The Northern Studies Program at Carleton offers a range of courses specific to the program and emphasizes other elective courses offered by the University. Not all elective courses are available in any year. Official descriptions of each course are available on the University’s web site in the Graduate and Undergraduate calendar pages. Here we present a summary of the course descriptions:
Northern Studies courses
NRTH 5000 [1.0 credit] Northern Environments, Northern Societies, Northern Policy
Disciplinary perspectives on the biophysical, social, and policy environments of northern Canada. Resource development, devolution, local governance and sovereignty in a time of rapid environmental change. Prerequisite: NRTH 5008.
Module: Environment
Module: Society
NRTH 5001 [1.0 credit] Northern and Arctic Issues
Research and evaluation using interdisciplinary perspectives on biophysical and social issues faced by northern Canadians. Topics to be considered will vary from year‐to-year. Research activities may be in collaboration with northern agencies. Prerequisite: NRTH 5000 or.co‐registration in NRTH 5000.
NRTH 5008 [0.0 credit] Introductory Northern Field Course
Overland field excursion to a northern community in the first week of the Fall Term or the week before the Fall Term. The course may last six days. Prerequisite: Enrolment in the first year of a Northern Studies program.
NRTH 5009 [0.5 credit] Field Course in Canada’s North
Field observation and methods in a selected region of northern Canada on a group basis.
Two or three weeks in summer term. A supplementary fee will apply. Prerequisites: NRTH 5000; NRTH 5001; NRTH 5905 or concurrent registration in NRTH 5905; Permission of the Northern Studies Supervisor.
NRTH 5901 [0.5 credit] Practicum in Northern Studies
Research activity under the supervision of professionals in museums, government departments, nongovernmental organizations, embassies, private-sector organizations, or other professional research setting. The research must be in Northern Studies. Prerequisites: NRTH 5000 or concurrent registration in NRTH 5000. Permission of the Northern Studies Supervisor. Equivalent of at least one day per week for one term. Grading is on a Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory basis.
NRTH 5905 [0.5 credit] Comprehensive Examination
An examination on interdisciplinary approaches to resolution of biophysical, social, or policy problems with respect to northern Canada. A specific theme will be identified for each candidate. The examination comprises a research paper, common-language summary, interview, and oral presentation.
Prerequisites: NRTH 5000; NRTH 5001. Permission of the Northern Studies Supervisor.
Elective courses in Anthropology
ANTH 4610 [0.5 credit] Advanced Studies in Indigenous Peoples of North America: Current Issues in Anthropological Research
This research-based seminar focuses on specific conceptual and methodological issues pertaining to contemporary anthropological research involving Indigenous communities of North America.
Prerequisites: ANTH 2610 or ANTH 3600 and fourth-year standing.
Seminar three hours a week.
ANTH 5004 [0.5 credit] Ecological Anthropology
Anthropological approaches to the study of human environment relationships and to current problems of ecological degradation affecting native societies around the world.
ANTH 5106 [0.5 credit] North American Indigenous Peoples
Selected issues in North American Indian, Inuit, and Métis ethnographic studies. Debates over social change, cultural autonomy, native rights, and government policy.
ANTH 5208 [0.5 credit] Anthropology of Indigeneity
An international exploration of what it means to claim indigenousness within a variety of contexts. The cultural politics of indigenous status in relation to such issues as primitivism, memory and revivalism in modern nation-states and diasporic communities.
Elective courses in Canadian Studies
CDNS 5101 [0.5 credit] Indigenous Peoples, Canada and the North
Interdisciplinary seminar exploring selected Indigenous issues as they relate to historical and ongoing changes in material, social, and cultural phenomena and relationships.
CDNS 5700 [0.5 credit] Arctic Passages: The Changing Dynamics of Canada’s North
Interdisciplinary exploration of changing political, economic, and cultural relationships between Inuit and non-Inuit interests in the Canadian Arctic. Emphasis on the role of global processes, such as the rise of the circumpolar movement and environmental change, in mediating these relationships.
Elective courses in Geography
GEOG 5003 [0.5 credit] Critical Approaches to Qualitative Inquiry
Development of critical skills in qualitative research by considering the relationship between theory and method. Engaged scholarship and participatory, community-based, action research. Practical experience with select methods including: interviews, personal narratives, focus groups, participant observation, archival research, discourse analysis, and visual methodologies.
GEOG 5600 [0.5 credit] Empire and Colonialism
Theoretical approaches to empire and colonialism: postcolonial, feminist, Indigenous, anti-racist, queer, decolonizing, and political-economic approaches. Consideration of a range of sites of imperial and colonial formation, including land, territory, nature, the body, sexuality, gender, and race, as well as forms of resistance, resurgence, and decolonization.
Elective courses in Public Administration
PADM 5224 [0.5 credit] Aboriginal Policy
Canadian policies and programs on aboriginal peoples and aboriginal peoples’ own policies as nations set in a comparative political-economic and institutional context.
PADM 5614 [0.5 credit] Natural Resource Management
Governance and management of natural resources from a Canadian and international perspective. The use of various management instruments, regulatory approaches and community-based and co-management institutions are evaluated with evidence from several case studies from around the world.
Elective course in Political Economy
PECO 5001 [0.5 credit] The Methodology of Political Economy
An examination of the methods, procedures, and rules for developing theory and guiding inquiry in political economy research, including topics such as logic of inquiry, conceptualization, research design, dialectics, level of analysis, comparison, evidence and statistics.
Elective course in Sociology
SOCI 5105 [0.5 credit] Selected Topics in Social Research
Topic varies from year to year. Students should check with the Department regarding the topic offered.
Elective course in Earth Sciences
ERTH 5309 [0.5 credit] Glacial and Periglacial Geology
An examination of various sedimentary environments associated with glacial and periglacial processes and their significance for mineral exploration and environmental geochemistry. Study of cold climate non-glacial conditions and the development of permafrost and permafrost-related features, including the effect of groundwater flow on permafrost distribution.
Elective courses in Physical Geography
GEOG 4013 [0.5 credit] Cold Region Hydrology
An examination of cold region hydrologic processes via experimental and observational studies; analysis of hydrologic data and application of hydrologic models.
GEOG 4017 [0.5 credit] Global Biogeochemical Cycles
Processes that control the fluxes and reservoirs of biologically active chemical constituents on land, in the atmosphere, and in the oceans. Interactions between biogeochemical cycles and the Earth’s climate; impact of land use and fossil fuel emissions on biogeochemical cycles and global change. Prerequisite: GEOG 3105 or permission of the department.
GEOG 4108 [0.5 credit] Permafrost
Distribution, development, and degradation of permafrost in Canada; thermal and hydrologic regime of permafrost terrain; development of landforms in permafrost regions; geotechnical consideration in northern construction. Prerequisite: GEOG 3108 or permission of the Department.
GEOG 5001 [0.5 credit] Modeling Environmental Systems
Methods and problems of research on the physical environment, with illustrative material taken from the atmospheric and surface earth sciences. Issues such as the identification and behaviour of environmental systems, temporal and spatial scale, experimental method under field conditions, and simulation and model development are considered.
GEOG 5303 [0.5 credit] Geocryology
Development of ground ice in permafrost regions of Canada; ice segregation and pore-water expulsion during ground freezing; analytical and numerical approaches to modeling permafrost conditions. Prerequisite: GEOG 4108 or permission of the Department.
GEOG 5803 [0.5] Seminar in Geomatics
Current research issues in geomatics, including remote sensing, geographic information systems, geographic positioning, and cartography. Topics will focus on combined interests of enrolled students and departmental faculty. Prerequisite(s): prior experience with GIS, GPS, remote sensing or cartography and permission of the department.
GEOG 5804 [0.5 credit] Geographic Information Systems
GIS for students with no previous experience. Includes data formats and structures, input/output and analysis capabilities, and GIS applications.