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Overview

Learning MethodsMajor FocusThe AC DifferenceCareer Outlook

Learning Methods

In addition to traditional lectures and class readings, students will engage in hands-on individual and group activities in which they can explore the concepts they have learned. Library research, essay-writing, presentations, field trips and guest speakers are complemented by classroom technology and online learning.

Major Focus

Anthropology is the comparative study of human beings and cultures. Anthropologists explore differences in food systems, lifeways, spirituality, family structure, economies and other areas of industrial and non-industrial societies around the world, as well as human physical adaptations to the environment. If you are curious about the diversity of human cultural experience, then anthropology is for you.

The AC Difference

AC students gain from small class sizes and access to instructors with varied expertise and research interests. AC is working towards expanding the number of transferable anthropology courses. All students have free access to private tutoring for assignments and readings through our Writing and Learning Centre.

Career Outlook

Anthropology students gain communication and research skills, critical thinking abilities and an appreciation of human cultural diversity. This prepares them for careers in such diverse areas as tourism, teaching, cultural planning, government, international aid, and foreign services.

Course Descriptions

Select a course below to see full descriptions. (#) Indicates amount of credits per course

ANTH 101 – Introduction to Anthropology (3)

What differentiates humans from other animals and from each other? Anthropology attempts to answer this question by exploring the diversity of human culture, including the social, economic, political, linguistic, and belief systems of industrial and non-industrial societies from around the world.

Types of anthropology and its historical development, fieldwork practices, and problems in anthropology will also be discussed.

Special attention will be paid to indigenous and postcolonial perspectives, as well as ethical fieldwork practices and the maintenance of human rights in a global framework.

Prerequisite(s):

ENGL 099

Transfers to:

UBC ANTH 100 (3)
SFU SA 1XX (0), SA 101 (3)
UVIC ANTH 200 (1.5)
UNBC ANTH 213 (3)
TRU ANTH 1210 (3)

ANTH 160 – Indigenous Peoples of Canada (3)

As the original inhabitants of Canada, Indigenous peoples have made unique cultural adaptations to a range of environments from the West coast and Maritimes to the prairies, arctic, and Canadian Shield regions.

This course is an anthropological exploration of what distinguishes different Indigenous cultures from each other in terms of language, subsistence, lifeways, belief systems, histories, land use and territory, and other issues pre- and post-colonization.

Students will be able to communicate a solid research-based understanding of Canadian Indigenous identities and culture, focusing on various First Nations, Inuit and Métis groups.

Prerequisite(s):

ENGL 099

Transfers to:

SFU SA 1XX (3)
UNBC FNST 100 (3)

Faculty

Dr. Samantha May (PhD, MA, BA, TESL)
Department Head of Social Sciences & Instructor

 

Dr. Samantha May (PhD, MA, BA, TESL)

Department Head of Social Sciences & Instructor

Samantha’s research and teaching experience includes sociology and language revitalization as well as English as a Second Language teaching and academic writing.
After graduating from Simon Fraser University, Samantha gained first-hand experience as an international student while on the Japanese government MEXT program in Okinawa, Japan.

She completed her master’s in Linguistics and Communications and doctorate in Comparative Regional Culture and Area Studies at the University of the Ryukyus in Okinawa, Japan, and continues her Foundation for Endangered Languages (FEL)-sponsored research on language reclamation in Okinawan cultural arts.

Christine Elsey (PhD, MA, BA)
Instructor

 

Christine Elsey (PhD, MA, BA)

Instructor

Dr. Christine Elsey received her PhD, MA and BA in Sociology and Anthropology from Simon Fraser University. Formerly, she was an Associate Professor at the University of the Fraser Valley, in the School of Culture, Media and Society, where she taught Sociology and Anthropology courses at the undergraduate level. Her main areas of expertise are anthropological and sociological theory, and BC. First Nations.

Over the years, Christine has taken special enjoyment in teaching introductory courses in Cultural Anthropology. She was covered with a blanket for her contribution to the education of one of her First Nations students, during a special First Nations graduation ceremony, at the Malloway Longhouse in Chilliwack, BC. (in 2006). In 2021, she was awarded the designation of Professor Emeritus at the University of the Fraser Valley (UFV) for her contributions to scholarship, university service and teaching.

Lindsay Simpson (MA, BA)
Instructor

 

Lindsay Simpson (MA, BA)

Instructor

Lindsay holds a M.A in Anthropology from Simon Fraser University.

Her thesis, Studenthood: An ethnography of post-secondary student life, explores the distinct subjectivity of students through a variety of participant action research methods with a focus on the notion of student fragility. Using life course theory and the related concepts of tacking and vital conjunctures, Lindsay explores student navigational strategies and rethinks this demarcated period in the life course which has been traditionally perceived as a period of adolescent indecisiveness encapsulated as liminality. Lindsay’s future research aims to better understand how higher education marketing fosters an environment of student fragility that necessitates numerous institutionally sanctioned stress-relief practices.

Lindsay is currently working with Simon Fraser University and The University of Toronto on a national workforce intergration social enterprise (WISE) longitudinal evaluation project (SSHRC Insight Grant, 2017-2022). This study follows youth graduates of social enterprise-based training programs to see to what extent they can integrate into the workforce. Lindsay’s previous experience includes working with SFU’s Urban Studies Department on an employer transit subsidy study (ETSS). This project involved conducting experimental research on a worker transit subsidy program for downtown Vancouver hotel workers and included an examination of transit ridership levels, commuting patterns, and workplace performance.

Kate Kingsbury (PhD, MA, BA)
Instructor

 

Kate Kingsbury (PhD, MA, BA)

Instructor

Coming Soon

Sharmita Paul (MA, MSocSc, BSocSc)
Instructor

 

Sharmita Paul (MA, MSocSc, BSocSc)

Instructor

Coming Soon

Resources

Canadian Anthropology Society

American Anthropological Association

World Council of Anthropological Associations

Additional Links

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