Course Offerings
Anthropology Course Offerings 2020/2021
AN100: Cultures Today
An introduction to the study of world cultures, focusing on the exploration of ethnographic case studies and the development of inter-cultural competencies through a problem-based approach, including participation in the Community Action Project developed by the Center for a Public Anthropology.
AN110: Money Makes the World Go Around
Introduces the cultural worlds of exchange and consumption by focusing on how and why people acquire things ranging from so-called "basic necessities" to more discretionary items like Lamborghini cars, Chanel suits and high-end coffee. The course begins by covering foundational ideas of money, markets and reciprocity, before considering the social and cultural importance of material acquisition (whether products or services) in both local and international settings.
AN200: Theories of Culture
This course introduces concepts and theories used by anthropologists for understanding sociocultural practices in all their diverse forms. It will address concepts such as ideology, hegemony, discourse, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, nationalism, globalization and neoliberalism.
AN210: Intercultural Competencies
Examines perceptions of cultural differences and miscommunication across social, cultural, ethnic, economic and historic barriers. Students explore the various approaches used to mitigate cultural differences including intercultural competency, diversity, anti-oppression, and anti-racism training. Using Canada as its context, students examine the historical outcomes and future opportunities for growing diversity at work, in the classroom, and in society.
AN211: Indigenous Religions
A study of indigenous practices and worldviews. Examples are selected from North, Central or South America. The course considers current writings, controversies and basic methodological problems in studying the traditions of people indigenous to the Americas (Cross-listed as RE211).
AN232G: Climate Change, Culture and Society
Special Topics Course: A concentrated study of specific problem areas reflecting the research interests of members of the department.
AN243: Law, Culture and Society
This course provides an introduction to the anthropology of law and its comparative and cultural dimensions. It examines the changing dynamics of law and the practical applications of anthropological insights in the resolution of cultural and legal rights issues in contemporary societies.
AN300: Ethnographic Methods
A survey of the methods of cultural anthropological inquiry including such issues as the relationship between theory and research, research design and problem formulation, participant observation, genealogical research, sampling procedures, interviewing, life history documentation, archival research, data organization and analysis, and the ethics of conducting anthropological research.
AN314: Animals and People
This course explores anthropological and related approaches to human relationships with non-human animals. It will consider the ways in which animals may be food, commodities, companions, kin, pests, wildlife, workers, spirits, and scientific objects in a variety of social, cultural and political settings.
AN326: Culture as Performance
Culture is a dynamic, expressive process that helps people define who they are as individuals and as collectivities. Symbolic events, festivals and rituals, as well as the everyday will be studied as sites of enactment of our human cultural drama.
AN347: Science, Technology and Culture
This course introduces anthropological approaches to technology and science. It questions strictly technical perspectives by raising issues of power, association, legitimacy and design. A central focus is the 'cyborg', a real and imagined meeting-place between the body and technology that has implications for biomedicine, biocommerce, and computers in the present and the future.
AN348: Space, Place and Culture
This course introduces anthropological approaches to studying the experience, imagination, and social production of space and place. It will consider topics such as storytelling, memory, urban planning, the politics of nature, and the reconfiguration of space by transnational forces, in a variety of cultural and historical settings.
AN355/GS355: Indigenous Peoples in Global Context
A selective introduction to the nations, cultures, and histories of Indigenous peoples today. Students learn about the ongoing struggles of Indigenous peoples and the contemporary relevance of Indigeneity in a globalizing world, engaging with important concepts, including settler colonialism, extractive capitalism, territorialisation, and environmentalism. The course also discusses the ways in which Indigenous communities respond, resist, and adapt to the forces around them.
AN356: Applied Anthropology
This course examines how cultural anthropologists apply their theories, methods and insights to the solution of practical problems. The historical development of applied anthropology, the ethical dilemmas of applied fieldwork and the research methods used in such fieldwork will be examined. Such areas of concentration as community development, advocacy anthropology, policy research and social impact assessment are investigated.
AN400: Doing Fieldwork
Students develop and carry out their own ethnographic research projects under the supervision of the course director. Using a combination of skills acquired in AN300 - Ethnographic Methods, students write a proposal, develop analytical questions and undertake participant-observation in a fieldwork context chosen among options provided. The end product will document the research process and seek to answer questions formulated in the proposal stage.
AN450: Current Topics in Anthropology
An examination of current debates and topics in sociocultural anthropology. Students will apply the anthropological tool kit in analyzing a set of contemporary agenda-setting works. They will also carry out in-depth library-based research in their selected field of choice in order to assemble a literature review.
Anthropology-Approved Courses
As part of their anthropology degree, students can take up to 1.0 credit worth of Anthropology-approved courses in other programs in the Faculty of Arts. See LORIS Browse Classes (formerly Dynamic Schedule) for current course offerings.
Archaeology and Heritage Studies
- AR203: Introduction to Community Engagement
Community Engagement
- CMEG300: Introduction to Community Engagement
- CMEG301: Social Inclusion, Local Democracy and Community Enterprise
- CMEG305*: Semester in Community Engagement
Communication Studies
- CS202: Nonverbal Communication
Applied Digital Program
- DH200: Digital Narratives
- DH300: Digital Editing and Publishing
English
- EN220: Reading Culture: Strategies and Approaches
- EN330: Human Rights in Contemporary Cultural Forms
Environmental Studies
- ES295: Ecotourism and the Environment
Global Studies
- GS201: Theories in Global Studies
- GS220: Being Human: Cultural Analysis in a Global Age
- GS221: Globalization and Cultures: The Cosmopolitan Village?
- GS355: Indigenous Peoples in Global Context
- GS361: Disasters and Development
History
- HI389/MU310: Music, Sound and Environment
Mediterranean Studies
- MI201: Mediterranean Culture and Civilization I
- MI202: Mediterranean Culture and Civilization II
Religion and Culture
- RE211: Indigenous Religions
- RE216: Christianity and Modern Culture
- RE285: Religion and Culture of the African Diaspora
- RE308: Conducting Fieldwork
- RE333: Food and Religion
Languages and Literatures
- SP220: Topics in Spanish Culture
Sociology
- SY321: Sociology of Medicine
- SY332: Sociology of Race and Ethnicity
- SY338: Women and Development
Women and Gender Studies
- WS212: Food and Feminism