Anthropology Courses

Description: An introduction to the anthropological study of culture. The course begins with a consideration of the concepts, models, and methods used by anthropologists. This is followed by an examination of the many ways in which peoples of the world, past and present, have organized the activities, institutions, and belief systems that sustain social life. The course concludes with a discussion of the relevance of cultural anthropology to contemporary issues.

Component(s): Lecture; Tutorial

Description: This course focuses on the interrelationship between culture and human biology. The course examines current debates about evolutionary theory, human origins, the dispersal of the human species, and human adaptations occurring with agriculture in the Holocene and industrialization in the Anthropocene. In addition, issues of human variation and cultural adaptation allow a critical examination of how biology makes culture possible and how culture influences the direction of biological evolution.

Component(s): Lecture

Description: Focusing primarily on the Indigenous peoples of Canada, this course examines the ecological, economic, social, and religious aspects of Indigenous cultures. A representative society from each geographic area of Canada is studied. This course is primarily ethnographic in emphasis, but it also seeks to provide some of the social and historical background necessary to understand the current situation of Indigenous communities.

Component(s): Lecture

Description: This is an introductory course which explores the relationship between language and culture, and the use of language in society. Major issues and debates in linguistic anthropology and in the sociology of language are examined.

Component(s): Lecture

Description: This course examines alternative theoretical approaches to the study of the role of symbols in society. The course is devoted to a consideration of the contributions of structural, psychoanalytic, and interpretive anthropology.

Component(s): Lecture

Description: Race and ethnicity are examined as bases of social differentiation. Ethnic group relations are analyzed in relation to stratification and the exercise of power. The course includes explorations of the phenomena of discrimination, prejudice, and intergroup accommodation.

Component(s): Lecture

• Entry requirements for Sociology/Anthropology crosslisted courses depend on the discipline through which the course was entered.

• This course is equivalent to SOCI 203. Students who have received credit for SOCI 230 may not take this course for credit. A crosslisted SOCI/ANTH course counts as either SOCI or ANTH as needed to satisfy the program requirements regardless of whether the student registered for the course as SOCI or ANTH.

Description: This course explores the influence of cultural values on the organization of the production, distribution or marketing, and the consumption of goods and services at both the local and global levels of the world economy. It also examines the social and environmental impact of the globalization of the consumer society.

Component(s): Lecture

Prerequisite/Corequisite: Entry requirements for Sociology/Anthropology crosslisted courses depend on the discipline through which the course is entered.

Description: This course is an introduction to the study of food from a cultural perspective. Themes may include a) archaeology of food production (domestication of plants and animals); b) class, cuisine, and the development of taste; c) food symbolism; and d) the political economy of food and hunger.

Component(s): Lecture

• Entry requirements for Sociology/Anthropology crosslisted courses depend on the discipline through which the course is entered.

• This course is equivalent to SOCI 252. Students who have received credit for SOCI 252 may not take this course for credit. Students who have received credit for this topic under an ANTH 298 or SOCI 298 number may not take this course for credit. A crosslisted SOCI/ANTH course counts as either SOCI or ANTH as needed to satisfy the program requirements regardless of whether the student registered for the course as SOCI or ANTH.

Description: As an introduction to the social and cultural history of the Caribbean, primarily since 1492, this course focuses on the diverse cultures of the region, the development and legacy of the political economy of plantation society, as well as empire and globalization, resistance and rebellion, decolonization, cultural creolization and the broad struggle for Caribbean freedom.

Component(s): Lecture

• Students who have received credit for this topic under an ANTH 298 number may not take this course for credit.

Description: This course examines contemporary world issues from a cross‑cultural perspective. Discussion ranges from a critical examination of anthropological concepts and methods to a consideration of some of the practical or applied uses of anthropology. Specific topics include the consequences of underdevelopment, modernization, and the place of folk cultures and tradition in an increasingly global society.

Component(s): Lecture

Description: This course is a general introduction to social and cultural anthropology. It examines the ways in which anthropologists use the comparative method to understand cultures in their unity and diversity. The focus is upon reading ethnographies.

Component(s): Lecture

Prerequisite/Corequisite:

Description: This course explores the social construction of gender categories both historically and in the present. The focus is upon examining the various theoretical perspectives which attempt to explain the ways in which society has organized “masculine” and “feminine” as the basis for social inequalities.

Component(s): Lecture

• Entry requirements for Sociology/Anthropology crosslisted courses depend on the discipline through which the course was entered.

• This course is equivalent to SOCI 276. Students who SOCI 276 may not take this course for credit. A crosslisted SOCI/ANTH course counts as either SOCI or ANTH as needed to satisfy the program requirements regardless of whether the student registered for the course as SOCI or ANTH.

Prerequisite/Corequisite:

Description: This course explores the contemporary intersection of economic, societal, and ecological dynamics in capitalist societies while providing students with tools to understand and explain the historical embeddedness of these processes. Offering a comprehensive introductory view of these issues, the course deploys a multidisciplinary socio‑anthropological approach that also incorporates insight from geography, environmental sciences, and political science.

Component(s): Lecture

• Entry requirements for Sociology/Anthropology crosslisted courses depend on the discipline through which the course was entered.

• This course is equivalent to SOCI 277. Students who have received credit for SOCI 277 may not take this course for credit. Students who have received credit for this topic under an ANTH 298 or SOCI 298 number may not take this course for credit. A crosslisted SOCI/ANTH course counts as either SOCI or ANTH as needed to satisfy the program requirements regardless of whether the student registered for the course as SOCI or ANTH.

Description: This course introduces students to literature that discusses risk, surveillance, and social control. Emphasizing sociological and anthropological approaches, topics may include risk and surveillance in the contexts of local and global migrations, our changing climate, policing and national security, public health and medical care, work and leisure, consumption and addiction, urban spaces, and digital traces of our social relations and cultures. The course also prepares students interested in taking more advanced courses that deal with themes of risk, surveillance, fear, digital culture, consumption and addiction in everyday life.

Component(s): Lecture

• Entry requirements for Sociology/Anthropology crosslisted courses depend on the discipline through which the course is entered.

• Students who have received credit for this topic under an ANTH 298 or SOCI 298 number may not take this course for credit. This course is equivalent to SOCI 284. Students who have received credit for SOCI 284 may not take this course for credit. A crosslisted SOCI/ANTH course counts as either SOCI or ANTH as needed to satisfy the program requirements regardless of whether the student registered for the course as SOCI or ANTH.

Prerequisite/Corequisite:

Description: This interdisciplinary course examines the roles law plays in Canada and internationally, from the perspectives of history, political science, anthropology, sociology, and philosophy.

Component(s): Lecture

• Entry requirements for Sociology/Anthropology crosslisted courses depend on the discipline through which the course was entered.

• Students who have received credit for HIST 285, POLI 285, or SOCI 285, not take this course for credit. Students who have received credit for this topic under an ANTH 298, HIST 298, POLI 298, or SOCI 298 number, may not take this course for credit. A crosslisted SOCI/ANTH course counts as either SOCI or ANTH as needed to satisfy the program requirements regardless of whether the student registered for the course as SOCI or ANTH.

Description: Specific topics for this course, and prerequisites relevant in each case, are stated in the Undergraduate Class Schedule and the Departmental Handbook.

Description: Specific topics for this course, and prerequisites relevant in each case, are stated in the Undergraduate Class Schedule and the Departmental Handbook.

Component(s): Lecture

Prerequisite/Corequisite:

300‑level courses are open to students who have successfully completed ANTH 202 or equivalent, plus at least three credits of 200‑level Anthropology courses.

Description: This course provides students with a historical overview of anthropological theory. Through the study of original theoretical and ethnographic texts, students engage with the interplay between theory and ethnography and recognize the continued relevance of canonical debates to the contemporary discipline.

Component(s): Lecture

• Students who have received credit for ANTH 311 or 312 may not take this course for credit.

Prerequisite/Corequisite:

300‑level courses are open to students who have successfully completed ANTH 202 or equivalent, plus at least three credits of 200‑level Anthropology courses.

Description: This course examines the relationship between art and society. It is mainly concerned with analyzing how art may function as a means of signifying and perpetuating a given social order. Examples of artistic practice are drawn from diverse North and South American, African, and Melanesian cultures.

Component(s): Lecture

Prerequisite/Corequisite:

300‑level courses are open to students who have successfully completed ANTH 202 or equivalent, plus at least three credits of 200‑level Anthropology courses.

Description: Through a selection of case studies from the Americas, Australia, and New Zealand, this course focuses on contemporary indigenous political struggles, cultural resurgence, race and identity, language revival, urbanization, transnational organization, indigenous media, and debates concerning tradition.

Component(s): Lecture

• Entry requirements for Sociology/Anthropology crosslisted courses depend on the discipline through which the course was entered.

• Students who have received credit for SOCI 303 may not take this course for credit. A crosslisted SOCI/ANTH course counts as either SOCI or ANTH as needed to satisfy the program requirements regardless of whether the student registered for the course as SOCI or ANTH.

Prerequisite/Corequisite: 300‑level courses are open to students who have successfully completed ANTH 202 or equivalent, plus at least three credits of 200‑level Anthropology courses.

Description: This course analyzes some of the ways “history” has been understood both in our own and other cultures, including history as legitimating charter, as repeating cycle, as a scientific inquiry, as a series of unique events, and as a basis for ethical judgments.

Component(s): Lecture

Prerequisite/Corequisite: 300‑level courses are open to students who have successfully completed ANTH 202 or equivalent, plus at least three credits of 200‑level Anthropology courses.

Description: This course presents a survey of current anthropological theories of the nature and function of myths. The course also analyzes competing interpretations of some classic Western myths, and concludes with an examination of mythmaking in contemporary Western culture.

Component(s): Lecture

Prerequisite/Corequisite: 300‑level courses are open to students who have successfully completed ANTH 202 or equivalent, plus at least three credits of 200‑level Anthropology courses.

Description: This course provides the opportunity to study and practise qualitative research methods as they are used by anthropologists. Students learn systematic procedures for the collection of primary data using methods that include participant‑observation and formal and informal interviewing.

Component(s): Lecture

Prerequisite/Corequisite: 300‑level courses are open to students who have successfully completed ANTH 202 or equivalent, plus at least three credits of 200‑level Anthropology courses.

Description: This course provides a comprehensive introduction to the main environmental issues and dilemmas affecting contemporary societies around the world, as well as the necessary sociological and anthropological tools to understand and tackle these challenges.

Component(s): Lecture

• Entry requirements for Sociology/Anthropology crosslisted courses depend on the discipline through which the course was entered.
• A crosslisted SOCI/ANTH course counts as either SOCI or ANTH as needed to satisfy the program requirements regardless of whether the student registered for the course as SOCI or ANTH.

Prerequisite/Corequisite: The following course must be completed previously: SOCI 203 or equivalent; and 3 credits of 200-level Sociology courses.

Description:

This course explores historically enduring non-governmental institutions - such as botanic gardens, museums, and zoos and/or other institutions similar in kind - that seek to work in the service of society and play a role in the governance of ‘nature’ by producing and disseminating social, cultural, and environmental scientific knowledge in informal education settings. Topics covered may include the intersection of these institutions with the emergence of Modernity, European colonialism/coloniality, and current decolonization debates, as well as their reinvention in the 20th and 21st century as sites of socio-environmental conservation and climate change adaptation.

Component(s): Lecture

• Entry requirements for Sociology/Anthropology crosslisted courses depend on the discipline through which the course is entered.

• Students who have received credit for this topic under an ANTH 398 or SOCI 398 number may not take this course for credit. This course is equivalent to SOCI 320. Students who have received credit for SOCI 320 may not take this course for credit. A crosslisted SOCI/ANTH course counts as either SOCI or ANTH as needed to satisfy the program requirements regardless of whether the student registered for the course as SOCI or ANTH.

Prerequisite/Corequisite: 300‑level courses are open to students who have successfully completed ANTH 202 or equivalent, plus at least three credits of 200‑level Anthropology courses.

Description: This course examines areas of contestation between such social forces in the Middle East as the state, elders, women, and youth as they seek to control and define popular culture and everyday practices which have become highly politicized. Contested domains to be considered include mass media, dance and music, art, rituals, sexuality, and clothing, and their implications for the people and societies involved.

Component(s): Lecture

• Entry requirements for Sociology/Anthropology crosslisted courses depend on the discipline through which the course was entered.
• A crosslisted SOCI/ANTH course counts as either SOCI or ANTH as needed to satisfy the program requirements regardless of whether the student registered for the course as SOCI or ANTH.

Prerequisite/Corequisite: 300‑level courses are open to students who have successfully completed ANTH 202 or equivalent, plus at least three credits of 200‑level Anthropology courses.

Description: This course presents an overview of the peoples and cultures of the Pacific Islands, with particular emphasis on Melanesia. In addition to studying the peopling of the Pacific, the course delves into a range of classic anthropological topics, and addresses contemporary issues of gender, migration, and urbanization.

Component(s): Lecture

Prerequisite/Corequisite: 300‑level courses are open to students who have successfully completed ANTH 202 or equivalent, plus at least three credits of 200‑level Anthropology courses.

Description: This course analyzes belief systems and their attendant rituals and practices. The focus is on how anthropologists differentiate between magic, science, religion, and ideology, and how anthropologists understand the relationship between belief systems and reality.

Component(s): Lecture

Prerequisite/Corequisite: 300‑level courses are open to students who have successfully completed ANTH 202 or equivalent, plus at least three credits of 200‑level Anthropology courses.

Description: The course gives a broad historical and geographical survey of the region, and discusses, through case studies, older and contemporary topics, debates, and issues of African anthropology.

Component(s): Lecture

Prerequisite/Corequisite: 300‑level courses are open to students who have successfully completed ANTH 202 or equivalent, plus at least three credits of 200‑level Anthropology courses.

Description: This course explores beliefs and practices surrounding illness and healing across various cultures. A range of issues is examined, including, for example, social and cultural constructions of the body, disease causation, ethnomedicine, healing efficacy, biomedical technology, ethics, medical pluralism, global health, and the impact of a globalized medical/pharmaceutical industry. The course involves engagement with both theoretical and practical questions.

Component(s): Lecture

Prerequisite/Corequisite: 300‑level courses are open to students who have successfully completed ANTH 202 or equivalent, plus at least three credits of 200‑level Anthropology courses.

Description: Focusing on mass media (radio, television, cinema, print), this course considers how ethnographic approaches to media production and consumption may alter, or sometimes reinforce, dominant understandings of the impact of media. A range of theories of the social and cultural impacts of mass media, as well as ethnographic perspectives on audiences in everyday life are explored.

Component(s): Lecture

• Entry requirements for Sociology/Anthropology crosslisted courses depend on the discipline through which the course is entered.
• A crosslisted SOCI/ANTH course counts as either SOCI or ANTH as needed to satisfy the program requirements regardless of whether the student registered for the course as SOCI or ANTH.

Prerequisite/Corequisite: 300‑level courses are open to students who have successfully completed ANTH 202 or equivalent, plus at least three credits of 200‑level Anthropology courses.

Description: Drawing on contemporary interdisciplinary studies of mobility, this course examines the processes, policies, and issues that may be common to different categories of travel and movement as well as those that can distinguish between them.

Component(s): Lecture

• Entry requirements for Sociology/Anthropology crosslisted courses depend on the discipline through which the course is entered.
• A crosslisted SOCI/ANTH course counts as either SOCI or ANTH as needed to satisfy the program requirements regardless of whether the student registered for the course as SOCI or ANTH.

Prerequisite/Corequisite: 300‑level courses are open to students who have successfully completed ANTH 202 or equivalent, plus at least three credits of 200‑level Anthropology courses.

Description: This course brings anthropological and sociological perspectives to bear on the ways in which youths view and interact with each other and the world.

Component(s): Lecture

• Entry requirements for Sociology/Anthropology crosslisted courses depend on the discipline through which the course is entered.
• A crosslisted SOCI/ANTH course counts as either SOCI or ANTH as needed to satisfy the program requirements regardless of whether the student registered for the course as SOCI or ANTH.

Prerequisite/Corequisite: 300‑level courses are open to students who have successfully completed ANTH 202 or equivalent, plus at least three credits of 200‑level Anthropology courses.

Description: Population and environment have become two of the most contested areas for theory, research, policy and public action. The course critically examines the pillars of the population and the environment discourses with attention to differences between developed and developing countries. It provides an overview of the evolution of demands for population control to a common acceptance of a reproductive rights perspective. Similarly, the course focuses on current debates on environment and the management of the global commons from both the industrialized and developing countries’ perspectives.

• Entry requirements for Sociology/Anthropology crosslisted courses depend on the discipline through which the course is entered.
• A crosslisted SOCI/ANTH course counts as either SOCI or ANTH as needed to satisfy the program requirements regardless of whether the student registered for the course as SOCI or ANTH.

Prerequisite/Corequisite: 300‑level courses are open to students who have successfully completed ANTH 202 or equivalent, plus at least three credits of 200‑level Anthropology courses.

Description: Community is a term that appears frequently in academic as well as everyday language but it is used to convey a wide variety of meanings. This course provides a critical review of some of the groupings, feelings, claims, ideas as well as types and qualities of relationships that can be associated with community. Can such an ambiguous term still be analytically useful?

Component(s): Lecture

• Entry requirements for Sociology/Anthropology crosslisted courses depend on the discipline through which the course is entered.
• A crosslisted SOCI/ANTH course counts as either SOCI or ANTH as needed to satisfy the program requirements regardless of whether the student registered for the course as SOCI or ANTH.

Prerequisite/Corequisite: 300‑level courses are open to students who have successfully completed ANTH 202 or equivalent, plus at least three credits of 200‑level Anthropology courses.

Description: This course reviews the work of anthropologists and sociologists in cities. The focus is on the social organization of social life in First and Third World urban spaces. Consideration is also given to the particular dynamics of fieldwork in urban settings.

Component(s): Lecture

• Entry requirements for Sociology/Anthropology crosslisted courses depend on the discipline through which the course is entered.
• A crosslisted SOCI/ANTH course counts as either SOCI or ANTH as needed to satisfy the program requirements regardless of whether the student registered for the course as SOCI or ANTH.

Prerequisite/Corequisite: 300‑level courses are open to students who have successfully completed ANTH 202 or equivalent, plus at least three credits of 200‑level Anthropology courses.

Description: This course examines the changing significance of kinship in anthropology as well as in people’s lives and covers classic and contemporary approaches to kinship through ethnographic examples from across the world. Topics discussed may include descent, incest, sex and marriage; feminist and queer critiques; and the influence of globalization, new media and reproductive technologies on relatedness.

Component(s): Lecture

Prerequisite/Corequisite: 300‑level courses are open to students who have successfully completed ANTH 202 or equivalent, plus at least three credits of 200‑level Anthropology courses.

Description: This course situates the study of law in a historical, philosophical, and cross‑cultural perspective. It explores numerous issues of relevance to the legitimacy of contemporary Western legal systems, such as the relationship between law and morality, the idea of right prior to good, and the nature of legal reasoning. It may also involve an examination of the kinds of institutions found in place of courts in non‑Western societies.

Component(s): Lecture

• Entry requirements for Sociology/Anthropology crosslisted courses depend on the discipline through which the course is entered.
• A crosslisted SOCI/ANTH course counts as either SOCI or ANTH as needed to satisfy the program requirements regardless of whether the student registered for the course as SOCI or ANTH.

Prerequisite/Corequisite: 300‑level courses are open to students who have successfully completed ANTH 202 or equivalent, plus at least three credits of 200‑level Anthropology courses.

Description: This course provides a cross‑cultural, interdisciplinary approach to the study of human sexuality. There are three major components. One explores the validity of contemporary sexual beliefs and attitudes. Another focuses on the extent to which sexual beliefs and behaviours are socially organized. A third provides an introduction to theories which examine how biological and/or social forces shape our sexual lives.

Component(s): Lecture

• Entry requirements for Sociology/Anthropology crosslisted courses depend on the discipline through which the course is entered.
• Students who have received credit for SOCI 375 may not take this course for credit. A crosslisted SOCI/ANTH course counts as either SOCI or ANTH as needed to satisfy the program requirements regardless of whether the student registered for the course as SOCI or ANTH.

Prerequisite/Corequisite: 300‑level courses are open to students who have successfully completed ANTH 202 or equivalent, plus at least three credits of 200‑level Anthropology courses.

Description: In looking at the history of ethnographers’ visual documentation of non‑Western peoples as well as indigenous self‑representations, this course primarily concerns itself with power and the development of professional anthropology, focusing on photography and film. It explores paradigms and case studies in the history of visual anthropology by highlighting the stylistic, social scientific, commercial, and political agendas that influence the production of visual documents. Starting with colonial exhibitions of “exotic natives,” the course progresses to classic and contemporary ethnographic film with a focus on Curtis, Flaherty, Mead, Gardner, Rouch, and MacDougall.

Component(s): Lecture

Description: This course examines the family as an institution in relation to its evolution from kinship societies up to the present. The course first introduces elementary structures of kinship and examines the family institution in the context of traditional societies. Special attention is devoted to the development of the modern family and to its current transformation.

Component(s): Lecture

• Entry requirements for Sociology/Anthropology crosslisted courses depend on the discipline through which the course is entered.
• A crosslisted SOCI/ANTH course counts as either SOCI or ANTH as needed to satisfy the program requirements regardless of whether the student registered for the course as SOCI or ANTH.

Prerequisite/Corequisite: 300‑level courses are open to students who have successfully completed ANTH 202 or equivalent, plus at least three credits of 200‑level Anthropology courses.

Description: The course explores through different theoretical perspectives and ethnographic examples, cross‑cultural differences in sex/gender systems. A comparative analysis of gender relations in band, tribal, and state societies is undertaken. Topics discussed include the sexual division of labour, the cultural and social construction of gender, and the impact of economic development.

Component(s): Lecture

• Entry requirements for Sociology/Anthropology crosslisted courses depend on the discipline through which the course is entered.
• A crosslisted SOCI/ANTH course counts as either SOCI or ANTH as needed to satisfy the program requirements regardless of whether the student registered for the course as SOCI or ANTH.

Prerequisite/Corequisite: 300‑level courses are open to students who have successfully completed ANTH 202 or equivalent, plus at least three credits of 200‑level Anthropology courses.

Description: The course develops, through case analysis, insight into the differing priorities and competing concepts of human rights and human dignity in “non‑Western” cultural traditions as well as in “Western” societies. It explores the significance of religious and other ideological positions in the use and abuse of human rights by governments, extra‑governments, international bodies, as well as the general public. The course also examines topics such as women’s human rights, sexuality and human rights, and human rights in development, the limits of sovereignty, and state accountability.

Component(s): Lecture

• Entry requirements for Sociology/Anthropology crosslisted courses depend on the discipline through which the course is entered.
• A crosslisted SOCI/ANTH course counts as either SOCI or ANTH as needed to satisfy the program requirements regardless of whether the student registered for the course as SOCI or ANTH.

Prerequisite/Corequisite: 300‑level courses are open to students who have successfully completed ANTH 202or equivalent, plus at least three credits of 200‑level Anthropology courses.

Description: This course aims at familiarizing students with the social factors and dynamics of contemporary ethno‑cultural communities in Canada. Topics may include the immigration process and settlement; community development, structures, and organizations; the ethnic family; socio‑economic status and achievement; cultural continuity and change; minority‑majority relations and relations with other ethno‑cultural communities.

Component(s): Lecture

• Entry requirements for Sociology/Anthropology crosslisted courses depend on the discipline through which the course is entered.
• A crosslisted SOCI/ANTH course counts as either SOCI or ANTH as needed to satisfy the program requirements regardless of whether the student registered for the course as SOCI or ANTH.

Description: This course critically examines the existing food system by asking whether it is economically, socially and ecologically sustainable. It explores the politics of food by introducing students to existing and emerging social movements whose goal is to build a more sustainable food system.

Component(s): Lecture

• Entry requirements for Sociology/Anthropology crosslisted courses depend on the discipline through which the course is entered.
• A crosslisted SOCI/ANTH course counts as either SOCI or ANTH as needed to satisfy the program requirements regardless of whether the student registered for the course as SOCI or ANTH.

Prerequisite/Corequisite: 300‑level courses are open to students who have successfully completed ANTH 202 or equivalent, plus at least three credits of 200‑level Anthropology courses.

Description: This course introduces students to a sample of issues covered by anthropologists and sociologists in respect to this process, while at the same time also exploring transnational social networks that cross state borders but are not necessarily global in scope.

Component(s): Lecture

• Students who have received credit for SOCI 385 may not take this course for credit.

Description: Specific topics for this course, and prerequisites relevant in each case, are stated in the Undergraduate Class Schedule and the Departmental Handbook.

Prerequisite/Corequisite: 300‑level courses are open to students who have successfully completed ANTH 202 or equivalent, plus at least three credits of 200‑level Anthropology courses.

Description: Specific topics for this course, and prerequisites relevant in each case, are stated in the Undergraduate Class Schedule and the Departmental Handbook.

Prerequisite/Corequisite: 400‑level courses are open to students who have successfully completed ANTH 301, plus at least nine credits of 300‑level Anthropology courses or permission of the Anthropology advisor.

Description: This course offers a critical investigation of theoretical work of cultural imperialism and is useful for exploring some prominent cultural and media theories in both sociology and anthropology. The course focuses particularly on the intersections of culture, media, and international relations. Students examine the role of propaganda in foreign policy; ownership and control over media production and distribution; questions of assimilation, acculturation, and resistance; theories of technological determinism and the critiques they have provoked; and cargo cults. A broad range of case studies dealing with the arts, news reporting, consumption, and knowledge production in academia is also considered.

Component(s): Lecture

• Entry requirements for Sociology/Anthropology crosslisted courses depend on the discipline through which the course is entered.
• A crosslisted SOCI/ANTH course counts as either SOCI or ANTH as needed to satisfy the program requirements regardless of whether the student registered for the course as SOCI or ANTH.

Prerequisite/Corequisite: 400‑level courses are open to students who have successfully completed ANTH 301, plus at least nine credits of 300‑level Anthropology courses or permission of the Anthropology advisor.

Description: This course examines and critiques the theoretical concepts of Western academic and folk psychology from the perspective of the psychologies of other cultures. Topics considered include the cultural construction of the emotions, personality development, perception, culture‑bound psychiatric syndromes (such as windigo psychosis, amok), and altered states of consciousness, and indigenous theories of dream interpretation.

Component(s): Lecture

Prerequisite/Corequisite: 400‑level courses are open to students who have successfully completed ANTH 301, plus at least nine credits of 300‑level Anthropology courses or permission of the Anthropology advisor.

Description: This course examines the political process and political organization in cross‑cultural perspective. The focus is on how order is achieved in the absence of the state, as well as questions of leadership, power, and authority in different social contexts.

Component(s): Lecture

Prerequisite/Corequisite: 400‑level courses are open to students who have successfully completed ANTH 301, plus at least nine credits of 300‑level Anthropology courses or permission of the Anthropology advisor.

Description: This course examines debates that stemmed from the postmodern critique of representation in anthropology in the mid‑1980s. This critique has highlighted new politics for the writing of ethnographic texts, as well as raised a number of epistemological questions relating to the ontological status of truth. The course focuses on recent experiments in ethnographic writing and on dynamics of fieldwork experience.

• Students who have received credit for ANTH 422 may not take this course for credit.

Prerequisite/Corequisite: 400‑level courses are open to students who have successfully completed ANTH 301, plus at least nine credits of 300‑level Anthropology courses or permission of the Anthropology advisor.

Description: This course examines the contemporary roles of religion as systems of meaning, a focus of social claims, and as elements of self‑expression. This discussion is set within the historical trajectories of instances of globalization, such as colonization and the spread of world religions, conversions to Christianity and liberation theories, the politicization of Islam, or the emergence of New Age religions as new forms of identity.

Prerequisite/Corequisite: 400‑level courses are open to students who have successfully completed ANTH 301, plus at least nine credits of 300‑level Anthropology courses or permission of the Anthropology advisor.

Description: This course begins with the premise that in order to fully understand the impact that people have had on the world around us, it is necessary to start by seriously questioning the idea of the “human.” The course is an opportunity to explore emerging themes in anthropological research, from environmental studies to cybernetics alongside key works of philosophy, literature and social science in the “post‑humanist” tradition.

Component(s): Lecture

Prerequisite/Corequisite: The following course must be completed previously: ANTH 301 and 9 credits of 300-level Anthropology courses. If prerequisites are not satisfied, permission of the Department is required.

Description: In this course, students undertake a study of Karl Marx’s critical theory of society through a sustained engagement with his most comprehensive work, Capital, and other texts. The course allows students to discover the continuing relevance of his thought in illuminating the deep structure and movement of contemporary capitalist society.

Component(s): Lecture

• Entry requirements for Sociology/Anthropology crosslisted courses depend on the discipline through which the course is entered.

• This course is equivalent to SOCI 429. Students who have received credit for SOCI 429 may not take this course for credit. Students who have received credit for for this topic under an ANTH 398 or SOCI 398 number may not take this course for credit. A crosslisted SOCI/ANTH course counts as either SOCI or ANTH as needed to satisfy the program requirements regardless of whether the student registered for the course as SOCI or ANTH.
  

Prerequisite/Corequisite: 400‑level courses are open to students who have successfully completed ANTH 301, plus at least nine credits of 300‑level Anthropology courses or permission of the Anthropology advisor.

Description: This course considers the systematic reduction of poverty and powerlessness at individual and societal levels. Several development problems are examined, including national debt crisis, population growth, urbanization, and various degrees of state withdrawal from regulating the market. Special emphasis is given to case studies from major regions of the Third World on the varied impact of development on gender relations and on the eradication of social and economic inequalities.

Component(s): Lecture

• Entry requirements for Sociology/Anthropology crosslisted courses depend on the discipline through which the course is entered.
• A crosslisted SOCI/ANTH course counts as either SOCI or ANTH as needed to satisfy the program requirements regardless of whether the student registered for the course as SOCI or ANTH.

Prerequisite/Corequisite: 400‑level courses are open to students who have successfully completed ANTH 301, plus at least nine credits of 300‑level Anthropology courses or permission of the Anthropology advisor.

Description: This course analyzes the relationships between economy and cultural systems. The first section is devoted to the concept of economic base and superstructure in the industrial world; the second section focuses on selected case studies of non‑industrial cultures and industrial cultures. The course concludes with an appraisal of the quality of economic life in non‑industrial cultures.

Component(s): Lecture

Prerequisite/Corequisite: 400‑level courses are open to students who have successfully completed ANTH 301, plus at least nine credits of 300‑level Anthropology courses or permission of the Anthropology advisor.

Description: This course discusses theories of difference, pluralism, exclusion, nationalism, and racism within broader frameworks such as citizenship, multiculturalism, diaspora or transnationalism. This course will therefore review related theories of identity as these are currently addressed within anthropology/sociology and related disciplines.

Component(s): Lecture

• Entry requirements for Sociology/Anthropology crosslisted courses depend on the discipline through which the course is entered.
• A crosslisted SOCI/ANTH course counts as either SOCI or ANTH as needed to satisfy the program requirements regardless of whether the student registered for the course as SOCI or ANTH.

Prerequisite/Corequisite: 400‑level courses are open to students who have successfully completed ANTH 301, plus at least nine credits of 300‑level Anthropology courses or permission of the Anthropology advisor.

Description: This course looks at the relationship between linguistics and anthropology, and examines some of the issues in the linkage between language, culture, and thought.

Component(s): Seminar

Prerequisite/Corequisite: 400‑level courses are open to students who have successfully completed ANTH 301, plus at least nine credits of 300‑level Anthropology courses or permission of the Anthropology advisor.

Description: This course studies material objects and technologies and their role in the production of everyday social life and culture.

Component(s): Lecture

• Entry requirements for Sociology/Anthropology crosslisted courses depend on the discipline through which the course was entered.
  
• A crosslisted SOCI/ANTH course counts as either SOCI or ANTH as needed to satisfy the program requirements regardless of whether the student registered for the course as SOCI or ANTH.

Prerequisite/Corequisite: 400‑level courses are open to students who have successfully completed ANTH 301, plus at least nine credits of 300‑level Anthropology courses or permission of the Anthropology advisor.

Description: This course reviews, examines and critically assesses the international indigenous peoples’ movement and the articulation of indigenous identities, rights, communities and politics from a global perspective.

Component(s): Lecture

• Students who have received credit for this topic under an ANTH 498 number may not take this course for credit.

Prerequisite/Corequisite: 400‑level courses are open to students who have successfully completed ANTH 301, plus at least nine credits of 300‑level Anthropology courses or permission of the Anthropology advisor.

Description: This course examines social practices involving touch, a basic medium for human interaction. Topics may include gender differences in the use of touch, how children are handled across cultures, the medical applications of touch in diverse traditions, the tactile dimensions of urban design, and humans’ contact with and impact on the natural world.

Component(s): Lecture

• Entry requirements for Sociology/Anthropology crosslisted courses depend on the discipline through which the course is entered.
• A crosslisted SOCI/ANTH course counts as either SOCI or ANTH as needed to satisfy the program requirements regardless of whether the student registered for the course as SOCI or ANTH.

Prerequisite/Corequisite: 400‑level courses are open to students who have successfully completed ANTH 301, plus at least nine credits of 300‑level Anthropology courses or permission of the Anthropology advisor.

Description: This course introduces a number of emerging alternative models of social economy that envision sustainable global futures in contrast to the current model of neoliberal globalization.

Component(s): Lecture

• Entry requirements for Sociology/Anthropology crosslisted courses depend on the discipline through which the course is entered.
• A crosslisted SOCI/ANTH course counts as either SOCI or ANTH as needed to satisfy the program requirements regardless of whether the student registered for the course as SOCI or ANTH.

Prerequisite/Corequisite: 400‑level courses are open to students who have successfully completed ANTH 301, plus at least nine credits of 300‑level Anthropology courses or permission of the Anthropology advisor.

Description: This research seminar brings into focus the anthropology and sociology of contemporary empire‑building. Topics may include nation‑building, global and domestic counterinsurgency, “humanitarian intervention,” the ideologies of militarism, the militarization of the social sciences and the broader society, the national security state, soft power, the media and information operations, hegemony and capital accumulation.

Component(s): Lecture

• Entry requirements for Sociology/Anthropology crosslisted courses depend on the discipline through which the course is entered.
• A crosslisted SOCI/ANTH course counts as either SOCI or ANTH as needed to satisfy the program requirements regardless of whether the student registered for the course as SOCI or ANTH.

Prerequisite/Corequisite: 400‑level courses are open to students who have successfully completed ANTH 301, plus at least nine credits of 300‑level Anthropology courses or permission of the Anthropology advisor.

Description: From its inception, the anthropological investigation of kinship has been centred around organization and regulation of so‑called biological facts such as procreation and genetic relatedness or “consanguinity.” The course examines how international adoption, new reproductive technologies, and gay and lesbian kinship reshape the way people think about kinship.

Component(s): Lecture

Prerequisite/Corequisite: 400‑level courses are open to students who have successfully completed ANTH 301, plus at least nine credits of 300‑level Anthropology courses or permission of the Anthropology advisor.

Description: Law and society studies is an interdisciplinary field that seeks to understand the meaning of law and its role/effects in society. It draws variously on legal scholarship, sociological and anthropological theory, as well as empirical research in the social sciences. This course covers material from each of these domains, with a focus on issues such as the use of violence, the management of diversity, and the use of law as a tool for social change.

Component(s): Lecture

• Entry requirements for Sociology/Anthropology crosslisted courses depend on the discipline through which the course is entered.
• A crosslisted SOCI/ANTH course counts as either SOCI or ANTH as needed to satisfy the program requirements regardless of whether the student registered for the course as SOCI or ANTH.

Prerequisite/Corequisite: 400‑level courses are open to students who have successfully completed ANTH 301, plus at least nine credits of 300‑level Anthropology courses or permission of the Anthropology advisor.

Description: This course analyzes the legal system as an institutionalized system of social control and meanings, using historical and comparative data. Special attention is given to the study of the interface of law and other areas of sociological inquiry, including social change, conflict, and decision‑making.

Prerequisite/Corequisite: 400‑level courses are open to students who have successfully completed ANTH 301, plus at least nine credits of 300‑level Anthropology courses or permission of the Anthropology advisor.

Description: This advanced course explores the links between socio‑cultural change and changes in food patterns, practices and ideologies, from theoretical and ethnographic perspectives. Topics may include the relationships of food changes to technology, migration, everyday life, taste, ethics and globalization.

Component(s): Lecture

Prerequisite/Corequisite: 400‑level courses are open to students who have successfully completed ANTH 301, plus at least nine credits of 300‑level Anthropology courses or permission of the Anthropology advisor.

Description: This course examines the increasingly diverse field of anthropological research on children and youths. This field of interest has recently been expanded to consider a wide range of arenas in which children and youth may be implicated across the world, such as consumption, mobility, media, work, and conflict.

Component(s): Lecture

Prerequisite/Corequisite: 400‑level courses are open to students who have successfully completed ANTH 301, plus at least nine credits of 300‑level Anthropology courses or permission of the Anthropology advisor.

Description: This course examines the social roles of the body. Topics include body image and self‑esteem, the symbolism of beauty and ugliness, height, hair, dress, the face, body language, health and fitness, eating and drinking patterns. The subject is considered in anthropological and sociological perspectives.

Component(s): Lecture

• Entry requirements for Sociology/Anthropology crosslisted courses depend on the discipline through which the course is entered.
• A crosslisted SOCI/ANTH course counts as either SOCI or ANTH as needed to satisfy the program requirements regardless of whether the student registered for the course as SOCI or ANTH.

Prerequisite/Corequisite: 400‑level courses are open to students who have successfully completed ANTH 301, plus at least nine credits of 300‑level Anthropology courses or permission of the Anthropology advisor.

Description: This course is a review of the various and changing roles of men, the meanings of masculinity across cultures and the emerging men’s movements. In a dialogue with feminism, the course moves towards humanism.

Component(s): Lecture

• Entry requirements for Sociology/Anthropology crosslisted courses depend on the discipline through which the course is entered.
• A crosslisted SOCI/ANTH course counts as either SOCI or ANTH as needed to satisfy the program requirements regardless of whether the student registered for the course as SOCI or ANTH.

Prerequisite/Corequisite: 400‑level courses are open to students who have successfully completed ANTH 301, plus at least nine credits of 300‑level Anthropology courses or permission of the Anthropology advisor.

Description: This course reviews the analytical and comparative challenges posed by the study of the elites such as scientists, entrepreneurs, and politicians. More modest forms of relative advantage and privilege are also addressed.

Prerequisite/Corequisite: 400‑level courses are open to students who have successfully completed ANTH 301, plus at least nine credits of 300‑level Anthropology courses or permission of the Anthropology advisor.

Description: This course explores the dialogue between feminist theory and anthropology. Topics discussed include “feminist standpoint” theory and the critique of “objectivity” in feminist philosophy of science; feminist contributions to the historical development of anthropological theory; and the relationship between feminism and postmodernism in current debates on ethnography and fieldwork.

Component(s): Lecture

Prerequisite/Corequisite: 400‑level courses are open to students who have successfully completed ANTH 301, plus at least nine credits of 300‑level Anthropology courses or permission of the Anthropology advisor.

Description: Nationalism and racism are modern social phenomena. This course investigates the social conditions for their emergence and their political implications. Attention is given to case studies exemplifying these sociological developments.

Component(s): Lecture

• Entry requirements for Sociology/Anthropology crosslisted courses depend on the discipline through which the course is entered.
• A crosslisted SOCI/ANTH course counts as either SOCI or ANTH as needed to satisfy the program requirements regardless of whether the student registered for the course as SOCI or ANTH.

Prerequisite/Corequisite: 400‑level courses are open to students who have successfully completed ANTH 301, plus at least nine credits of 300‑level Anthropology courses or permission of the Anthropology advisor.

Description: This course considers many facets of surveillance in daily life. Emphasizing sociological and anthropological approaches, topics may include communications surveillance, surveillance in schools and the workplace, surveillance in medical care and public health settings, surveillance in the city, and surveillance futures.

Component(s): Lecture

• Entry requirements for Sociology/Anthropology crosslisted courses depend on the discipline through which the course is entered.
• A crosslisted SOCI/ANTH course counts as either SOCI or ANTH as needed to satisfy the program requirements regardless of whether the student registered for the course as SOCI or ANTH.

Prerequisite/Corequisite: 400‑level courses are open to students who have successfully completed ANTH 301, plus at least nine credits of 300‑level Anthropology courses or permission of the Anthropology advisor.

Description: Under the supervision of an Anthropology staff member, the student prepares an honours essay on a subject chosen in consultation with and approved by the professor.

Component(s): Lecture

Prerequisite/Corequisite: 400‑level courses are open to students who have successfully completed ANTH 301, plus at least nine credits of 300‑level Anthropology courses or permission of the Anthropology advisor.

Description: Specific topics for this course, and prerequisites relevant in each case, are stated in the Undergraduate Class Schedule and the Departmental Handbook.

Component(s): Lecture

Prerequisite/Corequisite: 400‑level courses are open to students who have successfully completed ANTH 301, plus at least nine credits of 300‑level Anthropology courses or permission of the Anthropology advisor.

Description: Specific topics for this course, and prerequisites relevant in each case, are stated in the Undergraduate Class Schedule and the Departmental Handbook.