Trinh Tran
Assistant Professor of Anthropology/Education Studies

- Office
- Robert A. Jones '59 House B04
- Tel
- (802) 443-3641
- trinht@middlebury.edu
- Office Hours
- Spring 2025: on leave
Courses Taught
ANTH 0274
Migration and Social Justice
Course Description
Migration and Social Justice: Power, Place, and Human Experiences.
This course examines migration through bottom-up approaches, drawing on interdisciplinary perspectives from political and legal anthropology, feminist and decolonial studies, and social scientific and historical methodologies. It critically explores how gender, race, ethnicity, social class, and global disparities shape migratory experiences and influence notions of justice, agency, and belonging. Key topics include migration governance, borders, economic aspects of migration, climate displacement, refugee camps, and everyday lives, agencies, and solidarity practices of migrants; themes explored across South-to-North and South-to-South migration to illuminate the global and interconnected dimensions of migration experiences and governance. Through diverse materials – ethnographic texts and documentaries, primary legal sources, art and activist projects, and podcasts – students will analyze the lived experiences of migrants alongside the structural realities that shape migrants’ lives.3 hrs. lect./disc.
Terms Taught
Requirements
ANTH 0275
Cities of Hope and Despair
Course Description
Cities of Hope and Despair
Why have some cities outlasted empires and nation states while others exist on the edge of marginality and loss? In this course, we will use historical and contemporary examples to explore the rise and fall of urban centers around the world. What is the meaning of urbanity across cultures? What different purposes do cities serve? What challenges confront them, from climate change to gang warfare to new forms of human precarity? In this course we will also investigate how processes like colonialism, imperialism, and global migration shape the evolution of cities and how they exist in our imaginaries. 3 hrs. lect.
Terms Taught
Requirements
ANTH 0500
Current
Advanced Individual Study
Course Description
Prior to registering for ANTH 0500, a student must enlist the support of a faculty advisor from the Department of Anthropology. (Open to Majors only) (Approval Required)
Terms Taught
ANTH 0700
Current
One-Semester Senior Project
Course Description
One-Semester Senior Project
Under the guidance of a faculty member, a student will carry out an independent, one-semester research project, often based on original data. The student must also participate in a senior seminar that begins the first week of fall semester and meets as necessary during the rest of the year. The final product must be presented in a written report of 25-40 pages, due the last day of classes.
Terms Taught
ANTH 0710
Current
Multi-Semester Senior Project
Course Description
Multi-Semester Senior Project
Under the guidance of a faculty member, a senior will carry out an independent multi-semester research project, often based on original data. The student must also participate in a senior seminar that begins the first week of fall semester and meets as necessary during the rest of the year. The final product must be presented in a written report of 60-100 pages, due either at the end of the Winter Term or the Friday after spring break.
Terms Taught
EDST 0351
Education and Social Policy
Course Description
Education and Social Policy
School choice programs like charter and magnet schools are dramatically altering the educational landscape in the United States. In this course we will examine the premise that we can overcome the challenges of children living in poor neighborhoods by severing the traditional link between neighborhoods and schools and by providing access to extralocal high-quality schools. But who gets to exercise such choice? Does school choice result in better educational outcomes? We will also explore the relationship between school and neighborhood inequality. How do these two contexts work together to reproduce, intensify, or ameliorate spatial and educational inequities? (formerly SOAN/SOCI 0351) 3 hrs. lect./disc.
Terms Taught
Requirements
EDST 0375
International Education
Course Description
International and Cross Cultural Education
Who gets to own knowledge? Who can acquire it? How do we construct advantage and disadvantage? Comparative and international education examines the intersection of culture and education and the ways they are inextricably related through history, politics, and literature. In this course we will explore major concepts, trends, and methodologies across disciplines, focusing on the effects of globalization, the maintenance and dissolution of borders, the commodification of knowledge, the social creation of meaning, and the consequences of those constructions. We will examine global educational traditions and realities on the ground in case studies of Western and developing nations.
Terms Taught
Requirements
EDST 1040
School Lunches
Course Description
School Lunches
In this course we will chew through critical analysis on the production and consumption of school lunches. We will examine how diverse actors—state and national governments, big corporations, food service companies, celebrity chefs, community activists, and concerned parents—battle over what lands on the cafeteria tray. Using readings from the social sciences as well as food documentaries, we will explore how initiatives like school gardens and cooking classes shape child development and socialization. The laboratory component of this class will look beyond the U.S. context by making and eating meals served up to students around the world. Food preparation and consumption practices will be adjusted, as necessary, to comply with COVID restriction guidelines.(There will be a $50 lab fee for this course to cover the cost of ingredients needed for making school lunches from around the globe.)
Terms Taught
Requirements
FYSE 1577
Schools and Inequality
Course Description
Schools and Inequality
In this course we will explore fundamental questions about the relationship between schools and society. What should be the normative goals of education? How do we explain educational disparities? We will look at theories on race, class, disability, gender, and sexuality to examine the role that schools play in reproducing or circumventing inequality in society. Drawing upon both domestic and international contexts, we will incorporate theories and methods from across the social sciences. 3 hrs. sem.
Terms Taught
Requirements
IGST 0706
Current
Upcoming
MES Senior Thesis
Course Description
Middle East Studies Senior Thesis
(Approval Required)
Terms Taught
IGST 0709
Current
Upcoming
Glbl Migrtn&Diasp Std Snr Ths
Course Description
Global Migration and Diaspora Studies Senior Thesis
(Approval Only)
Terms Taught
SOCI 0500
Upcoming
Advanced Individual Study
Course Description
Prior to registering for SOCI 0500, a student must enlist the support of a faculty advisor from the Department of Sociology. (Open to Majors only) (Approval Required)
Terms Taught
SOCI 0700
Upcoming
One-Semester Project
Course Description
One-Semester Senior Project
Under the guidance of a faculty member, a student will carry out an independent, one-semester research project, often based on original data. The student must also participate in a senior seminar that begins the first week of fall semester and meets as necessary during the rest of the year. The final product must be presented in a written report of 25-40 pages, due the last day of classes.
Terms Taught
SOCI 0710
Upcoming
Multi-Semester Senior Project
Course Description
Multi-Semester Senior Project
Under the guidance of a faculty member, a senior will carry out an independent multi-semester research project, often based on original data. The student must also participate in a senior seminar that begins the first week of fall semester and meets as necessary during the rest of the year. The final product must be presented in a written report of 60-100 pages, due either at the end of the Winter Term or the Friday after spring break.
Terms Taught