Sociocultural Anthropology
Introduction
Welcome to Sociocultural Anthropology at UIC
The Sociocultural Anthropology program at UIC offers a vibrant intellectual and interdisciplinary environment where students and faculty examine the different ways that people across the world understand, experience, and navigate their social realities. We examine how shared systems of ideas (culture) interact with structured relations of power and social organization in diverse contexts. We study how individuals and communities make meaning of their experiences, respond to global and local challenges, and pursue their aspirations in an interconnected world.
Combining multiple ethnographic research methods, such as participant observation, interviewing, as well as archival and digital research, we document diverse perspectives and lived experiences of how individuals and communities respond to challenges in social life, construct identities, forge connections and create multiple and diverse forms of resistance. Our research moves between everyday practices and broader historical processes, examining how power operates, how differences are negotiated, and how social transformations unfold across multiple scales—from intimate family relationships to global economic systems.
All our faculty and students conduct extensive ethnographic fieldwork in various regions of the world, including in our own city of Chicago. Our faculty focus on research that examines people’s relationships with culture, and society; colonialism, neocolonialism, and empire; ecological devastation; medical systems; health, and illness; global migration, (im)mobilities, and borders, citizenship; capitalism, inequalities, class, labor and social movements; the connections between religion and social change; the social and cultural impacts of gender, race, sexuality, and the body; the lived experiences of people in cities and neighborhoods; and the role of humanitarianism and development on individuals and societies.
Our faculty bring deep regional knowledge spanning South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal), the Middle East (Egypt, Morocco, Palestine, Turkey), Southeast Asia (Singapore), Latin America (countries of the Andean Region, the Caribbean, Mexico, Bolivia, and Peru), Africa (Tanzania), and the United States.
Our distinctive collaboration with the Department of Anthropology at the Field Museum provides students unique access to collections and mentorship opportunities with cultural curators, fostering skills in public engagement and museum anthropology.
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.
Core UIC-Field Mueum Sociocultural Anthropology Faculty
Graduate Admissions
We invite applications from graduate students whose research interests resonate with our program’s strengths and faculty expertise. Reaching out to individual faculty members before applying is highly recommended to discuss shared interests and potential mentorship. We approach graduate admissions as a crucial process for building our intellectual community, seeking students who will both benefit from and contribute to our program’s dynamic environment.
For detailed information regarding application requirements, deadlines, and financial support opportunities for graduate students, please visit our How to Apply page.