Introduction to the Department

McMaster University was founded in 1887 and currently has an enrolment of over 22,500 undergraduate students and 2,800 graduate students. The university is located on the western boundary of Hamilton, a city with a population of 505,000. The Royal Botanical Gardens with over thirty miles of nature trails are adjacent to the university. Hamilton is situated an hour's drive away from both Toronto and Niagara Falls.

The Department of Anthropology has existed as an independent department at McMaster since 1974, although the university has offered a Master's degree in Social Anthropology since 1967. Over time, the Department has grown in size to 13 full-time faculty, 1 contractually limited appointment, 3 sessional instructors, 8 adjunct members, and 3 associate members. Our graduate enrolment this year is 11 MA and 35 PhD students.

Our Master's program is intended to be holistic in scope, but students may focus their program of study on any of the five sub-fields of anthropology offered in the department, that is, on archaeology, linguistics, physical anthropology, sociocultural anthropology, or the anthropology of health. Students may select one of three options in pursuit of an MA degree: pass a comprehensive examination in addition to coursework; write a major research paper in addition to coursework; or present and defend a thesis, again in addition to coursework. Over 60 students have defended their Master's theses successfully in the past ten years.

PhD students conduct fieldwork in many parts of the world. The study of European societies is a new area of interest in the department. Six members of the faculty have active research interests in various parts of Europe. Our PhD students recently have engaged in research in settings as diverse as Uganda, Spain, Nepal, Zimbabwe, Trinidad, India, Italy, Egypt, as well as in various provinces of Canada.

The McMaster Anthropology Department defines itself in terms of the kinds of topical areas that its faculty and graduate students investigate, as well as in terms of its concentration on certain peoples and places. The main fields of inquiry of members of the Department include: applied anthropology, ethnohistory, interpretive and humanistic anthropology, medical anthropology, complex societies, Mediterranean archaeology, and Ontario archaeology.

In 2011-2012, the Department will offer ten graduate seminars on a wide variety of subjects. Instruction occurs within the context of small seminars and all students receive close personal supervision. We provide funding to all students registered in the MA and PhD programs in the form of scholarships, fellowships and teaching assistantships. As well, many students receive financial support for fieldwork expenses. In addition, all teaching assistants in anthropology at McMaster are provided with office space. Graduate student offices are interspersed with faculty offices on two floors of Chester New Hall. Informal communication between graduate students and faculty is strongly encouraged.

The McMaster Department of Anthropology has a cherished reputation for intellectual excellence and professional and social responsibility. We also take pride in the congenial atmosphere within the department. We believe that good colleagueship between students and faculty contributes to the high level of academic preparation the Department provides at both the MA and PhD levels.