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Telephone ID #: 00720533
A study of contemporary and traditional African peoples, their cultural backgrounds and historical interrelations. Lectures and readings will provide an overview of African social institutions, religious beliefs and ritual, political and economic organization, colonial and post-colonial experience, and current problems.
Prerequisite: ANTA01Y or permission of instructor
Session: Winter Day
Telephone ID #: 00721663
This course has two objectives: to explore the regional and ethnic diversity of contemporary Canadian cultures, and to examine the forces which operate to bind Canadians together.
The first objective entails consideration of localized case studies, e.g. of agriculturally based religious communities, Newfoundland outports, indigenous groups (Native Canadians and Metis), and others. The second involves searching for shared cultural meaning in Canadian literature, myth and symbolism, mass media, and political culture.
Prerequisite: ANTA01Y or permission of instructor
Session: Winter Day
T.B.A.
Telephone ID #: 00722533
This course examines a fundamental question in anthropology: is there a "human nature?" Is there an intrinsic template which distinguishes the human species from all others? Are the attributions made to "human nature" adequate depictions of that, or are they convenient rhetoric for some other purpose? Myths, legends and parables have frequently used animal kin, especially non-human primates, as metaphor and model in which the "intrinsic" being of humans is derived from the characteristics attributed to other animals. This course investigates this desire to see ourselves reflected in other creatures by exploring the literature of physical anthropology and related fields which have sought to describe "human nature." Two hours of lectures per week.
Prerequisite: ANTA01Y or permission of instructor
Session: Winter Day
T.B.A.
Telephone ID #: 00725453
This course is designed to introduce the student to anthropological questions and theories regarding human sexual biology. Major topics to be critically assessed include evidence for the origins and evolution of human sexuality; sex differences among the living primates; the influence of culture on the biology of sex in human populations; prehistoric, historic and contemporary patterns in sexually-transmitted diseases; sociobiological theories of sex differences.
Prerequisite: ANTA01Y & ANTB15Y
Session: Winter Day
T.B.A.
Telephone ID #: 00725563
An investigation of the similarities and variations among contemporary and traditional Muslim societies from an anthropological perspective.
Focusing primarily on the peoples of the Middle East and North Africa, this course seeks to explore the bonds of a common faith that is itself a social system, which unites the diverse cultures of the Islamic World.
Prerequisite: ANTA01Y or permission of instructor
Session: Winter Day
Telephone ID #: 00730133
A comparative consideration of the human body as symbol, metaphor and locus of practical knowledge. Issues to be considered include cultural constructions of the body in societies of different scale, cultural formulations of sexuality, gender, and human biology, the body as the site of political control in colonial and post-colonial societies, cultural and practical relationships of the body to the humanly built environment. Seminar; limited enrollment: 20.
Prerequisite: [ANTC11 or ANTC61 or ANTC05] or permission of the instructor.
Session: Winter Day
Telephone ID #: 00730563
A cross-cultural study of systems of belief and ritual
concerning spiritual beings and the cosmos; of social actions,
rights, and obligations arising out of human dependence on spiritual
beings; and of magic, curing, witchcraft and sorcery. The course
is concerned with the anthropological study of supernatural beliefs
in small scale non-western societies. Topics covered (time permitting)
will be: the origin and function of religion; symbolism; myth;
ritual; shaminism; magic; witchcraft; divination; death; ghosts;
ancestor cults; and dynamics in religion. One two-hour session
per week.
Exclusion: ANT341H
Prerequisite: ANTA01Y
Session: Winter Day
G. Gillison
Telephone ID #: 00730653
This course is designed to complement ANTB05 by giving
closer examination to selected issues in African ethnography.
Case studies from different parts of the continent will be used
to highlight problems in a comparative framework, as well as to
illustrate major developments in anthropological thought.
Exclusion: (ANTB06)
Prerequisite: ANTB05F/S
Session: Winter Day
T.B.A.
Telephone ID #: 00731163
A cross-cultural examination of sex roles and gender constructs and their implications for the position(s) of women in contemporary and traditional societies.
The course explores how and why socio-cultural systems based on sexual inequality originate, how they maintain themselves, and how they change. Topics include: biological freedoms and constraints; cultural interpretations of femaleness and maleness seen in myth, ritual, metaphor and other imagery; economic and political aspects of gender relations, especially sexuality and reproduction; differences and similarities between small scale and complex societies.
Exclusion: ANT343
Prerequisite: ANTA01Y or WSTA01Y or permission of instructor. [ANTB20Y is strongly recommended]
Session: Winter Day
Telephone ID #: 00731353
The purpose of this course is to study non-human primates in a free-ranging habitat. Because the animals are habituated to humans, observation from dawn to dusk is possible. The field experience includes exploration of the impact of the local people on the environment and conservation of the monkeys. This field course costs around $2000 depending on location. Enrolment is limited to 10.
Prerequisite: ANTC22 & permission of instructor
Session: Summer only
Telephone ID #: 00731663
The study of human origins in light of recent approaches surrounding human evolution.
The study of human origins has undergone a transformation in
recent years. The science has benefited from a series of unexpected
fossil discoveries and it has become willing to look at new approaches
to answering the major issues now human evolution. While there
is more question about the ways of knowing our past, there is
also greater security in knowing that the questions being asked
are answerable. This course will examine some of these, particularly
the process of speciation, with specific reference to the emergence
of Homo. Fossils will be examined, but the emphasis will be on
the interpretations of the process of hominisation through the
thoughts and writings of major workers in the field. Topics are
set within their fossil and time contexts and include the emergence
of bipedalism and opposability and their correlates, non-human
primate social organization and demographic reconstruction, diet
and foraging techniques, and "the origins" (for example,
the use of fire; the development of language; the origin of consciousness).
Two hours of lectures, two hours of labs.
Exclusion: ANT332
Prerequisite: ANTA01Y or permission of instructor.
Session: Winter Day
J. Thompson
Telephone ID #: 00731933
An investigation of comparative economic systems from ecological and adaptive perspectives.
In particular, this course focuses on methods of production, both as a developmental process and as it relates to total societal frameworks. The course examines cross-cultural systems of production, redistribution, and market exchange, with attention given to the production and use of material objects in differing cultural environments, and to the effects of change on the ideologies surrounding these objects as products of specific environments. The marketplace is used as the focus for studying these features.
Prerequisite: ANTA01Y or permission of instructor
Session: Winter Day
Telephone ID #: 00732553
An anthropological approach to topics of psychological interest.
Among the areas we may consider: the relationship between culture and personality; the cultural construction of the "self;" other cultures' conceptions and expressions of emotions; the life cycle in cross-cultural perspective; psychoanalytic (Freudian) contributions to the understanding of culture (e.g. symbolic projection, unconscious motivation; the cross-cultural expression and treatment of psychopathology).
Throughout, the central concern is with how we are
to understand the relationship between psychic universals and
diverse cultural and social forms in the constitution of human
experience.
Prerequisite: ANTA01Y
Corequisite: ANTB20Y and PSYB30F/S are recommended
Session: Winter Day
M. Lambek
Telephone ID #: 00732663
A survey of the anthropological sub-discipline which is concerned with human socio-cultural development during the past three million years.
Specifically, the course reviews the aims, methods and practice of prehistoric archaeology in both the New and Old Worlds. This course will involve two hours of lecture and one hour of lab/tutorial per week as well as one field trip on a Saturday or Sunday of the Fall term.
Exclusion: ANT200, (ANTB26)
Prerequisite: ANTA01Y, [ANTB11F and ANTB12S are recommended.]
Session: Winter Day
Telephone ID #: 00732863
Introduction and training in the methods and theory of archaeological fieldwork.
The course will provide introduction and practice in such essential field methods as excavation, topographic surveying and mapping, environmental evaluation, and basic artifact introduction and conservation. There will be special components based on criteria relevant to the site including site history, soils and natural resources.
Prerequisites: Any B-level course in Archaeology or Physical Anthropology or a B-level course in a cognate discipline.
Session: Summer Day
Telephone ID #: 00733253
A general survey of the role of political systems in a largely "development' framework.
Exclusion: (ANTB32)
Prerequisite: ANTA01Y or permission of instructor. ANTB20Y recommended
Session: Winter Day
T.B.A.
Telephone ID #: 00733533
A consideration of quantitative data and analytical
goals, especially in archaeology and physical anthropology. Some
elementary computer programming, and a review of programme packages
suitable for anthropological analyses will be included.
Exclusion: (ANTB43); ECOB11; PSYB07; SOCB06
Prerequisite: ANTA01Y; [ANTB15 and ANTC26 are recommended]
Session: Winter Day
L. Sawchuk
Telephone ID #: 00733733
An attempt to understand the development and achievements
of the civilizations of Mexico. We will consider the two main
problems: the beginnings of agriculture and its effects on culture,
and the forces which contribute to the emergence or disappearance
of civilization. Students will become familiar with the art, crafts
and architectural styles of the best known sites which typify
the civilizations of this region.
Exclusion: (ANTB37)
Prerequisite: ANTA01Y; [ANTB03F and ANTB38 are recommended.]
Session: Winter Day
M. Latta
Telephone ID #: 00734063
An examination of the biological, demographic, ecological and socio-cultural determinants of human and non-human population structure and the interrelationships among them. Lecture topics include population and societal strategies for survival and adaptation, population structure of small-scale and urban societies, and paleodemography and palaeopathology.
Prerequisite: ANTA01Y; [ANTB15 is recommended]
Session: Winter Day
Telephone ID #: 00734163
Human adaptability refers to the human capacity to cope with a wide range of environmental conditions, including aspects of the physical environment like climate (extreme cold and heat), high altitude, geology, as well as aspects of the socio-cultural milieu, such as pathogens (disease), nutrition and malnutrition, migration, technology, and social change. Behavioural/cultural, physiological, and genetic modes of adaptation are discussed within the context of a holistic, population-based, biocultural perspective. Case studies are used extensively. Emphasis is placed on applying theories and principles to contemporary environmental problems.
Exclusion: (ANTB44)
Prerequisite: ANTA01Y or BIOA03Y; [ANTB15 highly recommended]
Session: Winter Day
Telephone ID #: 00734763
A "hands-on" laboratory course which introduces students to the methods of analyzing human skeletal remains.
This course is designed with the needs of Physical Anthropology and Archaeology students in mind, but has proven useful to students in allied disciplines. The first half of the course is the "Bone Biology/ Anatomy" part, while the second half is the "Anthropological" unit. During the first half of the year, lectures and labs will cover (1) the composition and microstructure of bone; (2) the development, growth, remodeling and plasticity of bone; and (3) the detailed "normal" gross anatomy of the skeleton and dentition. Topics and analytic methods covered during the second half include: (1) the recovery and treatment of skeletal remains from archaeological sites; (2) odontological description, including dental pathology; (3) osteometric description; (4) nonmetric trait description; (5) methods of estimating age at death and sex; (6) quantitative analysis of metric and nonmetric data; and (7) paleopathology. One 1-1/2 hour lecture and one 1-1/2 hours laboratory session per week.
Limited enrolment: 20
Exclusion: ANT334Y
Prerequisite: ANTA01Y or BIOA03Y; [ANTC16 and ANTB15 recommended]
Session: Winter Day
T.B.A.
Telephone ID #: 00734953
A comparative examination of the worlds legal institutions and the problem of order in society.
The course will start with an examination of social control in relatively "simple" societies, followed by a survey of the legal institutions of various forms of the state. It is hoped to include some work on the philosophy of law.
Prerequisite: ANTA01Y or ANTB20Y or permission of instructor
Session: Winter Day
Telephone ID #: 00735033
A comparative cross-cultural study of the problem of death and suitable treatment of the dead from the last Pleistocene to today.
To the archaeologist, burials are uniquely important because they are intentional depositions, intended for preservation into the future of otherwise lost complex symbolic systems. A selection of ethnographic studies of burial practices will lead to an evaluation of the way in which activities are assimilated into the archaeological record. Next, we will examine archaeological burial data to compare the nature of symbolic response to death with important social and economic cultural processes including the rise of horticulture, urbanization and the development of social stratification.
Prerequisite: Any B level course in Anthropology
Session: Winter Day
Telephone ID #: 00736133
This course examines illness, health, and healing from a comparative cross-cultural perspective. It is composed of three overlapping topical areas: (1) the description and analysis of nonwestern ideas and practices; (2) the culture of North American illness and medicine, viewing biomedicine as an ethnomedical system comparable to those described in (1); (3) the development of culturally informed and socially responsible approaches to health problems in the Third World and at home.
The course considers such topics as: the social
and symbolic aspects of the body, the life-cycle in cross-cultural
perspective, the representation and popular explanation of illness,
the logic of traditional healing systems and traditional practitioners
such as shamans, the intersection of illness models and practices
with gender, class, power, and social conflict, metal illness
in comparative perspective, innovations in health care delivery
systems.
Exclusions: (ANTB51), (ANTC51)
Prerequisite: ANTB20Y or permission of instructor
Session: Winter Day
M. Lambek
Telephone ID #: 00736453
The role of food as nutrient and its social significance as symbol constitute the theme of this course. Topics to be addressed include human dietary needs and the myth of meat, the "meal" traditional dietaries, medicine and food, the green and blue revolutions and their implications.
Prerequisite: ANTA01Y & one full-course equivalent at B or C level in Anthropology
Telephone ID #: 00740253
An examination of the development of settlement pattern theory.
Archaeological settlement patterns retain traces of human occupations in the past. These may be interpreted on three levels: the individual household, the village or city, and the network of villages and cities which constitute complex social-political structures. We will trace the development of settlement pattern theory, emphasizing the contribution of geography, architecture, materials sciences, environmental studies and ethnology.
Exclusion: (ANTC44)
Prerequisite: Any B level course in Archaeology or related disciplines
Session: Winter Evening
Telephone ID #: 00741133
An investigation of the construct "race" and its validity.
The current casual use of this term derives from misunderstandings of its meaning, history, and scientific development. Within Anthropology, the term has been central to an ongoing debate about the origin, nature, and diversity of humankind. Two hours of lecture per week.
Exclusion: (ANTC43)
Prerequisite: ANTB15Y or one C-level full course equivalent in Anthropology
Session: Winter Day
Telephone ID #: 00741433
The examination of important theories and models of hominisation.
Homo sapiens is only one of thousands of mammalian species alive today. When did our species originate? Where did we come from? What is the relationship of modern humans to other hominids? While various theories have been proposed to answer these questions, the subject cannot be fully understood without a thorough examination of what constitutes the current evidence for human origins. In this course we will review the fossil, archaeological, and paleoecological evidence from the Middle - Upper Pleistocene to assess the origins of modern humans. We will examine the evidence by region (Africa, Asia, Europe, Middle East) within the context of current theoretical paradigms.
Prerequisite: ANTB01Y or ANTB11F/S or ANTB15Y or ANTC16Y or one C-level course in Physical Anthropology.
Session: Winter Day
Telephone ID #: 00741553
An advanced seminar course primarily for majors and specialists in anthropology.
This year, it will explore current controversies and issues in social anthropology.
Prerequisite: Permission of instructor
Session: Winter Day
Telephone ID #: 00741633
This course is designed for advanced students seeking an intensive examination of specific problems in medical Anthropology. Problems to be discussed include: genetic disorders in families and populations, the interaction of malnutrition and infectious diseases in human populations, chronic non-infectious diseases in populations today, and epidemiology and medical anthropology as complementary disciplines. Laboratory sessions will cover: methods of data collection and analysis, problem sets in medical genetics, karyotyping, the use of genetic markers in biomedical anthropology and the life table and the analysis of cause-specific mortality over time. Two hours of lectures and one three-hour laboratory session per week.
Exclusion: (ANTC45)
Prerequisite: ANTC51 and one C level full-course equivalent in Physical Anthropology
Session: Winter Day
Telephone ID #: 00742353
This seminar course focuses on the intersection of body, mind, and self in cross-cultural perspective. Particular attention will be paid to the analysis of symbols, ritual, and the meaningfulness of bodily experience; to issues of gender and power; and to the healing process. Limited enrolment: 20
Exclusion: (ANTC46)
Prerequisite: ANTC61F/S or permission of instructor. [ANTC25 and ANTC11 are highly recommended.]
Session: Winter Day
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