Examines the colonial pre-history of the Haitian Revolution (1791-1804). Explores how this transatlantic revolution unfolded, including the emancipation of slaves, Toussaint, Louverture, and the roles played by Spain, the United States and Britain. A reflection on the Revolution in contemporary literature and film.

In a public lecture in 1958, Trinidadian CLR James described Federation as the means to "accomplish the transition from colonialism to national independence." This course explores the shift from James' vision to Jamaican economist Norman Girvan's observation that contemporary "...governments tend to perceive supranationality as less an exercise in collective sovereignty and more a diminution of national sovereignty." Among the topics to be considered are: histories of regionalism; formal and informal dimensions of regional identity-making practices; freedom of movement; governance mechanisms; and widening and deepening debates, with particular reference to the non-Anglophone Caribbean and Latin America.

An upper level seminar. Topics vary from year to year, depending on the instructor.

An upper level seminar. Topics vary from year to year, depending on the instructor.

Focusing on London, Paris, Toronto, Berlin and New York as major conduits through which the migratory flow of Caribbean literary production takes place, this course will explore both foundational and emergent works of fiction from the English, French and Spanish Caribbean.

Examines Caribbean migration in the post-slavery era. Topics include: Caribbean diasporas in the West; labour migrations such as the Panama Canal migration; Caribbean migrant communities in Central America; intra-regional migrations between the Caribbean islands; 'guest worker' programs; remittances and their impact; heritage tourism and 'return' migrations.

Explores the transnational circuits through which the Caribbean diaspora makes a living and makes life in contemporary Canada. How do we make sense of the Caribbean experience in Canada? What might an engagement with the Caribbean teach us about Canada as a diasporic space?

A joint graduate/undergraduate upper-level seminar. Topics vary from year to year, depending on the instructor. Consult the Program Office for course enrolment procedures.

This course provides an introduction to Contemporary Asian Studies, focusing on the rapid social, political, economic, and cultural changes taking place in the dynamic regions of East Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia.

This course is an introduction to Contemporary Asian Studies. It covers detailed case study material from South Asia, Southeast Asia, and East Asia. It introduces students to the interdisciplinary study of political, sociocultural and economic interactions among these regions, as well as the transnational forces shaping internal dynamics throughout Asia. In addition, it examines the ways that forces stemming from Asia are affecting global processes, pushing scholarship to engage questions about colonialism, nationalism, "race," religion, markets, urbanization, migration, and mass mediated culture. This course provides preparation for more advanced courses on Asia and globalization and provides an introductory gateway for the Contemporary Asian Studies major and minor. May be taken in the first year of studies.

This course addresses Asia empirically in contemporary global formations and as an idea in the global imagination. It introduces students to concepts and theories central to scholarship on Asia and its transnational formations. It provides foundational theoretical and conceptual material to understand global issues as they play out in the politics, economies, cultures and contemporary social worlds of contemporary Asian sites. Interdisciplinary analytical and research concepts are introduced to provide area studies grounding. This course provides preparation to delve into deeper research on Asia connected to broad questions about the natures of democracy, authoritarianism, market formation, social justice, and the media of cultural expression. It informs students aiming to take more advanced courses on Asia and globalization and provides one part of the foundation for the Contemporary Asian Studies major and minor. CAS201H1 introduces the theoretical and conceptual frameworks that are explored through further grounded empirical case studies in upper year CAS courses.

This interdisciplinary course explores a variety of sites and topics in South, Southeast, and East Asia. It explores themes including contemporary and historical articulations of socio-economic development, (post)colonial political formations, urbanization processes, climate change, labour struggles, gender studies, migration, citizenship, and social justice. The course examines the diversity of Asian modernities, cross-regional linkages, and changing approaches to area studies over time. It provides a foundation for the Contemporary Asian Studies major and minor, preparing students for taking more advanced courses on Asia in the global context.

This course analyzes the impact of colonialism in South, East, and Southeast Asia and the various ways in which pre-colonial traditions intersect with and reshape colonial and postcolonial process across the various regions of Asia. The course will examine the conjunctures of economy, politics, religion, education, ethnicity, gender, and caste, as these have played out over time in the making and re-making of Asia as both idea and place. Attention will be paid to postcolonial and indigenous theories, questions of ‘the colonial’ from the perspective of Asian Studies, and debates about the meaning of postcolonialism for the study of Asia now and in the future.

Since at least the late 1700s, the effects of capitalism across the globe have profoundly transformed the landscapes of human livelihood, consumption, production and governance in Asia. While colonial empires have declined, new empires have emerged, and a growing number of countries have witnessed the rise of nationalism and independent states, social, political and technological revolutions, and most recently neoliberal globalization. This course theorizes and explores these dramatic changes in a comparative framework. It is aimed at students wishing to better understand the great transformations of modern Asia in a global context.

In focusing on youth in Asia, this course brings together two disputed cultural formations of substantial contemporary importance. Both youth and Asia are increasingly invoked on the global stage in support of a wide range of interests. Examining practices of young people and the idea of youth in the context of Asia requires critical attention to the promises and fears that attach to the rise of Asian economies, international demographic transitions, the growth of a global middle-class, increasing consumption disparities, changing immigration patterns, expanding technological skills, global/local environmental concerns, and young people’s shifting political priorities and loyalties. The course may feature a significant amount of social theory, with authors such as Michel Foucault, Roland Barthes, Louis Althusser, and Stuart Hall.

This course will explore ways that gender is mobilized and produced in parts of Asia. It seeks to understand gender and sexuality in their diversity and in attempts to “fix” or locate it in various bodies and places. Attempts will be made to see how gender is made knowable in terms of sexuality, medicine, nation, class, ethnicity, religion, and other discourses. The course assumes a willingness to read challenging theory – such as the writings of Judith Butler, Michel Foucault, and Eve Sedgwick – and asks that students commit to regular attendance.

This course offers a multidisciplinary perspective of urban life in Asia. The thematic focus will be on how the urban intersects with modernities and postcolonial formations. Drawing on recent scholarship in the social sciences and the humanities, we will examine the realignment of cultural, political, and economic forces associated with Asia’s diverse processes of urbanization.

Course content varies in accordance with the interest of the instructor. Check http://munkschool.utoronto.ca/ai/cas for an updated description.

Supervised independent research on a topic agreed on by the student and a faculty supervisor before enrolment in the course. Open to advanced CAS major and minor students with a strong background in contemporary Asian studies. A maximum of one year of Independent Research courses is allowed per program. Contact hours with the supervisor may vary, but typically comprise of one hour per week. Not eligible for CR/NCR option. To enrol, please contact ai.asianstudies@utoronto.ca to request an application form, which should be filled out in consultation with the faculty supervisor and include a detailed description of the course topic, reading list, and assignments/marking scheme. Students must submit the completed form to ai.asianstudies@utoronto.ca at least one week before the start of term.

Supervised independent research on a topic agreed on by the student and a faculty supervisor before enrolment in the course. Open to advanced students in the CAS major and minor with a strong background in contemporary Asian studies. A maximum of one year of Independent Research courses is allowed per program. Contact hours with the supervisor may vary, but typically comprise of one hour per week. Not eligible for CR/NCR option. To enrol, please contact ai.asianstudies@utoronto.ca to request an application form, which should be filled out in consultation with the faculty supervisor and include a detailed description of the course topic, reading list, and assignments/marking scheme. Students must submit the completed form to ai.asianstudies@utoronto.ca at least one week before the start of term.

This seminar addresses Asian worlds – In Asia, transnationally, and locally – to cultivate new approaches to global processes and problems. The course explores key Asian sites that open new configurations for studying interactions between economic/environmental development, political change, and migration and cultural politics. It provides an advanced and systematic overview of the research methodologies that students have been exposed to throughout the CAS program. These include historical-archival, ethnographic, visual/media, and statistical/quantitative methods that allow us to map Asian political, economic, and cultural formations, and through them, global challenges. The seminar builds interdisciplinary conversations attentive to both critical problematizing and problem-solving, to qualitative and applied projects. It is the required capstone to the Contemporary Asian Studies major.

This course is an interactive, participatory seminar. It will provide an opportunity to complement theoretical understanding about Asia acquired in other courses through hands-on research and experiential learning. The course will enable students to link studying Asia and Canada to career trajectories in the field of development and research.

This upper-level seminar will introduce students to the interdisciplinary study of popular culture in Asia through a focus on public events. Readings about all kinds of performances, including ritual, popular protest, festivals, sports, cinema, television, digital media events, and the performing arts will help students learn methodological tools to interpret the politics and meanings of public culture as it articulates with class, ethnicity, religious community, gender and caste. The course will furthermore familiarize students with a range of theoretical lenses for conceptualizing the different meanings of the “event” and the “public” from a perspective grounded in the histories of South Asia, Southeast Asia, East Asia, and their diasporas.

This course explores the rise of Asia and its integration into the new global economy (labour, capitalism, knowledge economy, economic nationalism, inequality, gender, the meaning of capitalism, democracy, among others), exposing students to diverse disciplinary perspectives. Geographical coverage is pan-Asian, including East, Southeast and South Asia.

This course explores the far-reaching social, political, and cultural transformations in modern East, Southeast, and South Asia, focusing on the twentieth-century revolutionary histories and struggles to establish modern nation-states. The course adopts a topical approach within a chronological and comparative framework to highlight major historical movements and theoretical issues significant to the Asian experience.

This seminar builds on the systematic overview of research methodologies of the Contemporary Asian Studies major and its capstone course, CAS400H1. CAS450H1 provides students with the opportunity to research questions of contemporary relevance stemming from Asia and its transnational networks and communities. Addressing a range of methodologies, including historical-archival, ethnographic, visual/media, and statistical/quantitative, the course emphasizes research experience outside the classroom, in Asia as well as locally with communities in Toronto. Students will develop their own research contributions while working collaboratively.

Course content varies in accordance with the interest of the instructor. Check http://munkschool.utoronto.ca/ai/cas for an updated description.

Supervised independent research on a topic agreed on by the student and a faculty supervisor before enrolment in the course. Open to advanced CAS major and minor students with a strong background in contemporary Asian studies. A maximum of one year of Independent Research courses is allowed per program. Contact hours with the supervisor may vary, but typically comprise of one hour per week. Not eligible for CR/NCR option. To enrol, please contact ai.asianstudies@utoronto.ca to request an application form, which should be filled out in consultation with the faculty supervisor and include a detailed description of the course topic, reading list, and assignments/marking scheme. Students must submit the completed form to ai.asianstudies@utoronto.ca at least one week before the start of term.

Supervised independent research on a topic agreed on by the student and a faculty supervisor before enrolment in the course. Open to advanced CAS major and minor students with a strong background in contemporary Asian studies. A maximum of one year of Independent Research courses is allowed per program. Contact hours with the supervisor may vary, but typically comprise of one hour per week. Not eligible for CR/NCR option. To enrol, please contact ai.asianstudies@utoronto.ca to request an application form, which should be filled out in consultation with the faculty supervisor and include a detailed description of the course topic, reading list, and assignments/marking scheme. Students must submit the completed form to ai.asianstudies@utoronto.ca at least one week before the start of term.

This course explores the ways that Canadian history and identity have been commemorated, interpreted and experienced, now and in the past. The course focuses in particular on who has been included or excluded in commemorative efforts over time. Key topics include representations of women, Indigenous peoples, and political figures on screen and through public installations like museum exhibits, plaques and statues. Case studies highlighting a range of interpretive media will encourage students to work with and discuss a range of primary and secondary sources, build critical thinking and academic writing skills. Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.