Degree Programs

Introductory Geo-Information Science.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

An introduction to Geographic Information Systems. The systematic management of spatial data. The use and construction of maps. The use of microcomputers and software for mapping and statistical work. Air photo and topographic map analyses.

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Environment and Health.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

This course introduced physical and social environments as factors in human health, with emphasis on the physical properties of the atmospheric environment as they interact with diverse human populations in urban settings.

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Health Geography.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Discussion of the research questions and methods of health geography. Particular emphasis on health inequalities at multiple geographic scales and the theoretical links between characteristics of places and the health of people.

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Global Health and Environmental Change.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Major themes and contemporary case studies in global health and environmental change. Focus on understanding global trends in emerging infectious disease from social, biophysical, and geographical perspectives, and critically assessing the health implications of environmental change in different international contexts.

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The Global Environment.

Terms offered: Fall 2025, Winter 2026

A systems approach to study the different components of the environment involved in global climate change: the atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere. The interactions among these components. Their role in global climate change. The human dimension to global change.

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Society, Environment and Sustainability.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

This course deals with how scientific-technological, socio-economic, political-institutional and behavioural factors mediate society-environment interactions. Issues discussed include population and resources; consumption, impacts and institutions; integrating environmental values in societal decision-making; and the challenges associated with, and strategies for, promoting sustainability. Case studies in various sectors and contexts are used.

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Environmental Systems.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

An introduction to system-level interactions among climate, hydrology, soils and vegetation at the scale of drainage basins, including the study of the global geographical variability in these land-surface systems. The knowledge acquired is used to study the impact on the environment of various human activities such as deforestation and urbanisation.

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Global Places and Peoples.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Introduction to key themes in human geography. Maps and the making, interpretation and contestation of landscapes, 'place', and territory. Investigation of globalization and the spatial organization of human geo-politics, and urban and rural environments.

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Cities in the Modern World.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

An introduction to urban geography. Uses a spatial/geographic perspective to understand cities and their social and cultural processes. Addresses two major areas. The development and social dynamics in North American and European cities. The urban transformations in Asian, African, and Latin American societies that were recently predominantly rural and agrarian.

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Advanced Topics in Health Geography.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

A critical review of current themes and trends in health geography, with emphasis on geographical perspectives in public health research. Topics include the social and environmental determinants of chronic and infectious disease, health and health-related behaviours. Seminars focus on critical appraisal of conceptual and methodological approaches in health geography research.

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Population Health and Epidemiology.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

This course presents concepts and methods of epidemiology at the introductory level. The use of epidemiologic methods for population and public health research and practice will be illustrated. A review of selected population health questions such as the HIV/AIDS epidemic, the cardiovascular disease epidemic, cigarette smoking, or screening for disease will be presented.

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Fundamentals of Global Health.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

This exciting and interactive course aims to give students the opportunity to broaden their understanding and knowledge of global health issues, including global burden of diseases, determinants of health, transition in health and drivers of such transition, challenges in healthcare delivery in resource-limited settings, and the variety of agencies and actors engaged in addressing global health challenges. The course consists of lectures, case studies, debates, discussions and small group work.

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Health Care Systems in Comparative Perspective.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Comparative perspective to illustrate processes involved in the development and evolution of health care systems around the world. Countries examined will represent different welfare state regimes, health care system typologies, levels of development and wealth.

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Global Environmental Health and Burden of Disease.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

This course presents the grand challenges in global health from environmental and occupational risks along with the multi-disciplinary methods used to identify, control, and prevent them. It will introduce students to knowledge and skills in core disciplines of environmental health and approaches to environmental risk recognition, control and prevention in a global context.

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Health and Illness.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Health and illness as social rather than purely bio-medical phenomena. Topics include: studies of ill persons, health care occupations and organizations; poverty and health; inequalities in access to and use of health services; recent policies, ideologies, and problems in reform of health services organization.

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Health and Development.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Main concepts and controversies linking health to broader social and economic conditions in low income countries. Topics include the demographic and epidemiological transitions, the health and wealth conundrum, the social determinants of health, health as an economic development strategy, and the impact of the AIDS pandemic.

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Health Care Systems in Comparative Perspective.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Comparative perspective to illustrate processes involved in the development and evolution of health care systems around the world. Countries examined will represent different welfare state regimes, health care system typologies, levels of development and wealth.

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Policy Issues in Quebec and Indigenous Education.

Terms offered: Summer 2025, Fall 2025

The organization of Quebec education, including Indigenous education, from historical, political, social, cultural and legal perspectives. The implications and contributions of policy decisions to schools, students, and families.

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Personality and Social Development.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Personality, social behavior, and moral development from nursery school up to, but not including, adolescence. Emphasis on aspects of personality and social development that are related to the process of schooling.

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Creating and Using Media for Learning.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Creating and using media for learning. The course reviews audio-visual education (text, visuals, audio, video, and augmented reality), media and information literacy for K-11, higher education, and society, and how data are represented and used in education and research in different disciplines. The rationale and underlying principles for the design, production and effective use of media are emphasized.

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Beginners French 1.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

A comprehensive introduction to basic vocabulary, grammatical structures and speech patterns of written and oral French for students in any degree program having no previous knowledge of French. Learning to communicate at a functional level in a French-speaking environment. Short essays, cultural readings, mandatory lab practice.

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Beginners French 2.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

A comprehensive introduction to basic vocabulary, grammatical structures and speech patterns of written and oral French for students in any degree program having no previous knowledge of French. Learning to communicate at a functional level in a French-speaking environment. Short essays, cultural readings, mandatory lab practice.

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Elementary French 01.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

This two-term course uses a task-based approach to provide students with authentic materials related to Canadian culture and prepares them for real life communication. Therefore, class time will be mostly dedicated to the completion of communicative tasks which often rely on the use of technology (mobile apps, blogs and other online tools). This course tackles different topics that students can relate to in their personal, social and academic life, and provides a review and further training in elementary language structures to develop their communication skills and digital literacy in French.

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Elementary French 01.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

See FRSL 207D1 for course description.

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Oral and Written French 1.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Language lab attendance required. Grammar review, comprehension, vocabulary development, selected readings and group discussions.

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Oral and Written French 1.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

See FRSL 211D1 for course description.

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Introduction to Indigenous Studies.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

The focus is on Indigenous experience in Canada, but encourages comparative approaches. Introduction to the social, political, economic and cultural dimensions of Indigenous life in Canada.

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Introduction to International Development.

Terms offered: Fall 2025, Winter 2026

An interdisciplinary introduction to the field of International Development Studies focusing on the theory and practice of development. It examines various approaches to international development, including past and present relationships between developed and underdeveloped societies, and pays particular attention to power and resource distribution globally and within nations.

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Introduction to the Study of Religions.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

This course is an introduction to classic and contemporary approaches to the academic study of religions. This includes perspectives from philosophy, theology, anthropology, sociology, psychology, phenomenology, and feminism. Students are also exposed to applications of these perspectives from visiting scholars who treat some aspect of a religious tradition in light of current-day interests and events. The primary objective is to introduce students to the principal theories and methods that have shaped our understanding of religion, its various meanings as well as its roles and functions in society.

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Sociological Perspectives.

Terms offered: Summer 2025, Fall 2025, Winter 2026

Major theoretical perspectives and research methods in sociology. The linkages of theory and method in various substantive areas including: the family, community and urban life, religion, ethnicity, occupations and stratification, education, and social change.

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Research Essay and Rhetoric.

Terms offered: Fall 2025, Winter 2026

Academic research-based writing across the disciplines. Article summary, critical analysis, rhetorical strategies, citation and paraphrase of academic sources, and editing for cohesion and clarity.

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Effective Communication.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Effective writing, speaking, and non-verbal communication skills for a variety of academic and professional situations. Feedback approaches, influential rhetoric, and how to make effective requests to build productive teams through communication. Communication norms in multiple contexts and cultures, identification and correction of common errors in grammar, mechanics and usage.

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Leadership and Group Skills.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Management, effective team leadership, group dynamics, and communications skills crucial for leaders. Discussion of mainstream, intercultural, Indigenous, international, and institutional practices and leadership skills.

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Indigenous Education.

Terms offered: Fall 2025, Winter 2026

An exploration of Indigenous knowledge and pedagogy, primarily in Canada but also world-wide. Consideration of the diverse social, cultural, linguistic, political, and pedagogical histories of Indigenous communities. Examines how a teacher's professional identity and practice can be influenced by an understanding of Indigenous knowledge and worldviews.

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Global Education and Social Justice.

Terms offered: Fall 2025, Winter 2026

A cross-curricular, interdisciplinary approach to teaching/creating learning experiences for students. It will foster critical thinking and nurture lifelong global understanding, active engagement and participation in relation to questions of social, economic, and environmental justice, by infusing these issues in the classroom.

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Philosophical Foundations.

Terms offered: Fall 2025, Winter 2026

Ideas essential for the development of a coherent educational theory and sound professional practice. Reflections on: the nature of the person, of reality, of knowledge, and of value; the aims of education, the nature of the school and the curriculum, the roles and responsibilities of professional educators.

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Contemporary Issues in Education.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

An introduction to contemporary issues in education in local, national and international contexts, including a critical perspective on educational issues by drawing on a variety of analytical frameworks.

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Society and Change.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Factors influencing patterns of stability and change in major social institutions and the implications for formal and non-formal education.

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Media, Learning, and Digital Cultures

Terms offered: Winter 2026

The broad practice of critical media literacy and the skills needed to engage media critically (both encoding and decoding). Foundational concepts that support the inclusion of digital media literacies in learning environments, including constructivism, constructionism, and metacognition. Exploration of the concept of learning productions, project-based learning, and accessibility in media. Answers questions about what the internet looks like, where it is located, and what happens when we go online.

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Professional and Research Seminar.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Professional seminar for emerging leaders in education. Topics include professional development, professional ethics, reflective practices, career resilience, and research methods in the field of education.

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Program Design and Evaluation.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Development and design of programs and curricula; exploration of current models of assessment and evaluation as applied to the educational context.

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Internship: Education in Global Contexts.

Terms offered: Summer 2025

Internship with an approved host institution or organization, with a focus on education in global contexts.

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21st Century Learning.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

21st Century Learning that shifts education away from learning as a cognitive/rational endeavour focused on reproduction of content knowledge, and toward learning as a life-long process. Contemporary learning in seven areas: 1) make learning and learner engagement central; 2) learning is social and often collaborative; 3) be attuned to learners’ motivations and emotions; 4) be sensitive to individual differences including prior knowledge; 5) be demanding for each learner but without excessive overload; 6) recognize assessment as critical, but with strong emphasis on formative feedback; 7) promote horizontal connectedness across activities and subjects, in and out of school.

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Critical Research Inquiry.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Exploration of critical research inquiry from a theoretical and practical perspective based on internship experience.

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Capstone Research Project.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Completion of the final written capstone research project and presentation.

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Educational Psychology.

Terms offered: Summer 2025, Fall 2025, Winter 2026

Selected theories, models, and concepts relevant to planning and reflecting upon educational practice and improvement. Overview of development, learning, thinking, motivation, individual difference, etc. In relation to applications in classroom teaching and learning, the complementary role of counsellors and psychologists, educational computing and technology. The Youth Protection Act.

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Special Topics.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Selected topics in education in global contexts.

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Understanding Teacher Leadership.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Promotes understanding of education standards and self as a leader. Existing literature and research base for teacher leadership. Explores the leadership behaviours and mindsets that positively impact learning within a school environment. Focuses on building learning communities. Teacher leadership skills, effective instructional strategies, and the development of reflective practitioners within a collaborative culture. Emphasis is placed on concepts and procedures for creating and sustaining instructional teams, designed to support systemic inquiry and school improvement.

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Cultivating Process of Social Transformation.

Terms offered: Summer 2025

Investigates, critically analyzes, and compares different efforts to cultivate social change: activism and social movements; collaboratives and collective impact processes; organizational and workplace change initiatives; policy and institutional change processes; and knowledge-to-action strategies.

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Affect, Education, and Social Change.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Social and cultural theory in education research on the role of moving, human bodies in learning and literacy; critiquing politics of emotion that overvalue the role of “reason” in schooling; and investigating the “felt” in human life that creates atmospheres of learning and social change and affects our capacities for agency and belonging across cultures. Introduction to affect theory to conceptualize and analyze connections to learning and education through movements in educational studies. A central focus is affect as it relates to mobilizing human bodies toward collective and transformative social action and learning across local and global scales.

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Historical Knowledge: Tool for Agents of Change.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Workings of historical consciousness in educational practitioners’ sense of knowing and doing as professionals. Historical consciousness and accounting for how historical knowledge impacts worldviews and consequent intentions for bringing about change in the world. Explores key authors who have defined historical consciousness, and the impact of their ideas on teaching and conducting research in the social sciences, with a particular focus on education.

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Human Rights and Ethics in Practice.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Explores contemporary issues in human rights from an educational perspective, focusing on implications for praxis; explores ethical notions, including rights and responsiblities, as applied to contemporary challenges.

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Integrating Arts into STEM.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Investigates connections between the arts and STEM disciplines (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics). Includes historical perspectives, and emphasis on ways of thinking that cut across the arts and STEM, such as design-based thinking.

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Special Topics.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Selected topics in education in global contexts.

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Physical Health and Wellbeing in Education.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Explores various issues related to physical health and wellbeing in educational contexts. Addresses the physiological needs of children and youth, as well as issues and challenges related to mental health and wellbeing. The readings and specific topics addressed are multidisciplinary, and assignments explore traditional as well as alternative learning approaches and environments in the 21st century.

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Human Knowledge Claims and Education.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Introduction to the evolving attitudes of the sciences and social sciences to knowledge, and how such emerging claims impact education in terms of teaching and research. Specific focus on the different methods that can be employed for understanding both the physical and human world, with particular attention on the consequences of such approaches on knowing and acting in social reality. Opportunity to develop research and teaching designs for today’s globalized world.

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Teaching English as a Second Language in the Community.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Introduction to pedagogical, program and policy contexts of teaching ESL outside the formal K - 11 school setting, including teaching children, adolescents and adults, in the private and community sectors in Canada and abroad.

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Knowledge through the Arts.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Exploration of attributes of a critical-creative educational culture, individual, and community, alongside the interrelationships between epistemology, communication technology/internet/social media, the arts, global citizenship and formal/informal communities.

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Learning in Out-of-School Contexts.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Investigates children's learning in non-academic contexts, for example museums, families, sports. Includes study of the funds of knowledge that students bring from home that can be leveraged in school settings. Explores learning in culturally specific contexts, focusing on the ways in which disciplinary thinking is culturally situated.

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Special Topics.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Selected topics in education in global contexts.

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Eco-Justice and Sustainability in Education.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Considers the importance of the tenets of education for sustainable development through practical and theoretical means. Components will take place off-site (i.e., at an outdoor centre or at an alternative setting); exploration of how to integrate holistically cultural, economic and financial components for sustainable living and being. The role of education in eco-justice and sustainability will be the focus.

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Race, Class, and Power in Education in Global Contexts.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Explores ways in which race, class, and power can impact educational outcomes, with specific emphasis on the role of these in the systemic reproduction of educational and societal inequalities.

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Gendered Identities, Social Learning.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Explores the impact of gender identity on teaching and learning, in both formal and non-formal learning contexts.

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Instruction in Inclusive Schools.

Terms offered: Summer 2025, Fall 2025

Developing, planning, implementing and evaluating effective learning programs for diverse learners, and consideration of their more general applicability. Adapting curriculum and instruction for learners with varying abilities, learning styles, and needs. Collaboration with students, families, and other educators (or stakeholders) in the instructional process. Application of adaptations at the classroom and school level for all students in inclusive schools.

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Foundations and Issues in Second Language Education.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Introduction of second language (L2) education; an overview of contributing disciplines (e.g., linguistics, psychology, sociology and education). A history of theory and various methodological approaches to L2 teaching and learning is used to promote an understanding of current theory and practice.

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Global Higher Education

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Examination of higher education systems around the world, investigating how key recurring and topical issues such as governance, funding, and access vary across global contexts. Educational equity and inequalities within and between higher education systems and introduction to alternative ways of thinking about post-school learning.

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Investigating Children's Reasoning.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Young children's thinking, how to assess children's thinking through interviews, and how to interpret and analyze children's work. Typical conceptions children have about ideas in math, science, and other disciplines.

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Special Topics.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Selected topics in education in global contexts.

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Global Perspectives of Early Childhood Education.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Explores international perspectives of early childhood care and educational thinking, emanating from the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child. Value-principles relating to early childhood education (i.e., human rights, democracy, professionalism, culture, ethical responsibilities and the value of play), with investigations into educational models and research studies on young children from communities around the world. How schools for young children reflect and affect philosophies of early learning, social patterns and beliefs. Issues, policies and objectives reflecting global perspectives of the image of the whole child will be analyzed with respect to theories of universal early childhood education.

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Critical Contexts of Youth Development and Wellbeing.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Critically examines the social, economic, institutional and political contexts shaping diverse developmental trajectories among children and youth.

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Calculus 1 with Precalculus.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Review of trigonometry and other Precalculus topics. Limits, continuity, derivative. Differentiation of elementary functions. Antidifferentiation. Applications.

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Calculus 1.

Terms offered: Summer 2025, Fall 2025, Winter 2026

Review of functions and graphs. Limits, continuity, derivative. Differentiation of elementary functions. Antidifferentiation. Applications.

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General Biology.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

An introduction to core themes in biological sciences, including cell structure and function, cell replication, gene expression, genetic inheritance, biodiversity, evolution, and ecological interactions.

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Principles: Organismal Biology.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

An introduction to the phylogeny, structure, function and adaptation of unicellular organisms, plants and animals in the biosphere.

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The Global Environment.

Terms offered: Fall 2025, Winter 2026

A systems approach to study the different components of the environment involved in global climate change: the atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere. The interactions among these components. Their role in global climate change. The human dimension to global change.

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Society, Environment and Sustainability.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

This course deals with how scientific-technological, socio-economic, political-institutional and behavioural factors mediate society-environment interactions. Issues discussed include population and resources; consumption, impacts and institutions; integrating environmental values in societal decision-making; and the challenges associated with, and strategies for, promoting sustainability. Case studies in various sectors and contexts are used.

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The Evolving Earth.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Formation of the Earth and the evolution of life. How geological and biological change are the consequence of history, chance, and necessity acting over different scales of space and time. General principles governing the formation of modern landscapes and biotas. Effects of human activities on natural systems.

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Knowledge, Ethics and Environment.

Terms offered: Fall 2025, Winter 2026

Introduction to cultural perspectives on the environment: the influence of culture and cognition on perceptions of the natural world; conflicts in orders of knowledge (models, taxonomies, paradigms, theories, cosmologies), ethics (moral values, frameworks, dilemmas), and law (formal and customary, rights and obligations) regarding political dimensions of critical environments, resource use, and technologies.

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Environmental Research Design.

Terms offered: Fall 2025, Winter 2026

Techniques used in design and completion of environmental research projects. Problem definition, data sources and use of appropriate strategies and methodologies. Principles underlying research design are emphasized, including critical thinking, recognizing causal relationships, ideologies and bias in research, and when and where to seek expertise.

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Environmental Thought.

Terms offered: Fall 2025, Winter 2026

Students work in interdisciplinary seminar groups on challenging philosophical, ethical, scientific and practical issues. They will explore cutting-edge ideas and grapple with the reconciliation of environmental imperatives and social, political and economic pragmatics. Activities include meeting practitioners, attending guest lectures, following directed readings, and organizing, leading and participating in seminars.

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Barbados Interdisciplinary Project.

Terms offered: Summer 2025

The planning of projects and research activities related to tropical food, nutrition, or energy at the local, regional, or national scale in Barbados. Projects and activities designed in consultation with university instructors, government, NGO, or private partners, and prepared by teams of 2-3 students working cooperatively with these mentors.

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Environmental Research.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Students work in an interdisciplinary team on a real-world research project involving problem definition, methodology development, social, ethical and environmental impact assessment, execution of the study, and dissemination of results to the research community and to the people affected. Teams begin defining their projects during the preceding summer.

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Research in Panama.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Research projects will be developed by instructors in consultation with Panamanian universities, government agencies and non-governmental organizations. Project groups will consist of four to six students working with a Panamanian institution. Topics will be relevant to Panama: e.g., protection of the Canal watershed, economical alternatives to deforestation, etc.

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Barbados Research Project.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

A research project that is supervised by McGill academic staff and is conducted in collaboration with local partners. The project topic must relate to the field of sustainability relating to the Caribbean or Barbados specifically.

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Environment and Health.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

This course introduced physical and social environments as factors in human health, with emphasis on the physical properties of the atmospheric environment as they interact with diverse human populations in urban settings.

See course page for more information

Health Geography.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Discussion of the research questions and methods of health geography. Particular emphasis on health inequalities at multiple geographic scales and the theoretical links between characteristics of places and the health of people.

See course page for more information

Environment and Health.

Terms offered: Fall 2025, Winter 2026

Introduction to physical and social environments as factors contributing to the production of human health, with emphasis on the physical properties of the atmospheric environment as they interact with diverse human populations in urban settings.

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Global Health and Environmental Change.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Major themes and contemporary case studies in global health and environmental change. Focus on understanding global trends in emerging infectious disease from social, biophysical, and geographical perspectives, and critically assessing the health implications of environmental change in different international contexts.

See course page for more information

Health and Environment in Africa.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Exploration of key diseases of development, as well as patterns and determinants of health and disease in East Africa. Topics will focus on population and environmental health.

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Advanced Topics in Health Geography.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

A critical review of current themes and trends in health geography, with emphasis on geographical perspectives in public health research. Topics include the social and environmental determinants of chronic and infectious disease, health and health-related behaviours. Seminars focus on critical appraisal of conceptual and methodological approaches in health geography research.

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Environment and Infection.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Infectious pathogens of humans and animals and their impact on the global environment are considered. The central tenet is that infectious pathogens are environmental risk factors. The course considers their impact on the human condition and juxtaposes the impact of control and treatment measures and environmental change.

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Global Environmental Health and Burden of Disease.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

This course presents the grand challenges in global health from environmental and occupational risks along with the multi-disciplinary methods used to identify, control, and prevent them. It will introduce students to knowledge and skills in core disciplines of environmental health and approaches to environmental risk recognition, control and prevention in a global context.

See course page for more information

Principles of Microeconomics.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

The field of economics as it relates to the activities of individual consumers, firms and organizations. Emphasis is on the application of economic principles and concepts to everyday decision making and to the analysis of current economic issues.

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Microeconomic Analysis and Applications.

Terms offered: Summer 2025, Fall 2025, Winter 2026

A university-level introduction to demand and supply, consumer behaviour, production theory, market structures and income distribution theory.

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Economics of the Environment.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

A study of the application of economic theory to questions of environmental policy. Particular attention will be given to the measurement and regulation of pollution, congestion and waste and other environmental aspects of specific economies.

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Nutrition and Wellness.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

This course will examine the role of carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, minerals and water in a balanced diet. Students will be introduced to the affects of nutrition on exercise, sport performance and wellness. The validity of claims concerning nutrient supplements will be studied.

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Nutrition and Health.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Provides students who have a basic biology/chemistry background with the fundamental information on how macronutrients, vitamins and minerals are metabolized in the body, followed by application to evaluate current issues of maximizing health and disease prevention at different stages of the lifecycle.

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Statistical Methods 1.

Terms offered: Fall 2025, Winter 2026

Measures of central tendency and dispersion; binomial and Poisson distributions; normal, chi-square, Student's t and Fisher-Snedecor F distributions; estimation and hypothesis testing; simple linear regression and correlation; analysis of variance for simple experimental designs.

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Statistics and Spatial Analysis.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Exploratory data analysis, univariate descriptive and inferential statistics, non-parametric statistics, correlation and simple regression. Problems associated with analysing spatial data such as the 'modifiable areal unit problem' and spatial autocorrelation. Statistics measuring spatial pattern in point, line and polygon data.

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Principles of Statistics 1.

Terms offered: Summer 2025, Fall 2025, Winter 2026

Examples of statistical data and the use of graphical means to summarize the data. Basic distributions arising in the natural and behavioural sciences. The logical meaning of a test of significance and a confidence interval. Tests of significance and confidence intervals in the one and two sample setting (means, variances and proportions).

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Statistics in Social Research.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

This is an introductory course in descriptive and inferential statistics. The course is designed to help students develop a critical attitude toward statistical argument. It serves as a background for further statistics courses, helping to provide the intuition which can sometimes be lost amid the formulas.

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Medicine and Health in Modern Society.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Socio-medical problems and ways in which sociological analysis and research are being used to understand and deal with them. Canadian and Québec problems include: poverty and health; mental illness; aging; death and dying; professionalism; health service organization.

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Population and Society.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Introduction to the reciprocal linkages in the social world between population size, structure and dynamics on the one hand, social structure, action and change on the other. An examination of population processes and their relation to the social world.

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Health and Illness.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Health and illness as social rather than purely bio-medical phenomena. Topics include: studies of ill persons, health care occupations and organizations; poverty and health; inequalities in access to and use of health services; recent policies, ideologies, and problems in reform of health services organization.

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Population and Environment.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Main topics and controversies linking population processes and the environment. Topics include how population processes influence the environment, population responses to changing environments, policies related to these effects, variation across and within developed and developing countries.

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Medicine and Society.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

The sociology of health and illness. Reading in areas of interest, such as: the sociology of illness, health services occupations, organizational settings of health care, the politics of change in national health service systems, and contemporary ethical issues in medical care and research.

See course page for more information

Water Resources in Barbados.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Physical environment challenges, centered on water, being faced by an island nation. Guest speakers, field study tours and laboratory tests. Private, government and NGO institutional context of conservation strategies, and water quantity and quality analyses for water management specific to Barbados.

See course page for more information

Hydrology and Water Resources.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Introduction to water resources and hydrologic cycle. Precipitation and hydrologic frequency analysis. Soil water processes, infiltration theory and modeling. Evapotranspiration estimation methods and crop water requirements. Surface runoff estimation as a function of land use modifications. Estimation of peak runoff rates. Unit hydrograph. Design of open channels and vegetated waterways.

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Climatic Environments.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

The earth-atmosphere system, radiation and energy balances. Surface-atmosphere exchange of energy, mass and momentum and related atmospheric processes on a local and regional scale. Introduction to measurement theory and practice in micrometeorology.

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Environmental Hydrology.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Quantitative, experimental study of the principles governing the movement of water at or near the Earth's surface and how the research relates to the chemistry and biology of ecosystems.

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Tropical Energy and Food.

Terms offered: Summer 2025

Tropical biofuel crops, conversion processes and final products, particularly energy and greenhouse gas balances and bionutraceuticals. Topics include effects of process extraction during refining on biofuel economics, the food versus fuel debate and impact of biofuels and bioproducts on tropical agricultural economics.

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Principles of Ecological Agriculture.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Focus on low-input, sustainable, and organic agriculture: the farm as an ecosystem; complex system theory; practical examples of soil management, pest control, integrated crop and livestock production, and marketing systems.

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Global Issues on Development, Food and Agriculture.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

International development and world food security and challenges in developing countries. Soil and water management, climate change, demographic issues, plant and animal resources conservation, bio-products and biofuels, economic and environmental issues specially in tropical and sub-tropical regions. Globalization, sustainable development, technology transfer and human resources needs for rural development.

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Sustained Tropical Agriculture.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Contrast theory and practice in defining agricultural environmental "challenges" in the Neotropics. Indigenous and appropriate technological means of mitigation. Soil management and erosion, water scarcity, water over-abundance, and water quality. Explore agro-ecosystem protection via field trips and project designs. Institutional context of conservation strategies, NGO links, and public participation.

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Global Food Security.

Terms offered: Fall 2025, Winter 2026

Food insecurity is one of the most critical issues humanity has faced in history. The magnitude of this phenomenon, reflected in its worldwide presence and in the number of individuals affected, makes it an imperative component of all nations' and of all internaltional agencies' agendas. Its complexity of determinants and its numerous consequences require the involvement of multipe disciplines and sectors. McGill undergraduate students as future professionals tackling global issues require an integrated and multidisciplinary training on food security.

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Resource Economics.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

The role of resources in the environment, use of resources, and management of economic resources within the firm or organization. Problem-solving, case studies involving private and public decision-making in organizations are utilized.

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Health Economics.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

The organization and performance of Canada's health care system are examined from an economist's perspective. The system is described and its special features analyzed. Much attention is given to the role of government in the system and to financing arrangements for hospital and medical services. Current financial problems are discussed.

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Biomedical Ethics.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

An investigation of ethical issues as they arise in the practice of medicine (informed consent, e.g.) or in the application of medical technology (in vitro fertilization, euthanasia, e.g.)

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Religious Ethics and the Environment.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Environmental potential of various religious traditions and secular perspectives, including animal rights, ecofeminism, and deep ecology.

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Organisms 1.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

The biology of plants and plant-based systems in managed and natural terrestrial environments. The interactions between autotrophs and soil organisms and selected groups of animals with close ecological and evolutionary connections with plants (e.g., herbivores and pollinators) will be explored in lecture and laboratory.

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Organisms 2.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Introduction to the biology of heterotrophs, focusing on animal diversity from the perspectives of phylogenetics, physiology, and ecology. Introduction to major animal taxa, comparing and contrasting these taxa, and exploration of the relationships among them.

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Molecular Biology.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

The physical and chemical properties of the cell and its components in relation to their structure and function. Topics include: protein structure, enzymes and enzyme kinetics; nucleic acid replication, transcription and translation; the genetic code, mutation, recombination, and regulation of gene expression.

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Ecological Dynamics.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Principles of population, community, and ecosystem dynamics: population growth and regulation, species interactions, dynamics of competitive interactions and of predator/prey systems; evolutionary dynamics.

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Population and Community Ecology.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Interactions between organisms and their environment; historical and current perspectives in applied and theoretical population and community ecology. Principles of population dynamics, feedback loops, and population regulation. Development and structure of communities; competition, predation and food web dynamics. Biodiversity science in theory and practice.

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Biochemistry 1.

Terms offered: Fall 2025, Winter 2026

Biochemistry of carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, nucleic acids; enzymes and coenzymes. Introduction to intermediary metabolism.

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Anthropology of Development.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Processes of developmental change, as they affect small communities in the Third World and in unindustrialized parts of developed countries. Problems of technological change, political integration, population growth, industrialization, urban growth, social services, infrastructure and economic dependency.

See course page for more information

Ecological Anthropology.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Intensive study of theories and cases in ecological anthropology. Theories are examined and tested through comparative case-study analysis. Cultural constructions of "nature" and "environment" are compared and analyzed. Systems of resource management and conflicts over the use of resources are studied in depth.

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Political Ecology.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Historical, theoretical and methodological development of political ecology as a field of inquiry on the interactions between society and environment, in the context of conflicts over natural resources.

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Montreal: Environmental History and Sustainability.

Terms offered: Summer 2025

This course will focus on the role of place and history in the cities in which we live and in our understanding of sustainability. Each year, students will work to develop a historical reconstruction of the natural environment of Montreal and of its links to the cultural landscape, building on the work of previous cohorts of students.

See course page for more information

Human Ecology in Geography.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

The course will examine research approaches in human ecology since its inception early in this century. Emphasis will be placed on the theoretical shifts that have led to its emergence as an important social science perspective. The course will also involve case studies to evaluate the methodological utility of the approach.

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Development and Livelihoods.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Geographical dimensions of rural/urban livelihoods in the face of socioeconomic and environmental change in developing regions. Emphasis on household natural resource use, survival strategies and vulnerability, decision-making, formal and informal institutions, migration, and development experience in contrasting global environments.

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Development and Underdevelopment.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Competing theories about the causes of underdevelopment in the poor countries. Topics include the impact of geography, the population explosion, culture and national character, economic and sexual inequalities, democracy and dictatorship. Western imperialism and multi-national corporations, reliance on the market, and development through local participation, cooperation, and appropriate technology.

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Health and Development.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Main concepts and controversies linking health to broader social and economic conditions in low income countries. Topics include the demographic and epidemiological transitions, the health and wealth conundrum, the social determinants of health, health as an economic development strategy, and the impact of the AIDS pandemic.

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Tropical Horticultural Ecology.

Terms offered: Summer 2025

A comprehensive survey of the major fruit, vegetable, turf, and ornamental crops grown in Barbados. Effect of cultural practices, environment, pests and pathogens, social and touristic activities, and importation of horticultural produce on local horticulture.

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Research in Ecology and Development in Africa.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Development of observation and independent inquiry skills through: 1) participation in short-term project modules in collaboration with existing researchers; 2) participation in interdisciplinary team research on topics selected to allow comparative analysis of field sites; 3) active and systematic observation, documentation, and integration of field experience in ecology and development issues.

See course page for more information

Conservation Biology.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Discussion of relevant theoretical and applied issues in conservation biology. Topics: biodiversity, population viability analysis, community dynamics, biology of rarity, extinction, habitat fragmentation, social issues.

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Neotropical Environments.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Ecology revisited in view of tropical conditions. Exploring species richness. Sampling and measuring biodiversity. Conservation status of ecosystems, communities and species. Indigenous knowledge.

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Ecosystem Ecology.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Biotic and abiotic processes that control the flows of energy, nutrients and water through ecosystems; emergent system properties; approaches to analyzing complex systems. Labs include collection and multivariate analysis of field data.

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Advanced Topics in Ecotoxicology.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Exploring the impact of environmental chemicals on biological organisms in an ecological context. Basic topics in ecotoxicology, such as source and fate, routes of exposure, bioavailability, dose-response, biomarkers, and risk assessment will be covered from both theoretical and applied perspectives. The processes by which pollutants are tested, regulated, and monitored will be critically examined.

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Research in Ecology and Development in Africa.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Development of observation and independent inquiry skills through: 1) participation in short-term project modules in collaboration with existing researchers; 2) participation in interdisciplinary team research on topics selected to allow comparative analysis of field sites; 3) active and systematic observation, documentation, and integration of field experience in ecology and development issues.

See course page for more information

Biocontrol of Pest Insects.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Modern concepts of integrated control techniques and principles of insect pest management, with emphasis on biological control (use of predators, parasites and pathogens against pest insects), population monitoring, and manipulation of environmental, behavioral and physiological factors in the pest's way of life. Physical, cultural, and genetic controls and an introduction to the use of non-toxic biochemical controls (attractants, repellents, pheromones, antimetabolites).

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Pollution and Bioremediation.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

The environmental contaminants which cause pollution; sources, amounts and transport of pollutants in water, air and soil; waste management.

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Water, Health and Sanitation.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

The origin and types of water contaminants including live organisms, infectious agents and chemicals of agricultural and industrial origins. Conventional and new technological developments to eliminate water pollutants. Comparisons of water, health and sanitation between industrialized and developing countries.

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Sustainable Land Use.

Terms offered: Summer 2025

Management, preservation, and utilization of forage crops in sustainable tropical environments; examination of their value as livestock feed in terms of nutritional composition and impact on animal performance; land use issues as it pertains to forage and animal production in insular environments.

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GIS for Natural Resource Management.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Applications of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and spatial analysis techniques to the presentation and analysis of ecological information, including sources and capture of spatial data; characterizing, transforming, displaying spatial data; and spatial analysis to solve resource management problems.

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Montreal Urban Sustainability Analysis.

Terms offered: Summer 2025

Applied and experience-based learning opportunities are employed to critically assess Montreal as a sustainable city through research, discussion, and field trips. The urban environment is considered through various specific dimensions, ranging from: waste, energy, urban agriculture, green spaces and design, or transportation.

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Introductory Geo-Information Science.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

An introduction to Geographic Information Systems. The systematic management of spatial data. The use and construction of maps. The use of microcomputers and software for mapping and statistical work. Air photo and topographic map analyses.

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Environmental Management 1.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

An ecological analysis of the physical and biotic components of natural resource systems. Emphasis on scientific, technological and institutional aspects of environmental management. Study of the use of biological resources and of the impact of individual processes.

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Environmental Management 2.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Practical application of environmental planning, analysis and management techniques with reference to the needs and problems of developing areas. Special challenges posed by cultural differences and traditional resource systems are discussed. This course involves practical field work in a developing area (Kenya or Panama).

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Wildlife Conservation.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Study of current controversial issues focusing on wildlife conservation. Topics include: animal rights, exotic species, ecotourism, urban wildlife, multi-use of national parks, harvesting of wildlife, biological controls, and endangered species.

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Medical Anthropology.

Terms offered: Summer 2025, Fall 2025

Beliefs and practices concerning sickness and healing are examined in a variety of Western and non-Western settings. Special attention is given to cultural constructions of the body and to theories of disease causation and healing efficacy. Topics include international health, medical pluralism, transcultural psychiatry, and demography.

See course page for more information

The Economics of Well-Being.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Definition, measurement, and determinants of subjective well-being and their implications for policy, growth, and the environment

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Sustainability in the Caribbean.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

The local environmental, social, historical, political and economic context of Barbados and the Caribbean. The small island developing States (SIDS), and why those nations are more vulnerable to global environmental challenges. The 17 Sustainability Development Goals of the United Nations, with a focus on the leadership role played by Barbados for the entire Caribbean region.

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Climate Change Vulnerability and Adaptation.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

A critical examination of: the theoretical and conceptual evolution of climate change vulnerability and adaptation research; methodological developments from the role of model-driven assessments to the rise of participatory case study research, and the integration of vulnerability research into adaptation planning.

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Health and the Healer in Western History.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

The natural history of health and disease and the development of the healing arts, from antiquity to the beginning of modern times. The rise of "western" medicine. Health and healing as gradually evolving aspects of society and culture.

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Globalization.

Terms offered: Summer 2025, Winter 2026

Socio-economic, political and cultural dynamics related to processes of globalization. An examination of the following: key theoretical foundations of the globalization debate; the extent and implications of economic globalization; global governance and the continuing relevance of nation-states; instances of transnational activism; the diffusion of cultural practices; patterns and management of global migration and mobility.

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Introductory Immunology: Elements of Immunity.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Basic immunology, organs and cells, elements of innate immunity, phagocytes, complement, elements of adaptive immunity, B-cells, T-cells, antigen presenting cells, MHC genes and molecules, antigen processing and presentation, cytokines and chemokines. Emphasis on anatomy and the molecular and cellular players working together as a physiological system to maintain human health.

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Intermediate Immunology.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

An intermediate-level immunology course covering the cellular and molecular basis of lymphocyte development and activation in immune responses in health and disease.

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Fundamental Virology.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

A study of the fundamental properties of viruses and their interactions with host cells. Bacteriophages, DNA- and RNA-containing animal viruses, and retroviruses are covered. Emphasis will be on phenomena occurring at the molecular level and on the regulated control of gene expression in virus-infected cells.

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Parasitology.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

A study of the biology, immunological aspects of host-parasite interactions, pathogenicity, epidemiology and molecular biological aspects of selected parasites of medical importance. Laboratory will consist of a lecture on techniques, demonstrations and practical work.

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Fundamental Parasitology.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Systematics, morphology, biology and ecology of parasitic protozoa, flatworms, roundworms and arthropods with emphasis on economically and medically important species.

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Immunology.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

An in-depth analysis of the principles of cellular and molecular immunology. The emphasis of the course is on host defence against infection and on diseases caused by abnormal immune responses.

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Population Health and Epidemiology.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

This course presents concepts and methods of epidemiology at the introductory level. The use of epidemiologic methods for population and public health research and practice will be illustrated. A review of selected population health questions such as the HIV/AIDS epidemic, the cardiovascular disease epidemic, cigarette smoking, or screening for disease will be presented.

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Research in Society and Development in Africa.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Instruction focuses on three goals: 1) existing research in selected core thematic areas, 2) participating in interdisciplinary team research, 3) developing powers of observation and independent inquiry. Students will be expected to develop research activities and interdisciplinary perspectives, and to become conversant with advances in local research in their field.

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Health Education.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

A study of the teacher's role in the total school health program at both elementary and high school levels; current issues in contemporary health education.

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Research in Society and Development in Africa.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Three intersecting components: 1) core development themes including culture change, environmental conservation, water, health, development (urban and rural), governance and conflict resolution, 2) research techniques for topics related to core themes, including ethics, risk, field methods and data analysis, 3) field documentation, scientific recording and communication.

See course page for more information

Humans in Tropical Environments.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Focus on understanding of inter-relations between humans and neotropical environments represented in Panama. Study of contemporary rural landscapes, their origins, development and change. Impacts of economic growth and inequality, social organization, and politics on natural resource use and environmental degradation. Site visits and field exercises in peasant/colonist, Amerindian, and plantation communities.

See course page for more information

Science and Medicine in Canada.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

The social and intellectual history of science and medicine in Canada, from early exploration, through the rise of learned societies, universities and professional organizations, to World War II.

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Environmental History of Latin America (Field).

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Human-nature interactions over different scales of time in Latin America (with an emphasis on neo-tropical environments) and the application of the historical perspective to contemporary environmental issues, including historiography and methodology; cultures of environmental knowledge.

See course page for more information

Migration and Immigrant Groups.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Review of the major demographic, economic and sociological theories of internal and international migration. The main emphasis will be on empirical research on migration and immigrant groups.

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Health Care Systems in Comparative Perspective.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Comparative perspective to illustrate processes involved in the development and evolution of health care systems around the world. Countries examined will represent different welfare state regimes, health care system typologies, levels of development and wealth.

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Developing Societies.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Comparison of alternative explanations of underdevelopment: the impact of social stratification, relations of domination and subordination between countries, state interference with the market. Alternative strategies of change: revolution, structural adjustment, community development and cooperatives. Students will write and present a research paper, and participate extensively in class discussion.

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Microeconomic Analysis and Applications.

Terms offered: Summer 2025, Fall 2025, Winter 2026

A university-level introduction to demand and supply, consumer behaviour, production theory, market structures and income distribution theory.

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Economic Development 1.

Terms offered: Summer 2025, Fall 2025, Winter 2026

Microeconomic theories of economic development and empirical evidence on population, labour, firms, poverty. Inequality and environment.

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Introduction to International Development.

Terms offered: Fall 2025, Winter 2026

An interdisciplinary introduction to the field of International Development Studies focusing on the theory and practice of development. It examines various approaches to international development, including past and present relationships between developed and underdeveloped societies, and pays particular attention to power and resource distribution globally and within nations.

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Introduction to African Studies.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

The African experience and current approaches to African studies, through adopting multidisciplinary perspectives on topics that include political conflict, governance and democratization, environment and conservation, economic development, rural life and urbanism, health and illness, gender, social change, popular culture, literature, film, and the arts.

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Sustainable Agriculture Field Course

Terms offered: Summer 2025

Exposure to a foreign rural and agricultural context, to observe a variety of types of farm operations, cropping systems and techniques. The sustainability of these is discussed within their local social, environmental and economic landscapes.

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Global Issues on Development, Food and Agriculture.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

International development and world food security and challenges in developing countries. Soil and water management, climate change, demographic issues, plant and animal resources conservation, bio-products and biofuels, economic and environmental issues specially in tropical and sub-tropical regions. Globalization, sustainable development, technology transfer and human resources needs for rural development.

See course page for more information

Agriculture, Food and Resource Policy.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Examination of North American and international agriculture, food and resource policies, policy instruments, programs and their implications. Economic analysis applied to the principles, procedures and objectives of various policy actions affecting agriculture, and the environment.

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Economics of International Agricultural Development.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

The course deals with economic aspects of international development with emphasis on the role of food, agriculture and the resource sector in the economy of developing countries. Topics will include world food analysis, development project analysis and policies for sustainable development. Development case studies will be used.

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Socio-Cultural Anthropology.

Terms offered: Summer 2025, Fall 2025

An introduction to ways of understanding what it means to be human from the perspective of socio-cultural anthropology. Students will be introduced to diverse approaches to this question through engagement with a wide range of ethnographic cases.

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Environment and Culture.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Introduction to ecological anthropology, focusing on social and cultural adaptations to different environments, human impact on the environment, cultural constructions of the environment, management of common resources, and conflict over the use of resources.

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Ethnography Through Film.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

This course will investigate and discuss cultural systems, patterns, and differences, and the ways in which they are observed, visually represented, and communicated by anthropologists using film and video. The visual representation of cultures will be critically evaluated by asking questions about perspective, authenticity, ethnographic authority and ethics.

See course page for more information

Anthropology of Religion.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Nature and function of religion in culture. Systems of belief; the interpretation of ritual. Religion and symbolism. The relation of religion to social organization. Religious change and social movements.

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Anthropology of Development.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Processes of developmental change, as they affect small communities in the Third World and in unindustrialized parts of developed countries. Problems of technological change, political integration, population growth, industrialization, urban growth, social services, infrastructure and economic dependency.

See course page for more information

Violence, Warfare, Culture.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Cultural diversity and comparative perspectives on violence and warfare; sociological, political, materialist, psychological, and ideological explanations of conflict. Examines historical and contemporary cases of warfare in state and pre-state societies; 'ethnic', civil, nationalist secessionist and genocidal forms of conflicts; processes of conflict avoidance and resolution, peace-making and -keeping.

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Legal Anthropology.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Exploration of dispute resolutions and means of social cohesion in various societies of the world. Themes: dichotomy between law and custom, local definitions of justice and rights, forms of conflict resolution, access to justice, gender and law, universality of human rights, legal pluralism.

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Medical Anthropology.

Terms offered: Summer 2025, Fall 2025

Beliefs and practices concerning sickness and healing are examined in a variety of Western and non-Western settings. Special attention is given to cultural constructions of the body and to theories of disease causation and healing efficacy. Topics include international health, medical pluralism, transcultural psychiatry, and demography.

See course page for more information

New Horizons in Medical Anthropology.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Using recent ethnographies as textual material, this course will cover theoretical and methodological developments in medical anthropology since the early 1990's. Topics include a reconsideration of the relationship between culture and biology, medical pluralism revisited, globalization and health and disease, and social implications of new biomedical technologies.

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Chinese Culture in Ethnography and Film.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Uses both ethnography and film to examine 20Ih century Chinese society and popular culture in the context of the revolution and its aftermath.

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Political Anthropology 01.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

The study of political systems and political processes. Conflict and its resolution. The emphasis of the course will be on local-level politics and non-industrial societies.

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Globalization and Religion.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

The interactions between religion and the economic, social and cultural transformations of globalization: relations between globalization and contemporary religious practice, meaning, and influence at personal and collective levels.

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Social Change in Modern Africa.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

The impact of colonialism on African societies; changing families, religion, arts; political and economic transformation; migration, urbanization, new social categories; social stratification; the social setting of independence and neo-colonialism; continuity, stagnation, and progressive change.

See course page for more information

Anthropology of Latin America.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Central themes in the anthropology of Latin America, including colonialism, religiosity, sexuality and gender, indigeneity, social movements, and transnationalism.

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Anthropology of South Asia.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

An introduction to anthropological research in India and greater South Asia. Topics include politics, caste, class, religion, gender and sexuality, development and globalization.

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Indigenous Studies of Anthropology.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Introduction to Native American and Indigenous studies (NAIS) as a means of critically engaging with the discipline of anthropology.

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Ecological Anthropology.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Intensive study of theories and cases in ecological anthropology. Theories are examined and tested through comparative case-study analysis. Cultural constructions of "nature" and "environment" are compared and analyzed. Systems of resource management and conflicts over the use of resources are studied in depth.

See course page for more information

Anthropology and the Animal.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

This course explores through the ethnographic study of human-animal relations how the question of "the animal" helps us examine our central assumptions about what it means to be human.

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Theories of Culture and Society.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Contributions to contemporary anthropological theory; theoretical paradigms and debates; forms of anthropological explanation; the role of theory in the practice of anthropology; concepts of society, culture and structure; cultural evolution and relativity; interpretive anthropology, post-modernism.

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Environment and Development.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Advanced study of the environmental crisis in developing and advanced industrial nations, with emphasis on the social and cultural dimensions of natural resource management and environmental change. Each year, the seminar will focus on a particular set of issues, delineated by type of resource, geographic region, or analytical problem.

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Topics in Medical Anthropology.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Conceptions of health and illness and the form and meaning that illness take are reflections of a particular social and cultural context. Examination of the metaphoric use of the body, comparative approaches to healing, and the relationship of healing systems to the political and economic order and to development.

See course page for more information

Political Ecology.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Historical, theoretical and methodological development of political ecology as a field of inquiry on the interactions between society and environment, in the context of conflicts over natural resources.

See course page for more information

Concepts of Race.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Examination of the evolution of the idea of race within anthropology, and the impact which the discipline's debates have had on society.

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Indigenous Art and Culture.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

An examination of the work of selected First Nations, Métis and Inuit artists in Canada.

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Introduction: East Asian Culture: China.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

This course provides a critical introduction to central themes in Chinese culture. The course will also examine the changing representations of the Chinese cultural tradition in the West. Readings will include original sources in translation from the fields of literature, philosophy, religion, and cultural history.

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Asian Migrations and Diasporas.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Introduction to the interdisciplinary study of Asian migrations and diasporas. Topics include colonialism and diaspora, transnationalism, globalization, citizenship, migration and the state, gender and migration, human trafficking, and forced migration.

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Introduction: East Asian Culture: Korea.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

This course provides a critical introduction to central themes in Korean culture, including Korean literature, religions, philosophy, and socio-economic formations.

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Seminar: Beyond Orientalism.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Examines the cultural stakes and ethical implications of applying Western European models of understanding to East Asian societies. Provides background on interdisciplinary debates around "otherness", "cultural appropriation", and "postcolonialism", focusing on their history within East Asian Studies and their impact on that field's methodological assumptions, self-definition, and institutional practices.

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Macroeconomic Analysis and Applications.

Terms offered: Summer 2025, Fall 2025, Winter 2026

A university-level introduction to national income determination, money and banking, inflation, unemployment and economic policy.

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Political Economy of Trade Policy.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

The course introduces students to the economics of international trade, what constitutes good trade policy, and how trade policy is decided. The course examines Canadian trade policy since 1945, including the GATT, Auto Pact, the FTA and NAFTA, and concludes with special topics in trade policy.

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Economic Development 2.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Macroeconomic development issues, including theories of growth, public finance, debt, currency crises, corruption, structural adjustment, democracy and global economic organization.

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Ecological Economics.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Macroeconomic and structural aspects of the ecological crisis. A course in which subjects discussed include the conflict between economic growth and the laws of thermodynamics; the search for alternative economic indicators; the fossil fuels crisis; and "green'' fiscal policy.

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Economics of Climate Change.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

The course focuses on the economic implications of, and problems posed by, predictions of global warming due to anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases. Attention is given to economic policies such as carbon taxes and tradeable emission permits and to the problems of displacing fossil fuels with new energy technologies.

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Topics in Economic Development 2.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

This course gives students a broad overview of the economics of developing countries. The course covers micro and macro topics, with particular emphasis on the economic analysis at the micro level.

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Income Distribution.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Economics of income and wealth distribution, and the study of inequality. The dynamics of income, saving and wealth and their determinants. Macroeconomic implications. Effects of fiscal and redistributive programmes. The role of unemployment.

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Postcolonial and World Literatures in English.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

A critical introduction to the field of postcolonial and world literature studies, drawing on a selection texts from South and East Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean.

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First Nations and Inuit Literature and Media.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

An introduction to Inuit and First Nations literature and media in Canada, including oral literature and the development of aboriginal television and film.

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Fundamentals of Global Health.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

This exciting and interactive course aims to give students the opportunity to broaden their understanding and knowledge of global health issues, including global burden of diseases, determinants of health, transition in health and drivers of such transition, challenges in healthcare delivery in resource-limited settings, and the variety of agencies and actors engaged in addressing global health challenges. The course consists of lectures, case studies, debates, discussions and small group work.

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Geography of the World Economy.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

The course introduces the geography of the world economic system. It describes the spatial distribution of economic activities and examines the factors which influence their changing location. Case studies from both "developed" and "developing" countries will test the different geographical theories presented in lectures.

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Cities in the Modern World.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

An introduction to urban geography. Uses a spatial/geographic perspective to understand cities and their social and cultural processes. Addresses two major areas. The development and social dynamics in North American and European cities. The urban transformations in Asian, African, and Latin American societies that were recently predominantly rural and agrarian.

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Environment and Health.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

This course introduced physical and social environments as factors in human health, with emphasis on the physical properties of the atmospheric environment as they interact with diverse human populations in urban settings.

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Environmental Management 1.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

An ecological analysis of the physical and biotic components of natural resource systems. Emphasis on scientific, technological and institutional aspects of environmental management. Study of the use of biological resources and of the impact of individual processes.

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Health Geography.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Discussion of the research questions and methods of health geography. Particular emphasis on health inequalities at multiple geographic scales and the theoretical links between characteristics of places and the health of people.

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Development and Livelihoods.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Geographical dimensions of rural/urban livelihoods in the face of socioeconomic and environmental change in developing regions. Emphasis on household natural resource use, survival strategies and vulnerability, decision-making, formal and informal institutions, migration, and development experience in contrasting global environments.

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Economic Geography.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Different theories and approaches to understanding the spatial organization of economic activities. Regional case studies drawn from North America, Europe and Asia used to reinforce concepts. Emphasis also on city-regions and their interaction with the global economy.

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New Master-Planned Cities.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

This course examines the origins, designs, motivations and cultural politics of planned cities, focusing primarily on those currently under construction in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. A variety of themes will be explored including design responses to urban pollution and over-crowding, 'new' cities from earlier decades, totalitarianism and the city, utopianism, 'green' cities, and 'creative' cities. The course examines the various motivations underlying the design and construction of planned cities and how they are shaped by power, religion, and political ideologies. There will be a focus on evolving concepts used in city design as well as the continuities and cultural revivalism expressed through urban design and architecture. Students interested in urban and cultural geography, cities, architecture and planning in different cultural contexts will enjoy this course.

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Analyzing Sustainability.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Examines challenges to sustainability through a series of case studies to illustrate the analytical approaches used to understand the linkages between scientific-technological, socio-economic, political-institutional, ethical, and human behavioural aspect of systems. Includes cases that are thematic and place-based, national and international, spanning from the local to global scales.

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Global Health and Environmental Change.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Major themes and contemporary case studies in global health and environmental change. Focus on understanding global trends in emerging infectious disease from social, biophysical, and geographical perspectives, and critically assessing the health implications of environmental change in different international contexts.

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Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Geography of Development.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Examines the geographical dimensions of development policy, specifically the relationships between the process of development and human-induced environmental change. Focuses on environmental sustainability, struggles over resource control, population and poverty, and levels of governance (the role of the state, non-governmental organizations, and local communities).

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Geographies of Developing Asia.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Current development questions that are of concern to the Asian region. Emphasis on critically studying the major processes of social, economic and environmental change through regional case studies in rural, peri-urban and urban contexts. Covers important debates and considerations that lie at the heart of development geography.

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Geographies of Race.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Exploration of some ways race and racism manifest spatially, including how race and racism shape vast built environments in addition to intimate experiences of space. Historical, political, and cultural insight for the ongoing racial politics of place.

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Southeast Asia Urban Field Studies.

Terms offered: Summer 2025

This course allows students to experience some of the urban changes taking place in Southeast Asian cities, a dynamic region, while providing the opportunity to connect recent scholarship with field observations. We will explore various current themes in urban studies and urban geography including globalization, the transnational circulation of urban policies, interpretations of culture and heritage / new built heritage, gentrification, migrant labour, public housing, creative clusters, and new cities as national economic strategies.

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Humid Tropical Environments.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Focus on the environmental and human spatial relationships in tropical rain forest and savanna landscapes. Human adaptation to variations within these landscapes through time and space. Biophysical constraints upon "development" in the modern era.

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Introduction to African History.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

This course stresses the interactions of the peoples of Africa with each other and with the worlds of Europe and Islam from the Iron Age to the European Conquest in 1880.

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Modern African History.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

While covering the general political history of Africa in the twentieth century, this course also explores such themes as health and disease, gender, and urbanization.

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Indian Ocean World History.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

An introduction to the “global” system connecting eastern Africa, the Middle East, South and Southeast Asia, and the Far East, from the earliest times to c. 1900.

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Introduction to East Asian History.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

An introduction to the history of East Asian civilization from earliest times to 1600, with emphasis on China and Japan, including social, intellectual, and economic developments as well as political history.

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Introduction to South Asian History.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Charts the making of South Asian civilization, 2500 BCE- 1707 CE, through a selection of key themes and major trends. Focus on the transformation of local kinship ties into regional kingdoms and empires, the evolution of religion and the legacy of the expansion of Islam and consequent rise of Turkish, Afghan and Mughal empires in this area.

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Introduction to Latin American History .

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Historical development of Latin America’s peoples through the pre-Columbian, colonial and national periods, c. 1300-2000. Introduces key historiographical debates of the subfield and emphasizes the interpretation of primary source texts (in translation).

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World History, 600-2000.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

A thematic and comparative approach to world history, beginning with the rise of Islam and ending with globalization in the late twentieth century. Trade diasporas, technology, disease, and imperialism are the major themes addressed.

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Modern East Asian History.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

An introduction to the history of China and Japan from the seventeenth century to the present, including modernization, nationalism, and the interaction of the two countries.

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Indigenous Peoples and Empires.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

History of Indigenous Peoples of North and South America and their early experiences of European conquest and colonization, c. 1400 - 1800.

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Modern History of Islamic Movements.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Islamic revival in the Middle East which led to the rise of different versions of Islamic traditions and beliefs. Emphasis on the nature and character of leading nationalist and Islamic movements and their ideologues since the late 19th century.

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Themes in Indian Ocean World History.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Examination of a selected theme or topic in the history of the Indian Ocean World.

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History of the Soviet Union.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

The history of the Soviet Union from 1917-1991, examining its origins in the collapse of autocracy, early Soviet utopianism, the rise of Stalin, the Second World War, Khrushchev’s reforms, the Cold War and the decline and eventual collapse of the USSR, as well as its legacies in the post-Soviet period.

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Themes in Modern Chinese History.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Exploration of a theme in Modern Chinese history.

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Indigenous Peoples and French.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Encounters between Indigenous Peoples and French newcomers in Canada and other parts of North America, 16th - 18th century. Through an examination of exploration, Catholic missions, trade, military alliances and colonization, the course focuses on the motives, outlooks and actions of both Indigenous Peoples and Europeans.

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Twentieth-Century China.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Examines 20th Century China from the fall of the Qing, through Republican China, the emergence of communism, war with Japan, revolution and civil war, the Cultural Revolution, and later economic reforms.

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History of Modern Egypt.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Explores the history of Egypt from the 18th Century to today. Topics include: Ottoman Egypt, the impact of French and British Colonialism, Nasserism, Camp David and economic liberalization, and the Egyptian Revolution of 2011.

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Themes in South Asian History.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Exploration of a theme in the history of South Asia.

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Topics in Canadian Regional History.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Topics in Canadian regional history. Topics will vary by year.

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Canada 1870-1914.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

This course will examine social, economic, political and cultural aspects of Canadian society between 1870 and 1914. Topics covered will include aboriginal peoples, European settlement of the West, provincial rights, the national policy, social reform movements, industrialization, immigration and the rise of cities.

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Themes in Latin American History.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Exploration of a specific topic in the history of Latin America and the Caribbean, 1492 to the present.

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History of South Africa.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

History of South Africa from precolonial times to the present. Topics include: precolonial societies; British and Dutch colonialism; slavery in colonial South Africa; the Zulu kingdom; mining capitalism; the Boer War; Afrikaner nationalism; apartheid; the anti-apartheid struggle; music, religion, and art; challenges of the post-apartheid state.

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Topics: African Country Survey

Terms offered: Fall 2025

In depth survey of a single African country (other than South Africa), including the pre-colonial history of the region, colonialism, and post-colonial economic, cultural and political history.

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Selected Topics in Indigenous History .

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Selected topics in Indigenous history.

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Topics in Latin American History.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

In-depth discussion and research on a circumscribed topic in the history of Latin America and the Caribbean, 1492 to the present.

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History of Women in China.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

This course examines the changing roles of women in traditional and modern China. Topics include political, social, and legal status, sexuality and medicine, religion and culture.

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Indian Ocean World Slave Trade.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

The origins, structure and impact of the Indian Ocean World slave trade from early times to the present day. Enslavement, the trading structure, slave functions, reactions to slavery, emancipation and 'slave' diaspora. Comparisons will be made to the Atlantic slave system.

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Introduction to Indigenous Studies.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

The focus is on Indigenous experience in Canada, but encourages comparative approaches. Introduction to the social, political, economic and cultural dimensions of Indigenous life in Canada.

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Indigenous Food Sovereignty.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Examination of food sovereignty as it relates to First Nation, Inuit, and Métis and their connection to the land as sustenance. The focus is on natural food sources and practices.

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Culture and Development.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

This is a general survey course intended to familiarize students with the complexities surrounding the interaction between culture and development from a variety of theoretical perspectives. Specific themes may include religion, democracy, gender, diaspora communities and the environment, using relevant case studies from the developing world.

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Disasters and Development .

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Examines how disasters shape and are shaped by socio-economic conditions, inequalities and development processes through interdisciplinary investigation and a wide range of case studies. Analyzes disaster risk reduction, response and recovery efforts from the global to local levels, as well as survivors’ perspectives and experiences.

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Civil Society and Development .

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Introduction to the study of civil society and development. Critically engages with both conventional socio-political views and emerging perspectives of civil society. Employs political, sociological, and anthropological perspectives to understand the multifaceted, and socio-cultural implications of civil society in both developing and developed countries. Examines civil society’s impact, capacity, and behavior through a wide range of development themes.

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Quantitative Methods for Development .

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Introduction to quantitative methods for impact evaluation. Builds from fundamental concepts in statistics; introduction of an intuitive conceptual framework to think about causal effects. Simple but rigorous data analytics, design and implement randomized controlled trials, regression analysis, or implement other main methods for impact evaluation.

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Ethnographic Approaches to Development .

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Consideration of how anthropologists have used ethnographic methods to evaluate, criticize and reform development. Drawing on ethnographies of “Big D” development, as well as small-scale grassroots initiatives, exploration of how qualitative methods have been used to strengthen development practice from within and deconstruct development ideology from without. Topics include state driven, participatory and internationally sponsored development; gender; “aidnography”; neoliberalism; markets and microcredit.

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Environmental Challenges in Development.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Examination of some of the great environmental challenges of our times, and some of the ways in which the development community has tackled them.

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Topics in International Development

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Examines topics in specific problem areas in International Development Studies. Content varies every term.

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Topics in International Development.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Examines topics in specific problem areas in International Development Studies. Content varies every term.

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Topics in Conflict and Development.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Examines topics in specific problem areas in international development studies and in areas of conflict and development.

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Topics in Conflict and Development.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Examines topics in specific problem areas in international development studies and in areas of conflict and development.

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Development Research Project.

Terms offered: Summer 2025, Fall 2025, Winter 2026

Supervised reading, research project in international development. Requirements consist of a project proposal and final research report.

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Internship: International Development Studies.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Internship with an approved host institution or organization.

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Islamic Civilization.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

An introduction to, and survey of, the religious, literary, artistic, legal, philosophical and scientific traditions that constituted Islamic civilization from the 7th Century until the mid-19th Century.

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Muslim Societies.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

An introduction to the different, often disparate, ways in which Muslims live and think in the modern world (19th-21st centuries). Muslim social contexts across the globe and cyberspace.

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Topics in Islamic History.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Subject matter will vary year to year, according to the instructor. Topic will be made available in Minerva.

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Women in Islam.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

The socio-legal status, conditions, and experiences of various groups of women in Middle Eastern societies. These features are explored within the framework of Islamic feminism and Western feminist discourses, and the tensions and conflicts between them. The dynamics of seclusion, veiling, and polygamy are explored in connection to Medieval Arab ruling elites as a background to some of the discussions and debates over the status of women in modern postcolonial Arab society. Socio-economic divisions, state policies, patriarchy, and colonialism are investigated as key factors in understanding the modern historical transformation of gendered relations and women's roles.

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History of the City-Islamic World

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Cities and urban cultures throughout Islamic history, studying social organization and cultural history from the medieval to the colonial period.

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Introduction to Shi'i Islam.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Developments in doctrines, legal school, rituals and political thought of Twelver Shi'ite Muslims during early and late medieval periods (centuries VII-XIII). The emergence of the earliest Shi'ite communities in Arabia, Yemen, Iraq and Iran stressing the relationship of the Shi'ite Imams and their religious scholars to the Sunnite Caliphates.

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Islamic Mysticism: Sufism.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

The varieties of "mystical" thought in Islam, primarily as seen in Sufism, its historical development and its place in Islamic culture. Analytical study of major authors, their writings and their central problems.

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Modern History of the Middle East.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Assessment of the historical transformation of the modern Middle East concentrating on its internal socio-economic changes, as well as the colonial experience and encounters with the West since the early 19th century. Examination of the historical conditions that led to the rise of nationalism, the nation-state, the Arab-Israeli conflict.

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Islam and Politics in Africa

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Assessment of the relationship between Islam and politics in the contemporary Africa through various analytic themes, including political economy, social movement and gendered analysis.

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Middle East Since the 1970's.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Changes that have occurred in the Middle East since the 1970's, viewed through the lens of themes such as migration, consumerism, war, communications, and ideology.

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The Qur’an: History and Interpretation.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

It examines the history of the codification of the text, its form, and modes of interpretation in both the modern and pre-modern periods. Presentation of different schools of Qur’anic exegesis, including traditional hermeneutical approaches, and modern approaches such as feminist interpretations of the Qur’ān.

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Central Questions in Islamic Law.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

An integrative view of Islamic law in the past and present, including landmarks in Islamic legal history (e.g., sources of law; early formation; intellectual make-up; the workings of court; legal change; legal effects of colonialism; modernity and legal reform) and a structured definition of what it was/is.

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Poetics and Politics in Arabic Literature.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Major issues in classical and modern Arabic literature; how poetics and politics interact in classical and modern, popular folktales and high literature, novels and poetry. The politics of translation from Arabic into English.

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Persian Literature.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Examination of literature produced in the Persian-speaking world from the mid 10th to the late 20th century C.E. A broad selection of texts (prose and poetry) will be studied in translation.

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Islamic Reform and Radicalism: Middle East

Terms offered: Fall 2025

The process of modernization and reform in the late Ottoman period in Greater Syria, including Lebanon, Iran and Iraq leading up to the rise of modern nation states and the call for secularization in several Middle Eastern countries through the lens of Shi`ite Muslim citizens. The tensions that characterize the interface between the secular state and Islamic law in modern times. The voices of religious modernists, liberal secularists, leftists, and Islamists. Diverse Arab and Iranian thinkers and the historical forces, the political and socio-economic conditions that shaped their approaches to religious modernism, secularism, public religion and the Shari`a.

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Arabic Literature as World Literature.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Consideration of Arabic literature as part of world literature, including exploration of tensions between reading Arabic literature as local, discrete and self-contained and as part of larger global phenomena.

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History: Middle-East 1918-1945.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

The impact of WWI on Middle Eastern society and politics; the British and French mandates; the growth of nationalisms, revolutions and the formation of national states; WW II and the clash of political interests within the region.

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Modern Iran: Anthropological Approach.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

The modern history, social, and cultural anthropology of contemporary Iran.

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Islamic Culture - Indian Subcontinent.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Survey of Islamicate legacies in South Asia from circa 1000—1947 Common Era, with a focus on the beginnings of Muslim political power in South Asia, the meaning of conversion to Islam before British colonialism, Muslim interactions with the non-Muslim majority, and Islamicate aesthetic legacies in the subcontinent.

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Islamdom: Baghdad to Cordoba .

Terms offered: Winter 2026

The course examines the major socio-political developments in Iraq, Persia, Syria, Egypt, North Africa and Spain from the 9th to the 13th Century. Emphasis is laid on the Umayyad Caliphate centered in Cordoba, and the 'Abbasid Caliphate centered in Baghdad, and the rise of important local dynasties leading up to the Mongol invasion. The course underscores the formation of Islamic cultures in distinct geographical settings and the transformation of religious life under new socio-economic conditions. It also explores shifting notions of civil society and orthodoxy.

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Research Seminar: Latin America and the Caribbean.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

An interdisciplinary research seminar on topics of common interest to staff and students of the Latin-American and Caribbean Studies Program.

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International Business.

Terms offered: Fall 2025, Winter 2026

An introduction to the world of international business. Economic foundations of international trade and investment. The international trade, finance, and regulatory frameworks. Relations between international companies and nation-states, including costs and benefits of foreign investment and alternative controls and responses. Effects of local environmental characteristics on the operations of multi-national enterprises.

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Cross Cultural Management.

Terms offered: Summer 2025, Winter 2026

Addresses dilemmas and opportunities that managers experience in international, multicultural environments. Development of conceptual knowledge and behavioural skills (e.g. bridging skills, communication, tolerance of ambiguity, cognitive complexity) relevant to the interaction of different cultures in business and organizational settings, using several methods including research, case studies and experiential learning.

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The Origins of Capitalism.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

This course covers the evolution of modern business institutions from their roots in the early middle ages to the modern era. Covering economic issues in the context of arts and culture, it offers a "distant mirror on globalization."

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Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

Terms offered: Fall 2025, Winter 2026

Explores key concepts associated with social entrepreneurship and social innovation – the application of principles of entrepreneurship and innovation to solve social problems through social ventures, enterprises and not-for-profit organizations. Focuses on the social economy, including how the market system can be leveraged to create social value.

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Strategies for Sustainability.

Terms offered: Fall 2025, Winter 2026

This course explores the relationship between economic activity, management, and the natural environment. Using readings, discussions and cases, the course will explore the challenges that the goal of sustainable development poses for our existing notions of economic goals, production and consumption practices and the management of organizations.

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Managing Globalization.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

This course explores economic and social consequences of globalization, focusing on the most pertinent issues at the time. Topics include the existing global imbalances; the opportunities and risks presented by large cross border capital flows; and the role of institutions, and organizational and policy responses in crisis hit countries.

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Strategies for Developing Countries.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Strategic management challenges in developing and emerging economies. Focus on strategies that foster both firm competitiveness and economic development, including: technological capabilities, new forms of organization, small and large firms, global production, social impact, global standards and governance.

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Systems Thinking and Sustainability.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Examines interconnected dynamics of organizations and social, economic, and ecological systems. Introduces systems thinking principles to foster learning, inform organizational decision-making, and solve real-world problems. Covers problem diagnosis and resolution of organizational and societal sustainability issues through causal loop diagrams, stock-and-flow mapping, group model building, computational simulations and case studies.

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Nutrition in the Majority World.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Current nutrition-related issues in the Majority World, emphasizing young children and other vulnerable groups. The integration of a life science and social science perspective. The multiple causes, consequences, policies, and interventions related to current nutrition.

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Introduction to Comparative Politics - Global South.

Terms offered: Fall 2025, Winter 2026

An introduction to politics across the Global South. A comparative examination of the legacies of colonialism, the achievement of independence, and political and socio-economic development in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Topics include modernization, dependency, state-building, political violence, revolution, the role of the military, authoritarianism, and democratization.

See course page for more information

International Politics of Economic Relations.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

An introduction to international relations, through examples drawn from international political economy. The emphasis will be on the politics of trade and international monetary relations.

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International Politics: State Behaviour.

Terms offered: Summer 2025, Fall 2025

Offers a comprehensive introduction to the behaviour of nation states. Explores how states make foreign policy decisions and what motivates their behaviour. Other covered topics include the military and economic dimensions of state behaviour, conflict, cooperation, interdependence, integration, globalization, and change in the international system.

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Introduction aux relationsinternationales.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Introduction aux principales composantes des relationsinternationales contemporaines–guerre, souveraineté,diplomatie, droit international, gouvernance mondiale,développement, droits humains, mondialisation, à traversune approche historique et relationnelle héritée de lasocio-histoire, de la sociologie politique, de l’histoiremondiale et des études postcoloniales telles quedéveloppées dans le monde francophone.

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Politics of Latin America.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

This course will deal with the dynamics of political change in Latin America today.

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Political Change in South Asia.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Political change in South Asia in late colonial and post-colonial periods. Issues covered include social and cultural history; colonial rule, nationalism and state formation; democratic and authoritarian tendencies; economic policies and consequences; challenges to patterns of dominance and national boundaries; prospects for democracy, prosperity and equality.

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Comparative Politics of Africa.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

The government and politics of African states south of the Sahara with reference to the ideological and institutional setting as influenced by the forces of tradition and the impact of Western colonialism.

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Topics in Comparative Politics 1.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Selected aspects of the Third World. In any given year the course will concentrate either on a particular region or on a relevant thematic problem.

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Comparative Politics of the Middle East.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

An examination of the societies, political forces and regimes of selected countries of the Eastern Arab world (Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, Saudi Arabia).

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Foreign Policy: The Middle East.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

An examination of the changing regional security environment and the evolving foreign policies and relationships of Arab states in three areas - relations with non-Arab regional powers (Israel, Iran), inter-Arab relations, Great Power relations. The course will focus particularly on Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

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International Organizations.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

The politics and processes of global governance in the 21st century, with a special emphasis on the United Nations system.

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Arab-Israel Conflict, Crisis, Peace.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Concepts - protracted conflict, crisis, war, peace; system, subsystem; Conflict-levels of analysis; historical context; images and issues; attitudes, policies, role of major powers; Crises-Wars - configuration of power; crisis models; decision-making in 1956, 1967, 1973, 1982 crisis-wars; conflict- crisis management; Peace-Making - pre-1977; Egypt-Israel peace treaty; Madrid, Oslo, Israel-Jordan peace; prospects for conflict resolution.

See course page for more information

Foreign Policy: Asia.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

An overview of the foreign policies of two rising powers - China and India - in addition to Japan, covering the historical evolution, goals and determinants of their foreign policies, interactions with the rest of Asia and the world, and efforts at institutionalised cooperation in South and East Asia.

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Global Environmental Politics.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Environmental problems like climate change, deforestation, biodiversity loss, and ocean acidification transcend national borders. Solving these problems will require global cooperation on an unprecedented level. This course will explore the challenges of contemporary global environmental governance and the innovative solutions being advanced at the community, municipal, provincial, national, and international levels.

See course page for more information

International Policy/Foreign Policy: Africa.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

A study of international politics in Africa; including Africa in the U.N., the Organization of African Unity, African regional groupings and integration, Africa as a foreign policy arena and African inter-state conflict and diplomacy.

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Topics in International Politics 1.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

A specific problem area in International Relations.

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Politics of Southeast Asia.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Topics covered include: colonialism, nationalism, democracy, authoritarianism, war, economic development, social development, overseas Chinese, ethnicity, religion, populism, and international relations, as they apply to Southeast Asian politics.

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Indigenous Peoples and the Canadian State.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

The relationship of Indigenous politics to larger debates and literatures within political science, such as citizenship theory, federalism, and collective action. Subjects covered include Canada's treaty history, constitutional changes, key policy frameworks, and Indigenous political development.

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Contemporary Chinese Politics.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

This course provides an introduction to key issues in contemporary Chinese politics, spanning the period from the Communist Revolution through the Maoist (1949-1976) and reform eras (1978 to present). Topics include both domestic politics and foreign policy.

See course page for more information

Politics in Japan and South Korea.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

An introduction to key issues of contemporary politics in Japan and South Korea, covering the politics and economic development of Post-WWII Japan and Post-Korean War South Korea. Themes include: How were the contemporary political systems established in Japan and South Korea? How have these systems changed over time? What are the impacts of political institutions on the political and economic development in the two countries? How do social actors and political and economic institutions interact with each other? What are the foreign policymaking strategies in the two countries?

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Politics of Ethno-Nationalism.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Theories of ethno-nationalism examined in light of experience in Asia, Middle East and Africa. Topics include formation and mobilization of national, ethnic and religious identities in colonial and post-colonial societies; impact of ethno-nationalism on pluralism, democracy, class and gender relations; means to preserve tolerance in multicultural societies.

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Identity and Inequality.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Inequality is often particularly durable between groups whose boundaries are based on assumed ancestry - e.g., the major ethnic categories in former European settler colonies, castes in South Asia. This course explores ongoing changes in the relationship between identity and social, economic and political inequality in some of these contexts.

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International Political Economy: Trade.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Politics of international trade, such as the international rules governing trade in goods, the functioning of international bodies such as the WTO, and the domestic sources of these international policies.

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International Relations of Ethnic Conflict.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Issues related to the internationalization of ethnic conflict, including diasporas, contagion and demonstration effects, intervention, irredentism, the use of sanctions and force. Combination of theory and the study of contemporary cases.

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International Political Economy: Monetary Relations.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Advanced course in international political economy; the politics of international of monetary relations, such as international rules governing international finance, the reasons for and consequences of financial flows, and the functioning of international financial bodies such as the IMF and World Bank.

See course page for more information

Peacebuilding.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

An examination of transitions from civil war to peace, and the role of external actors (international organizations, bilateral donors, non-governmental organizations) in support of such transitions. Topics will include the dilemmas of humanitarian relief, peacekeeping operations, refugees, the demobilization of ex-combatants, transitional elections, and the politics of socio-economic reconstruction.

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Religion and Politics.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

The relationship between religion and politics in the world, including the relationship between religion and the state, and specific topics in which religion plays a salient role: political parties; social movements; democratization; fundamentalism and democracy; violence; and capitalism and economic development.

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Religions of East Asia.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

This course introduces East Asia's major religions comparatively by addressing the continuous exchange of ideas and practices between traditions. Rather than adopting a mere chronological approach, Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism will be discussed thematically, taking in to account topics such as gender constructs, the secular and the sacred, material culture, and the apparent contrast between doctrine and practice.

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World Religions and Cultures They Create..

Terms offered: Winter 2026

The constitution and mutual entanglements of selected religions and cultures originating and thriving in varied regional contexts. Focus on highlighting the symbolic (visual, aural) expressivity of religions via ritual, myth, and rational speculation and its impact on high and popular cultures.

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Religion and Globalization.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

An exploration of the distinctive ways in which the world's religions are shaping and are shaped by the dynamics of globalization. It examines the multiple intersections of religion and globalization through a variety of themes and case studies in human rights, development, education, ecology, gender, and conflict

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Religion and Human Rights.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Social justice and human rights issues as key aspects of modem religious ethics. Topics include: the relationship of religion to the modem human rights movement; religious perspectives on the universality of human rights; the scope and limits of religious freedom; conflicts between religion and rights.

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Religion, Politics and Society.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

A study of contemporary religious traditions in the light of debates regarding secularization, the relation of religion and politics, and the interaction of religion with major social institutions.

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International Migration.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Introduction to social science research on international migration. Covers theories about why people migrate, constraints to migration, and various aspects of immigrant integration. Will explore key theoretical debates of the field and the empirical data and case studies on which these debates hinge.

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Population and Society.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Introduction to the reciprocal linkages in the social world between population size, structure and dynamics on the one hand, social structure, action and change on the other. An examination of population processes and their relation to the social world.

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Development and Underdevelopment.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Competing theories about the causes of underdevelopment in the poor countries. Topics include the impact of geography, the population explosion, culture and national character, economic and sexual inequalities, democracy and dictatorship. Western imperialism and multi-national corporations, reliance on the market, and development through local participation, cooperation, and appropriate technology.

See course page for more information

Globalization.

Terms offered: Summer 2025, Winter 2026

Socio-economic, political and cultural dynamics related to processes of globalization. An examination of the following: key theoretical foundations of the globalization debate; the extent and implications of economic globalization; global governance and the continuing relevance of nation-states; instances of transnational activism; the diffusion of cultural practices; patterns and management of global migration and mobility.

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Health and Illness.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Health and illness as social rather than purely bio-medical phenomena. Topics include: studies of ill persons, health care occupations and organizations; poverty and health; inequalities in access to and use of health services; recent policies, ideologies, and problems in reform of health services organization.

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Health and Development.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Main concepts and controversies linking health to broader social and economic conditions in low income countries. Topics include the demographic and epidemiological transitions, the health and wealth conundrum, the social determinants of health, health as an economic development strategy, and the impact of the AIDS pandemic.

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Sociology: Gender and Development.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Exploration of the main development theories and discussion of how gender is placed within them, analysis of the practical application of development projects and discussion of how they affect gender dynamics, and examination of power relations between development agencies and developing countries. Examples from Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America are used.

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Comparative Migration and Citizenship.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Advanced course on international migration, belonging and diversity in contemporary societies. Will examine dynamics of exclusion and inclusion, the accommodation of cultural diversity, the adaptation of immigrants and how global international migration challenges and re-shapes citizenship. Will cover key theoretical debates in the field and the data and case studies on which these debates hinge.

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Colonialism and Society.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Forms that colonialism took, its impact on colonial societies, and its modern legacies, focusing on overseas colonialism between 1600 and the 1970s.

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Gender and Globalization.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Focus on the diverse forces of globalization that impact the lives of men and women. Critical analysis of key theories and concepts implicated in the intersection of globalization processes with gender dynamisms.

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Migration and Immigrant Groups.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Review of the major demographic, economic and sociological theories of internal and international migration. The main emphasis will be on empirical research on migration and immigrant groups.

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Developing Societies.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Comparison of alternative explanations of underdevelopment: the impact of social stratification, relations of domination and subordination between countries, state interference with the market. Alternative strategies of change: revolution, structural adjustment, community development and cooperatives. Students will write and present a research paper, and participate extensively in class discussion.

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Policy and Practice for Refugees.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Refugee-generating conflicts, international and national responses are considered. Canadian policy, history and response to refugees are analyzed. Theory-grounded practice with refugees is examined, including community organizing and direct service delivery to individuals and families.

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International Social Work.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Discussion based upon intensive study and reports on problems in selected countries. Emphasis on identifying major social problems, understanding the social forces bearing on those problems and considering appropriate professional approaches to aid in their solution.

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Urban Infrastructure and Services in International Context .

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Issues of practical and theoretical importance in relation to urban infrastructure and services in the international context: science and technology, political economy, policy analysis, policy implementation, public finance, and institutions and governance.

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Microeconomic Analysis and Applications.

Terms offered: Summer 2025, Fall 2025, Winter 2026

A university-level introduction to demand and supply, consumer behaviour, production theory, market structures and income distribution theory.

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Economic Development 1.

Terms offered: Summer 2025, Fall 2025, Winter 2026

Microeconomic theories of economic development and empirical evidence on population, labour, firms, poverty. Inequality and environment.

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Introduction to International Development.

Terms offered: Fall 2025, Winter 2026

An interdisciplinary introduction to the field of International Development Studies focusing on the theory and practice of development. It examines various approaches to international development, including past and present relationships between developed and underdeveloped societies, and pays particular attention to power and resource distribution globally and within nations.

See course page for more information

Advanced Topics in International Development.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

A course on topics of common interest to faculty members and students of the International Development Studies programs.

See course page for more information

Advanced Topics in International Development.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

A course on topics of common interest to faculty members and students of the International Development Studies programs.

See course page for more information

Advanced topics in International Development

Terms offered: Winter 2026

A course on topics of common interest to faculty members and students of the International Development Studies programs.

See course page for more information

Advanced topics in International Development

Terms offered: Winter 2026

A course on topics of common interest to faculty members and students of the International Development Studies programs.

See course page for more information

Socio-Cultural Anthropology.

Terms offered: Summer 2025, Fall 2025

An introduction to ways of understanding what it means to be human from the perspective of socio-cultural anthropology. Students will be introduced to diverse approaches to this question through engagement with a wide range of ethnographic cases.

See course page for more information

Ethnography Through Film.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

This course will investigate and discuss cultural systems, patterns, and differences, and the ways in which they are observed, visually represented, and communicated by anthropologists using film and video. The visual representation of cultures will be critically evaluated by asking questions about perspective, authenticity, ethnographic authority and ethics.

See course page for more information

Anthropology of Development.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Processes of developmental change, as they affect small communities in the Third World and in unindustrialized parts of developed countries. Problems of technological change, political integration, population growth, industrialization, urban growth, social services, infrastructure and economic dependency.

See course page for more information

Geography of the World Economy.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

The course introduces the geography of the world economic system. It describes the spatial distribution of economic activities and examines the factors which influence their changing location. Case studies from both "developed" and "developing" countries will test the different geographical theories presented in lectures.

See course page for more information

Cities in the Modern World.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

An introduction to urban geography. Uses a spatial/geographic perspective to understand cities and their social and cultural processes. Addresses two major areas. The development and social dynamics in North American and European cities. The urban transformations in Asian, African, and Latin American societies that were recently predominantly rural and agrarian.

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Culture and Development.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

This is a general survey course intended to familiarize students with the complexities surrounding the interaction between culture and development from a variety of theoretical perspectives. Specific themes may include religion, democracy, gender, diaspora communities and the environment, using relevant case studies from the developing world.

See course page for more information

Introduction to Comparative Politics - Global South.

Terms offered: Fall 2025, Winter 2026

An introduction to politics across the Global South. A comparative examination of the legacies of colonialism, the achievement of independence, and political and socio-economic development in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Topics include modernization, dependency, state-building, political violence, revolution, the role of the military, authoritarianism, and democratization.

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International Politics of Economic Relations.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

An introduction to international relations, through examples drawn from international political economy. The emphasis will be on the politics of trade and international monetary relations.

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International Politics: State Behaviour.

Terms offered: Summer 2025, Fall 2025

Offers a comprehensive introduction to the behaviour of nation states. Explores how states make foreign policy decisions and what motivates their behaviour. Other covered topics include the military and economic dimensions of state behaviour, conflict, cooperation, interdependence, integration, globalization, and change in the international system.

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Introduction aux relationsinternationales.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Introduction aux principales composantes des relationsinternationales contemporaines–guerre, souveraineté,diplomatie, droit international, gouvernance mondiale,développement, droits humains, mondialisation, à traversune approche historique et relationnelle héritée de lasocio-histoire, de la sociologie politique, de l’histoiremondiale et des études postcoloniales telles quedéveloppées dans le monde francophone.

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Development and Underdevelopment.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Competing theories about the causes of underdevelopment in the poor countries. Topics include the impact of geography, the population explosion, culture and national character, economic and sexual inequalities, democracy and dictatorship. Western imperialism and multi-national corporations, reliance on the market, and development through local participation, cooperation, and appropriate technology.

See course page for more information

The Process of Anthropological Research.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

The nature of anthropological research as evidenced in monographs and articles; processes of concept formation and interpretation of data; the problem of objectivity.

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Economic Statistics.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Distributions, averages, dispersions, sampling, testing, estimation, correlation, regression, index numbers, trends and seasonals.

See course page for more information

Economic Statistics.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

See ECON 227D1 for course description.

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Methods for Causal Inference.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Foundations for empirical methods in causal inference in empirical economics. Standard Ordinary Least Squares model and its limitations, counterfactual analysis, including randomized experiments, instrumental variables, difference-in-differences, regression discontinuity.

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Quantitative Methods for Development .

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Introduction to quantitative methods for impact evaluation. Builds from fundamental concepts in statistics; introduction of an intuitive conceptual framework to think about causal effects. Simple but rigorous data analytics, design and implement randomized controlled trials, regression analysis, or implement other main methods for impact evaluation.

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Ethnographic Approaches to Development .

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Consideration of how anthropologists have used ethnographic methods to evaluate, criticize and reform development. Drawing on ethnographies of “Big D” development, as well as small-scale grassroots initiatives, exploration of how qualitative methods have been used to strengthen development practice from within and deconstruct development ideology from without. Topics include state driven, participatory and internationally sponsored development; gender; “aidnography”; neoliberalism; markets and microcredit.

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Political Science Research Methods.

Terms offered: Summer 2025, Fall 2025

This course provides an introduction to political science research methods. The aim of the course is to familiarize students with the scientific study of politics, the variety of research methodologies in political science, and the challenges that arise when researchers attempt to explain or measure political phenomena, demonstrate causal relationships and draw methodologically- defensible conclusions from research .

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Statistics in Social Research.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

This is an introductory course in descriptive and inferential statistics. The course is designed to help students develop a critical attitude toward statistical argument. It serves as a background for further statistics courses, helping to provide the intuition which can sometimes be lost amid the formulas.

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Quantitative Data Analysis.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

This course blends theory and applications in regression analysis. It focuses on fitting a straight line regression using matrix algebra, extending models for multivariate analysis and discusses problems in the use of regression analysis, providing criteria for model building and selection, and using statistical software to apply statistics efficiently.

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Qualitative Methods in Sociology.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Introduction to qualitative research methods. Students will be exposed to various types of data collection (e.g., textual, observational) and data analysis techniques (e.g., in vivo coding) for qualitative data in an experiential, hands-on fashion.

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Introduction to African Studies.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

The African experience and current approaches to African studies, through adopting multidisciplinary perspectives on topics that include political conflict, governance and democratization, environment and conservation, economic development, rural life and urbanism, health and illness, gender, social change, popular culture, literature, film, and the arts.

See course page for more information

Sustainable Agriculture Field Course

Terms offered: Summer 2025

Exposure to a foreign rural and agricultural context, to observe a variety of types of farm operations, cropping systems and techniques. The sustainability of these is discussed within their local social, environmental and economic landscapes.

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Global Issues on Development, Food and Agriculture.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

International development and world food security and challenges in developing countries. Soil and water management, climate change, demographic issues, plant and animal resources conservation, bio-products and biofuels, economic and environmental issues specially in tropical and sub-tropical regions. Globalization, sustainable development, technology transfer and human resources needs for rural development.

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Agriculture, Food and Resource Policy.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Examination of North American and international agriculture, food and resource policies, policy instruments, programs and their implications. Economic analysis applied to the principles, procedures and objectives of various policy actions affecting agriculture, and the environment.

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Economics of International Agricultural Development.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

The course deals with economic aspects of international development with emphasis on the role of food, agriculture and the resource sector in the economy of developing countries. Topics will include world food analysis, development project analysis and policies for sustainable development. Development case studies will be used.

See course page for more information

Environment and Culture.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Introduction to ecological anthropology, focusing on social and cultural adaptations to different environments, human impact on the environment, cultural constructions of the environment, management of common resources, and conflict over the use of resources.

See course page for more information

Anthropology of Religion.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Nature and function of religion in culture. Systems of belief; the interpretation of ritual. Religion and symbolism. The relation of religion to social organization. Religious change and social movements.

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Violence, Warfare, Culture.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Cultural diversity and comparative perspectives on violence and warfare; sociological, political, materialist, psychological, and ideological explanations of conflict. Examines historical and contemporary cases of warfare in state and pre-state societies; 'ethnic', civil, nationalist secessionist and genocidal forms of conflicts; processes of conflict avoidance and resolution, peace-making and -keeping.

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Legal Anthropology.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Exploration of dispute resolutions and means of social cohesion in various societies of the world. Themes: dichotomy between law and custom, local definitions of justice and rights, forms of conflict resolution, access to justice, gender and law, universality of human rights, legal pluralism.

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Medical Anthropology.

Terms offered: Summer 2025, Fall 2025

Beliefs and practices concerning sickness and healing are examined in a variety of Western and non-Western settings. Special attention is given to cultural constructions of the body and to theories of disease causation and healing efficacy. Topics include international health, medical pluralism, transcultural psychiatry, and demography.

See course page for more information

New Horizons in Medical Anthropology.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Using recent ethnographies as textual material, this course will cover theoretical and methodological developments in medical anthropology since the early 1990's. Topics include a reconsideration of the relationship between culture and biology, medical pluralism revisited, globalization and health and disease, and social implications of new biomedical technologies.

See course page for more information

Chinese Culture in Ethnography and Film.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Uses both ethnography and film to examine 20Ih century Chinese society and popular culture in the context of the revolution and its aftermath.

See course page for more information

Political Anthropology 01.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

The study of political systems and political processes. Conflict and its resolution. The emphasis of the course will be on local-level politics and non-industrial societies.

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Globalization and Religion.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

The interactions between religion and the economic, social and cultural transformations of globalization: relations between globalization and contemporary religious practice, meaning, and influence at personal and collective levels.

See course page for more information

Social Change in Modern Africa.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

The impact of colonialism on African societies; changing families, religion, arts; political and economic transformation; migration, urbanization, new social categories; social stratification; the social setting of independence and neo-colonialism; continuity, stagnation, and progressive change.

See course page for more information

Anthropology of Latin America.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Central themes in the anthropology of Latin America, including colonialism, religiosity, sexuality and gender, indigeneity, social movements, and transnationalism.

See course page for more information

Anthropology of South Asia.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

An introduction to anthropological research in India and greater South Asia. Topics include politics, caste, class, religion, gender and sexuality, development and globalization.

See course page for more information

Indigenous Studies of Anthropology.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Introduction to Native American and Indigenous studies (NAIS) as a means of critically engaging with the discipline of anthropology.

See course page for more information

Ecological Anthropology.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Intensive study of theories and cases in ecological anthropology. Theories are examined and tested through comparative case-study analysis. Cultural constructions of "nature" and "environment" are compared and analyzed. Systems of resource management and conflicts over the use of resources are studied in depth.

See course page for more information

Anthropology and the Animal.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

This course explores through the ethnographic study of human-animal relations how the question of "the animal" helps us examine our central assumptions about what it means to be human.

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Theories of Culture and Society.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Contributions to contemporary anthropological theory; theoretical paradigms and debates; forms of anthropological explanation; the role of theory in the practice of anthropology; concepts of society, culture and structure; cultural evolution and relativity; interpretive anthropology, post-modernism.

See course page for more information

Environment and Development.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Advanced study of the environmental crisis in developing and advanced industrial nations, with emphasis on the social and cultural dimensions of natural resource management and environmental change. Each year, the seminar will focus on a particular set of issues, delineated by type of resource, geographic region, or analytical problem.

See course page for more information

Topics in Medical Anthropology.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Conceptions of health and illness and the form and meaning that illness take are reflections of a particular social and cultural context. Examination of the metaphoric use of the body, comparative approaches to healing, and the relationship of healing systems to the political and economic order and to development.

See course page for more information

Political Ecology.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Historical, theoretical and methodological development of political ecology as a field of inquiry on the interactions between society and environment, in the context of conflicts over natural resources.

See course page for more information

Concepts of Race.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Examination of the evolution of the idea of race within anthropology, and the impact which the discipline's debates have had on society.

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Indigenous Art and Culture.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

An examination of the work of selected First Nations, Métis and Inuit artists in Canada.

See course page for more information

Introduction: East Asian Culture: China.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

This course provides a critical introduction to central themes in Chinese culture. The course will also examine the changing representations of the Chinese cultural tradition in the West. Readings will include original sources in translation from the fields of literature, philosophy, religion, and cultural history.

See course page for more information

Introduction: East Asian Culture: Korea.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

This course provides a critical introduction to central themes in Korean culture, including Korean literature, religions, philosophy, and socio-economic formations.

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Asian Migrations and Diasporas.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Introduction to the interdisciplinary study of Asian migrations and diasporas. Topics include colonialism and diaspora, transnationalism, globalization, citizenship, migration and the state, gender and migration, human trafficking, and forced migration.

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Seminar: Beyond Orientalism.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Examines the cultural stakes and ethical implications of applying Western European models of understanding to East Asian societies. Provides background on interdisciplinary debates around "otherness", "cultural appropriation", and "postcolonialism", focusing on their history within East Asian Studies and their impact on that field's methodological assumptions, self-definition, and institutional practices.

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Macroeconomic Analysis and Applications.

Terms offered: Summer 2025, Fall 2025, Winter 2026

A university-level introduction to national income determination, money and banking, inflation, unemployment and economic policy.

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Political Economy of Trade Policy.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

The course introduces students to the economics of international trade, what constitutes good trade policy, and how trade policy is decided. The course examines Canadian trade policy since 1945, including the GATT, Auto Pact, the FTA and NAFTA, and concludes with special topics in trade policy.

See course page for more information

Economic Development 2.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Macroeconomic development issues, including theories of growth, public finance, debt, currency crises, corruption, structural adjustment, democracy and global economic organization.

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Ecological Economics.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Macroeconomic and structural aspects of the ecological crisis. A course in which subjects discussed include the conflict between economic growth and the laws of thermodynamics; the search for alternative economic indicators; the fossil fuels crisis; and "green'' fiscal policy.

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Economics of Climate Change.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

The course focuses on the economic implications of, and problems posed by, predictions of global warming due to anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases. Attention is given to economic policies such as carbon taxes and tradeable emission permits and to the problems of displacing fossil fuels with new energy technologies.

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Topics in Economic Development 2.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

This course gives students a broad overview of the economics of developing countries. The course covers micro and macro topics, with particular emphasis on the economic analysis at the micro level.

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Income Distribution.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Economics of income and wealth distribution, and the study of inequality. The dynamics of income, saving and wealth and their determinants. Macroeconomic implications. Effects of fiscal and redistributive programmes. The role of unemployment.

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Postcolonial and World Literatures in English.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

A critical introduction to the field of postcolonial and world literature studies, drawing on a selection texts from South and East Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean.

See course page for more information

First Nations and Inuit Literature and Media.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

An introduction to Inuit and First Nations literature and media in Canada, including oral literature and the development of aboriginal television and film.

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Fundamentals of Global Health.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

This exciting and interactive course aims to give students the opportunity to broaden their understanding and knowledge of global health issues, including global burden of diseases, determinants of health, transition in health and drivers of such transition, challenges in healthcare delivery in resource-limited settings, and the variety of agencies and actors engaged in addressing global health challenges. The course consists of lectures, case studies, debates, discussions and small group work.

See course page for more information

Environment and Health.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

This course introduced physical and social environments as factors in human health, with emphasis on the physical properties of the atmospheric environment as they interact with diverse human populations in urban settings.

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Environmental Management 1.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

An ecological analysis of the physical and biotic components of natural resource systems. Emphasis on scientific, technological and institutional aspects of environmental management. Study of the use of biological resources and of the impact of individual processes.

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Health Geography.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Discussion of the research questions and methods of health geography. Particular emphasis on health inequalities at multiple geographic scales and the theoretical links between characteristics of places and the health of people.

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Development and Livelihoods.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Geographical dimensions of rural/urban livelihoods in the face of socioeconomic and environmental change in developing regions. Emphasis on household natural resource use, survival strategies and vulnerability, decision-making, formal and informal institutions, migration, and development experience in contrasting global environments.

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Economic Geography.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Different theories and approaches to understanding the spatial organization of economic activities. Regional case studies drawn from North America, Europe and Asia used to reinforce concepts. Emphasis also on city-regions and their interaction with the global economy.

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New Master-Planned Cities.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

This course examines the origins, designs, motivations and cultural politics of planned cities, focusing primarily on those currently under construction in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. A variety of themes will be explored including design responses to urban pollution and over-crowding, 'new' cities from earlier decades, totalitarianism and the city, utopianism, 'green' cities, and 'creative' cities. The course examines the various motivations underlying the design and construction of planned cities and how they are shaped by power, religion, and political ideologies. There will be a focus on evolving concepts used in city design as well as the continuities and cultural revivalism expressed through urban design and architecture. Students interested in urban and cultural geography, cities, architecture and planning in different cultural contexts will enjoy this course.

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Analyzing Sustainability.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Examines challenges to sustainability through a series of case studies to illustrate the analytical approaches used to understand the linkages between scientific-technological, socio-economic, political-institutional, ethical, and human behavioural aspect of systems. Includes cases that are thematic and place-based, national and international, spanning from the local to global scales.

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Global Health and Environmental Change.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Major themes and contemporary case studies in global health and environmental change. Focus on understanding global trends in emerging infectious disease from social, biophysical, and geographical perspectives, and critically assessing the health implications of environmental change in different international contexts.

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Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Geography of Development.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Examines the geographical dimensions of development policy, specifically the relationships between the process of development and human-induced environmental change. Focuses on environmental sustainability, struggles over resource control, population and poverty, and levels of governance (the role of the state, non-governmental organizations, and local communities).

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Geographies of Developing Asia.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Current development questions that are of concern to the Asian region. Emphasis on critically studying the major processes of social, economic and environmental change through regional case studies in rural, peri-urban and urban contexts. Covers important debates and considerations that lie at the heart of development geography.

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Geographies of Race.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Exploration of some ways race and racism manifest spatially, including how race and racism shape vast built environments in addition to intimate experiences of space. Historical, political, and cultural insight for the ongoing racial politics of place.

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Southeast Asia Urban Field Studies.

Terms offered: Summer 2025

This course allows students to experience some of the urban changes taking place in Southeast Asian cities, a dynamic region, while providing the opportunity to connect recent scholarship with field observations. We will explore various current themes in urban studies and urban geography including globalization, the transnational circulation of urban policies, interpretations of culture and heritage / new built heritage, gentrification, migrant labour, public housing, creative clusters, and new cities as national economic strategies.

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Humid Tropical Environments.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Focus on the environmental and human spatial relationships in tropical rain forest and savanna landscapes. Human adaptation to variations within these landscapes through time and space. Biophysical constraints upon "development" in the modern era.

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Introduction to African History.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

This course stresses the interactions of the peoples of Africa with each other and with the worlds of Europe and Islam from the Iron Age to the European Conquest in 1880.

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Modern African History.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

While covering the general political history of Africa in the twentieth century, this course also explores such themes as health and disease, gender, and urbanization.

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Indian Ocean World History.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

An introduction to the “global” system connecting eastern Africa, the Middle East, South and Southeast Asia, and the Far East, from the earliest times to c. 1900.

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Introduction to East Asian History.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

An introduction to the history of East Asian civilization from earliest times to 1600, with emphasis on China and Japan, including social, intellectual, and economic developments as well as political history.

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Introduction to South Asian History.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Charts the making of South Asian civilization, 2500 BCE- 1707 CE, through a selection of key themes and major trends. Focus on the transformation of local kinship ties into regional kingdoms and empires, the evolution of religion and the legacy of the expansion of Islam and consequent rise of Turkish, Afghan and Mughal empires in this area.

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Introduction to Latin American History .

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Historical development of Latin America’s peoples through the pre-Columbian, colonial and national periods, c. 1300-2000. Introduces key historiographical debates of the subfield and emphasizes the interpretation of primary source texts (in translation).

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World History, 600-2000.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

A thematic and comparative approach to world history, beginning with the rise of Islam and ending with globalization in the late twentieth century. Trade diasporas, technology, disease, and imperialism are the major themes addressed.

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Modern East Asian History.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

An introduction to the history of China and Japan from the seventeenth century to the present, including modernization, nationalism, and the interaction of the two countries.

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Indigenous Peoples and Empires.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

History of Indigenous Peoples of North and South America and their early experiences of European conquest and colonization, c. 1400 - 1800.

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Modern History of Islamic Movements.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Islamic revival in the Middle East which led to the rise of different versions of Islamic traditions and beliefs. Emphasis on the nature and character of leading nationalist and Islamic movements and their ideologues since the late 19th century.

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Themes in Indian Ocean World History.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Examination of a selected theme or topic in the history of the Indian Ocean World.

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History of the Soviet Union.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

The history of the Soviet Union from 1917-1991, examining its origins in the collapse of autocracy, early Soviet utopianism, the rise of Stalin, the Second World War, Khrushchev’s reforms, the Cold War and the decline and eventual collapse of the USSR, as well as its legacies in the post-Soviet period.

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Themes in Modern Chinese History.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Exploration of a theme in Modern Chinese history.

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Indigenous Peoples and French.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Encounters between Indigenous Peoples and French newcomers in Canada and other parts of North America, 16th - 18th century. Through an examination of exploration, Catholic missions, trade, military alliances and colonization, the course focuses on the motives, outlooks and actions of both Indigenous Peoples and Europeans.

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Twentieth-Century China.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Examines 20th Century China from the fall of the Qing, through Republican China, the emergence of communism, war with Japan, revolution and civil war, the Cultural Revolution, and later economic reforms.

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History of Modern Egypt.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Explores the history of Egypt from the 18th Century to today. Topics include: Ottoman Egypt, the impact of French and British Colonialism, Nasserism, Camp David and economic liberalization, and the Egyptian Revolution of 2011.

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Themes in South Asian History.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Exploration of a theme in the history of South Asia.

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Topics in Canadian Regional History.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Topics in Canadian regional history. Topics will vary by year.

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Canada 1870-1914.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

This course will examine social, economic, political and cultural aspects of Canadian society between 1870 and 1914. Topics covered will include aboriginal peoples, European settlement of the West, provincial rights, the national policy, social reform movements, industrialization, immigration and the rise of cities.

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Themes in Latin American History.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Exploration of a specific topic in the history of Latin America and the Caribbean, 1492 to the present.

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History of South Africa.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

History of South Africa from precolonial times to the present. Topics include: precolonial societies; British and Dutch colonialism; slavery in colonial South Africa; the Zulu kingdom; mining capitalism; the Boer War; Afrikaner nationalism; apartheid; the anti-apartheid struggle; music, religion, and art; challenges of the post-apartheid state.

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Topics: African Country Survey

Terms offered: Fall 2025

In depth survey of a single African country (other than South Africa), including the pre-colonial history of the region, colonialism, and post-colonial economic, cultural and political history.

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Selected Topics in Indigenous History .

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Selected topics in Indigenous history.

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Topics in Latin American History.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

In-depth discussion and research on a circumscribed topic in the history of Latin America and the Caribbean, 1492 to the present.

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Topics in Latin American History.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

In-depth discussion and research on a circumscribed topic in the history of Latin America and the Caribbean, 1492 to the present.

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History of Women in China.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

This course examines the changing roles of women in traditional and modern China. Topics include political, social, and legal status, sexuality and medicine, religion and culture.

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Indian Ocean World Slave Trade.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

The origins, structure and impact of the Indian Ocean World slave trade from early times to the present day. Enslavement, the trading structure, slave functions, reactions to slavery, emancipation and 'slave' diaspora. Comparisons will be made to the Atlantic slave system.

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Introduction to Indigenous Studies.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

The focus is on Indigenous experience in Canada, but encourages comparative approaches. Introduction to the social, political, economic and cultural dimensions of Indigenous life in Canada.

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Indigenous Food Sovereignty.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Examination of food sovereignty as it relates to First Nation, Inuit, and Métis and their connection to the land as sustenance. The focus is on natural food sources and practices.

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History of Development.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

A history of development, focusing on the ideologies as well as the practices that have shaped how empires, governments, corporations, and individuals have sought to 'improve' the world—most often, but not exclusively, in the global south. Themes will include colonialism, gender, race, economic growth, poverty, geopolitics, multilateralism, foreign aid, south-south relations, philanthropy, and the environment.

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Culture and Development.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

This is a general survey course intended to familiarize students with the complexities surrounding the interaction between culture and development from a variety of theoretical perspectives. Specific themes may include religion, democracy, gender, diaspora communities and the environment, using relevant case studies from the developing world.

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Disasters and Development .

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Examines how disasters shape and are shaped by socio-economic conditions, inequalities and development processes through interdisciplinary investigation and a wide range of case studies. Analyzes disaster risk reduction, response and recovery efforts from the global to local levels, as well as survivors’ perspectives and experiences.

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Civil Society and Development .

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Introduction to the study of civil society and development. Critically engages with both conventional socio-political views and emerging perspectives of civil society. Employs political, sociological, and anthropological perspectives to understand the multifaceted, and socio-cultural implications of civil society in both developing and developed countries. Examines civil society’s impact, capacity, and behavior through a wide range of development themes.

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Environmental Challenges in Development.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Examination of some of the great environmental challenges of our times, and some of the ways in which the development community has tackled them.

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Topics in International Development

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Examines topics in specific problem areas in International Development Studies. Content varies every term.

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Topics in International Development.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Examines topics in specific problem areas in International Development Studies. Content varies every term.

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Topics in Conflict and Development.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Examines topics in specific problem areas in international development studies and in areas of conflict and development.

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Topics in Conflict and Development.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Examines topics in specific problem areas in international development studies and in areas of conflict and development.

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Development Research Project.

Terms offered: Summer 2025, Fall 2025, Winter 2026

Supervised reading, research project in international development. Requirements consist of a project proposal and final research report.

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Internship: International Development Studies.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Internship with an approved host institution or organization.

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Islamic Civilization.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

An introduction to, and survey of, the religious, literary, artistic, legal, philosophical and scientific traditions that constituted Islamic civilization from the 7th Century until the mid-19th Century.

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Muslim Societies.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

An introduction to the different, often disparate, ways in which Muslims live and think in the modern world (19th-21st centuries). Muslim social contexts across the globe and cyberspace.

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Topics in Islamic History.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Subject matter will vary year to year, according to the instructor. Topic will be made available in Minerva.

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Women in Islam.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

The socio-legal status, conditions, and experiences of various groups of women in Middle Eastern societies. These features are explored within the framework of Islamic feminism and Western feminist discourses, and the tensions and conflicts between them. The dynamics of seclusion, veiling, and polygamy are explored in connection to Medieval Arab ruling elites as a background to some of the discussions and debates over the status of women in modern postcolonial Arab society. Socio-economic divisions, state policies, patriarchy, and colonialism are investigated as key factors in understanding the modern historical transformation of gendered relations and women's roles.

See course page for more information

History of the City-Islamic World

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Cities and urban cultures throughout Islamic history, studying social organization and cultural history from the medieval to the colonial period.

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Introduction to Shi'i Islam.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Developments in doctrines, legal school, rituals and political thought of Twelver Shi'ite Muslims during early and late medieval periods (centuries VII-XIII). The emergence of the earliest Shi'ite communities in Arabia, Yemen, Iraq and Iran stressing the relationship of the Shi'ite Imams and their religious scholars to the Sunnite Caliphates.

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Islamic Mysticism: Sufism.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

The varieties of "mystical" thought in Islam, primarily as seen in Sufism, its historical development and its place in Islamic culture. Analytical study of major authors, their writings and their central problems.

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Modern History of the Middle East.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Assessment of the historical transformation of the modern Middle East concentrating on its internal socio-economic changes, as well as the colonial experience and encounters with the West since the early 19th century. Examination of the historical conditions that led to the rise of nationalism, the nation-state, the Arab-Israeli conflict.

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Islam and Politics in Africa

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Assessment of the relationship between Islam and politics in the contemporary Africa through various analytic themes, including political economy, social movement and gendered analysis.

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Middle East Since the 1970's.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Changes that have occurred in the Middle East since the 1970's, viewed through the lens of themes such as migration, consumerism, war, communications, and ideology.

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The Qur’an: History and Interpretation.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

It examines the history of the codification of the text, its form, and modes of interpretation in both the modern and pre-modern periods. Presentation of different schools of Qur’anic exegesis, including traditional hermeneutical approaches, and modern approaches such as feminist interpretations of the Qur’ān.

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Central Questions in Islamic Law.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

An integrative view of Islamic law in the past and present, including landmarks in Islamic legal history (e.g., sources of law; early formation; intellectual make-up; the workings of court; legal change; legal effects of colonialism; modernity and legal reform) and a structured definition of what it was/is.

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Poetics and Politics in Arabic Literature.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Major issues in classical and modern Arabic literature; how poetics and politics interact in classical and modern, popular folktales and high literature, novels and poetry. The politics of translation from Arabic into English.

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Persian Literature.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Examination of literature produced in the Persian-speaking world from the mid 10th to the late 20th century C.E. A broad selection of texts (prose and poetry) will be studied in translation.

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Islamic Reform and Radicalism: Middle East

Terms offered: Fall 2025

The process of modernization and reform in the late Ottoman period in Greater Syria, including Lebanon, Iran and Iraq leading up to the rise of modern nation states and the call for secularization in several Middle Eastern countries through the lens of Shi`ite Muslim citizens. The tensions that characterize the interface between the secular state and Islamic law in modern times. The voices of religious modernists, liberal secularists, leftists, and Islamists. Diverse Arab and Iranian thinkers and the historical forces, the political and socio-economic conditions that shaped their approaches to religious modernism, secularism, public religion and the Shari`a.

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Arabic Literature as World Literature.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Consideration of Arabic literature as part of world literature, including exploration of tensions between reading Arabic literature as local, discrete and self-contained and as part of larger global phenomena.

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History: Middle-East 1918-1945.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

The impact of WWI on Middle Eastern society and politics; the British and French mandates; the growth of nationalisms, revolutions and the formation of national states; WW II and the clash of political interests within the region.

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Modern Iran: Anthropological Approach.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

The modern history, social, and cultural anthropology of contemporary Iran.

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Islamic Culture - Indian Subcontinent.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Survey of Islamicate legacies in South Asia from circa 1000—1947 Common Era, with a focus on the beginnings of Muslim political power in South Asia, the meaning of conversion to Islam before British colonialism, Muslim interactions with the non-Muslim majority, and Islamicate aesthetic legacies in the subcontinent.

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Islamdom: Baghdad to Cordoba .

Terms offered: Winter 2026

The course examines the major socio-political developments in Iraq, Persia, Syria, Egypt, North Africa and Spain from the 9th to the 13th Century. Emphasis is laid on the Umayyad Caliphate centered in Cordoba, and the 'Abbasid Caliphate centered in Baghdad, and the rise of important local dynasties leading up to the Mongol invasion. The course underscores the formation of Islamic cultures in distinct geographical settings and the transformation of religious life under new socio-economic conditions. It also explores shifting notions of civil society and orthodoxy.

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Research Seminar: Latin America and the Caribbean.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

An interdisciplinary research seminar on topics of common interest to staff and students of the Latin-American and Caribbean Studies Program.

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International Business.

Terms offered: Fall 2025, Winter 2026

An introduction to the world of international business. Economic foundations of international trade and investment. The international trade, finance, and regulatory frameworks. Relations between international companies and nation-states, including costs and benefits of foreign investment and alternative controls and responses. Effects of local environmental characteristics on the operations of multi-national enterprises.

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Cross Cultural Management.

Terms offered: Summer 2025, Winter 2026

Addresses dilemmas and opportunities that managers experience in international, multicultural environments. Development of conceptual knowledge and behavioural skills (e.g. bridging skills, communication, tolerance of ambiguity, cognitive complexity) relevant to the interaction of different cultures in business and organizational settings, using several methods including research, case studies and experiential learning.

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The Origins of Capitalism.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

This course covers the evolution of modern business institutions from their roots in the early middle ages to the modern era. Covering economic issues in the context of arts and culture, it offers a "distant mirror on globalization."

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Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

Terms offered: Fall 2025, Winter 2026

Explores key concepts associated with social entrepreneurship and social innovation – the application of principles of entrepreneurship and innovation to solve social problems through social ventures, enterprises and not-for-profit organizations. Focuses on the social economy, including how the market system can be leveraged to create social value.

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Strategies for Sustainability.

Terms offered: Fall 2025, Winter 2026

This course explores the relationship between economic activity, management, and the natural environment. Using readings, discussions and cases, the course will explore the challenges that the goal of sustainable development poses for our existing notions of economic goals, production and consumption practices and the management of organizations.

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Managing Globalization.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

This course explores economic and social consequences of globalization, focusing on the most pertinent issues at the time. Topics include the existing global imbalances; the opportunities and risks presented by large cross border capital flows; and the role of institutions, and organizational and policy responses in crisis hit countries.

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Strategies for Developing Countries.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Strategic management challenges in developing and emerging economies. Focus on strategies that foster both firm competitiveness and economic development, including: technological capabilities, new forms of organization, small and large firms, global production, social impact, global standards and governance.

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Systems Thinking and Sustainability.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Examines interconnected dynamics of organizations and social, economic, and ecological systems. Introduces systems thinking principles to foster learning, inform organizational decision-making, and solve real-world problems. Covers problem diagnosis and resolution of organizational and societal sustainability issues through causal loop diagrams, stock-and-flow mapping, group model building, computational simulations and case studies.

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Nutrition in the Majority World.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Current nutrition-related issues in the Majority World, emphasizing young children and other vulnerable groups. The integration of a life science and social science perspective. The multiple causes, consequences, policies, and interventions related to current nutrition.

See course page for more information

Politics of Latin America.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

This course will deal with the dynamics of political change in Latin America today.

See course page for more information

Political Change in South Asia.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Political change in South Asia in late colonial and post-colonial periods. Issues covered include social and cultural history; colonial rule, nationalism and state formation; democratic and authoritarian tendencies; economic policies and consequences; challenges to patterns of dominance and national boundaries; prospects for democracy, prosperity and equality.

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Comparative Politics of Africa.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

The government and politics of African states south of the Sahara with reference to the ideological and institutional setting as influenced by the forces of tradition and the impact of Western colonialism.

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Topics in Comparative Politics 1.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

Selected aspects of the Third World. In any given year the course will concentrate either on a particular region or on a relevant thematic problem.

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Comparative Politics of the Middle East.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

An examination of the societies, political forces and regimes of selected countries of the Eastern Arab world (Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, Saudi Arabia).

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Foreign Policy: The Middle East.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

An examination of the changing regional security environment and the evolving foreign policies and relationships of Arab states in three areas - relations with non-Arab regional powers (Israel, Iran), inter-Arab relations, Great Power relations. The course will focus particularly on Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

See course page for more information

International Organizations.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

The politics and processes of global governance in the 21st century, with a special emphasis on the United Nations system.

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Arab-Israel Conflict, Crisis, Peace.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Concepts - protracted conflict, crisis, war, peace; system, subsystem; Conflict-levels of analysis; historical context; images and issues; attitudes, policies, role of major powers; Crises-Wars - configuration of power; crisis models; decision-making in 1956, 1967, 1973, 1982 crisis-wars; conflict- crisis management; Peace-Making - pre-1977; Egypt-Israel peace treaty; Madrid, Oslo, Israel-Jordan peace; prospects for conflict resolution.

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Foreign Policy: Asia.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

An overview of the foreign policies of two rising powers - China and India - in addition to Japan, covering the historical evolution, goals and determinants of their foreign policies, interactions with the rest of Asia and the world, and efforts at institutionalised cooperation in South and East Asia.

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Global Environmental Politics.

Terms offered: Fall 2025

Environmental problems like climate change, deforestation, biodiversity loss, and ocean acidification transcend national borders. Solving these problems will require global cooperation on an unprecedented level. This course will explore the challenges of contemporary global environmental governance and the innovative solutions being advanced at the community, municipal, provincial, national, and international levels.

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International Policy/Foreign Policy: Africa.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

A study of international politics in Africa; including Africa in the U.N., the Organization of African Unity, African regional groupings and integration, Africa as a foreign policy arena and African inter-state conflict and diplomacy.

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Topics in International Politics 1.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

A specific problem area in International Relations.

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Politics of Southeast Asia.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

Topics covered include: colonialism, nationalism, democracy, authoritarianism, war, economic development, social development, overseas Chinese, ethnicity, religion, populism, and international relations, as they apply to Southeast Asian politics.

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Indigenous Peoples and the Canadian State.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

The relationship of Indigenous politics to larger debates and literatures within political science, such as citizenship theory, federalism, and collective action. Subjects covered include Canada's treaty history, constitutional changes, key policy frameworks, and Indigenous political development.

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Contemporary Chinese Politics.

Terms offered: this course is not currently offered.

This course provides an introduction to key issues in contemporary Chinese politics, spanning the period from the Communist Revolution through the Maoist (1949-1976) and reform eras (1978 to present). Topics include both domestic politics and foreign policy.

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Politics in Japan and South Korea.

Terms offered: Winter 2026

An introduction to key issues of contemporary politics in Japan and South Korea, covering the politics and economic development of Post-WWII Japan and Post-Korean War South Korea. Themes include: How were the contemporary political systems established in Japan and South Korea? How have these systems changed over time? What are the impacts of political institutions on the political and economic development in the two countries? How do social actors and political and economic institutions interact with each other? What are the foreign policymaking strategies in the two countries?

See course page for more information