Fall 2022 – Winter 2023 Course Offerings

INDG 1011 Introduction to Indigenous-Settler Encounters–Late Summer: 4 July – 16 August
This is a fully ONLINE SYNCHRONOUS course.

Instructor: Samantha Stevens

In this course, students will be introduced to the historical and contemporary political and social encounters surrounding the relationships between Indigenous peoples and settlers in so-called Canada. We will explore these relationships beginning around first contact through to current events and struggles.

Read the full Course Descriptor.

CDNS 1001 Introduction to the Study of Canada

Instructor: Richard Nimijean

Course Descriptor: This course examines various approaches to the study of Canada. Students will learn about the rise and evolution of interdisciplinary Canadian Studies as an academic discipline and encounter key concepts for studying Canadian issues.

Students will see how interdisciplinary teaching and research differ from traditional academic disciplines, producing a stronger and richer explanation of Canadian phenomena.

Read the full Course Descriptor.

CDNS 1101 Power, Places and Stories in/of Odawang/Ottawa

Instructor: Orly Lael Netzer

Course Description: In this course we will explore historic and contemporary Odawang/Ottawa through stories, monuments, and locations. Attuned to local, national, and global perspectives of the city, we will interrogate the politics of place-making, asking who shapes the story of a place, for whom, and how.

Read the full Course Descriptor.

CDNS 2001 Canada and Global Issues

Instructor: Richard Nimijean

Course Descriptor: This course introduces students to the interdisciplinary study of Canada and Canadians as global actors, examining key global issues that Canada is addressing. We look at how Canada approaches global issues and reflect on how these issues affect Canada and Canadians.

Read the full Course Descriptor.

CDNS 2002 Language, Culture and Power

Instructor: Lindy Van Vliet

Course Description: In this class we will study the relationship between language and power, politics, identity and culture in Canada. Using experiential learning methods including field trips, we will explore the interplays between power, language, and the constitution of social norms.

Each class will use a case study to examine the struggles over discourse and how we describe and understand the world.

Course Descriptor

CDNS 2301 Immigrants, Migrants and Diasporas

Instructor: Orly Lael Netzer

Course Description: This course explores how narratives of migration, immigration, and diaspora are situated in relation to the nation as a home. We will explore the tensions between experiences of displacement or movement, the concept of a nation as a home, and a place as homeland; asking what it means to make a home, be at home or away from home, lose a home, or experience ruptured and multiple homes.

Review the Course Descriptor

CDNS 2302/INDG 2302 Land, Water, Capitalism

Instructor: Giuseppe Amatulli

Course Descriptor:The course objective is to provide knowledge about resource exploitation in areas of the world where Indigenous peoples are resisting and counteracting the impact ‘extractivism’ has on their lifestyle, culture and socio-economic organization.

By unpacking the concept of cumulative effects from an environmental, sociocultural and economic perspective, the course wants to shed light and raise awareness on the role that extractive industry has in the contemporary world, how it shapes the socio-economic organization of our societies and whether and to what extent extractivism can be changed and, eventually, overcome

Read the full Course Descriptor.

CDNS 2400 Heritage Places and Practices in Canada

Instructor: Susan Ross

Course Descriptor:  This course, intended for students studying in the Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences, Architecture and Engineering, will build on the lessons we can learn from Canadian, Indigenous and international theories, practices, and tools to continue to move the field ahead in stimulating and critical directions.

Read the full Course Descriptor.

CDNS 2510 Memory and History in Québec — ONLINE Asynchronous

Instructor: Anne Trépanier

Course Descriptor: This fully online asynchronous second year course is intended to provide students with a broad understanding of the narrative of Quebec history, incorporating the main themes that continue to shape Quebec’s culture and especially its relationship to memory, especially since “Je me souviens” is its motto. Experiential learning activities including research and creative projects are an essential part of the curriculum.

Read the full Course Descriptor.

CDNS 3020 Practicing Research in Indigenous Studies and Canadian Studies

Instructor: Amy Fung

Course Descriptor: This course will provide an opportunity for students to deepen their understanding of research through hands-on skills and practices relevant to Indigenous and Canadian Studies.

From learning general and foundational information on the language of research, participants will have an opportunity to deeply engage with the fundamentals of researching in the humanities and social sciences

Read the full Course Descriptor.

CDNS 3570 Racialization and Resistance

Instructor: Joanis Sherry

Course Descriptor: Deconstructing the category of ‘race’ and understanding the experiences and impacts of racialization and systemic racism in Canada and Québec.

Read the full Course Descriptor.

CDNS 3620 Canada-US Relations

Instructor: Richard Nimijean

Course Descriptor: This course is a comparative, interdisciplinary examination of the Canada-US relationship, focusing on Canadian perspectives. We will look at key issues that define and influence the relationship, including:

• Anti-Americanism and values differences between the countries;
• Economic and defence/security integration; and
• Cultural similarities and differences

Read the full Course Descriptor.

FYSM 1409 Controversies and Social Change in Canada Today
This is term 2 of a full-year 1.0 credit course.

Instructor: Robyn Green

Course Descriptor

FYSM 1450 Indigenous Reclamation and Resurgence
Winter term of this full year, 1.0 credit course.

Instructor: Lane Bourbonniere

Course Descriptor:  This course is designed to challenge students on several levels by applying both academic and personal experience and knowledge. It will challenge each student and provide a safe environment to learn and exchange ideas.  This course will be about student well-being- participation-engagement-achievement.

CDNS 5003/ARTH 5210 Selected Topics in Canadian Studies
Title: Towards Indigenous Aesthetics
Instructor: Carmen Robertson
Course Description: Pathways toward articulating Indigenous aesthetics emerge from deep considers of cultural epistemologies and ontologies of Indigenous arts. Because this is an emergent area of study within the Academy, few scholarly readings exist and as a result we will consider written texts from a variety of sources.

Read the full Course Descriptor.

CDNS 5301 / CLMD 6902 W   Canadian Cultural Studies

Instructor: Orly Lael Netzer

Course Description: In this course we will contend with urgent socio-cultural challenges in Canada through contemporary approaches to the study of national culture on Turtle Island. Grounded in an understanding of “Canada” as settler-colonial and racialized, we will begin the course with the work of education scholar Dwayne Donald (Papaschase Cree descendant) who argues that colonialism is “an extended process of denying relationship” (“On What Terms Can We Speak?”).

Read the full Course Descriptor.

CDNS 5402 Heritage Conservation: Theory in Practice

Instructor: Susan Ross

Course Descriptor: Who should decide what is heritage? What tools –from basic strategies to creative approaches– help facilitate difficult conservation decisions? How do established practices address shifting ideals? How can decolonizing research methods expand the work of heritage and conservation?

Students in this graduate seminar study the application of critical theories in research methods, professional practice, community action and political engagement. Read the full Course Descriptor.

CDNS 5400/4400/INDG 4901– Space, Landscape and Identity in Canada–ONLINE

Instructor: Kenneth (Jake) Chakasim

Course Descriptor: Critical in its approach, this course brings into focus the contemporary role indigenous literature and design plays in the realm of indigenous space, landscape, and identity practices. Whether one is ‘tricked into believing’ or ‘mistreated to take action’, we can no longer escape the chaos, disorder, and destruction of indigenous landscapes and its supporting infrastructure (or lack thereof).

Read the full Course Descriptor.