Sociocultural Anthropology Track

The Department of Anthropology's Sociocultural Anthropology Track (SCA) is for students who want to explore a number of foundational topics within the field of anthropology (e.g., religion, gender, ritual, language, medicine, politics, economics, kinship, psychology, visual anthropology, law). In addition to exploring a variety of topics, students in this track are deeply immersed in the history of the discipline.

Required Courses (3)

  • ANT 300 Ethnography, Evidence and Experience
  • ANT 301 The Ethnographer's Craft
  • ANT 390 Histories of Anthropological Theory

Elective Courses by Distribution (6)

  • Two foundational 200-level courses (one may be a cognate approved at this level)
  • One 300-level course in addition to 300, 301, 390 (may be a cognate approved at this level)
  • One advanced 400-level topical course (may be a cognate approved at this level)
  • Two free electives (may be another ANT course at any level and/or a cognate)

Possible Cognates (2)

A cognate taken at Princeton is a course that the director of undergraduate studies has reviewed and deemed to be relevant to a student's independent work or correspond to a student's course of study (i.e., track). Students in SCA are allowed to take two cognates. The cognate may be an anthropology course taken during study abroad and/or a course offered by another department or program at Princeton. Proposed cognates must be approved by the department. Approval prior to enrollment is normally expected, however, retroactive approval is granted when warranted. 

Senior Thesis

Students in SCA can choose any anthropological topic for their senior thesis research, provided that the methodological and theoretical approach taken is approved by a student's senior thesis adviser.

Degree at Graduation

The transcript degree of students in the Sociocultural Anthropology Track will be A.B. in Anthropology. Students who successfully complete the SCA curriculum will receive a departmental attestation on Class Day and may note their track focus on their resumés.

To compare SCA to other Anthropology Tracks, see the comparison table

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