Still looking for something to round out your Winter Term 2 timetable? These courses offer new perspectives on everything from global media and political philosophy to Nordic film, multilingual worlds and the stories that shape communities across the globe.
We’ve grouped the courses by theme, each with an emoji to show the topic at a glance. You’ll also see 📘 for courses open to all year levels, and 🎓 for those designed specifically for upper-year students.
Tip 💡
Beginners Spanish II 📘
SPAN_V 102-208 | Mon/Tue/Thu, 2:00 PM–3:00 PM
Continue building the skills you developed in SPAN 101 and grow your confidence communicating in Spanish. Practise speaking, listening, reading, and writing through everyday topics like travel, food, celebrations, and personal experiences, with a focus on practical expression and cultural awareness.
Taught by: Dr. Andrea Roca
Elementary Portuguese II 🎓
PORT_V 202 | Mon/Wed/Fri, 11:00 AM–12:00 PM
Continue building your Portuguese skills while exploring the vibrant cultures of Brazil, Portugal and the wider Lusophone world. This interactive, culture-oriented course deepens your communication abilities and places you in authentic everyday situations, with all instruction in Portuguese. Recommended for students who have completed PORT_V 101.
Taught by: Dr. Marco Schaumloeffel
Elementary French II 🎓
FREN_V 202 | Sec 205: Mon/Tue/Thu, 11:00 AM–12:00 PM • Sec 206: Mon/Tue/Thu, 1:00 PM–2:00 PM
This interactive course strengthens your grammar, vocabulary, and cultural awareness through everyday topics like family, travel, food, and community life. Recommended prerequisites are FREN_V 111, FREN_V 201, or placement by assessment.
Taught by: Nadia Naami
Language Contact and Multilingualism in the Romance-Speaking World 📘
RMST_V 306 | Tue/Thu, 3:30 PM–5:00 PM
Explore how languages shape one another in multilingual communities across the Romance-speaking world. This sociolinguistic course looks at contact-induced variation, minority and creole languages, and how social context influences linguistic change, identity, and language preservation.
Taught by: Dr. Marie-Eve Bouchard
Research Writing and Community Engagement 🎓
WRDS_V 380 | Mon/Wed, 9:30–11:00 AM
Learn how to apply academic research to real community contexts while building strong, ethical communication skills. This upper-year course combines research writing with hands-on, community-engaged work that encourages reflection, collaboration and meaningful impact.
Taught by: Dr. Kirby Manià
Displacement, Exile, Flight and Migration 📘
GMST_V 229/347 (201) | Mon/Wed, 2:00 PM–3:30 PM (Hybrid)
Examine stories of displacement and belonging through contemporary German-language literature, film, and media. This course looks at themes such as political exile, asylum and integration policies, and the “Welcome Culture” movement, with all materials available in English translation.
Taught by: Dr. Markus Hallensleben
Italian Mafia Movies: Introduction to Italian Cinema 📘
RMST_V 250 | Tue/Thu, 12:30 PM–2:00 PM
Explore how film has shaped cultural perceptions of the Italian mafia and those who resist it. Through Italian and American movies, you will examine themes of power, morality, and identity and learn how myth and media influence global understandings of the mafia.
Taught by: Dr. Gaoheng Zhang
The Middle East: Critical Questions and Debates 📘
MES_V 300 | Wed, 2:00–5:00 PM
Explore key debates that shape how scholars and the public understand the Middle East. This interdisciplinary course looks at how the idea of the “Middle East” was constructed, how it influences global perceptions, and how to approach the region in a way that recognises its diversity and complexity. No prior knowledge required.
Taught by: Dr. Pheroze Unwalla
Indigenous Latin America 📘
LAST_V 303 | Tue/Thu, 2:00 PM–3:30 PM
Explore key debates that shape how scholars and the public understand the Middle East. This interdisciplinary course looks at how the idea of the “Middle East” was constructed, how it influences global perceptions, and how to approach the region in a way that recognises its diversity and complexity. No prior knowledge required.
Taught by: Carmen Miranda-Barrios
Introduction to Romance Language Cinema 📘
RMST_V 305 | Mon/Wed, 2:00 PM–3:30 PM
Discover how French, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish films use sound, image, and storytelling to explore identity, class, gender, and global issues. This course introduces key movements in Romance-language cinema and looks at how filmmakers adapt literature and reimagine stories through film.
Taught by: Dr. Alessandra Santos
Tales of Social and Self Transformation 📘
GMST_V 346 | Mon/Wed, 11:00 AM–12:30 PM
Study how early twentieth-century writers and thinkers made sense of personal and social change. Through works by Freud, Weber, Benjamin, Mann, Kafka and Rilke, this course explores how science, technology, capitalism and colonialism shaped modern life and influenced how individuals adapt, resist or imagine themselves anew.
Taught by: Dr. Thomas Kemple
Perspectives in Contemporary African Studies: The Politics of Representation, Identity, Development, and Popular Culture 📘
AFST_V 350 | Tue/Thu, 3:30 PM–5:00 PM
Explore modern African politics, identity, and popular culture through music, documentary film, and critical theory. You will look at how artists, activists, filmmakers, and political leaders shape conversations across the continent and learn tools to understand representation and cultural change in a contemporary context.
Taught by: Dr. J. S. Kofi Gbolonyo
The Canadian Creative: Exploring and Questioning the Lyricality of the Nation-State 📘
CDST_V 350B | Tue/Thu, 3:00 PM–5:00 PM
Examine how artists, musicians, writers and other creatives navigate national identity and geography in their work. This course invites you to explore the relationship between art, culture and the nation-state through conversations with people shaping Canada’s creative landscape.
Taught by: Dr. Minelle Mahtani
Doing Culture: Legislation and Cultural Production under the Nordic Model 📘
NORD_V 414 | Mon/Wed/Fri, 10:00 AM–11:00 AM
Take a critical look at the so-called “happiest countries in the world” by examining how the Nordic Model, nation branding, and legislation on childhood, gender, and immigration shape culture and daily life. The course also considers Denmark’s relationship with Greenland and how ideas like “Nordic exceptionalism” influence debates on democracy, citizenship, and belonging.
Taught by: Ann-Kathrine Havemose
Time and Terror – On Extreme Chronopolitics 📘
GMST_V 424 | Tue/Thu, 3:30 PM–5:00 PM
Look at how time itself becomes political in moments of crisis. This course introduces ideas about different kinds of time, how authoritarian regimes rewrite history, how revolutions disrupt shared timelines, and why accelerationism is reshaping debates about the future.
Taught by: Dr. Geoffrey Winthrop-Young
Information and Data Design 🎓
INFO_V 300 | Wed, 2:00 PM–5:00 PM
Learn how people interact with information and what makes data design intuitive, usable, and human-centred. This upper-year course surveys key ideas from the social sciences and information design to help you understand how behaviour, cognition, and context shape the way we build interactive information systems.
Taught by: Karin Schmidlin
Socio-technical Perspectives of Information Studies 📘
INFO_V 302 | Thu, 9:00 AM–12:00 PM
Examine how information systems shape and are shaped by social, political and historical contexts. This interdisciplinary course helps you analyse the impact of design decisions on diverse communities and imagine more equitable, inclusive futures for information technologies.
Taught by: Dr. Alexander Ross
Social and Political Philosophy 🎓
PHIL_V 330-001 | Tue/Thu, 3:30 PM–5:00 PM
Examine some of the most influential ideas about political authority, legal obligation and the nature of the state. Through classic and contemporary readings, you will explore how societies justify power, how laws shape our lives, and what it means to be responsible to one another in political communities. PHIL 230 is strongly recommended.
Taught by: Dr. Scott Anderson
Unruly Oceans: Law, Violence, and Sovereignty at Sea 📘
LASO_V 350A | Thu, 4:00 PM–7:00 PM
Explore how oceans have shaped global trade, power, and conflict across history. This interdisciplinary course looks at the sea as a legal, political, and cultural space and introduces you to the forces that make it one of the most contested environments on earth.
Taught by: Dr. Sebastian Prange
Classical South Asian Philosophy 🎓
PHIL_V 388 | Tue/Thu, 3:30 PM–5:00 PM
Examine some of the most influential ideas about political authority, legal obligation and the nature of the state. Through classic and contemporary readings, you will explore how societies justify power, how laws shape our lives, and what it means to be responsible to one another in political communities. PHIL 230 is strongly recommended.
Taught by: Dr. Catherine (Cat) Prueitt
Does News Matter? Social Media Influencers and News Avoidance in Canada 📘
CDST_V 450B | Thu, 9:30 AM–12:30 PM
Examine why news avoidance is rising in Canada and how people, especially Gen Z, turn to influencers and alternative media for information. This seminar includes guest speakers from journalism and digital media and invites you to explore the social value of news today.
Taught by: Mary-Lynn Young
Hollywood Cinema 1930–1960 📘
CINE_V 220 | Wed, 10:00 AM–1:00 PM
Take a closer look at the golden age of Hollywood and the films that shaped modern cinema. This course introduces you to the aesthetics, history, technology, and studio systems that defined the Classical Hollywood era and influenced generations of filmmakers.
Taught by: Gabrielle Berry
Revolutions of the Mind: Russophone Literature in the Age of Upheaval 📘
HIST_V 324 | Tue/Thu, 3:30 PM–5:00 PM
Consider how literature responds to moments of extreme political and social upheaval. Dive into Russian, Ukrainian, Jewish, and Central Asian authors who used the Russian language to resist empire, confront censorship and surveillance, and experiment with new ways of telling stories in turbulent times.
Taught by: Dariya (Dasha) McEwen
Asian Architecture 📘
ARTH_V 253 | Thu, 2:00 PM–5:00 PM
Explore how cities across Asia have evolved from the nineteenth century to today. Through case studies on modernisation, colonialism, landscape, and cultural memory, this course looks at how architecture shapes urban life and reflects shifting political and social forces.
Taught by: Dr. Ignacio Adriasola
Inventing Canada, 1840-1896 📘
HIST_V 324 | Tue/Thu, 3:30 PM–5:00 PM
Examine how political change, cultural identity, and nation-building took shape in the decades leading up to Confederation. This course looks at the ideas, conflicts, and connections that helped define Canada in the nineteenth century.
Taught by: Dr. Michel Ducharme
Nordic Cinema – Romance Hazards: An Investigation of Love, Family & Madness from Ingmar Bergman to Lukas Moodysson 📘
NORD_V 337 | Mon/Wed, 2:00 PM–3:30 PM
Study contemporary Nordic film through themes of love, family, identity, and the unexpected. This course looks at how directors explore social structures, gender and queer equity, race, environmental concerns, and transnational life, with attention to music, nature and distinctive cinematic style.
Taught by: Karin Filipsson
The United States Since 1945: The Limits of Power 📘
HIST_V 339 | Tue/Thu, 11:00 AM–12:30 PM
Discover the major social, political and cultural forces that shaped the United States after World War II. This course looks at postwar prosperity, the Cold War, rights movements, counterculture, and the rise of the New Right, offering a grounded look at how American power expanded and fractured in the decades after 1945.
Taught by: Dr. Leslie Paris
Germanophone Literature before 1900: Nineteenth-Century Social Media (in English) 📘
GMST_V 341 | Tue/Thu, 9:30 AM–11:00 AM
Explore how newspapers, journals, and magazines shaped public life in the nineteenth-century German-speaking world. This course looks at early forms of “social media,” including scandals, fake news, scientific debates, and everyday commentary, through translated literary texts, journalistic materials, and archival documents.
Taught by: Dr. Ilinca Iurascu
Post-Colonial Southeast Asia 📘
HIST_V 382 | Tue/Thu, 11:00 AM–12:30 PM
Follow the political and social transformations that reshaped Southeast Asia after the Second World War. This course looks at the Japanese occupation, the struggles for independence, and the conflicts that shaped countries such as Vietnam, Indonesia and East Timor.
Taught by: Dr. John Roosa
India in the Early Modern World: Kings, Courtesans, and Saints 📘
HIST_V 385 | Wed, 1:00 PM–2:00 PM (Hybrid)
Trace India’s path from British colonial rule to the creation of an independent republic. This course looks at the rise of the East India Company, life under colonialism, resistance movements, and the long-lasting impact of partition.
Taught by: Dr. Anne Murphy
India in the Early Modern World: Kings, Courtesans, and Saints 📘
HIST_V 388 | Fri, 11:00 AM–12:30 PM (Online)
Take a closer look at India during the Mughal era and its place in the global early modern world. This course introduces key figures, cultural exchanges, and political dynamics from roughly 1500 to 1750 and shows how the Mughals shaped connections across regions and empires.
Taught by: Dr. Anne Murphy
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