Arts First course descriptions
Although oriented toward different modes of inquiry, both ARTS 130 and 140 will support instruction in the communication competencies outlined by the Steering Committee for the English Language Competency Initiative (SCELCI) and both support instruction in analytical thinking.
ARTS 130 – Inquiry and Communication
This course provides an introduction to diverse intellectual modes of inquiry in the social sciences and humanities with an emphasis on the development of communication skills. In a small seminar setting, students will explore a variety of topics based on instructor expertise in order to build social awareness, ethical engagement, and communication competencies in comprehension, contextualization, and conceptualization. Students will be expected to engage with the work of others, articulate positions, situate writing and speaking within contexts, practice writing and speaking for situations beyond the classroom, engage in basic forms of research, and workshop, revise, and edit writing.
ARTS 140 – Information and Analysis
This course introduces students to diverse ways of finding, examining, and using data and information in the social sciences and humanities. In a small seminar setting, students will explore a variety of topics based on instructor expertise in order to understand quantitative and qualitative methods of data gathering and build competencies in conceptualizing, contextualizing, and comprehending methods of information analysis. Students will be expected to investigate, use, and assess the presentation of information in their own work and the work of others so that they can better understand the range of social, ethical, and political challenges of our world.
Please also review the ARTS 130 and ARTS 140 learning outcomes.
Arts First course topics
Arts First course topics are listed in alphabetical order in the following drop-down section, however they are not listed in alphabetical order in Quest.
For instructions on how to add your Arts First course, see the How you'll enrol page.
Winter 2025 - ARTS 130
ARTS 130 – Beyond Borders: The Adventure
Navigate the complexities of culture shock in an engaging and supportive environment. This course offers insightful discussions to help you understand and manage the challenges of adapting to new cultures. Gain valuable skills in cultural awareness and resilience, preparing you for global experiences.
ARTS 130 – Colour Theory
This course will immerse students in the exploration of colour and its application in various fields. Through theory, colour-mixing, and the practical application of concepts into our everyday day, we will gain a deeper understanding of colours' psychological and emotional impact, and its role in visual communication, design, art, and more.
ARTS 130 – Consent and Commitment
This course will explore intimate romantic relationships: consent for sexual activity and commitment to remain with a partner. We will explore topics of gender, movements like #MeToo, and attempts at sexual empowerment like sex strikes; in the second part of the course, we investigate relationship communication, dynamics, and identity.
ARTS 130 – Conspiracy and Fake News
Conspiracy theories are an expression of the social anxieties, fears, and in some instances desires of individuals in their relationship with the modern state and the public sphere. Through an interdisciplinary examination of the role of hoaxes, conspiracy theories, and fake news, both historical and contemporary, we will examine the social and historical reasons that allow these ideas to take hold and seem believable.
ARTS 130 – Finding Hope in Spirituality
This course will explore the concept of hope through diverse spiritual writers living in difficult times. How do we find meaning in times of crisis? We will analyze how historical and current thinkers inspire people to persevere, and how we can communicate hope.
ARTS 130 – Ghosts, Cults, and End Times
The paranormal, cults, and end time prophecies are salacious, scary, and at times reflective of the social milieux in which they develop. These ideas and beliefs are concepts that are prevalent cross-culturally, including our own Western culture, although they are often dismissed in academia, they can provide a lens through which to observe and learn about the past and contemporary times. Using mixed methods, this course will examine the rise of paranormal experiences and beliefs, cults, and end times prophecies, through media consumption, oral history, and pop culture. The role of mass media and pop culture will be analyzed to understand how they shape perceptions and attitudes towards new religious movements, ghost hunting, tales of Cryptids, and cults.
ARTS 130 – History Matters! But Whose?
History, in terms of both content as well as purpose, has become increasingly contested as states, communities, and individuals struggle to define themselves and their relationships with one another through the interpretation and communication of historical narratives. Statues have been pulled down, textbooks have and are being rewritten, and cities and streets have been renamed in what many refer to as the History Wars. This weaponization of history is not new, but it has become more widespread, partly through social media, raising increasingly urgent questions about the purpose of history: is it to explain, to celebrate, to shame, or to commemorate? Using examples from across the globe, students will explore some of these contested histories, consider their origins and possible consequences, and working individually and collectively develop effective means to communicate their conclusions.
ARTS 130 – How Should We be Working?
Note: This section is partially reserved for students co-registered at St. Jerome's.
Work is something that we are going to be doing for most of our lives. Consequently, it is crucial to read, discuss, research, and write about how we might make our working lives as productive, fulfilling, and enjoyable as possible by asking how much control should we have over the work we do, how many types of "jobs" should we be doing, who should be the ones doing the work, what conditions should we work in, and how long should we be working?
ARTS 130 – Humans & the Non-Human World
Humans are the animals that have forgotten they are animals. We live in a complex community of diverse species (humans, mammals, birds, insects, plants, and trees), and yet we have come to think only of our human selves. This course explores the narratives and perceptions that inform our interspecies relationships
ARTS 130 – Improvisation
The theory and practice of spontaneity! From comedy, to music, to dance, to literature, this course will teach students to identify improvisational techniques across disciplines.
ARTS 130 – Intersecting Identity & Image
Note: This section is fully reserved for online students.
Students are asked to consider the relationship between images and the way that we think about ourselves and each other. How might popular culture and other image-based sources help “mediate” our identities, and what impact might it have on our everyday lives?
Delivery mode: Online
ARTS 130 – Knights & Samurai: War & Peace
Is it possible for the violent history of Knights and Samurai to teach us lessons for building peace in our own times? In this course, we will question ideas of honor, sacrifice, life & death virtues, loyalty, and justice by examining Knights and Samurai, feudal warrior classes in medieval Europe and Japan. We will use history and literature to confront the bloodstained legacies of the past and try to develop critical perspectives for the important tasks of working for peace (both in our societies and ourselves) in the present.
ARTS 130 – Language of the Media
The importance of the Media in today’s world is undisputed. The media’s impact has helped change the trajectory of modern history and continues to influence public opinion. In this course, we are going to explore the different aspects of language that are used in the media and how this language use affects the individual members of our society. In light of the full scale invasion of Ukraine, we are going to use Mr. Putin’s Russia as a case study.
ARTS 130 – Nonbinary Digital Storytelling
In this course we will study the concept of binaries as conceptual, social, and artistic frameworks, exploring their impact in our lives and in society. In addition to working in academic genres of critical inquiry and communication, students will learn to use narrative game development tools to create critical, interactive art which engages with the concept of binaries to tell their own stories.
ARTS 130 – Performing Listening
In this hybrid seminar-workshop course, you will re-create a range of listening situations to experience yourself reflectively in the roles of speaker and listener. You will engage critically with literature on listening to understand how to perform listening more effectively and compassionately in different situations and, thus, be a more humane and effective communicator in your personal and professional interactions.
ARTS 130 – Public Apologies
We will examine public apologies made by nations, corporations, churches, universities, and individuals, which have been made for residential schools, slavery, racist policies, corporate malfeasance, personal misconduct, and other histories. What does an apology do, and not do? How do we assess their meaning, sincerity, and role in addressing wrongs? How do they advance, or undermine, reconciliation? What is their place in public life?
ARTS 130 – Representing Change
This course will examine written and visual representations of social and cultural change during contemporary moments of crisis. Topics will be developed in collaboration with student interest.
ARTS 130 – Social Justice and Social Development
Note: This section is fully reserved for Social Development Studies students and online students.
In this course students will be asked to critically reflect on social justice issues from diverse and multiple perspectives.
Delivery mode: Online
ARTS 130 – Take Care: Rest as Resistance
Feeling tired? Me, too. Maybe being burnt out is not our fault. Perhaps there's more we can do about it than take up yoga or buy a time management app. Let's find out.
ARTS 130 – The Art of the Strike
This class explores the art and culture of strikes. We consider how people use images, songs and stories to protest exploitation, and debate the effectiveness of these methods. Can culture and art help build solidarity? We look at examples from Canada and the world to figure it all out.
ARTS 130 – The Board Game Renaissance
In this course, students will explore the world of game studies and literary text analysis through the lens of modern board gaming. Commercial conditions for board games today are ideal for the production of truly involved and masterful art objects, perfect for demonstrating how play can create a new dimensionality for literary texts, game design, and textual analysis.
ARTS 130 – The Disinformation of Misogyny
Why is the Manosphere so popular and profitable? How does it use digital technology to spread disinformation and enflame the so-called 'gender wars'? This course looks at the intersection between misogyny, technology, and disinformation to understand how we got here and how we can as a society find ways to counter gender-based hate in both online and offline spaces.
ARTS 130 – Unlearning Whiteness
Do you know how “whiteness” looks like in your daily life? Do you know how much whiteness you have learned? Non-white writers bring you various knowledge and stories across time and place, which are not popularized in a white culture. So, this course will navigate complex identities, hidden reality, and diverse voices through reading, writing, and listening with non-white perspectives in your Turtle Island. You will become “critically conscious” about your identity as a scholar to become a thinker and writer, refusing to be complicit in the systemic injustice of North American academia. You will challenge the status quo of your educational system and ideologies built upon “white supremacy.”
ARTS 130 – Violence, Truth, and Justice
How do societies deal with past atrocities? In this course, we analyze how communities around the world – including South Africa, Canada, the USA, and Kenya – have sought to reckon with and heal from state violence. We will examine different mechanisms for redress, including truth commissions, reparations, and criminal justice processes.
ARTS 130 – What do Games Mean?
This course teaches critical perspectives on games and game culture. The video game industry is massively popular, selling millions of copies annually and outperforming film and television in terms of revenue. Given this immense influence on popular culture, it becomes imperative to investigate video games, games, and game culture critically, and the main objective of this course will be to discuss how games are designed, played, and marketed, and how that engagement addresses matters of cultural significance. Who identifies as gamer, and who is excluded from that identity? What different forms of communities are created through games? What kinds of labour and work are performed through play? How are games designed and what ideas are implicit in that design? This course will address these issues and others, pushing students to think about who makes games, who plays games, and in what contexts these playful engagements occur. We will look at a wide variety of types of games, including boardgames, digital games, sports, and tabletop games; students will not be required to have previous experiences with games, but will be expected to play games as part of the course.
Winter 2025 - ARTS 140
ARTS 140 – 90s Pop Culture
Welcome to 90s Pop Culture, an Arts140 course focused on developing our researching and writing skills as geared for an undergraduate degree in the Arts here at UW. In this course, our vehicle for building up our researching literacy and writing efficiency will be the study of content and context analysis within (selected) mainstream television shows, major motion pictures, and music genres--plus historical contexts--centered in North America (though with some international content). Covering mostly fiction and commercialized art of the "neighties" (late-80s, early-90s), core 90s, and Y2K era, let's ponder and discuss representation of Black America, Indigenous nations, gender, sexuality, labour, plus utopian hopes, dystopian warnings, satire, subversive political messaging, and so much more.
ARTS 140 – Breaking (Down the) News
Is political news in Canada and elsewhere biased? If so, how and in what ways? Political news coverage does not simply report political facts, it constructs political reality – even when purportedly “unbiased.” Focusing on day-to-day political reporting in Canada, the course challenges students to be critical consumers of political news.
ARTS 140 – Can We Measure Originality?
Can we quantify Shakespeare's literary talent? How innovative are the films of Christopher Nolan? What will be the impact of AI-generated ideas and art on human originality? Is originality a fact or a value? This course explores the dynamic between cultural innovation and tradition and the data behind it.
ARTS 140 – Cannabis Culture
This course investigates the budding culture surrounding cannabis in modern society and the impact it has at both macro and micro levels. Students taking this course will develop information and analysis skills through the exploration of cross-disciplinary concepts like identity, behaviour, and relationships, in relation to our discussion of cannabis.
ARTS 140 – Changing Stage
Note: This section is partially reserved for students co-registered at St. Jerome's.
A lot has changed in the 400 years since Thomas Middleton's and William Rowley's The Changeling was first performed at the Phoenix in Drury Lane: social norms, cultural values, political systems, and even the architecture of the performance space. How does that change how we understand the meaning of the play, and what does that tell us about who we were, who we are, and where we might be heading? Let's investigate!
ARTS 140 – Crime and Punishment in EME
Early modern people went to court to resolve brawls, launch accusations of witchcraft, complain about stolen chickens, and face justice for murder. Court records offer valuable insights into how early modern societies functioned at the intersection of crime, gender, and justice. The digital humanities offer a lens to explore these records and learn about early modern society. This course will teach you to use a variety of digital tools to explore crime and better understand the ways gender influenced and shaped crime and punishment in the early modern period.
ARTS 140 – Diasporas and Food Cultures
Over the last two centuries, globalization and the migration of communities have made available a medley of new foods available to the public. This course looks at how diasporas and the movement of cuisines have transformed the global food market and the dietary patterns of people.
ARTS 140 – Engineering Consent
You may feel in charge, but how do you know? Engineering Consent explores the untold and controversial history of corporations and politicians and their use of psychoanalysis, to market individualism and desire to shape modern society to their interests during the 20th century: The Century of the Self.
ARTS 140 – Ethics and AI
This course will be an investigation in moral inquiry, considering ways that artificial intelligence is impacting our contemporary way of life. Why can seemingly harmless variables have such a negative ethical impact when AI is applied to the real world? Who is accountable when an AI gets it wrong? Is AI a threat to democracy? We will begin outlining a framework for moral inquiry and apply it to the many issues involving AI.
ARTS 140 – Everyone’s A Detective
Why do we want to know what we know? And should we be allowed to know it? This class aims to critically examine our cultural imperative for more knowledge, our notions of the criminal/victim, and the scientific discoveries and technological inventions which have made detectives out of us all.
ARTS 140 – Feminist Disability Studies
In this course we’ll delve into the newly burgeoning field of feminist disability studies, an intersectional framework for understanding the workings of power and privilege upon bodies that have been marked as “other” against an imaginary norm. Class discussions will engage with the following topics: medicalization of bodies, resistance to normative understandings of the body, ableism, chronic illness, issues of representation, eugenics and state violence, disability rights and justice, and access and accommodation. Our classroom environment will prioritize care of our bodyminds and encourage open and gentle communication with each other.
ARTS 140 – From Polar Bears to Bumblebees
Throughout this course, we will delve into the fascinating world of data analysis and effective communication, with a specific focus on the intricate relationship between biodiversity and the economic impact of endangered species. We will explore various research design principles, data collection techniques, quantitative and qualitative data analysis methods, as well as the art of presenting findings in clear and compelling ways. By the end of this journey, you will not only possess a deeper understanding of the importance of data and information analysis but also the ability to critically evaluate research, generate insights, and effectively communicate your findings to diverse audiences.
ARTS 140 – Homelessness and Addiction
This seminar will start out with an understanding of the relationship between social marginalization, drug addiction and homelessness by way of various readings, and then we’ll move on to consider the following books: 1) Righteous Dopefiend: An ethnography of addiction, homelessness and structural violence in San Francisco; and 2) The Space of Boredom: Homelessness in the Slowing Global Order: ethnography of globalization, neoliberal capitalism, social exclusion and toxic boredom among the homeless of Bucharest, Romania.
ARTS 140 – How the Sausage is Made: An Exploration of What and How We Eat
We all gotta eat! And yet, we often have very different opinions and views on food. This course is an exploration of how and what we eat. Topics we will cover include comfort foods, recipes, food markets and marketing, dietary movements, food accessibility and insecurity, culinary sustainability, and the future of food. As we examine various genres that explore what we feed our bodies, we will investigate how information, methods of analysis, and communication in various food industries create knowledge (and influence consumer attitudes) about our food. By gaining skills to assess, examine, and evaluate both qualitative and quantitative data, we will use these skills to reconsider our own perspectives on how and what we should eat.
ARTS 140 – Language Learning Truths (EMLS)
Note: This section is only open to learners of English as an additional language. It is an English for Multi-Lingual Speakers (EMLS) section.
Are you multilingual? Is it easy for you to learn languages? Multilingualism can be foundational to success in personal, academic, and professional fields. Therefore, learning languages efficiently is an important skill to develop. Our goal in this course is to become more efficient language learners by analyzing language in our environments. We will also consider prior research in the field of language learning.
ARTS 140 – Let's Meet In Real Life
This course will examine the ways in which we communicate and reason in public settings, including the various ways our speaking, writing, and reasoning can be systematically distorted by the interests of powerful players in the public sphere, such as governments, large corporations, public intellectuals, news media, etc.
ARTS 140 – Social Change and Social Development
Note: This section is fully reserved for Social Development Studies students and online students.
Drawing on the work of social theorists, activists, artists, film-makers, writers, poets, and pop icons, this course asks: How can everyday people work together to effect social change? Through experiential learning and a case study approach, students will explore the possibility of turning social justice goals into action.
Delivery mode: Online
ARTS 140 – The Economics of Information
Note: This section is fully reserved for online students.
Information – who knows what, and whether what they know is true – influences the gains that people receive from economic exchange. This course examines how information affects the distribution and equity of social outcomes, and the ways that societies can use what is known about these effects to improve prosperity.
Delivery mode: Online
ARTS 140 – The Picture of Health?
Note: This section is partially reserved for students co-registered at St. Jerome's.
Learning to conduct academic research in some ways is a bit like learning to take a photograph. Researchers need to apply different lenses and approach their subjects from different angles to get the best overall picture. The purpose of this course is straightforward: to provide students with the necessary tools and guidance to conduct academic research using various library resources and sources of health-related information and data, to develop critical thinking skills as they analyze the information and data they have collected, and to demonstrate an understanding of, and proficiency in, the conventions of academic writing. Students will begin with an initial health-related research topic, which they will further develop into a research question, and finally into a well-researched final paper.
ARTS 140 – The Study of Comics
Note: This section is partially reserved for students co-registered at St. Jerome's.
Students will cultivate an understanding of broad research methods through the analysis and exploration of the specific history, context, and practice surrounding the comics artform and the parallel evolution of the field of comics studies.
ARTS 140 – Video Game Research Methods
Video games are more than just time-killers or hobbies; they are complex social, cultural, and political products worth studying! You don’t have to be a “gamer” to do well in this class, just a person who wants to learn about games and how we study them. This class will explore the field of game studies through qualitative data collection and practice analyzing both qualitative and quantitative data about video games and/or games culture.
ARTS 140 – What Is Mental Health?
We live at a time where we are constantly informed about the need to manage and take care of our mental health. We hear about crises in mental health among the young, the old and the in between. What are the causes of this mental health crisis and is it unprecedented or unique in human history? This course will trace some of the history of the concept of mental health, as well as adjacent concepts like wellness, self-care, optimization and “the good life.” We will look at notions of health and map some of the ways that this notion has changed over time.
Fall 2024 - ARTS 130
ARTS 130 – Athletes and Icons
This course adopts a historical perspective to study several of the world's most famous athletes. Using biography to explore iconic figures in various professional sports, students will investigate the cultural ascendance of athletic superstars and their influence on both sport and society.
ARTS 130 – Beyond Borders: The Adventure
This comprehensive course on culture shock explores its dimensions, theories, and effects. Through engaging activities like discussions, debates, and immersive projects, you will apply theories to practical scenarios. Emphasis on coping strategies, communication skills, and cultural understanding equips you for adaptability in diverse cultural contexts, fostering global competence.
ARTS 130 – Capitalist Realism?
In this course, students will learn to recognize, define, and reflect on the relationship between economics and social agency in late-capitalism and develop an understanding of the role of consumer culture and liberalism in the contemporary world.
ARTS 130 – Colour Theory
This course will immerse students in the exploration of colour and its application in various fields. Through theory, colour-mixing, and the practical application of concepts into our every day, we will gain a deeper understanding of colours' psychological and emotional impact, and its role in visual communication, design, art, and more.
ARTS 130 – Consent and Commitment
This course will explore intimate romantic relationships: consent for sexual activity and commitment to remain with a partner. Although we will use interdisciplinary methods to answer some of the questions about these topics, our primary theoretical focus is attention to language use through elementary discourse analysis and strategies for effective communication about these topics.
ARTS 130 – Conspiracy and Fake News
Conspiracy theories are an expression of the social anxieties, fears, and in some instances desires of individuals in their relationship with the modern state and the public sphere. Through an interdisciplinary examination of the role of hoaxes, conspiracy theories, and fake news, both historical and contemporary, we will examine the social and historical reasons that allow these ideas to take hold and seem believable.
ARTS 130 – Ethics of Belief
The ethics of belief investigates the nature and norms of belief. What are beliefs, and what does it mean to believe responsibly? Are beliefs private or public? We will consider whether science, philosophy, culture, tradition, or religion can provide adequate grounds or guidance for our beliefs.
ARTS 130 – Friendship: Relationships of C
Aristotle claimed that no one would choose to live without friends. Friendships make our lives sweet, but specific friends come and go. And hardly any of us really know what we mean when we call someone a "friend." Some of us may worry that our modern, technological world inhibits the formation of deep friendships, but others will celebrate the fact that we can remain connected to those friends we would have lost before the digital era. This course, then, will examine various perspectives on friendship, allowing students to develop their own ideas in tension with some of the classic texts on friendship. Our inquiry into friendship will, necessarily, be personal, but we will also consider friendship as more than a private relationship, but possibly as a necessary condition for a sustainable and participatory democracy.
ARTS 130 – Ghosts, Cults, and End Times
The paranormal, cults, and end time prophecies are salacious, scary, and at times reflective of the social milieux in which they develop. These ideas and beliefs are concepts that are prevalent cross-culturally, including our own Western culture, although they are often dismissed in academia, they can provide a lens through which to observe and learn about the past and contemporary times. Using mixed methods, this course will examine the rise of paranormal experiences and beliefs, cults, and end times prophecies, through media consumption, oral history, and pop culture. The role of mass media and pop culture will be analyzed to understand how they shape perceptions and attitudes towards new religious movements, ghost hunting, tales of Cryptids, and cults.
ARTS 130 – How Should We be Working?
Note: This section is partially reserved for students co-registered at St. Jerome's.
Work is something that we are going to be doing for most of our lives. Consequently, it is crucial to read, discuss, research, and write about how we might make our working lives as productive, fulfilling, and enjoyable as possible by asking how much control should we have over the work we do, how many types of "jobs" should we be doing, who should be the ones doing the work, what conditions should we work in, and how long should we be working?
ARTS 130 – Humans & the Non-Human World
Humans are the animals that have forgotten they are animals. We live in a complex community of diverse species (humans, mammals, birds, insects, plants, and trees), and yet we have come to think only of our human selves. This course explores the narratives and perceptions that inform our interspecies relationships.
ARTS 130 – Improvisation
The theory and practice of spontaneity! From comedy, to music, to dance, to literature, this course will teach students to identify improvisational techniques across disciplines.
ARTS 130 – Intersecting Identity & Image
Note: This section is fully reserved for online students.
Students are asked to consider the relationship between images and the way that we think about ourselves and each other. How might popular culture and other image-based sources help “mediate” our identities, and what impact might it have on our everyday lives?
Delivery mode: Online
ARTS 130 – Language Matters
The section "Language Matters" engages students in the exploration of the power of language. It highlights the dual (cognitive and social) nature of language and enhances students' social awareness, ethical judgment, and communication competencies. It motivates students to reflect upon their discursive practices and helps them identify the ways to advance their academic skills.
ARTS 130 – Mindtools to Maximize Memory
Understand the most important skill in today's world: learning how to learn. This course is a condensed guide to memory techniques that provide an optimal state of performance and productivity. The goal is to have students learn about, and apply, cognitive techniques that are based in years of psychological research.
ARTS 130 – Nonbinary Digital Storytelling
With a focus on interactive fiction and games, in this course we will examine how binaries–either-or concepts, comparisons and conditions–shape our lives and experiences. We will read and play works by queer and racialized artists as we learn to critique these binaries, as well as adopt creative tools to author our own digital stories.
ARTS 130 – Performing Listening
In this hybrid seminar-workshop course, you will re-create a range of listening situations to experience yourself reflectively in the roles of speaker and listener. You will engage critically with literature on listening to understand how to perform listening more effectively and compassionately in different situations and, thus, be a more humane and effective communicator in your personal and professional interactions.
ARTS 130 – Reading Race
This course will explore the representation of race in Canadian newspapers to determine the ways that the mainstream media perpetuate racist stereotypes while positioning Canada as a multicultural and racially harmonious society. We will also examine counter-narratives that resist these representations and challenge perceptions of Canada as an inclusive nation.
ARTS 130 – Scary Teachings: Indigenous Horror
Note: This section is partially reserved for students co-registered at St. Jerome's.
In this course we will examine if an engagement with horror genre short stories, novels, and films created by First Nations authors and film makers can provide a path for settle/colonials to meaningfully engage with the work of Reconciliation. In addition to the creative works we will explore, we will be reading from the 2015 Truth and Reconciliation reports.
ARTS 130 – Social Justice and Social Development
Note: This section is fully reserved for Social Development Studies students and online students.
In this course students will be asked to critically reflect on social justice issues from diverse and multiple perspectives.
Delivery mode: Online
ARTS 130 – Ten Days that Shook Canada
Focusing on ten different days that forever transformed the history of what is now Canada, this course introduces you to moments of dramatic change across time and space. In conversation with the people of the past, with your peers, and in your course work, you’ll engage with themes and issues still current today.
ARTS 130 – The Board Game Renaissance
In this course, students will explore the world of game studies and literary text analysis through the lens of modern board gaming. Commercial conditions for board games today are ideal for the production of truly involved and masterful art objects, perfect for demonstrating how play can create a new dimensionality for literary texts, game design, and textual analysis.
ARTS 130 – The Power of Media
Are you interested in finding out how the media impacts your views? How it sways you into favouring one news interpretation over another? In this course, we will explore how the media establishes and maintains power structures by promoting certain ideologies, and how our own opinions are frequently shaped by these ideologies. We will also look at media platforms and their potential for exercising agency, with the goal to strengthen your critical media literacy skills.
ARTS 130 – What are you saying? (EMLS)
Note: This section is only open to learners of English as an additional language. It is an English for Multi-Lingual Speakers (EMLS) section.
What you say and how you say it is determined by more than just your own ideas. Come explore how social, global, and local influences affect your communication.
Fall 2024 - ARTS 140
ARTS 140 – 90s Pop Culture
The bright promises of Star Trek, the satire of The Simpsons, Oprah’s therapeutic morality, Nirvana's social criticisms. The 1990s were a time of unbridled optimism in tech innovation, social equality, and belief in progress–but like anything gilded, when we scratch the surface we find hidden realities. Through the venues of popular television, film, and music, this course explores the key cultural media trends of the era and how they help to explain our own current predicaments. Together in a constructive seminar, let’s learn about 1990s gender dynamics, images of Indigeneity, representations of Black life, political culture, utopian and dystopian machinations, satire, and the anatomy of alt-rock and other popular contemporary music of the "go-go 90s".
ARTS 140 – Blueprints for Progress
Note: This section is partially reserved for students co-registered at St. Jerome's.
Ideologies provide a picture of what society should be like and outline the means for moving from where we are to where we need to go. Topics include capitalism, Marxism, Nazism, conservatism, radical Islam, feminism, racism, colonialism, and environmentalism and how they have shaped our societies and our personalities.
ARTS 140 – Can We Measure Originality?
Can we quantify Shakespeare's literary talent? How innovative are the films of Christopher Nolan? Is originality a fact or a value? This course explores the dynamic between cultural innovation and tradition and the data behind it.
ARTS 140 – Cannabis Culture
This course investigates the budding culture surrounding cannabis in modern society and the impact it has at both macro and micro levels. Students taking this course will develop information and analysis skills through the exploration of cross-disciplinary concepts like identity, behaviour, and relationships, in relation to our discussion of cannabis.
ARTS 140 – Culture Decoded
In our increasingly interconnected world, understanding and navigating cultural differences is not just a valuable skill but a necessity. "Culture Decoded" is a transformative course designed to unravel the complexities of global diversity, focusing on the exploration of cultural differences and codes that shape societies around the world.
ARTS 140 – Diasporas and Food Cultures
Over the last two centuries, globalization and the migration of communities have made available a medley of new foods available to the public. This course looks at how diasporas and the movement of cuisines have transformed the global food market and the dietary patterns of people.
ARTS 140 – Engineering Consent
You may feel in charge, but how do you know? Engineering Consent explores the untold and controversial history of corporations and politicians and their use of psychoanalysis, to market individualism and desire to shape modern society to their interests during the 20th century: The Century of the Self.
ARTS 140 – Ethics and AI
Imagine you apply for a bank loan and are denied for reasons that can't be explained to you and despite your dedication to paying your bills on time, you cannot make an appeal. Is that fair? How can an algorithm be held accountable for mistaking a cancer diagnosis? The number of ethical problems that arise in applications of artificial intelligence are growing all the time. This course will be an investigation in moral inquiry, considering ways that artificial intelligence is impacting our contemporary way of life.
ARTS 140 – Everyone’s A Detective
With ever-present surveillance, online data-mining, and a 24 hour news cycle, it seems like anyone can be a detective. This class also aims to critically examine our cultural imperative for more knowledge, our notions of the criminal/victim, and the scientific discoveries and technological inventions which have made our armchair detecting possible.
ARTS 140 – Feminist Disability Studies
In this course we’ll delve into the newly burgeoning field of feminist disability studies, an intersectional framework for understanding the workings of power and privilege upon bodies that have been marked as “other” against an imaginary norm. Class discussions will engage with the following topics: medicalization of bodies, resistance to normative understandings of the body, ableism, chronic illness, issues of representation, eugenics and state violence, disability rights and justice, and access and accommodation. Our classroom environment will prioritize care of our bodyminds and encourage open and gentle communication with each other.
ARTS 140 – From Polar Bears to Bumblebees
Throughout this course, we will delve into the fascinating world of data analysis and effective communication, with a specific focus on the intricate relationship between biodiversity and the economic impact of endangered species. We will explore various research design principles, data collection techniques, quantitative and qualitative data analysis methods, as well as the art of presenting findings in clear and compelling ways. By the end of this journey, you will not only possess a deeper understanding of the importance of data and information analysis but also the ability to critically evaluate research, generate insights, and effectively communicate your findings to diverse audiences.
ARTS 140 – Generative AI and You
We're going to look at how Generative AI tools work; where they succeed and where they fail; where they can fit into our lives and where we should keep them out; where they can help us and where they can hurt us.
ARTS 140 – Homelessness and Addiction
Central to this Arts First seminar will be an understanding of the role of the historical, political and economic influences of addiction and homelessness–particularly structural violence and social suffering in creating and enabling the very possibilities for drug addiction, poverty and homelessness.
ARTS 140 – How the Sausage is Made: An Exploration of What and How We Eat
We all gotta eat! And yet, we often have very different opinions and views on food. This course is an exploration of how and what we eat. Topics we will cover include comfort foods, recipes, food markets and marketing, dietary movements, food accessibility and insecurity, culinary sustainability, and the future of food. As we examine various genres that explore what we feed our bodies, we will investigate how information, methods of analysis, and communication in various food industries create knowledge (and influence consumer attitudes) about our food. By gaining skills to assess, examine, and evaluate both qualitative and quantitative data, we will use these skills to reconsider our own perspectives on how and what we should eat.
ARTS 140 – Irrational Economics
This class explores the insights that behavioural economics holds for understanding personal and collective decision-making across a wide range of areas that impact our lives, using experiences of decision-making as a vehicle for understanding the influence of perceptions about facts and information.
ARTS 140 – Social Change and Social Development
Note: This section is fully reserved for Social Development Studies students and online students.
Drawing on the work of social theorists, activists, artists, film-makers, writers, poets, and pop icons, this course asks: How can everyday people work together to effect social change? Through experiential learning and a case study approach, students will explore the possibility of turning social justice goals into action.
Delivery mode: Online
ARTS 140 – The American Impact on Canada
The course is an examination of the impact the US has had on Canadian politics, society, culture, political culture, nationalism and economic development from the late 1700s to the present.
ARTS 140 – The Economics of Information
Note: This section is fully reserved for online students.
Information – who knows what, and whether what they know is true – influences the gains that people receive from economic exchange. This course examines how information affects the distribution and equity of social outcomes, and the ways that societies can use what is known about these effects to improve prosperity.
Delivery mode: Online
ARTS 140 – The Economics of Luxury
What is a luxury? Is the idea of luxury different from person to person? Can anyone start a luxury business? What does it mean for something to be called luxury? Discuss these questions and more in The Economics of Luxury! Students will delve deep into the theory of luxury economics. Students will expand their understanding of how luxury businesses are different from standard businesses and how they must be managed accordingly. Economic models of luxury firms and how they fit into our society will be explored.
ARTS 140 – The Study of Comics
Note: This section is partially reserved for students co-registered at St. Jerome's.
Students will cultivate an understanding of broad research methods through the analysis and exploration of the specific history, context, and practice surrounding the comics artform and the parallel evolution of the field of comics studies.
ARTS 140 – To steal or not to steal?
Are you intrigued by the advantages of qualitative methods of inquiry for sociology and criminology? In proposing a study of crime and deviance as any other human activity that bears a complex relationship to broader processes of media representation, consumption, and identity production, Cultural Criminology demands that researchers place themselves in situations that often challenge their emotional, moral, and ethical footholds. In this course we will look at the theory and practice of Cultural Criminology to critically evaluate its approach to the study of crime and emotion, the media, consumerism, and/or identity construction.
ARTS 140 – Understanding What Isn’t Said
Students will learn to use qualitative and quantitative tools to measure and analyze verbal and nonverbal communication in the domains of message, relationship, space, and time. We will explore taxonomies to categorize different kinds of communication mishaps using different communication channels and media. Course includes a $50 materials fee.
ARTS 140 – Video Game Research Methods
Videogames are more than just a hobby; games are complex social, cultural, and political texts worth studying. Approaching game studies through both humanities and social science methodologies, students will analyze their findings to come to meaningful conclusions about the games that surround many of us. You don’t have to be a “gamer” to do well in this class; you just have to want to know more about them.
ARTS 140 – What Is Mental Health?
We constantly hear about the importance of mental health and our need to “manage” it. But what do we mean by mental health? Is it something identifiable and quantifiable? Why has it become so important for describing our lives and experiences in the 21st century? This course will trace some of the history of the concept of mental health, as well as adjacent concepts like wellness, self-care, optimization and “the good life.” We will look at notions of health in history and map some of the ways that this notion has changed over time, in particular since modernity. We will also critically examine the ways that this notion shows up in modern culture, often in dubious ways as a means of exploiting our fears and insecurities and selling products in the name of wellness and self-optimization.