This course analyzes childhood as represented and experienced in Canadian culture through time, across regions, and among cultural groups. There are two primary aspects to the course: first, an exploration of the range of representations of children and childhood in Canadian expressive culture through different moments of history, throughout different regions, and among different cultural […]
This online course explores the role of documentary films in understanding the culture of childhood and youth in a global context. Students will engage in an in-depth examination of documentary films (both local and international) from multicultural contexts around the world. Through reading, watching, and analysis, students in this course will have the opportunity to […]
This course seeks to examine the dynamics of parent/child relationships. Theoretical models and illustrative data from sociology and related disciplines of anthropology and psychology are utilized to provide a comprehensive understanding of this process. The focus of the course will be upon understanding how research into parent-child relations has evolved from unidirectional to bi-directional resulting in […]
This course explores major themes in the formation of Canadian society through a critical examination of issues and debates aired in recent historical scholarship. Three periods pre-industrial, industrial and post-Second World War provide a temporal framework for analyzing recurrent issues.
Some major modern theories of child development are compared and their corresponding data and methodologies are analyzed.
Some major modern theories of child development are compared and their corresponding data and methodologies are analyzed.
This course focuses on child-centered research approaches to research design, knowledge production (gathering and analyzing data), and disseminating knowledge. The course urges students to acknowledge the value commitments that inform research methods and the research process. Students will learn how research methods inform research outcomes. Some of the key questions that will be addressed in […]
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. Beginning with entrepreneurial printer and children’s bookseller John Newbery’s new methods of marketing to child readers and the “invention” of childhood as a post-Enlightenment project, this course will discuss the […]
This course examines issues of inequality and equity in education from a critical human rights perspective. It engages with literature linking educational rights to human rights, adopting a comparative perspective throughout. Efforts to achieve equity in education are examined.
This course critically examines international children’s rights frameworks and whether and how they translate into practice. We will explore competing conceptualizations of childhood and of Western human rights discourses and consider children’s roles as agents of social change. We will also apply these rights frameworks to analyze contemporary issues impacting children in local and global […]