Just a Good Conversation: Sonja Ulrich

Sonja Ulrich is a true survivor. Born in Germany, raised by a single mother in high society and at times move from town to town. Her mother joined the Indian guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and become a Rajneeshee. Ulrich lived alone in Germany from ages 12 to 13, then at different European satellite communes for the next four years, all the while separated from her mother. When she turned 17, she was finally old enough for her chance to join Rajneeshpuram in Oregon. Despite swirling rumors of criminal activity and FBI infiltration of the site, Ulrich still wanted to go. As she arrived it was all falling apart and she found her self alone in the US. Ulrich enrolled at CSUDH in the early 2000s as a human services major, but then discovered her love of anthropology-the study of humans, and why they do what they do. Sonja graduated from CSUDH in 2009 with a bachelor’s degree in cultural anthropology and minor in bellydance history, then went on to earn her master’s degree in anthropology from CSU Long Beach. She began teaching as an adjunct professor at CSUDH in 2015, and over the course of her academic career, has found “amazing healing” through her discipline.