This course explores contemporary literary works that redefine heroism in light of personal and cultural trauma. What does recent literature (mostly 21st-century fiction) show us about the nature of heroism in our time? To answer this question, the course examines theories of psychological trauma, studies in the field of positive psychology, and research on gothic and dystopian literature. Critical thinking, scholarly reading and database research are foundational skills that the course strengthens in order to prepare students for their writing in disciplines across the university. Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

"Can we speak about joy for once?" In contemporary literature from Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC) authors across Canada and Turtle Island, there is a resurgence in diasporic stories that capture the joy and resistance of carving space for community against the mechanisms of the state. This course explores how BIPOC literature has intersected with social problems and activist movements, creating spaces for readers to reflect on their own lived experiences. Students will expand their creative thinking, critical reading and scholarly writing skills through multi-modal assignments that offer connections to current issues and community knowledge. Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Although rarely attested during the historical era when they were active, since the early nineteenth century the word “Viking” has been popularly applied to describe groups of Scandinavian adventurers who marauded along the frontiers of Medieval Europe: in this respect, the image of “the Viking” may be regarded as much a modern, as it is a medieval, creation. The legacy of historical “Viking activities” was a factor in the development of modern nation states in Scandinavia and the Baltic region, and their contributions to the heritage of people residing in Britain, continental Europe, the Middle East, and even the Atlantic coast of Canada have been and continue to be cited to the present day. Aspects of culture attributed to “the Vikings”—their assumed independence, courage, resourcefulness, and tenacity in the face of adversity, as well as the occult characteristics of their cosmology—have, for better and worse, inspired modern artists, writers, composers, intellectuals, explorers and even political leaders, and persist in present day literature, art, music, sport and popular culture as well. Why and how do elements of historic Viking culture continue to evoke traditions and characteristics popularly attributed to “the Vikings”? What are some implications of “Viking-ness” for those people in the post-Viking Age past and/or present who we may regard—or may regard themselves—as the “cultural descendants” of the Vikings? In this seminar, participants will study selected cultural artifacts of the “post-Viking Age,” along with recent multidisciplinary research, to observe how various “post-Viking Age” cultures and subcultures have selectively appropriated elements of the “Viking” past. Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Perspectives on the impact that the Scandinavian raiders and traders popularly referred to as “Vikings” had on European and World history continue to develop as the work of historians, archaeologists, linguists, and scientists expands our understanding of the past. Recent research has revised the traditional view of the “Vikings” as primarily marauding warriors; in its place, a more complex and nuanced conception of the implications that “Viking activity” had on the social, economic, and political development of the peoples with whom they came in contact has emerged. This seminar will consider the relationship between the traditional conception of the “Viking warrior” and recent research that suggests the broader impact that the “Viking Phenomenon” had upon the economic revival and sociopolitical development of medieval Europe and its frontiers. In the course of the seminar, we will examine a selection of historical records and information concerning artifacts of the material culture of “The Viking Age” in order to better understand the activities of early medieval “Vikings,” not only as warriors, but also as agents of commerce, explorers, pioneers, and rulers. Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

We begin with European social and political thought during the 18th century, including ideas of enlightenment and revolution. We move on to the 19th century to engage with the critical Marxist theorisation of the new “capitalist” social and political formation, and look at the reception of the Marxist view in the 20th century, all of which continues to affect the character of Western social and political thought. Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

First term: students are taught how to recognize, analyze, evaluate, and construct arguments in ordinary English prose. Second term: one or more discipline-related modes of reasoning (e.g., scientific reasoning, ethical reasoning, legal reasoning) studied with reference to a selection of contemporary social issues.

Key texts from various disciplines that articulate fundamental features, limitations, and possibilities of contemporary society are introduced. Political consent, economics, governmental administration, the global / post-colonial world, historical transformation, gender politics, and media may be addressed.

This course introduces students to legal reasoning through progressively complex exercises. First, hypotheticals expose students to basic skills required for legal reasoning. Second, they analyze simplified versions of specially selected concrete cases. Third, the course analyses real cases discussed in first year courses in law school.

Trinity Independent Studies. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Illustrated by contemporary examples, students go through the stages of the scientific discovery process. From initial idea, through literature review, funding (grant writing and assessment), experimental design and critical analysis of data through to the public dissemination of results by publication, the patent process and development of intellectual property. Restricted to students admitted to the Trinity One Program. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

This course explores the nature and impact of public health policy in Canada. The course describes the origins of Canadian health policy, its evolution towards its current form and the choices resulting from aging populations and the increasing costs associated with a high standard of health care.

This course explores the nature and impact of policy relationships designed to improve global public health. We explore the analytical tools necessary to study these institutional arrangements and examine successes and failures of these policy relationships across a range of global health policy challenges including infectious disease and child health.

Our modern world has its foundations in the development of a complex and changing system of international behaviours, customs, and rules. This course explores the global and often difficult transition from a world of empires to our contemporary world of nation-states, spanning the mid-eighteenth century to the present day. Using a global lens, this course offers an introductory historical survey using multiple perspectives and diverse settings, paying special attention to the dissolution of empire, popular revolution and mass movements, and the creation of international order. How global transformations were experienced, not only at the highest levels of power, but also by the people living amidst such change, will be an abiding concern of this course.

Credit course for supervised participation in faculty research project. Details at https://www.artsci.utoronto.ca/current/academics/research-opportunities/research-opportunities-program. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Credit course for supervised participation in faculty research project. Details at https://www.artsci.utoronto.ca/current/academics/research-opportunities/research-opportunities-program. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Trinity Independent Studies. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Trinity Independent Studies. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Trinity Independent Studies. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

An exploration of the ethical dimensions of selected contemporary social issues. Restricted to students in the major program Ethics, Society, and Law.

An exploration of the legal dimensions of selected contemporary social issues. Restricted to students in the major program Ethics, Society, and Law.

An exploration of the legal dimensions of selected contemporary social issues, focusing on law as a practice of social justice, and led by instructors with considerable practical experience. Restricted to students in the major program Ethics, Society, and Law.

An exploration of some basic legal principles in public and private law. Areas of law that may be studied include contract, tort, criminal and administrative law. Restricted to students in the major program Ethics, Society, and Law.

The nature and justification of legal rules as preparation for the study of basic principles of law governing the relations between individual citizens, and the relations between individual citizens and the state. A selection of contract, tort, criminal and administrative law. Restricted to students in the major program Ethics, Society, and Law.

A one semester research experience abroad. Students participate in a research project under the mentorship of a faculty supervisor in the host institution and gain experience of working and living abroad.

Students who have engaged in a research project abroad participate in a regular forum in which they present their research projects and discuss their varied experiences of work and social engagement in different foreign environments. Students prepare a detailed scholarly article based on their research.

This course focuses on core issues selected from the general domain of sustainability which are addressed through each of the three subject-area lenses of Trinity’s Ethics, Society, and Law program, namely the ethics, the socio-political context, and the legal environment of sustainability issues and initiatives.

The course examines a selected topic in ethics, society, and law. The set of topics will be based on the research interests of an individual instructor. Both the topics and the instructor may change with each offering of the course, and the course is not expected to be offered every year.

The course examines a set of selected topics in ethics, society, and law. The topics will be based on the research interests of an individual instructor. Both the topics and the instructor may change with each offering of the course, and the course is not expected to be offered every year.

International Relations are changing, and changing quickly. Major challenges in global affairs, including the interrelated problems of climate change, resource scarcity, great power competition, and changes in mass politics will shape our future in uncertain and possibly dangerous ways. This course seeks to evaluate the effect of these interconnected issues on our world today, and their implications for the future. Through a series of case studies, students will be encouraged to identify future international challenges and work to develop sustainable and innovative solutions to the problems that will confront our world in the next decades and beyond.

Students are individually mentored by faculty experts through readings from primary literature towards preparation of a quality review article. For students in third year, students identify their faculty mentor during second year and agree to become familiar with the available textbook level material during that year in their chosen topic. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.