School of Arts and Sciences
Department of Anthropology

Minor in Social Justice Anthropology

The Minor in Social Justice Anthropology allows students to focus their study of anthropology on writing, cultural production, activism, and other practices that promote social justice, for example in a feminist, democratic, anti-racist, anti-colonial, environmental, or anti-poverty vein. The minor is empirically grounded and analytically driven. It focuses on the multi-faceted intersections of social justice activism and anthropology, and encourages students to think about the impacts of anthropology in academic spaces and beyond.

Advisor: Professor Amahl Bishara

Program Requirements and Policies

  • Five courses are required for the Minor in Social Justice Anthropology (at least 15 credits).

Course Requirements

Gateway Course

One gateway course in cultural anthropology related to social justice (designated by the department in range of ANTH 10-ANTH 39):

  • ANTH 15 Indigenous Movements in the Americas and Beyond
  • ANTH 22 Anthropology of Global Racisms 
  • ANTH 24 Anthropology of the Environment
  • ANTH 26 Anthropology of Socialism & Postsocialism
  • ANTH 27 Human Rights and Justice in Cultural Context
  • ANTH 28 Anthropology of Capitalism
  • ANTH 39-01 Gateway Course In Sociocultural Anthropology: Anthropology of Performance, from Ritual to Protest
  • ANTH 39-08 Gateway Course In Sociocultural Anthropology: Palestinians and Israelis: Anthropologies of Justice

Methods Intensive Course

One methods intensive course (ANTH 161 or other methods courses designated by the department. Refer to course guide for semester specific designations):

  • ANTH 20 Global Cities
  • ANTH 27 Human Rights and Justice in Cultural Context
  • ANTH 123 Technologies of Enchantment (formerly 149-10 Trap Theory)
  • ANTH 154 (MUS 184) Fieldwork Methods in Music, Sound, and Culture 
  • ANTH 161 Fieldwork Lab 
  • ANTH 185-09 Language, Power, and Identity
  • ANTH 187 (UEP 204) Ethnography for Policy and Planning

Related Courses

Two additional anthropology courses related to social justice and activism designated by the department which may include ANTH 130:

  • ANTH 122 Gender & Sexuality in South Asia
  • ANTH 124 Queer Anthropology (formerly ANTH 149-05)
  • ANTH 130 Anthropological Thought
  • ANTH 133 Anthropology of Journalism
  • ANTH 137 Language and Culture
  • ANTH 140 Food Justice
  • ANTH 142 American Meat
  • ANTH 143 Palestinians & Israelis: Ethnographies of Justice
  • ANTH 144 Media of the Middle East
  • ANTH 147 Sex and Money: Anthropology of Sex Work
  • ANTH 148 Medical Anthropology
  • ANTH 149-01 Selected Topics: Geographies of Crisis
  • ANTH 149-02 Selected Topics: Disability in Anthropological Perspective
  • ANTH 149-06 Selected Topics: Fiber and Fashion
  • ANTH 149-07 Selected Topics: Displacement, Mobility, and War in the Middle East and Beyond
  • ANTH 149-09 Selected Topics: Anthropology of/and Indigeneity
  • ANTH 149-13 Selected Topics: Indigenous Communities and Environmental Change
  • ANTH 149-14 (CST 194-03) Selected Topics: Sports, The Body, and (De)colonization
  • ANTH 149-21 Selected Topics: Choreographies of Resistance: A Movement Seminar
  • ANTH 149-45 (AMER 180-02) Selected Topics: Indigenous Ethnography
  • ANTH 152 Biopolitics & the Body: Life, Power, Knowledge
  • ANTH 155 (ENV 150) Environment, Communication and Culture
  • ANTH 157 Cities and Food
  • ANTH 159 (ENV 190) Practicing in Food Systems
  • ANTH 164 Media, The State, and the Senses
  • ANTH 165 After Violence: The Politics of Memory
  • ANTH 168 Anthropology of Colonialism / Decolonizing Anthropology
  • ANTH 169 Anthropology of the State: Subject, Citizen, Sovereignty
  • ANTH 181 Anthropology and Feminism
  • ANTH 185-01 Current Topics in Anthropology: The Commons and Commoning
  • ANTH 185-02 Current Topics in Anthropology: Violence, Pleasure, and Value(s)
  • ANTH 185-02 Current Topics In Anthropology: Global Racism and Anthropology
  • ANTH 185-03 Current Topics In Anthropology: Pollution and Perseverance
  • ANTH 185-05 Current Topics In Anthropology: The End of Work in the United States
  • ANTH 188 Culture, Psychiatry, and the Politics of Madness

Capstone Project

Capstone project in social justice anthropology.

There are two options for completing this capstone project. First, students may carry out an internship or ethnographic practice (consisting of approximately 40 hours over the semester), or another project relevant to social justice or activist anthropology. This project must be approved by the minor advisor and completed after taking ANTH 161 Fieldwork Lab or another approved methods course and requires a final paper of approximately 20 pages. Second, students can take an upper level seminar for which the final product is a research paper of 20+ pages, on a topic related to social justice anthropology.