Intersession Course Offerings

An introduction to the study of humans as a biocultural species. The focus of this course is on human evolution, human variation and genetics, nonhuman primates, and the work of physical anthropologists.

The focus of this course is on osteology, the study of skeletal anatomy, in the context of forensic anthropology. Students will learn the details of both the human and nonhuman skeleton in a concentrated lab format. Not open to first-year students.

The purpose of this course is to introduce students to qualitative research methods. Students will learn the theoretical and epistemological foundations of qualitative methods and explore a number of data collection methods inherent to qualitative research, as well as critically evaluate and make appropriate use of secondary information sources. Prerequisite: CRIM 1006.

Cultural criminology places deviance and control in the context of culture. Through ethnography and cultural analysis, deviance and control are viewed as cultural products -- creative constructs to be read in terms of the meanings and emotions they embody. Students are challenged to question normative boundaries, and how cultural space is appropriated by power and challenged by transgression. Topics include modern anxiety, visual signifiers and emotion, found in such forms as graffiti, drug subcultures, base-jumping, street-racing or dumpster diving. Prerequisities: 1006 or permission of the instructor.

This course will explore popular and primarily American film from a criminological perspective, paying particular attention to how we understand crime through film. Such themes as what is a crime film?, criminology in crime films, police films, court room films, and prison films will be explored. At the conclusion of this course, students should be able to critically evaluate film and the relationships between crime and society portrayed through popular film.

This course aims to provide to students the critical and conceptual tools to begin to question culture, to look upon the world and to make sense of its enormous power to shape how we think, and who we are. We will, then, conceive of the world?s ?texts? in the broadest sense possible, compelling us to direct our critical attentions to everything from video games and fashion magazines, to popular film, advertising, television, and the internet. And along the way, we will encounter thinkers whose work has been vital in helping us understand how culture works, with a special focus as the course unfolds on the thought of the Frankfurt and Birmingham schools. By approaching culture both practically (i.e., through an analysis of everyday material culture, from coffee to cars) and theoretically (i.e., through the encounter with important thinkers who have shaped and defined how it is we understand the social, economic, and political realities of culture itself), this course will give students an experience of their cultural milieu that trips up everyday understandings of what we believe culture to be, and will challenge them to the see a very different everyday world.

[1. Economics Courses]This course, which is equivalent to one half of ECON 1006, analyzes the Canadian economy and how it works. It includes a discussion of output, unemployment, growth, money, international trade, and finance. (Credit will not be given for both ECON 1006 and ECON 1023.)

[1. Introductory Course]An introduction to the range and variety of literature in English, to the practice of critical reading, and to writing about ideas and texts in conventional academic language and forms. The course concentrates on the central genres of literature.

[2. Intermediate Course ]A survey of the short story genre from its beginnings in the 19th century to its predominance as the traditional narrative literary form of the 20th century. (Categories: Genres).

This course introduces students to the nature of ecological problems and the relationships between human activities and environmental deterioration. The course examines the nature of the biosphere: how living plant, animal and microbial communities and their supporting air, water and soil cycles function.

[French Curriculum]Only offered during summer school, this course is designed for those students entering university who did not complete the core French high school program or its equivalent. It develops active and passive language skills in grammar, writing, reading, and oral expression in preparation for entering FREN 1206, the regular first year university French course.

This course will consider the complexity and interrelatedness of various dimensions of adult development and aging, and what this state of affairs suggests for research and practice. Topics of discussion will include selected theories of adult intelligence, personality, and social aging. Further, the multidisciplinary nature of intervention will also be considered in relation to such areas as health care, death and dying, and work and retirement.

This course explores popular views of the elderly using motion pictures. It looks at the impact of stereotypes on older people's expectations for later life. As a result of this course, students should be able to look at films more critically and identify images communicated through the media. Prerequisite: GERO 2013.

[3. Regions (Oceans)] This course explores the social, political, and economic parameters of the Atlantic World from roughly 1500 to 1800. The course centres on the British experience of the Atlantic through a comparative and trans-national approach. Particular attention will be drawn to the role of Atlantic Canada and its connection to the larger Atlantic World.

[1. World]This course explores the place of gender in the construction and preservation of empires through such topics as constructions of difference, motherhood and domesticity; civilizing missions and tourism; and contestations of power. This course operates from the premise that empires are never static: subjects in different imperial contexts, in various cases, resisted, thwarted, or reconfirmed colonial regimes.

[1. World] This course considers the diverse ways in which modern global audiences have come to understand histories of religious violence. Our focus will be on academic and popular interpretations of so-called jihad or crusade conflicts from the Middle Ages to the present. Print, electronic and film sources will be examined, reflecting a wide range of often conflicting viewpoints as they have evolved over time.

This course will introduce students to the study of human rights by investigating the question what is a human right? The course will proceed primarily through a number of examples and case studies. Students will also be given an overview of the basic instruments, institutions, and ideas relevant to human rights.

A general introduction to Irish society and culture. This course will provide an overview of the unique characteristics of the island and its people. Students will have the opportunity to familiarize themselves with aspects of Ireland's land, cultural development, economy, politics, and literature.

Journalism is the art of storytelling. This course will explore the nature of stories, the ways journalists tell stories, and the role these storytellers play in open and closed societies.

This course will introduce students to a range of works of print and broadcast Journalism to allow them to understand the scope, purpose, and influence of stories in the journalistic tradition. Students will respond to these works in writing and post their responses in an online discussion forum.

This course will introduce a variety of topics within psychology. Topics to be covered include research methods, history of psychology, brain and behaviour, sensation and perception, learning, memory, and cognition.

This course will introduce a variety of topics within psychology. Topics to be covered include research methods, developmental psychology, intelligence and creativity, personality, abnormal behaviour and therapy, social psychology, and applied topics.

An introduction to the study of sensation. The emphasis will be on vision and hearing. The course will begin with an examination of the stimuli and the structure and function of the receptors. Other topics will include the psychophysical methods, sensory scaling, and a survey of data on several senses. These topics can be varied to suit the interests of the students.

An introduction to the study of human perception. Emphasis will be on vision but hearing will also be discussed. Topics will include the perception of form, pattern recognition, constancy, attention and perceptual learning. Topics can be selected to meet the interests of the class.

This course will review a variety of topics within social psychology including social cognition and social perception, attitudes and attitude change, understanding the self, interpersonal attraction, persuasion, conformity, prejudice, aggression, and altruism.

This course is intended as a general introduction to psychological testing and assessment. The primary objective is to familiarize students with the main varieties of psychological tests together with the theoretical rationale behind their development. Special attention will be given to evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of assessment procedures. Consideration will be given to ethical questions involved in testing, as well as technical issues in test construction. Prerequisite: PSYC 2013 and 2023.

The content of this course changes from year to year to reflect the special strengths of faculty and the particular needs of students. Prerequisites: PSY 2013 and 2023, or permission of the instructor.

[III The Third Level: The Streams|1st: Themes and Issues]Many religious traditions display a variety of stances towards the environmental crisis, ranging from indifference to reform. Through critical and comparative study, this course explores religious approaches to ecology in a variety of traditions. Topics may include environmental stewardship, deep ecology, ecoliberation, ecofeminism and ethnic indigenous ecology.

[IV The Fourth Level:Integration]The content of this course changes from year to year reflecting the strengths of the faculty and the particular needs of the students. It will involve an advanced treatment of some aspect of the religious dimension of human experience.

This course explores existing patterns of social inequality and debates concerning the possibility and desirability of greater equality. Taking a theoretical and historical focus, this course examines the changing nature of inequality in contemporary Canadian society in the context of globalization. Throughout, we develop our understanding of how different forms of inequality - particularly social class, gender and race - intersect. One section of the course may have a service learning requirement, where students engage in volunteer work in the community, and then reflect upon their experiences through reading, writing, and discussion.

This course focuses on the relations between the beliefs and institutionalized practices that people hold sacred, and contemporary community life. The students explore the contradictory trends of mass secularism and the rise of religious fundamentalism, and the practices through which people collectively mobilize to sustain, challenge, and change religious identities. The question raised by Durkheim is explored: If religion expresses and reinforces community solidarity, how can modern societies accommodate religious diversity? A further question is: How are religions implicated in political struggles, the women's movement, nationalism, and war?

This course is an introduction to the scientific, legal, philosophical, and political debates over animal rights, animal consciousness, and animal experimentation.