A book is both a physical object and an immaterial verbal entity. This course studies the dual nature of the book as artifact and text, the ways this duality is embodied in print, digital and other media, and how it engages the mind and the hands of the reader to create meaning.
A book is both a physical object and an immaterial verbal entity. This course studies the dual nature of the book as artifact and text, the ways this duality is embodied in print, digital and other media, and how it engages the mind and the hands of the reader to create meaning.
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 literature (novels, poetry, plays) as well as other forms of cultural production such as film, musics, and visual art. Through […]
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 reading and textual meaning are a central concern. Prerequisites: 78 credits and permission of the coordinator of Humanities.
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 American religions, and the intersections of religion with war, nationalism, immigration, race, science, expansion, urbanization, gender, counterculture, and new media.
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 African-derived religious practices that crossed the Atlantic during the slave trade and continue into present societies and cultural productions. Students […]
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 their project management and digital literacy skills. Previous experience with digital media is not required or expected but genuine curiosity […]
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 modern and contemporary applications.
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 on pre-modern Shii Quranic exegesis, theology, jurisprudence, mysticism, ritual practices, pilgrimage sites, and religious architecture, and on attitudes to political […]
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 dominant characteristic that shapes its narrative, such as the breakdown of law and order, mass death, the othering of outsiders, […]