University of Toronto

 

First Year Seminars & Introductory Courses

 

HUM 199Y -- FIRST YEAR SEMINARS have been renumbered to reflect Breadth Categories in subject matter at the University of Toronto:
CCR199 = Category 1 (Creative and Cultural Representations)
TBB199 = Category 2 (Though, Belief and Behaviour)
SII199 = Category 3 (Society and Its Institutions)
LTE199 = Category 4 (Living Things and their Environment)
PMU199 = Category 5 (Physical and Mathematical Universes)

Undergraduate seminars that focus on specific ideas, questions, phenomena or controversies, taught by a regular faculty member deeply engaged in the discipline. Open only to newly admitted first year students. It may serve as a Distribution Requirement course.

 

CCR199H1F L0301 - Licit Magic: How Does The Qu'ran Mean?

 The major themes of the Qur’an, God, Revelation, Humanity, Community, History, Salvation are articulated and presented in characteristic ways. This seminar will focus on first what the Qur’an means with regard to these and other important topics such as law and order, love and family life and piety and prosperity. The main work of the course, however, is to come to some understanding and appreciation of just how the Qur’an expresses Itself. What are the main features of the Quranic literary style? Why is this style so compelling? In the course of our seminar we will isolate certain passages of characteristic beauty and persuasive power to try to come to terms with what has been called the “licit magic” of Islam’s holy book. Students will be encouraged to pursue their own particular interests as a way of contributing to the seminar discussions
T. Lawson

CCR199H1S L0301- Iranian Women Write Their Lives

This course examines the memoirs of Iranian women from different generations and backgrounds. We will look at an artist, an activist, and a student as well as women whose ordinary lives were interrupted by events beyond their control. What or who triggers a desire for self-expression; a need to leave behind a record of a life lived? We will look for the ways in which these women use the literary medium of the memoir to express their personality.
R. Sandler

 

CCR199Y1Y - Voices From Ancient Egypt: Pharaonic Written Culture

This course is designed to provide the student with an overview of the written materials from ancient Egypt, covering various genres and backgrounds. The structure of the course will be boradly historical, beginning with the earliest examples of coherent texts from around 2400 BCE and ending with the Demotic literature of the last centuries BCE and first centuries CE (if time permits, we may even venture into some Coptic hagiographies and poetry of as late as the 10th centure CR). Within this historical approach, some sessions will have a particular genre as their theme: Thus, Myths and Wisdom Literature are treated separately, permitting to trace their development through different periods. Problems of methodology in analyzing texts from an ancient culture will be addressed, and -- as far as possible -- we will attempt to view the texts as products of their time and consider the (social) context and background before which they were written.
No prior knowledge of the ancient Egyptian language(s) or history is required. The texts will be read in English, and specified primary and secondary sources should be read before the session in which they are discussed.
K. Goebs

INTRODUCTORY

 

NMC101Y -- The Ancient Near East

Every high-school graduate knows that the roots of western civilization, not to mention those of oriental civilizations, extend much deeper than the world of Graeco-Roman antiquity. But of the older civilizations of the Near East on whose ruins the empire of Alexander was built, the high-school student rarely has more than a sketchy knowledge. The purpose of NMC 101Y is to give inquiring students a preliminary acquaintance with the current state of knowledge about the ancient Near East down to about 500 BCE, sufficient for them to appreciate the complexity of human development two thousand years and more before the beginning of the common era and to see the achievements of later ages in perspective.  Beginning with the prehistory of the Near East, the course will focus successively on the civilizations of ancient Egypt, ancient Mesopotamia (the Sumerians, Babylonians, Assyrians, and Hittites), and Syria-Palestine (including ancient Israel and Judah). Obviously, no more than an introduction to the complex cultures of so large a geographical area over so vast a time span can be given within the limits of this course. The stress must be on the general results of the search for knowledge about the past and on the methods by which that knowledge may be obtained. The elaboration of the picture can be left to the more restricted courses of later years (e.g. NMC346H, 347H, 370Y, and NMC 371Y).
Evaluation: Two essays (20% each), one first-term test (20%) and a Faculty Final examination (40%)
Texts: Pritchard, J. B. (ed.), The Ancient Near East: An Anthology of Texts and Pictures
_____, The Ancient Near East, vol. II: A New Anthology of Texts and Pictures
Stiebing, W.H., Jr., Ancient Near Eastern History and Culture (2003)
Recommended Reading:
Hornung, E., History of Ancient Egypt, An Introduction
Van De Mieroop, M. A History of the Ancient Near East ca. 3000-323 BC
Exclusion: NMC 346/347/370Y/371 may not be taken in the same year

NMC 184H1 The Islamic World

This course will examine the religious beliefs and practices of Muslims. The period of time covered by the course is approximately from shortly before the birth of Islam in the 7th century to the present. Attention will focus on the central concerns of the religion: God, Prophethood, Holy Book, Community, the Individual. The sources and development of the Sharí‘a, the teachings and development of the mystical tradition, the Muslim contributions to art and science, social institutions such as marriage and divorce, family life, the position of women in Islam, modern social changes and the impact of the West on Muslim lands and vice versa will also be discussed. (Offered in alternate years.)
M. Subtelny

 

NMC 185H1 Introduction to the Religion of Islam (formerly NMC185Y)

This course will examine the religious beliefs and practices of Muslims. The period of time covered by the course is approximately from shortly before the birth of Islam in the 7th century to the present. Attention will focus on the central concerns of the religion: God, Prophethood, Holy Book, Community, the Individual. The sources and development of the Sharí‘a, the teachings and development of the mystical tradition, the Muslim contributions to art and science, social institutions such as marriage and divorce, family life, the position of women in Islam, modern social changes and the impact of the West on Muslim lands and vice versa will also be discussed. (Offered in alternate years.)
Evaluation: All students are required to attend lectures and to read assigned readings including those in addition to the required books listed below. In addition to three term tests, there willl also be a final exam for this course. The final mark will also reflect class participation and a discretionary mark. These various elements are valued as follows:
Class Participation 10%
Discretion 5%
Term Test #1 15%
Term Test #2 15%
Term Test #3 15%
Faculty Final 40%
Text:
The Holy Qur’án, translation and commentary A. Yusuf Ali, any edition.
Frederick Mathewson Denny, An Introduction to Islam, New York: Macmillan, 1985.
Exclusion: NMC185Y/RLG204Y
T. Lawson