The humanities program offers a wide-ranging and integrated interdisciplinary curriculum. Our courses explore, examine and appraise cultures affected by conquest, colonization and other forms of domination to better comprehend both their unique traditions and their dialogues of resistance. Other offerings analyze the ways in which new technologies and digital media have changed understandings of natural and human worlds. Still others investigate the dynamic relationship between the creative human imagination and diverse cultural locations.
On this page:
New Core Humanities Major: Changes to Requirements
- Introduction of four new core courses:
- AP/HUMA 1781 6.0 Exploring Culture: Narrative, Media, Film
- AP/HUMA 2001 6.0 Understanding Culture: Text, Image, Music
- AP/HUMA 3207 6.0 / 4207 6.0 Doing Culture: Narratives of Cultural Production
- AP/HUMA 3208 6.0 / 4208 6.0 Thinking Culture: Critical Issues, Skills and Approaches for Humanities Majors
- 18 shared core credits for all majors: core courses at the first- and second-year levels, and one capstone course in either the third or fourth year.
- New option of at least 12 credits (BA General degree) or 18 credits (BA honours / Specialized honours degree) in a selected stream at the 3000 or 4000 levels.
- The new streams are:
- Power, Diaspora, Race
- Arts, Material and Popular Cultures
- Digital, Technological, Natural Worlds
- Texts, Contexts, Interpretations
The Four Streams
The streams provide clearer guidelines to help students select courses and map their degree trajectories, assisting students to make more informed choices about course selection so they can better streamline their learning and understand the value of a humanities degree. Students who wish to complete the Humanities Major without selecting a specific stream may still do so.
Stream One: Power, Diaspora, Race
This stream attends specifically to cultures affected by conquest, colonization and other forms of systemic oppression and the effects of the legacy of that domination on the history, philosophy, literature and artistic expression of those cultures, exploring both their unique traditions, and their dialogues of resistance.
Stream Two: Arts, Material and Popular Cultures
This stream explores the dynamic relationship between the creative human imagination and the diverse cultural settings that ignite it. The area focuses on historical and contemporary themes, questioning how they are expressed and reflected through a range of cultural forms that are found in cinema, music, literary studies, youth cultures, theatre, visual arts, electronic and other media. Theoretical courses in this stream prepare students to delve into the core of “meaning” in culture, by interrogating a wide variety of sites, analyzing the artistic, social, economic and political contexts in which cultures manifest themselves.
Stream Three: Digital, Technological, Natural Worlds
This stream considers our increasingly mediated world, and the ways in which new technologies, scientific concepts, and digital media have changed our perceptions and understandings of natural and human worlds. The area includes approaches such as Technological and Digital Humanities, Environmental Humanities, Science and Technology Studies, Medical Humanities, and Sound Studies. These approaches share a critical examination of the entanglements of knowledge of nature with technological tools and media across a diversity of cultural and historical settings.
Stream Four: Texts, Contexts, Interpretations
This stream develops an appreciation and critique of the “Great Books,” major texts, oral and written, produced in diverse historical and cultural contexts. It familiarizes students with the multiple ways these texts have been received, reproduced and interpreted. The stream enables students both to appreciate the importance, and to interrogate and challenge the idea of authority and canon, and to understand the interpretative contexts that grant certain texts a central role in the formation of cultural identities, histories and politics.
Search our Courses
Browse through the database below to explore courses that will fulfill certain degree requirements in the Humanities program.
When registering for classes on the Course Timetable website, be sure to carefully read through the “Notes/Additional Fees” section of each course you select.
AP/HUMA 1010 3.00 Word Power: Building Essential English Vocabulary Using Latin and Greek Roots
This course is designed to teach students how to build their vocabulary systematically through the study of Latin and Greek elements in essential English words in a variety of fields and to learn how to …
AP/HUMA 1074 6.00 The Chinese Body in Cross-Cultural Perspective: Medicine, Food, and Footbinding
This course uses the Chinese body as an entry point into the richness and complexity of daily life as it was lived and experienced in Chinese history. It focuses on two preeminent concerns in Chinese …
AP/HUMA 1100 9.00 Worlds Of Ancient Greece & Rome
This Foundations course offers a serious, focused, and critical examination of the ancient Greeks and Romans through the lens of important primary texts from Homer, Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Virgil, all considered in translation from ancient …
AP/HUMA 1105 9.00 Myth And Imagination In Greece And Rome
An introduction to ancient and modern myths and theories about myths and mythology in comparative perspectives and their influences on modern literature and art. A close examination of influential primary texts from ancient Greek and …
AP/HUMA 1106 9.00 Egypt in the Greek & Roman Mediterranean
An examination of Egypt and Egyptians in the imagination and history of the cultures of the Greek and Roman Mediterranean. Course credit exclusion: AP/HUMA 2110 9.00 (prior to Fall 2014).
AP/HUMA 1110 9.00 Greek and Biblical Traditions
The stories, symbols The stories, symbols and myths of Greek and Biblical literature have provided the basic images for Western society’s interpretation of itself and its experience. An examination of Greek and Biblical traditions which …
AP/HUMA 1115 9.00 Transformations of Ancient Literature
This course examines modern adaptations and transformations of ancient Greek ad Latin literature. Particular attention is paid to religious, political, and social context. Note: This course has been approved in the Faculty of Liberal Arts …
AP/HUMA 1125 9.00 Civilization of Medieval and Renaissance Europe
Sampling epic, romance, autobiography, short story, drama, music, political theory, science and the visual arts, this course traces European high culture from the Middle Ages through the Renaissance. PRIOR TO FALL 2014: Course credit exclusion: …
AP/HUMA 1160 9.00 The Enlightenment And Human Understanding
A fundamental feature of the Enlightenment is the view that human experience is the foundation of gaining knowledge and truth. We focus on selected Enlightenment writers and thinkers in order to understand this approach to …
AP/HUMA 1165 9.00 Gods and Humans
Explores the interactions between Gods and humans in literature, art, and philosophy. We focus on critical questions, emotional struggles, and personal journeys that characterize interactions between humans and Gods. Special attention is given to the …
AP/HUMA 1170 9.00 The Modern Age: Shapers & Definers
Introduces the student to some of the important shapers and definers of the modern (Western) artistic and intellectual tradition, along with some of the movements and counter-movements that framed their work (Romanticism, Realism, Symbolism, Modernism …
AP/HUMA 1190 9.00 Nationalism, Authority and Resistance: Perspectives on German Culture and Society
Germany might exemplify the problems, conflicts, and possibilities of the modern world better than any other single state. It has careened from an open democracy to brutal dictatorship, been united, divided, and united again in …
AP/HUMA 1200 9.00 Contexts Of Canadian Culture
Topics illustrating the ways in which culture in Canada resembles and is different from other cultures. The emphasis is on the 20th century. Materials to be used include fiction, poetry, folklore, the visual arts and …
AP/HUMA 1205 6.00 Indigenous Peoples, Race, and Settler Colonialism
Attempts to address Canadian culture frequently stumble over the difficulties in attempting to include groups who are differently ‘otherized’ in Canadian society – particularly Indigenous peoples, Black people and other racialized peoples. This course explores …
AP/HUMA 1206 6.00 Indigenous Culture and Language
Indigenous language and cultural revitalization is centrally important-not only for providing Indigenous peoples with a sense of pride about their identities, but for the knowledge the languages contain about living sustainably in the world. This …
AP/HUMA 1207 6.00 Indigenous Peoples and Relationship to Land
This course addresses the relationships that Indigenous peoples maintain to their lands in Canada, and their resistance to Canadian resource extraction. It also explores how Canadians have learned to accept unsustainable economies based on consuming …
AP/HUMA 1220 6.00 Canadian Language and Culture
This course has two main objectives. First, it aims at fostering those language skills which students using English as a second language need to succeed academically in the multicultural, English-medium context at York. The course …
AP/HUMA 1250 6.00 Diaspora Communities and Global Cultures
This course focuses on the ways that diasporic people conceive of, express, and represent their experiences in migration, settlement, and culture. Diaspora is a term that describes a group of people who identify with a …
AP/HUMA 1300 9.00 Cultures Of Resistance In The Americas: The African American Experience
This course addresses the ways in which diasporic Black peoples have responded to and resisted their enslaved and subordinated status in the Americas. Resistance is first addressed in relationship to slavery, but later in the …
AP/HUMA 1320 6.00 Ideas of America: The Cultures of North America
This course addresses cultural developments and transformations in North America from the period of European contact to the present. Following a comparative investigation of imperialism and nationalism in shaping the cultures of Canada, the United …
AP/HUMA 1400 9.00 Culture And Society In East Asia
Introduction to traditional East Asian civilization by examining daily life in 18th-century Peking and Edo (Tokyo), and their rural hinterland. Topics include the physical setting, social distinctions and occupations, arts and crafts, religion, literature and …
AP/HUMA 1420 9.00 Introduction to Korean Culture
An introduction to the study of Korean culture through a historical survey of literary, social, religious and political trends from ancient times to the present. Course credit exclusion: AP/HUMA 2420 9.00 (prior to Fall 2014).
AP/HUMA 1435 9.00 Japanese Culture, Literature & Film
An introduction to Japanese culture centred around comparisons of major classical, modern and postmodern literary works – including manga comics – as well as their screen adaptations or other related films and anime. Course credit …
AP/HUMA 1625 9.00 Fantasy And Topographies Of Imagination
This course utilizes a variety of materials to explore fantasy in the West, not as the opposite of reality, but as how people imagine/give meaning to their experiences, thereby both shaping and resisting the realities …
AP/HUMA 1700 9.00 Writing: Process and Practice
This course considers a wide range of written expression including fiction, nonfiction, poetry and other genres, with an emphasis on the theory and practice of writing. Note: This is an approved LA&PS General Education Course: …
AP/HUMA 1710 6.00 The Roots Of Western Culture The Ancient World (CIRCA 1000 BC-400 AD)
Two historical cultures have had an important role in shaping modern thought: the Graeco-Roman and Judaeo-Christian. This course explores these cultures through selective study of their literature, philosophy and religious thought. Course credit exclusion: AP/HUMA …
AP/HUMA 1720 6.00 The Roots Of Western Culture The Modern Period (CIRCA 1500-1900) EVENING COURSE
Our modern conception of ourselves has evolved from issues debated particularly since the reformation and scientific revolution. This course will explore these issues by drawing upon literature, art, and social, religious, political and philosophical texts.
AP/HUMA 1740 6.00 The Roots Of Modern Canada
Introduces the student to some of the main themes in the development of Canadian culture as they manifest themselves in Canadian history, literature, politics and fine arts. Canadian culture is studied, in large measure, as …
AP/HUMA 1745 6.00 Thinking about Contemporary Canada
Examines issues critical to Canadian society and culture through texts representing a range of voices and genres – from text to film, official to creative, rooted in Canada to immigrant. Key themes include those of …
AP/HUMA 1751 6.00 Italian Culture: The Great Ideas and the Masterworks
This interdisciplinary course examines Italy’s contribution to the development of Western culture from the Middle Ages to the Age of Romanticism. We study representative works which illustrate three main aspects of Italian civilization: artistic creation …
AP/HUMA 1761 9.00 Italian Cinema, Literature and Society
The course focuses on 12 of the most significant films since the Second World War in the context of the radical changes that have taken place in Italy from the fall of Fascism to the …
AP/HUMA 1770 6.00 One World: Historical and Cultural Perspectives of Globalization
Explores the social and cultural interactions of the peoples of the World from pre-history to the 21st century with the main emphasis placed on the period between 1500 and the present.
AP/HUMA 1780 6.00 Stories In Diverse Media
Focuses on recurrent stories and themes that have been realized in a variety of media (film, literature, music, theatre, visual arts). Emphasized are various settings for the arts and their reception by audiences, viewers and …
AP/HUMA 1781 6.00 Exploring Culture: Narrative, Media, Film
This course provides an introduction to the methods and theories used throughout the Humanities core major, covering its four streams; Power, Diaspora, and Race; Arts, Material, and Popular Cultures; Digital, Technological, and Natural Worlds; Texts, …
AP/HUMA 1825 9.00 Law And Morality in Literature & Culture
Examines aspects of the relationships between law and morality in literary, filmic and philosophical works from Ancient Greece to the Modern Word and in several modern court cases.
AP/HUMA 1840 9.00 Existence, Freedom and Meaning: The Idea of Human in European Thought
Major works of literature, philosophy, religion and science since the Renaissance are read and discussed in a search for the distinctively human.
AP/HUMA 1844 6.00 Muslim Travel Narratives: Journeys through the Muslim World
This course explores the ethnic, cultural, and religious diversity of the Muslim world through the travelogues and memoirs of Muslim scholars, pilgrims, envoys and adventurers, who traversed its domains from the tenth century to the …
AP/HUMA 1845 6.00 Islamic Traditions
Examines the beliefs, rituals, doctrines and teachings that have constituted the Islamic tradition from its inception until the present. Course credit exclusion: AP/HUMA 2815 9.00 (prior to Fall 2014).
AP/HUMA 1846 6.00 Arts & Culture in South Asia
Examines the cultures of South Asia in historical and contemporary context, exploring the relationship between cultural expression, religion, history, and politics. Course credit exclusion: AP/HUMA 2440 9.00 (prior to Fall 2014).
AP/HUMA 1847 9.00 Sikhs and Sikhi(sm): Texts, Contexts, and Living Traditions
This course is an introduction to the historical, cultural, and religious formations of the Sikh tradition from its beginning in fifteenth-century Punjab to its present-day transnational and diasporic forms.
AP/HUMA 1850 6.00 The Bible And Modern Contexts
Explores the nature of religious faith, religious language (myth and symbol) and clusters of religious beliefs through an examination of the primary texts of several major world religions. Methodologies for the study of religion will …
AP/HUMA 1855 9.00 Buddhism and Asian Cultures
This course introduces students to the diversity of Buddhist ideas and practices in Asia. Exploring Buddhism as a living tradition, the course focuses on the impact and interpretation of Buddhism in historical and contemporary cultures. …
AP/HUMA 1860 6.00 The Nature Of Religion
Explores the nature of religious faith, religious language (myth and symbol) and clusters of religious beliefs through an examination of the primary texts of several major world religions. Methodologies for the study of religion will …
AP/HUMA 1865 6.00 Introduction to World Religions
A comparative examination of the history, literature, practices and social aspects of the religious traditions of South Asia (Buddhism, Hinduism), East Asia (China, Korea, Japan), Europe and West Asia (Judaism, Christianity and Islam), Africa and …
AP/HUMA 1870 6.00 The Hebrew Bible/Old Testament and the Arts
This course looks at selected passages from the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament and their interpretative reflection in the western artistic tradition, including pictorial/representational art, music, literature, and cinema.
AP/HUMA 1875 9.00 Christianity in Context
Examines the movements, texts, beliefs and practices of Christianity, and explores the factors and forces shaping them from its beginnings to the present day. Course credit exclusion: AP/HUMA 2835 9.00 (prior to Fall 2014).
AP/HUMA 1880 6.00 The Jewish Experience, Civilization and Culture
An examination of the interaction of Jews and gentiles in selected periods from antiquity through the 20th century. A case study in ethnic adaptation, the course seeks to understand how Jews sometimes adapted their lives …
AP/HUMA 1900 9.00 Introduction to Traditional and Popular Culture
This course analyzes the form, meaning and content of traditional and popular levels of culture, and discusses the respective roles of each in the human environment. Its focus is on face-to-face oral human communication, as …
AP/HUMA 1905 9.00 Science Fiction Culture
Explores how the medium of science fiction has given cultural expression to changing attitudes towards modern science and technology. Topics include science fiction and the computer, relativity and quantum theory, religious belief, genetics and potential …
AP/HUMA 1909 6.00 Techno-Science and Popular Culture
This course examines how science and technology are presented to a popular audience through many different forms of media. Our hopes and fears about contemporary techno-science, and how it is changing us and our culture, …
AP/HUMA 1910 9.00 Science and the Humanities: Nature and Human Nature
This course investigates how scientific thinking about the place of human beings in nature involves humanistic thinking about the place of nature in being human. Course credit exclusion: AP/HIST 2810 6.00.
AP/HUMA 1911 9.00 Darwin, Einstein and the Humanities
This course is concerned with the origins and impact of the ideas of two of the most significant scientists of the modern era, Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein. Note: This is an approved LA&PS General …
AP/HUMA 1915 9.00 Animals and the Imagination
Animals preoccupy the human imagination, because the animal-human relationship embodies conceptions of nature and culture, our humanity and our societies. This course introduces students to the fascinating range of representations of animals and animality, drawing …
AP/HUMA 1950 6.00 Concepts of Male and Female in the West
An examination of the origins of, and the interrelationships among, gender, male and female concepts and roles through myth, literature, art and artifacts from various Western cultures, past and present. Course credit exclusions: AP/HUMA 1951 …
AP/HUMA 1951 9.00 Introduction To Gender
From the perspective of Humanities disciplines and popular culture, this course explores gender in the West as both subjective experience and social interactions. It traces how it has changed in response to historical developments and …
AP/HUMA 1953 6.00 Canadian Writers in Person
Explores the works of 12 contemporary Canadian writers who give readings to the class and respond to questions about their work.
AP/HUMA 2001 6.00 Understanding Culture: Text, Image, Music
This course introduces students to the theoretical study of culture, offering tools for understanding, questioning, and analyzing the social, historical, and political contexts of the media we experience on a day-to-day basis. It covers and …
AP/HUMA 2002 6.00 Questioning Culture
EVENING COURSE Designed to introduce students to the theoretical study of contemporary culture in past and contemporary society, offering tools for questioning and decoding the social and political contexts of cultural production. Areas of focus …
AP/HUMA 2100 6.00 The World of Ancient Greeks
A study of the culture of the Greek speaking peoples of the Hellenic and Hellenistic Mediterranean at various points in their development and evolution. Areas of cultural endeavours to be explored include drama, epic, gender, …
AP/HUMA 2105 6.00 Roman Literature and Culture
An introduction to Roman literature and culture, circa 200 BC to AD 200. Emphasis is placed on the literature, art and architecture of the Romans and on the impact of Roman culture on those peoples …
AP/HUMA 2205 3.00 In Other Worlds: The Arts & Artists in Digital Environments
This interdisciplinary course critically examines digital environments including 3D, virtual and augmented realities as new forms of social literacy and new forums for the fine, performing and new media arts. Cross-Listing: AP/HUMA 2205 Course credit …
AP/HUMA 2210 6.00 Media, Culture & Technology
Combining historical and theoretical content, the course surveys the invention and evolution of media technologies from the invention of writing to the Internet. How technologies alter the social and cultural dynamics of a given period …
AP/HUMA 2215 6.00 Understanding Movies
Designed for the student who enjoys film but has no background in art or criticism. It will introduce students to a variety of strategies that will help the student articulate how movies use sound and …
AP/HUMA 2220 3.00 Communication, Presentation Skills and Voice
A practical course for students wanting to develop public speaking and presentation skills. Story-telling exercises, extemporaneous speech making, and text analysis facilitate expertise in public speaking. Video feedback will be used as a developmental tool.
AP/HUMA 2225 6.00 Technology, Change and the Future
Examines the role of consumer technologies, ranging from the automobile to the iPod in terms of how they affect the cultural landscapes of contemporary culture and society.
AP/HUMA 2230 6.00 Music in Human Experience
Introduction to emotional, intellectual, spiritual, and symbolic uses of music through case studies of individual cultures, including consideration of social, political, and historical settings.
AP/HUMA 2310 6.00 The Caribbean and Canada: Culture, Identity and Diaspora
Introduces students to the major cultural characteristics of the contemporary Caribbean through an examination of the writers, artists and scholars of the region. Previously offered as: AP/HUMA 2310 9.00.
AP/HUMA 2325 6.00 Introduction to US Studies
An interdisciplinary introduction to the culture and society of the United States from pre-Revolutionary times to today.
AP/HUMA 2600 6.00 Humanities For A Global Age
Provides students with important contexts for the study of the Humanities, including the place of Humanities in the curriculum of the modern university, key concepts for intellectual debate in the Humanities and the place of …
AP/HUMA 2610 6.00 Existentialism in Literature and Film
Introduces students to some of the major themes of existential thought through the narrative media of literature (novels, plays, short stories) and film. Topics include: religion and its relationship to morality, nihilism, freedom, authenticity, bad …
AP/HUMA 2640 6.00 Modes of Fantasy
An examination of the various modes, models, functions and traditions of fantasy, this course includes consideration of mythology and folklore material, utopian and dystopian literature, romance and horror, psychological studies, and speculative fiction. Historical contexts …
AP/HUMA 2670 6.00 Film and Literature
Film images in their flux often demand that we uncritically accept them. This course will investigate their meanings and truth and seek to develop a critical discourse for film by means of strategies drawn from …
AP/HUMA 2700 6.00 Persian Literature and Culture
Examines historical, cultural and social processes that have formed Iranian culture and civilization, ranging from ancient Persia to contemporary Iran. The course studies and analyzes Persian literature in translation. Texts are read in their historical, …
AP/HUMA 2710 6.00 Introduction to Arab Culture
Introduces the diversity of Arab cultures: their values, practices, and cultural products, such as literature, music, Internet and cinema, from the 19th century to present day. No knowledge of Arabic is required. Course credit exclusions: …
AP/HUMA 2800 6.00 Iranian Cinema: Aesthetics and Culture
This course is designed to introduce students to Iranian cinema. Students study the aesthetics and the socio-cultural impact of Iranian films. The Iranian national film industry is critically analyzed from historical and comparative perspectives.
AP/HUMA 2805 6.00 World Religions in Canada
Tracing the origins and histories of different Canadian religious communities, this course identifies and analyzes ways in which the religious reflects, shapes and embodies the social and cultural diversity of everyday life in Canada.
AP/HUMA 2830 6.00 The Founders of Christianity
An introduction to the literature and history of the early Christian communities in Palestine, Syria, Asia Minor, Greece and Rome. The varieties of early Christian thought and practice are examined in terms of their religious, …
AP/HUMA 2920 6.00 Knowledge, Technology & Culture
Explores technologies of knowledge in social and cultural context, examining histories of classification, ethical and political concerns about information, debates over artificial intelligence and artificial life, and the social impact of technologies like the book, …
AP/HUMA 2999 6.00 Global Child and Youth Cultures
This course is a critical, cross-disciplinary introduction to the global cultures of children and young people. It explores the ways young people in diverse places and spaces participate in and express social and cultural values …
AP/HUMA 3000 6.00 Directed Reading
Students will do supervised reading and writing in one or two selected areas. Students wishing to enrol should contact the Department of Humanities.
AP/HUMA 3000 3.00 Directed Reading
Students will do supervised reading and writing in one or two selected areas. Students wishing to enrol should contact the Department of Humanities.
AP/HUMA 3014 6.00 Tragedy in Western Literature: Ancient and Modern
A study of concepts of tragedy and tragic themes in literature from antiquity to the present viewed in their cultural and historical contexts as well as in relation to their contemporary relevance. Readings by authors …
AP/HUMA 3016 6.00 Animals in Human Culture
Offers an interdisciplinary study of the images, meanings and values that humans have assigned to animals in specific historical and cultural contexts. The question “What is an Animal?,” and various perspectives on why the answer …
AP/HUMA 3018 3.00 Pirates: From Past to Present
This course will begin with an exploration of the theory and practice of piracy. It will analyze the mythology of piracy, and consider this mythology in the context of historical and social realities of piracy. …
AP/HUMA 3019 6.00 Cultural Transgressions: The Trickster's Creative Chaos
Through the study of selected examples of tricksters from a diverse range of cultural contexts and historical periods, this course examines the importance of cultural transgression in the chaotic process of creating culture and the …
AP/HUMA 3021 6.00 Exegesis in Select Philosophical Texts
The course is designed to cover a range of thinkers from various disciplines in the Humanities. This version of the course will cover the philosophies of Descartes and Hume. Our focus is primarily on understanding …
AP/HUMA 3085 6.00 History & Development of Musical Theatre
This experiential course examines the history and development of musical theatre on stage and in film. Its study crosses the disciplines of theatre, film, dance, and popular culture in an endeavour to understand the historical …
AP/HUMA 3085 3.00 History & Development of Musical Theatre
This experiential course examines the history and development of musical theatre on stage and in film. Its study crosses the disciplines of theatre, film, dance, and popular culture in an endeavour to understand the historical …
AP/HUMA 3095 6.00 Theatre in Performance
This experiential course engages students in the study of a diverse spectrum of interdisciplinary performance theories and practices from Aristotle to Judith Butler. At the heart of this course is the requirement that students study …
AP/HUMA 3095 3.00 Theatre in Performance
This experiential course engages students in the study of a diverse spectrum of interdisciplinary performance theories and practices from Aristotle to Judith Butler. At the heart of this course is the requirement that students study …
AP/HUMA 3100 6.00 Greek Drama and Culture
A survey of ancient Greek drama in translation. The plays will be looked at mainly in terms of structure, of religious thought, and of political expression.
AP/HUMA 3102 3.00 Ancient Greek Tragic Drama
An overview of the society, culture, politics and history of fifth-century Athens providing the context for a close reading of selected ancient Greek tragedies and a range of modern critical approaches to Greek tragedy. Course …
AP/HUMA 3103 6.00 Childhood And Children In The Ancient Mediterranean
Examines childhood experience and the social construction of childhood in the ancient Mediterranean from the Bronze Age to the end of classical antiquity. Course credit exclusion: AP/HUMA 3103 3.00.
AP/HUMA 3104 6.00 Eros and Amor: Sex and Gender in Greco-Roman Literature
Examines issues of gender and sexuality in Greco-Roman culture through reading Greek and Roman literature in translation.
AP/HUMA 3105 6.00 Greek and Roman Religion
Examines Greek and Roman religious beliefs and practices from an interdisciplinary perspective. Special attention is given to four major approaches to the divine (ritual, myth, art and philosophy) and their integration with other aspects of …
AP/HUMA 3107 6.00 Roman Republican Literature
This course surveys the literature and culture of the Roman Republic, 509 – 31 BCE. Beginning with the material and cultural record of pre-historical Rome in the 7th to 3rd centuries, this course examines the …
AP/HUMA 3108 6.00 Ancient Greek and Roman Comic Drama
This course explores the evolving tradition of ancient Greek and Roman comic drama from later fifth-century BCE Athens to the early second-century Roman Republic, studying the works of the playwrights Aristophanes, Menander, Plautus and Terence, …
AP/HUMA 3109 3.00 Law & Culture in the Ancient World
A survey of legal concepts, practices, and narratives in the ancient world (Greece, Rome, and the Near East). Students will learn how the law is shaped by culture and history and how law and legal …
AP/HUMA 3110 6.00 Roman Culture and Society
Examines literature, art and architecture in its social and cultural context within a specified period of Roman history. The course may focus on either the late Republic, the ages of Augustus, Nero or the Trajan.
AP/HUMA 3115 6.00 Myth in Ancient Greece: Texts and Theories
This course examines Greek myths of gods and heroes in their social, religious and historical contexts through close reading of primary texts and visual representations and through analysis of modern comparative, psychoanalytical and structuralist theories.
AP/HUMA 3140 6.00 Digital Culture in the Humanities
Explores the influence of digital technologies on particular aspects of the arts, popular culture, the internet as well as in venues where culture is archived such as universities and museums in North America and internationally. …
AP/HUMA 3160 3.00 Sound, Politics and Media Art
This course considers sound as a social, aesthetic, historical, material, and political phenomenon, highlighting how it integrates with contemporary artistic practices. Students will learn about sound art experimental music; be introduced to the physics of …
AP/HUMA 3165 3.00 Griots to Emcees: Examining Culture, Performance & Spoken Word
Explores the form, function and content of Spoken Word, in terms of language, rhythm, historical developments, social- political contexts, as well as key artists of poetry, rap, dub, slam, lyricism and spoken word as live …
AP/HUMA 3200 6.00 Terror and Terrorism
Explores the representation of terrorism and terror in a range of forms, disciplines and historical contexts, complicating the simplistic binary of good and evil characterizing terrorism that functions in dominant political and media discourse.
AP/HUMA 3201 6.00 Culture, Meaning & Form
Explores cultural expression as a social act. What happens when material culture is caught between opposing forces: corporations and governments? To the individual voices of resisting dissidents arguing for originality, individuality and authenticity? Areas of …
AP/HUMA 3207 6.00 Doing Culture: Narratives of Cultural Production
Students discover how local cultural production is fostered, disseminated, and in some cases restricted in and by the communities they serve. Building on cultural theories and concepts of public pedagogy, students work in small groups …
AP/HUMA 3208 6.00 Thinking Culture: Critical Issues, Skills and Approaches for Humanities Majors
This course focuses on issues, skills and approaches to develop a critical attitude to forms of knowledge and underlie any cultural production. The course also emphasizes strategies for reading, writing, research and analysis, as ell …
AP/HUMA 3210 3.00 The Scene of the Crime - Criminality and Modern Culture
A study of the production of ideas of criminality in Western thought since 1850 to the present, within the context of the social, cultural, political economic and legal history of the modern age. Course credit …
AP/HUMA 3220 3.00 Memory, Meaning and Community
An experiential learning course on the study of memory from a cultural perspective. Topics include: collective vs. individual memory; memory and trauma; memory and media; historical memory; oral memory and testimony.
AP/HUMA 3220 6.00 Memory, Meaning and Community
An experiential learning course on the study of memory from a cultural perspective. Topics include: collective vs. individual memory; memory and trauma; memory and media; historical memory; oral memory and testimony.
AP/HUMA 3226 3.00 Visual Cultures and the Natural World
This course explores how visual images affect our understandings and perspectives of the natural world, through the examination of a variety of technologies and practices of visual representations of nature in different cultural and historical …
AP/HUMA 3230 6.00 Illness in the Popular Eye
Addresses illness as a narrative device in film and other forms of media and by so doing, raises social and cultural concerns regarding the body, protest, transcendence and healing, as well as gender/sexual politics.
AP/HUMA 3250 6.00 Contemporary History Through Film
Explores how history has been depicted through popular culture in cinema and other electronic media. Focuses on WWII and its aftermath when filmmakers began to rethink the function of cinematic representation and its political and …
AP/HUMA 3255 3.00 Indigenous Film Studies
FULLY ONLINE This course introduces students to Indigenous cinema in the United States and Canada, although films from Mexico, the Andes (Quechua) and Brazil will be screened when available. Students view approximately ten films and …
AP/HUMA 3300 3.00 Black Canadian Film
This course examines the burgeoning corpus of Black Canadian film to consider the ways in which Black cinematic culture in Canada has developed in the last 40 years and continues to develop today. It addresses …
AP/HUMA 3302 3.00 Hood Feminisms: Black Women's Fugitivity
This course centres “the nowhere of the ghetto and the nowhere of utopia” (Hartman, xiii) to understand the social, historical and political contexts of the wayward practices of Black Women. It uses key issues and …
AP/HUMA 3303 3.00 Religious Cultures of African and African Diaspora Peoples
The course explores the co-existence of traditional African religious cultures and Christianity on the continent and among various African Diasporas in the Americas. Our approach is interdisciplinary. We read anthropological and cultural studies theories of …
AP/HUMA 3305 3.00 The Calypso and Caribbean Oral Literature
This course examines developments in the calypso circa 1922-1992, including changes in its form, function and content. The course also explores the calypso for commentaries on nationhood, community relations in a multi-ethnic society and issues …
AP/HUMA 3310 3.00 Writer & Folk Culture in the Caribbean
This course examines aesthetic and expressive aspects of Caribbean folk culture and explores how and why West Indian novelists, dramatists and poets have used this culture in their literary works.
AP/HUMA 3312 6.00 Media and the Idea of Italy
Examines the history of the idea of Italy by studying the role of media in the evolution of Italian cultural and national identity from the Renaissance to the present. Course credit exclusions: AP/HUMA 3612 6.00, …
AP/HUMA 3314 6.00 Black Literatures and Cultures In Canada
This course examines the wide range of lives, experiences and histories of Black peoples in Canada by focusing on expressive cultures. The approach is broadly interdisciplinary and we will study a range of Black Canadian …
AP/HUMA 3315 3.00 Black Literatures and Cultures in Canada
This course challenges the positioning of the African American experience as a dominant referent for black cultures in the Americas through an examination of fictional writing produced by blacks in Canada and the notion of …
This course introduces students to literature produced by black women writers in the Caribbean, Canada and the United States after the 1970s.
AP/HUMA 3318 3.00 Black Popular Culture
Analyzes popular Black popular culture in Diaspora, including music, film, television, style, contemporary visual arts, and including such issues as production, reception and commodification, through the lens of Black cultural theory.
AP/HUMA 3320 6.00 Caribbean Thought: A Post-colonial Perspective
By focusing on influential post-colonial theorists, this course examines 20th century attempts to rethink the Western humanistic tradition from the point of view of colonized and formerly colonized peoples.
AP/HUMA 3421 3.00 Origins of Christianity I: Paul and The First Generation (up to 65 CE)
This course explores the literary, social and cultural context of the apostle Paul and the recipients of his letters while also considering the legacies of Paul after his death. The course begins with a study …
This course takes a historical approach to writings produced in the second generation of the Jesus movements, including the gospels of Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John. The course begins with a discussion of the first-century …
AP/HUMA 3423 6.00 The New Testament Apocrypha
Analyzes texts excluded from the New Testament, such as the Gospel of Thomas, the Infancy Gospel of James, and the Apocalypse of Peter. Discusses what these texts truly say about Jesus and why they are …
AP/HUMA 3424 3.00 The History of the Bible
Traces the development, transmission, and translation of the Bible from early attempts to develop the canon to the construction of current English Bibles. Discusses figures that have helped shape the text, important translations, manuscript illuminations, …
AP/HUMA 3425 3.00 Dead Sea Scrolls
The Dead Sea Scrolls provide an intriguing window into the development of early Christianity and rabbinic Judaism. This course examines the texts, the communities which produced them, contemporary movements within Judaism and Christianity, and the …
A study of the life and seminal ideas of Augustine of Hippo. Setting his ideas in the context of his life story, the course explores his teaching on such themes as religion, education, philosophy, grade …
AP/HUMA 3438 3.00 The Celtic Tradition-Then and Now
Investigates Celtic culture and its artistic expression, which includes both the early medieval amalgamation of the Irish and Anglo-Saxon traditions in the British Isles, and its later manifestation during the Celtic Revival of the late …
AP/HUMA 3439 3.00 How the Irish Saved Western Civilization
Examines the remarkable cultural achievements of the Irish, how they kept the lamps of learning, literature and material culture (manuscript, painting, ornamental metalwork) burning following the barbarian invasions of the fifth century and the decline …
Examines the early, radical alternative version of Christianity and Judaism based on mystical self-knowledge (gnosis), and the challenge it posed to orthodox views on such issues as authority, the role of women, wisdom and organizational …
AP/HUMA 3460 6.00 Renaissance and Reformation: Brand New or New Again
How did inadequate education, greed, power struggles and rapid change produce Renaissance high culture? Was it a return to classical education, culture and institutions? A religious renewal? Or new social, political and economic patterns shaping …
AP/HUMA 3465 6.00 Renaissance Humanities
The questions that Renaissance humanists cultivated are central to the humanities today: why study the Liberal Arts? How does the life of the mind relate to an active professional career? What defines humanity? What is …
AP/HUMA 3481 6.00 Studies in World Religions
Examines selected religions such as Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity and Judaism with special reference to selected texts, traditions and thought.
AP/HUMA 3500 6.00 Chinese Cultures in Literature & Film
Offers a picture of the cultural life of three variant Chinese communities through an analysis of major works of literature and film, as well as an understanding of the interaction between these groups and the …
AP/HUMA 3510 6.00 Religion, Gender and Korean Culture
Explores the interactions of religion and gender from the traditional to the modern period in Korea, and relates this material to the general process of cultural development.
AP/HUMA 3518 6.00 Feminist Approaches to Religion
This course foregrounds women’s voices/stories and examines a wide range of feminist approaches to religion, including feminists who identify as practitioners of a tradition as well as those who do not. The main thread spinning …
AP/HUMA 3519 6.00 Contemporary Women's Rituals: An Introduction
Women have been creating their own significant rituals both inside and outside established religious movements for centuries. This course explores this phenomenon and analyzes a variety of contemporary women’s rituals in light of contemporary feminist …
AP/HUMA 3523 6.00 Feminism and Film
Feminist filmmakers deploy film as a provocative cultural form to explore women’s complex social and cultural locations and issues. This course explores theoretical and practical points of contact between feminism and film to encourage new …
AP/HUMA 3523 3.00 Feminisms and Film
Feminist filmmakers deploy film as a provocative cultural form to explore women’s complex social and cultural locations and issues. This course explores theoretical and practical points of contact between feminism and film to encourage new …
AP/HUMA 3530 3.00 Métis Issues in North America
Explores the history and literature of the Metis and Louis Riel in their homelands and in their communities in North America since the 17th century. Topics will include Metis identities, family histories, communities, resistance movements, …
AP/HUMA 3535 3.00 Indigenous Knowledge and the Environment
Analyzes the history and theories of Canada from the perspectives of indigenous knowledge and environment. Previously offered as AP/MIST 3535 3.00
AP/HUMA 3536 3.00 Indigenous People, Legend and Memory
This course examines concepts and relationships among history, literature and nature in Europe and North America. Previously offered as: AP/MIST 3536 3.00 Course credit exclusion: AP/REI 3536 3.00 (prior to Fall 2013). PRIOR TO FALL …
AP/HUMA 3537 3.00 Canadian Native Autobiography
Canadian Native writers of the 19th and 20th centuries have defined themselves and their world through unique representations of their own life stories. The course explores the contexts and interpretations of “identity”, “history”, “literature”, “tradition”, …
AP/HUMA 3595 6.00 Radicalism and Cultural Movements
Examines the radical impulse as it shapes and is shaped by progressive cultural movements. Using examples from fine art, literature, film, music, and other artistic forms and drawing on history, cultural theory and socio-political thought, …
AP/HUMA 3595 3.00 Radicalism and Cultural Movements
Examines the radical impulse as it shapes and is shaped by progressive cultural movements. Using examples from fine art, literature, film, music, and other artistic forms and drawing on history, cultural theory and socio-political thought, …
AP/HUMA 3603 3.00 Vienna: City of Appearances
Vienna is now a relatively minor European capital in the heart of Central Europe, but its history and culture can be seen as exemplary for traditions and imaginaries that define European-ness. As the former capital …
AP/HUMA 3604 6.00 Italy, The Beautiful Country
The course explores the variegated meanings of Italy — home of the Roman Empire and Catholicism, birthplace of the Renaissance, locus of artistic richness, passion, drama, and intrigue — as a place symbolically laden with …
AP/HUMA 3605 3.00 Imagining the European City in Literature and Film
Examines selected traditions of imagining cities in European literature and film. It introduces students to the most significant source material and theories in the European tradition and provides examples of how narratives and visual representations …
AP/HUMA 3609 6.00 Europe's Pasts in Film and Literature
The purpose of this course is to introduce students to some of the most distinctive literary and cinematic approaches to collective and individual memory and its representation in pre- and postwar Europe.
AP/HUMA 3609 3.00 Europe's Pasts in Film and Literature
The purpose of this course is to introduce students to some of the most distinctive literary and cinematic approaches to collective and individual memory and its representation in pre- and postwar Europe.
AP/HUMA 3617 3.00 Heroes, Marvels, Monsters and Beauties in Portuguese Literature
Introduces students to the literary representations of heroes, marvels, monsters and beauties in Portuguese literature. Analyses the nature and extent of these themes in different epochs and in relation to the country’s historical, cultural, and …
AP/HUMA 3650 3.00 God/USA: Religion in America Since 1491
This course explores the key themes, critical questions, and entrenched conflicts about the place of religion during the long and varied history of American civic and cultural life. It analyzes Native-Newcomer religious tensions, disestablishment, uniquely …
AP/HUMA 3660 3.00 African-Canadian Voices
Examines the diversity of African-Canadian artistic production, literature in particular, but also film and visual art, seeking to develop theoretical and critical frameworks in which to situate contemporary work within Canadian, as well as the …
AP/HUMA 3660 6.00 African-Canadian Voices
Examines the diversity of African-Canadian artistic production, literature in particular, but also film and visual art, seeking to develop theoretical and critical frameworks in which to situate contemporary work within Canadian, as well as the …
AP/HUMA 3661 3.00 Studies in African American Art and Theatre: History and Memory
Explores how certain African American visual artist and dramatists interpret historical experience. Raises theoretical questions of representation, visualization, intertexuality, interdisciplinarity, and politics and the aesthetics of portrayal, focusing on the work of Romare Bearden, Jacob …
AP/HUMA 3661 6.00 Studies in African American Art and Theatre: History and Memory
Explores how certain African American visual artist and dramatists interpret historical experience. Raises theoretical questions of representation, visualization, intertexuality, interdisciplinarity, and politics and the aesthetics of portrayal, focusing on the work of Romare Bearden, Jacob …
AP/HUMA 3662 3.00 Ecocritical Approaches to Black Literature and Film
This course applies concepts of ecocriticism to cultural production, literature and film, of Africa and its Diaspora. The course will examine and highlight the role of land and landscape in the literary compositions of the …
AP/HUMA 3664 3.00 The Oral Tradition in Caribbean Culture
This course introduces students to traditional oral cultures of the African-Caribbean diaspora. Adapting an ethnographic approach, the course focuses on the culture’s African origins, its evolution in the Caribbean nations, and its subsequent transplantation to …
AP/HUMA 3665 3.00 African Oral Tradition
This course introduces students to aspects of the traditional cultures of Africa. Drawing upon historical and contemporary examples, the course examines the particular features of verbal art as performance and the social functions it serves …
AP/HUMA 3670 6.00 Fantasy in the Modern World
An exploration of the ways fantasy has shaped modern sensibility since the French Revolution.
AP/HUMA 3685 6.00 Canadian Children's Literature and Culture
This course surveys and analyzes Canadian children’s literature historically in relation to the national culture and the sub-cultures of authors and illustrators, as well as with respect to the nature and significance of the children’s …
AP/HUMA 3685 3.00 Canadian Children's Literature and Culture
This course surveys and analyzes Canadian children’s literature historically in relation to the national culture and the sub-cultures of authors and illustrators, as well as with respect to the nature and significance of the children’s …
AP/HUMA 3685 6.00 Canadian Children's Literature and Culture
This course surveys and analyzes Canadian children’s literature historically in relation to the national culture and the sub-cultures of authors and illustrators, as well as with respect to the nature and significance of the children’s …
AP/HUMA 3687 6.00 Graphic Narratives for and about Children and Youth
This course provides an introduction to the graphic novel form, a medium of literature for and about children and youth. Students will ready widely in this genre, with an attention given to texts from a …
AP/HUMA 3688 3.00 Holocaust Literature of Children and Youth
‘This was the ghetto: where children grew down instead of up (Spinelli, Milkweed, 2003, 153). This course analyzes themes and art relevant to children and youth in adolescents’ and children’s Holocaust literature. Participants apply cognitive …
AP/HUMA 3688 3.00 Holocaust Literature of Children and Youth
“This was the ghetto: where children grew down instead of up” (Spinelli, Milkweed, 2003, 153).This course analyzes themes and art relevant to children and youth in adolescents’ and children’s Holocaust literature. Participants apply cognitive andaffective …
AP/HUMA 3690 6.00 Children's Literature & Film Adaptation
This course analyzes changing constructions of childhood and adolescence in children’s literature and adaptations of these constructions in film versions. Issues of ‘translation’ are highlighted both in critical readings and through the pairing of literary …
AP/HUMA 3691 3.00 Picture Books In Children’s Culture
Analyzes interrelationships between literary, visual, and performative arts in children’s picture books. Explores relationships between adult and child readers as they mutually make meaning in picture book reading experiences. Studies children’s picture books’ thematic breadth; …
AP/HUMA 3692 6.00 Representations of Children's Alterity
Analyzes representations of children’s and youths’ alterity in picture books, graphic novels, novels, life writing, documentary and fiction films, photographs, art, advertising, and non-fiction for children and adults. Alterity refers to the “Other,” marginalized through …
AP/HUMA 3693 3.00 The Rainbow List: GLBTQ literature and culture for children and youth
Each year, the Rainbow Project Committee announces its annual Rainbow List. These titles reflect significant gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans-gendered and queer-questioning (GLBTQ) experience for young people from birth to age 18. This course analyzes some …
AP/HUMA 3694 3.00 Contemporary Childhoods: Theories, Policies and Stereotypes
This is an in-depth course that will explore contemporary theories of childhood and their implication on the lived experiences of children around the world. The first module of the course explores new and developing childhood …
AP/HUMA 3697 3.00 Writing By Children and Youth
Analyzes various types of writing by children and youth rather than what is usually (and problematically) understood by “children’s literature”–writing by adults for children. Can adults access “authentic” children’s writing? Can such writing be considered …
AP/HUMA 3698 3.00 Canadian Children's Health and Quality of Life: A Rights-Based Perspective
This course critically analyzes children’s health and quality of life. Students will explore multiple influences on contemporary Canadian children’s health. The course ethos is the respect of children and youth as human beings, with the …
AP/HUMA 3699 3.00 Childhood, culture, and musical arts
Explores the role of musical arts in the lives of children and young people. Understanding music in its broadest sense, including the integration of dance, performance, poetry, storytelling, singing, and instrument playing, will provide the …
AP/HUMA 3795 3.00 A Cultural History of Satan: Personified Evil in Early Judaism and in Christianity
This course investigates the origins, development, significance, and social functions of personified evil–Satan and his demons–in early Judaism and in the history of Christianity. We will consider some of the most important literary and visual …
AP/HUMA 3800 6.00 God Online: Religion in the Digital Age
An interdisciplinary investigation into the changing nature of traditional religions in the digital age. This course examines ways in which religion is being shaped by digital culture, including the widespread social acceptance of new technologies …
AP/HUMA 3801 6.00 Thinking Religion in South Asia
Explores the teachings of selected religious traditions of South Asian and examines the category of religion as it is applied to South Asia in the context of oriental discourses.
AP/HUMA 3802 3.00 Sikh History and Thought: Development and Interpretation
An overview of Sikhism, major texts of Sikh tradition, and the rich array of poetics, musical thought and languages involved. It exposes students to the Sikh geographical imagination which emerges in sacred texts, place and …
AP/HUMA 3803 3.00 Methods In The Study Of Religion
Explores the key approaches to the study of religion through an examination of various methodologies. Working through well-known case studies, students investigate a variety of approaches in practice to explore how questions of method shape …
AP/HUMA 3804 3.00 Theories in the Study Of Religion
Introduces students to the foundational theorists and key questions in the history of the academic study of religion. This course examines the lenses through which we view religion, that is, how differing theoretical models shape …
AP/HUMA 3810 6.00 Ancient Israelite Literature: The Hebrew Bible/Old Testament in Context
A survey of the literature of ancient Israel concentrating on the Hebrew Bible with the context of its world. Students examine the text in translation and become familiar with a variety of literary, historical and …
AP/HUMA 3814 6.00 Gendering Islam
Examines the representation and the construction of the gendered roles of “Muslim Woman” and “Muslim Man” in different Islamic societies.
AP/HUMA 3815 6.00 Aspects of Islamic Thought
Introduces students to some of the major aspects of classical Islamic thought. Based on primary sources, the course explores the writings of leading figures in Islamic theology, jurisprudence, Qur’anic exegesis, mysticism and philosophy.
AP/HUMA 3816 3.00 Religion, Culture and Identity in the Balkans
This course explores the intersections between religion, culture and identity in the Balkans. It offers an interdisciplinary examination of this complex religious and ethnic mosaic through a wide range of sources, including consideration of the …
AP/HUMA 3817 3.00 Memory and Knowledge in the Muslim World
This course focuses on the modes of transmission, acquisition and reproduction of knowledge in a variety of Islamic societies from the ninth century to the present.
AP/HUMA 3818 3.00 Sacred Space in Islam
Examines the plurality of rituals and devotional practices in Islam and the variety of spaces and places engendered by Muslim worship and devotion from early Islam to the contemporary period. It examines the diversity of …
AP/HUMA 3819 3.00 Outsiders Inside Religion
Examines the strategies employed by members of marginalized groups to resist and to manoeuvre within patriarchal stereotypes, norms and values from within their religious tradition. PRIOR TO FALL 2010: Course credit exclusions: AP/WMST 3518 6.00, …
AP/HUMA 3826 3.00 Religion and Film
Examines the role and representation of the religious in popular film. It identifies and analyzes ways in which contemporary cinema reflects, shapes and embodies our world-views, values and commitments, both as individuals and as a …
AP/HUMA 3827 3.00 Religion and Television
This course examines the role and representation of the religious on television. It introduces students to the vocabularies of Religious Studies and Media Studies, and critically explores the relationship between religion and television as aspects …
AP/HUMA 3829 3.00 A Convenient Hatred: Antisemitism Before, During and After the Holocaust
Examines the evolution of anti-Jewish thought and behaviour as a response to the crisis of modernity. It examines the role of antisemitism in 19th- and 20th-century European ideological, political and socio-economic developments and the Jewish …
AP/HUMA 3831 3.00 Torah And Tradition: Jewish Religious Expressions From Antiquity To The Present
Offers a historical exploration of Jewish beliefs, institutions, and bodies of literature over the ages, emphasizing continuities and changes in religious expression within and across different places and times.
AP/HUMA 3835 6.00 Antisemitism and Islamophobia in Canada
This course examines contemporary manifestations of antisemitism and Islamophobia in Canada. To provide historical context it explores the antecedents of anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim thought in the medieval and early modern periods. The course is interdisciplinary …
AP/HUMA 3835 3.00 Antisemitism and Islamophobia in Canada
This course examines contemporary manifestations of antisemitism and Islamophobia in Canada. To provide historical context it explores the antecedents of anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim thought in the medieval and early modern periods. The course is interdisciplinary …
AP/HUMA 3840 6.00 Law, Ethics and Revelation in Judaism
A historical analysis of the formation of the ideas, literature and institutions of rabbinic Judaism as they took shape from the first to the seventh centuries.
AP/HUMA 3841 3.00 Modern Yiddish Culture
This seminar examines the transformation of Yiddish from the vernacular of an ethno-religious community to a language of modern, secular mass culture and national politics in the 19th and 20th centuries in Eastern Europe.
AP/HUMA 3843 3.00 Jerusalem: Sacred City, Contested City
Since antiquity, Jerusalem has been a focal point for both spiritual transcendence and earthly strife. This course explores the history of a city holy to three major Western religions. It focuses on the political and …
AP/HUMA 3850 6.00 Perspectives on the Holocaust
An examination of the Nazi attempt to exterminate the Jews: the historical and philosophical background, the theological and psychological implications, the history and literature of the period.
AP/HUMA 3855 6.00 Imagining the Worst: Responses to the Holocaust
This course explores responses to the Holocaust in imaginative texts – fiction, poetry and film – alongside autobiographical, historical and philosophical accounts. Works by survivors and others enable us to examine forms of Holocaust memory, …
AP/HUMA 3856 3.00 Women and the Holocaust
Although the Nazi genocide targeted both men and women, writing by victims and survivors along with contemporary depictions of the Holocaust, indicates significant gender-specific differences in experience and ways of coping and remembering. Close readings …
AP/HUMA 3858 3.00 Cult and Culture in Ancient Canaan: A Survey of "Biblical" Archeology
This course surveys the material culture of the land known variously as Canaan, Israel, Judah, Judea, Palestine, and the Holy Land, from the Neolithic or “New Stone” Age (as of ca. 8500 BCE) until the …
AP/HUMA 3901 6.00 Consumer and Popular Culture
Examines individual and collective expression within the context of popular and consumer culture, including such areas as music, activism, the Web, fashion, subcultures, shopping, car culture, fan clubs, zines, TV and film.
AP/HUMA 3901 3.00 Consumer and Popular Culture
Examines individual and collective expression within the context of popular and consumer culture, including such areas as music, activism, the Web, fashion, subcultures, shopping, car culture, fan clubs, zines, TV and film.
AP/HUMA 3902 6.00 Contemporary Popular Culture
Surveys historical and contemporary approaches to the texts and contexts of fiction, film, television, music, folklore and fashion. Themes include the industrialization of culture; changing definitions of the popular; genre and gender; the politics of …
AP/HUMA 3902 3.00 Contemporary Popular Culture
Surveys historical and contemporary approaches to the texts and contexts of fiction, film, television, music, folklore and fashion. Themes include the industrialization of culture; changing definitions of the popular; genre and gender; the politics of …
AP/HUMA 3903 6.00 Popular Expression in North American Music
A survey of North American musical idioms from their Indigenous, European and African antecedents to the present. Selected styles and creators are situated within their immediate contexts of commerce, identity, and aesthetic norms.
AP/HUMA 3904 6.00 Experiencing Canadian Culture
An exploration of how a unique Canadian sensibility manifests itself in contemporary cultural forms. Students are encouraged to attend contemporary plays, movies , readings, art shows and concerts to supplement reading materials.
AP/HUMA 3906 3.00 Crafting Contemporary Culture
Explores contemporary craft traditions and innovations in their social, political and artistic contexts. Theoretically, the course will draw from such areas as craft theory, cultural studies, popular culture, critical theory, craft culture and the history …
AP/HUMA 3907 3.00 Arts and Rights
Explores how the creative arts, including poetry, fiction, drama, film and the visual arts, take up issues related to human rights.
AP/HUMA 3908 3.00 The Arts and the Law of Copyright
Examines the interaction between the creative arts and contemporary legal and social issues presented by new forms of technology, the relationship between copyright and creativity, the concept of creative works as private property, and the …
AP/HUMA 3910 3.00 American Film And Television
Studies the development of American film and television. Includes historical overviews and critical studies of the various forms of production, distribution and exhibition that characterize American media culture. Four hours. Prerequisite: FA/Film 1400 6.00 or …
AP/HUMA 3916 3.00 Images of Embodiment in Science Fiction
Explores various moral, political, psychological, and metaphysical issues surrounding our nature as embodied beings, utilizing works of science fiction (novels, short stories, and films) as “thought experiments” by which we vary some aspect of our …
AP/HUMA 3917 6.00 Contemporary Jewish Life in North America
This course develops an understanding of contemporary North American Jewry using findings of social science. Social, cultural, political and religious issues concerning the Jewish community are analyzed, such as assimilation, inter-marriage, ethnic identity and antisemitism. …
AP/HUMA 3925 6.00 Interfaces: Technology and the Human
Examines from a humanist perspective the shifting relationships between social and cultural practices and technologies. It explores several key interfaces, including structures of belief, aesthetic practices and identity formation.
AP/HUMA 3970 3.00 Science and Gender in Modern Western Culture
This course analyzes the gendered nature of modern Western scientific culture. It draws on literary, historical and philosophical sources, films and contemporary feminist writings.
AP/HUMA 3973 3.00 Science and Victorian Intellectual Life
This course examines British debates on science and its application to pressing moral and social problems through a reading of the scientific literature on materialism, the mind, and the economy during the Victorian era.
AP/HUMA 3973 6.00 Science and Victorian Intellectual Life
This course examines British debates on science and its application to pressing moral and social problems through a reading of the scientific literature on materialism, the mind, and the economy during the Victorian era.
AP/HUMA 3975 3.00 Science and Religion in Modern Western Culture
Examination of the relationship between science and religion through a study of the implications of the following intellectual developments for religious thought: the rise and triumph of Newtonian science, the Darwinian revolution, relativity theory, quantum …
AP/HUMA 3985 3.00 Recent German Film and Culture (in translation)
The course focuses on major filmmakers and trends in German film after 1989. Topics include film and authorship, art vs. popular cinema, approaches to history and memory, cinematic responses to contemporary social and political developments.
AP/HUMA 3998 6.00 The Social and Textual Production of Children's Literature:Research Methods
This course incorporates book history, Childhood Studies, literary analysis, and digital humanities methodologies in its exploration of the social and textual production of children’s literature. It focuses on a selection of historical children’s texts from …
AP/HUMA 3999 6.00 Research with Children and Young People: Methods
This course explores methods and methodologies for child-centred research with a focus on ethical standards and guidelines that shape the field and sustain best practice for research with children. A child-centred approach is central to …
AP/HUMA 4000 3.00 Directed Reading
In any given year, a limited number of faculty members may be available to supervise a special program of study (for a limited number of students) equal in credit to one full or half course. …
AP/HUMA 4000 6.00 Directed Reading
In any given year, a limited number of faculty members may be available to supervise a special program of study (for a limited number of students) equal in credit to one full or half course. …
AP/HUMA 4002 6.00 Interdisciplinary Capstone Project
The Interdisciplinary Capstone Project allows upper-year undergraduate students in LA&PS to work in multi-disciplinary teams with students from across the university on pressing, ‘real-world¿ challenges posed by organizations operating in the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors. …
AP/HUMA 4102 6.00 Caligula, Claudius and Nero: Roman Emperors Between Myth and History
The course examines contemporary and posthumous literary and iconographic representations of Caligula, Claudius and Nero, Roman emperors from AD 37 to 68, and explores the cultural conditions that help to explain why they were represented …
AP/HUMA 4103 6.00 Interpretation of Homeric Epic
Examines the “Iliad” and the “Odyssey” through study of some of the various interpretive strategies, both ancient and modern, which have been applied to these texts.
AP/HUMA 4105 6.00 The Rhetorical Tradition: Persuasion and Eloquence
This course examines rhetoric and its social function from the classical cultures of Greece and Rome to our own time. Topics include the technical handbooks; oratory; rhetoric in literature; philosophy and rhetoric; and the role …
AP/HUMA 4106 6.00 Writing in a Culture of Letters: Ancient Greek Epistolary Literature
This course will trace the epistolary form in ancient Greek literature, exploring issues including: reading, writing, and literacy; rhetoric and education; literary criticism; the relationship between “real” and literary letters; fiction, fakes, and forgeries in …
AP/HUMA 4107 6.00 The Ancient Greek and Roman Novel
This course studies selected ancient Greek and Roman novels in English translation, the social and literary currents which shape their narratives, and their role in the cultural politics of their era.
AP/HUMA 4109 6.00 Writing Lives: Greco-Roman Biography
This course explores the importance of biographical and autobiographical writing in the ancient Mediterranean among Greeks, Romans, and minority populations, focusing less on the subjects of each life and more on literary, ethnic, social, cultural. …
AP/HUMA 4130 6.00 Embodied Understanding: Integrating Body, Mind and Spirit
A theoretical and experiential exploration of holistic human ontologies, epistemologies and conceptual grammar, and of their personal, social, political and pedagogical ramifications, using both Western and non-Western texts and exploring the uses of meditation and …
This course studies children’s and youth dramas/theatre in Canada during the first golden age of children’s literature – the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It examines how these plays inculcate normative sexual identities, genders, …
AP/HUMA 4140 6.00 Childhood In Canadian Culture
Explores the human condition of childhood as portrayed and experienced in Canadian culture over time.
AP/HUMA 4141 6.00 Children, Youth And Digital Culture
Investigates how children and youth use digital technologies and new media both as “extensions” of individual identities and facilitators of “youth culture.” Texting, sexting, tweeting, learning, playing, protesting, creating-how are youth making meaning of the …
AP/HUMA 4142 6.00 Contemporary Children’s Culture
This course analyses contemporary forms of culture created (or appropriated) by children or produced for children by adults; it also explores the effects of these cultural forms on children’s ways of being in the modern …
AP/HUMA 4144 3.00 Indigenous Knowledge and Children's Literature in North America
Analyzes and examines Children’s Literature and Indigenous Knowledge in North America, focusing on the similarities among diverse traditions of contemporary Indigenous Children’s writers in both Canada and in the United States. Explores the many and …
AP/HUMA 4145 6.00 Fantasy And Children’s Culture
Explores the fantasy mode in childhood and children’s culture made by and for them, including literature, film, toys, songs and games.
AP/HUMA 4146 3.00 Children's Culture in Context
This course examines children’s perspectives on their own lives and experiences in specific cultural, social and/or community contexts. Children’s cultures are explored outside the parameters of adulthood, as a distinctive phase during which children are …
AP/HUMA 4148 3.00 Children and the Law in Historical Perspective
This course explores the history of children and childhood in the Anglo-American legal tradition. By reading and studying historical, literary, and cultural materials, students will learn how children experienced the operation of the law in …
AP/HUMA 4149 3.00 Contemporary Canadian Childhood and the Law
Explores childhood experience and the social construction of childhood in Canadian law. Students will examine the social policies that inform the law, consider how children experience the law through popular culture and direct contact with …
AP/HUMA 4150 6.00 Life Writing
This course explores the genre of life writing through an analysis of its conventions as well as traditional and experimental applications. Central questions include: What is life writing? What are its historical and literary functions? …
AP/HUMA 4151 3.00 Imagination and Reality: Don Quixote in Literature, Film and Art.
This course examines the nature and function of the imagination and its relationship to reality through an analysis of the highly influential “first modern novel,” Don Quixote, and subsequent representations of Don Quixote in literature, …
AP/HUMA 4152 3.00 Childhood, Youth, and Migration in Global Perspectives
This course explores the experiences, perspectives, and roles of children and youth in migration processes in a global context. Through an examination of various theoretical texts and case studies, this course provides a critical introduction …
AP/HUMA 4155 3.00 The "Victory" of the Body in 20th Century Western Culture
This course examines how the body, in contrast to the soul or mind, was “redeemed” after 1900 so as to make it the immanent source of new values that transformed a range of social attitudes.
AP/HUMA 4156 3.00 Culture in Objects: the humanities and material culture studies
How do three-dimensional objects or artefacts – that is, matter that has been crafted or worked on by humans – embody, transmit and transform intangible aspects of culture, such as values, knowledge, or history? Over …
AP/HUMA 4157 3.00 The Global Circulation of Knowledge
How is scientific knowledge and its associated technologies transformed as they cross cultural boundaries? This course analyzes scientific theories, objects, and technologies in circulation, as they move from their point of origin to locations around …
AP/HUMA 4160 6.00 Storytelling, Multicentered Worlds and Resistance
Examines the power of stories to reflect, shape, and change our multicultural and multicentered worlds. Analyses the notion of “the local” and relationships among human and other-than-human beings in the West, focusing on the stories …
AP/HUMA 4166 3.00 Pandemic Narratives and the Law
This course examines the legal measures implemented by authorities in response to historical and fictional pandemics and the role that legal concepts, institutions, and practices play in shaping a pandemic narrative. Every pandemic has a …
AP/HUMA 4170 6.00 Deconstructing Post-modernism
While surveying the manifestations and strategies of post-modernism and deconstruction, this course traces the two concepts’ precedents and assesses the claims and counter-claims made by their supporters and detractors.
AP/HUMA 4178 6.00 Death of God: Atheism and Modernity
Nietzsche’s famous, prophetic claim that “God is dead” is often taken as describing the declining significance of God within modernity. Adopting neither a pro- nor anti- theistic stance, this course critically examines the relationship between …
AP/HUMA 4180 3.00 Europe à la mode: Fashion and the Critical Methodologies of European Studies
What makes “fashion” a European idea? What makes “Europe” a fashionable idea? This course explores a range of representative traditions in European Course credit exclusion: AP/HUMA 4180 6.00.
AP/HUMA 4185 6.00 Modern Moods: Nostalgia and Melancholy
This interdisciplinary course compares the cultural history of two modes of affective experience: melancholy and nostalgia. Based on carefully selected examples, students follow how the two concepts were framed and shaped over time in medical, …
AP/HUMA 4190 6.00 Faith, Reason, and Modern Self-consciousness in European Thought
Examines texts in Ancient Greek philosophy, the Bible, and modern European thought in order to assess the fruitfulness of viewing modern self-consciousness in terms of the relationship of faith and reason.
AP/HUMA 4207 6.00 Doing Culture: Narratives of Cultural Production
Students discover how local cultural production is fostered, disseminated, and in some cases restricted in and by the communities they serve. Building on cultural theories and concepts of public pedagogy, students work in small groups …
AP/HUMA 4208 6.00 Thinking Culture: Critical Issues, Skills and Approaches for Humanities Majors
This course focuses on issues, skills and approaches to develop a critical attitude to forms of knowledge and underlie any cultural production. The course also emphasizes strategies for reading, writing, research and analysis, as ell …
AP/HUMA 4215 6.00 Digital Culture Heritage
This experiential course introduces students to the theory and practice of digital archiving. Students examine the socialand political function of cultural and archival institutions through critical readings in the politics of classifying,representing, and exhibiting culture, …
AP/HUMA 4215 3.00 Digital Culture Heritage
This experiential course introduces students to the theory and practice of digital archiving. Students examine the socialand political function of cultural and archival institutions through critical readings in the politics of classifying,representing, and exhibiting culture, …
AP/HUMA 4226 3.00 Representations of Nature
The course analyzes the diversity of cultural influences upon the genesis of scientific and technological ideas and practices from 17th century to the present. It also explores the impact of science upon social/political structures and …
AP/HUMA 4226 6.00 Representations of Nature
The course analyzes the diversity of cultural influences upon the genesis of scientific and technological ideas and practices from 17th century to the present. It also explores the impact of science upon social/political structures and …
AP/HUMA 4227 3.00 Mind and Matter in Victorian Culture
Through a reading of the contemporary scientific literature on materialism, the mind and the economy, this course examines Victorian debates on science and its application to pressing moral and social problems. Course credit exclusion: AP/HUMA …
AP/HUMA 4228 3.00 Nature in Narrative
This course explores narratives of nature in a variety of fiction and nonfiction texts. It examines how different figures and understandings of nature are developed in and through diverse modes of story-telling or narrative forms.
AP/HUMA 4230 3.00 Informational Identities: The Self in the Age of Technology
This course examines the effects of technologies of information and communication upon the construction and functioning of a personal identity. The course also examines the cultural, political, psychological and spiritual dimensions of recent changes in …
AP/HUMA 4300 3.00 Aspects of Modern Latin American and Caribbean Studies: Culture and Politics
This course draws on oral history, novels, and some of the most accessible and entertaining social scientific studies to explore some of the central themes of both Latin American and Caribbean history and contemporary life, …
The course engages with horror and crime fiction, films, plays, and the graphic novel, as well as the latter’s adaptations to multiplayer online gaming. While detective fiction and the mystery novel have a growing body …
This course examines African, African Diaspora, and Indigenous North American speculative and science fiction as works of art, first and foremost, but also as art that interrogates the sociopolitical, economic, literary, and ecological arrangements that …
AP/HUMA 4303 6.00 Envisioning the African Diaspora and Migration in Still and Moving Images
This course is about photographs, cinema, and the archival evidence of the African Diaspora in North America, Latin America, and Europe. Self-images provide a means of challenging negative stereotypes and assumptions about black people. We …
AP/HUMA 4304 6.00 Meeting Points: Black Diasporas in Toronto and London
Borrowing its title from Austin Clarke’s famous novel, this course examines Toronto, Canada and London, UK as important “meeting points” for various Black diasporic communities since the mid-20th century. It considers how cross-cultural movements and …
AP/HUMA 4305 3.00 Black Canadian Studies Practicum
This course provides students with practical experience analyzing issues through the lens of Black Canadian Studies with placement in the offices of elected officials. Prerequisites: 21 credits of courses in the Black Canadian Studies Certificate …
AP/HUMA 4306 3.00 Imagining Slavery and Freedom
This fourth-year seminar combines creative textsnovels, music, films and other visual artsalongside slave narratives, nonfiction and theoretical works in a critical examination of questions of Transatlantic slavery, the imagination, and the idea of freedom.
AP/HUMA 4307 3.00 Black Toronto Sounds
This course considers how Black peoples and Black artists shape and encounter the city of Toronto through sound. It uses the analytical frameworks and key areas of concern in Black Studies and Sound Studies to …
AP/HUMA 4308 6.00 Black Life Writing Matters
This course assembles a selection of late twentieth- and early twenty-first century life writing by Black thinkers across boundaries of form and geography. In addition to traditional forms of autobiographies and memoirs, we read poems, …
AP/HUMA 4309 3.00 The Body and the Visual
This fourth-year seminar will examine representations of blackness in textual and visual work from the mid-1980s onward. Central to this course is the problematization of the very terms of representation and the visual. We will …
AP/HUMA 4310 3.00 Black Athletes and Sporting Resistance
This course examines the social construction of ‘the Black athlete’ through race and gender politics, and capitalism. Sport is more than entertainment; the course considers sport as a site where stereotypes, prejudices, and inequalities manifest …
AP/HUMA 4410 6.00 Narratives of the Family in Modern Korea
This course places the development of novels, tales, folk operas and other narratives focusing on the family within the context of changing cultural patterns in modern Korea.
AP/HUMA 4416 3.00 Citing the Classics: The Premodern in Modern Japanese Literature and Film
Many works by 20th-century Japanese authors and filmmakers are based on ancient texts like Noh plays, ghost stories and Buddhist fables and folk tales. This course studies those classical antecedents and their modern interpretations within …
AP/HUMA 4425 6.00 Worlds Within, Worlds Without: The "Self" in Qing Prose and Poetry
This course explores the concept of self as it is expressed through the works of major writers and poets in China during the Qing dynasty (1644-1911).
Examines the development of Confucianism in historical, philosophical and socio-political contexts across China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam with particular attention paid to the tradition’s implications for both East Asian modernity and global culture. Note: Internet …
AP/HUMA 4435 3.00 Books and Photos East and West
Analyzes two forms of media, the book and the photograph, and two moments in their histories, East and West. In the first instance, examines the separate Western and Eastern trajectories in the development of print. …
AP/HUMA 4515 3.00 North Korea: Culture, Literature, Film
This course explores the development of literature and films in North Korea from the late 1940s to the present. Students use various approaches to the study of literature and film to analyze literary works and …
In this course students gain experience in using various approaches to study the roles of translation in the development of children’s literature and films in North and South Korea. While the two countries share cultural …
AP/HUMA 4520 3.00 Social Movements and the Expressive Arts
Examines the specific role that art and artists have played in selected social movements.
AP/HUMA 4535 3.00 Religious Reformation and its Cultural Expression
This is a research seminar focused on the cultural expressions of the Protestant and Catholic Reformations of the 16th century. Students will study a selection of relevant doctrinal points, relating them to their expression in …
AP/HUMA 4605 3.00 Literary Utopias in Western Civilization
Introduces students to the canon of European utopian fiction in historical context. Emphasis will be on literary utopias and their social, cultural, and philosophical backgrounds.
AP/HUMA 4605 6.00 Utopias in Literature
Introduces students to the canon of European utopian fiction in historical context. Emphasis will be on literary utopias and their social, cultural, and philosophical backgrounds.
AP/HUMA 4607 6.00 Crossing Lines: Laws, Morality, and Migration in European Fiction
The course explores challenges to creative expression presented by political and cultural boundaries and legal, moral, and religious laws/codes. We will study classics of modern European fiction grappling with, among others, gender/racial/cultural discrimination and economic …
AP/HUMA 4629 3.00 The Power of Words: Reading in the Digital Age
The course moves from the close reading of great works of the literary imagination to examine the roles that the author and the reader play in the process of textual interpretation. The effects of digital media on …
AP/HUMA 4630 6.00 The Power of Words: Reading in the Digital Age
The course moves from the close reading of great works of the literary imagination to examine the roles that the author and the reader play in the process of textual interpretation. The effects of digital media on …
AP/HUMA 4651 3.00 Specialized Studies in Religion
Examines a specific set of works, author, time period or issue pertaining to religious studies. Depending upon the expertise of the instructor, the focus may be on biblical studies, related ancient literature or contemporary works …
AP/HUMA 4653 6.00 Specialized Studies in Religion
Allows students to pursue a supervised program of research in the advanced study of religion. Topics can include focused projects in specific ancient religious texts; contemporary religious issues; or religion and literature, philosophy or psychology.
AP/HUMA 4656 6.00 Women in Islam
Examines the status, roles, and rights of Muslim women in the Quran, the Prophetic traditions, and the diverse Islamic laws. It explores the development of different schools of laws in diverse societies and examines the …
AP/HUMA 4730 6.00 Topics in Arts and Ideas: The Frontier
A study of the sources, contexts, expressions, and inter-relationships of the idea of ‘Frontiers’ in ‘The West’. Social, literary, philosophical, and religious works and their interactions with the arts (painting, sculpture, music, architecture, film, and …
AP/HUMA 4750 3.00 Gender and Sexuality in Jewish LIfe
This course offers an exploration of distinctive Jewish approaches to questions of gender, sexuality, and the body, as formulated in their historical, religious, ethical and social dimensions. While we begin our journey with Biblical and …
AP/HUMA 4770 3.00 Buddhism in Modern Southeast Asia: Community, Conflict and Change
Explores Buddhist responses to the changing conditions of modernity in Southeast Asia. Seeking to understand Buddhism as a living religion, it investigates how Buddhists have drawn on religious narratives, symbols and rituals to respond to …
AP/HUMA 4771 3.00 Buddhism as Seen from the West: The Colonial Encounter and the Study of Buddhism
Explores how the colonial encounter shaped the academic study of Buddhism and the image of Buddhism in the West. Reading popular and scholarly accounts of Buddhism written from the early nineteenth century to the present …
AP/HUMA 4775 3.00 South Asian Religions and Popular Culture
How have South Asian religions been represented, practiced, communicated, and transformed through popular culture? How are religious themes, images, and ideas explored in contemporary film, television, print media and music? Focusing on Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, …
AP/HUMA 4803 6.00 Church, Mosque and Synagogue: Jews, Muslims and Christians in Medieval Spain
Explores the contours of Christian-Muslim-Jewish co-existence in medieval Spain, focusing on religious and social themes. Topics include conversion, cross-traditional intellectual stimuli, sacred violence and positive images of the religious other.
AP/HUMA 4803 6.00 Sex and Violence in the Hebrew Bible
This course attempts a nuanced reading of texts dealing with sexuality and/or violence in the Hebrew Bible. The discussion focuses both on a contextual and on a contemporaneous reading of these texts.
AP/HUMA 4809 6.00 The Hebrew Bible and the Literature of the Ancient Near East
This course examines various biblical literary genres and themes within the context of literature from the ancient Near East.
AP/HUMA 4812 3.00 Christianity and Film
Examines the role and representation of the Christian in popular film. It identifies and analyzes ways in which contemporary cinema reflects, shapes and embodies Christian myths, histories, rituals and doctrines and non-Christian attitudes towards them.
AP/HUMA 4813 6.00 The Arabian Nights: Morality, Sexuality and Strategies of Interpretation
Provides the students with an opportunity to critically engage in analysis of the genesis of the myths claiming ‘veracity’ and ‘historicity’ of the selected tales from The Arabian Nights and a range of other sources …
AP/HUMA 4813 3.00 The Arabian Nights: Morality, Sexuality and Strategies of Interpretation
Provides the students with an opportunity to critically engage in analysis of the genesis of the myths claiming ‘veracity’ and ‘historicity’ of the selected tales from The Arabian Nights and a range of other sources …
AP/HUMA 4814 3.00 The Qur'an and its Interpreters
This course focuses on the Qur’an and its different interpretations. Historical, linguistic, literary, sectarian, Sufi, feminist, modernist and traditionalist approaches are considered in the discussion of selected readings from the Qur’an in English translation.
AP/HUMA 4814 6.00 The Qur'an and its Interpreters
This course focuses on the Qur’an and its different interpretations. Historical, linguistic, literary, sectarian, Sufi, feminist, modernist and traditionalist approaches are considered in the discussion of selected readings from the Qur’an in English translation.
AP/HUMA 4815 6.00 Studies in Islamic Mysticism
The course examines the development of Islamic mystical tradition (Sufism) in reference to two issues: one, the development of Sufism as a form of social organization institutionalized in the tarîqa orders, and two, the employment …
AP/HUMA 4816 6.00 Women In Islamic Literature
The course focuses on the representation of Muslim women in modern Islamic literatures (novel and short stories) and other forms of Islamic cultural production, such as photography and film. Course credit exclusion: AP/HUMA 4816 3.00.
AP/HUMA 4817 6.00 Charismatic Authority in Shii Islam
Shiism is the oldest self-identified movement in Islam, defined by the belief that Muhammad appointed Ali as his successor and transmitted to the Imams his charismatic authority. The course explores the imprint of these beliefs …
AP/HUMA 4818 3.00 Shaping Jewish Memory: Meaning, Imagination, and Identity
This course explores how Jewish communities and individuals have remembered, interpreted and given meaning to the past to shape identity and values. It studies fiction, non-fiction, photographs, films, liturgy, and other vehicles of memory.
AP/HUMA 4819 3.00 Visions of the End: Early Jewish and Christian Apocalypticism
This course investigates the origins and development of apocalypticism within ancient Judaism and early Christianity, covering apocalyptic literature (e.g. Daniel, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and Revelation), ancient millennial movements, and the apocalyptic world-view.
AP/HUMA 4820 3.00 Transformation of Jewish Thought and Cutlure
Jewish thought and culture are explored over a millennium (800-1800), focusing on transformations of the classical (biblical-rabbinic) legacy and interplay with the Islamic and Christian religio-cultural spheres in which they developed.
AP/HUMA 4821 3.00 Culture, Society and Values in Israel
Offers an interdisciplinary exploration of the values and cultures of Israel and their evolution, expression, and reflection in cultural production, social structures, politics and history.
AP/HUMA 4824 3.00 Imagining Anne Frank: The Girl, the Diary, the Afterlives
Analyzes Anne Frank’s World War II diary from literary, cultural, and historical perspectives. Examines the evolution of Frank and the diary as cultural icons by analyzing representations of Frank as a figure in literature, including …
AP/HUMA 4825 6.00 Diversity in Early Christianity
This course explores diversity in early Christian thought and practice by investigating groups traditionally viewed as “heretical”. This will include analysis of the New Testament Apocrypha, Nag Hammadi writings, and the opponents attacked in canonical …
AP/HUMA 4826 3.00 Urban Life and the Islamic Citry
This course addresses city formation, urban space, and the socio-religious structure in Islamic cities from early Islam to the modern period. The course approaches the Islamic city both as an urban phenomenon and as a …
AP/HUMA 4827 3.00 Ancient Concepts of the Soul
Explores concepts of soul from early Greek Civilization to the early Christian era. It examines a cluster of related concepts — soul, spirit, shade, consciousness, will, and mind – that express the self or “inner …
AP/HUMA 4828 3.00 Complex Relationships in the Contemporary Culture of Israel
This course examines a collage of complex relationships and emergent cultural identities in Israel. Readings relate to Israel’s roots, cultural milieu, contemporary and classical literary canon. Readings, subtitles, and analysis are in English, peppered with …
AP/HUMA 4830 3.00 Religious Authority in Premodern Shiism
Shiism is the oldest self-identified movement in Islam, defined by the belief that Muhammad appointed Ali as his successor and transmitted to the Imams his charismatic authority. The course explores the imprint of these beliefs …
AP/HUMA 4900 6.00 McLuhan, Technology and Cultural History
Examines the thought of Marshall McLuhan within the context of the historical development of contemporary culture as impacted by technology and media. Comparisons are drawn between McLuhan and other thinkers of technology such as Harold …
AP/HUMA 4903 6.00 Architecture and Social Change
Probes the complex relationship between architecture and social/cultural change in the 20th and 21st centuries with an emphasis on specific architectural “”visions”” and their intended/unintended consequences. Course credit exclusion: AP/CLTR 4810 3.00.
AP/HUMA 4904 6.00 Fetish Appeal: Desire and Consumption
Probes the role of pleasure, desire and power in contemporary consumer culture, especially around objects of consumption, such as so-called designer goods or iconic products such as the Kitchenaid mixer or the Ipod.
AP/HUMA 4904 3.00 Fetish Appeal: Desire and Consumption
Probes the role of pleasure, desire and power in contemporary consumer culture, especially around objects of consumption, such as so-called designer goods or iconic products such as the Kitchenaid mixer or the Ipod.
AP/HUMA 4906 6.00 Propaganda and Culture
Investigates the employment of the created environment and other expressions of culture for propagandistic purposes, meant to advance privileged ideologies in politics, religion, and social interchange. Discusses examples chosen from different eras and communities, including …
AP/HUMA 4906 3.00 Propaganda and Culture
Investigates the employment of the created environment and other expressions of culture for propagandistic purposes, meant to advance privileged ideologies in politics, religion, and social interchange. Discusses examples chosen from different eras and communities, including …
AP/HUMA 4907 3.00 Modernism Across the Arts
Examines literary, musical, and visual arts of the modernist period to explore why there is an inter and multidisciplinary impetus during the period and how such crossovers between and among different cultural forms contributes to …
AP/HUMA 4908 6.00 Digital Humanities Sandbox: Exploring the Possibilities
The Digital Humanities aims to conceive imagine, experiment, and create a substantive humanities-related digital project that critically interrogates a research topic of personal interest focused on humans and human communities. In the process, students strengthen …