An overview of the major figures and tendencies in modern Yiddish literature and culture from the beginning of the 19th century to the present. Readings (in English) of modern Yiddish prose, poetry, drama and cinema.
An overview of the major figures and tendencies in modern Yiddish literature and culture from the beginning of the 19th century to the present. Readings (in English) of modern Yiddish prose, poetry, drama and cinema.
Topics in modern Yiddish or German Jewish literature and culture from the beginning of the 19th century to the present, featuring a selection of readings of modern Yiddish prose, poetry, drama and cinema. Taught in English and open to students across disciplines.
This course provides students with a working knowledge of German business culture that allows them to navigate the German workplace. The main focus is to deepen students’ knowledge of business concepts.
Note: This course is required for the minor program in Business German
This course offers an intensive development of the linguistic skills needed in the context of business transactions and management in German-speaking countries. Through materials from various sources, students develop oral and written skills for competence in German business communication as well as cross-cultural awareness.
The course provides curricular support for a variety of work and community-engaged, experiential learning placements in the GTA and in German-speaking countries. The placements are designed to deepen linguistic, cultural, and analytical skills acquired in the classroom in work-related environments, create an awareness of the translatability of academic knowledge to other contexts, promote global competency, and foster links to the community. The number of weekly hours spent in the field, the scope of learning objectives, and the nature of reflective activities are determined on an individual basis in consultation with the host institution, the German Department, and other units in which the student is pursuing a program degree (as required). In addition to successfully achieving the formulated learning goals, students must complete assignments such as eJournals and research papers as well as participate in peer-to-peer reporting and post-placement interviews.
An instructor-supervised group project in an off-campus setting. Details at https://www.artsci.utoronto.ca/current/academics/research-opportunities…. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.
An instructor-supervised group project in an off-campus setting. Details at https://www.artsci.utoronto.ca/current/academics/research-opportunities…. 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…. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.
This is a course for advanced learners of German reviewing complex features of the language and introducing them to aspects of German stylistics. The emphasis lies on oral and written communication.
This is a course for advanced learners of German reviewing complex features of the language and introducing them to aspects of German stylistics. The emphasis lies on oral and written communication.
This course taught in English offers an examination of key moments and themes in German intellectual history from the Enlightenment to the present.
This course offers an introduction to the language, literature and culture of Medieval Germany. The reading and translation of exemplary medieval German texts will introduce students to Middle High German and provide an insight into epochal concepts like courtly love and chivalry as well as courtly and monastic designs of identity.
An open course which explores specific aspects of German literature and culture.
An open course which explores specific aspects of Germanic Studies.
This course conducted entirely in Yiddish focuses on advanced reading, writing, vocabulary and conversation, the study of poetry, short fiction, and memoir literature by leading authors. Selected advanced grammatical topics are presented in conjunction with the study of texts.
The course is designed as an intensive Yiddish language training. The goal is to teach German speakers to read, write and speak in Yiddish. The curriculum relies on the German language skills of the students, and focuses on differences between Yiddish ad German grammar and vocabulary. Upon the completion of the course, students should be able to read Yiddish literary texts with a minimal use of dictionary.
Note: Graduate students can take the course in preparation for their Yiddish competency test.
A reading & research project in Germanic literature and/or culture involving a substantive research component. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.
A scholarly project chosen by the student and supervised by a member of the staff. The form of the project and the manner of its execution are determined in consultation with the supervisor. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.
This course will investigate geological, biological and archaeological evidence of environmental change. We will examine the processes that have driven and will drive environmental change and how past societies have shaped and responded to these changes. The emphasis is on the current interglacial period, or Holocene, and how shifts in population and technologies have affected human-environment interactions. As language of the Holocene gives way, for many, to that the Anthropocene, the implications of environmental change for present and future human societies will be our concluding concern.
Examines the relations between food, nature, and society. Food is fundamental to human existence, and central to most cultures; it also has significant and widespread effects on the physical and social environments. Food is used as a lens to explore human-environment interactions locally and globally. Serves as an introduction to environmental and human geography.
Economic growth, social change and environmental transformation are taking shape in an increasingly interconnected global context. This course introduces and examines critical geographic approaches to international development, economic globalization, poverty, and inequality. It pays particular attention to the roles of rural-urban and international migration in shaping specific landscapes.
Offers an introduction to North American cities and urbanization in a global context. It explores social, cultural, political and economic forces, processes, and events that shape contemporary urbanism. The course adopts the lens of 'fixity' and 'flow' to examine how the movement of people, ideas, goods, and capital, as well as their containment in the infrastructure and space of the city, give rise to particular urban forms.
This course examines the changing role of geographic information and maps in society. It considers how spatial information is produced, organized, and used in different historical, cultural, and political contexts. Topics examined include: the effects of the shift from print to digital mapping; implications of mobile spatial technologies and the geoweb; open source and open access; production and control of spatial data and information; and alternative cartographies. Introduces concepts of Geospatial Literacy, Critical Mapping and Critical GIS.
A “yard” is the area of land immediately adjacent to a building, often a residence. By examining micro-geographies (that is, detailed empirical studies of a small, specific locale) of these ubiquitous, everyday spaces, the course explores how yards are intimately connected with broader ecologies, cultures, and social relations, all of which can be explored using geographic theories and techniques.
The course also serves as an introduction to other subjects that are relevant to navigating post-secondary life, such as: critical reading; conducting university-level research; presenting and communicating ideas in the classroom; teamwork, and how to benefit from it; and developing social networks.
Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.
Every day we read about climate change, species extinction, environmental degradation and the need for nature conservation. It is increasingly becoming apparent that the environmental problems that we face today arise from a deeper crisis relating to human ways of viewing and connecting to nature. This course asks how we can rework human ways of relating to nature, while querying the idea of “nature” and questioning the dominant approaches to nature conservation. It asks how can concerns for nature and for other species be balanced with that for human livelihoods and well-being? How can inequalities with regards to the distribution of environmental goods and bads be reduced? How are citizens and communities in the different parts of the world struggling against environmental injustice and to protect their local environments? How do these place-based movement demand justice and what visions do they articulate for a more just and sustainable world? How do indigenous worldviews offer conceptual resources for rethinking nature and our ways of relating to nature? The course will explore these questions using lectures, class discussion, videos and student presentations. Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.
This course examines the political geographies of transnational migration. It asks how spaces of migration and mobility are political, and how migration politics are tied to inequalities wrought through intersecting histories of race, class, and gender. It seeks to extend our understandings of migrants, borders, and mobility, and it explores the processes through which mobility is produced, delimited and structured. We will consider the transnational politics of migration, the militarization of border zones, and the political spaces of migrant displacement, dispossession, and dislocation. The seminar readings focus on classical paradigms as well as emerging approaches in immigration studies. Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.
This course uses the tools of political economy, decolonial and anti-colonial theory, and critical approaches to the study of racism to explore how the construction of racial categories continues to be integral to the working of capitalist systems. We will explore the reasons why capitalism was never meant to work for everyone by examining how and why racial categories have continued to matter since capitalism's earliest formations. Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.
This course introduces the principles of geomorphology, including the landforms and processes associated with water, wind, waves, and ice, as well as the human impacts on earth surface processes. Laboratory sessions occur irregularly during the semester to introduce assignments and provide support. A local field trip may be offered (transportation and entrance cost: approximately $25).
Introduction to the large scale processes responsible for determining global and regional climate and atmospheric circulation patterns, as well as the small scale processes responsible for determining the microclimates of specific environments.
This course introduces the fundamentals of soil science, including the chemical, physical, and biological properties of soils as well as soil formation and development, the classification of soils, and the applications of soil science. A field trip may be offered (transportation cost: approximately $25).