Department of Sociology & Anthropology

Department of Sociology & Anthropology

The Department of Sociology & Anthropology combines the study of people and cultures and produces students who are not only aware of the history and significance of humankind but who are also cognizant of how our actions impact the world in which we live.

Majors & MinorsCourses
Department News

Congratulations to Kaelyn Simone Reid, recipient of the 2023 James A. Sartain award!

                                                      

New Courses Fall 2023

Anth 340 (12443) Borders and Migration TTh 12:00-1:15 

                                                                              Dr. Margaret Dorsey

Four percent of the world’s population migrated across a nation-state’s border in 2019.  Increased migration across borders is both a numeric and social fact.  Is it because of state policy? We will explore why people migrate, and our method is ethnography (a personal and scientific story about crossing borders).  A couple of questions will guide our course:

What role does violence play in decisions to migrate across state borders?

What causes that violence?

Socio-cultural anthropology provides essential tools to understand the complexity and diversity of social life and human experience around the world.  Students will develop a working knowledge of concepts such as hegemony and a familiarity with anthropological approaches to gender, sexuality, class, the global economy, and migration.  In addition, you will gain exposure to the foundational research methodology of socio-cultural anthropology, ethnographic fieldwork, which is becoming more widely used inside and outside academic settings.  This course counts toward Global Studies as well as a community-based learning (CBL) experience and is part of the Humanities Connect Program.

                                                                                         

SOC 379 (12514) ST: Sociology of Black Families  TTh 9:00-10:15 

                                                                               Dr. Deborwah Faulk

Drawing on sociology, Black/Africana studies, psychology, criminology and African American literature, this course approaches the study of Black families through an interdiscipinary lens.  The Sociology of Black Families course explores foundational and contemporary theories about and analysis of Black Familes with a particular emphasis on Black American families.  This course critiques and engages scholarly research, public and media discourses, public policy, and creative writing to understand and reimagine Black family life.

 

 

Sherley Arias-Pimentel outside of the Carole Weinstein International Center

Anthropology Major Receives National Award for Photography

Sherley Arias-Pimentel, a University of Richmond senior from Newark, New Jersey, has been awarded the Joy of Giving Something Fellowship through Imagining America. The fellowship is awarded to eight undergraduate students across the U.S. who are interested in photography and digital media as future careers and hope to make a difference in their communities.

Arias-Pimentel, a double major in anthropology and global studies, has been passionate about photography and social justice since she began taking photos in middle school.

In the fall of 2021, Arias-Pimentel traveled to Ghana to study globalization and cultural legacies and returned to campus to create an art exhibition of her photography from her time there with support from the Bonner Center for Civic Engagement. She is currently showing another art exhibition in collaboration with fellow student Julia Brittain, titled “At the Intersection of Contagion and Connection: HIV/AIDS and Richmond’s LGBTQ+ Communities” in the Carole Weinstein International Center.

Department News

Sherley Arias-Pimentel, a University of Richmond senior from Newark, New Jersey, has been awarded the Joy of Giving Something Fellowship through Imagining America. The fellowship is awarded to eight undergraduate students across the U.S. who are interested in photography and digital media as future careers and hope to make a difference in their communities.

Arias-Pimentel, a double major in anthropology and global studies, has been passionate about photography and social justice since she began taking photos in middle school.

In the fall of 2021, Arias-Pimentel traveled to Ghana to study globalization and cultural legacies and returned to campus to create an art exhibition of her photography from her time there with support from the Bonner Center for Civic Engagement. She is currently showing another art exhibition in collaboration with fellow student Julia Brittain, titled “At the Intersection of Contagion and Connection: HIV/AIDS and Richmond’s LGBTQ+ Communities” in the Carole Weinstein International Center.

Upcoming Events

No events scheduled at this time.

Faculty Highlights

Dr. Rania Kassab Sweis
Sweis Awarded

Rania Kassab Sweis, associate professor of anthropology, has been selected as the winner of the 2022 Book Prize from the Association for Middle East Childhood and Youth Studies. (AMECYS) for her book Paradoxes of Care Children and Global Medical Aid in Egypt. The AMECYS Book Award was established in 2019 to recognize an outstanding contribution on the study of children and youth in the Middle East, North Africa and their diasporic communities. Learn more.

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Dr. Jeffrey Hass
Hass Awarded

Jeffrey Hass, associate professor of sociology, was named a 2022 recipient of the University’s Distinguished Scholarship Award at the annual Colloquy celebration.

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Dr. Jeffrey Hass
Hass Awarded

Jeffrey Hass, associate professor of sociology and chair of the Department of Sociology & Anthropology, has been selected as a co-winner of the American Sociological Association Section on Peace, War and Social Conflict’s 2022 Book Award and received honorable mention for ASA Distinguished Scholarly Book Award for his book Wartime Suffering and Survival.

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Dr. Jan H. French
French Published

Jan French, associate professor of anthropology and pre-law advisor, published “Ethnography In-Sight: Spiraling through Fieldwork” and “Paint It Black or Red: Serious Play in Brazil’s Northeast” in The Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology.

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Dr. Rania Kassab Sweis
Sweis' Book Reviewed

Rania Kassab Sweis, associate professor of anthropology, recent book Paradoxes of Care Children and Global Medical Aid in Egypt has been reviewed in the May/June 2022 issue of Foreign Affairs.

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Dr. Rania Kassab Sweis
Sweis Invited Book Talks

Rania Kassab Sweis, associate professor of anthropology, has been invited to speak on her book, Paradoxes of Care: Children and Global Medical Aid in Egypt at two events: University of Minnesota International Relations Colloquium, Department of Political Science and the Association of Middle East Children and Youth Studies Digital Author Series.

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Dr. Matthew Oware
Oware Published

Matthew Oware, Irving May Professor of Human Relations and chair of the Department of Sociology & Anthropology published "Text mining and the examination of language used to report child maltreatment: How language impacts child welfare intake reports,” in the Children and Youth Services Review.

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Dr. Rania Kassab Sweis
Sweis Published

Rania Kassab Sweis, associate professor of anthropology, published Paradoxes of Care: Children and the Politics of Medical Humanitarianism in Egypt through Stanford University Press.

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Scholarship Repository Readership

The University of Richmond's Scholarship Repository shares faculty publications with a world-wide audience. The map below shows where articles from sociology and anthropology faculty are being read around the globe.

Mailing Address:
Department of Sociology and Anthropology
302 Weinstein Hall
231 Richmond Way
University of Richmond, VA 23173

Phone: (804) 289-8067
Fax: (804) 287-1278

Department Chair: Dr. Jeffrey Hass
Administrative Coordinator: Diane Zotti