Selected issues in comparative politics. Content and instructor vary from year to year.

(Given by the Department of Political Science and the Centre for European and Eurasian Studies)

In this course, we examine the idea of reconciliation among Indigenous and Canadian nations by considering the complicated role of religion and spirituality in “truth and reconciliation.” Specifically, residential schools for Indigenous children were a collaboration of church and state that violently broke the spirit and intent of the treaties—or sacred promises—made between the Crown and Indigenous nations. The course will set the 2015 Truth & Reconciliation Commission of Canada in a longer history of twentieth-century commissions, reports, and petitions in which both Indigenous and Canadian people (and some churches) named the cultural and spiritual genocide of residential schools and called for action. Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Popular conceptions of enslavement in North America have influenced how we frequently imagine enslavement in Exodus and related biblical and related texts from the ancient Near East. Yet, depictions of enslavement in these ancient texts may be strikingly different from our ideas of enslavement in North America. This course explores similarities and differences between enslavement in these different historical contexts. It also examines how biblical texts were utilized in debates over and revolts against enslavement primarily in the eighteenth and nineteenth century. All readings will be in English. No knowledge of Hebrew is required. Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

The Hebrew Bible (sometimes called the Old Testament) has influenced ideas about disability in societies across the globe for thousands of years. Yet, notions of disability in the Hebrew Bible may be strikingly different from what we might imagine. This course explores how some biblical texts and related ancient literature conceptualize disability in relation to issues of ethnicity, sexuality, beauty, age, social class, religious expression and so on. We will examine a number of these issues both in their ancient context and in some more recent interpretations of the Hebrew Bible. All readings will be in English. No knowledge of Hebrew is required.

This course is restricted to students in the Data Science Specialist program. Data exploration and preparation; data visualization and presentation; and computing with data will be introduced. Professional skills, such as oral and written communication, and ethical skills for data science will be introduced. Data science workflows will be integrated throughout the course. These topics will be explored through case studies and collaboration with researchers in other fields.

Fundamental principles and practices in education and public outreach in the sciences, mathematics, and engineering, including education research, curriculum, teaching, and assessment.  Students will learn and apply effective strategies which engage and educate learners at the K-16 and public level.  The course assignments include a project and/or placement experience.

This course is restricted to students in the Data Science Specialist program. Students will learn to identify and answer questions through the application of exploratory data analysis, data visualization, statistical methods or machine learning algorithms to complex data. Software development for data science and reproducible workflows. Communication of statistical information at various technical levels, ethical practice of data analysis and software development, and teamwork skills. Topics will be explored through case studies and collaboration with researchers in other fields.

This course is restricted to students in the Data Science Specialist program. Research topics and applications of data science methods will be explored through case studies and collaboration with researchers in other fields. Data analysis, visualization, and communication of statistical information at various technical levels, ethical practice of data analysis and software development, and teamwork skills.

History and Literature were always interconnected in Russia. Writers not only sought to reflect the society around them, but were themselves often social critics and political figures. The course examines key texts in Russian literary tradition both as works of art and as primary sources for the historian. All readings in English.

Evolution of the book and printed media in Central and Eastern Europe: legends (and forgeries) of ancient letters, mediaeval illuminated manuscripts, forbidden and "supernatural" books, hand-written and painted books of modernist and avant-garde artists, books as a way of living and dying. Readings in English.

This course will introduce students to key terms, theories, and debates in Queer and Religious Studies and to the history of queer identities as they are expressed within various religious traditions, texts, and communities. It asks how dominant heteronormative discourses on gender and sexuality are adhered to, legitimized, negotiated, and contested within various religious traditions. The course will also allow students to interrogate how power and power relationships are shaped by sex, gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, class, age, and ability in the world of religion.

A critical examination of the HIV/AIDS global pandemic from a multidisciplinary perspective and with an emphasis on sexuality. The course examines the basic biology of HIV/AIDS and then covers social, historical, political, cultural, gender, and public health aspects of HIV/AIDS. Attention is given to the distinct features of vulnerable and marginalized populations, prevention, treatment, drug development, and access to medicines.

JSU237H1 is particularly intended for students in the Health Studies and/or Sexual Diversity Studies programs.

This course focuses on Canadian literary and artistic productions that challenge prevailing notions of nationality and sexuality, exploring not only how artists struggle with that ongoing Canadian thematic of being and belonging, but also celebrate pleasure and desire as a way of imagining and articulating an alternative national politics.

The idea of wilderness permeates narratives of Canadian national identity, while policy-makers seek to manage and contain natural areas. This course compares and contrasts historical and contemporary wilderness narratives in literature, painting and film with policies in areas such as conservation, urban planning, land claims and tourism.

This course examines how violence is enacted in Canada, at various scales, and across domestic, urban, national, and international landscapes. We will interrogate what is meant by violence; examine its colonial, racial and patriarchal dimensions; explore the impact on people and communities; and attend to forms of resistance and repair.

Journalism largely goes unconsidered as a subject for literary analysis, the writing dismissed as formulaic and artless. But from the genre’s inception, there have been writers who approached it as a literary endeavour, committed to not just telling true stories about the world around us but doing so in ways that captivate and engage a reader’s imagination, with all the nuance and precision that literary techniques can afford. In this course, we will read and consider canonical works of journalism from the last 75 years, discussing them as literary works as well as exploring the reporting methods they draw on and the ethical questions they raise. Students will have a choice of assignment tracks, and either develop their own literary reporting projects or write analyses of the works we study.

This course teaches students who already write effectively how to write clear, compelling, research-informed English essays. The course aims to help students recognize the function of grammar and rhetoric, the importance of audience, and the persuasive role of style.

An introductory course studying the development of Latin American societies from their pre-Columbian past to the 19th century building of modern nations. Cultural, historical, political, and social topics are examined combining historical documents with art, music and other texts from popular culture.

An introductory course studying the development of Latin American societies from the 20th century to the present. Cultural, historical, political, and social topics are examined combining historical documents with art, music and other texts from popular culture.

The goal of this course is to critically analyze the current economic, social, and political realities of Latin America, based on an insightful knowledge of its past and present. Topics of the course vary depending on the needs of the program and the interests of students.

The goal of this course is to critically analyze the Latin American social imaginaries as expressed in art, literature and/or film, based on close readings of texts. Topics of the course vary depending on the needs of the program and the interests of students.

The goal of this course is to critically explore debates and perspectives on development and on the politics of inequality in Latin American contexts. Topics of the course may vary, depending on the needs of the program and the interests of students and instructors.

This seminar style course explores the postcolonial status of Latin America as a controversial issue, through critical analysis of the Latin American social imaginary. The course considers works by Simón Bolívar, José Martí, Ernesto Guevara, Pablo Neruda, Rigoberta Menchú, Subcomandante Marcos, Sergei Eisenstein, Walter Salles, Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, as well as films that illustrate the rich visual culture of the continent. Readings and seminar discussions are conducted in English.

This seminar-style course explores critical thinking about culture, history, politics, and society by some of the most influential Latin American intellectuals of the 20th and 21st centuries. Emphasis on theoretical contributions, in English translation, of Latin American thinkers such as Rodó, Vasconcelos, Mariategui, Zea, Dussel, García Canclini, Cornejo Polar, Quijano and Lugones. Topics covered include questing identities, cultural diversity, indigenism, liberation theology, colonialism, neocolonialism, postcolonialism, coloniality, and decoloniality. Readings and seminar discussions in English.

By exploring history, art, architecture, literature and music of sixteenth century Mexico City as a geographical and cultural point of reference, this course explores the historical event known as “the Renaissance” outside of its traditional localities. By the mid 16th century, colonial Mexico City became the contact zone and the hub for the exchange of peoples, goods and ideas that migrated across the Atlantic. Mexico City gives an alternative perspective to how local political and social-historical contexts shape ideas and cultural forms and illustrates the processes and effects of cultural cross-fertilization in the Renaissance. Taught in English.

This course studies the past and present realities of the diverse indigenous societies of the regions we now call Latin America. Eurocentric texts such as the chronicles of the conquest of Mexico, are critically contrasted with diverse indigenous peoples’ self-representing narratives that respond to more than five hundred years of Spanish and Portuguese occupation of their lands. These texts include Nahuatl poetry and accounts of the conquest of Mexico, literary creations from multiple Maya linguistic groups, multi-lingual chronicles from the colonial Inca period, diverse indigenous political manifestos and movements, indigenous testimonios, and decolonizing indigenous literature and criticism. Taught in English.

A seminar-style course that engages in critical analysis of local and global development initiatives in a Latin American context. The seminar is organized around the interrelated themes of health, economics, education, globalization, and infrastructure. Topics of discussion may include: challenges and ethics of sustainable development initiatives in theory and practice, medical missions and global health, community-based transnational public health projects, developing localities and sustainable economics, local infrastructure development and environmental impacts, ethics and implications of volunteerism, local and global cultural perspectives, the colonial legacies of inequality, dependency and sustainability of development projects.

Readings and lectures in English.

An upper level seminar. Topics of the course vary from year to year, depending on the needs of the program and the interests of students. Offered in alternate years.

A historical survey of migration from Latin American countries to Canada, this course examines mediation strategies of Latinos as they adjust to a new home: negotiation of national identities, political participation, entrepreneurship, cultural representations, and charitable work.

This course provides an opportunity for students to do academic research related to Latin American issues under the supervision of a faculty member. The intent is that the student, aided and advised by the supervisor, will read relevant literature, and plan, execute, analyze and report on an original and independent investigation of an appropriate topic. For application forms, please visit the "Resources" section of the program's website. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.