Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

This introductory-level anthropology course is designed to provide an understanding of world prehistory, from the time of the split between human and chimpanzee lineages 4 to 6 million years ago (possibly earlier), to the rise of the first cities and civilizations roughly 5000 years ago.  

This course examines the behaviour and evolution of modern non-human primates. Primates include monkeys, apes, lemurs and other prosimians, and people. Understanding other primates helps us to contextualize the behaviour, culture and language, and biology of our own species, as well as being fascinating in its own right. Video materials allow the student to observe the behaviour of several different species.

This is a third-year course that focuses on important human ecological relationships, through examining ecological principals and thinking (and their limitations), and the interrelationships of environments with cultures and ways of life.

Anthropology 354: Language and Culture is a three-credit course that investigates topics found in the field of linguistics and linguistic anthropology—one of four subfields of anthropology.

ANTH 362 provides an introduction to the study of North American Aboriginal peoples: Indian, Inuit, and Métis.

ANTH 377: Archaeologies of Turtle Island is a senior-level anthropology course that explores the archaeological pasts of Turtle Island—a.k.a. North America—and their impacts on communities and nations today.

Anthroplogy 378: Human Sexualities explores the diversity of expressions of human sexuality within the framework of the discipline of Anthropology.

Anthropology 390: Community-Based Research Methods introduces the basic concepts, principles, and issues surrounding community-based research methods. 

In this course we will review approaches to ethnography, read a series of ethnographies, consider ethics and contemporary issues in ethnography, and gain a sense of present and future directions and significance of ethnography.

The process set out in this Study Guide for preparing and submitting a research project is intended for projects that are entirely or primarily library-based. And even if your project includes some field-based research, you will still be required to consult some library materials. 

ANTH 434: The History of Anthropological Thought, is a senior-level course that examines the range of responses to the fact of human diversity through the ages, with emphasis on Modern and Postmodern anthropology.

Anthroplogy 476: Archaeological Theory is designed to provide you with an understanding of the historical development of the theoretical aspects of the discipline, as well as provide an introduction to current theoretical trends taking place within the field of anthropological archaeology.

Anthropology 499 examines the notion that health and illness are not entities in themselves but rather culturally constituted means of both representing and shaping human experience and reality. The course looks at different medical systems within particular cultural contexts. It also investigates several important themes including healers, medical pluralism, Indigenous medicine, the political economy of health and illness, the medicalization of social life, and the relationship between belief and the construction of clinical realities. The main theoretical approaches in medical anthropology are analyzed in the context of their strengths and weaknesses, which helps explain the ideologies and practices behind each system.

You will learn about the history and origins of cultural studies, analyse and discuss some of the key theoretical debates around what constitutes cultural studies, and review examples of the approaches that continue to shape and reshape the ever-expanding boundaries of the field. You will also be given the opportunity to apply this knowledge by producing an analysis of a cultural text or practice—in short, to actually do cultural studies yourself.

Education 210 is a three-credit, junior-level introduction to the Canadian labour-market training system. Labour-market training comprises policies, programs, and activities intended to result in an adequate number of appropriately trained workers. In Canada, the labour-market training system has four main components: postsecondary education, government labour-market policy, employer workplace training, and community education.

This course is designed to introduce you to an analysis of the development of Canadian education that takes account of historical, social, cultural, and philosophical influences. The course will help you develop an understanding of the origins of the Canadian public education system and demonstrate the historical roots of many contemporary education debates.

The overall intent of this course is to spur deep critical reflection on two broad concepts: culture, and the complexities and ramifications of schooling's socialization/enculturation function in contemporary Canada's multicultural society-specifically, the feasibility of schooling's libratory ideals.

This course introduces students to human resource development, a systematic approach to providing employees with opportunities to learn the skills, knowledge, and abilities necessary for their current roles, and to prepare them for future job demands.

Workers’ compensation systems are the way Canada chooses to compensate workers for the effects of work-related injuries. This course describes and analyzes the way workers' compensation systems compensate, provide benefits, and, where possible, ‘make whole’ workers who have been injured or diseased as a consequence of their work. The course will also critically examine some of the major challenges WCBs face today, almost a hundred years after they were born.

Human Services 201 Social Work and Human Services explores social welfare including shared values, historical foundations, and critical perspectives. In addition to studying social work approaches and theories, students will develop a personal philosophy statement of social welfare. They will then apply their foundational learning to specific populations. Students are to model ethical behaviour in all of the activities associated with the course for the purpose of demonstrating their understanding of the standards of conduct expected of generalist social workers and human service workers.

As a student registered in Human Services 306, you will self-assess your educational goals and prepare to implement a personal learning plan. The course asks you to look back at the post-secondary education you have already completed and to look forward to your completion of an undergraduate degree, academic credential, or other educational goals.

The course examines concepts, theories, and models related to social justice, as well as how, through using a social justice lens, social justice practices may be implemented by human services practitioners at an individual, kinship or other group, community, and policy level.

As a capstone course, Human Services 489 will guide you to coordinate the many concepts, theories and approaches you have used during your studies to complete the Bachelor of Professional Arts – Human Services degree. It is intended for students who have completed, or very nearly completed, their BPA-HS degree. In addition to the breadth and depth of your knowledge of the human services and the proficiency you have developed in the general education outcomes prescribed, demonstration of your mastery of several aspects of the program content will be required.

Industrial Relations 316: The Practice of Labour Relations is a three-credit, senior-level course that builds upon the foundations introduced in IDRL 215: Introduction to Labour Relations and examines the topics of bargaining and arbitration in greater detail. It looks at both the formal rules and procedures involved in these processes as well as the informal dynamics that arise. It aims to provide a solid grounding in these two rather technical areas of labour relations. It provides insight into the practice of bargaining and arbitration by offering tips on how to navigate the processes. The course also examines how bargaining and arbitration fit into the broader context of labour relations and conflict between workers and employers.

IDRL 320 examines the legal frameworks related to work and employment in Canada. It covers all aspects of work law in an integrated and accessible fashion, including common law, employment law affecting all workplaces, and labour law addressing unionized workplaces. 

This course explores the economies of rich countries like Canada from the perspective of working people. It follows them to labour markets, into the production process and to markets for consumer goods. The course also explores economic policies and international economic relations. Working people encounter company owners and managers in all of the aforementioned markets and institutions. The course shows the conflict of interest between these two different groups of people and concludes with a unit on the prospect of labour movements.

Labour mobility examines the geographic mobility of workers. Approximately 44% of Canadians regularly cross at least one municipal, provincial, territorial, or national boundary on their way to and from work. About 10% of these workers work in transient or mobile workplaces. There are also over 300,000 foreign nationals working temporarily in Canada today, and approximately 270,000 new immigrants to Canada each year. This course examines these various forms of labour mobility and how they affect workers, their families, and the sending and receiving communities.

LBST/GLST/HIST 335: Global Labour History, a course that will have you follow workers and workers movements throughout the history of global capitalism, as well as provide you with the theoretical tools needed to understand changing conditions of work, and different strategies used by workers to improve their conditions. The course uses the cotton and rubber industries as examples to highlight the diverse worlds of work, beginning in cotton and rubber plantations and culminating in global production networks—with cotton driving 19th century capitalism, and rubber as a key component of automobile manufacturing, the leading industry of the 20th century.

This course is an information portal for program students.

Political Science 350: Women in Canadian Politics introduces you to the study of women's participation in Canadian political life.

Psychology 347: Introduction to Feminist Counselling is about feminist theory and the development of a feminist model of counselling. It is also about your development as a feminist and as a counsellor.

This course introduces you to the exciting fields of feminist and queer media studies.

WGST 301 aims to provide students with a deeper understanding of the workings of gender in contemporary North American society. It will begin by challenging the notion that gender roles are dualistic, fixed, and rooted in biology. This will entail familiarizing students with social constructionist theories of “doing” gender and postmodern theories of gender as a performance. Both feminine and masculine identities and representations will be studied. The course will also examine gender and disability as well as queer and transgender sexualities.

This course looks at a variety of topics related to Aboriginal women's health and wellness, with a sustained focus on a holistic Aboriginal world view.

The course examines an empowerment model of counselling women and its application to crisis intervention and counselling women. The emphasis is on skill development, building upon the theoretical foundation laid in WGST 302.

The course presents the historical and theoretical underpinnings of western colonial sexualities in Canada and the United States. Students examine the power of sex and sexuality, and the regulation of sexualities into categories of normal and abnormal. Students consider how sex and sexualities are normatively defined through discourses produced by various institutions, including colonial governments, popular media, corporations, and educational, scientific and medical bodies. Students engage with feminist, queer, Indigenous, and racial theories that trouble and deconstruct these social constructions of normative sexuality.

This course examines the changing nature and patterns of women’s work in Canada, the meaning work has for women, and the value of women’s work to society. A central concern of the course is the extent to which work contributes to equality and disadvantage for women. It also considers how significantly gender shapes a common experience of work, and the extent to which women’s working lives differ depending upon other social factors such as class, age, and race.

If you walked into a computer science or engineering classroom at any Canadian university in 1978, you would expect the majority of students to be male. If you did the same today, you would be confronted by a similar gender imbalance. Why do women continue to be underrepresented in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM)? Why do those women who begin studies in STEM switch out at faster rates than their male counterparts? Why do more female than male STEM professionals switch career pathways or careers? Do you think that science and technology are gender neutral subjects or are they shaped by “socially created notions of ‘masculinity’ and ‘femininity’” (Bystydzienski & Bird, 2006, p.2)? If you are interested in learning more about the theories being used and the research being done to answer these questions, then WGST 350: Gender, Science and Technology is the course for you. Welcome!

WGST 421: Advocacy from the Margins introduces you to the meaning, history, tools, group processes, and strategies associated with advocacy for women and other marginalized groups who face injustice around the world. The course stresses the importance of advocacy group processes as well as advocacy strategies and tools. It also encourages you to begin advocating with those who are on the margins and faced with injustice.

This course looks at motherhood and mothering within the context of Western society. As you study the materials in this course, you will be encouraged to distinguish between ‘mothering’ as a construct that informs personal identity and ‘motherhood’ as a role determined and shaped by gendered, social, economic, and cultural structures.

This independent study course is designed through consultation between professor and student. It will include a significant component of advanced and more theoretical reading. A major written piece of work will generally be required; the form it will take is dependent upon the focus of the work. Students are responsible for obtaining access to all necessary materials.