Anthropology - Sociocultural Concentration
Major Overview
The faculty and students in sociocultural anthropology at UC San Diego share a basic concern with the shaping and reshaping of human life. We examine the forces and structures that regulate life as well as the ways that groups of people instantiate, modify and occasionally overturn such powerful geographical and historical tendencies and logics. Among the concerns reflected in our teaching and research are: colonial and imperial relations; capitalist restructuring and state transformation; rivalries around definitions of progress and development; shifts in paradigms of knowledge production as well as ethical and aesthetic benchmarks; struggles over how to mark and record competing histories, memories and desires, and the uneven patterning of life around such distinctions as age, ethnicity, citizenship, gender, nationalism, race, religion, and sexuality.
Course Requirements
3 Core Classes
- ANTH 101: Foundations of Social Complexity (Fall)
- ANTH 102: Humans Are Cultural Animals (Winter)
- ANTH 103: Sociocultural Anthropology (Spring)
4 Upper Division Concentration Courses with the prefix ANSC
- Sociocultural courses that have been offered in the past. Pick any four upper-division ANSC courses for the Major
- ANSC 118. Language and Culture
- ANSC 120. Anthropology of Religion
- ANSC 121. Psychological Anthropology
- ANSC 122. Language in Society
- ANSC 123. Political Anthropology
- ANSC 124. Cultural Anthropology
- ANSC 125. Gender, Sexuality, and Society
- ANSC 104. The US-Mexico Border
- ANSC 120. Anthropology of Religion
- ANSC 130. Hinduism
- ANSC 133. Peoples and Cultures of the Middle East
- ANSC 134. Global Islam
- ANSC 135. Indigenous People of Latin America
- ANSC 136. Traditional Chinese Society
- ANSC 137. Chinese Popular Religion
- ANSC 142. Anthropology of Latin America
- ANSC 143. Mental Health as Global Health Priority
- ANSC 145. Indigenous People of North America
- ANSC 147. Global Health and the Environment
- ANSC 148. Global Health and Cultural Diversity
- ANSC 150. Culture and Mental Health
- ANSC 159. The Anthropology of Marriage
- ANSC 162. Language Identity and Community
- ANSC 165. Contemporary South Asia
- ANSC 166. Film and Culture in Asia
- ANSC 175. Money, Work and Nature: Anthropology of Capitalism
- ANSC 178. Brain, Mind, Culture and History
- ANSC 180. Labor's Relations
5 Upper Division Electives
FIVE four unit, upper division Anthropology courses with the prefix ANAR, ANBI, ANSC, or ANTH (either
ANTH 197, 198, 199, 196A–C)
- ANTH 128A & B is a two course series and will count toward two upper division elective requirements
Additional Requirements:
- Upper Division Residency Requirement: Students must complete a minimum of seven major courses at UC San Diego.
- Overlaps: Lower division courses may overlap between your major, minor and college requirements. Students may overlap two upper division courses between your major and minor by submitting a request in the VAC (some courses may automatically overlap).
- A maximum of four study abroad courses may be petitioned for credit toward the major.
Degree Check
In order to plan out your Anthropology major and remaining courses effectively, please utilize the Degree Check below. Students are encouraged to review their plan and progress with the Department's Undergraduate Advisor.
Sociocultural Concentration Degree Check