PhD in Anthropology - Sociocultural Anthropology in Santa Barbara United States | University of California, Santa Barbara

The Anthropology Department's sociocultural program examines modern society by analyzing how global and local processes and institutions interconnect. Our curriculum highlights the cultural and social aspects of key topics including resource allocation and disparity, economic and social reproduction, governance and citizenship, human-environment relationships, faith traditions, and media through the lens of active anthropological engagement. Faculty research initiatives apply academic precision to pressing concerns across political, economic, cultural, and environmental spheres, such as water policy development (Walsh), societal impacts of new technologies (Harthorn), connections between ecological changes and subsistence strategies (Hoelle), and the interplay between religious identities and political views (Hancock). We also emphasize the historical development of sociocultural and political systems, an approach that fosters interdisciplinary connections with archaeology and History Department colleagues, particularly in Borderlands research, cultural memory studies, and public history. Faculty members conduct fieldwork across Asia (India, Japan, China) and the Americas, spanning from the Brazilian Amazon and Central America to the U.S., Mexico, California, and border regions.