All Courses List

Students explore the ways in which performers, artists and writers have imagined decolonizing themselves, their societies and environments across a range of geographic, historical and contemporary sites. Students develop the skills and knowledges to name and debate key concepts emerging from the art and literature of environmental decolonization. They research and analyze examples of visual art, literature and performance and evaluate the contradictory processes behind their production, reception, distribution and exchange in the context of global structures and systems. Drawing on these examples and working with experiential processes students develop, present and evaluate their own decolonial arts projects.

This course acquaints students with literature and advocacy that celebrates 'intersections' between women/gender and nature. Attention is given to various approaches, and biological, social, cultural and spiritual perceptions, through course activities involving experience, reflection, creative representation, reading, discussion, and writing.

How can drawing, painting, photography and filmmaking be used as strategies to help us explore and address challenges? Students will be introduced to arts-based research methods, theories, skills, ethics and practice. Through case studies and hands-on learning, several popular arts-based participatory visual research methods will be explored in relation to how they are being mobilized to tackle intractable social and environmental challenges.

The course focuses on the development of geographic thought and its applications to contemporary social and environmental issues. After an introduction to the historical development of geographic enquiry, the course traces the intellectual history of Western geographic thought in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Particular emphasis is placed on the paradigm shift to 'critical geographies' and its current relevance.

An introduction to the application of GIS to geographical/environmental problems. A broad conceptual overview of GIS approaches and their strengths and limitations. Students gain hands-on experience in the use of raster-based GIS technology with particular reference to resource management and planning topics. Prerequisite: AP/GEOG 2420 3.00 or SC/GEOG 2420 3.00. Course credit exclusions: AP/GEOG 3180 3.00 (prior to Fall 2013), SC/GEOG 3180 3.00 (prior to Fall 2013), ES/ENVS 3520 3.00.

This course deals with conceptual debates on 'Third World' development. It also explores issues of development including economic growth and poverty, resource use, agrarian change, industrial transformation, service-sector development, rural urban inequality, gender relations, neoliberalism and imperialism, and prospects for democracy and macro-level structural social change in the less developed world.Prerequisites: 54 credits successfully completed or written permission of the Instructor.Course credit exclusions: AP/GEOG 4370 3.00.

A critical examination of the links between urban social problems and state policies. The course studies how policy makers, planners and geographers understand and deal with social problems in the contemporary city and evaluates selected planning policies.

This course considers the construction, reproduction, and representation of gender and sexual identities as they intersect with other social differences in space. It introduces students to feminist and queer theorists and geographical scholarship on cis-gender, transgender, and sexualities in order to understand how power dynamics and norms cross-cut and shape social relations through space and across spatial scales.

This course examines the theory and practice of wildlife management in the context of biological conservation. Topics to be covered include adaptive management, habitat analysis, human-wildlife conflict, population modelling, harvest management, conservation of endangered species, and Indigenous co-management. Prerequisite: ES/ENVS 1500 6.00 or EU/ENVS 1500 3.0 or SC/BIOL 1001 3.00

This course reviews the benefits to humans from the ecosystem services provided by natural resources and ecosystem processes. The resiliency of functioning ecosystems and healthy socio-ecological relationships will be discussed. Current theories of resource management, methods, information and decision-making are reviewed critically. Ethical, cultural, social and economic perspectives on natural resource and ecosystem management are explored through case studies.

This course examines the conservation of wildlife and ecosystems at various scales. It reviews the basic principles of ecology, assessment of risk, geographic scale, value and environmental management. It emphasizes applied and theoretical approaches to conservation planning. Emphasis will be placed on comparative analyses of different geopolitical regions and socioeconomic backgrounds. Focus will be on biodiversity and ecosystems defined and managed as a spatial entity. Global conservation planning challenges might be included.

Introduction to the methods in which remote sensing data are collected, processed and analyzed. An emphasis is placed on environmental applications. The synergy between the technologies of remote sensing and geographic information systems (GIS) is also stressed.

Prerequisites: AP/GEOG 2420 3.00 or SC/GEOG 2420 3.00 or ES/ENVS 2010 6.00 and one 2000-level environmental studies theme foundation course; or written permission of the Instructor. Course credit exclusions: ES/ENVS 3521 3.00 (prior to Fall 2013). Previously offered as: AP/GEOG 3440 3.00, SC/GEOG 3440 3.00.

An analysis of the geography of plants and animals emphasizing processes that operate at the population level, the origin and diversity of plants and animals, geographic patterns of diversity, and dynamics of species populations from local to continental scales. Prerequisite: AP/GEOG 2500 3.00 or SC/GEOG 2500 3.00 or SC/BIOL 2050 4.00 or SC/BIOL 2050 3.00