Dr. Sally Steindorf

"Teaching has the potential to change the world through inspiring students to care about complex, global issues and work toward their solutions."

For her doctoral research, Dr. Sally Steindorf spent over a year in India looking at how rural women were impacted by what they were watching on television. This experience conducting research abroad, along with the holistic thinking emphasized in cultural anthropology, led Steindorf to Principia College's multidisciplinary Global Studies Program, which she directs.

Scholarly Interests

Steindorf is interested in India and South Asia, gender studies, and issues related to refugees. She is also interested in global and multidisciplinary thinking and how best to integrate these elements into the curriculum at Principia College.

Contributions to Field

Steindorf has led several study abroad programs to India. These programs have included guiding students through the anthropological research process, which has resulted in student presentations at academic conferences. At one of these presentations, the president of the American Anthropological Association highly commended the Principia College students on their research and writing.

Memberships and Affiliations

• American Anthropological Association
• Central States Anthropological Society
• Rajasthan Studies Group

Publications and Presentations

•  “Teaching Ethnographic Methods in India: Successes & Challenges,” Central States Anthropological Society Annual Meeting, 2016
• "Global Studies II: A Course in Global and Multidisciplinary Learning," Association of American Colleges and Universities, Global Learning in College Conference, 2015.
• “Now Villagers Are Not Backward. Now They Also Sell Pepsi in the Villages”: Impacts on Rural India of Urban-Based Television Programming,” Anthropologie et Sociétés 36, no. 1–2 (2012): 31–51.
• “College or Carrying a Gun: Television and Changing Gender Roles in Rural Rajasthan” Workshop on ‘Mofussil India’, London School of Economics, London, UK, July 2009, Invited Paper
• JOURNAL OF ASIAN STUDIES, “Book Review: South Asia Folklore: A Handbook.” Vol. 66, No. 4, Nov. 2007