Each year, the Academy recognizes 130 undergraduates across the country for their competence in analyzing social problems. Those selected must display an outstanding grasp of a discipline's theories and methods, as demonstrated through successful prior coursework in the nominee's major department, an enthusiasm for understanding social issues and a demonstrated potential for making significant contributions to the social sciences in the future.
"[Soltman] is simply a wonderful student: smart, playful and analytically sophisticated," said Professor of Anthropology Deborah Gewertz in a recent College news release. Gewertz, who is currently on sabbatical conducting research in Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea, nominated Soltman for the honor.
Soltman, a double major in anthropology and French, stumbled across his passion on a whim after his first-year seminar professor urged him. He enrolled in Anthropology 12 with Gewertz in the spring semester of his freshman year. The course gripped him so intensely that, at its conclusion, he approached Gewertz and asserted, "You haven't seen the last of me."
Although Soltman arrived at the College planning to major in English, Political Science or Economics, a second sampling of anthropology the following year reshaped his plans and launched him in a new direction. "Without that Social Anthropology course, I might still fawn over Thomas Friedman's 'reduce the world into two camps' columns," admits Soltman. He also enjoyed another one of Gewertz's courses, a seminar in contemporary anthropology.
Soltman discussed his views on anthropology. "Many think the discipline is simply concerned with remote tribes you've never heard of in places you can't find on a map," he said. "But so much current work centers on globalization and the way in which we-the American government, multinational corporations, the World Bank and the IMF-act on people whom we have never met. And vice versa, albeit to a lesser extent."
The AAPSS held a competition to select 10 undergraduate papers for recognition at its annual symposium, which Soltman chose to bypass. The thesis chapter he had written exceeded the 20-page limit and was not appropriate for the competition.
Soltman is currently writing a thesis on the role of media discourse in the failure of Clinton's 1994 Health Security Plan. He is also applying to law school. "It probably won't come as a shock that I'm interested in either a JD or MA in cultural anthropology," he said.
Last summer, Soltman interned at Harlem RBI, leading a small workshop group in a literary-based enrichment program. "I wanted to show my group what details to look for as they read, what to make of them, as well as to introduce them to the most basic literary devices," he said.
In the past, Soltman has worked as a columnist, reporter, publisher and photographer for The Amherst Student, and is also an attorney for the Mock Trial team.