Conspiracy Theories & Social Media
Conspiracy theories cascade across social media platforms spreading fears, moral panics, and can affect the political policies, institutions, and leadership of nations. Using various methodologies students will learn about the spread of conspiracies, influencers, and the political response. We will examine the social and historical reasons that allow these ideas to take hold and seem believable.
SEM 008, In-person (Class Number 4162)
Eating Beings
This course asks you to think critically about acts of eating while building skills in research and communication. What relationships do we build with family, culture, the environment, and our own bodies through acts of eating? What power structures do we partake in? By asking such questions, we will contemplate how acts of eating inform the construction of self. If we are what we eat, then what are we? You will use our explorations of these ideas as jump off points into developing your own research and communication practices. This course will require you to be an active learner who comes to class ready to share your ideas about our texts and to participate in a community of learning where we all help each other progress.
SEM 001, In-person (Class Number 4155)
Food for Thought: Exploring How and What We Eat
From comfort foods and culturally “authentic” recipes to food marketing and popular dietary movements, from food accessibility and insecurity to culinary sustainability and the future of food, this course will ask you to consider more deeply how and what we eat. As we examine various genres that explore how and 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.
SEM 002, In-person (Class Number 4156)
Food: Memory, Belonging, Being
Food is a primary medium through which humans construct and communicate meaning. It reflects social values, articulates memory, and sustains connection across time and space. Across cultures and histories, the act of eating together has marked moments of grief, joy, and transition while shaping relationships and building communities, and it has also created connection in moments of absence. Meals mark change, convey care, and preserve continuity—between generations, among the living, in memory of the dead, cutting across space and time.
SEM 009, In-person (Class Number 4163)
Gender on the Edge of Time
In the sci-fi novel Woman on the Edge of Time, Connie time travels between a utopian future without gender and a dystopian one where gender, race, and wealth divide people into "haves" and "have nots." Students will examine how gender, race, class, sexuality, and disability operate in the worlds of the novel and in our time.
SEM 010, In-person (Class Number 4164)
Haunted Houses
Haunted houses have been and continue to be a powerful image in artistic and literary forms, in part due to the terror they evoke in audiences. Students will examine the significance of the haunted house in short story, visual art, and film in different cultural and historical contexts.
SEM 017, In-person (Class Number 4171)
How to live a Simple Life
This course will explore the notion of Voluntary Simplicity (VS) as a real and potentially transformative alternative to the prevailing system of globalization and its associated challenges of climate change, economic insecurity and social conflict. There are strong indications that the current model of economy activity and its consequent impacts on society and the environment are not sustainable. VS is an old idea and in this course we will examine this concept against the current thinking on these subjects. This course will be based on weekly readings, in class discussions and assessments as well as experiential learning exercises that students will conduct outside of the classroom.
SEM 006, In-person (Class Number 4160)
Music Jam
Music Jam is a practice-based communication course that builds collaboration, listening, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills through shared music-making. Using guided jam sessions inspired by global music traditions, students explore rhythm, groove, and group interaction in an inclusive, hands-on environment. No prior musical experience is required; curiosity, participation, and teamwork are central to the course.
SEM 004, In-person (Class Number 4158)
SEM 005, In-person (Class Number 4159)
Myths of the Mind
Myths about the human mind are everywhere, from popular media to self-help books to the stories we grew up with. In this course, we’ll explore some of the most common misconceptions about human psychology, including the myth that we only use 10% of our brain and the idea that subliminal messages control us. We’ll investigate where these myths come from, why they persist, and how critical thinking and evidence can help us separate fact from fiction.
SEM 041, Online (Class Number 4178)
PC to the Trashcan of History!
PC here stands for political correctness. The words of the course title are the exact words of the German right-wing leader of the AfD party, Alice Weidel. However, before you judge her statement, do you understand what political correctness (PC) means? Do not fall for the word ‘political’, PC has more to do with language use than with politics. In this course, the students are going to explore the different aspects of language that are used in our everyday lives and how this language use affects the individual members of our society. Primarily, we are going to evaluate both Ms. Weidel words and president Putin’s utterance that Political Correctness is a Crime a against humanity.
SEM 015, In-person (Class Number 4169)
SEM 016, In-person (Class Number 4170)
The US Impact on Canada
A historical examination of the US impact on Canada from the time of the US revolution to the late 20th Century. Course themes include Canada-US economic relations, diplomatic relations, political relations and popular culture ties. As well, we examine the effects of the War of 1812, US attempts in the 19th Century to annex Canada and the impact of the First and Second World Wars on Canadian-American relations.
SEM 011, In-person (Class Number 4165)
Theory of Cannabis Culture
This course examines the budding culture surrounding cannabis in modern society, with particular emphasis on applying social theory as a framework to navigate its exploration, especially in Canada. Students taking this course will develop information, analysis, and communication skills by delving into cross-disciplinary concepts at both macro and micro levels of investigation, like identity, behaviour, and politics, in relation to our discussion of cannabis.
SEM 012, In-person (Class Number 4166)
SEM 042 Online (Class Number 4179)
Thinking & Learning in the Age of AI
Artificial intelligence is transforming how we learn, work, and solve problems—and it is changing what it means to earn a university education. In this course, you will explore both the opportunities and limitations of AI while developing the critical thinking and evaluative judgment needed to use it effectively and responsibly. You'll learn how to assess evidence, judge the quality of ideas and AI-generated content, and strengthen the analytical and communication skills that employers increasingly value in an AI-driven world.
SEM 007, In-person (Class Number 4161)
Who We Are: Spirituality and Self
Who are we, and who are we becoming? This course explores how religion and spirituality shape identity, meaning, and the formation of the Self in contemporary life. Moving beyond doctrines and institutions, we examine religion and spirituality as lived, creative forces that influence desire, embodiment, culture, power, and belonging. Through fiction, poetry, visual and sonic media, and critical theory, students investigate how people draw on, resist, and remix religious and spiritual traditions to make sense of their lives. Discussion-based and open to all backgrounds, the course develops critical thinking, interpretation, and communication skills while inviting reflection on the Self we are becoming.
SEM 003, In-person (Class Number 4157)
Winning a trade war
People have been engaging in exchange with one another throughout the passage of time, with increasing levels of formality and complexity and global reach in more recent times. Currently, international trade has become a geopolitical challenge, as some countries enact policies that reflect skepticism about the gains from exporting and importing. As a small open economy, Canada has lived the past 50 years in liberal trade relations with partner countries, enacting domestic policies that help it respond intelligently to the evolving opportunities for fair exchange. If international exchange is such a compelling and enduring practice, why is it portrayed so negatively in the media and by some countries’ leaders? This class looks at the irresistible incentives that countries have to engage in mutually advantageous trade and how the rules of trade matter to fair prosperity.
SEM 013, In-person (Class Number 4167)
SEM 014, In-person (Class Number 4168)
