Program
The Canadian Studies and Indigenous Studies MA program offers a unique and exciting graduate school experience. With a long-standing national and international reputation in Canadian studies, the MA program draws students from across Canada and beyond with wide-ranging interests and from diverse disciplinary backgrounds who desire to pursue graduate work in a supportive and stimulating environment.
With support from Trent's multi-disciplinary faculty, MA students initiate and undertake research projects that range across the humanities, social sciences and other interdisciplinary fields. Students explore a research subject that they define and structure under the guidance of their supervisor and supervisory committee, producing either a Major Research Paper or a MA Thesis. Students undertake research projects that range across the humanities, social sciences and interdisciplinary fields. They may develop a research project suitable for a thesis/MRP through the Trent Community Research Centre (initial contacts for these possibilities can be made through the Frost Centre Director: fcdirector@trentu.ca). To learn more about research projects undertaken, visit completed Major Research Papers and Thesis where students are listed, as well as M.A. Student Profiles that include theses-in-progress.
MA in Canadian Studies and Indigenous Studies is unique in providing courses and supervision in both Canadian Studies and Indigenous Studies. The required core colloquium (CSID 5000) addresses a wide range of issues in both these areas. The Frost Centre fields of study include (but are not limited to):
- Canada in the global context
- Cultural heritage, literature, theory and the arts
- Environmental politics, policy and natural heritage
- Aboriginal Peoples in Canada
- Political economy, labour and community development
- Women and gender
- Identities and difference in Canada (includes the study of 'race', ethnicity, multiculturalism, sexual difference, disabilities, as well as region and place)
Established in 1986, the Canadian Studies and Indigenous Studies MA is based at the Frost Centre for Canadian Studies and Indigenous Studies and is celebrated for its role in developing the field of Canadian Studies. Located at Trent's historical Traill College, close to downtown Peterborough, the College provides graduate students with excellent office and social space, as well as a limited amount of accommodation. It also serves as the home for three other graduate programs in the humanities and social sciences.