The Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures offers multi-disciplinary courses in English on international studies. These courses highlight critical thinking and expression about cultural topics in transnational perspective and aim to develop international and intercultural understandings of literary and cultural traditions through study of cultural production including literature and film. Students acquire valuable transferable skills (communication, critical thinking, analysis, interpretation, argument) for further study or career possibilities. These courses make great electives but most of them will count as options in many LLCU and non - LLCU Plans. The prerequisite for most of these courses is level 2 or above. Don't wait to the last minute to register for them in July- spaces will fill up quickly!
Please note: Course offerings may change prior to registration
LLCU 110/ 3.0: Linguistic Diversity and Identity (Winter 2017)
This course explores the diversity of human languages, and the nature of linguistic identity across and within speech communities. Topics covered include: relationships among languages and language families; the origin and development of writing systems; language endangerment and revitalization; and language contact within communities, including language contact, bilingualism, and dialect variation.
This course has no prerequisites, and is open to all students.
Option course for: GMST,HISP, ITLN, LANG, LING and SLAS Plans
LLCU 111/ 3.0: Introduction to Cultures (Fall 2016)
The course offers an overview of the theoretical framework behind the study of Intercultural Communication and proposes practical applications of these theories, including in-class guest speakers and a 4-session workshop on Intercultural Competence by the Queen's University International Centre (QUIC). Students will obtain a Certificate by QUIC.
This course has no prerequisites, and is open to all students.
Option course for: GMST, ITLN, HISP, LANG, and SLAS Plans
LLCU 200/3.0: Semiotics: Interpreting the World (Winter 2017)
Semiotics is the discipline that studies signs and how these participate in creating meaning and communication. This course focuses on the theoretical system on which semiotic analyses is based (F. de Saussure, C. Peirce, R. Barthes, and others) and will be devoted to various subject areas such as literature, art, film, theatre, and other fields.
Prerequisite: Level 2 or Permission of the Department
Option course for following Plans:
DRAM, GMST,HISP, ITLN, LANG, LING
LLCU 209/3.0: Rio de Janeiro: the Marvelous City (on-line, Fall 2016)
Known internationally for its carnival, soccer, tropical beach life, musical rhythms, and tourism, the city of Rio de Janeiro has been the quintessential postcard image of Brazil for much of the twentieth century. At the same time, the city is also infamously known for its social inequalities exemplified by pockets of extreme affluence alongside massive shantytown communities (favelas), homeless youth, and ongoing violent confrontations between police and drug gangs. In many ways, the city embodies the idea that Brazil is a land of contrasts. This course goes beyond the typical representations of Rio de Janeiro to provide students with an understanding of the complex social, political, economic, and cultural history that have shaped the city’s development and character.
Prerequisite: Level 2 or above
Option course for following Plans:
DEVS, LANG, SLAS
LLCU 213/ 3.0: The Social History of Organized Crime in Canada (Winter 2017)
Students will analyze and understand the most important forms of organized crime present in Canada. Its history and evolution are defined, in an attempt to interpret the relationship between major criminal organizations and economic, social, cultural, political, and demographic changes, both domestically and internationally
Prerequisite: Second year standing or permission of the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures.
Option course for LANG Plan
LLCU 214/3.0: Mafia Culture and the Power of Symbols, Rituals and Myth (Fall 2016)
The course will analyze the cinematic representation of the Mafia and other criminal organizations, such as Yakuza, Triads, Vory V Zakone. The course will focus on how North American cinema (Hollywood) often glorifies the mafiosi's lifestyle. As this characterization of the Mafia and Mafiosi began with the archetypal figures of the bosses, special attention will be given to movies of the 1930s and to Francis Ford Coppola’s Godfather trilogy. The goal is the deconstruction of the romantic portrayal of the gangster life style created on the silver screen and analyses of the atrocities committed by organized crime groups.
Prerequisite: Level 2 or Permission of the Department
Option course for following Plans:
ITLN, LANG
LLCU 244/ 3.0: Hips Don't Lie?: Music and Culture in Latin America (Winter 2017)
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This survey course explores key aspects of Hispanic history and culture in the twentieth century through the study of its musical production. We will study notions of race, class, gender, and national identity by focusing on specific musical genres.
Prerequisite: Second year standing or permission of the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures.
Option course for LANG Plans
LLCU 249 /3.0: Latin Lovers: Love, Sex and Popular Culture On-line (Winter 2017)
The course explores the emergence, development, and criticism of the Latin Lover figure in the West, from the creation of the archetypical Don Juan in the seventeenth-century to contemporary Hollywood representations of Italian and Latin-American lovers
Consult Continuing and Distance Studies
Prerequisites: Level 2 or permission of the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures.
Option course for LANG Plans
LLCU 247/3.0: The Dynamic History of Spain (Fall 2016)
The history of Spain can best be described as dramatic. From its beginnings as a civilization to the harsh realities of the 21th century, Spain continues to beguile the observer. As a country it has metamorphosed under the influence of many important civilizations. It also rose to the status of a far-reaching although ultimately doomed empire. In the twentieth century, a devastating civil war was followed by almost three decades of dictatorship under Francisco Franco. Miraculously after his death, Spain outshone itself in its swift move to a fully democratized and ultraliberal country. It became not only a pivotal member of the European Union but also an economic, political and artistic world leader. Today Spain faces the same economic struggles and upheavals of the rest of Europe. These great historical shifts will be explored in the study of the dramatic history of Europe’s most fascinating country, Spain.
Prerequisite: Level 2 or Permission of the Department
Option course for following Plans:
HISP, LANG
LLCU 248/3.0: Spanish American Cultural Contexts (Winter 2017)
What comes to mind when you think of Latin America? Sofia Vergara, Pit Bull, Salma Hayek? Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, Evita Peron? Tango, Salsa, Latin Jazz? Violent street gangs, drug lords and machismo? This course will take you beyond the stereotypical media images and icons, and lead you to explore the heterogeneity of Latin America: from the original hybrid construction of European, Indigenous and African roots that came together in the colonial period, to the wide variety of peoples, cultural traditions, and creative arts that make it such a vibrant and fascinating continent today. Why not challenge some of your preconceived notions about the region and look at the unique differences of some 20 nations with all their geographical, historical and ethnic variations? This course will provide a brief overall political and social history through readings, films, music and art, while allowing you to investigate areas of particular interest to you in order to enhance your academic concentration at Queen’s, or simply indulge your passion for learning new things about the world.
Prerequisite: Level 2 or Permission of the Department
Option course for following Plans:
DEVS, HISP, LANG, SLAS
LLCU 257/3.0: Pirandello's Theatre (Fall 2016)
An in-depth study of Pirandello’s most important dramatic works, together with analysis of his theoretical essays on theatre. Particular attention will be paid to the following plays: Six Characters in Search of an Author; Each in his Own Way, Henry IV, The Feast of Our Lord of the Ships, The New Colony; Tonight We Improvise and The Mountain Giants.
Prerequisite: Level 2 or permission of the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures.
Option course for following Plans:
DRAM, LANG
LLCU 295/3.0: Special Topics: Indigenous Digital Media (Winter 2017)
"What do you do when you wake up on a daily basis and the news around you, the media, music, movies & the television you consume does not represent you and you can't connect with it?
You make your own media." -- Ryan McMahon
This course will explore the relationship between digital media and Indigenous cultures in North America. Digital content — including podcasts, film, music, tweets, and blog posts — will be placed in conversation with media theory and key Indigenous Studies texts in order to draw connections between media production and Indigenous struggles for self-determination. Special attention will be paid to Indigenous cultural resurgence and spaces of (re)conciliation. Over the course of the semester students will be given the tools to thoughtfully and critically engage with Indigenous digital media, and to present their ideas to both academic and community audiences.
Prerequisite: Second year standing or above
Option course for INDG Plan
LLCU 301/3.0: Oral Tradition and Innovation in Cultural Transmission (Fall 2016)
This is a general introduction to how celebrations of language through verse, storytelling, song, and other narrative forms in different media play an important role in integrating and transmitting cultural values and norms. It examines an array of oral traditions and innovations past and present in a selection of American, European and African contexts as well as their interaction when different cultures meet. Students are expected to develop an awareness of orality’s role in everyday cultural interaction and an understanding of the issues introduced by changes in storytelling media. They are also expected to identify similarities and differences that mediate oral traditions and innovations in multiple cultural settings and relate them to contemporary Canadian concerns.
Prerequisite: Level 3 or Permission of the Department
Option course for following Plans:
DRAM, HISP, INDG, LANG
LLCU 302/ 3.0: Unsettling: Indigenous Peoples & Canadian Settler Colonialism (Fall 2016)
An intersectional/interdisciplinary approach to the analysis of, and possible alternatives to, Canadian settler colonialism. Primacy given to indigenous voices/theories/ methods related to the history of indigenous lands and associated traditions/identities, the course focuses on the theory/practice of 'unsettling' the settler colonial societies. This course offers an in-depth understanding of relations between settlers and indigenous peoples, with a focus on the traditional territories that have been claimed by the Canadian nation-state. It takes an intersectional and interdisciplinary approach to the analysis of interactions at all levels, from the everyday and interpersonal to the large-scale structures of capitalism, the state form, and politics of identity/recognition. It will be of interest to students who are studying development, social work, technology, education, health, state policy, activism, environmental issues – any of the myriad disciplines and practices where settlers and indigenous peoples meet, where we try to work within, across, and beyond the divide of settler colonialism.
Prerequisites: DEVS 220/3.0 or DEVS 221/3.0.
Option course for INDG Plan
LLCU 316/3.0: Introduction to Contemporary Literary Theory and Analysis (Fall 2016)
An introduction to contemporary literary theories and the analysis of Hispanic texts from reader-, structural-, and author-oriented perspectives.
Prerequisite: Level 3 or permission of the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures.
Option course for LANG Plan
LLCU 319/3.0: Roots of Fascism: Resistance to Liberalism in the 19th Century (Fall 2016)
This course is very much about the relevance of history, and will appeal to students who are interested not only in the origins of European fascism but also in the reasons for the ongoing resistance to liberalism in the world today. The term liberalism here refers both to a political and moral agenda (equal rights, freedom of thought, representative democracy) and to the socio-economic revolution caused by technology in tandem with free markets. The diverse readings will show that a wide range of intellectual and cultural trends can be traced to anxiety about these changes and their consequences. The course will distinguish between conservative, nationalist, aesthetic and religious trends, which will be illustrated by readings of different genres. While the readings will be selected from several countries, the focus will be on Germany.
Prerequisite: Level 2 or Permission of the Department
Option course for following Plans:
LANG, POLS
LLCU 320/3.0 Fascism in Europe from Napoleon to Hitler (Winter 2017)
An introduction to the growth of the fascist mentality in Europe, to the fascist regimes of the interwar period, and to the different ways of interpreting the phenomenen. The course will treat the Third Reich as part of the broader conservative and nationalist challenge to liberalism. The course is conceived on an interdisciplinary basis in order to take account of the multiple nature of its object. Time will also be devoted to considering some of the most prominent interpretations of fascism, for example, the Marxist, the psychological, the cultural and the modernization theses. The course will appeal to students who are interested in understanding a troubling aspect of the recent past and its ongoing relevance for the present.
Prerequisite: Level 2 or Permission of the Department
Option course for following Plans:
HIST, LANG, POLS
LLCU 322/3.0 Conflict and Culture: Literature, Law, and Human Rights (Fall 2016)
An examination of international discourses on conflict and resolution, including theories of reconciliation, human rights, and international law, as portrayed in various media (fiction, theatre and film) and diverse cultural contexts (e.g. ancient Greece, Germany, South Africa and Canada [indigenous settler relations]).
Prerequisite: Level 2 or permission of the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures.
Option course for INDG, LANG Plans
LLCU 328/3.0: Gender, Development and Film in Latin America (Fall 2016)
This course will explore major themes of development in relation to gender in Latin America through its manifestation in film. Films will be chosen from all regions of Latin America, including Brazil.
Prerequisite: Level 3 or permission of the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures.
Option course for: DEVS, GNDS, LANG
LLCU 329/3.0: Uncanny Encounters: Narrative Analysis of the Fantastic Genre (Fall 2016)
This course offers an overview of the related genres of the Fantastic, the Fairy Tale, Dystopia, Science Fiction, and Horror. Examples will include popular works such as the Twilight Saga, Harry Potter, and/or The Hunger Games, but also traditional texts by Hoffman and Kafka. Parallel to the fictional works, the course offers theoretical analysis.
Prerequisite: Level 3 or permission of the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures
Option course for LANG Plan
LLCU 333/3.0: Acting Out: Sexual and Gender Subversion in Baroque Theatre (Winter 2017)
Baroque playwrights took full advantage of the actor Juan Rana's well-known queerness to subvert implicitly and explicitly the social norms of sexual and gender identity still questioned today. Course will examine Spanish Baroque short theatre in general and historically contextualize its subversion of social, sexual, gender and patriarchal norms
Prerequisite: Level 3 or permission of the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures.
Option course for following Plans:
GNDS, LANG