May 1, 2024

Thank you to our undergraduate and graduate students for representing NDSU well at the 2024 Annual Meeting of the Midwest Sociological Society (MSS)  April 4-7. The Meeting's theme was A Sociology of Joy: Centering Joy in Research, Teaching and Practice.  Students enjoyed the opportunity to network with professionals in the field, attend talks by scholars, teachers and professional sociologists and explore the city of Des Moines.  Drs. Emanuelson and Mataic attended the meeting along with students.

April 15, 2024

NDSU held its third annual Sociology and Anthropology Day on March 22, 2024. The event, organized by the Sociology and Anthropology Department, took place in the Dieterich Atrium at the Alumni Center. Featuring a diverse range of student research presentations during our student poster session, the day also included a panel of alumni sharing their post-graduation experiences and community work. 

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April 8, 2024

On March 26^th, the Sociology/Anthropology department held a viewing of Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie,” A movie that has captivated audiences and sparked discussions on our culture, as well as feminist theory and discourse. After the movie, there was a discussion panel involving the participants and 2 lovely guests: Dr. Christina Weber, the chair of the Soc/Anth department, and Megan Talcott, NDSU’s Sexual Assault Prevention & Advocacy Coordinator, who has a background in sociology and cultural anthropology.

The discussion panel after the film touched on many topics of sociology and cultural anthropology. The panel and attendees discussed sociological theories like The Self vs. The Other, as well as the anthropology of Barbie as a cultural icon and as a physical doll. The event was an overall success, and we would like to thank all those who attended and participated!

February 16

After graduating from NDSU in Spring 2023, sociology alumnus, Connor Crago, has gone on to graduate school at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington DC. He is studying Strategy, Cybersecurity, and Intelligence.  Speaking about his experiences in our program, he stated that “I have found that having a background in social sciences is immensely helpful for understanding complex problems from a variety of perspectives.  Additionally, the research and data analytic skills NDSU gave me have been incredibly helpful.”  Connor was also named one of the 30 under 30 Leader Developers for 2023 by the West Point Center for Junior Officers.

You can hear more from Connor on his first episode for the podcast Small World Big Problems titled, "The Dragon and the Bear: Unpacking Sino-Russian Relations Amidst War.” In this episode he interviewed Sergey Radchenko, a professor at SAIS Bologna and expert on Sino-Russian relations. He’ll be hosting more episodes over the spring 2024 semester.

September, 2023

This summer, Kyla Larson, an anthropology major in our department, attended a mortuary Archaeology field school in Poland. Below Kyla shares some of her experiences. 

“The field school was about 3.5 weeks and entailed fieldwork in a cemetery and lab work with human remains. There was also an osteology course which taught me a lot. This program was through the Slavia Foundation and they have field schools each summer and different locations throughout Poland. Most sites are Medieval period Archaeology and the field school provides credit if you’d like. I attended the Gać location that focused more on Osteology and excavation and, don’t worry, the program is in English!  (But I would advise picking up some Polish if you’d like to solo travel.)

“I experienced the fascinating differences between European and American Archaeology, the ‘Polish smile,’ and different Medieval historical sites. It's not just a ‘get your work done and leave’ kind of experience; it's truly an immersive experience. I will forever remember this educational opportunity not only because of the coursework and cultural exposure but the fun and informative instructors and peers I have met throughout the field school. I won’t forget the adventures of solo traveling throughout Poland either, but that’s a story for another time. “

If you are interested in the Slavia Field School please visit their website for more information.  They are looking for more students from NDSU to attend.

Kyla is in the blue. Photo Credit: “Slavia Field School in Mortuary Archaeology, Gać”

On April 15, the Department of Sociology and Anthropology welcomed students from the Fargo-Moorhead area (Grades 3-7) to get some hands-on experience in an archaeology lab.  Dr. John Creese (Associate Professor of Anthropology) ran archaeology labs for students. In total, there were four tours with 46 children attending throughout the day. Students completed an archaeology scavenger hunt and had a chance to see and hold artifacts, try a microscope, and learn about life in the ancient past.

Cynthia Mason, the Fargo Public Library organizer of the event, stated that “The kids learned so much and Dr. Creese was incredibly patient and kind in making himself available and answering everyone’s questions.”  The event was a great success and a valuable collaboration between NDSU and Fargo Public Libraries.

Dr. Creese’s Archaeology Lab was part of the “Red River Valley Kids Read” project. Area kids read the book, Summer Ruins by Deb Waley, which tells the story of a young girl who travels to South Dakota on an archaeological dig with her parents.

With over 10 student posters, presentations from alumni, and an engaging networking lunch, we had a successful Sociology and Anthropology Day on Friday, March 3. This was the second year of this event and it was once again a great success.  It was an exciting day and demonstrated the valuable contributions that anthropology and sociology provide to understanding our social world. 

Below are the winners of the student poster contest.  We plan to showcase the posters in our department and on our website. I encourage you to take a look at them.  For those of you who did not present this year, please think about doing this next year. It was a fun event and is a great way to show others the work you have been doing in your classes.  For all presenters, I was impressed by the fantastic work you all are doing. Keep up the great work and consider submitting your poster to NDSU Explore.

Research Day Student Poster Winners

• Best in Show: Megan Schlangen: “Exploring Comics & Nationhood in Argentina”
• Students’ Choice: Grace Rebel, “"I Think That I'm Broken: An Oral History Examination of Disability in Academia”

We also held a raffle for students who voted in the Students’ Choice award.  The raffle winners include: Audra Buysse, Kyla Larson, and Lauren Schluter.

Congratulations to all our winners! 

Dr. Kristen Fellows was quoted in the Summer 2022 edition of American Archaeology. The article, “The Story of Marshall’s Pen,” examines the archaeological research being done at Marshall’s Pen, a 19^th Century coffee plantation in Jamaica. Dr. Fellows has worked at this site for a number of years, taking students to participate in archaeological digs.  In the article she explains, “Marshall’s Pen ‘is by far one of the best documented [colonial-era] coffee plantations in the Caribbean,’ and the finds there ‘have helped widen our view of how these places operated and how enslaved people experienced them” (p. 42). 

An excerpt of the article can be accessed at: https://www.archaeologicalconservancy.org/the-story-of-marshalls-pen/

On April 19, 2022, four undergraduates and two graduate students from the Department of Sociology and Anthropology presented their original research in front of the University community. Their work came from a variety of classes and projects and represented a diverse range of interests, including: care and disability during Covid-19, North Dakota Prohibition and flooding in the Red River Valley, and the “immoral madams” of Greensboro, NC. Anthropology professors Dr. Kristen Fellows and Dr. Ellen Rubinstein served as faculty mentors to the students.