Sharon Fortney
Job Title
Curator of Indigenous Collections and Engagement
Employer
Museum of Vancouver
Overview
The Department of Anthropology advances the study and constructive understanding of human diversity and commonality, across the globe and throughout the long span of human existence. We pursue this aim through excellence in research, teaching, and community collaboration, grounded in multiple analytical and interpretive methods that share a commitment to field-based inquiry. Interdisciplinary contacts are encouraged, and links are maintained with departments and programs such as Asian Studies, the Institute of Asian Research, Linguistics, History, Geography, Sociology, and the Centre for Women's and Gender Studies.
What makes the program unique?
We are the second oldest anthropology program in Canada, with more than six decades of research and teaching to our name. Our students are supported by a dedicated staff and faculty and access to outstanding research resources, such as the Museum of Anthropology and Laboratory of Archaeology. Today, UBC anthropology faculty and students conduct original research throughout BC and around the world.
Program Structure
The PhD program provides students with the opportunity to structure a course of study towards specific intellectual and practical interests. A student first gains full standing as a doctoral candidate within the Department by completing the following requirements:
- 24 months residency
- 18 credits of coursework
- an acceptable research proposal
- satisfactory performance in a comprehensive examination
Once they have attained candidacy, students then proceed with research and preparation of a PhD dissertation. The candidate completes the degree upon successfully defending their dissertation in the University examination. Students are expected to attain their degrees within six years.
Quick Facts
Program Components Dissertation
Career Outcomes
18 students graduated between 2005 and 2013. Of these, career information was obtained for 17 alumni (based on research conducted between Feb-May 2016):
RI (Research-Intensive) Faculty: typically tenure-track faculty positions (equivalent of the North American Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, and Professor positions) in PhD-granting institutions
TI (Teaching-Intensive) Faculty: typically full-time faculty positions in colleges or in institutions not granting PhDs, and teaching faculty at PhD-granting institutions
Term Faculty: faculty in term appointments (e.g. sessional lecturers, visiting assistant professors, etc.)
Sample Employers in Higher Education
Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (2)University of Dhaka
Universite de Montreal
Douglas College
Sungkyunkwan University
Simon Fraser University
University of Tsukuba
University of British Columbia
Carleton University
University of Alberta
Sample Employers Outside Higher Education
Gitxaala First NationSto:lo Research and Resource Management Centre
Canadian Science and Technology Museums Corporation
Alaska Marine Conservation Council
Sample Job Titles Outside Higher Education
ResearcherResearch Director
Heritage Research Coordinator
Director, Senior Archaeologist
Consultant
Program Director
PhD Career Outcome Survey
You may view the full report on career outcomes of UBC PhD graduates on outcomes.grad.ubc.ca.Disclaimer
These data represent historical employment information and do not guarantee future employment prospects for graduates of this program. They are for informational purposes only. Data were collected through either alumni surveys or internet research.Career Options
Alumni on Success
Research Supervisors
Supervision
Students in research-based programs usually require a faculty member to function as their thesis supervisor. Please follow the instructions provided by each program whether applicants should contact faculty members.
Instructions regarding thesis supervisor contact for this program
Applicants should browse faculty profiles and indicate in their application who they are interested in working with. No commitment from a supervisor prior to applying is necessary, but contacting faculty members is encouraged.
The most important first step in applying for admission to our graduate program is finding and approaching a potential supervisor in the department. This gives you an opportunity to discuss the research you are interested in completing as a graduate student and to determine if there is a good ‘fit’ with faculty expertise. Please be aware, however, that all admissions decisions are made by committee and are only communicated after the application deadline following full review of all submitted applications.
Advice and insights from UBC Faculty on reaching out to supervisors
These videos contain some general advice from faculty across UBC on finding and reaching out to a supervisor. They are not program specific.
This list shows faculty members with full supervisory privileges who are affiliated with this program. It is not a comprehensive list of all potential supervisors as faculty from other programs or faculty members without full supervisory privileges can request approvals to supervise graduate students in this program.
- Alaica, Aleksa (Other agricultural sciences; Archaeology; human-animal interactions; Moche Perceptions and Use of Animals; Food Security and Interregional Interaction during Wari State Expansion; Colonization, Diet and Animal Management)
- Barnett, Kristen (intersection of Indigenous and western science; research and data sovereignty; Indigenous feminisms; decolonizing; reframing archaeology)
- Blackburn, Carole (relationship between Indigenous peoples and settler states; how Indigenous nations assert their rights and sovereignty in struggles over land and political recognition, and the consequences for Indigenous people of engaging states in legal and political arenas.)
- Bloch, Alexia (Social sciences; migration; Gender; Eurasia; Russia; ethnography)
- Creighton, Millie (Japan, Japanese descent communities (Nikkei or Nikkeijin), Korea, Inter-Asian Relations, Identity, Consumerism, Popular and Mass Culture, Gender, Minorities, Work and Leisure)
- Gordillo, Gaston (Space and violence, affect, ruins and ruination, critical theory and continental philosophy, object-oriented ontologies, resistance to agribusiness, Latin America, Argentina, the Gran Chaco)
- Gusterson, Hugh Phillimore (Other studies in human society, n.e.c.; militarism; drug policies and cultures; Science Policy; nuclear weapons; ethnography)
- Hayat, Zahra (Pharmaceutical pricing; Quality and intellectual property)
- Heatherington, Tracey (Social and cultural anthropology; Environment, space and place; Anthropocene studies; Environmental anthropology; Critique of neoliberalism; Critical approaches to energy transition; Sustainable food systems; Human and cultural perspectives on the climate and nature emergency; Political ecology of nature conservation; Power, resistance and justice; Multispecies ethnography; Anthropological engagements with fiction; Ethnographic writing and reflexivity)
- Jing, Zhichun (Prehistoric archaeology; Archaeometry; Archaeological theory; Archaeology; Anthropology; Early China; Shang Civilization; Archaeological Science; Early Urbanism; Geoarchaeology; Data Science in Archaeology; Ceramic Petrography; Jade; AI and Archaeology; social sustainability)
- Kamat, Vinay Ramnath (Anthropology; Global Health and Emerging Diseases; Dispossession; East Africa; ethnography; Extractive Industry; Global Health; India; Malaria; marine conservation; Medical Anthropology; Outsourcing of Clinical Trials; political ecology; Tanzania)
- Kramer, Jennifer (Visual culture and art of the First Nations)
- Levell, Nicola (interdisciplinary folds of anthropology, theoretical museology, material culture and critical curatorial studies)
- Martindale, Andrew (Social sciences; Indigenous Archaeology; Northwest Coast; Oral Traditions; Spatial Analyses; Archaeology and the Law; Political economy; Radiocarbon Dating; Indian Residential Schools)
- Menzies, Charles (Social sciences; Indigenous studies; Natural Resource Management; Maritime Anthropology; Western Europe; Ethnographic Film; Classical Marxism)
- Mhishi, Lennon (Borders and sovereignity; Culture and migration; Settler colonialism and decolonization; Afterlives of slavery and colonialism; Contemporary forms of exploitation, forced labour and human rights)
- Moore, Patrick (Anthropological linguistics, languages of North America, sub-Arctic ethnography, ethno-history, gender, First Nations Languages, Literacy and Orality, Oral Traditions, Dene (Athbaskan Languages and Cultures), Codeswitching, Gender, Indigenous Activism, and the Anthropology of Media)
- Muehlmann, Shaylih (Environmental politics, linguistic anthropology, drug trafficking, indigeneity, water scarcity, the anthropology of the awkward, US-Mexico borderlands, Mexico)
- Robertson, Leslie (Indigenous and settler historiographies, colonial regimes of difference, spectacle and narrative, and political histories of resistance in settler nations, afterlife of historical colonialism, forms of power and representation in the context of urban marginalization (drug use, sex work, health, and violence) )
- Rosenblum, Daisy (multi-modal documentation and description of indigenous languages of North America, with an emphasis on methods, partnerships, and products that contribute to community-based language revitalization)
- Rowley, Susan (Anthropology, n.e.c.; repatriation; museums; material culture; Cultural Heritage; arctic archaeology; heritage management)
- Sari, Elif (transnational sexualities; migration; asylum; humanitarianism; queer and critical race theory)
- Shneiderman, Sara (Social and cultural anthropology; Indigenous issues; Disaster response and preparedness; Citizenship; migration)
- Speller, Camilla (Anthropology; Archeological Data Analysis; Molecular Genetics; Ancient DNA Analysis (paleogenetics); Ancient proteins (paleoproteomics); Animal Domestication; Bioarchaeology; Environmental Archaeology; Marine Ecosystems)
- Turin, Mark (Anthropology; Cultural Institutions (Museums, Libraries, etc.); Lexicography and Dictionaries; Language Contact and Linguistic Changes; Language Rights and Policies; Language Interactions; Political Culture, Society and Ideology; Bella Bella; Bhutan; First Nations; Heiltsuk; Indigeneity; Nepal; Sikkim; Tibet)
Program Enquiries
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Supervisor Search
Departments/Programs may update graduate degree program details through the Faculty & Staff portal. To update contact details for application inquiries, please use this form.
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