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Anthropology Students

Degree Programs, Minors, Majors
Honours
Courses
Careers in Anthropology
Field school and Internship Opportunities
Anthropology Society
Student Awards
Student Research
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Disciplinary B.A. Progams

The Department offers a Minor, a Major and an Honours program in Anthropology.

MINOR in Anthropology is 24 credits earned as follows:
3 from Anthropology 1011
3 from Social Science at the 1/2000 level
6 from Anthropology at the 2000 level
6 from Anthropology 2801, 3021, 3031, 3311, 3821, 3831, 3841, 3851, 3861, 4021, 4311
6 from Anthropology at the 3/4000 level, chosen in consultation with the Programme Advisor.

MAJOR AREA OF STUDY in Anthropology is 60 credits earned as follows:
3 from Anthropology 1011
3 from Social Science at the 1/2000 level
6 from Anthropology at the 2000 level
9 from Anthropology 3311, 3021, 3031
6 from Anthropology 3811, 3821, 3831, 3841, 3851, 3861
9 from Anthropology at the 3/4000 level
6 from Anthropology at the 4000 level
18 credits from complementary courses in Social Science, Humanities, Arts and Letters, and 2 chosen in consultation with the Programme Advisor.

University Calendar
Degree audit forms

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HONOURS in Anthropology

The Honours degree, either thesis-based or course-based, is required for graduate school. In the absence of this a student would need to complete a qualifying year. The thesis- based option would be particularly advantageous for the student thinking about graduate studies in anthropology as such studies usually also involve writing a thesis. Those students who have done an Honours thesis and go on to graduate school find it an excellent preparation for this undertaking.

Another benefit to completing the Honours degree is that it gives students an opportunity to focus on a specific area or problem within anthropology. A student has the opportunity to design their own research project, to apply for internal funding, to undertake 'fieldwork', and to report on their findings. Not only is this beneficial for graduate studies, it is excellent training for the workplace as it develops independent, analytical, and critical thinking. It is also a benefit in positions where the knowledge and ability to design and undertake research is needed.

Sandy Barron is a recent graduate who completed the Honours thesis option and is pursuing graduate studies in anthropology at University of Calgary. Rachel Roy, by contrast, completed the Honours course-based option and is pursuing graduate work in museum studies at the University of Toronto. Stacey Cunningham, is an Honours thesis graduate, who as part of her studies undertook an investigation of ancient glass materials held by the New Brunswick Museum in St. John. She is pursuing graduate studies in archaeology and classics at the University of British Columbia.

For other Honours graduates, anthropology has cultivated an interest in and prepared them for work in other parts of the world. Laurel Dietz and Jennifer Graham are teaching English in Japan and South Korea.

Anthropology students considering an Honours degree require a GPA of 3.0 or better. Additionally, they must meet all the programme requirements for the Major, before being considered eligible for the Honours programme. Having met these two criteria, they have two options: a thesis-based Honours programme or a course-based Honours programme.

Thesis Option is 66 credits earned as follows:

42 credits as in the eight lines of the Major, plus:
3 additional credits from Anthropology 4021, 4311
15 from Anthropology at the 3/4000 levels chosen in consultation with the Programme Advisor
6 from Anthropology 4990

Course Option is 66 credits earned as follows:

42 credits as in the eight lines of the Major, plus:
3 from Anthropology 4021, 4311
21 from Anthropology at the 3/4000 level chosen in consultation with the Programme Advisor.

Note: The Honours Average will be calculated on all courses required for Honours that have been taken above the 1000 level.

Note: The listing of a course in the calendar is not a guarantee that the course is offered every year.

Note: Students must obtain a grade of at least C- in all courses used to fulfill prerequisite requirements. Otherwise, written permission of the appropriate Department or Programme Coordinator must be obtained.

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Field school and internship opportunities in anthropology

Here's a selection of current field school opportunities. Inquire early as programs may fill up or be cancelled, depending on enrollment numbers. Mount Allison students will need the approval of the department for transfer credit - speak to the program advisor, Dr Robert Adlam, before making your arrangements.

Mount Allison University Archaeological Field School at San Felice (Italy)
(1 July - 28 July 2007)
The Department of Classics at Mount Allison University offers a summer learning program for students in southern Italy. The 2007 Archaeological Field School at San Felice will allow students the opportunity to learn archaeological techniques through participation as part of a research team on a working excavation. Students will be immersed in modern Italian culture as they live in a small town which sees few tourists. They will also be able to explore some lesser known parts of this Mediterranean country where they will discover an area that saw flourishing centres of both ancient Greek and Roman civilizations. Click here for more details. For an application form please click here.

Are you interested in Archaeology? Want to learn more? Saint Mary's University is offering an archaeological field school this summer at Grand-Pré National Historic Site. Click here for more information.

For a student's observation on their field school experience please click here.

Eastern Europe
Spring session, month-long field school (6 credits) and fall semester abroad (12-15 credits) focusing on rural settings in Czech Republic, Slovakia, and western Ukraine with emphasis on the Roma. Detailed information and application forms can be found at www.cariboo.bc.ca/europe.

Yucatan
Program features home stays with Maya families in Yucatan (Mexico). Student research may include topics such as indigenous politics, heritage & cultural property, gender & sexualities, tourism, globalization, urbanism & migration, Maya and alternative medical-healing systems, governmentalities & politics, cultural ecology & development, spiritualisms & religion, transculturation, alternative & peripheral modernities. Includes "Field Languages (Spanish & Maya) for Ethnographic Research" course. Information and application materials at www.osea-cite.org.

Circumpolar Ethnographic Field School
The University of Northern British Columbia, in cooperation with Syktyvkar State University, is offering a Circumpolar Ethnographic Field School in 2005, and invites applications from all interested students. The program includes 15 credits of upper level courses including Russian language, ethnographic methods, and an ethnographic project. Students will acquire basic skills in ethnography through participating in an actual research project under the supervision of Canadian and Russian ethnographers and researchers. The first half of the field school will be based in Syktyvkar and the Southern Komi village of Kuratovo for Russian language study and preliminary training in anthropological research methods. Students will travel as well to the northern Izhma Komi communities, and to the Russian tundra to the north of the Arctic Circle where they will meet reindeer-herding communities and participate in the daily life of indigenous communities in the Russian North. The field school runs from May 14th to August 14th. Estimated cost is $6,500 (U.S.), which includes airfare, accommodation, food and tuition fees. The application deadline is February 27th, 2005; interested students are encouraged to register ASAP. Contact Dr. Michel Bouchard, Anthropology Program, University of Northern British Columbia, 3333 University Way, Prince George BC V2N 4Z9 Canada. Phone: 250 960-5643, Email: michel@unbc.ca, URL http://anthro.unbc.ca.

Student Awards

The Department of Anthropology Excellence Award recognizes the student who demonstrates both superior ability and promise in Anthropology.

Students majoring in anthropology can gain practical experience in research conducted as part of an Honours degree or as student research assistants.

In 1999 a Supreme Court of Canada ruling affirmed an Aboriginal claim to part of the $400 Million lobster fishery in the Miramichi in Northern New Brunswick. With their communities long afflicted by high unemployment and poverty, Aboriginal fishers were anxious to test out their newly found rights beginning with the 2000 lobster season. Yet they were greeted by blockades and other measures on the part of Euro-Canadian fishers and federal fishery officers determined to stymie their fishing efforts. The competing claims of Euro-Canadian and Aboriginal fishers along with their federal fishery regulators reflect different assumptions and principles about what constitutes good economic practice.

Two anthropology students, Nick van Hatten and Stacey Goguen spent the summer of 2005 conducting research for Dr. Robert Adlam on the fishers in Northern New Brunswick. They looked at the spring lobster fishery and the reasons for the scenes of confrontation both on and off the water. These include how the different communities of fishers define the boundaries of their fishing areas, determine access, and carry out enforcement.

For the second consecutive summer, anthropology student Stephen Walker will be delving into the past to help understand the present. Stephen is looking at the development of the relationship between First Nations and the government by examining the “Indian Journal” of Joseph Howe. Howe, born in 1804, was the Nova Scotia newspaperman and a defender of freedom of the press who helped promote the intellectual awakening of Nova Scotians. His criticisms of the government of the day led him into politics.

Howe’s little-known ‘Journal’ provides a detailed record of his travels throughout Nova Scotia in the early 1840's. It contains sketches of reserves in the province, a record of correspondence, and a detailed account of Howe’s “tour of western Nova Scotia Mi’kmaq reserves in 1842”. Stephen has found it quite a challenge to decode the nineteenth century handwriting but says it is interesting to be able to read the original sources. “The way they used language back then is fascinating. You also get a real sense of how people conducted themselves and how things were done when you read what was written at the time. It is also exciting knowing that I am the first person to take a thorough look at this.”

Below is a list of recent Honours work by graduates of the department :

• “Semiotics of tattooing and its implications for our understanding of liminality”;
• ‘Gone to Pot?’: An Examination of the Medical Marijuana Debate in North America”;
• “Blurring transnational boundaries: Migrant women, motherhood, and myth”;
• “Healing and Middle Eastern dance: An ethnography of ‘belly dance’ among North American women”; and
• “Conversations on the Transformation of Rural Life: Domestic Commodity Production in an Age of Farm Corporations”.

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