Sociology and Anthropology Department

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The Sociology and Anthropology Department offers a major in sociology with two concentrations (health and medicine and social justice) and a minor in sociology. It also offers a major in anthropology/sociology and a minor in anthropology.

The department’s curriculum provides students with analytical skills, theoretical perspectives, and research techniques for understanding the cultural diversity of human behavior and social organization. Sociologists and anthropologists study the ways in which individuals, through their collective actions, create and change patterns of social relations. Both disciplines emphasize a critical, historical, and comparative perspective in their study of the way of life in contemporary societies. In their search for understanding, sociologists and anthropologists examine a variety of substantive areas, from family life to globalization and political change.

Course offerings are designed to provide: (1) a central component in a general liberal arts education; (2) a sound foundation for graduate study in sociology, anthropology, law, social work, criminal justice, public health, management, or any other profession requiring a sophisticated understanding of social processes and structures; (3) the development of writing, speaking, thinking, and research skills; and (4) courses for students who seek a concentration in such interdisciplinary programs as environmental studies; women, gender, and sexuality studies; cognitive studies; and peace studies.

A student may elect a sociology major or an anthropology/sociology major. Within the sociology major, a health and medicine concentration or a social justice concentration may be specified. Specific programs tailored to the student’s interest and career goals are worked out with departmental advisers. Independent study at an advanced level and/or selected courses in another department may be elected for major credit if such courses are appropriate to the student’s program and approved by the chair of the department. Sociology and anthropology courses are cross-listed across a number of majors and minors, reflecting the relevance of these discipline for a range of interests and endeavors.

Study Abroad Policy - The Sociology and Anthropology Department will accept  two courses (six credits) for a semester program or three courses (nine credits) for a year-long program (majors only). Students will take the core courses (two introductory courses, methods, theory, and all 300- and 400- level courses at Goucher. Students minoring in anthropology or sociology may count one course (three credits) for a semester abroad and two courses (six credits) for a year abroad. As with the major, these classes will count as 200-level elective courses.

Department Faculty

Professors

Jamie Mullaney, chair (culture and cognition, identity, theory, emotions, qualitative methods), Janet H. Shope (sociology of medicine, inequality, and gender)

Associate Professors

Mark Ingram (cultural anthropology, Europe, France, cultural policy)

Visiting Associate Professor

John Baugher (Sociology of Health and Medicine; Social Psychology, Care Work; Contemplative Pedagogy and Transformative Learning; Leadership and Social Change)

Assistant Professors

Robbie Blinkoff (property, consumerism, Papua New Guinea), Raj Ghoshal (inequality, race, social movements, cultural and political sociology, collective memory), Carolyn Schwarz (cultural anthropology, global Christianity, health and well-being, indigenous rights, food and religion, and Aboriginal Australia), Rory Turner (cultural anthropology, anthropology of performance, Africa, ethnographic methods, folklore)

Lecturers

Patricia Greenberg (sociology of medicine), Booth Ripke

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