Department of Sociology and Anthropology
(Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences)
Anthropology (ANTH) Courses
Introduction to Socio-Cultural Anthropology
What does it mean to be human? Anthropologists have approached this question by using the ethnographic method to understand the diverse ways people create shared worlds of meaning. In this course students will learn how culture shapes experience, and how ethnography describes this process.
Precludes additional credit for ANTH 1000 (no longer offered), HUMS 1005 (no longer offered).
Lectures/discussions three hours a week.
Introduction to Issues in Anthropology
This course introduces students to anthropology through in-depth consideration of selected issues facing contemporary cultures and societies. Selected issue(s) will reflect the expertise of the instructor and could include current debates related to race, gender, development, politics, economics, religion, technology, health and the environment.
Precludes additional credit for ANTH 1000 (no longer offered).
Lectures/discussions three hours a week.
Race, Racialization and Racism: Critical Reflections
This course explores historically grounded contemporary dynamics of race, racialization processes and racism. Learners will link their own experiences with key theoretical concepts such as settler colonialism, slavery, racial capitalism, the racial state, systemic racism, and global whiteness.
Seminar three hours a week.
Foundations in Socio-Cultural Anthropology
Exploration of basic anthropological concepts and analytical strategies through case studies. Emphasis on socio-cultural diversity as documented by ethnographic research with attention to the role of culture in articulating gender, kinship, economic and political relations.
Prerequisite(s): ANTH 1001 or ANTH 1002.
Lectures and discussions three hours a week.
Race and Ethnicity
Introduction to some of the recent theoretical literature and research on the issues of race, racism and ethnicity. Concepts, controversies and definitions dealing with race and ethnicity from the Canadian context and internationally.
Anthropology and Gender
The study of gender in anthropology, including its theoretical, cross-cultural and ethnographic aspects. Emphasis on gender as a sociocultural process that is at once discursive and embodied, and that varies in distinct cultural, socio-historical, geopolitical, and economic contexts.
Precludes additional credit for ANTH 2408 (no longer offered).
Lectures and workshop three hours a week.
Girlhood in Contemporary Contexts: Anthropological and Sociological Perspectives
Drawing on anthropological and sociological approaches, students will explore girls’ lives in diverse cultural, political, economic, and social contexts. Topics may include: movement and migration, education, media, imaging and humanitarianism, consumerism, agency and activism, health, and violence.
Prerequisite(s): second-year standing or permission of the instructor.
Two hour lecture plus one hour tutorial per week.
Psychological Anthropology
Exploration of the relative and the universal in relations between the psychological self and the cultural environment. Topics may include anthropology of psychiatric institutions and practices, the cultural relativity of emotions, the self in everyday life and ritual.
Humans/Animals: the More-than-Human in Social Research
Examination of relationships between humans and animals in the sociological and broader social studies canon, including: multispecies ethnography, the role of the ‘more than human’ in Indigenous legal orders, posthumanist and STS theory, relationships between humans and animals and other non-human entities in the Anthropocene.
Foundations in Community Engagement
Study of theoretical debates and practical applications relating to community engagement with a focus on Canadian examples. Exploration of the contested and complex meanings of community engagement in and between diverse communities, public institutions, non-profit sector and private enterprise with an emphasis on social justice.
Also listed as SOCI 2180.
Prerequisite(s): Second year standing or permission of instructor.
Lecture, discussion and project work three hours a week.
Culture and Symbols
The representation and construction of culture through symbols. Topics may include material culture, rituals, archetypes, myths and mythmaking.
Precludes additional credit for ANTH 3304 (no longer offered).
Lectures and workshop three hours a week.
Theories of Human Nature
Critical, cross-cultural exploration of theories of human nature. Begins with a survey of western anthropological models of human consciousness and examines scientific, philosophical and religious perspectives with reference to ethnographic research on myth, religion and science produced by western and non-western cultures.
Religion and Society
Cross-cultural survey of religious institutions, focusing on theories and methodologies in the study of religion. Topics may include myth, totemism, cults, ritual, belief systems, altered states of consciousness, new religious and/or new age movements and the relationship of religion with other social institutions and processes.
Also listed as RELI 2736.
Lectures and workshop three hours a week.
Studies in Indigenous Peoples of North America: Current Issues in Anthropological Research
Examination of a range of issues related to particular indigenous communities and regions of North America. Topics include political, socio-economic, and cultural transformations, Aboriginal title and rights, collaborative research, and other topics relevant to indigenous communities and indigenous - non-indigenous relations.
Lecture/discussion groups three hours a week.
Ethnography of sub-Saharan Africa
Examination of selected areas of contemporary sub-Saharan Africa through ethnographic research. Topics may include religion, political economy, international development, expressive cultures, colonialism/postcolonialism, witchcraft, health, the environment, gender, race, and family relations.
Lecture and discussion groups three hours a week.
Studies in Asian Societies: Current Issues in Anthropological Research
Examination of contemporary Asia through anthropological research. Topics may include cultural practices, religion, health issues, economics, politics, history, colonialism and social change. Emphasis will vary by sub-region from year to year, e.g., focusing on South, East or Southeast Asia.
Tradition and Modernity in the Pacific
Relationships between contemporary Pacific societies and the rest of the world. Topics may include colonialism and its aftermaths, cultural revival, mining, Christianity, alternative modernities, diasporas, and indigenous media.
Latin America and the Caribbean through Ethnography
Examination of selected areas of contemporary Latin America and the Caribbean through current ethnographies. Topics may include: processes of state-formation, colonialism, political-economy, gender and sexuality, racism and racialization processes, health, urban and rural ethnography, social movements, migration and diaspora, and everyday life.
Lectures and discussion three hours a week.
The Postcolonial Middle East
How do people live in the Middle East? What political, historical and religious forces shape their everyday life? This class draws on essays, ethnographies, and movies to challenge the narratives of chronic violence, excessive religiosity, and prehistoric misogyny that haunt our understanding of this region.
Ethnography of North Africa
Introduction to societies and cultures of North Africa. Topics may include: colonialism and postcolonialism, nationalism and the relations between minority and majoritarian groups, intersections of state and religion, ritual practices, everyday life, gender, race, class, migration and diaspora, expressive cultures and the environment.
Anthropology of "Mainstream" North America
Examination of contemporary North American society. Topics may include social class, success myths, schooling, immigration, cities, the self, television, romance, youth sub cultures; how what is seen as “mainstream” is determined.
Ethnography of a Selected Area
Ethnography of a selected area. Area to be announced.
Special Topics in Anthropology
Special topics in anthropology not ordinarily treated in the regular course program. The choice of topics varies from year to year. Students should check with the Department regarding the topic offered.
Special Topics in Anthropology
Special topics in anthropology not ordinarily treated in the regular course program. The choice of topics varies from year to year. Students should check with the Department regarding the topic offered.
Anthropology of Development
An exploration of the anthropology of international development. Topics may include racial capitalism and inequality, globalization, gender relations, global in/justice, policy-making processes, climate change, NGOs, and social movements.
Lectures and discussion three hours a week.
Course-Related Tutorials in Anthropology
Consult the Department for information.
Course-Related Tutorials in Anthropology
Consult the department for information.
Ethnographic Research Methods
Broad overview of methods through lectures, discussion, and hands-on activities. Research design, ethics, participant-observation, interviewing and other methods, data analysis and ethnographic writing. Prepares students to apply methodological knowledge in careers and projects undertaken for the fourth-year honours research paper and/or ethnographic field course.
Precludes additional credit for ANTH 2003.
Prerequisite(s): ANTH 2001 [1.0].
Lectures three hours a week.
History of Anthropological Theory
Analysis of the development of anthropological thought since the end of the eighteenth to the mid-twentieth century. The development of various theoretical approaches within their historical, social, intellectual and biographical contexts. The implications of these issues may be explored through ethnographies.
Prerequisite(s): ANTH 2001 [1.0].
Lectures three hours a week.
Contemporary Theories in Anthropology
Contemporary trends in anthropological analyses. Discussion of anthropological theory in its contemporary, interdisciplinary context.
Prerequisite(s): ANTH 2001.
Lecture/discussion groups three hours per week.
Language, Culture, and Globalization
Theoretical and methodological contributions of anthropology to the study of communicative practices in a variety of social and cultural contexts. Language practices, ideologies, and globalization as they intersect with culture, power, race, ethnicity, indigeneity, gender, nationhood and political economy.
Lecture three hours per week.
Studies in Race and Ethnicity
Race, racism and ethnicity in Canada and internationally. Critical perspectives on race and ethnicity as they intersect with other social relations. Racism, Eurocentrism, Orientalism, nationalism, colonialism, international migration, citizenship, and diasporic cultures.
Prerequisite(s): second-year standing or permission of the instructor.
Lectures three hours a week.
Studies in Globalization and Human Rights
Examination of the various dimensions and meanings of globalization and its relationship with human rights. Main emphasis will be on the implications of the emerging global economy for economic, social, political and cultural rights.
Prerequisite(s): SOCI 1001 and SOCI 1002, or SOCI 1003 [1.0], or ANTH 1001, or ANTH 1002, and third-year standing.
Lectures three hours a week.
Science, Culture and Society: Social Studies of Science
Principal theories and methods used by Science and Technology Studies scholars to examine the social construction of scientific knowledge. Topics may include the demarcation of science from non-science, the relationship between experts and laypersons, and the study of scientific controversies.
Prerequisite(s): second-year standing or permission of the instructor.
Lecture three hours a week.
The Global Middle Class
The growing numbers of people who could be considered “middle class” are central to both “cultural” and “economic” globalization. This course examines what it means to be middle class theoretically, historically, and cross-culturally.
Lecture/discussion groups three hours a week.
Children and Childhood in a Globalized World
A socio-historical and cross-cultural exploration of constructions, deconstructions, and the experience of childhood in Canada and internationally. Compulsory schooling, child labour, protection and regulation in law, the commodification and equalization of childhood, children's social movements, and the emergence of children's rights discourses.
Prerequisite(s): SOCI 1001 and SOCI 1002, or SOCI 1003 [1.0], or ANTH 1001, or ANTH 1002, and third-year standing.
Lecture three hours a week.
Special Topics in Anthropology
Topics not ordinarily treated in the regular course program. The choice of topics varies from year to year. Check with the Department regarding the topic offered.
Lecture three hours a week.
Special Topics in Anthropology
Topics not ordinarily treated in the regular course program. The choice of topics varies from year to year. Check with the Department regarding the topic offered.
Lecture three hours a week.
Studies in Medical Anthropology
Cross-cultural study of the body, illness, healing, health and well-being. Sociocultural factors in the causation, diagnosis, management and meaning of illness. Biocultural and political-economic dimensions of ill health. Ritual and symbolic healing. Ethical concerns and public health applications of anthropology.
Lecture three hours a week.
Anthropology and the Environment
Environmental concerns affect everyone, unevenly. How does anthropology illuminate the cultural, social, political and ecological differentiation resulting from and constituting environmental processes? The range of responses considered may address issues of resource access and exploitation, as well as transnational transformations in the concept of nature.
Lectures three hours a week.
Jokes, Humor, Laughter
Anthropological inquiries into the phenomenon of humor. Psychoanalytic, semiotic and phenomenological perspectives are applied to ethnographic materials from a variety of cultural contexts.
Ritual
Cross-cultural study of ritual, religious and secular, its role in various social processes and relation to other activities. Exploration of variability of ritual and the range of theories that have been developed to account for what ritual does, including intellectualist,functionalist and performative.
Lectures and discussion three hours a week.
Visual Anthropology
An introductory exploration of the relationship between anthropology and visual practices. Focus on both the analysis of visual elements and the use of visual media such as film, photography, drawing, and digital media in anthropological practice.
Lecture and discussion three hours a week.
Studies in Art, Culture and Society
Thematic investigation of genres, forms and styles of art, culture and society. Topics may include current debates on social structure and artistic creativity; ideology, cultural memory and politics, patronage and art; cross-cultural representations, taste, social mobility and art; modernism and the avant-garde.
Prerequisite(s): second-year standing or permission of the instructor.
Lecture three hours a week.
Anthropology of Material Culture and Museums
How diverse societies are materialized in a wide range of cultural materials from clothing, housing and memorials to more ephemeral materializations such as food, gardens, dance, ritual props and music-making. Emphasis on museum practices and the cultural politics of display.
Lectures and discussion three hours a week.
Studies in Anthropology and Indigenous Peoples
Problems in the interpretation and analysis of various forms of encounters between indigenous peoples and colonizing powers will be examined. Topics may include patterns and practices of contact, cultural syncretism, conquest, domination, relations of ruling, cultural hegemony, resistance and non-compliance.
Precludes additional credit for ANTH 3109 (no longer offered).
Prerequisite(s): second-year standing or permission of the instructor.
Lecture three hours a week.
Course-Related Tutorials in Anthropology
Consult the Department for information.
Course-Related Tutorials in Anthropology
Consult the Department for information.
Practicum Placement
This course provides students with the opportunity to apply academic skills and knowledge while working within an organization in the community. Placements are organized with support from a co-ordinator.
Also listed as SOCI 3950.
Precludes additional credit for ANTH 4000 (no longer offered).
Prerequisite(s): third-year standing with a GPA of 9.00 or higher and permission of the course instructor. [Or by permission of the course instructor for students who do not meet the GPA requirement.].
Placement six to eight hours a week.
Co-operative Work Term
Health and Globalization
An anthropological examination of the health impacts of global processes, relationships, and movements. May include topics such as economic development and disease, migration and health, medical tourism, transnational reproduction, and the global circulation of bodies, organs, medical technologies, drugs, and pathogens.
Seminar three hours a week.
Decolonizing Methodologies in the 21st Century: Practicing Engaged Anthropology
Examination of the breadth of critical literature on ‘decolonizing methodologies’ within and adjacent to anthropology in the 20th and 21st centuries. The course will equip students with an in-depth understanding of critiques of the discipline’s methods and ethics while practicing an engaged anthropology.
Prerequisite(s): third-year standing or permission of the instructor.
Seminar three hours per week.
Advanced Studies in Anthropological Theory and Methods
The course examines debates in theory and methodology currently facing the discipline through a survey of leading-edge issues and approaches.
Seminar three hours a week.
Advanced Studies in Race and Ethnicity
An advanced seminar that explores selected topics in race and ethnicity in an international context. Specific topics will vary according to instructors' research interests.
Prerequisite(s): third-year standing or permission of the instructor.
Seminar three hours a week.
Special Topics in Science and Technology Studies
The course is concerned with broadening students’ understanding of Science and Technology Studies (STS) by focusing on a relevant topic. Topics may vary from year to year. Students should check with the Department regarding the topic offered.
Prerequisite(s): third-year standing or permission of the instructor.
Seminar three hours a week.
Ethical Issues in Health and Healthcare
A study of the diverse ethical frameworks that inform and interrogate health, healthcare, and biomedicine. Potential topics include: history of bioethics; critical bioethics; ethics of care; health inequities; indigenous healthcare; human enhancement; novel genetic technologies; ageing; vaccine politics.
Ethnographic Field Course
In this class, we explore a significant issue in our communities, learning how ethnographic methods can add new perspectives to our own experience and help us appreciate the experience of others. Students learn-through-doing their own small ethnographic projects, peer-to-peer feedback, and reflective discussion.
Prerequisite(s): fourth year standing or permission of the instructor.
Seminar three hours per week.
Ethnography of Gender
Ethnographic focus on topics may include: global political-economy, colonialism and post-colonialism, racialization and racism, work and labour, expressive and music cultures, as well as social movements as they intersect with gender and sexualities. Topics and approaches may vary from year to year.
Also offered at the graduate level, with different requirements, as ANTH 5109, for which additional credit is precluded.
Seminar three hours a week.
Community Engagement Capstone
Students in the capstone will reflect on their engagement experiences and advance their critical understanding of community through a series of in-class activities and readings. Students will produce a public-facing artifact (e.g., blog, podcast, video) related to their experiences, potentially in collaboration with community partners.
Also listed as SOCI 4171.
Prerequisite(s): ANTH 2180 and fourth year standing or permission of instructor.
Lecture, discussion and project work three hours per week.
War, Security and Citizenship
Critical theoretical and multidisciplinary examination of violent conflict, security and citizenship. How wars produce a variety of abject and new subjects, create and reproduce citizenship hierarchies, and expand and contract citizenship entitlements.
Language, Place and the North
An investigation of language, places, spaces, and environment, focussing on Indigenous peoples and the Arctic and subarctic regions of Canada. Topics include critical understandings of language use, northern environments, Indigenous homelands, and the role of Indigenous languages in defining and transforming cultural and geographic space.
Also offered at the graduate level, with different requirements, as ANTH 5205, for which additional credit is precluded.
Seminar three hours a week.
Special Topics in Anthropology
Topics not ordinarily treated in the regular course program. The choice of topic varies from year to year. Check with the department regarding the topic offered.
Seminar three hours a week.
Special Topics in Anthropology
Topics not ordinarily treated in the regular course program. The choice of topic varies from year to year. Check with the department regarding the topic offered.
Seminar three hours a week.
Anthropology of Natural Resources
Anthropology of natural resources. Topics may include economies, ecologies, cultural and social dynamics of fishing, forestry, lands, mining, oil, wildlife, at varying analytical scales, including a critical examination of the term “natural resource” itself.
Prerequisite(s): third- year standing or permission of the instructor.
Also offered at the graduate level, with different requirements, as ANTH 5355, for which additional credit is precluded.
Seminars and discussions three hours a week.
Symbolic and Semiotic Anthropology
This course looks at the role of signs and symbols in social life, including the properties of signs, the workings of symbolic systems, the construction of social reality, and role all these play in actors’ practice.
Also offered at the graduate level, with different requirements, as ANTH 5403, for which additional credit is precluded.
Seminar three hours a week.
Advanced Studies in Culture and Symbols
Contemporary debates in theory and methods regarding analysis of the symbolic processes.
Prerequisite(s): third-year standing or permission of the instructor.
Seminar three hours a week.
Special Topics in Visual Anthropology
Anthropological approaches to the study of visual cultures, visuality, and the role of visual media in ethnography. Topics may include film, photography, illustration, comics and graphic novels, animation, visual performance, multimodal approaches, digital modes and other visual media that challenge the primacy of textual representations.
Prerequisite(s): third-year standing or permission of the instructor.
Also offered at the graduate level, with different requirements, as ANTH 5005, for which additional credit is precluded.
Seminar three hours a week.
Economic Anthropology
Anthropology’s holistic, comparative and critical contribution to the study of livelihood. How practices and understandings of production, circulation, consumption, and property vary cross-culturally. Relevant theoretical debates including those among formalist (neo-classical), substantivist, Marxist, and interpretive approaches over the applicability of capitalist thinking.
Also offered at the graduate level, with different requirements, as ANTH 5560, for which additional credit is precluded.
Seminar three hours a week.
Political Anthropology
Can anthropology help us understand politics? Can ethnographic encounters help us approach political theory and political action differently? This seminar will focus on concepts (power, authority, equality) and practices (resistance, subjection, solidarity) through which anthropologists invite us to rethink the way we live together.
Also offered at the graduate level, with different requirements, as ANTH 5570, for which additional credit is precluded.
Seminar three hours a week.
Capstone Seminar in Globalization, Culture, and Power
This course is dedicated to developing individual student research projects. Through seminar discussions, these student projects will benefit from an introduction to research design and methodologies, analysis and interpretation, as well as issues surrounding ethics, representation, and knowledge production.
Prerequisite(s): fourth-year standing in the BGINS Globalization, Culture and Power program with a minimum 9.0 GPA or permission of the instructor.
Seminar three hours a week.
Anthropology of Indigeneity
For the purposes of this course, Indigenous cultures are cultures that have transformed through the struggles of colonized peoples to resist and redirect projects of settler nationhood. This course looks at those transformations and that resistance in a selection of social, political and economic contexts.
Also offered at the graduate level, with different requirements, as ANTH 5208, for which additional credit is precluded.
Seminar three hours a week.
Special Topics in Ethnography of Contemporary Africa
Research-based seminar that explores the debates related to ethnographic research in (a) selected region(s) of Africa. Topics may include social movements, expressive cultures, religious practices, conflict, identity politics, political economy, colonialism and postcolonialism, migration and diaspora, health, race, gender, and climate change.
Also offered at the graduate level, with different requirements, as ANTH 5209, for which additional credit is precluded.
Seminar three hours a week.
Colonialism and Post-Colonialism
Comparative ethnographic and historical approaches to colonialism including topics such as the formation of colonial regimes, colonial governmentality, servile labour systems, missionization, anti-colonial resistance, cultural hybridization and post-colonial memory. Exploration of debates over the relation between colonialism and the production of social scientific knowledge.
Prerequisite(s): third-year standing or permission of the instructor.
Seminar three hours a week.
Advanced Studies in Globalization and Citizenship
Selected topics on the confluence of processes of globalization, development and citizenship. Examination of debates about the meaning and impact of globalization on patterns of inequality and citizenship both internationally and within Canada, and about strategies for progressive development.
Anthropology of Personhood
Exploration of anthropological approaches to personhood and diversity in constructions of the self in various socio-cultural and historical contexts.
Seminar three hours a week.
Special Topics in the Anthropology of Development
Topic varies from year to year. Students should check with the Department regarding the topic offered.
Also offered at the graduate level, with different requirements, as ANTH 5809, for which additional credit is precluded.
Seminar three hours a week.
Honours Research Paper in Anthropology
This course offers Honours students the opportunity to write an original research paper in their final year of study. Supported by the HRP supervisor, students develop their projects through seminar discussion addressing issues of research design, ethics, methodology, anthropological analysis, interpretation, and representation.
Prerequisite(s): fourth-year Honours standing.
Tutorial in Anthropology
Consult the Department for information.
Tutorial in Anthropology
Consult the Department for information.
Note: Not all courses listed are offered in a given year. For an up-to-date statement of course offerings for the current session and to determine the term of offering, consult the class schedule at central.carleton.ca.
Summer session: some of the courses listed in this Calendar are offered during the summer. Hours and scheduling for summer session courses will differ significantly from those reported in the fall/winter Calendar. To determine the scheduling and hours for summer session classes, consult the class schedule at central.carleton.ca