Letters From the Field

So many of our graduates are doing interesting things that the department has inaugurated a feature called “Letters from the Field” in which we hear from former majors about recent experiences that draw on their training in anthropology or sociology. If you are interested in submitting a Letter from the Field, please contact us!

Alex Mendez ’17

          Some Notes on Crisis Upon the Eve of the Closing of a Luxury Mall One of my first days back home in San Juan I open an article by Bloomberg news titled “Everything Went Wrong for Puerto Rico’s $475 Million Mall.” I have only… Continue reading »

Jongsuk Jeong ’18

Buddhist Prosecutor “Even if I just clap my hands,” the Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh wrote, “the effect is everywhere, even in faraway galaxies.” What kind of effect, then, would incarcerating an individual—or not—have in the world? How would a Buddhist prosecutor, if that is not a contradiction in… Continue reading »

Sam Jeong ’14

Jarred In the dark, 79 pairs of eyes stare at the screen ahead. My In-Depth Reporting class at Fudan University in Shanghai is watching a documentary film titled, “Internet’s Own Boy.” The film follows the life of Aaron Swartz, the founder of Reddit who valiantly fought against the privatization… Continue reading »

Matthew Crimp ’12

 Addressing Wellness, Not Illness, in Community Health Sickness is more a product of social forces than biological ones. Like any good idealistic college senior (especially one with a sociology degree), I left Williams in the spring of 2012 with convictions such as these, borne out of long classroom and office… Continue reading »