New 2026/27 courses in the Faculty of Arts

Contrasts and Conflicts: The Cultures of Central, Eastern and Northern Europe 🕰️ 👥
CENS_V 201 | Mon/Wed/Fri 11:00 AM–12:00 PM

What does it mean to find your place in a world that keeps changing? This course traces Ukraine's journey from the twentieth century to the present through literature and film, exploring stories of experimentation, idealism, heroism, and resilience.

Taught by: Dariya McEwen

Great Works of Literature from Central, Eastern and Northern Europe 🌱 🎭
CENS_V 202 | Mon/Wed 2:00–3:30 PM

What can trolls, Moomins, and fairy tales teach us about the natural world? This course explores representations of nature and animals in Northern European film, literature, and art, from Astrid Lindgren and Tove Jansson to Indigenous activism and climate fiction. Through the lenses of gender, race, and social justice, you'll develop an ecocritical perspective on our relationship to the world around us.

Taught by: Dr. Karin Filipsson

Career Exploration using Psychology 💬 👥
PSYC_V 203 | Sect 01: Mon 1:00–2:00 PM • Sect 02: Mon 2:00–3:00 PM • Sect 03: Mon 3:00–4:00 PM

What do you actually want to do after your degree, and how can psychology help you figure that out? This course applies psychological concepts to the challenge of career planning, giving you practical tools for making informed decisions and reframing career development as an ongoing process rather than a single high-stake choice.

Taught by: Dr. Catherine Rawn

Introduction to Global Medieval and Early Modern Studies 🕰️ ⚖️
MDVL_V 200 OR HIST_V 202A | Mon/Wed 2:00–3:30 PM

Think the Medieval world was just European castles? Think again. This course takes a global lens to the period between 500 and 1800 CE, tracing exchanges, interactions, and ideas across continents, and asks why understanding that past matters for how we engage with the world today.

Taught by: Dr. Sara Ann Knutson

Decolonizing Disability ⚖️ 💬
GRSJ_V 250A | Tue/Thu 11:00 AM–12:30 PM

What connects disability justice, prison abolition, and anti-imperialist organizing? This course brings these movements into conversation, exploring the abolitionist and decolonial ideologies that are envisioning futures free of carceral enclosure. You'll draw on abolition studies, critical disability studies, and critical race studies to understand how these struggles are deeply interconnected.

Taught by: Dr. Jasbir Puar

Special Topics in Italian Language, Literature and Culture: The Italian Baroque 🕰️ 💬
RMST_V 440A | Tue/Thu 11:00 AM–12:30 PM

The Baroque is often written off as excessive and over the top, but this course invites you to see it as a whole way of interpreting the world during a period of radical scientific and artistic upheaval. Explore concepts like the monstrous, the ineffable, and the blurred line between the real and the virtual, and ask whether we might be living in Baroque times right now.

Taught in English

Taught by: Dr. Katharina Piechocki

Dostoevsky 💬 🕰️
SLAV_V 448 | Tue/Thu 3:30–5:00 PM

Murder, madness, and the nature of good and evil: Dostoevsky's works are as gripping as they are profound. This course takes you through his novellas, philosophical novels, and satirical writings, tracing how his ideas developed across his career and asking what his vision of the human condition still has to say about modern life.

Taught by: Dr. Katherine Bowers

Introduction to Translation Theories 💬 🎭
RMST_V 317 | Tue/Thu 9:30–11:00 AM

What's really lost (and found) when something gets translated? This course gives you a comprehensive grounding in Translation Studies, covering everything from literary and cultural translation to fluency, register, tone, and the delicate relationship between author, translator, and reader. You'll also tackle the fun stuff: humorous verses, puns, and wordplay.

Taught by: Dr. Irem Ayan

Francophone Song in North America: Folk Tradition 🎭 🕰️ 👥
MUSC_V 403G | Tue/Thu 1:00–2:15 PM

What can songs tell us about a people's history? This course traces the French diaspora in North America through folk music, following French-speaking settlers from lower Canada through the voyageur fur trade era to the Acadian deportation to Louisiana. You'll listen, translate, and analyze francophone songs across historical and contemporary contexts, and bring it all together in a self-directed research project.

Taught by: Dr. Ève Poudrier

Literatures and Cultures of Latin America: From Pre-Columbian to Present 🕰️ ⚖️ 👥
SPAN_V 320 | Tue/Thu 12:30–2:00 PM

From indigenous narratives and colonial chronicles to contemporary works on globalization and resistance, this course takes you through the full sweep of Latin American literature. You'll engage with themes of identity, colonialism, and modernity, tracing how Latin American authors have shaped and responded to the political and cultural forces of their times.

Taught in Spanish. Recommended for students who have completed SPAN_V 221, or 301.

Taught by: Dr. Kim Beauchesne

Paris 🕰️ 🎬
RMST_V 221 | Mon/Wed 11:00 AM–12:30 PM

Paris has been painted, filmed, and written about a thousand times, but how much of that Paris is real? This course invites you to look behind the postcard clichés and interrogate the myths, symbols, and social discourses that have shaped the city's image since the 19th century, using literary works as your guide to understanding how cities and their representations evolve together.

Taught by: Dr. Joël Castonguay-Bélanger

Italian Fashion Cultures 👥 🎭
RMST_V 243 | Tue/Thu 12:30–2:00 PM

What does what you wear say about who you are? This course examines how fashion forges individual, brand, and national identities, tracing the history of Italian fashion from the post-WWII period through its global dimensions, including its creative tensions with France, the United States, and China.

Taught by: Dr. Gaoheng Zhang

On Masculinities and Femininities: From Social Media to Everyday Life 👥 ⚖️
GRSJ_V 250B | Tue/Thu 12:30–2:30 PM

How are gender identities constructed, and who benefits? From Trad Wives to the Manosphere to Looksmaxxing, this course examines how masculinities and femininities are shaped by institutions, media, and online spaces, and how white supremacy, capitalism, and patriarchy persist in daily life. You'll think intersectionally about identity formation and the movements challenging these systems.

Taught by: Dr. Alifa Bandali

Introduction to Hispanic Cultures 👥 🎬 ⚖️
RMST_V 270 | Tue/Thu 11:00 AM–12:30 PM

How does culture shape history, and how does history shape culture? Through literature, film, visual arts, and music, this course gives you practical tools for cultural analysis, exploring how Hispanic cultures reflect and intervene in public life. You'll trace transnational flows and networks, and dig into themes like migration, resistance, gender, and identity.

Taught in English.

Taught by: Dr. Alessandra Santos

Myths, Legends and Tales in Romance Literatures and Cultures: Narcissus and Echo in Medieval and Early Modern Romance Literatures and Cultures 💬 👥 🕰️
RMST_V 307 | Mon/Wed 2:00–3:30 PM

You've heard of narcissism, but do you know the original story? This course takes you through the myth of Narcissus and Echo and its many reinterpretations across France, Italy, and the Hispanic world, examining timeless questions about desire, identity, gender fluidity, and the nature of self and other.

Taught in English.

Taught by: Dr. Nancy Frelick

Italian Mafia Movies 🎬 ⚖️
RMST_V 348 | Tue 3:00–6:00 PM

From glamorous mafioso bosses to unsung anti-mafia heroes, the mafia movie genre is more complex than it looks. Learn how to conduct film analysis that situates movies within their socio-historical and cultural contexts, unpacking the representational choices, intentions, and agendas at play.

Taught by: Dr. Gaoheng Zhang

Punjab Sound Cultures: Music and More in and Beyond the Region 🎭 👥
ASIA_V 366G | Wed/Fri 12:30–2:00 PM

From bhangra to devotional music, this course takes you into the rich sound cultures and musical genres of the Punjab region, exploring the Punjabi diaspora and east and west Punjab through their social, political, and religious contexts. No Punjabi language skills or prior knowledge of Asian Studies required.

Note: Wednesday classes are held in person at UBC; Friday classes are held on Zoom.

Taught by: Kiran Sunar

Studies in Modern German-speaking Culture: Vienna 🕰️ 🎭
GMST_V 420A | Tue/Thu 2:00–3:30 PM

Psychoanalysis, avant-garde art, coffee houses, and cakes — Vienna around 1900 was a city on the verge of reinventing everything. This course explores how one of the most influential moments in modern culture was born in and around Vienna, from the birth of psychoanalysis to radical transformations in music, architecture, fashion, and language.

Taught by: Dr. Kyle Frackman

Research Writing & Community Engagement 💬 👥
WRDS_V 380 | Mon/Wed 9:00–11:30 AM

What does it look like to bring academic research into the real world? This course pairs you with a local community organization to practice the hands-on work of knowledge sharing across boundaries. You'll get out into the field, build relationships, and develop communication that actually works, reflecting on your practice every step of the way.

Taught by: Dr. Rebecca Carruthers Den Hoed

Special Topics in Hispanic Studies: Afro-Latinidad 👥 ⚖️ 🕰️
RMST_V 470A OR LAST_V 425 | Mon/Wed 12:30–2:00 PM

What does it mean to be Black in Latin America? Who gets counted, who gets erased, and why? This course traces the African diaspora to the Americas across history, literature, politics, and cultural expression, from the brutal architecture of slavery to the geopolitical shockwaves of the Haitian Revolution. Central to it all is the concept of Black ways of knowing: epistemologies that challenge the colonial assumptions embedded in Western academic life.

Taught in English. Open to students with 2nd year standing or above, from all programs.

Taught by: Dr. Ramón (Arturo) Antonio Victoriano-Martinez

Oral and Written Traditions in Early Music 🎭 🕰️
MUSC_V 403P | Tue 1:00–4:00 PM

How did music survive, spread, and evolve before recordings or printing presses? This seminar takes you deep into the musical world of Medieval and Renaissance Western Europe, tracing how music was composed, taught, and transmitted through oral tradition, manuscript, and early print. You'll explore everything from Gregorian chant to early polyphony, and bring it together in a research project culminating in a paper and oral presentation.

Prerequisite: MUSC 120 or its equivalent, or permission of the instructor.

Taught by: Dr. Alex Fisher

UnRoman Romans 🕰️ 👥
AMNE_V 328 | Mon/Wed/Fri 10:00–11:00 AM

Who didn't fit the Roman mold, and what can they tell us about ancient society? This course turns the spotlight on outsiders and marginalized groups in the Roman world, from entertainers and immigrants to magic workers, drawing on evidence from ancient literature and art.

Taught by: Dr. Siobhán McElduff

Writing Practices for Publics and Publication 💬 🎭
WRDS_V 450-010 | Tue/Thu 11:00 AM–12:30 PM

Ready to take your writing to the next level? This course helps you develop a sustained writing process for larger, long-term projects intended for public audiences, from scholars and activists to intellectuals. You'll move through every stage of the craft, from prewriting and outlining to drafting, workshopping, revising, and presenting.

Taught by: Dr. Alexis McGee

Literatures and Cultures of Spain: From Medieval to Present - Imaginary Voyages 🕰️ 👥 🎭
SPAN_V 310 | Tue/Thu 12:30–2:00 PM

From Cervantes to Lorca and beyond, this course takes you on a voyage across space, time, and imagination through Spanish literature. You'll explore narrative, drama, poetry, film, and non-fiction prose, with race, gender, class, and sexuality woven throughout as lenses for understanding how literature both reflects and shapes culture.

Taught in Spanish. Recommended for students who have completed SPAN_V 221 or 301.

Taught by: Dr. Elizabeth Lagresa-González