Anthropology Department

Archaeology and physical anthropology provide a unique opportunity to examine the development of human society. With their long temporal depth, we can examine how humans, and their ancestors, evolved and populated the entire globe. The nature of modern archaeological and physical anthropological research including topics of hominid evolution, origins of agriculture, rise of state-level societies and First Nations archaeology will be discussed. Students will have an opportunity to apply this knowledge using real archaeological data. Three credits. Offered every year.

Socio-cultural anthropology involves the comparative study of societies throughout the world. Students will learn how societies differ from each other, as well as observing similarities among them. The course surveys traditional ways of understanding cultures while incorporating current insights and research. Topics include diverse political, legal and economic systems, kinship patterns, religion, forms of ethnic and gender identity, health and medicine, development and migration. Department foci relating to Indigenous peoples, development and general anthropology are introduced. Three credits. Offered every year.

An examination of global health and illness from an anthropological perspective, this course applies key anthropological concepts to topics such as the meaning of health and illness cross-culturally, cultural construction of the body, medical pluralism, cross-cultural psychiatry, critical medical anthropology and the health of Indigenous peoples in Canada and other parts of the world. Cross-listed as HLTH 218. Prerequisites: ANTH 111, 112 or permission of the instructor. Three credits.

The complexity of contemporary cultural, political and legal Indigenous issues are explored using anthropological methods and theories. Beginning with the historical antecedents of colonial relations and leading to contemporary ethnography, this course assesses the impacts of state policies and legislation on Indigenous peoples today. Students will explore the relationships between Indigenous peoples and settlers in areas of Indigenous rights, culture, law, governance, politics, environment, media, social development, gender, and health, and critically examine reconciliation strategies and pathways to self-determination. Prerequisites: ANTH 111, 112 or permission of the instructor. Three credits. Offered every year.

Urban living is an increasingly common experience for humans across the globe; city life, however, is not a modern phenomenon. This course is a broad introduction to the process of urbanism and the rise of early pre-industrial cities. Specific cases are examined in order to elucidate the varying roles cities played in ancient states and how this knowledge can aid in our current understanding of modern urban life. Prerequisites: ANTH 111, 112. Three credits. Offered 2024-2025 and in alternate years.

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The topic for 2024-2025 is Fraud, Myths, and Mysteries. Did aliens help build the Pyramids, was Atlantis a real continent, and did a race of giants once roam eastern North America? From the “missing link” to alien landing strips, this course explores and exposes some of the biggest archaeological hoaxes in history. In the process, it will investigate the role pseudoscience plays in perpetuating such frauds and examine how archaeologists debunk hoaxes by establishing what we know about the past. Prerequisites: ANTH 111, 112 or permission of instructor. Three credits.

This course will give students an understanding of past and present trends in anthropological theory. Students will learn about the purpose of theory and the main elements of major theoretical frameworks. There will be an emphasis on how to apply theory to anthropological material. Prerequisites: ANTH 111, 112 and at least 6 ANTH credits at the 200 level. Three credits. Offered every year.

This course introduces students to qualitative field methods used by anthropologists and social scientists. Through lectures, seminars and field assignments, students will participate in a variety of research techniques including digital data gathering, video ethnography, participant observation, archival searches, oral and life histories, interviewing, sampling, mapping and focus group strategies. In addition to practical application of these skills, students will learn about Indigenous research methods, and collaborative participatory action and ethical research design. Prerequisites: ANTH 111, 112 or permission of the instructor. Three credits. Offered every year.

This course introduces students to the basic principles of statistics and quantitative analysis of anthropological data. Through lectures, seminars and lab assignments students will learn skills such as quantitative research design and methods, data analysis, and computer applications in anthropological research. Prerequisites: ANTH 111, 112. Three credits. Offered every year.
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This course examines the people engaged in development policy and practice, from target populations, to NGO workers, international organizations, business and governments. Students will consider the impacts of strategies such as those promoting popular participation, gender equality, small-scale business, local knowledge and democratic reform, as well as of different forms of development institutions. The course uses case studies based on long-term, first-hand participant observation that place development processes in larger historical, political and economic contexts. Cross-listed as DEVS 321. Prerequisites: ANTH 111, 112 or DEVS 201, 202. Three credits. Offered every year.

Using theories and methods relevant to research respecting Indigenous knowledge, self-determination, strategies of resistance and cultural sustainability of the L’nu (Mi’kmaq) Nation of Atlantic Canada, we first explore L’nu (Mi’kmaq) oral histories, cosmology and sociocultural organization. We then analyze the impacts of colonization on L’nu (Mi’kmaq) cultural practices and governance. In the third section we focus on contemporary treaty implementation, revitalization of Indigenous laws, economic development and livelihoods, governance, and the mobilization of reconciliation through the TRC Calls to Action, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Calls to Justice and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Prerequisites: ANTH 111, 112, 234 or permission of instructor. Three credits. Offered 2024-2025 and in alternate years.

This course explores past and present Indigenous societies from North America and we examine how these societies emerged, developed and were radically transformed by European colonization. Students will discover that even though great spans of time separate modern and ancient Indigenous cultures, cultural continuity exists. Prerequisite: ANTH 243 or 253. Three credits. Offered 2024-2025 and in alternate years.

A required course for all senior honours students. Six credits. Offered every year.

Power and change can be volatile processes. This course allows students to understand and analyze them from an anthropological point of view. Topics may include the tension between Indigenous collective rights and individual human rights; the tortuous local politics of constructing identity; identity and the life course; the cultural causes and consequences of terror and war; the politics of food and cuisine. Prerequisites: 12 credits ANTH or permission of instructor. Three credits. Offered 2024-2025 and in alternate years.

A course for senior students wanting to use Indigenous research methods and theories to engage anthropologically with specific issues of concern to Indigenous peoples. Topics may include in-depth analyzes of Indigenous legal traditions, treaty and Aboriginal rights, politics and governance, natural resource management, cultural production and sustainability, decolonization and reconciliation. Prerequisite: ANTH 234 or permission of the instructor. Three credits. Offered 2024-2025.