Sociocultural Anthropology
Welcome to Sociocultural Anthropology at UIC
The sociocultural Anthropology program at UIC offers focused, topical specializations in Political Economy and Development, Medical Anthropology, Urban Anthropology, Globalization, Transnational Politics and Social Movements, Gender and Sexuality, the Politics of Commodities and Consumption, Anthropology of Food, and Environmental Anthropology. Area specialties include South Asia (India and Nepal), Southeast Asia (Singapore and the Philippines), Latin America, (Mexico, Bolivia, and Peru), Africa (Tanzania), and the United States.
Our partnership with the Department of Anthropology at the Field Museum offers opportunities for students interested in accessing the collections and working with cultural curators.
We welcome applications from graduate students who are interested in these topical areas. Prospective students who are considering our sociocultural program are strongly encouraged to contact individual faculty about their interests. Graduate admissions decisions are some of the most important decisions that our faculty make. Therefore, the more care you take with preparing your application for admission, the better information we will have to identify those who would be most successful in our programs. Specific information about application procedures and financial support for graduate students can be found here.
Core UIC-Field Museum Sociocultural Anthropology Faculty
Soledad Álvaraz Velasco Assistant Professor, Ph.D. King's College London
Tarini Bedi Associate Professor, Ph.D. University of Illinois at Chicago
Molly Doane Associate Professor, Ph.D. City University of New York
Mario LaMothe, Assistant Professor Anthropology and African American Studies, Ph.D. Northwestern University
Mark Liechty Professor, Ph.D. University of Pennsylvania
John D. Monaghan Professor, Ph.D. University of Pennsylvania
Kareem Rabie, Assistant Professor, Ph.D. City University of New York
Gayatri Reddy Associate Professor, Ph.D. Emory University
Alaka Wali Curator and Applied Cultural Research Director, Field Museum, Ph.D. Columbia University
Our faculty is affiliated with a number of other programs and departments, including Latin American and Latino Studies, History, Gender and Women’s Studies, Global Asian Studies, Institute for Humanities and the Great Cities Institute.
Additionally, our students regularly work with affiliated sociocultural anthropologists in other departments and schools across the campus.