Anthropology explores how people and groups across the globe engage with the social, cultural, political, and economic processes that shape the contemporary world.
Anthropologists spend extended periods of time with the people they study in order to understand their practices and beliefs and how they are entangled with systems of power.
Anthropologists facilitate cross-cultural understanding and critical engagement with global problems.

Students in the department learn about how concepts such as class, gender, and ethnicity relate to a variety of areas including development, environmental crises, imaginary worlds, labour, media, politics, religion, tourism, and heritage. Our undergraduate and graduate programs foster skills needed to think critically about these topics and engage with an increasingly globalized and complex world.

The study of Anthropology provides a strong background for students who intend to specialize in any of the social sciences and humanities or in medicine, nursing, social work, education, law, business, government, communications and many other fields which require a nuanced understanding of global processes and a strong grounding in the cross-cultural study of human behaviour. Students of anthropology have gone on to find employment with public, private and non-government organizations in diverse fields, including: academia, public policy, print, radio, and television journalism, documentary film-making, healthcare, international development, and social and environmental activism.

Our faculty share a strong interest in problems of power and social inequality, which we view as being critical to understanding the contemporary world. Faculty members are involved in ongoing research projects in a variety of geographical locations including: Eastern North America; Latin America (particularly the Andean countries); the Pacific Islands; Southern Africa; and Western Europe (especially Spain and Ireland).

Certificate in Food Studies:

The Department of Anthropology is the home of the Certificate in Food Studies. This certificate focuses on the interdisciplinary study of food issues at local, regional, national and global levels. Students who obtain a Certificate in Food Studies will have a solid knowledge about the various dimensions of the food system including barriers to both local and global food security. Details regarding the certificate can be found here.

Interested in the iBA?

Because the discipline of anthropology seeks to understand people and social groups within a global context, anthropology is the perfect major or minor for students who are pursuing the iBA or for students who want their degree to have an international focus. The following anthropology courses have been designated IS (International Study) courses: ANTH 2412; ANTH 2413; ANTH 3200; ANTH 3083; ANTH 3260; ANTH 3409; ANTH 4415; ANTH 4416