2011-12 Graduate Courses

New students should review the information on our Information for Newly Admitted Students page and Course Registration page for information about course selection and registration. Please note that most graduate courses require students to attain permission from the department prior to the course registration. For more information about a particular course, including who to contact concerning permission to register, contact the Graduate Co-ordinator.

Click on the course title to view the course outline. Please note that graduate course descriptions and course outlines are subject to change by the instructor without notification.

Fall 2011 (Term 1: Week of September 12th - Week of December 5th)

GLOBALST 701: Topics in Globalization I: International Peace and Conflict
Peter Langille  Mondays 8:30-11:30 in KTH 709
This course explores the diverse schools of thought and approaches currently used to assess and respond to international peace and security. It examines the related concepts, definitions, theories and policy options advanced in peace studies, conflict resolution and strategic studies. It also delves into contemporary efforts at peacekeeping, peacemaking and protection of civilians. Among the central questions guiding this inquiry are what are the various factors now generating intra- and inter-state violence? How might we better understand, explain and address peace, security and armed conflict? Do recent efforts to advance the ideal of human security build on or replace the previous objectives of co-operative, common or collective security? What are the more promising initiatives to enhance global peace and security?

GLOBALST 704: Global Social Policy
Y. Rachel Zhou    Tuesdays 8:30-11:30 in KTH-B108
This interdisciplinary course introduces students to key concepts and issues of global social policy and its connections with globalization processes. It examines trends in global social policy and the diverse experiences of different welfare regimes across the world. Locating social policy within the context of global inequalities, this course also seeks a deeper understanding of the issues of poverty, social exclusion, and deprivation from an international perspective. In discussing the challenges and possibilities regarding the future of welfare, the roles of various non-state sectors (e.g., transnational corporations, international organizations, and international NGOs) in pursuing social justice and human rights in the global context are also addressed.

GLOBALST 705: Global Public Policy (same as Political Science 705) Also offered in Term 2
Stephen McBride    Tuesdays 14:30-17:30 in KTH-732
This course deals with the interaction between global and national policy regimes in a variety of economic and social policy areas, including trade and investment, privatization, un/employment, and responses to economic and financial crisis. Debates around global governance, the re‐focusing of the state in an era of globalization, the rise of private authority, and the role of crises provide a theoretical context to the public policy discussions.

GLOBALST 710: Globalization: An Introduction (same as GHC 710)
Peter Nyers (C01)    Thursdays 8:30-11:30 Location: ETB 533 (C01 restricted for students from Globalization Studies)
Robert O'Brien (C02)   Tuesdays 11:30-14:30 Location: MDCL 2230 (C02 restricted for students from Global Health)
An introduction to major theories and debates in the field of globalization studies.

GLOBALST 758: Cosmopolitanism and its Critics (same as Political Science 758)
James Ingram   Mondays 14:30-17:30 in KTH-732
For 2500 years, some political philosophers have called on us to think and act as cosmopolitans, "citizens of the world," and more than ever over the last 20 years. While some regard cosmopolitanism as the necessary expression of the idea of moral universalism, others see it as concealing forms of world domination. In this course we explore some of the forms this call has taken, and the difficulties and ambiguities that have surrounded it.

GLOBALST 764: Global Power, Local Cultures: Comparative Colonialisms in Africa (same as History 764)
Bonny Ibhawoh Tuesdays 13:30-16:30 in CNH 614
This course examines the processes by which the global impulses of imperial power shaped the history of African peoples under colonial rule. It investigates the important but uncertain issues arising from the interplay between "global" materially grounded power relations and "local" social and cultural constructions. This is a reading seminar designed to provide students with an understanding of the key themes and theoretical debates about the place and meaning of colonialism in modern African history. The course proceeds from the premise that colonialism is a highly diverse process, with great variation geographically, historically, and culturally. It encompasses vastly different geographical regions, quite different historical periods, distinctive styles of colonialism among different European nations, and extraordinary diversity in the cultures of the peoples who were colonized. Understanding this diversity in contexts, processes and outcomes is crucial to understanding the history of colonialism in Africa and elsewhere in the colonized world.

GLOBALST 774: Global Political Economy (same as Political Science 774)
Robert O'Brien (C01)    Wednesdays 8:30-11:30 in KTH-732
Richard Stubbs (C02)    Wednesdays 8:30-11:30 in KTH-709
This course provides students with a graduate level introduction to global political economy. It examines approaches to the study of global political economy, the evolution of the global political economy and its existing structures. It focuses upon several key issues: the globalization of national political economies; changes in how we understand the global political economy; implications for peoples, states and corporations.

GLOBALST 777: Global Governance (same as Political Science 777) Also offered in Term 2
Sandy Irvine     Thursdays 11:30-14:30 in KTH-732
In this course we will look at the formal and informal/pragmatic arrangements of new and developing governance structures in international politics. The first part of the course will have a strong focus on state based actors who are increasingly active in internationalized public policy forms and will consider the ways in which states attempt to govern in these areas. The second part of the course will consider the contributions of non‐state actors and international organizations to the processes of global governance. In addition to this, the course will address a number of key questions raised in international relations. These include but are not limited to questions of: policy convergence; internationalized policy making, the role of the state, sovereignty, power, legitimacy, authority, accountability and effectiveness. In addressing these questions the course will also look at specific actors such as internationalized bureaucrats, global government networks, epistemic communities, private actors and diplomats and will study their roles across a variety of policy fields.

GLOBALST 786: Global Futures: Theory, Practice and Possibility (same as Anthropology 786)
Petra Rethmann Wednesdays 13:30-16:30 in CNH-307
This course seeks to address and open up the question of “the future” through a series of political, theoretical, and anthropological excursions. Starting from the hypothesis that many of us today experience the present as extremely cynical and politically unpromising and closed, we will examine practical, theoretical, and affective openings to the problem of futurity and political possibility – openings that might help us to understand this present in different ways. To this effect, the materials assigned for this course address the question of  “possibility,” “the future”, and “horizons” by way of thinking through a set of inter-related terms: “liberalism,” “neoliberalism,” “democracy,” “identity,” “the left,” “collectivity,” and “sovereignty.” The goal of this course is not to arrive at a determined idea of what a socially and politically just future might look like, but rather to ask about alternative cultural and political formations.

Winter 2012 (Term 2: Week of January 9th - Week of April 9th)

Stephen McBride    Tuesdays 14:30-17:30 in KTH-732
This course deals with the interaction between global and national policy regimes in a variety of economic and social policy areas, including trade and investment, privatization, un/employment, and responses to economic and financial crisis. Debates around global governance, the re‐focusing of the state in an era of globalization, the rise of private authority, and the role of crises provide a theoretical context to the public policy discussions.

GLOBALST 712: International Trade and Economic Development
Shadab Qaiser     Thursdays 16:30-19:30 Location: KTH-B108
The major goal of this course is to provide graduate students with a better understanding of the process of economic development and international trade and enhance their understanding of the social, legal, economic and institutional challenges surrounding international trade and economic development.  It is designed to cover important concepts in trade and development from political science, economics and law perspective. This course will help students in understanding the interrelated nature of economic development and international trade and how international trade can affect the rate and structure of economic development. They will also understand how international trade can alter the distribution of income among different countries and how trade can help developing countries to achieve their development objectives. Students will also examine the politics of international trade and economic development in relation to both developed and developing countries.

GLOBALST 730: Work and Democracy in the Global Society (same as Work & Society 730)
Don Wells    Tuesdays 8:30-11:30 in KTH-709
This course centers on the transition from a postwar "golden age" of state-regulated labour regimes to a more disorganized capitalism of "flexible" labour regimes. The main dynamics of this transition include a new era of transnational corporate rivalry and collaboration, massive technological change, and a complex new global division of labour. Students will analyze this transition at the level of the workplace, community, nation-state, sub-national industrial districts and the supranational level, including regional trading blocs. Students will assess the impact on labour of key global institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs, Wlorld Trade Organization and the International Labour Organization. The course will focus on both "first" and "third world" labour regimes. Finally, the course will examine key labour responses to globalization, including the activities of transnational labour bodies, new alignments between labour and social movements, and emerging forms of transnational labour solidarity. Enrollment is limited to a maximum of 3 students from the MA in Globalization Studies program, or permission of the instructor.

GLOBALST 731: Anxiety Disorders: The Cultural Politics of Risk (same as English/CSCT 731)
Susie O'Brien  Tuesdays 9:30-12:30 in CNH-317
This course will explore how the concepts of risk, security, and crisis inform contemporary culture. A significant focus of our analysis will be the way in which the rhetoric and values of finance have come to saturate everyday life, such that matters of human and environmental health, culture, politics and society are reckoned in the language of profit and liability. Among the questions we will explore are: how and why do particular subjects (crime, terrorism, debt, environmental destruction, social injustice) emerge as categories of risk and/or targets of widespread social anxiety? How does that anxiety affect our ability to articulate the conditions of the present or to imagine a better future? What ideas, realities, movements flourish or falter in a culture whose fear of mortality is alternately stoked and soothed by ideologies of consumption, personal investment and debt? Our reading will focus on texts that express, critically analyze and/or try to break through the imaginative impasses of late capitalist culture.

GLOBALST 757: The British Empire and Global Integration 1815-1960 (same as History 757)
John Weaver    Fridays 9:30-12:30 in CNH-614
The British empire - metropolitan centre, settlement colonies, plantation-exploitation colonies, and strategic maritime enclaves - was a trans-national economic, political, and cultural agglomeration. This course considers how assorted types of colonizers working within this loosely-managed empire co-opted, dispersed, and displaced subject populations and cultures, attempted to restructure established civilizations, pursued economic and strategic opportunities, moved and managed people in conjunction with plans for improvement, diffused a language and an array of ideas about law, justice and government, and distributed flora and fauna around the world.

GLOBALST 761: Themes in the History of Post-Slavery African Diaspora (same as History 761)
Juanita de Barros    Mondays 11:30-14:30 in CNH-614
This course examines some of the social, political, and cultural changes following the end of slavery in the African Diaspora.  This year, the seminar concentrates on the late nineteenth and early twentieth-century Caribbean world.  It will explore the intersection of race and gender, particularly within the context of evolving ideas about nationality and the role of the state.

GLOBALST 765: Biopolitics: An Introduction (same as English/CSCT 765)
Henry Giroux Tuesdays 15:30-18:30 in CNH-317
Over the last decade, the concept of biopolitics has come to occupy a central place theoretically
in a number of disciplines including sociology, philosophy, education, English, anthropology and
cultural studies. At the same time, there are no clear disciplinary boundaries to rely on, either in
articulating its meaning or its relevance in contemporary theoretical debates. This course draws
on a number of post disciplinary sources in order to provide a foundational and conceptual
mapping while also raising issues about the relevance the concept of biopolitics might have in
addressing a number of pressing social issues. The course is organized in two sections. The first
part of the course will explore the most important writers associated with the developing archive
on biopolitics. These include Michel Foucault, Giorgio Agamben, Michael Hardt/Antonio Negri,
Roberto Esposito and Thomas Lemke. The purpose of this section is to provide students with a
grasp and understanding of the foundational literature on biopolitics and the different and often
contradictory tensions that mediate this diverse body of work. The second section will look at
how biopolitics is being used as a theoretical resource to address a number of issues extending
from the work of AIDS workers in South Africa to theorists attempting to rethink the logic of
disposability under the global regime of neoliberalism. Theorists to be included in this section
are Zygmunt Bauman, John and Jean Comaroff, and Judith Butler.

GLOBALST 777: Global Governance (same as Political Science 777) Also offered in Term 1
Andrew Lui    Mondays 14:30-17:30 in KTH-709
This course explores the structures and processes of global governance. Rather than treating global governance merely in a technical way by focusing on the history or mechanics of particular institutions, the course introduces students to global governance as a distinct field of inquiry within International Relations. Part I engages with theoretical approaches to the creation, maintenance and evolution of rule‐making through an exploration of global governance theory, theories of hegemony and empire, international regime theory and the literature on non‐state actors and international norms. These introductory weeks will thus provide students with a foundational understanding of the structures of global governance as well as how globalization has affected the processes of complex social relations between various actors and agents. Part II then examines a selection of contemporary challenges in global governance including: international security; development and international trade; global health governance; the international relations of the environment; international criminal tribunals and legalization; international migration and human trafficking; and, democracy and global governance.

GLOBALST 779: The Times We Live In (same as English/CSCT 779)
Susie O'Brien Fridays 9:30-12:30 in CNH-317
The Acceleration of Everything. That’s how James Gleick described the movement of time in the late Twentieth Century. Other recent titles—The Time Bind, Time Wars, The 24-Hour Society and In Praise of Slow—bear witness to a widespread sense that the times -- literally -- are changing. While the human experience of time has varied throughout history and in different cultures, many commentators agree that globalization has ushered in a temporal shift that is unprecedented in degree and worldwide impact. Whether it’s described as a move from chronologic (clock) to chronoscopic (computer) time (Hassan), modern to postmodern time (Nowotny) or public to corporate time (Giroux), the shift expresses itself as a sense, shared by many people, of increasing speed and time scarcity. As with other valued commodities the advantages and burdens of this movement are unequally distributed. This course examines the temporal culture of globalization in the form of literary texts, films and social movements (e.g. Slow Food, Slow Education), many of which aim to challenge moves towards synchronization and acceleration. Questions that may arise for consideration are: What role do factors such as gender, class, race and culture play in the experience of time scarcity? What are the cultural implications of shifting boundaries between public and private time? What is the role of memory in a world caught up in the “eternal present”? and finally, How do we imagine the future?

Globalization Courses Offered in Other Academic Years

GLOBALST 6C03: Topics in Feminist Scholarship: Refugee Women in Canada
In this seminar, we shall look at the evolution of gender considerations in the refugee determination process, examine refugee generating situations such as inter state and internal conflicts, forced economic displacement, natural disasters, trafficking or gender based persecution, how they affect refugee women’s lives in specific ways and in different locations and contexts (i.e., from refugee camps to Canada), and how they respond (i.e., trauma, but also resilience, resistance and initiatives). We shall reflect on the methodological and ethical questions we need to address when conducting research with refugee women, as educators and advocates.

GLOBALST 701: Topics in Globalization Studies I
This course will expand the discussion of why globalization should be the focus of interdisciplinary inquiry giving particular attention to an identified key issue area in the field. For each of these areas, readings will be drawn from the social sciences and the humanities.

2010/11 Subject: Citizenship, Migrant Illegality and the Nation-State
Global processes of inclusion and exclusion have become central to anthropological concerns with citizenship, sovereignty and migration. The paradox of citizenship, that of being both an inclusive process in which subjects gain access to rights and responsibilities as well as an exclusive process that provides a state the means to distinguish between those who belong and those who do not, has been taken up in a variety of ways by scholars who have reconceptualized traditional understandings of citizenship. What are these new conceptions of citizenship (i.e., centrality of the nation-state? How might the study of migrant illegality and processes of migrant illegalization broaden understandings of inclusion and exclusion within citizenship studies?

GLOBALST 702: Topics in Globalization Studies II
This course will expand the discussion of why globalization should be the focus of interdisciplinary inquiry giving particular attention to an identified key issue area in the field. For each of these areas, readings will be drawn from the social sciences and the humanities.

GLOBALST 703: Acts of Global Citizenship (same as Political Science 703 and CSCT 707)
This course examines recent debates about a fundamental concept in globalization studies: global citizenship.

GLOBALST 706: Social Welfare and Social Work in the Context of Globalization and Restructuring (same as Social Work 706)
This course focuses on the dynamics and consequences of the restructuring of social programs in Canada. Attention will be given to policy trends toward privatization and market models of service delivery, to changes in the practices of social welfare institutions and to changes in the meaning of citizenship and political participation.

GLOBALST 707: Religion and Globalization (same as Religious Studies 768 and Sociology 709)
This course will provide a critical account of debates about globalization as they relate to questions of religious identity, practice, belief and modes of affiliation. Through a combination of theoretical discussion and case studies, the course will provide students with a framework for analyzing how religious movements operate on the world stage, both historically and in the contemporary situation. Thematic emphasis, and selection of case studies, will shift from year to year, including (but not limited to) studies of secural nationalism, religious fundamentalism, religion and global media, transnational and diasporic religious public spheres, missionaries and empire, religion and migration, pilgrimage and travel, religion and global environmentalism, or religious themes in world politics.

GLOBALST 713: Islam, Diaspora, and Identities in Central Asia 1880 to the Present (same as History 713)
This course focuses on Soviet Central Asia but begins with background from the late Tsarist period and ends in the post-Soviet present. Central Asia is the focus for broader discussions on issues of colonialism, identity, gender, nationalism, the Soviet legacy, Islam, diaspora, and the challenges of post-Soviet transition.

GLOBALST 714: The United States and Globalization since the Late Nineteenth Century (same as History 714)
This course will examine how the United States has shaped the historical evolution of globalization since the late nineteenth century.

GLOBALST 715: Globalization and China
An examination of China's response to globalization and the social, economic, political and cultural transformations of Chinese society in the globalization era. This course introduces students to the significant transformations of Chinese society since 1978 and their connections with globalization processes.

GLOBALST 717: Global Sex (same as Englishl/CSCT 717)
This course examines the relationship between gender and globalization by exploring how processes of globalization interact with dynamics of gender differentiation and inequality in various social contexts around the world.

GLOBALST 718: Global Actors Beyond the State: Methods and Cases
This course examines the emergence and effects of global activism beyond that of state actors and associations of states. It introduces methods for analyzing global social movements: frame and discourse analyzes; historical approaches; case-based and comparative research; network analysis; and approaches that emphasize political processes and opportunity structures. We also examine various cases, including: human rights movements; campaigns against neoliberal policies affecting the developing world; and international religious mobilizations. Students will work on research papers using research methods appropriate to a case study of their own design.

GLOBALST 720: Topics in Political Culture (same as Anthropology 720)
An examination of the interrelationship between politics and culture. Thematic foci of the course will vary.

GLOBALST 727: The New Constellation of Race: Sovereignty, Citizenship, Social Death (same as English/CSCT 727)
This course seeks to map the new trajectories of race theory in a post-civil rights, post-apartheid, post-9/11 world.

GLOBALST 746: Science, Technology, and Nature (same as History 746)
Historical examination of the relationships between science, technology, and the environment, with particular reference to the Western world.

GLOBALST 747: Discourses of Empire, 1700-1820 (same as English/CSCT 747)
An examination of how British and Colonial literatures articulated the process of forging a world empire.

GLOBALST 751: European/Muslim Encounters in the Pre-Modern World (same as History 751)
This seminar will explore the historical origins and evolution of East/West (Europe/Islam) relations, concentrating on a number of themes such as perceptions of religious difference (Christianity and Islam), the narratives of warfare (crusades and jihads), the Orient and the “Turk” in European thought (17th-19th centuries), and the politics and cultures of eastern and western empires. This is largely a course on the history of ideas, although we will read select primary texts which continue to influence the writing of the history of the Middle East in English and French. The subject is vast, and I begin with the assumption that the students will have little background knowledge. Our aim is to reach a broad understanding of the origins of present-day cross-cultural apprehensions.

GLOBALST 766: Islamic Fundamentalism (same as Religious Studies 766)
The course will examine the rise and appeal of Islamic Fundamentalism. Why and when did the fundamentalist movements begin? Why do many Muslims find the fundamentalist movements appealing? In documenting the growth and appeal of fundamentalist religious tenets among segments of the Islamic community, it becomes apparent that the fundamentalist enterprise has become or seeks to be a potent force on the geo-political stage. The course will also compare and contrast the diverse movements. It will be argued that there are more differences than similarities between the fundamentalist movements. Students will read primary sources and recent secondary studies of the topic.

GLOBALST 767: Islam in a Global World (same as Religious Studies 767)
The course will explore how Islam and Muslims have been affected by the process of globalization. It will initially define globalization and its salient traits and then discuss how globalization impacts Muslims all over the world. It will also examine the various modes through which globalization has touched on the lives of Muslims. We will see that whereas globalization has destroyed territorial boundaries, it has brought to light cultural, ethnic, and ideological boundaries that have created tensions within the American Muslim community. The course will also examine how Muslim fundamentalists have used globalization in their desire to universalize their ideology. Students will read primary sources and recent secondary studies of the topic.

GLOBALST 782: Diasporas, Transnationalism, and Religious Identities (same as Anthropology 782 and Religious Studies 782)
An examination of religion among immigrant and diaspora communities in the contemporary globalized world.

GLOBALST 784: Decolonizing Bodies (same as English/CSCT 784)
This course will examine the representations of the body in postcolonial literary and visual texts from Africa and South Asia.

GLOBALST 787: Post-colonial Ecologies (same as English 787)
This course will consider issues central to ecocritical and post-colonial theories, with a specific focus on topics of language, political sovereignty and the relationship between "self" and "other" in contemporary post-colonial English literature.

GLOBALST 788: Writing Diaspora: Literature, Community, and Displacement (same as English/CSCT 788)
This course examines critical debates in contemporary cultural studies over the best way(s) to conceptualize the experiences of people who have left their places of birth or places of cultural origin in an era of "globalization." It examines the representation of these experiences in literary works (memoirs, short stories, poems, and novels) by M.G. Vassanji and Dionne Brand about people who move between cultural locations on the assumption that literary works condense and intensify the questions and problems that characterize such cross-cultural movements.