Our students want to understand the world, and the people in it. By combining the anthropologist’s approach to studying human behavior with the sociologist’s quantitative methods, they’re getting there: recent student research projects include ethnographic studies of a home for mentally ill young men and a hotel for homeless women; an archaeological study in Israel; and an analysis of the use of persuasion by Portland-based travel agents and “headhunters.”

The Sociology and Anthropology Department at Lewis & Clark recognizes that the line between sociology and anthropology is not distinct. Though they’ve traditionally been treated as two separate—even entirely different—disciplines, we see that the academic approaches of each field enhance the other, helping us comprehend a complex world of interrelated and interdependent societies.

Our curriculum offers a solid understanding of the aspects and methods of both fields, and the wide-ranging interests of our faculty means that students get a true diversity of approaches and perspectives—recent course offerings include Radical Social Movement, The Political Economy Of Food, Chinese Culture Through Film, and The Anthropology Of Violence.

Through cross-cultural examples and analysis of the relationship between cultural formations and social structures in sociohistorical context, our students develop innovative and nuanced ways of viewing and understanding the worlds around them.