First Year Courses
These interdisciplinary courses bring together Canada’s present with Canada’s past to explore the ways in which the nation is ‘produced’ for both domestic and international consumption.
By studying famous Canadian people, important Canadian events, and pivotal moments in Canadian life, past and present, we will ask questions about how Canada is constructed, and the ways in which this construction is a process of ongoing negotiation.
What, in other words, comprises the production known as Canada? Who authors this representation? How do we decide which national mythologies we can and should share? Which narratives make Canadians feel connected to each other and which narratives divide us?
By exploring the characters, settings, and stories that work together to produce Canada, students will be introduced to a wide array of Canadian Studies topics and approaches.
Assignments include essays and exams, alongside collaborative projects produced through a workshop format.
Students intending on pursuing a major or joint major in Canadian Studies are required to take CAST 1100H, as well as a least one of either CAST 1101H, CAST 1103H, CAST 1104H or CAST 1105H.
CAST 1100H – Conflicted Canada
Conflicted Canada introduces the conflicts, contexts and challenges of Canada and what it means to be Canadian. Exploring social, political and cultural upheavals to the land itself, topics include Colonization and Conquest, Identity, Regional Conflict, Representations from Riel to Hockey, Immigration and Art.
CAST 1101H – Canada: Images and realities of a nation
What is our image of Canada and what is its reality? This course compares the often conflicting images of Canada and traces their roots to the nation’s political and economic history. Main topics include a history of Canadian prosperity, democracy, the rule of law, and social and political accommodation.
CAST 1103H – Global Canada
Does the world really “need more Canada”? How do Canadians understand themselves and their country within a global context? This course critically analyzes Canada’s role internationally exploring the important world events that have shaped Canadian society and their impact on the notion of Canadian citizenship and Canada as a nation.
CAST 1104H: Local Lives: Everyday Dimensions of Canadian Life
While often imagined as a national construct, everyday Canadians’ lives are largely organized at the local level. This course explores the local, focusing upon the key social organizations and institutions that shape the real experience of ordinary Canadians, especially with the urban experience.
CAST 1105H: Hockey and Canada
Invites students to explore contemporary Canadian social, cultural, and ecological issues through the lens of hockey.
