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 style; nature and other utopias.
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.
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, the course explores the tension between radical aesthetics and radical politics, investigating cultural praxis as it is moved by the […]
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 performativity and attend live performance events through which they interpret their developing knowledge of the field.
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 and contemporary associations between human beings, cultural production, and reproduction in musical performances.
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 Lawrence, August Wilson, Adrienne Kennedy.
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 African Diasporic discourse.
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 Innis, Jacques Ellul, Lewis Mumford.
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 cultural expressions.
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 cultural expressions.