Revision, June 2026.
Honours
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The Honours Anthropology Program is for outstanding anthropology majors who want to deepen their engagement with anthropological topics and theories by taking an even wider range of anthropology classes and by writing an honours thesis. The honours thesis, written in the student鈥檚 last year at 涩里番, may be based on library research, archival research or fieldwork. Each honours thesis is supervised individually by a member of the anthropology faculty. Thesis topics are chosen in consultation with the student鈥檚 supervisor. The thesis supervisor is usually someone the student has previously taken a class with and whose research interests align with their own.
Prerequisites to enter the honours program: You must have a CGPA of 3.50 in all Anthropology courses and an overall CGPA of 3.0. To graduate with honours in anthropology, you must take a total of 60 credits in anthropology including 6 credits of honours thesis work.
If you are interested in becoming an honours student in anthropology, it is strongly recommended that you speak with the Department鈥檚 Honours Advisor by the end of U1. The Advisor will determine your eligibility for the program and help you begin thinking about a thesis topic and potential supervisor. You may use the Honours checklist (PDF below) to keep track of your courses.
By the end of U2, you must declare your intention to pursue honours. To do so, you must have a thesis supervisor. You will ask your supervisor to sign your updated Honours checklist, followed by the Honours advisor, and submit the signed checklist to the Department administrator, at which point you can declare Honours on Minerva.
You cannot pursue honours without having a supervisor, so be sure to speak to potential supervisors early. When you first contact potential advisors, it is best to prepare a well-thought-out topic and a rough outline to discuss. Please look at the Fast Facts sheet (PDF below) below for a typical timeline to completion.
Coursework
Honours students select their courses as specified below. Students may take a maximum of 9 credits at the 300 and 400 level offered by other departments if their departmental program adviser approves them.
- 200/300 Level
A maximum of 36 credits of 200- and 300-level courses (of which a maximum of 21 credits may be at the 200 level and a maximum of 6 credits may be Special Topic courses.) - Core 350 Level
A minimum of 9 credits of core courses at the 350 level are selected from the following: History of Anthropological (352) or Archaeological theory (359); Theories of Culture and Society (355); Archaeological methods (357); The Process of Anthropological Research (358). - 400/500 Level
A minimum of 9 credits of Anthropology courses at the 400- or 500-level, with a maximum of 3 credits as a Special Topic course. - Required thesis course ANTH 490D1 and 490D2 (3 credits per term)
ANTH 490 serves as our fundamental honour鈥檚 thesis course which involves supervised intensive reading, archival work, and most important the preparation of a research paper.