HIST 5310 (formerly 24.533)
CANADA: CULTURE AND IDEAS


NOT OFFERED BY MCKILLOP IN 2003-2004

This graduate seminar provides an examination of selected aspects of Canadian thought from the nineteenth century to the present. The course examines relationships between ideas, culture, and society, and between elite and popular forms of expression. Among the topics discussed are:

- religious assumption and critical inquiry;
- evolution and its consequences;
- imperialism and nationalism;
- the sacred and the secular;
- academic cultures;
- mass society and popular culture;
- gender and society;
- technology and communication;
- politics, economy, and nationhood;
- critiques of modernity.

Fall Term is devoted to discussion of these topics and their related historiography, and preparation of an historiographical essay and a research essay proposal. During Winter Term, students will complete the research essay and present it to the seminar.

The course will not have a final examination. Term grades will be based on written essays and class preparation and participation.