Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Anthropology

at Lakehead University - Orillia Campus Canada

Our Interdisciplinary Studies program is flexible in its design, allowing you to customize your educational experience. You will be encouraged to think beyond the confines of a traditional undergraduate degree and take a range of courses in different disciplines that are oriented to your individual career aspirations.

As an Interdisciplinary Studies major, you can choose any two disciplinary areas from the following:

• Anthropology
• Biology
• Criminology
• English
• General Science
• Geography
• History
• Media, Film and Communications
• Political Science
• Psychology?
• Sociology 

You will develop advanced critical thinking skills, problem-solving strategies and specialized knowledge pertaining to a variety of topics. We also offer the ability to pursue concentrations in Environment in Politics and Culture, Human Nature, Social Justice, and International Conflict and Human Rights.

Environment in Politics and Culture
The Environmental in Politics and Culture concentration offers students a blended approach that combines disciplinary courses in social science, science, and the humanities with interdisciplinary questions such as:

1. What makes a community? How do communities live well in place? 
2. What groups are most affected by environmental problems? Who is responsible? Who should make the decisions for environmental and community planning? Who should bear the costs?
3. What role do government, law, and policy play in prevention, management, and remediation of environmental challenges? How do local efforts relate to global systems?
4. How do we reconcile immediate interests with long-term challenges? Local needs with distant ones? Inequality with economic growth?
5. Why is it so hard to create social change on environmental issues? What roles could be played by formal and informal education, art, media, story-telling, and popular culture?

Environmental problems are complex.  In this concentration, students ask broad questions about how we come to be facing environmental problems and the ethical, political, and cultural challenges they pose. Topics include social and environmental justice in food and agroecology sovereignty movements, gendered approaches to the environment, animal rights and representation, and the challenges of what it means to be an environmental educator inside and outside a classroom.

The program of study emerges from social science and humanities approaches to the environment, focusing on the ethical, political, social and cultural challenges posed by environmental problems, political organization and governance structures involved in social change, and the cultural frameworks through which environment has been understood in various periods, places, media, and aesthetic modes. Students will use problem-based learning to explore effective responses to environmental problems in contexts such as local governance, political organizing, policy development, art, media, popular culture, storytelling, and formal and informal education.

The Environment in Politics and Culture concentration appeals to individuals who are community and volunteer-oriented and willing to engage as citizens and problem-solvers on the state of their lived environments. It would also appeal to active and life-long learners, educators, artists, writers, and politically active individuals. This concentration leads to work, career, community, and further study opportunities in the fields of education, public service, the charity and not-for-profit sector, law and policy development, community organizing, media and journalism, law, and the arts.

Our General Arts program is a great choice if you are looking for a multidisciplinary education that allows you the freedom to explore your interests. It is very easy to move from the General Arts program into a specific major at any point - this is recommended if you wish to apply to graduate or a professional school after.

Our General Arts program has fifteen departments, within the Faculty of Social Science & Humanities, choose courses from:

• Criminology
• English
• History
• Indigenous Learning
• Interdisciplinary Studies
• Languages
• Media Studies
• Music
• Northern Studies
• Outdoor Recreations, Parks and Tourism
• Philosophy
• Political Science
• Sociology
• Visual Arts
• Women's Studies

These disciplines will boost your creativity, sharpen your communication skills, improve your ability to think critically, and provide you with a wide-range of knowledge that can be applied to many industries post-graduation.

We offer our General Arts program entirely online if you are looking for a flexible approach to your education, should time or mobility be an issue. Additionally, college graduates from General Arts & Science and Liberal Arts programs are welcome to apply for admission consideration through our College Transfer Program.

Contrary to popular belief, the study of English is not simply about books. English is a wide-ranging field of study that uses textual analysis to dig deeper into our society and the world around us.

At Lakehead University, the flexibility of our English program encourages you to follow your own interests within the discipline. You’ll learn about the historical development of English language literature - from the Medieval to the contemporary period - as well as different theoretical approaches to the study of literary and cultural texts.

We offer a broad range of courses including:

• Poetry
• Film
• Popular Culture
• Creative, Academic, and Professional Writing
• Gender Studies
• Children’s Literature
• Fiction
• And much more

The Lakehead Advantage

Our small class sizes facilitate an intimate and interactive learning environment from first year all the way to the graduate level. Our professors are always available if you need clarification or extra support throughout the year. 

While research and writing is very important to our professors, teaching excellence is our number one priority. Many of our professors have won the Distinguished Instructor Award - Lakehead University’s most prestigious teaching honour.

Our outstanding faculty ensure you graduate from the English program with advanced:

• Creative and critical thinking skills
• Written and verbal communication strategies
• Textual and argumentation analysis capabilities
• Understanding of diverse cultural and historical contexts
• Genre conventions knowledge
• Research methods skills

Our exceptional learning environment sets the stage for academic, professional, and personal success by emphasizing the development of strong analytical and creative abilities.

The Faculty of Education at Lakehead University offers a Master of Education program designed to meet your professional and academic goals and interests. Our Master of Education (MEd) program provides you with a unique learning opportunity, which addresses the current landscape of both education and research. Our program consists of two distinct fields of study, Educational Studies and Education for Change.

Our Educational Studies field offers you the opportunity to earn your Master's of Education while studying educational research, theory, and practice in a variety of educational contexts, as well as the chance to specialize in Gerontology or Women's Studies.

All class sizes are small, giving you the opportunity to interact with classmates, instructors, and other faculty members. Our Faculty members have expertise in a wide variety of areas; for more information about our faculty and their research areas, please see the Faculty and Staff page.

We are also the home of two Canada Research Chairs (in Environmental Education, Arts Integrated Research), the Centre for Place and Sustainability Studies, the Multi-Data Convergence Laboratory, and the Canadian Journal of Environmental Education.

The Faculty of Education at Lakehead University offers a Master of Education program designed to meet your professional and academic goals and interests. Our Master of Education (MEd) program provides you with a unique learning opportunity, which addresses the current landscape of both education and research.

MEd: Gerontology Specialization
The Gerontology Program actively collaborates with the Faculty of Education to provide you with an innovative, interdisciplinary learning perspective. You have the opportunity to access multifaceted resources and work together with complementary disciplines.

Anthropology is the broad, multi-disciplinary study and documentation of humans, past and present. As an Anthropology student you will have the opportunity to study everything from stone artifacts and skeletal remains, to a community's economic structure and unique dialect. Our Department of Anthropology has four distinct sub-disciplines with many different topics to explore in each:

• Archaeology
• Bioanthropology
• Linguistics
• Socio-Cultural Anthropology

Our courses blend in-class lecture with seminars, labs and field work to provide you with a well-rounded background in both the theoretical and practical applications of your area of interest. You will have access to world-class laboratories and anthropological collections which have contributed to groundbreaking findings and been utilized by some of the foremost leaders in the field.

Our Department of Anthropology is widely recognized as a leader in undergraduate research and for producing world-class Anthropologists. Our faculty members are leaders in their respective field of study and regularly work with undergraduate students on special topics courses and projects. Our students have published papers and presented their findings at national archaeological conventions across Canada, with most of them winning a place on the podium for their innovation.

A student may enter, proceed in and graduate from the Honours BA program in accordance with stipulations of the University Regulations section and Faculty of Science and Environmental Studies Faculty Regulations section of the Calendar. All course choices in fourth year must be approved by the department. For more information Click On

We have a range of laboratories housing world-class equipment, integral to research across the region. You will have access to these resources including:

• Environmental Archaeology & Paleoecology Laboratory
• LU GIS Laboratory
• LU Instrumentation Laboratory
• LU Map Library
• LU Paleo-DNA Laboratory
• Physical Anthropology Laboratory
• Zooarchaeology Laboratory

The Faculty of Education at Lakehead University offers a Master of Education program designed to meet your professional and academic goals and interests. Our Master of Education (MEd) program provides you with a unique learning opportunity, which addresses the current landscape of both education and research.

MEd: Gerontology Specialization
The Gerontology Program actively collaborates with the Faculty of Education to provide you with an innovative, interdisciplinary learning perspective. You have the opportunity to access multifaceted resources and work together with complementary disciplines.

Studying Environmental Sustainability will prepare you to play a crucial role in protecting the ecosystems and living organisms that make up our environment. You will gain both the scientific expertise and practical experience needed to solve modern sustainability challenges in Canada and around the world. 

Our program is known for producing environmentally conscious and responsible graduates with excellent communication skills and problem-solving abilities. You will be trained to meet the growing demands of interdisciplinary practitioners in the diverse fields of science and sustainability.

In addition to the core Environmental Sustainability courses, you will take courses in the following areas:

• Biology
• Environmental Chemistry
• Environmental Economics
• Geography
• Geology
• Natural Resource Management

Anthropology is the broad, multi-disciplinary study and documentation of humans, past and present. As an Anthropology student you will have the opportunity to study everything from stone artifacts and skeletal remains, to a community's economic structure and unique dialect. Our Department of Anthropology has four distinct sub-disciplines with many different topics to explore in each:

• Archaeology
• Bioanthropology
• Linguistics
• Socio-Cultural Anthropology

Our courses blend in-class lecture with seminars, labs and field work to provide you with a well-rounded background in both the theoretical and practical applications of your area of interest. You will have access to world-class laboratories and anthropological collections which have contributed to groundbreaking findings and been utilized by some of the foremost leaders in the field.

Lakehead Advantage
We are one of the only universities in Canada to offer a Bachelor of Science (Anthropology) and an Honours Bachelor of Science (Anthropology) in addition to the Arts stream. The Science stream is focused on more field and lab-based work with an emphasis on core science courses including Biology, Chemistry and Physics as well as Math and Geography. This unique and thorough curriculum will allow you to pursue a career in Anthropology or the sciences depending on your interests.

Our Department of Anthropology is widely recognized as a leader in undergraduate research and for producing world-class Anthropologists. Our faculty members are leaders in their respective field of study and regularly work with undergraduate students on special topics courses and projects. Our students have published papers and presented their findings at national archaeological conventions across Canada, with most of them winning a place on the podium for their innovation.

We have a range of laboratories housing world-class equipment, integral to research across the region. You will have access to these resources including:

• Environmental Archaeology & Paleoecology Laboratory
• LU GIS Laboratory
• LU Instrumentation Laboratory
• LU Map Library
• LU Paleo-DNA Laboratory
• Physical Anthropology Laboratory
• Zooarchaeology Laboratory

Our Media Studies program provides you with a well-rounded, interdisciplinary education emphasizing the critical analysis of media and the development of production skills.  To gain a broad field of knowledge about the industry, you will explore topics related to the following media: 

• Video
• New Media
• Design
• TV
• Radio
• Sound Art

Our Media Studies program will particularly allow you to immerse yourself in the cutting-edge world of social media – from production to dissemination to analysis – and beyond.

You will get the opportunity to work with world-renowned media production instructors, such as Chelsea McMullan and Coco Guzman, analog and digital media, and top-of-the-line technology and software:

• Mac and PC computers
• Adobe Creative Suite
• Audacity open source software
• Video cameras (including mic kits and tripods)
• Audio recorders

Through hands-on labs and workshops, you will learn how new media is an accessible way to engage with our world and to challenge systemic problems like sexism, racism, homophobia, and social injustices of all kinds. If you are interested in learning how and why your cell phone has just as much cultural power as CNN, this program is for you.

In addition to media analysis and media production courses, you will have access to internship opportunities (with places such as Orillia Museum of Art and History, Rogers Television, and the Orillia Opera House) and projects that allow you to put your theoretical knowledge into creative practice.