Anthropology 1ZO3 2009 winter The Human Species: On Becoming and Being Human

Course Outline Instructor: Dr. J. Padiak

Office: CNH 504, Tel: 905 525 9140 ext 23911 email: padiakj@mcmaster.ca
Office Hours – Tuesday 1.30-2.20, Wednesday 2-3 pm or by appointment
Class Schedule: Lectures Wednesdays and Fridays 12.30 to 1.20 in BSB 147

Course Description:
This course introduces you to questions about, and the evidence for, the biocultural history of the
human species. Our exploration of this area of inquiry draws primarily from the work of physical
anthropologists, researchers who study the biological dimensions of humanity, past and present. We
will explore how anthropologists investigate the history of the human species; we contemplate the
human place in nature and our relationship to the non-human primates. We also look at how
evolution works and how culture, diet and disease interact to shape contemporary human biology.
By the end of the course, you will have learned the central debates on these subjects.
This course is organised into two 50 minute classes and one tutorial each week. Check
your timetable to see what tutorial you are registered in and see the sections on tutorials below.
Tutorials begin the second week of classes (week of January 12). Tutorials are taught by
Teaching Assistants who will help you with various aspects of the course material.

Learning Objectives:
At the end of this course, you will:
• Discover the diversity of research in the sub-fields of physical anthropology
• Become familiar with the kinds of questions and evidence that inform current views of
human evolution within anthropology
• Be able to discuss the variety of factors that have shaped human biocultural history
• Develop an understanding of the human place in nature from an anthropological perspective
• Improve your writing and critical thinking skills

Learning Assessments:
Quiz, 10%: The quiz occurs early in the course (week of Feb 2) and is held in your tutorial. It
has multiple choice and true/false questions, perhaps some definitions and has a few short
answer questions. This is intended to help you to assess your comprehension of course material
early in the curriculum.
Assignments (2 at 7.5% each): These are assignments to develop your practical research skills
and critical thinking. Details will be announced in the labs.
Tutorial participation, 10%: This is based on attendance and participation.
Midterm exam, 30%: This exam will consists of multiple choice questions, true/false questions,
short-answer questions such as definitions and longer answer questions related to material from
the lectures, labs, and readings. It occurs on March 6. Rooms will be announced.
Final exam, 35 %: The final exam will consist of multiple choice questions, true/false questions,
short-answer questions such as definitions and longer answer questions related to material from
the lectures, labs, and readings. It covers material from the entire term.
Missed exams: If you miss the quiz, exam and/or assignment due date because of illness, you must
provide medical certification. You must take your certification to the Office of the Dean of Social
Sciences (KTH 129) or your Faculty Office (if not SocSci), who will inform us. Make ups for
quizzes are held on Friday Feb 13 at 2.30 in CNH 407. Make ups for missed midterms are held on
Friday March 13 at 2.30, room TBA. Failure to attend one of these will require an approved absence
that covers the makeup dates also; otherwise a mark of zero will be assigned.

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Required Text:
Clark Spencer Larsen, Our Origins: Discovering Physical Anthropology, 2008. W.W.Norton.

Lecture schedule:
week Week beginning chapter
1 Jan 5 What is physical anthropology? 1
2 Jan 12 What happens to bodies after death? appendix
3 Jan 19 How does evolution work? 2
4 Jan 26 How does heredity work? 3
5 Feb 2 What causes evolutionary change? 4
6 Feb 9 Who are our closest living relatives? 6
Feb 16 reading week
7 Feb 23 How do anthropologists study the past? 7: p 199-212
8 Mar 2 Why become a primate? Midterm on Mar 6 8: p 236-8
9 Mar 9 How did we become hominids? 9
10 Mar 16 Who were the earliest members of the genus Homo? 10
11 Mar 23 What is so modern about modern humans? 11
12 Mar 30 How has our behaviour affected our biology? 12

Course Materials and WebCT:

Lectures will be presented using Power Point, a version of which will be posted weekl in pdf
format. Grades will also be posted using Web CT. You can access Web CT at:
https://webct.mcmaster.ca. You must be registered in the course to have access to the 1Z03 Web
CT site, and you can only access the site using your MAC ID and password.

Tutorials
Tutorials are an important component of the course. Tutorials offer you the opportunity to
experience a small class environment to balance the large and often impersonal experience of
lecture-based education. Each tutorial is led by a senior anthropology student with experience as a
Teaching Assistant. Each has her own area of specialisation and this can add to your experience in
Anthro 1Z03. Your teaching assistant is very involved in assessing your learning while enrolled in
the course. The TAs lead weekly tutorials designed to compliment lecture and text material; they do
not cover the same material as that in lectures. TAs conduct class discussions and assess your
preparedness and participation. They also introduce assignments, guide you through the process of
completing them and assess their quality relative to your peers. Your TA is also responsible for
marking the written answers on exams. Each TA has an office hour every week for conversation,
help and guidance. Your first tutorial will meet during the week of Jan 12.
You must be registered in a tutorial. Most of you are assigned a tutorial when you signed up
for this course through SOLAR. If you have a course conflict and need to change to a different
tutorial, please use SOLAR to register/change for a tutorial slot available. All available time slots
will be displayed on SOLAR for you to choose from. Please make sure you are in a tutorial before
drop and add ends.
Please note that material from the tutorials will appear on the learning assessments (quizz and
exams). Tutorial (lab) participation will account for 5% of your overall mark. Lab assignments, of
which there are two, will be given by the Teaching Assistants in the labs and will make up 20% of
your mark. Altogether, lab participation and assignments make up 25% of your total course mark.

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Tutorial schedule:

Note that tutorials do not occur every week; refer to the schedule right.
Week
The schedule below gives times, rooms and your TA’s name. beginning: tutorials?
# day time where? TA name
Jan 5 no
T01 Th 11:30 KTH/B101 Zenia
Jan 12 yes
T02 We 15:30 CNH 407 Bonnie
Jan 19 yes
T03 Th 12:30 CNH 407 Kelly
T04 Th 11:30 CNH 407 Kelly
Jan 26 yes
T05 Fr 8:30 CNH 407 Sarah Feb 2 yes
T06 We 13:30 KTH/B103 Anna Feb 9 yes
T07 We 8:30 KTH/B102 Anna Feb 16 no
T08 Fr 15:30 CNH 407 Sarah Feb 23 yes
T09 We 8:30 CNH 407 Zenia Mar 2 no
T10 We 13:30 CNH 407 Bonnie Mar 9 yes
T11 Fr 8:30 KTH/B101 Kate Mar 16 yes
T12 Fr 13:30 CNH 407 Kate Mar 23 yes
Mar 30 yes
TA email contacts:
Bonnie Kahlon: <kahlonh@mcmaster.ca> Kelly Peterson <peterske@ mcmaster.ca>
Sarah Buchanan-Berrigan <buchansa@mcmaster.ca> Kate Paterson <patersca@mcmaster.ca>
Zenia Chaszcziwskiy <chaszcz@muss.cis.mcmaster.ca> Anna Kata: <kataa@mcmaster.ca>

Assignments
Assignments are due in tutorials: Assignment #1 is due in your tutorial the week of Feb 9 and ,
assignment #2 is due in your tutorial the week of Mar 30. If you need to hand in an assignment
outside of tutorial hours, you can put it in the drop box that is found in front of the elevators on the
5th floor of CNH. The box is emptied at 9 am and 4 pm and at that time assignments are date
stamped. To be on time for your tutorial, your assignment has to be date stamped BEFORE the
tutorial it is due. NOTE: if you put an assignment in at 4.05 pm, it will be date stamped for the next
day at 9 pm.
Assignments handed in late are subject to a 10% penalty per day. No assignments will be
accepted beyond 3 days late.

Academic dishonesty
Academic dishonesty consists of misrepresentation by deception or by other fraudulent means and
can result in serious consequences, e.g. the grade of zero on an assignment, loss of credit with a
notation on the transcript (notation reads: “Grade of F assigned for academic dishonesty”), and/or
suspension or expulsion from the university.
It is your responsibility to understand what constitutes academic dishonesty. For information
on the various kinds of academic dishonesty, please refer to the Academic Integrity Policy,
specifically Appendix 3, located at http://www.mcmaster.ca/senate/academic/ac_integrity.htm

The following illustrates only three forms of academic dishonesty:

1. Plagiarism, e.g. the submission of work that is not one’s own or for which other credit has
been obtained.
2. Improper collaboration in group work.
3. Copying or using unauthorised aids in tests and examinations.