Undergraduate Courses in Black Studies

Course Outline (PDF)

Description: This course introduces students to black studies as a project of liberation. In the course, we will discuss key theories and concepts of black liberation and will engage with historical as well as present black freedom struggles across various global and local contexts. Engaging with the creative and transformative struggles and worldmaking projects of black people globally, the course explores key theories and frameworks (analysis of racial capitalism, black radical tradition, anti-colonialism, black feminism, black and abolition geography) and themes such as migration, state (police, prison, borders) and ecological violence, labor and reproduction. Focussing on resistance and creation, black social movements as well as multi-racial coalitions and solidarities, the course engages with black studies as a universal project of liberation. 

Learning Hours: 120 (36 Lecture, 84 Private Study)  

Exclusion: GNDS 380 (Topic Title: Introduction to Black Studies)

Description: Studies in black women’s and black gender politics in Canada, the U.S.A., and the Caribbean.

Learning Hours: 120 (36 Lecture, 84 Private Study)  

Prerequisite: Level 3 or permission of the Department

Note: This course is cross-listed as GNDS 312

Description: Through a selection of readings by African writers and artists, students are asked to read and think alongside Indigenous writers and artists about what it means to be human, to be in relation, to remember, and to resist. Students will be introduced to contemporary literary works, artistic productions and theories arising from encountering these works in dialogue. Students will learn to evaluate these works as spaces of political solidarity and critical thinking between writers and writing across continents.

Learning Hours: 120 (36 Lecture, 84 Private Study)  

Prerequisites: Level 2 or above or permission of the Department.

Exclusions: BLCK 280/3.0 Black and Indigenous Poetics

Course outline (PDF)

Learning Hours: 120 (36 Lecture, 84 Private Study)  

Prerequisite: Level 2 or permission of the Department

Notes: This course is co-offered as GNDS 280.

Offered when faculty resources permit, Special Topic courses are analyses of particular areas of gender studies interdisciplinary research. Details regarding specific topics will be available from the Head of the Department on an annual basis. Students are able to take multiple Special Topics courses of the same course code (i.e., GNDS 280, 380, 480), provided it is a different topic than the one(s) previously taken.

Description: This course examines the historical and contemporary environmental issues facing the global South today, including climate and environmental change, resource management (resource extraction and habitat conservation), toxic waste dumping, informal recycling economies, environmental (in)justice, etc. through an interdisciplinary methodology drawing on literature from Racial Capitalism, Environmental Studies, Political Ecology, Black Eco-poetics, Black Studies, and Geographies, and more broadly, using case studies from the global South and works from global South scholars.

Learning hours: 120 (36 Lecture, 84 Private Study) 

Prerequisites: Level 3 or above or permission of the Department.

Exclusions: BLCK 380/3.0 Topic: Black Environmentalism 

Description: This course examines the realities of anti-Black racism from the transatlantic slave trade and colonization to historical and contemporary policies and practices that have negatively impacted the health of African descendants and their communities within Canada and in transnational contexts. Using multiple analytic approaches and methodologies, the course will provide a strong understanding of Blackness and race as historically produced social constructs as well as how race interacts with other axes of diversity and social and commercial determinants to produce health outcomes. 

Learning hours: 120 (36 Seminar, 84 Private Study) 

Prerequisites: Level 4 or above or permission of the Department.

Exclusion: HLTH 460/3.0; HLTH 495/3.0 Racism and Health

Note: This course is cross-listed as HLTH 460

Course Outline (PDF)

Learning Hours: 120 (36 Lecture, 84 Private Study)  

Prerequisite: Level 4 or permission of the Department

Offered when faculty resources permit, Special Topic courses are analyses of particular areas of gender studies interdisciplinary research. Details regarding specific topics will be available from the Head of the Department on an annual basis. Students are able to take multiple Special Topics courses of the same course code (i.e., GNDS 280, 380, 480), provided it is a different topic than the one(s) previously taken.

Description: An examination of one aspect of modern and/or contemporary art history. Possible areas of investigation include the study of an issue important to the art of the modern and/or contemporary period, as well as the study of the methods and historiographic positionings of art historians working today.

Learning hours: 120 (30L;6Oc;84P)

Recommendation: ARTH 226/3.0 and ARTH 228/3.0

Requirements: pre Level 3 or above. Excl No more than 3.0 units from ARTH303; ARTH305  

See Art History Courses for more information. 

Description: This course first provides the historical and regional context necessary to understand urban southern Africa’s contemporary struggles, then examines strategies to address key development challenges and how they may be creating opportunities for new ways of thinking about citizenship in South Africa and the Global South more generally.

Learning Hours: 120 (24L;12T;8G;84P)

Prerequisite: Level 3 or above

Note: NOTE: DEVS 363 is the qualifying course for students who wish to attend the summer study program in South Africa.

See DEVS Courses for more information. 

Description: See ENGL Courses for more information.

Learning hours:120 (36L;84P).

Prerequisite: ENGL 100.  

*This is a special topics course code. Since the course topic may change from year to year, annual review is required. A special topics course may be approved for in this degree plan, with permission of the Black Studies Program Director, in the Department of Gender Studies*

Description: An introduction to the history of ideas and cultural evolution in French Canada, African and Caribbean culture and literature, from the colonial period to the present day.

Learning Hours: 120 (36L;84P)

Prerequisite: (FREN 230/3.0 and FREN 241/3.0) or (FREN 212/6.0 and FREN 220/6.0) or FREN 221/6.0.

See FREN Courses for more information.

Description: A study of representative works by African and the Caribbean writers. Travaux pratiques include essays and tests.

Learning Hours: 120 (36L;84P)

Prerequisite: (FREN 230/3.0 and FREN 241/3.0) or (FREN 212/6.0 and FREN 220/6.0) or FREN 221/6.0.
EXCLUSION(S): FREN 451/3.0.

See FREN Courses for more information.

Description: In this course, which aims to provide a solid undergraduate-level foundation in several key figures, texts and concepts in Haitian Studies, students will learn to address some common misunderstandings about Haiti by exploring the political documents of its revolutionary period and literary representations of its popular culture and vodou.

Learning Hours: 120 (36L;84P)

Prerequisite: FREN 230/3.0 and FREN 241/3.0.

See FREN Courses for more information.

Description: The past, present and future role of the Caribbean in the world economy, with an emphasis on the colonial legacy, debt and dependency, the effects of neoliberal reform and the changing geographies, and patterns of uneven development created by increasingly transnational flows of capital, people and culture.

Learning Hours: 120 (36L;24O;60P)

Prerequisite: Level 2 or permission of the Department

See GPHY Courses for more information.

ONLINE COURSE

Description: With a youthful population of well over a billion, the future is said to be African. But how has the continent fared so far? This course is a thematic survey of African history in the modern world. It will introduce students to the general contours of the continent’s history in a global context. It will explore home-grown intellectual, technological and sociopolitical advances before contact with the West. Following contact, it will touch on the slave trade, colonial rivalry and misrule, African independence, and post-independence challenges and opportunities.

Learning hours: 120 (36L;84P).

Prerequisite: Level 2 or above.  

NOTE Also offered online. Consult Arts and Science Online. Learning Hours may vary.

See HIST Courses for more information.

Description: Examines the history of slavery in the United States and Canada from the colonial era to the mid nineteenth-century. Various approaches will be emphasized.

Learning hours: 120 (36L;84P)

Prerequisites: Level 2 or above.

See HIST Courses for more information.

Description: This course explores the post-emancipation history of African Americans in the United States. It studies the modern civil rights movement and its long roots in ongoing resistance to racial subjugation by positioning the African American perspective at the centre of its investigation.

Learning hours:117 (36l;81P).

Requirements: Prerequisite Level 2 or above.  

See HIST Courses for more information.

Description: This course surveys the emergence and development of the first British Empire, from the age of exploration through the loss of the American colonies. Topics will include: the conceptual impact of the new world; patterns of migration; slavery; the economic and political impact colonization; and ideologies of empire.

Learning Hours: 123 (39L;84P)

Prerequisite: Level 2 or above

See HIST Courses for more information.

Description: An exploration of traditional African cultural forms including music, storytelling, mask work, and dance and how those roots are the foundation of contemporary music and theatre from Africa and the African Diaspora. Students will explore the diversity of African musical forms, oral history, and dance styles. What connects these traditions across the continent of Africa, and what differentiates them from each other? Moreover, what happened to these traditions because of the Atlantic Slave Trade, and what has emerged in the Americas and Europe since then? By examining contemporary drama and music as well as the generations-old musical, dance, and oral storytelling forms at their root, we will gain an appreciation not only for the interconnectedness of the past and the present, but also for the importance of culture to Afro-descendant people on the continent and in the diaspora.

Learning Hours: 120

Prerequisites: Third year standing or above in DRAM or MUSC concentration or permission of the instructor

Exclusions: DRAM 383

See the Dan School Courses for more information.

Description: This course offers an introduction to African philosophical thought. After dealing with metatheoretical questions about the nature of philosophy and the philosophical inquirer, the focus will shift to African views on topics such as truth, the concept of a person, art, morality, slavery and colonialism.

Prerequisites: Level 3 or above

See PHIL Courses for more information.

Description: Major issues in the contemporary politics and political economy of sub‐Saharan Africa. The development of the colonial and post‐colonial state, capitalist development and the role of indigenous and international capital, and political and socio‐economic aspects of class, ethnicity and gender. 

Learning Hours: 120 (36L;84P).

Prerequisite: (12.0 units in POLS at the 200-level or above and a minimum GPA of 2.0 on all units in POLS) or permission of the Department.  

See POLS Courses for more information. 

Description: Studies of 19th-century literature produced in the Americas (Canada, United States, and elsewhere in the western hemisphere). Geographical focus will vary from year to year.

Learning Hours: 120 (36S;84P).

Prerequisite: ENGL 200 and ENGL 290 and registration in an (ENGL Major or Medial Plan).  

See ENGL Courses for more information. 

Description: What is #BlackGirlMagic and how has it shaped Black literature? To answer these questions, we will investigate depictions of Black girlhood in Black literature and contextualize the rise of the field of Black Girlhood Studies by reading a diverse set of novels including but not limited to Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye (1970); Audre Lorde’s Zami: A New Spelling of My Name (1982); Bernardine Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other (2019) and Francesca Ekwuyasi’s Butter Honey Pig Bread (2020). We will analyze these texts using Black feminist methodologies as articulated by theorists like bell hooks, Hortense Spillers, Hazel Carby, and Katherine McKittrick.

*This is a special topics course code. Since the course topic may change from year to year, annual review is required. A special topics course may be approved for in this degree plan, with permission of the Black Studies Program Director, in the Department of Gender Studies*

Learning Hours: 120 (36S;84P).

Prerequisite: ENGL 200 and ENGL 290 and registration in an (ENGL Major or Medial Plan).  

See ENGL Courses for more information. 

Learning Hours: 120 (36S;84P).

Prerequisite: ENGL 200 and ENGL 290 and registration in an (ENGL Major or Medial Plan).  

*This is a special topics course code. Since the course topic may change from year to year, annual review is required. A special topics course may be approved for in this degree plan, with permission of the Black Studies Program Director, in the Department of Gender Studies*

See ENGL Courses for more information. 

Learning Hours: 120 (36S;84P).

Prerequisite: ENGL 200 and ENGL 290 and registration in an (ENGL Major or Medial Plan).  

*This is a special topics course code. Since the course topic may change from year to year, annual review is required. A special topics course may be approved for in this degree plan, with permission of the Black Studies Program Director, in the Department of Gender Studies*

See ENGL Courses for more information. 

Description: This interdisciplinary seminar will explore the ways in which modernity shapes cultural ‘difference’ and ‘the human’. Readings will focus on the racial and geographic contours of colonialism, transatlantic slavery and The Enlightenment in order to bring into focus communities that challenge racial-sexual categorization through creative expression (music, fiction, poetry, and visual art as well as theory). This course contains an intensive and independent study component.

Learning Hours: 120 (36S;84P)

Prerequisite: Level 3 or above in a GNDS Major or Medial or SXGD Plan, or permission of the Department

Description: An examination of the political dimensions of violent conflict in Africa, including the causes of inter‐state and intra‐state conflict, and responses such as peacebuilding and global governance initiatives. 

Learning Hours: (LECTURE) 120 (36L;84P); (SEMINAR) 120 (36S;12G;72P).

Prerequisite: Level 4 or above and registration in a (POLS Major or Medial Plan) and POLS 250 and a (minimum GPA of 2.5 on all units in POLS). 

See POLS Courses for more information.

Description: Decades after the formal decolonization of former colonies, the power relations of the colonial world - and the racism it engendered - remain deeply embedded in the West, and are intrinsic to contemporary relations of globalization. This course explores European colonialism; historical and social constructions of ‘race’; the ongoing occupation of Indigenous peoples’ territories; and contemporary racism.

Remote delivery mode: Combination
Weekly pre-recorded lectures will be posted on the course onQ page. Course contents will be discussed during synchronous sessions on Tuesdays from 2:30-4:30pm EST.

Learning Hours: 120 (24L;12T;84P)

Prerequisite: Level 2 or permission of the Department

Description: This course explores transnational realities and diasporic experience, with particular attention to gender and sexuality, through the arts.

Learning Hours: 120 (36L;84P)

Prerequisite: Level 3 or permission of the Department

Description: This course examines gender in an international context with emphasis on current global issues of women and development. Topics include gendering international political economy, women’s health and sexualities, and forms of struggle, resistance and change in non-western contexts.

Learning Hours: 120 (36L;84P)

Prerequisite: Level 3 or permission of the Department

Description: Examines critical theories and case studies of politics and governance in Indigenous and settler societies, based in Indigenous feminist thought. Cases examine the relation between nationality, gender, and sexuality within colonial relations of rule, methods of Indigenous governance, Indigenous sovereignty struggles, and theories and practices of decolonization. This course contains an intensive and independent study component.

Learning Hours: 120 (36S;84P)

Prerequisite: Level 3 or above in a GNDS Major or Medial or SXGD Plan, or permission of the Department

Description: This course introduces students to the emerging interdisciplinary field of Radical Black Ecologies. The premise of this course is that “ecological and/or environmental issues are also racial issues” which results from the coupling of racism and capitalism and the uneven/asymmetric global geographies and ecologies that emerge therein. Using case examples (from the global North and South), this course explores and analyzes how the effects of ecological crises, environmental destruction, and environmental hazards are distributed unequally such that Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color are disproportionately affected. The course will adopt an interdisciplinary methodology drawing from racial capitalism, critical race theory, environmental studies, political economy, and ecology and black studies more broadly. Fundamentally, this course addresses issues of racial difference, power, equity, access, and belonging, and offers theoretical tools and perspectives to understand how these issues unfold within society.

Learning Hours: 120 (36L;84P).

Prerequisite: (Level 3 or above and registration in a GPHY Plan) or permission of the Department.  

*This is a special topics course code. Since the course topic may change from year to year, annual review is required. A special topics course may be approved for in this degree plan, with permission of the Black Studies Program Director, in the Department of Gender Studies*

See GPHY Courses for more information.

Learning Hours: 120 (36L;84P).

Prerequisite: (Level 3 or above and registration in a GPHY Plan) or permission of the Department.  

*This is a special topics course code. Since the course topic may change from year to year, annual review is required. A special topics course may be approved for in this degree plan, with permission of the Black Studies Program Director, in the Department of Gender Studies*

See GPHY Courses for more information.

ONLINE COURSE

Description: A survey of various historical case studies that will explore the causes, conflicts, and consequences that have occurred wherever indigenous peoples have encountered colonizing invaders. Significant questions will include who is indigenous?, who is not?, and can one speak of a global indigenous history?

Learning Hours: 130 (2T;25G;2O;101P).

Requirements: Prerequisite Level 2 or above.  

See HIST Courses for more information.

NOTE Only offered online. Consult Arts and Science Online.

Description: This lecture course (there will be no separate tutorials) examines the significance of pre-contact Mexica (Aztec) and Inca civilizations, Africa and Iberia in the late medieval period, the European invasion, colonialism as a historical “problem”, the Independence movements in the early nineteenth century, and the struggle of the new nations to build viable economic, political, and social institutions within the shadow of what some historians call the “colonial legacy”. We will focus primarily upon the Spanish Viceroyalties of Mexico and Peru, as well as the Portuguese colony of Brazil. Readings include biographical accounts that tease out the nuances and complexities of social relations and what it meant to be a colonial vassal. This course is meant to increase your knowledge of Latin American history, enhance your analytical and independent thinking skills, and help you gain a clearer sense of how to write a historical essay. There will be a mid-term, a 6-page essay and a final exam.

Learning Hours: 129 (33L;24O;72P).

Requirements: Prerequisite Level 2 or above. Exclusion HIST 302.  

See HIST Courses for more information.

Description: This course examines global health from a variety of perspectives, including anthropological, epidemiological, geographical, and sociological, to help understand the cultural and historical patterns shaping global health inequalities. With an emphasis on resource-poor countries, specific topics may include infectious and non-communicable diseases, global environmental change, and nutrition and maternal health.

Learning Hours: 120 (9L;111P)

Prerequisite: HLTH 101/3.0 and Level 3 in a HLTH, PHED or KINE Plan or registration at the International Program Office – BISC.

See HLTH Courses for more information.

Description: An introduction to philosophical issues regarding sexism, racism, ageism, homophobia, classism, imperialism and other forms of oppression.

Learning Hours: 120 (36L;84P).

Prerequisites: Level 2 or above or completed 6.0 units in PHIL.  

Note:The course is intended to prepare students for upper level courses in feminist philosophy and the philosophy of culture.

See PHIL Courses for more information. 

Description: This course puts race front and center in the narrative of American politics. Few U.S. public policies are completely race-neutral because individuals who bore—and continue to bear— the brunt of negative externalities in healthcare, environment, law enforcement, gun regulation, education, social welfare policies etc. tend to be BIPOC. Through historical documents, news media, and academic research, students examine the extent to which race has shaped American political institutions, public opinion, and behaviour. Topics include subjugation of Blacks, Latinos, and Asian Americans during the 19th and 20th centuries; the civil rights movement; contemporary manifestations of racial discrimination and their impact on who gets elected to positions of power and whose prerogatives become law.

Learning Hours: 120 (36L;84P).

Prerequisite: Level 4 or above and registration in a (POLS Major or Medial Plan) and POLS 250 and a (minimum GPA of 2.5 on all units in POLS).  

See POLS Courses for more information.

Description: This course will explore the intersection of race, ethnicity and religion, alongside gender, sexuality, culture, and more. It will first explore how colonialism and imperialism actively used the construct of race and religion to oppress peoples, such as the indigenous communities in Canada, as well as African Americans and Muslims. Then it will shift in its focus to understand how those who were oppressed by the colonizers or imperial powers responded by using religion and a discourse of race to construct their own systems and world views, along with relationships with the divine. Some examples of case studies this course will engage include African-American Islam (i.e., Nation of Islam), Black Christian Theology, Hinduism, Mormonism, Indigenous Spiritualities.

Learning Hours: 128 (18L;18S;12G;80P).

Prerequisite: Level 3 or above or (6.0 units in RELS at the 100-level).  

See RELS Courses for more information. 

Description: This course will examine the histories, meanings and sites of modern art in the metropolitan West from about the mid nineteenth century to the mid twentieth century. Students will become familiar not only with the works themselves, but with shifts in critical conceptions and key art historical problems surrounding modern art.

Learning Hours: 120 (24L;12G;12O;72P)

Prerequisite: Level 2 or above or permission of the Department.

See ARTH Courses for more information.

Description: The course presents an introduction to the arts and visual culture of Africa, encompassing traditional or “classic” African arts, as well as modern and contemporary African arts. It explores the diversity and shifting concepts of African art over time, and the ways objects related to specific African communities circulated and gained new meanings outside the continent. Through theoretical and practical analyses, students will be stimulated to reflect on how the African art field was shaped by scholars, curators, artists, and public interaction during its main turning points.

Learning Hours: 120(36L;84P)

Prerequisite: Level 2 or above or permission of the Department.

Course Equivalencies: ARTH123, ARTH234  

See ARTH Courses for more information.

ONLINE COURSE

Description: Introduces basic theoretical concepts of development studies, the history of global inequality, the role of local and transnational actors and institutions such as the World Bank, key debates in development policy, and short histories of alternative development strategies. Case studies of Canada's ties to the so-called "third world" will include missionaries, military, business, and aid. Canadian colonialism over First Nations peoples will introduce basic issues in Aboriginal Studies.

Learning Hours: 240 (48L;24T;24O;144P)

Note: Also offered online. Consult Arts and Science Online.

Note: Also offered at the Bader International Studies Centre, Herstmonceux. Learning Hours may vary.

See DEVS Courses for more information.

ONLINE COURSE

Description: Introduces basic theoretical concepts of development studies, the history of global inequality, the role of local and transnational actors and institutions such as the World Bank, key debates in development policy, and short histories of alternative development strategies. Case studies of Canada's ties to the so-called "third world" will include missionaries, military, business, and aid. Canadian colonialism over First Nations peoples will introduce basic issues in Aboriginal Studies.

Learning Hours: 240 (48L;24T;24O;144P)

Requirements: Prerequisite None. Exclusion DEVS 105.  

Course Equivalencies: DEVS100; DEVS100B  

See DEVS Courses for more information.

ONLINE COURSE

Description: An introduction to Indigenous ways of knowing organized on a historical basis, from creation to present day, emphasizing Indigenous cultures and experiences in Canada. Students will critically examine colonialism. Indigenous perspectives will be introduced through lecture, reading and assignments, and from contributions from elders, members of Indigenous communities and Indigenous scholars.

Learning Hours: 120 (36L;12O;72P)

Note: Also offered online. Consult Arts and Science Online. Learning Hours may vary.

See DEVS Courses for more information.

Description: Indigenous Studies II – Resistance and Resurgence highlights the perpetual resilience and resistance of Indigenous communities as they grapple with gendered settler colonialism. The re‐emergence of Indigenous knowledge and governance within the settler nation state, and the re‐building of Indigenous communities is examined in detail through topics such as contemporary issues in Indigenous healing, art, teaching and learning, Indigenous protest, and socio‐political life. Students will engage in work that aims to center the voices of Indigenous people.

Learning Hours: 120 (24L;12T; 84P)

Prerequisites: DEVS 220/3.0

Note: Also offered online. Consult Arts and Science Online. Learning Hours may vary.

See DEVS Courses for more information.

Description: This course will explore how theories and practices of 'development' are entwined with different conceptions of culture. It starts by examining how the West constructed itself as the civilising force in the world and viewed the mass poverty of 'Third World' peoples as a product of their conservative traditions and cultural practices. The course will examine ways that colonial perceptions and practices still imbue development discourse today, and how they are being challenged. How have new social movements, art forms, and technologies opened up to engage with, resist and contest the current model of market driven development, and how does the latter incorporate or co-opt the critiques? Specific topics will include science, religion, sports, art and music. After completing the course, students should be able to demonstrate a critical awareness of everyday events in the Global South and among indigenous peoples as reported, for example, in the media or as performed through hip hop and the many other forms of resistance culture.

Learning Hours: 120 (24L;12T;84P)

Prerequisites: (DEVS 100/6.0 or DEVS 105/3.0) and DEVS 230/3.0. (DEVS 100/6.0 can be taken concurrently in exceptional circumstances)

See DEVS Courses for more information.

Description: This course is designed for those interested in undertaking a critical analysis of the gendered impact of the globalization process and development policies with a focus on women in the Global South.

Learning Hours: 120 (24L;12T;84P)

Prerequisites: (DEVS100 or DEVS 105/3.0) and (Level 2 or above or registration in the GAEN certificate) or permission of instructor.

Note: Also offered as a distance course. Consult Arts and Science Online at https://www.queensu.ca/artsci/programs-and-degrees/online-and-distance-courses. Learning Hours may vary.

See DEVS Courses for more information.

Description: HIV/AIDS is one of the most pressing development issues in the world today. This course examines the cultural, political, economic, and other social factors that contribute to its transmission and intractability, and which help to explain the differential impact of the disease upon societies worldwide. Particular attention is paid to the ways that specific social/sexual identities and practices arising from inequitable class, gender, race, and ethnic relations, affect the prevalence of HIV, the ability to contain its spread, and the human costs that it entails.

Learning Hours: 120 (24L;12T;84P)

Prerequisites: Level 3 or above and (DEVS 100 or DEVS 105 or DEVS 220 or DEVS 221 or DEVS 230 or HLTH 101). Equivalency DEVS 320.  

See DEVS Courses for more information.

Description: The course examines contemporary issues 'forced' migration of people to obtain theoretical understanding of processes shaping human mobility and the debates governing inclusion or exclusion of people.

Learning hours: 120( 24L;12T 84P)

Prerequisites: Level 3 or above Exclusion  DEVS 393, Topic ID 001; DEVS 293, Topic ID 002

Course title: Topics in Modern/Contemporary Canadian Literature I: Racism in Canadian YA Fiction
Racism, Islamophobia, and Violence against Indigenous Peoples in YA Literature Written in Canada

Description: Over the last two decades, young adult fiction has been offering increasingly complex narrative representations of adolescent identity in a Canada that has become more and more ethnically and racially diverse. We will examine a number of YA novels for their literary quality and their representation of racism, Islamophobia, and violence against Indigenous Peoples. Do the texts do justice to the complexity of the issues that they address? How do the texts discuss Canadian society? How do they attempt to assist the (teenage) reader to develop cultural, social, and emotional competence and promote critical reflection and social justice activism? What distinguishes YA fiction from adult fiction? Why and how do some texts have crossover appeal? What role does the author’s choice of genre (contemporary realism, fantasy, graphic novel, dystopian novel) play in addressing anti-racism and social justice?

Learning hours: 120 (36S;84P).

Requirements: Prerequisite ENGL 200 and ENGL 290 and registration in an (ENGL Major or Medial Plan).  

*This is a special topics course code. Since the course topic may change from year to year, annual review is required. A special topics course may be approved for in this degree plan, with permission of the Black Studies Program Director, in the Department of Gender Studies*

See ENGL Courses for more information. 

Description: This course explores current theory in queer studies by centrally examining the interdependence of race, sexuality, and gender. The course foregrounds the critical insights that follow sustained study of race in queer studies, and of queer matters in critical race, Indigenous, global, and diaspora studies.

Learning Hours: 120 (36L;84P)

Prerequisite: Level 3 or permission of the Department

Description: Examines feminist ethnography and queer ethnography as distinct subfields, areas of inquiry, writing genres and ethical methods in research and social life. Topics: historical uses of ethnography and feminist/queer/trans critiques of them; adaptations of ethnography to trans, queer, and feminist work; ethnography’s importance to gender studies.

Learning Hours: 120 (12L;24S;36G;48P)

Prerequisite: Level 3 or above in a GNDS Major or Medial or SXGD Plan, or permission of the Department

Description: This course examines how geographers understand the global economic system. Topics include globalization, regional economic integration, transnational production and marketing strategies of firms, new patterns of consumption, the rise of the service economy, and work and employment in the new economy.

Learning Hours: 129 (36L;9G;24O;60P).

Prerequisite: Level 2 or above or permission of Department.  

See GPHY Courses for more information. 

Description: The geographical implications of the incorporation of the Third World into the global economy. Emphasis will be upon issues relating to both the physical and human environments in reference to development, ecological alteration, cultural change, and spatial readjustment.

Learning hours: 120 (36L;12O;72P).

Prerequisites: (Level 3 or above and [6.0 units from GPHY 227; GPHY 228; GPHY 229] or [3.0 units at the 200-level or above in DEVS or GNDS] or [ENSC 103 or ENSC 203]) or permission of the Department.

See GPHY Courses for more information. 

Description: An introduction to the history of the United States during the turbulent period from 1868 until 1920. Topics may include industrialization, reform movements, mass consumption, corporations, imperialism, immigration, urbanization, the rise of segregation, agricultural transformation, flu pandemic, art, and literature.

Learning hours: 120 (36L;84P).

Requirements: Prerequisite Level 2 or above.  

See HIST Courses for more information. 

ONLINE COURSE

Description: This course introduces students to basic concepts in public, population and global health, and introduces social determinants of health, such as poverty, income inequality, and racism, in Canadian and global contexts.

Learning hours: 117 (12L;9T;24O;72P).

Requirements: Prerequisite None. Exclusion GLPH 171.  

Prerequisites: NONE

NOTE Also offered online. Consult Arts and Science Online. Learning Hours may vary.

NOTE Also offered at the Bader International Study Centre. Learning Hours may vary.

See HLTH Courses for more information.

Course title: INDG 301 001: Exhausted Americas: Conquest, Freedom, and Re-Writing the Human in Black and Indigenous Poetries

Description: Scholarship in Black and Indigenous studies has paid increasing attention to the relationship between these two fields in the context of Black and Indigenous struggles throughout the Americas for liberation, abolition, and decolonization. This course will examine this conversation through the ongoing histories of violent conquest from which these struggles spring and the visions of freedom to which they give birth, arguing that a consideration of such histories and visions is necessary to understanding our contemporary world. It will do so by engaging work by Black and Indigenous poets within the Americas, focusing mainly, but not exclusively, on contemporary work from what we now call Canada within a hemispheric context. Also examined will be a mixture of Black and Indigenous critical thought which takes the figure of the human as an object of knowledge, attending to the ways Black and Indigenous life disrupt Eurocentric narratives of the Americas as a space of civilizational triumph that disavows its constitutive violence. Exhaustion will provide a framework from which to consider how settler colonialism and the afterlife of slavery continue to produce exhausted life worlds for Black and Indigenous communities as well as the ways in which their creative persistence in turn exhausts the descriptive and critical capacity of dominant forms of knowledge, creating a rupture through which alternative practices of being human emerge and resurge. What this course asks, then, is how the poets under discussion re-write the human to imagine new worlds, and how we as readers can attend to the creative-critical work these re-writings do as a form of knowledge that generates freedom from within exhaustion.

Learning hours: 120 (36S;84P).

Requirements: Prerequisite Level 3 or above or permission of the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures.  

See INDG Courses for more information. 

Description:This course examines cities from a cultural perspective, focusing through film to see how different urban spaces have, at different moments in time, been incubators of great social changes. It seeks to understand why, when, and with what result such upheavals occur.

Learning hours: 120 (36L;84P)

Prerequisites: Prerequisite Level 2 or above or permission of the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures.

See LLCU Courses for more information. 

ONLINE COURSE

Description: 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 (meninos e meninas de rua), 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.

Learning hours: 132 (48O;84P).

Prerequisite: Level 2 or above.

NOTE Only offered online. Consult Arts and Science Online.

See LLCU Courses for more information. 

Description: 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.

Learning hours: 120 (36L;84P).

Prerequisite: Level 2 or above or permission of the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures. Exclusion LLCU 495 (2015/16).  

See LLCU Courses for more information. 

Description: A survey of the central issues in the philosophy of law including a consideration of current jurisprudential controversies about the nature of law and philosophical treatments of problems arising from within the law such as paternalism, privacy, responsibility, and civil liberties

Learning Hours: 120 (36L;84P)

Prerequisite: Level 3 or above.

See PHIL Courses for more information.

Description: An examination of Indigenous politics in a Canadian context, including aboriginal self-government.

Learning Hours: 120 (36L;84P)

Prerequisite: (12.0 units in POLS at the 200-level or above and a minimum GPA of 2.0 on all units in POLS) or permission of the Department.  

See POLS Courses for more information.

Description: This seminar will examine key texts in the discipline of political science. The focus of this course will vary from year to year. 

Prerequisite: Level 4 or above and registration in a (POLS Major or Medial Plan) and POLS 250 and a (minimum GPA of 2.5 on all units in POLS).  

See POLS Courses for more information.

Description: What are ‘identities’? How are they ‘made’ and ‘unmade’? What difference do they make for democratic theory and practice? This course will explore these questions by analyzing different theoretical approaches to the study of identities, including class, gender, sexuality, race and ethnicity. Using a variety of contemporary case studies, from the #BlackLivesMatter movement, to the rise of ‘white identity politics’ in the United States and Europe, Hindu nationalism in India, and the politics of Indigeneity in Africa and Latin America, students will come away from the course with a deep understanding of how, why and to what effect identities are formed, mobilized and politicized in different institutional settings around the world. 

Learning Hours: (LECTURE) 120 (36L;84P); (SEMINAR) 120 (36S;12G;72P).

Prerequisite: Level 4 or above and registration in a (POLS Major or Medial Plan) and POLS 250 and a (minimum GPA of 2.5 on all units in POLS).  

See POLS Courses for more information.

Description: This course will identify and describe characteristics of religion as they appear in popular culture (e.g. movies; music; Netflix series; social media; sports) while analyzing how such depictions present, shape, and create perceptions of religion in public discourse. In our examination we will learn and use theories of race, gender, culture, and performance studies and more to understand how religion is popularized and commodified. Course case studies will draw from indigenous traditions, the Nation of Gods and Earth (5%ers), Islam, Hinduism, popular spirituality, sports and much more.

Learning Hours: 120 (24L;12T;84P).  

Prerequisites: None.

See RELS Courses for more information. 

Description: This course examines the historical and contemporary expressions of Islam in Canada. Starting from early Muslim migrants to Canada to current issues of media representations, Islamophobia, and gender and sexuality, as they are unfolding in Canadian contexts for Muslims.

Learning Hours: 138 (18L;18S;12G;90P).

Requirements: Prerequisite Level 2 or above or (6.0 units in RELS at the 100-level).  

See RELS Courses for more information. 

Description: Concept and meaning of race, racism, and racialization; ethnicity; processes, policies, and practices of differentiation; the impact of racism and discrimination on various populations; intersections of race, ethnicity, class and gender.

Learning Hours:120 (36L;84P)

Requirements: pre C- in SOCY122 excl  

See SOCY Courses for more information.

Description: This is an experiential learning course based on the Walls to Bridges program model, which brings together students from Queen’s University (‘outside students’) with students from a local federal prison (‘inside students’) to learn and share knowledge based on their lived experience and critical analysis of academic scholarship.  Students will explore the complexities of criminalization and punishment through lived experiences and intersectional analyses. This is a transformational educational experience which draws upon lived experience as a source of theorizing as well as challenges the artificial boundaries between people experiencing imprisonment and those who are not.

This course explores the subject of “Othering” and the divisive mentalities that pit groups in opposition to one another (us versus them). Students will learn through in-class activities, readings, group discussions, journaling and other writing assignments, and individual and group assignments based on academic and non-academic (popular culture) literature and materials. There will be a particular focus on the deconstruction of the 'other' in relation to race, gender, class and poverty in the criminal justice system and the community. Students will be encouraged to examine local, national and international cases/topics and to discuss the othering process as it occurs in these cases. Students will be asked to consider how we (individually and collectively) actively engage in othering, how it works, as well as what we are trying to protect/defend by othering. Discussion of how we can resist othering will also be encouraged. It is only through open and honest discussion that we can start to unpack the othering process and how we mobilize our privilege (consciously or not) to cast certain groups as different, dangerous or other.

The course uses a learning circle format.  An agenda will be prepared to guide the class discussion; however, the class is expected to lead the discussion reflecting and incorporating the course readings and lived experiences. Group work, active participation and open listening are essential components of the course.

Prerequisites: The prerequisites for Philosophy students are: Level 4 and (PHIL 250/6.0 and PHIL 257/6.0) and ( a minimum GPA of 2.4 in all 300-levelPHIL) and [(registration in a PHIL Major Plan and 9.0 units of PHIL at the 300-level) or (registration in a PHIL Medial Plan and 6.0 units of PHIL at the 300-level)]. Interested students (both inside and outside) will need to submit an expression of interest followed by an interview with the course instructor. Students register for the course with instructor permission.

Exclusions: SOCY 406/3.0

See PHIL Courses for more information. 

ONLINE COURSE

Description: Introductory genetics and evolutionary processes as they relate to the human condition - genetic diseases, medical techniques, inheritance and ethical issues such as cloning and genetically modified foods.

Learning hours: 118 (26L;10T;10G;36O;36P)

Prerequisite: None. One-Way Exclusion May not be taken with or after BIOL 102; BIOL 103.  

NOTE Also offered online. Consult Arts and Science Online. Learning Hours may vary.

See BIOL Courses for more information.

Description: This course focusses on the fundamental biology underlying the major global change issues that humanity currently faces. Strong emphasis will be placed on the critical interconnections among issues across hierarchical levels from molecule to biosphere that explain the patterns and mechanisms which have led to our current environmental predicament.

Learning hours: 117(24L;18T;12G;3Oc;36P) 

Prerequisites: BIOL 300/3.0 and a minimum GPA of 2.0 in the Biological Foundations List 

See BIOL Courses for more information.

Description: Application of basic coding and analytical methods to obtain, organize, analyze, visualize, and interpret information from large, complex datasets (i.e. ‘Big Data’) in biology. Datasets may include climate/weather records, ‘omics’ data, specimen collections, long?term observational studies, journal articles, and other historical and online sources.

Learning hours: 120 (36L;12T;72P)

Prerequisites: A minimum GPA of 2.0 in the Biological Foundations List.

Corequisite: BIOL 331/3.0. 

Biological Foundations List
BIOL 102/3.0; BIOL 103/3.0; BIOL 200/3.0; BIOL 201/3.0; BIOL 202/3.0; BIOL 205/3.0; BIOL 206/3.0; BIOL 212/3.0; BIOL 300/3.0; BIOL 330/3.0; BIOL 334/3.0; BIOL 339/3.0; BIOL 341/3.0; BIOL 302/3.0; BIOL 303/3.0.

See BIOL Courses for more information.

Description: This course studies diversity and difference in the workplace, and emphasizes the importance of equity and inclusivity in modern organizations. It examines individual and organizational experiences of social identity and intersecting identities in contemporary society. Students will study multiple facets of gender diversity (including gender, gender identity and expression, and sexual orientation), as well as other dimensions of diversity (including race, ethnicity, age, religion, and class). Students will become familiar with demographic trends in today’s organizations, related employment law, best practices for hiring and promotion in order to maintain and leverage benefits of organizational diversity, theories and research on how gender and diversity affect organizational interaction and performance, and ongoing issues involved in managing diversity within organizations. Classes are discussion-focused and assignments are designed to help students build informed opinions that incorporate systematic research and evidence on the topic of gender and diversity in organizations. The course will help students grow comfortable discussing, addressing, and managing issues of gender and diversity in their careers and organizations. Students are expected to bring a high level of maturity, sensitivity, and critical thinking to the course.

This course is restricted to students enrolled in the 3rd or 4th year of the Commerce Program.

NOTE: This course counts as credit towards the Certificate in Social Impact.

See COMM Courses for more information. 

ONLINE COURSE

Description: The course considers the workplace policies, laws, and human resource management and labour relations practices that advance equity and diversity in the workplace. This course examines the nature and extent of diversity in the Canadian labour force and the implications for establishing and supporting equitable, diverse and productive workforces.

Learning hours: 120 (72O;48P)

Prerequisites: Level 2 or above.

See EMPR Courses for more information.

Description: A study of nineteenth-century literature from both sides of the Atlantic. This course will explore cultural transactions between Europe and the Americas from the late eighteenth to the early twentieth century, with special attention to the transatlantic dimension of literary movements such as Romanticism, Realism, and Modernism.

Learning hours: 240 (72L;168P).

Prerequisites: ENGL 200 and ENGL 290 and registration in an (ENGL Major or Medial Plan).

See ENGL Courses for more information. 

Description: In his poem, “Let America Be America Again,” Langston Hughes voices the spirit that arguably would come to characterize much of the literature and culture of the United States in the latter half of the twentieth century: “O, let America be America again— / The land that never has been yet— / And yet must be.” If the post-WWII era has been characterized by increasing consolidation of US power internationally, it has also been characterized by a fracturing of US politics from within. From Civil Rights and feminism to anti-nuclear and environmental politics, from Stonewall to Seattle to Black Lives Matter, activists have attempted to hold “America” to its political and social promises. This course provides a survey of the ways in which US literature has not only registered the effects of these social movements but also has, in some instances, inspired them. Throughout the course we explore how literature has encoded its social context; how artists have balanced aesthetics and politics, form and content; and to what extent political art has enacted social change.

Learning hours: 240 (72L;168P).

Prerequisite: ENGL 200 and ENGL 290 and registration in an (ENGL Major or Medial Plan). Exclusion ENGL 470.  

See ENGL Courses for more information. 

Description: An interdisciplinary approach to complex environmental issues, and diverse perspectives on environmental management and sustainability.  The course considers the social and scientific aspects of environmental problems and the production of environmental knowledge alongside global linkages, human health implications and barriers to sustainability.

Learning hours: 120 (24L;12T;24O;60P)

Course Equivalencies: ENSC103; ENSC203  

EXCLUSION: ENSC 203/3.0

See ENSC Courses for more information.

Description: A history of the relations between humans and nature through time, with special emphasis on how science has influenced how we perceive our place in nature, and how we define and understand environmental issues.

Learning hours: (24L;12T;84P)

Requirements: Prerequisite Level 2 or above or permission of the School. Exclusion HIST 257.  

EXCLUSION: No more than 3.0 units from ENSC 200/3.0; HIST 257/3.0. 

See ENSC Courses for more information.

Description: National and global review of current and projected adequacy of food supplies, as affected by soil and water resources, climate and climate change, and human population growth. Reviews different scenarios for meeting food needs over the next 50 years, including technological, social, economic, and political factors.

Learning hours: 124 (36L;4Pc;6O;18Oc;60P).

Prerequisite: Level 3 or above.

See ENSC Courses for more information.

Description: Examines the socially uneven effects across race, class, gender and nation of environmental problems such as toxic waste disposal, air pollution, climate change, deforestation and environmental disasters and the responses to them from local to global movements, protests and politics.

Learning hours: 150 (18L;18S;6O;108P).

Prerequisite: Level 3 or above.

See ENSC Courses for more information.

Description: A survey of speculative media, working around three organizing themes (fictions, fans, and franchises), this class will introduce key issues in speculative media studies . Students will explore various sub-cultural and popular SF or speculative genres, including science-fiction, fantasy, alternative history, and speculative futures.

Learning hours: 108 (36L;24Lb;48P).

Prerequisite: (Registration in a FILM Plan, STSC/MAPP or COCA Specialization and 12.0 units in FILM) or permission of the Department.  

See FILM Courses for more information.

Description: This course offers a journey into Indigenous and Inuit film, produced by Indigenous filmmakers from the Americas, Northern Europe, and Australia. Topics such as Indigenous methodologies and aesthetics, Indigenous feminism, decolonization, self-recognition, language revitalization, and cultural reappropriation will be explored.

Learning hours: 108 (36L;24Lb;48P).

Prerequisite: (Level 3 or above and registration in a FILM Plan, STSC/MAPP, or COCA Specialization) or (DEVS 220 and DEVS 221) or (FILM 236 and FILM 240). Note Priority will be given to students registered in a FILM, STSC/MAPP, COCA or INDG Plan.  

See FILM Courses for more information.

ONLINE COURSE

Description: This course explores women, gender, and difference from feminist and anti-racist perspectives. It identifies the ways in which women’s activism, politics, and experiences intersect with other gendered identifications such as race, location, class, (dis)ability, and sexuality. Lessons and texts will introduce feminism, the body, colonialism, gender performance, and strategies of resistance.

Learning hours: 120 (24L;12T;84P).

Prerequisite: None.  

Course Equivalencies: GNDS120, WMNS101, WMNS102, WMN  

NOTE Also offered online. Consult Arts and Science Online. Learning Hours may vary.

Description: Explores popular culture from feminist and anti-racist perspectives, with attention to sexuality, gender, race and nation in a variety of media.

Learning hours: 120 (24L;12T;84P).

Prerequisite: None.  

Course Equivalencies: GNDS125, WMNS125, WMNS225  

NOTE Also offered online. Consult Arts and Science Online. Learning Hours may vary.

Description: Considers the main themes in the history of masculinity and male sexuality, especially ‘dissident’ or subaltern masculinities internationally, and women’s roles in shaping ideologies of masculinity. Topics include the theorization of masculinity, initiation rituals, family and parenting, violence, sports, homophobia, sexual practices, colonialism, science/epistemology and men and feminism.

Learning Hours: 120 (36L;84P)

Prerequisite: Level 3 or permission of the Department

Description: This course is designed to provide an in-depth exploration of poverty issues in Canada. It includes discussions about working poor and welfare poor and addresses how race and sexuality can compound the issues of poverty. The course will also acknowledge how poor people are actively engaged in attempting to improve their lives through anti-poverty organizing. This course contains an intensive and independent study component.

Learning Hours: 120 (36S;84P)

Prerequisite: Level 3 or above in a GNDS Major or Medial or SXGD Plan, or permission of the Department

Exclusions: POLS 318/3.0; POLS 382/3.0

Description: The city from a geographical and planning perspective. Topics include origins of urbanism; mega; migrant, and global cities; urban competitiveness; land use planning and design; suburbanization and sprawl; new urban identities and culture; retailing transport; public space; private and temporary cities; urban poverty; politics and governance; sustainable urban futures.

Learning Hours: 120 (18L;18T;24O;60P).

Prerequisite: Level 2 or above or permission of Department.  

NOTE Also offered online. Consult Arts and Science Online. Learning Hours may vary.

See GPHY Courses for more information.

Description: Space and place are central to how we experience the world. In this course we will be social geographers, examining how intersecting relations of power such as capitalism, ableism, heteronormativity, and colonialism produce place, and how we in turn are affected by the spaces we inhabit, engage, and consume. Our geographical interrogations will take us from favela tours in Rio de Janeiro to harm reduction organizing in our own backyard. We will consider collective responses to COVID-19 in Bolivia, and the makings of Caribbean identity in the restaurants of Scarborough. We will follow Wonder Woman to Egypt and witness the Mi’kmaq battling zombies on Turtle Island. Our course materials will include both academic literature and cultural artefacts like films, music videos, and novels that we encounter in our daily lives. While this is a lecture course wherever possible we will engage active learning in order to develop course concepts in meaningful ways. The course is divided into six modules: Place and Space; Carceral and Abolition Geographies; Nature and Embodiment; Geographical Imaginaries; Land(scape); and Borders.

Learning Hours: 120 (36L;24O;60P).

Prerequisite: Level 2 or above or permission of Department.  

See GPHY Courses for more information.

Description: The forces involved in shaping the political environment and spatial structure of urban areas. Emphasis on the significance of decisions concerning public goods in the distribution of income and equity within the city.

Learning hours: 120 (36L;84P).

Prerequisites: (6.0 units from GPHY 227; GPHY 228; GPHY 229) or permission of the Department.

See GPHY Courses for more information.

Description: Gender in relationship to the spatial organization of contemporary cities. Emphasis on the diversity of gendered experiences as they relate to the urban: housing, violence, social movements, work, and gender symbols

Learning hours: 120 (36L;84P).

Prerequisite: (6.0 units from GPHY 227; GPHY 228; GPHY 229) or (3.0 units at the 200-level or above in GNDS) or permission of the Department.  

See GPHY Courses for more information.

Description: The movement of people across the surface of the earth from early times to the present, focusing on contemporary issues of immigration, refugees, human rights, social integration and barriers to integration including discussions of racism, citizenship, multiculturalism, and community infrastructure.

Learning hours: 120 (36L;84P).

Prerequisite: (GPHY 227 or GPHY 228 or GPHY 229) or permission of the Department.  

See GPHY Courses for more information.

Description: A survey history of anti-Muslim prejudice and its relationship to patterns of persecution in "Western" societies from medieval to modern transformations and manifestations of Islamophobia, racism, antisemitism, and anti-immigrant movements.

Learning hours: 120 (36S;84P).

Prerequisite: Level 2 or above. Exclusion HIST 240 (Topic Title: Islamophobia)

See HIST Courses for more information.

Description: Explores the social production and cultural meanings of health and illness with a focus on power and struggle.

Learning hours: 120 (24L;12T;84P)

Prerequisites: HLTH 101/3.0 or KNPE 167/3.0 or SOCY 122/6.0, and level 3 or above in a HLTH, KINE or PHED plan.

See HLTH Courses for more information. 

Description: An introduction to Indigenous theories and research methodologies.

Learning hours: 120 (36S;84P)

Prerequisites: Level 3 or above and DEVS 220/3.0 or permission of the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures.

See INDG Courses for more information. 

Description: A fourth year Honours capstone project course exploring an issue in Indigenous Studies through both library-and community-based research. Working with an Indigenous community partner and the instructor, students will integrate knowledge and skills to carry out a research project.

Learning hours: 240 (36S;36I;168P).

Prerequisites: Level 4 and registration in the INDG Major or Medial Plan and INDG 302/3.0 or permission of the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures.

See INDG Courses for more information. 

Description: This course explores the diversity of human languages, and the nature of linguistic identity across and within speech communities from a linguistics perspective. Topics that will be covered include: language families; linguistic typology; writing systems; language endangerment and revitalization; and situations of language contact, bilingualism, and sociolinguistic variation.

Learning hours: 120 (36L;84P).

Prerequisite: None

See LLCU Courses for more information. 

Description: LLCU 205 explores the social, cultural and political events that have shaped Mexico from pre-Hispanic times to the present day, with an emphasis on the twentieth century. We will study the emergence and development of important artistic movements in the visual arts, music, literature, and cinema as well as significant events such as the Mexican Revolution, the massacre of students in Tlatelolco (1968) and the Zapatista uprising of 1994. No previous knowledge of Mexico or Latin America is required. The course is open to all students. This course will introduce major themes and concepts in the cultures of a specific nation with an emphasis on understanding and examining the important social, historical and cultural contexts of the country and its people.  Topics may include art, film, economy, religion, and politics.

Prerequisites: Requires a minimum of 24.00 units. Level 2 or permission of the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures.

See LLCU Courses for more information. 

Description: An examination of traditional and innovative forms of oral cultural transmission in a selection of American, African and European contexts with particular focus on the interaction of narrative and technology.

Learning hours: 108 (36L;72P)

Prerequisites: Level 3 or permission of the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures.

See LLCU Courses for more information. 

Description: Representative figures from Kierkegaard to de Beauvoir will be the focus of attention in this overview of the main ideas of existentialism, a vital movement in contemporary philosophy. The foundations of existential thought, its distinctive style of argumentation and its relationship to the perennial concerns of philosophy will be explored.

Learning Hours: 120 (36L;84P)

Prerequisite: Level 2 or above or completed 6.0 units in PHIL.

Description: Selected topics in the critique of capitalism, e.g. Marxism, democracy, the environment, globalization, employment and popular culture.

Learning Hours: 120 (36L;84P).

Prerequisite: (12.0 units in POLS at the 200-level or above and a minimum GPA of 2.0 on all units in POLS) or permission of the Department.  

See POLS Courses for more information.

Description: What are ‘identities’? How are they ‘made’ and ‘unmade’? What difference do they make for democratic theory and practice? This course will explore these questions by analyzing different theoretical approaches to the study of identities, including class, gender, sexuality, race and ethnicity. Using a variety of contemporary case studies, from the #BlackLivesMatter movement, to the rise of ‘white identity politics’ in the United States and Europe, Hindu nationalism in India, and the politics of Indigeneity in Africa and Latin America, students will come away from the course with a deep understanding of how, why and to what effect identities are formed, mobilized and politicized in different institutional settings around the world. 

Learning Hours: (LECTURE) 120 (36L;84P); (SEMINAR) 120 (36S;12G;72P).

Prerequisite: Level 4 or above and registration in a (POLS Major or Medial Plan) and POLS 250 and a (minimum GPA of 2.5 on all units in POLS).  

*This is a special topics course code. Since the course topic may change from year to year, annual review is required. A special topics course may be approved for in this degree plan, with permission of the Black Studies Program Director, in the Department of Gender Studies*

See POLS Courses for more information.

Description: This course will examine the field of social movements studies, with a particular focus on how religion has played a role in the rise of social movements, how religious communities have been influenced by social movements, and how mobilization and activism around social justice issues is coloured by religion and culture.

Learning Hours: 120 (36L;9G;75P).

Prerequisite: Level 2 or above or (6.0 units in RELS at the 100-level).  

See RELS Courses for more information.

Description: Social context and consequences of information and communication technologies as they relate to work, culture, privacy and education.

Learning Hours: 120 (36L;84P).

Prerequisite: A minimum grade of a C- in SOCY 122 or (BISC 100 and BISC 101)

See SOCY Courses for more information.

Description: Critical examination of science in modern society; particular reference to historical development, transmission of scientific knowledge, conduct of enquiry, and interdependence with other institutions.

Learning Hours: 120 (36L;84P).

Prerequisite: A minimum grade of a C- in SOCY 122 or (BISC 100 and BISC 101).  

See SOCY Courses for more information.

Description: Examination of social implications of communication and information technology in the context of sociological theory.

Learning Hours: 120 (36S;84P).

Prerequisite: Level 4 or above and registration in a SOCY Major or Medial Plan and a (minimum grade of a C in SOCY 210 and SOCY 211 and SOCY 226 and SOCY 227) and a (minimum GPA of 2.60 in SOCY 210 and SOCY 211 and SOCY 226 and SOCY 227) and a (minimum GPA of 2.60 in all SOCY).  

See SOCY Courses for more information.