Doing Ethnography: Concepts and Practices

Ethnography is a research procedure central to the discipline of anthropology. It has also become an essential research method for many other fields in social sciences and humanities. This course aims at helping students understand the basic principles and praxis of ethnography. For this purpose, this course is designed as a combination of both theory and practice. Through lectures and assigned readings, this course addresses theoretical reflections by scholars on the epistemological, political and ethical implications of ethnography. This course also has a mock ethnographic project in which students work through major steps of doing ethnography.

30 points

Any 30 points at 200 level from ANTH or SOCI, or any 60 points at 200 level from the Schedule V of the BA.

Kinship and Family in Comparative Perspective

This course is designed to help students understand the importance of kinship and family in human societies and appreciate the complexities and variation in how kinship and family are conceptualized and practised in different cultures. In this course, we will discuss classic and contemporary case studies of kinship and family in cultures and societies around the world, including Africa, China, Europe, the United States, and the Pacific area (including New Zealand), to list just a few. In examining these cases and case studies, we will probe the issues of biology and culture, personhood and subjectivity, and structure and human agency in varied ways of conceptualizing and practising kinship in different cultures. This course also covers comprehensive knowledge of historical and contemporary theories and methods in kinship and family studies to help students develop critical perspectives on how kinship and family are practised in contemporary life.

30 points

Any 30 points at 200 level from ANTH or SOCI, or any 60 points at 200 level from the Schedule V of the BA.

ANTH212, GEND218, GEND318, SOCI212, SOCI312

Food Systems, Sustainability & Social Change

This course will focus on building understanding of contemporary debates about food, sustainability, and society by exploring contemporary food systems and efforts to transform them. We will examine a range of socio-environmental challenges relating to food's production, distribution, consumption, and waste. How these challenges are framed and analysed will be critically considered using sociological approaches that draw out social, cultural, political, economic, and ethical dimensions. We will then explore social action aimed at improving the sustainability and/or justice of food systems' structuring, governance, and/or practice. Local, national, and international examples will be used to ground our examinations of these efforts. More specific approaches or actions discussed may include regenerative agriculture, corporate concentration, food redistribution, alternative proteins, food sovereignty, application of Maori principles to food systems, among other things. Combining in-class and field experiences, as well as a social action project, the course is designed to foster critical thinking and motivate community engagement for transforming food systems.

30 points

Any 30 points at 200 level from ANTH or SOCI, OR any 60 points at 200 level from the Schedule V of the BA.

SOCI406; SOCI377

The Place of Witches: An Anthropology of Witchcraft, Healing, and Magic in the Atlantic World

This course explores witchcraft, healing, and magic in the Atlantic World from an anthropological perspective. It covers a series of sub-topics such as witch-hunting, the regulation of witchcraft and sorcery beliefs and practices, divination, magical landscapes, and revitalization movements.

30 points

P: Any 30 points at 200 level from ANTH or SOCI, or any 60 points at 200 level from the Schedule V of the BA.

ANTH266