BA Sociology/Anthropology

Though sociology and anthropology are two distinct academic fields, they comprise one major at St. Olaf College. Combining the two disciplines allows students to explore the world in a fresh, more complex way. Our courses and scholarship examine social structures like colonialism, racism, education, health care, urban policy, gender, class, and religion. We explore how they produce both meaning for human beings and profound social inequities. Students learn how academic research itself addresses social problems and at times exacerbates them. Our departmental curriculum combines sociological and anthropological approaches, both in terms of theories and hands-on research projects. By doing so, we help students think like sociologists and anthropologists, as a means of better understanding the strengths and limits of academic work.