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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 3021, 3031, 3311, 3801, 3821, 3831, 3841, 3851, 3861, 3871, 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 3021, 3031, 3311
6 from Anthropology 3801, 3821, 3831, 3841, 3851, 3861, 3871
9 from Anthropology at the 3/4000 level
6 from Anthropology at the 4000 level
18 credits from complementary courses in Social Science, Humanities, and Arts and Letters 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 first seven 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 first seven 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 Patricia Kelly Spurles, before making your arrangements.

Mount Allison University Archaeological Field School in Belize
Typically offered for the month of May each year, the field school offers 9 credit hours of 3000 level anthropology courses. The field school is located within the Programme for Belize conservation area, which is a 110,000 hectare nature reserve in northwestern Belize, Central America. The area contains over 60 known ancient Maya archaeological sites, Archaic period archaeological sites, many rare birds, two species of monkeys, and other fauna and flora of the tropics. Students learn from direct experience as they assist in research and participate in archaeological field work and field lab analysis and artifact processing. During the program, field trips typically include visits to developed archaeological sites such as Altun Ha and Lamanai.

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 and Archaeology Field School
The University of Northern British Columbia offers "two community-based field schools that provide intensive training and opportunities for students to expand their skills and knowledge. In both field schools participants are immersed in communities and landscapes that they may never otherwise experience. Usually a small group of 25 or less, the students develop lasting friendships and have a perfect opportunity to build team skills. Field schools can be intense and challenging but a memory not easily forgotten - a trip of a lifetime." Circumpolar Ethnographic Field School and the Archaeology Field School.

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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