COURSES
The core Aboriginal Studies courses are intended to establish a solid foundation upon which to build further knowledge of Aboriginal cultures, history, and issues. A strong focus on the cultural aspects and worldviews of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis facilitates a holistic understanding of the important features of Aboriginal past, present, and future.
Students may choose a variety of challenging and exciting courses to complement their core program requirements. Much of the strength and appeal of Aboriginal Studies lies in its interdisciplinary approach that allows students the opportunity to apply their knowledge and acquire further insight relating to First Nations, Inuit, and Métis in a multitude of disciplines.
Courses are divided into two groups:
Group A courses deal directly with First Nations history, culture, and issues, while
Group B courses have Aboriginal content or sections of the course devoted to Aboriginal topics.
Courses are continuously added as the program grows.
For more information on Aboriginal Studies and courses with the ABS or JFP designation, please contact Deborah McGregor at 416-978-2234 or email her director.aboriginal@utoronto.ca.
For courses with other designators that are listed, please contact the appropriate department regarding specific course information (instructor, texts, etc.) or check out the department web site.
ABS COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
- ABS201Y1. Introduction to Aboriginal
Studies
- An introduction to Canadian Aboriginal
studies and the Aboriginal world view, including language, culture, history,
politics, economics, sociology, science. A focus on critical thinking, the
introduction of new perspectives, and community context. This is a Social
Science or Humanities course.
Instructor: Erica Neegan
- ABS210Y1. Introduction to the
Ojibwa Language
- An introduction to the Ojibwa
language, including the syllabic writing system.
Supplementary website is here. http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/anishinaabemowin This is a Humanities course.
Instructor: Alex McKay
- ABS220Y1. Introduction to an
Iroquoian Language
- An introduction to one of the
languages of the Irot latelyquoian family. This is a Humanities course.
Instructor: Dawn Antone
- ABS230H1. Introduction to Inuktitut
- An introduction to one dialect
of Inuktitut, the language of the Inuit, including aspects of other dialects
and the syllabic writing system. This is a Humanities course.
Instructor: Alana Johns
- ABS231H1. Elementary Inuktitut *** not offered 2011-2012
- This course builds on the introduction
to Inuktitut from ABS230H. Emphasis will be placed on developing grammatical
complexity and vocabulary in students’oral skills, as well as dialect
and cultural awareness.
Prerequisite: ABS230H1
This is a Humanities course.
- ABS240Y1. Ecological Interactions: Intro to Aboriginal and Western Sciences
- This course provides and introduction to methodologies and applications of Aboriginal and Western sciences, with an emphasis on environmental change, animal behaviour, evolution, sustainable practices, and implications of intrinsic ecological connections.
- Prerequisite: ABS201Y1
- Instructor: Melanie Jeffrey
- ABS250H1. Indigenous Environmental
Education
- An exploration of traditional
environmental education and its relevance in contemporary Aboriginal society,
with a focus on the process of environmental education as well as on theory
and conceptual understanding.
Prerequisite: ABS 201Y
This is a Social Science course.
Instructor: Erica Neegan
- ABS300Y1. Worldview, Indigenous
Knowledge, and Oral Tradition ***note course is offered every other year
- A study of the language and culture
of Aboriginal people through exploration of oral history, from creation stories
until present times, including the role of oral history and methods for studying
oral history through accounts told by elders.
Prerequisite: ABS 201Y
This is a Social Science or Humanities course.
Instructor: Daniel Justice
- ABS301Y1. Native Language and
Culture ***note course is offered every other year
- Examination of the historical
interplay of Aboriginal languages and cultures in Canada. Particular focus
is on the language and culture of a First Nation in Ontario.
Exclusion: ABS200Y1
Prerequisite: ABS 201Y
This is a Social Science or Humanities course.
Instructor: Alex McKay
- ABS302H1. Aboriginal Representation in the Mass Media and Society
- A Survey of historical and contemporary representations of Aboriginal people in the mass media. Introduction to basic techniques for evaluating, analyzing, and understanding the construction of 'Nativeness' as it is communicated through film, television, and other media. Examination of racial stereotypers and the role of mass communication in perpetuating and challenging stereotypes, cultural appropriation, Aboriginal media production, impact of media portrayal of Aboriginal peoples.
Prerequisite: ABS 201Y
This is a Social Science or Humanities course.
Instructor: Erica Neegan
- ABS310Y1. Ojibwa Language II
- Further study of the Ojibwa language
with emphasis on speaking and writing.
Prerequisite: ABS 210Y
This is a Humanities course.
Instructor: Alex McKay
-
- ABS33Y1/331H1. Aboriginal Music:
Technical and Theoretical Aspects ***OFFERED this year
- Contemporary
and historical musical performance practices of Aboriginal people of North and South America.
Prerequisite: ABS 201Y
- ABS341H1. North American Indigenous
Theatre
- An introduction to the evolution
of Indigenous theatre in North America, examining traditional oratory, ceremony,
community responsibility, and social construct and their impact on current
Indigenous theatre.
Prerequisite: 300Y1 or ABS 301Y1 or ABS 331H1 or DRM 100Y1
Instructor: Lee Maracle
- ABS350Y1. Aboriginal Health Systems
- An overview of Aboriginal health
systems, internationally, nationally, provincially, and locally, with a focus
on Ontario. Discussion of health models and strategies, policy, legislation,
jurisdictional issues, Aboriginal health initiatives.
Prerequisite: ABS201Y1 or UNI200Y1
This is a Social Science course.
Instructor: Angela Mashford-Pringle
- ABS351Y1. Aboriginal Legends
and Teaching (formerly ABS351H1)
- An introduction to laws of Aboriginal
societies, focusing on the Nishnabe, as seen through legends and teachings.
Prerequisite: ABS 201Y1
This is a Social Science or Humanities course.
Instructor: Alex McKay
- ABS353H1. Aboriginal Perspectives
in Canadian Politics and Law 1
- A study of the development of
Aboriginal/Western relations from a legal and political standpoint and the
evolution of Aboriginal issues and Native rights since contact. Aboriginal
perspectives, customary law, restorative justice initiatives and self-government,
effects of Canadian law on Indigenous beliefs and life ways, political and
economic development potential.
Prerequisite: ABS 201Y1
Recommended preparation: a course in Canadian history or politics.
This is a Social Science or Humanities course.
Instructor: Rauna Kuokkanen
- ABS354H1. Aboriginal Perspectives
in Canadian Politics and Law 2 ***not offered 2011-2012
- A continuation of ABS353H1.
Prerequisite: ABS353H1
This is a Social Science or Humanities course.
Instructor: Rauna Kuokkanen
- ABS360Y1. Politics and Process of Reconciliation in Canada
- This course uses relationship-building methodologies to develop skills and explore the concept and processes of reconciliation, and determine whether it is a different process than decolonization.
- Prerequisite: ABS201Y1 or permission of instructor
- Instructors: Lee Maracle and Victoria Freeman
- ABS398H1. Independent Experiential
Study Project
- An instructor-supervised group
project in an off-campus setting. See page 47 in Arts/Science Calendar for
details or the Independent Course Link on this website.
- ABS402H1. Traditional Indigenous
Ecological Knowledge ***not offered 2011-2012
- An overview of the relationship
between Indigenous peoples and their environment, including an exploration
of cultural, historical, and contemporary aspects of Indigenous environmental
philosophy; the nature, control and transmission of Traditional Ecological
Knowledge (TEK), and historical uses of TEK in managing the environment.
Prerequisite: ABS 201Y1 plus one additional ABS designator course
This is a Social Science or Humanities course.
Instructor: Deborah McGregor
- ABS405Y1. Indigenous Thought
and Expression: Creative Non-Fiction
- An investigation of (Anishnaabae, Iroquoian, athapaskan, Salish), examined through the study
of research and writing of creative non-fiction.
Prerequisite: ABS201Y1 plus one additional ABS designator course and permission
of instructor.
This is a Humanities course.
Instructor: Lee Maracle
- ABS460Y. Methodology in Aboriginal
Studies
- Basic methods in research in
Aboriginal Studies, including oral tradition and community-based research,
as well as discussion of ethics, protocols, priorities, and comparative Indigenous
methodologies.
Prerequisite: ABS201Y1 plus two full course equivalent ABS courses or permission
of the instructor.
This is a Social Science or Humanities course.
Instructor: Jill Carter
- ABS495Y1 / 497H1 / 498Y1.
Individual Research
- Supervised independent research on a topic agreed on by the student and the supervisor before enrolment in
the course.
Available only when someone is willing and able to supervise.
Prerequisite: ABS201Y1 plus one additional ABS designator full-course equivalent
This is a Social Science or Humanities course.
- *ABS495Y1Y- Special Topic: Advanced Ojibwa Language III:
- This course is an Advanced level of study of the Ojibwa language with emphasis on speaking and writing.
Prerequisite: ABS3101Y1 plus one additional ABS designator full-course equivalent
This is a Humanities course.
Instructor: Alex McKay
- ABS496H1S- Indigenous Narratives of Empowerment: Exploring Indigenous Feminism in Theory and Practice
- This course explores the emerging field of Indigenous feminism. It focuses on theoretical and literary debates within Indigenous feminism as they relate to sovereignty and gender issues, grass-roots activism, and decolonizing anti-racist struggles. The importance of Indigenous feminism to these debates will be emphasized in assessing how Indigenous feminism contributes to the wider field of Indigenous empowerment and decolonization.
Prerequisite:
This is a Social Science or Humanities course.
Instructor: Cheryl Suzack-
- JAG321H1. Aboriginal People and
Environmental Issues in Canada
- This course explores Aboriginal
views of environment and resource management from pre-European contact times
through to the present from an Aboriginal perspective. Emphasis will be placed
on the emerging role of Aboriginal people in environmental and resource management
in Canada. Topics to be covered include: history of Aboriginal/non-Aboriginal
relations, Aboriginal world view and philosophy, Aboriginal environmental
ethics and principles and current environmental issues confronting Aboriginal
people.(Offered by Aboriginal Studies and the Geography Department)
Prerequisite: Two credits in Geography or Aboriginal Studies
This is a Social Science course.
Instructor: Deborah McGregor
- JFP450H1. First Nations Issues
in Health and Healing (PHM450H)
- An examination of issues about
the health of Aboriginal people in Canada, providing an understanding of present
day health issues from the perspective of their historical and political context
and effects of health care policy. (Offered by the Faculty of Pharmacy)
This is a Social Science or Humanities course
Instructor: David Burman
*Please note that this course begins one week earlier than
other courses.*
COURSES IN OTHER DEPARTMENTS (FOR
SPECIALIST, MAJOR AND MINOR PROGRAMS)
GROUP A
- ANT315H1. Arctic Archaeology
- Archaeology and ethnohistory
of Arctic cultures. Emphasis is on variation in social organization, settlement
pattern, economy, ideology, and interaction with the expanding European world-system.
Prerequisite: ANT200Y1
- ANT365Y1. Native America and
the State
- Culture areas and types existing
in precontact and early contact times in North America; problems arising out
of contacts between North American Indians and Euroamericans.
Prerequisite: ANT204Y1
- ANT453H1. Sub-Arctic Issues
- Major issues in the history and
development of Sub-Arctic Native people of Canada: Indian social structure,
European/Native interaction, land tenure, politics and religion.
Prerequisite: ANT204Y1, 365Y1
- ENG254Y1. Contemporary Native
North American Literature
- Contemporary North American
aboriginal writing in English. The writings are placed within the context
of aboriginal cultures and living oral traditions. Attention is given to linguistic
and territorial diversity. Writers may include Paula Gunn Allen, Jeannette
Armstrong, Beth Brant, Maria Campbell, Louise Erdrich, Joy Harjo, Tomson Highway,
Basil Johnston, Emma LaRoque, Lee Maracle, N. Scott Momaday, Daniel David
Moses, Leslie Marmon Silko.
- GGR341H1. Arctic Canada
- This course provides an introduction to Canada’s Arctic regions, with particular emphasis placed on the
lands, waters, and people within the four Inuit regions of Canada: the Inuvialuit Settlement Region
(Northwest Territories), the Territory of Nunavut, Nunavik (northern Québec), and the Nunatsiavut
Settlement Region (Labrador). Within this regional context, the course will examine physical
environmental processes and landforms, historical exploration and settlement, Inuit land claims and
political structures, Inuit culture and demographics, wildlife and resource management, economic
development, socio-economic conditions in northern communities, and select current issues.Course webpage is here. http://www.straightupnorth.ca/Sikuliriji/Teaching.html This is a Social Science course.
Prerequisite: 2 courses in Geography
-
- HIS369H1/HIS369Y1. Aboriginal Peoples
of the Great Lakes from 1500 (formerly HIS369H1)
- Algonkian and Iroquoian history
from the eve of European contact to the present in the Great Lakes region
of today’s Canada and the United States. Algonkian and Iroquoian societies
in the 16th century, change over time, material culture, and inter-cultural
relations among natives and between natives and Euroamericans.
Exclusion: HIS369H1
Recommended preparation: HIS106Y1/262Y1/263Y1/271Y1
-
- HIS472H1. Topics in Aboriginal History (formerly HIS472Y1)
- Major themes in the history of
Aboriginal-White relations in Canada. Topics included are: role of native
people in the creation of British North America and in the Western fur trade;
the emergence of the Métis; analysis of colonial Indian policy; the
Red River Resistance; the making of treaties; the North West Rebellion; the
struggle for survival in post-treaty Canada; the emergence of “red power”;
contemporary and feminist issues. (Joint undergraduate-graduate)
Exclusion: HIS472Y1
Prerequisite: HIS262Y1/263Y1
- HIS493H1. Cultural Encounters
in Early Canada
- Issues of identity and difference
in the meeting of Natives and Europeans during colonization of Canada. Eastern,
Western and Arctic Canada, 16th to early 19th centuries.
- LIN458H1. Revitalizing Languages
- A study of language endangerment and language revitalization efforts, focusing on Aboriginal languages of Canada. Topics include language classification and a survey of major features of the languages, what it means for a language to be endangered, the factors that contribute to language shift, and efforts to reverse language shift, including discussion of literacy and dictionaries.
Prerequisites: LIN100Y1 plus at least two full course equivalents drawn from LIN/JAL
This is a Humanities or Social Science course.
- RLG201Y1. Aboriginal Religion
- A survey of spirits, indigenous
rites, stories, visions, shamanic and healing practices. Canadian First Nations’
and Metis’ experiences placed in cross-cultural perspective. First Nations’
and Metis’ spiritualities studied academically in the history of religions,
anthropology, and stories.
- UNI317Y1 / 317H1. Politics of
Aboriginal Self-Government
- A survey of some of the main
issues surrounding the politics of aboriginal self-government in Canada. Proceeding
historically, the course examines the legal and political conditions that
have fuelled the call for self-government. (offered in alternate years)
Prerequisite: ABS201Y1/POL102Y1/103Y1/UNI220Y1 or permission of the instructor
This is a Social Science course
-
GROUP B
ANT200Y1. Introduction to Prehistoric Archaeology
Cultures in the Old and New Worlds from an archaeological perspective. Principles
of prehistoric research are applied to archaeological information, from the
Early Pleistocene to the beginning of written history.
Recommended preparation: ANT100Y1
ANT204Y1. Social and Cultural Anthropology
Basic approaches to the understanding of social and cultural organization
in societies of varying complexity. Comparative social institutions: economic,
political, familial, and ritual. Belief systems and symbolic thought, the individual
in society, sources of stability and change in socio-cultural systems. Anthropological
perspectives on current social issues.
Recommended preparation: ANT100Y1
ANT319Y1. Archaeology of North America
This course examines human prehistory in North America, North of Mexico, from
the time of earliest occupation to European contact. Special topics include
Paleoindian and Archaic adaptations, the rise of complex hunter-gatherers, origins
of farming and the evolution of complex chiefdoms.
Exclusion: ANT309H1, 317H1
Prerequisite: ANT200Y1
ANT311Y1. Archaeological Fieldwork
Practical field training through six weeks of excavation on an archaeological
site. Basic principles of artifact handling and classification. (offered only
in Summer Session)
Prerequisite: ANT200Y1
ANT348Y1. Anthropology of Health
Aspects of health and disease in cross-cultural perspective. Critical views
on the interface between conventional “western” medicine and alternative,
indigenous, and traditional therapeutic systems.
Prerequisite: ANT204Y1
ANT367Y1. Indigenous Spirituality
This course focuses upon religion and spirituality amongst peoples with a
direct, experiential relationship to the world. The first term examines case
studies from Australia, Native North America and Africa; the second term examines
aspects of the "world religions'.
Prerequisite: ANT204Y1/RLG201Y1
ANT410H1. Hunter-Gatherers Past and Present
Examines the diversity of recent hunter-gatherer societies, as a source of
analogues for understanding the archaeological record of past foraging peoples.
Prerequisite: ARH305HY1
ANT454H1. The Anthropology of Music (formerly 360Y1)
This course investigates the connection between religion, music and society
from an anthropological point of view. The primary focus is on societies where
music is seen by people as the principal vehicle for religious expression. Examination
of religions and musics of Australian aboriginal, Melanesian, Native North America,
African societies, others.
Prerequisite: ANT367Y1
DRM268H1. Canadian Theatre History
A survey from the origins to the present, including performance rituals of
native people; theatrical performances during the colonial period; the development
of national and Regional forms of theatre; Festival and alternative theatres;
trends in Canadian playwriting and their relationship to theatre history. (Offered
every three years)
ENV236Y1. Human Interactions with the Environment
A course emphasizing both the role of the environment in shaping human behaviour,
and the impact of humans on the environment. Coverage includes human biological
and cultural evolution and the diffusion of humans across the globe. It focuses
on human environment interactions in North America since the last ice age, and
concludes by considering some of the environmental consequences of European
settlement. (Offered in alternative, even numbered, years)
Prerequisite: BIO1501Y/GGR100Y1/JGF150Y1/JGG150Y1 or permission of the instructor.
This is a Science course.
FOR200H1. Conservation of Canada’s Forests
Development of forest management philosophy in Canadian and temperate forest
regions; the sustained-yield paradigm and concepts of sustainability. Techniques
for more sustainable forest management; structural retention; viable park and
reserve networks; old growth; value-added and non-traditional forest products.
Temperate region forest policy transformation.
Recommended preparation: BIO150Y1/GGR100Y1
HIS106Y. Natives, Settlers, and Conquistadors: Colonizing the Americas, c. 1492-1776
North and South America and the Caribbean from Columbus to the American Revolution:
aboriginal cultures, European exploration, conquest and settlement, the enslavement
of Africans, the ecological impact of colonization.
HIS294Y1. Caribbean History and Culture
An exploration of changes in the structure of Caribbean society beginning
in 1492, including European contact, the conquest of native peoples, the emergence
of large plantations, the impact of slavery, patterns of resistance and revolt
and the changes brought about by emancipation.
HIS358H1. How the West was Colonized
Survey of the development of Rupert’s Land and the Pacific Northwest
to 1885. The focus is on aboriginal-white relations, the growth of fur trade
society, the beginnings of settlement and the region’s entry into Confederation.
Prerequisite: HIS262Y1/263Y1
HIS384H1. Colonial Canada: the East
Early Canadian history (ca. 1500-1800), emphasizing colonization, Native peoples
of Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes; establishment of French and British colonies;
interaction of natives and European colonizers.
Exclusion: HIS362Y1
Prerequisite: HIS106Y1/262Y1/263Y1 or permission of the instructor
HIS402H1. Indigenous Colonial Cultures in the Spanish and Portuguese Americas
Explores the changing worlds of native peoples in Latin America from the pre-Columbian
period through to the late eighteenth century. Discussions focus upon the ways
in which complex Indian cultures transformed and were forged in the colonial
Spanish and Portuguese Americas through the interactions of Amerindians with
others.
Recommended preparation: HIS106Y1/291Y1/294Y1
HIS468H1. Atlantic Canada
The emphasis in this course is on Native peoples, settlement issues and settler
society; economic development; women; reform movements; other distinctive aspects
of the history of the Maritime region and Newfoundland. (Joint undergraduate-graduate)
Prerequisite: HIS262Y1/263Y1
INI327Y1. Race and Representation
Theories of cinematic representation emphasizing race, identify, and Diaspora,
with an emphasis on post-colonial and critical race theories. Films include
works mainly from Africa and the black Diaspora, as well as selections from
aboriginal and other diasporic communities. Films by Mambety, Julien, Dash,
Cisse, Akomfrah, Moffat, Sembene, etc. (Offered in alternate years)
Prerequisite: INI115Y1
JAL254H1. Sociolinguistics
No further information available at this time.
JIE221Y1. The Study of Environment (formerly INI220Y1)
The foundation for students in the programs of the Division of the Environment
and in the Environmental Studies Program, Innis College. Draws from relevant
environmental domains in an examination of environmental degradation, the responses
of various actors and models for a more sustainable society.
Exclusion: INI220Y1
Prerequisite: Admission to either a Division of the Environment program or the
Innis College Environmental Studies Major or Minor programs, or permission of
the Program Counsellor.
NEW224Y1. Caribbean Thought I
A multi-disciplinary exploration of writing pertaining to culture and consciousness
particularly Afro-and Indo-Caribbean thought: theoretical perspectives on the
implications and consequences of slavery and indenture, the struggle for freedom
from the legacy of the plantation and colonial dependence, responses to domination
and exploitation, race, gender, religion and music.
Recommended preparation: HIS106Y1
NEW240Y. Introduction to Equity Studies
An interdisciplinary study of issues of social diversity exploring debates
about the origins of inequity and the various means of addressing it. Course
readings draw from a broad range of relevant literature in the Humanities, Social
Sciences, and Natural and Medical Science.
NEW324Y1. Caribbean Thought II
Critical enquiry at an advanced level into the construction of society, resistance,
self-affirmation, continuing colonization and place of the Caribbean within
the global context; internal and external theoretical perspectives on “the
Caribbean personality.”
Prerequisite: NEW224Y1
NEW369Y1. Studies in Post-Colonialism (formerly NEW369H1)
Gendered representations of race, ethnicity, class, sexuality and disability
in a variety of colonial, neo-colonial, and “post”-colonial contexts.
Topics may include the emergence of racialist, feminist, liberatory and neoconservative
discourses as inscribed in literary texts, historical documents, cultural artifacts
and mass media.
Prerequisite: NEW160Y1/261Y1/permission of the instructor
POL304H1. Ethnicity and Politics in Canada (formerly POL304Y1)
Development of political institutions and policies to manage ethnic relations;
political strategies and resources for achieving ethnic goals; case studies:
self-government and the First Nations; renewed federalism/sovereignty association
and the Quebecois; multiculturalism and minority rights.
Exclusion: SOC210Y1
Prerequisite: POL102Y1/103Y1/214Y1
SOC220Y1. Social Inequality in Canada
An analysis of historical and contemporary empirical patterns of inequality
in Canada. The focus is on income, power, ethnic, regional, and gender inequalities.
Prerequisite: SOC101Y1
Updated April 2011