly about questions of culture, policies, and justice.
Special Topics in Anthropology: Religion & Pop Culture
SOAN 291R - Tatman, Dallas C.
Of Madonna and Maradona: Exploring Religious Themes in Pop Culture. Musical and sporting cultures are just two examples of how we interact daily with overt and occluded religious themes. Of course, we are more than consumers of popular culture; we are also curators and conductors, deciding who and what will become popular…and passé. Do our actions knowingly/unknowingly perpetuate or endorse specific religious cultures? Statistics indicate we are becoming less religious as a society, but perhaps we are religious, but in ways we don’t recognize? Readings, research, a consistent writing schedule, class participation, as well as formative/summative assessments, will inform our exploration of the many ways popular culture shaped our history, influences our present, and what this bodes for our religious future.
Directed Individual Study: Network Models of Public Transit
SOAN 403B - Eastwood, Jonathan R. (Jon)
The application of models commonly used by social network analysts to study the interconnections of city neighborhoods via public transportation, with a focus on questions about how this may relate to stratification processes more generally.
Winter 2024▲
See complete information about these courses in the course offerings database. For more information about a specific course, including course type, schedule and location, click on its title.
Introduction to Anthropology: Investigating Humanity
SOAN 101 - Oubou, Hafsa
This course is an introduction to the four subfields of anthropology: physical/biological anthropology, archaeology, linguistics, and cultural anthropology. The course explores how we humans understand each other, what we do, and how we got to where we are today. Topics include human evolution; cultural remains in prehistorical and historical contexts; connections among language and social categories like gender, class, race, and region; and social organization in past and present contexts. Concepts such as culture, cultural relativism, ethnocentrism, and global and local inequalities are discussed.
Introduction to Sociology: Investigating Society
SOAN 102 - Perez, Marcos E.
An introduction to the field of sociology including both micro and macro perspectives, this course exposes students to key topical areas in the discipline and includes readings that show the range of research methodologies in the field today. The sociological meaning of concepts such as social group, nation, state, class, race, and gender, among others, are discussed. Topics may include social inequalities, group processes, collective action, social networks, and the relationship between social organization and the environment.
What is Power?
SOAN 227 - Perez, Marcos E.
People use the expression "power" all the time, yet defining this concept is far more difficult than it seems at first sight. What does it mean to have power? How is it accumulated, exercised, and resisted? Using classic and contemporary social theory, as well as documentaries involving case studies, this course offers an overview and discussion of the nature of power. In particular, we will debate two core ideas. First, the relational nature of power. That is, power is not just something people "have", but a set of structures linking social actors. Second, the relation between visibility and effectiveness of power. In other words, the most insidious forms of domination are the ones least noticeable to those involved in them.
Race and Ethnic Relations
SOAN 228 - Chin, Lynn G. (Lynny)
An examination of why and how society creates and maintains racial and ethnic boundaries in the US. We discuss some of the crucial questions, which include: What conditions constitute a privileged group and an oppressed group? Why and how do racial/ethnic minority groups, the poor, and women experience discrimination, oppression, and exclusion in social life? Is there any racial discrimination against privileged racial/ethnic groups? How can ordinary people, policymakers, and social scientists contribute to improving race and ethnic relations among different social groups in the US?
Introduction to Criminology
SOAN 271 - Cataldi, John
This course introduces the field of criminology, providing an overview of the issues involved in defining, measuring, and explaining crime. We engage in a practical study of criminology using holistic and multi-perceptional lenses via lateral thought while avoiding normative assessments as we expand our Mulligan Stew of knowledge. Students will learn about the field of criminology, examine general characteristics of crime and criminals, review early and contemporary theories which attempt to explain criminal behavior, and discuss crime in the modern world from an interdisciplinary and integrative perspective.
Art & Science of Survey Research
SOAN 276 - Jasiewicz, Krzysztof
This course is designed as a group research project in questionnaire construction and survey data analysis. Students prepare a list of hypotheses, select indicators, construct a questionnaire, collect and analyze data, and write research reports. When appropriate, the course may include service-learning components (community-based research projects).
Special Topics in Sociology: (de)Constructing Disability in the U.S.
SOAN 290E - Sutton, Alexander
This course will examine the socio-political and cultural consequences of disability as a medical diagnosis and a social identity. We will analyze the various definitions of disability (including the medicalization and social construction perspectives) and their historical trajectories while accounting for the range of barriers experienced by people with both visible and so-called “invisible” disabilities. The course will consider the impact of public policy on the lives of disabled people at the intersections of race, class, gender identity, and sexual orientation, noting disparities with regard to income, employment, health, and overall quality of life. And we will closely examine representations of disability in art and popular culture to assess the degree to which these representations perpetuate and/or challenge stereotypes associated with disability. More generally, the course will consider how we construct bodies and minds as “normal” along with the implications of these constructions for disabled and non-disabled individuals.
Special Topics: Empathetic Ethnography
SOAN 291J - Tatman, Dallas C.
Ethnography is much, much more than data collection! Conducting “ethical ethnography” means developing a skill set that enables the researcher to recognize and navigate complex relationships in diverse cultural contexts. In this course, we will not just investigate what it means to conduct ethical qualitative research, but how developing a more culturally competent methodology yields more meaningful data. Together, we will address issues of cultural/individual interactions, economic/political dynamics, informed consent, and many others. Implementing methodology gleaned from reading preparation, class participation, and independent research, students will develop individual research proposals that align with W&L’s Institutional Review Board for Research with Human Subjects (IRB) standards. SOAN 101/102 not required, but preferred.
Special Topics: Sport is My Religion
SOAN 291K - Tatman, Dallas C.
Religion and sport may seem oppositional, but they share many common themes. Ever notice we use similar vocabularies to describe religion and sport in our everyday speech? In this course, we will examine foundational questions such as “Is sport a religion?” But, we will also make time to debate other topics—"What does it mean to call something a sport?” “What about the role of fan(atic)s?” “How do you solve the ethical dilemma of running up the score?” “Can our very own Wilson Field can be considered ‘holy ground?’” Students should expect to maintain a consistent writing schedule, participate in flexible out-of-class excursions, and meaningfully contribute to class discussion.
Special Topics: Environmental Anthropology
SOAN 291L - Brown, Christopher
Drawing on conceptual and theoretical frameworks from anthropology, this course examines human-environment relations from evolutionary, phenomenological and cultural perspectives. Beginning with a consideration of fundamental questions regarding the complex relationship between culture and nature, the course addresses the historical roots of ecological thought and carefully considers what anthropology contributes to the understanding of the nature/culture dialectic. Through close reading, discussions, films and collaborative activities, the course poses the broader question of how social and cultural systems could be transformed to better address the pressing environmental crises facing humanity.
Special Topics in Anthropology: African Globalities
SOAN 291M - Brown, Christopher
This seminar course examines African histories, cultures and philosophies through the analytic lens of “globality”. Course themes reckon with 1) “Africa” as both a place and an (often problematic) cultural imaginary; 2) debates related to Afrocentric scholarship; and 3) how richer engagements with African histories and cultural forms configure visions of Afrofuturism. Drawing on diverse anthropological texts while integrating a wide-range of interdisciplinary perspectives on art, culture, politics, literature and philosophy from leading African and Africanist scholars, this course opens intellectual space to consider how Africa is (and indeed has always been) generative of thoroughly modern global trajectories.
Theorizing Social Life: Contemporary Approaches
SOAN 371 - Oubou, Hafsa / Eastwood, Jonathan R. (Jon)
This course is an introduction to selected recent theoretical work in anthropology and sociology. Our two disciplines are not the same but they overlap. The best scholars in each discipline tend to read in both. We take such an approach in this course, looking at examples of (and opportunities for) cross-pollination.
Senior Seminar in Quantitative Analysis
SOAN 395 - Eastwood, Jonathan R. (Jon)
In this course students will carry out independent research on anthropological or sociological topics that they identify and develop in consultation with their professor and while working alongside their peers. Projects completed under the auspices of this course will use (or mostly use) quantitative methods, generally the statistical analysis of experimental or observational data. Students will develop a question, select appropriate methods, ground their approach in an appropriate theoretical perspective from their discipline of concentration (anthropology or sociology), carry out, write up, and present their research.
Senior Seminar in Qualitative Analysis
SOAN 396 - Bell, Alison K.
In this course students will carry out independent research on anthropological or sociological topics that they identify and develop in consultation with their professor and while working alongside their peers. Projects completed under the auspices of this course will use (or mostly use) qualitative methods, such as interviews, textual analysis, archival research, or field observation, among others. Students will develop a question, select appropriate methods, ground their approach in an appropriate theoretical perspective from their discipline of concentration (anthropology or sociology), carry out, write up, and present their research.
Directed Individual Study: Archaeology
SOAN 401I - Gaylord, Donald A.
Directed Individual Study: Archaeology Capstone
SOAN 403A - Bell, Alison K.
A course for selected students, typically with junior or senior standing, who are preparing papers for presentation to professional meetings or for publication.