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European Affairs Major (ASMAJ1626)

Program Requirements

European Affairs Majors must complete 7.0 credits, including at least two 300+-level, 0.5 of which must be at the 400-level. The mandatory EUR498H1 – Special Topics in European Studies – fulfils the 400-level requirement.

The distribution of the 7.0 FCEs is as follows:

- A two-year progressive sequence of courses in a single language totaling 2.0 credits. Specific language choices are listed below.
- An additional 1.0 credit in the single language already chosen, or 1.0 credit in non-language courses related to your chosen language of study. Variations on this can be discussed with the Program Coordinator.
- 2.0 credits in the required core courses: 1.0 credit offered by the Departments of History (EUR200Y1) and 1.0 credit from POL219H1, POL324H1, POL358H1, POL359H1, POL387H1, or any POL course with European content approved by the Program Coordinator
- EUR498H1 – Special Topics in European Studies, worth 0.5 credit.
- The remaining 1.5 credits in elective courses chosen from a list of eligible electives or any course with European content approved by the Program Coordinator.

Students are expected to consult with the Program Coordinator for assistance with and advice on course selection.
After consultation with the Program Coordinator, exceptions and exclusions may be made in certain cases regarding the sequence of language courses based on prior, documented, exposure to the language in question.
Some of the courses listed below may have prerequisites; some may be offered in alternate years.

Consult the Program Coordinator for up-to-date information.

First Year:

1.0 credit from one the following languages:

Estonian: EST100H1 and EST101H1
Finnish: FIN100H1 and FIN110H1
French: (FSL100H1 and FSL102H1)/FSL121Y1
German: GER100Y1/GER102Y
Hungarian: HUN100Y1
Italian: ITA100Y1
Modern Greek: MGR100H1 and MGR101H1
Portuguese: PRT100Y1
Russian: SLA100H1 and SLA101H1
Czech: SLA105Y1
Polish: SLA106Y1/(SLA106H1 and SLA116H1)
Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian: SLA107Y1
Ukrainian: SLA108Y1
Macedonian: SLA109Y1
Spanish: SPA100Y1

Second Year:

EUR200Y1
1.0 credit from one of the following languages:

Estonian: EST200H1 and EST201H1
Finnish: FIN200H1 and FIN210H1
French: FSL220H1 and FSL22H1
German: GER200Y1/GER300Y1/(GER370H1 and GER372H1)
Hungarian: HUN200Y1
Italian: ITA250Y1
Modern Greek: MGR245Y1
Portuguese: PRT220Y1
Czech: SLA204Y1
Polish: SLA206H1 and SLA207H1
Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian: SLA257H1 and SLA277H1
Ukrainian: SLA208Y1
Macedonian: SLA209H1
Russian: SLA220Y1
Spanish: SPA220Y1

Third Year:

POL324H1, POL358H1, POL359H1, POL387H1, or any POL course with European content approved by the Program Coordinator.
1.0 credit from one of the following languages, or 1.0 credit in non-language courses related to your chosen language of study, selected in consultation with the Program Coordinator:

Estonian: EST300Y1
Finnish: FIN300H1 and FIN340H1
French: (FSL320H1 and FSL322H1)/(FSL420H1 and either FSL442H1 or FSL443H1)
German: GER300Y1/(GER370H1 and GER372H1)/(GER400H1 and GER401H1)
Hungarian: HUN310Y1
Italian: ITA350Y1
Modern Greek: MGR300H1 and MGR301H1
Portuguese: PRT320Y1/PRT322H1/PRT364H1/PRT420H1
Czech: 1.0 credit can be fulfilled through an independent study or another course approved in joint consultation with CERES and Slavic undergraduate coordinators. Please consult with CERES and Slavic departments to get approval.
Polish: SLA306H1 and SLA336H1
Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian: SLA337H1, and additional 0.5 credit can be fulfilled through an independent study or another course approved in joint consultation with CERES and Slavic undergraduate coordinators. Please consult with CERES and Slavic departments to get approval.
Ukrainian: SLA308Y1
Russian: SLA320Y1/SLA321H1
Spanish: SPA320Y1/SPA323H1/(SPA420H1 and SPA421H1)

Fourth Year:

EUR498H1
Remaining courses to be selected from the list of eligible electives below. The most up-to date list of electives is on the program website. Students may also petition the Program Coordinator to take other courses in the calendar as electives, provided they have substantial European and/or Eurasian content.

European Affairs Minor (ASMIN1626)

Degree Requirements

European Affairs Studies minors must complete 4.0 credits with at least one 300- or 400-level credit.

Credit breakdown:

2.0 credits in the required core courses: 1.0 credit offered by the Departments of History (EUR200Y1) and 1.0 credit from POL219H1, POL324H1, POL358H1, POL359H1, POL387H1, or any POL course with European content.
Two full credits in eligible elective courses listed in the European Affairs Major.

Courses

Required courses:

EUR200Y1 Europe: Nation-State to Supranational Union

An analysis of the development of European political regimes from 1789 until the 2004 and 2007 enlargements of the European Union to include the countries of the former Soviet bloc. This course identifies the decisive forces and factors affecting the operation of constitutions and institutions within the countries which came to form the European Union: nationalism, multi-nationalism, internationalism and supranationalism.

EUR498H Special Topics in European Studies: European Union

What is the European Union? Which are its core institutions and how do they work? What is the scope of its directives and programs, and how do they fit in with the member-states’ policies? What is the role of the EU as an international actor? This course on Special Topics in European Studies aims at answering all these questions. The course will start with an introduction to integration in Europe, the development of the EU, and some theories and approaches to its study. It will then review the main political, economic, and judiciary institutions in the EU. Last, it will examine some important policy areas and challenges at the European level, including migration and asylum, social cohesion, counterterrorist initiatives, scenarios after Brexit, relations between the EU and its neighbours, and foreign policy. Special care will be given to explaining the political interaction between the EU institutions and the member-states, on the one hand, and the EU’s Directives and policy frameworks and the members’ policies, on the other hand.

Prerequisite: Completion of 12.0 FCEs including EUR200Y1 and one of POL207Y1/POL359Y1

“Mix and match” 1.0 credit from:

POL219H1 Unpacking Political Systems: Institutions and Behavior in Comparative Perspective

This course aims to unpack the institutional and behavioral variation within political systems. The goal is to expose students to the key questions and theories in comparative politics around three themes: a) the origins and effects of political institutions (federalism, electoral rules, bicameralism, courts...); b) party and electoral behavior across democracies and authoritarian regimes; and c) explaining quality of governance (issues of representation, accountability, trust, corruption). We will draw on cutting edge research and touch on current events and a variety of cases

Prerequisite: 4.0 credits, or 1.0 credit in POL/ JPA/ JPF/ JPI/ JPR/ JPS/ JRA courses

POL324H1 European Union: Politics, Institutions and Society

The course provides an in-depth understanding of the history, political institutions, and policies of the European Union. It also explores the key contemporary social and political debates facing the European Union today such as the eurozone crisis, the rise of Euroskepticism, issues of democratic legitimacy, Brexit, issues of enlargement, immigration and the recent migrant crisis.

Prerequisite: POL207Y1/ POL218H1/ POL219H1/ EUR200Y1

POL354 – Politics and Society in Russia

It is already clear that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine marks a turning point, not only in the post-Cold War international order, but also in the development of the Russian polity and economy. How did we get here? How did Vladimir Putin rise to power, and how has his regime changed over the past two decades? We will take a historical approach to these questions, examining the evolution of Russian politics since the collapse of the Soviet Union. After acquiring a basic knowledge of Russia’s political development since Gorbachev, students will explore a variety of themes in contemporary politics, including public opinion, the media, elites and parties, civil society and interest groups, state building, federalism, the military and security services, Russia-China relations, and the linkages between domestic politics and Russia’s behavior on the international stage. This last theme brings us full circle, back to Putin’s war in Ukraine and its near-future implications. Here, we will consider not only the prospects for Russia’s democratization but also how Russia might adapt to the other challenges it will face in coming decades—especially climate change.

Prerequisites: 1.0 credit in POL/ JPA/ JPF/ JPI/ JPR/ JPS/ JRA courses

POL358H1 Conflicts, Minority Rights and Para-States in Europe

This course examines a number of unresolved issues in Europe that are largely shaped by real and perceived shortcomings in minority rights. After a section on Roma Rights in Central Europe, our focus turns to the origins and outcomes of largely separatist wars in Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine and the peace agreements that followed.

Prerequisite: 1.0 credit in POL/ JPA/ JPF/ JPI/ JPR/ JPS/ JRA courses

POL359H1 Enlarging Europe: The European Union and Its Applicants

European integration remains one of the most important and successful political experiments in recent history. This course looks at the historical impetus for European integration after the Second World War and to the recent trends in this process, as well as its future prospects as the Union’s borders enlarge and it confronts new challenges.

Prerequisite: 1.0 credit in POL/ JPA/ JPF/ JPI/ JPR/ JPS/ JRA courses

POL385H1 Issues in Contemporary Greece

Strategically located at the crossroads of three continents (Europe, Asia, and Africa), Greece has often become the epicenter of various political and cultural developments with significant international implications. In 2021, Greece celebrates the anniversary of 200 years since the beginning of the 1821 revolution against the Ottoman Empire and the long war of independence which led to the establishment of the Modern Greek State, known today as the Hellenic Republic. This course follows the journey of the Greek people, their leaders, their triumphs, their challenges, and traumas over the course of the last two centuries. Personalities and events that shaped the nation’s trajectory will be studied and critically examined to offer a clear understanding of what Greece is today and the reasons behind the country’s main political and cultural characteristics. Through lectures, readings, films, documentaries, class discussions and guest speakers, students will explore the “National Greek Issues”, will discover “Great Greeks” and their roles in shaping and modernizing Greek society, and will learn about the “Greek Diaspora” and its role in strengthening and promoting Hellenism both domestically and internationally.

Prerequisites: 1.0 credit in POL/ JPA/ JPF/ JPI/ JPR/ JPS/ JRA courses

POL387H1 Politics in Europe

This course applies the basic concepts in comparative politics to the political systems of Europe. We will cover theories of transitions to democracy, formation and development of the nation-state, political institutions and their effects, parties and party systems and elections and electoral behaviour. We will use these theories to gain a better understanding of politics in Europe. We will also address some of the major challenges that Europe and the EU have recently faced such as the eurozone crisis, Brexit, the rise of populism and extreme right parties and the challenges of immigration and incorporation of minorities. The goal is for students to become familiar with the politics and governments of contemporary Europe through the lens of current and classic themes in comparative politics.

Prerequisite: 1.0 credit in POL/ JPA/ JPF/ JPI/ JPR/ JPS/ JRA courses, or EUR200Y1

Elective Courses:

Current Eligible Electives (for approval on courses outside the list or for transfer credits, please consult the Program Coordinator)

ECO230Y1 International Economic Institutions and Policy

This course is intended primarily for students in the International Relations and in the Peace & Conflict Studies programs. The key concepts of international trade and finance are reviewed with an eye to understanding contemporary issues and recommending policy initiatives. Attention is given to empirical assessment of alternative trade theories and to broader international relations issues.

ECO341H1 The Economic History of the 20th Century: Trade, Migration, Money and Finance before 1945

Tailored to advanced students in Economics, Commerce, International Relations and History. The focus is on growth and fluctuations in Europe and North America between roughly 1870 and 1939, with a particular emphasis on international trade and payments, migration, investment, and monetary arrangements.

ECO342H1-S Twentieth Century Economic History: Institutions, Growth and Inequality

Tailored to advanced students in Economics, Commerce, International Relations and History. The focus is on institutions, growth and inequality in countries across the world.

ENG340H1-F Modern Drama

A study of plays in English by such dramatists as Wilde, Yeats, Shaw, Synge, Glaspell, Hughes, O’Neill, as well as plays in translation by such dramatists as Ibsen, Chekhov, Strindberg, Pirandello.

ENG341H1-S Post-Modern Drama

A study of plays by such dramatists as Beckett, Miller, Williams, Pinter, Soyinka, Churchill, with background readings from other dramatic literature.

EUR399Y Research Opportunity Program

Credit course for supervised participation in faculty research project. Details at http://www.artsci.utoronto.ca/current/course/rop. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

EUR495H Independent Studies

An in-depth of an issue of relevance to the European Union. Content depends on the instructor. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Prerequisite: Open only to students enrolled in the European Studies Major Program. Third and Fourth-year students only.

FCS195H1 French Culture from Napoleon to Asterix

A multi-media course, analyzing the contributions the French have made to world culture in such domains as architecture, art, literature, and music, as well as some of the implications of the appropriation of French cultural icons by big business and the media.

FCS197H1-S Pleasure, Pain and Nostalgia in Belle Époque

This course will explore ideas and cultural representations of 19th century France through examples from art, philosophy, and literature with an emphasis on the critical discussion of two literary narratives that challenged tradition and authority: Flaubert’s “Madame Bovary” and Maupassant’s “Bel-ami”. The course will be held in English. Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

FCS198H1-F Dreaming of Future Worlds: The Making of Modernity in 19th-Century France

This interdisciplinary course will analyze the different forms of the imagination of future and the debates between different conceptions of modernity in 19th-century France. From different perspectives, the students will be invited to reflect on the role of utopian imagination, on the emergence of social sciences, and on the force of the philosophies of progress. The course will be held in English. Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

FCS 292H1S Special Topics in French Cultural Studies I:Love, Sex and Desire in French Literature and Cinema

This online course will explore the themes of love, sex and desire in French literature and cinema through close reading, analysis, and interpretation of three major novels from the eighteenth to the twentieth literature. A comparative approach based on various examples taken from literary, philosophical texts and from film adaptations will examine the concept of love and its many definitions. Selections from ancient and modern philosophical texts on love, sex, and desire will be the starting point of our discussions: Ovid, “The Art of Love”, Plato, “The Symposium”, Bataille, “Eroticism”, Beauvoir, “The Woman in Love”, and Foucault, “The History of Sexuality”.

The course will be held in English. Students who are proficient in French and intend to complete their readings and major tests in French (Online Essay and Online Final Essay) in order to count this course towards a program in French (Major of Specialist only), should inform the Course Instructor of their decision by the end of the first week of classes. N.B. Discussion Board contributions will be submitted in English only.

FIN236H Hot Reads from a Cool Country: Contemporary Finnish Literature

An introduction to contemporary Finnish literature which leads students through major developments in Finnish literature over the last 30 years with a focus on the major themes and trends of Finnish literature through selected representative works. Finnish texts will be read in translation, analyzed and discussed.

FIN260H1 Scandinavian Cinema

Major developments of cinema in Scandinavia in the 20th and 21st centuries focusing on Denmark, Sweden, and Finland. In addition to “old classics,” most important recent films are screened and discussed. Film directors include Ingmar Bergman, Carl Th. Dreyer, Aki and Mika Kaurismaki, and many others. (Offered in alternate years)

FIN280H1 Finnish Musical Culture from Sibelius to Heavy Metal

Analyzing the role of music in Finnish cultural identity, history, and society, this course explores both traditional and contemporary Finnish music, concentrating on what makes Finnish musical culture unique: Sibelius, kantele, folk music, heavy metal, rock and pop music. We will explore the themes of national and international music, the music industry, and the globalization of Finland’s music.

FIN310H Finnish Folklore: The Kalevala

An examination of the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala: its relationship to the tradition of folk poetry; its quality as an epic poem; the mythological, religious, and cultural dimensions of its world view; its role in Finland’s nation-building in the 19th and 20th centuries. Readings in English. (Offered at least every alternate year).

FRE320H French Literature of Classicism and Enlightenment

An introduction to French literature between Classicism and the French Revolution with particular emphasis on its relationship to philosophical, cultural, and political movements of the Enlightenment, providing historical depth to philosophical and socio-political foundations of today’s life. A privileged access to, and critique of, modernity in the postmodern age.

FRE324H1 French Literature in the Time of Revolutions and Industrialization

The long 19th century (1789-1914) is characterized by change: from political upheavals to literary, scientific, and media revolutions, the spread of literacy, and the rapid development of industrialization and colonization. A study of the evolution of literature (genres, forms, movements), as influenced by these changing socio-political and economic contexts.

FRE326H1 Contemporary French Literature

Characterized by experimentation and the crisis of representation, French literature of the 20th and 21st centuries has undergone numerous transformations in form, content, and generic boundaries. A study of these literary movements, trends, and transgressions in poetry, prose, and theatre.

FRE334H Francophone Cinema

Through films from across the spectrum of the Francophone world, a study of the diversity of the French colonial empire as well as the different aesthetic, historical, and cultural effects of colonialism and post-independence experience on various cinematic representations.

GER150H1 Introduction to German Culture (E)

This course taught in English is intended for students who are unfamiliar with German culture. It examines historical, political and cultural developments in Germany from about 1871 to the present focusing on literary and non-literary texts. (Note: This course is required for the major and specialist program; it should be taken within the first two years.)

GER205H1 German Literature I

This course offers an introduction to the study of literature in German. It is aimed at students who have been studying German language for 3 semesters, and are continuing with their 4th semester concurrently with the course. It is intended as a continuing course in language competence, but also an introduction to reading literature in German. We will be reading a number of short literary texts and a few non-fiction texts, specifically with the aim of expanding your working knowledge of the German language, and familiarizing yourself with the subtleties of literary language. As such, the course is meant to provide a transition from the study of language to the topic-based literature courses offered in undergraduate studies in German. Students will receive training in how to read and analyze texts, and how to understand “grammar at work” in literature. Classes will involve reading, discussions, group work, and exercises. Reading assignments will be in German. As far as possible, the classroom language will be German.

GER 275HS (ENG) Marx, Nietzsche, Freud

This is an introductory course to the thought of K. Marx, F. Nietzsche, and S. Freud and their pioneering contributions to the understanding of the individual and society in modernity. Readings include selections from writings of the early Marx, the Communist Manifesto, and Capital, Nietzsche’s critique of culture, academe, and nationalism, and Freud’s theory of culture, his views on the psychopathology of everyday life, on the meaning of dreams, symptoms, the return of the repressed, and what it might mean to live in a free society.

[Taught in English and open to students across disciplines.]

GER 290HS (ENG) Global Issues: German Contexts

The movement of cultural products, material goods, capital, people, ideas, and information across national border s has resulted in a new quality of global interdependency. The course examines the contemporary character of globalization with a special focus on its environmental impacts in German-speaking contexts. We consider artistic, cultural, technological, and social practices in German-speaking and global contexts that explore questions of sustainability and a livable future. The course is highly recommended as preparation for students interested in participating in the Department’s iPRAKTIKUM Internationalization & Experiential Learning internship program – particularly for placements with Eco-Hub Freiburg organizations in Germany. (Visit: https://german.utoronto.ca/ipraktikum/)

GER 310HS (GER) Contemporary Culture & Media

PREREQUISITE: GER 200Y This course provides students with the opportunity to encounter more advanced texts focusing on modern German culture, as expressed through a variety of media. It examines a range of issues that have changed the way we look at culture, as well as the impact of these changes on national identity. Based on thought provoking texts and visuals, the course offers a diverse view of German life based on reading selections from literary works, memoirs, newspaper reports, commentaries, and interdisciplinary materials which highlight important cultural movements.

GER 326HS (GER) Writing Memory

German literature in the aftermath of World War II started from a new beginning, with many authors attempting to find a way of describing the shocking, nihilistic experience of war and devastation – often taking their cue from foreign models or existentialist and traditional Christian trains of thought. This course offers an examination of this post-War literature and culture from ‘Zero Hour’ through to contemporary debates about the Holocaust and its memorization. Texts by authors such as Günter Grass, Herinrich Böll, Ulrich Plenzdorf, Christa Wolf, Peter Schneider, Bernhard Schlink, Peter Weiss, Zafer Senocak et al.

GER 330HS (GER) Introduction to Poetry

An exploration of representations and articulations of the self in German poetry, this class typically examines forms and topics of the lyrical genre over the ages. Specific discussions may include the debate over the role and function of the poetic form (ranging from traditional concepts to the rejection of traditional forms and structures for poetry that began in the first half of the 20th century).

GER 340HS (GER) German Theatre Production

This course focuses on reading, interpreting, contextual- lizing, rehearsing & staging a German play. In the process of the course, students become familiar with the different steps of a theater production – from read-through to tech- run & dress rehearsal. They take on various responsibilities that go along with any theater production, such as playbills, programs, costumes, set, sound & lights, dramaturgy, etc. Students will be introduced to basic acting & staging techniques and get acquainted to leading 20th-century theories of theatre.

GER 372HS (GER) German Business Culture II

This course is designed as a fourth year language course for students who have completed at least the first three years of college German or the equivalent. Course objectives are to increase the student’s proficiency in the four skills (speaking, listening, reading and writing) – with special emphasis on selected German business topics to help the student better understand the German business world.

GER 425HS (GER) Romanticism: Dreams-Desire-Delusions

The closing years of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century saw some of the most innovative, radical and influential writing in the history of German literature & philosophy. In the stories, novels & poems of the Romantic period, but also in their theoretical writings, a generation gave expression to the sense of giddiness, awe & inspiration caused by a rapidly changing world. Modern life required a modern form of expression, and the Romantics wanted to do everything they could to find this form. This seminar follows them on their encounters with modernity.

CCR199Y (ENG) Poets and Power: Art under the Nazis

Did you know that Hitler was a failed artist? Goebbels a poet? Göring a collector of art? That there was an orchestra in Auschwitz? Why did art have this peculiar prominence under Nazism? In this course we will examine how politics and aesthetics interlace in various ways: the fascist cult of beauty; the theatrics of political propaganda; anti-Semitic “entertainment” film; and the eroticization of the Führer-figure. We will investigate this marriage between beauty and violence, and ask ourselves: what made Nazism so attractive to so many? We will begin by examining the great aesthetic movements from the pre-Nazi era through to Hitler’s 1937 ban on “degenerate,” modern art—in favor of returning to Greek and Roman images of beauty. Throughout the course, we will consider some of the high points of German culture—in philosophy, music, and literature—and ask: How did a society that produced such works of genius also create Nazism and the Holocaust? Are there any similar mixtures of art and politics in our world today?

HIS241H1 Europe in the Nineteenth Century, 1815-1914

An introduction to modern European history from Napoleon to the outbreak of World War I. Important political, economic, social, and intellectual changes in France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy, and other countries are discussed: revolution of 1848, Italian and German unification, racism and imperialism, the evolution of science, art, and culture, labour protest, and the coming of war.

HIS242H1 Europe in the 20th Century

The evolution of European politics, culture, and society from 1914: the two world wars, Fascism and Nazism, the post-1945 reconstruction and the movement towards European integration.

HIS 245H1-S European Colonialism, 1700-1965

This class will introduce students to the history of European colonialism. It will analyze the nature of colonial rule, the impact of empire on both colonies and metropoles, and delve into questions of power, gender and culture. It considers slavery and abolition, imperial networks, colonial capital, colonial competition, colonial cultures, the twilight of colonial rule, and a variety of settings.

HIS 250Y1-Y History of Russia, 860-1991

This course surveys the broad span of Russian history, from the formation of the first “Russian” state to the resurrection of Russia as the Soviet Union fell apart. The first term moves from the earliest Kievan state, through the rise of Moscow first locally, then on the world stage, and culminates with the Russian victory over Napoleon. The second term traces the difficulties facing autocratic Imperial Russia in the changing world of the nineteenth century, moves on to the Revolution that brought that state to an end, and finally focuses on the history of the Soviet Union and its aftermath.

HIS 302H1-S Victorian Material Culture

This course examines physical things produced and promoted during the first and second industrial revolutions. It focuses on the twin processes of commercialisation and consumerism. Topics include food, drink, soap, baths, parks, libraries, department stores, advertisements, housing, appliances and clothing.

HIS 306H1-S Islam and Muslims in the Balkans

The course provides an overview of the history of the Balkans (Southeast Europe) from the beginning of the 20th century until the present day. Topics include transitions from empires to nation-states, nationalism, minorities and majorities, World War II, the Cold War, socialist modernity’s, break-up of Yugoslavia, and transitions to democracy. The course also provides insight into cultural and intellectual developments.

HIS 317H1-S 20th Century Germany

This course surveys political, social and cultural developments in Germany from the beginning of the First World War to implementation of the Euro. Germany’s history as a unified nation has been short and unusually violent; its history provides a good test case of the political and social tensions of industrial modernity. First unified in 1871, Germany experienced no less than six state forms in the twentieth century ranging from the monarchical-authoritarian structure of the Second Empire, the liberal democracy of the

Weimar Republic, the ‘racial state’ of the National Socialist dictatorship, the twin developments after 1949 of liberal democracy in the Federal Republic and ‘real existing socialism’ in the German Democratic Republic to the reunified state of Germany after 1990. This course explores the development of industrial society and political culture in Germany with special attention to political movements, class tensions, ethnic nationalism and anti-Semitism, and the development of conflict-management strategies, social policy, racial policy, and modernist culture. The First and Second World Wars, the rise of Nazism, the transformation of Germany in the postwar period and the place of Germany in the world today are central themes.

HIS 330H1-F Germany from Frederick the Great to the First World War

This survey course on Germany in the “long nineteenth century” begins by illuminating the relatively unchanging rhythms of everyday life in pre-modern Europe. It ends in a very different age — when motorcars and trams rumbled through the streets of huge cities, when German battleships prowled the North Sea and Zeppelins hovered above Lake Constance, when Nobel Prize-winning scientists were the envy of the world, when Expressionism was exploding artistic conventions, and when new ideas about race and eugenics were emerging. Did Otto von Bismarck’s invocation of “blood and iron” in 1862 epitomize Germany’s transition to modern times? Or should we look to other developments to understand how the Germany of Goethe and Schiller became the Germany of Hitler and the Holocaust? Several themes are highlighted: social conflict, confessional division, regional diversity, the women’s movement, and political battles that contributed to both polarization and stalemate. Audio-visual materials are featured in every lecture. And students will have access to a vast array of images and primary documents (in translation) on the public website of the German Historical Institute, Washington, D.C. Discussion of these sources will be integrated into lectures.

HIS 331H1-S Modern Baltic History

This course examines political, social, cultural and economic developments in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania from the late 19th century to the present. We study the emergence of independent Baltic states in context of the Russian Revolution and World War One; nation-building and dictatorship during the interwar era; collaboration, genocide and resistance during World War Two; life under Soviet rule; the Singing Revolution and the restoration of independence; transition to democracy and Europeanization. The course will conclude with discussion of contemporary challenges, such as integration of ethnic minorities, memory politics and regional security.

HIS 335H1-F Soviet Cultural History

This course will explore Russian culture – art, architecture, film, and literature – from 1917 to the collapse of the USSR. Readings and screenings will trace the main developments of Soviet cultural history, from the Russian Avant-Garde and proletarian culture to socialist realism, and from Khrushchev’s “thaw” to Soviet village and urban prose of the 1960s and an example of Soviet postmodernism. A key theme in the course is the intersection of culture, history, and revolution. How is the Russian revolution represented and rewritten over time? How is history itself a revolutionary project and for how long? How do the utopian impulse of the 1920’s, the complexities of high modernism, and the official culture of “socialism in one country” relate to one another? What does it mean when Stalin changes the title of a film originally called “Cinderella” to “The Shining Pat”? Is dissidence limited to writing the Gulag Archipelago? How did novels, films, and art respond to issues of class, ethnicity, nationality, and gender?

HIS 338H1-F The Holocaust: Preconditions, Consolidation of Nazi Power, War, and Occupation (to 1942)

This is the first of two linked courses on the Holocaust, the program of mass killing carried out under the leadership of Nazi Germans during World War II. Destruction of Jews occupied the centre of Nazi ideology and practice. Accordingly, this course will examine varieties of antisemitism in Europe; German policies against Jews from 1933 to 1939; the expansion of terror with war and conquests in 1939, 1940, and 1941; and Jewish responses to persecution and extreme violence. Particular attention will be paid to how the Nazi assault on Jews connected with attacks against other people within Germany and, after 1939, in German-occupied Europe: people deemed disabled, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Afro-Germans, Sinti and Roma, homosexuals, Poles, and Soviet prisoners of war. The approach will be chronological, up to the end of 1941/beginning of 1942.

In addition to the lectures, students will attend bi-weekly tutorial groups to discuss the assigned readings. Films will be presented in conjunction with the course. Assignments include analysis of a primary source, a map quiz, a mid-term test, a term project, and final examination.

HIS 340H1-S The Ottoman Empire, 1800-1922

The course examines the history of the Ottoman Empire from the beginning of the nineteenth century until its dissolution in the course of World War I. Topics include the Ottoman reforms and their impact on the Empire’s diverse populations, the diplomatic interactions that came to be known as “the Eastern Question,” the Young Turk revolution, the Balkan wars, as well as social, cultural and intellectual developments. The course also explores the Ottoman legacy in modern Turkey, the Middle East and the Balkans.

HIS 343H1-S History of Modern Espionage

The course will explore the history of espionage, from its modern foundations in the years immediately preceding the First World War to the post 9/11 era. We will also take stock of emerging trends in the conduct of intelligence.

The purpose of the course is to familiarize students with the historical evolution of espionage and to assess the nature of the contribution of intelligence services to the functioning of the international system in peace and war. Our focus will be on an examination of the intelligence systems of three major powers that shaped the historical development of espionage: Britain, the United States and the Soviet Union/Russia. The first half of the course explores the history of intelligence and its impact down to the end of the Second World War. The second half of the course is devoted to aspects of Cold War intelligence, the popular culture of espionage, and more recent intelligence developments and controversies.

HIS 344H1-F Conflict and Co-operation in the International System Since 1945

This course examines the conduct and consequence of international politics in an atomic/nuclear age when the stakes of the “Great Game” were not just the fates of states and nations, but also the survival of humanity itself. The diplomatic, strategic and economic aspects of international relations will all receive appropriate elucidation.

HIS 347H1-F The Country House in England 1837-1939

This course examines class, distinction and community through the lens of the English country house from 1837 to 1939. Topics include owners, servants, houses, collections, gardens and rituals such a fox hunting.

Prerequisite: A course in British or European history

HIS 349H1-S The British Search for Identity

This is an introductory course in the history of Britain from 1800 to the present day. The course will pay special attention to the changing role of monarchy. We will consider how the monarchy has defined its role in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, how it has weathered scandals and republican movements, and how its relationship with the media has evolved. Other themes will include race, ethnicity, gender and the welfare state. The intent is to put contemporary issues relating to the decline of Britain into historical perspective.

HIS 361H1-S The Holocaust from 1942

This is the second of two linked courses on the Holocaust, the program of mass killing carried out under the leadership of Nazi Germans during World War II. In this course, we will continue with a chronological approach, starting with 1942, a year that marked both the peak of German military power and a massive escalation in the murder of Jews. Particular attention will be paid to the connections between the war and the Holocaust throughout the years 1942, 1943, 1944, and 1945. Issues to be addressed include resistance by Jews and non-Jews; local collaboration; the roles of European governments, the Allies, the churches, and other international organizations; and varieties of Jewish responses. The last part of the course will focus on postwar repercussions of the Holocaust in justice, memory and memorialization, and popular culture.

In addition to the lectures, students will attend bi-weekly tutorial groups to discuss the assigned readings. Films will be presented in conjunction with the course.

HIS 364H1-S From Revolution to Revolution: Hungary from 1848 to 1989

Once a powerful kingdom in Central Europe, Hungary and the Hungarians have a rich history of interchanging periods of conquest, dominance, expansion and contraction. More recently, Hungary has been at the forefront of issues facing the European Union and Europe more generally with the rise of populism. This course has its focus on the multiple transformations of Hungary: from the revolutionary “Springtime of Nations” in 1848/49 when Hungary’s quest for independence was halted through political sovereignty and partnership with Austria in the Dual Monarchy between 1867 and 1918, to a truncated but independent existence in the interwar period in an alliance with Nazi Germany; then to Soviet Union occupation, Goulash Communism, and finally to renewed independence in 1989, membership in NATO in 1999 and the European Union in 2004 and the constitutional revolution that started in 2010 with the election of the Fidesz Party to power.

Prerequisite: A 100 level HIS course.

HIS 384H1-F The Baltic Sea Region from the Vikings to the Age of Nationalisms

This course traces political, cultural and socio-economic developments in North-Eastern Europe, the Baltic Sea region, from the Viking Age to the end of the 19th century. Topics include the crusades, the Hanseatic League and trade, the Reformation, the struggle for hegemony between the Swedish and Russian empires, the Enlightenment, national movements, and industrialization.

HIS 388H1-S France Since 1848

This course explores modern and contemporary France, from the Revolution of 1848 to the 1990’s. We will examine in detail fin-de-siècle culture and society, as well as major political dramas and traumas, including the Paris Commune, the Dreyfus Affair, the Vichy regime, and the wars of decolonization. Beyond the realm of politics, the course delves into a number of social, intellectual and cultural themes including pluralism and feminism in France, the place of intellectuals in French society, and forms of French cultural expression. Finally, the course opens a window onto the broader French-speaking world, by analysing colonialism and neo-colonialism, as well as the emergence of la Francophonie.

HIS 389H1-F Topics in History: Revolutionary Century: Global Revolutions of the Nineteenth Century

From the end of the 18th Century, important parts of the world have been repeatedly shaken and shaped by Revolutions. The aim of this course is to explore cultural and political transformations by focusing on social conflicts during some of their most spectacular outbursts. More in detail, by observing the 19th Century in a global perspective, the course will examine the transformation of political practices, the emergence of revolutionary discourses as well as of opposite criticisms of the idea of Revolution elaborated by liberal, socialist, and conservative thinkers.

HIS 389H1-S Topics in History: Italy since 1815

Italy seems to have a singular privilege among contemporary Western democracies: according to many observers in recent years it has constituted a sort of cultural, social, and political laboratory where contemporary trends found their incubation period, from the Berlusconism, considered as one of the closest antecedents of Trumpism, up to the current anti-politics, and so on. But if so, where this ‘privilege’ historically comes from? This course is a comprehensive survey of modern history of Italy, since 1815 to nowadays. Following the chronological timeline, the courses will consider some key moments in recent Italian history, the main social transformations, and some of the traits of Italian political imaginary (also by referring to Italian cinema, literature, and mass media): the Unification process, the Fascism regime, the ‘Cold war’ democracy, and the contemporary transformations of political institutions and political participation. A particular attention will be paid to the role of Italy in global transformations, and in particular to the attempts to build a colonial empire, to the internal and external effects of massive emigrations, and to Italian globalized legal and illegal economy.

JHP451Y1Y/JHP2351Y1Y L0101 The People from Nowhere

This course traces from earliest times to the present the evolution of a people called Carpatho-Rusyns and their historic homeland Carpathian Rus’, located in the heart of Europe. The seminar will deal with political, socioeconomic, and cultural developments, all the while testing the hypothesis that nationalities are imagined communities. (Given by the Departments of Political Science and History) Third-year students may be considered at the discretion of the instructor.

JHP304Y1Y Ukraine: Politics, Economy and Society

This is a year long survey course tracing the history of Ukraine from earliest times to the present. The format will follow two hour long lectures per week. Introductory lectures will treat the concept of national or territorial history as a cultural phenomenon, followed by a chronological survey of the region’s development. Among the topics to be considered are: Kievan Rus’ (ninth to thirteenth centuries); the Mongol impact; Lithuanian-Polish-Crimean period; Orthodox revival; the Cossack state; national awakening under Austrian and Russian rule; post World War I statehood; interwar Poland and Soviet Ukraine; World War II to independent statehood. Within each of these periods, political, socio economic and cultural factors will be considered to the degree that they had a determining impact upon the historical process. Much attention will also be given to the developments among non-ethnic Ukrainians living on Ukrainian territory, especially Jews, Poles, Crimean Tatars, Germans, and Russians. (Given by the Departments of Political Science and History).

As this course is designed as an introductory course, the professor welcomes first- and second-year students.

HUN320Y1 A Survey of Hungarian Literature

A chronological study of the development of Hungarian literature since the 12th century; emphasis both on outstanding writers and on significant movements or themes. Transformations of ideas and changes in language and style. No knowledge of Hungarian required.

INI381H1 Aspects of a National Cinema

In-depth treatment of a national cinema in a seminar format. (Offered in alternate years)
Prerequisite: INI115Y1

ITA210Y1 Contemporary Italy

An analysis of literary, social and artistic movements, whose aim is to better understand the conditions that prevail in modern Italy. This course includes a component designed to introduce students to methods of scholarly research appropriate to the field. (Given in English)
Distribution Requirement Status: This is a Humanities course
Breadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

ITA220H1 Introduction to Modern Italian Literature: Prose

Reading of selections of Italian prose works, with emphasis on linguistic and stylistic features. Texts to be read in Italian; both English and Italian will be used as language of instruction, as appropriate. This course includes a component designed to introduce students to methods of scholarly research appropriate to the field.
Prerequisite: ITA100Y1/ITA101Y1/ITA152Y1
Distribution Requirement Status: This is a Humanities course
Breadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

ITA221H1 Introduction to Modern Italian Literature: Poetry

Reading of selections of Italian poetry, with emphasis on linguistic and stylistic features. Texts to be read in Italian; both English and Italian will be used as language of instruction, as appropriate. This course includes a component designed to introduce students to methods of scholarly research appropriate to the field.
Prerequisite: ITA100Y1/ITA101Y1/ITA152Y1
Distribution Requirement Status: This is a Humanities course

ITA240Y1 Italian Cinema

An overview of Italian cinema from its early days to the present, which also offers a survey of Italian 20th century history and culture. The course features films by masters Rossellini, DeSica, Fellini, Antonioni, Bertolucci, Pasolini and works by younger filmmakers, such as Academy Award winners Tornatore, Salvatores and Benigni. This course includes a component designed to introduce students to methods of scholarly research appropriate to the field. The course is given in English and all films shown have English subtitles.
Distribution Requirement Status: This is a Humanities course
Breadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

ITA245Y1 Italian Culture and Civilization

The main elements of Italian civilization from the time of Dante until the present in literature, art, and thought with reference to political history where appropriate. This course includes a component designed to introduce students to methods of scholarly research appropriate to the field. (Given in English)
Exclusion: ITA246H1/ITA247H1/ITA248Y1/(ITA356/ITA357Y1)/(ITA358/ITA359Y1)
Distribution Requirement Status: This is a Humanities course
Breadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representations (1) + Society and its Institutions (3)

ITA301H1 History of Italian Literature: Baroque to Contemporary

This course provides a chronological, comprehensive view of Italian literature and its major authors and trends from the Baroque period to the present day. This course includes a component designed to enhance students’ research experience.
Prerequisite: ITA250Y1/ITA251Y1/ITA252Y1
Exclusion: ITA300Y1
Distribution Requirement Status: This is a Humanities course
Breadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

ITA310H1 The ‘Journey’ in the 19th century Italian Literature

The course illustrates Italy’s contribution to the history of the trope during a time when countries became increasingly interdependent and conscious of each others cultures. Through literary and social analysis the course traces the most vital aspects of the journey motif. This course includes a component designed to enhance students’ research experience. (Given in English)
Distribution Requirement Status: This is a Humanities course
Breadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

ITA326H1 Themes and Forms of the Lyric Tradition from Late Renaissance to 20th century

A chronological review of the forms and themes of the lyric tradition from Marino, who revised the genre inherited from the Petrarchists and Tasso, to the numerous variations of the genre culminating in the love poetry of D’Annunzio. This course includes a component designed to enhance students’ research experience.
Prerequisite: ITA250Y1/ITA251Y1/ITA252Y1
Exclusion: ITA325Y1
Distribution Requirement Status: This is a Humanities course
Breadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

ITA330H1 The Christian Epic: Manzoni and the 19th century

Italy’s foremost writers’ conscious attempt to write the great representative (“epic”) work of their age: this course explores their struggle to find the appropriate language, style, and genre to express their vision of history within the embrace of providence. This course includes a component designed to enhance students’ research experience.
Prerequisite: ITA250Y1/ITA251Y1/ITA252Y1
Exclusion: ITA330Y1

ITA340H1 Italian Neorealist Cinema

An analysis of the neorealist period in Italian cinema, and its relation to the political and social climate of post-war Italy. Screenings include selections from the major exponents of Italian neorealism: Rossellini, DeSica and Visconti, among others. This course includes a component designed to enhance students’ research experience. (Given in English)
Exclusion: ITA340Y
Distribution Requirement Status: This is a Humanities course
Breadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

ITA346H1 Monsters and Marvels in Italian Modern Literature

In this course we will consider how in nineteenth- and twentieth- century literature, fantastic and monstrous figures reflect the anxieties of the modern subject over the social, economic and existential transformations wrought by modernity. The course may include works by Tarchetti, Arrigo Boito, Capuana, Marinetti, Rosà, Bontempelli, Pirandello, Savinio, and Landolfi. This course includes a component designed to enhance students’ research experience.
Prerequisite: ITA250Y1/ITA251Y1/ITA252Y1 AND one FCE among 300-level ITA literature courses
Distribution Requirement Status: This is a Humanities course
Breadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

ITA347H1 Topics in Italian Cinema

This course focuses on issues of genre and authorship in the context of a general discussion of Italian film-making as a national and popular tradition. This course includes a component designed to enhance students’ research experience. (Given in English)
Exclusion: ITA342Y1

ITA341H1 Italian Cinema after Neorealism

The evolution of Italian cinematic neorealism and its historical heritage is examined in the early films of Fellini, Antonioni, Pasolini and others. This course includes a component designed to enhance students’ research experience. (Given in English).
Prerequisite: ITA340H1 or permission of Department.
Exclusion: ITA340Y1

ITA358/359YO: Modern Italian Culture

Analysis of a selection of philosophical, artistic, musical, and literary works from the age of the Baroque to the present. The main topics of discussion include: Romanticism, Italian unification, theatre, opera, Futurism, fascism, Neorealism, regional differences, and industrialization. Field trips and viewing of movies included. This course includes a component designed to enhance students’ research experience. (Offered in Siena only)
ITA358Y0: This course is taught in English and is open to students from other disciplines.
ITA359Y0: Students who wish to petition the Department for credit towards a Specialist or Major in Italian will be required to do the readings in Italian.
Exclusion: ITA245Y1/ITA247H1/ITA248Y1

ITA381H1 Topics in Modern and Contemporary Literature

Focusing on compelling themes arising from critical and theoretical debates in 20th-century culture, this course analyzes poetic, narrative and dramatic works by major Italian modern and contemporary authors. This course includes a component designed to enhance students’ research experience.
Prerequisite: ITA250Y1/ITA251Y1/ITA252Y1

ITA401Y1 Italian Theatre: Text and Performance

Study of Italian Dramas (comedy, tragedy, opera) from the 16th to the 20th centuries with focus on staging and acting techniques through the production of a specific play or operatic piece.
Prerequisite: ITA250Y1/251Y1, 252Y1 or permission of Department

ITA405H1 19th century Italian Poetry

Centred around the poetic production of Leopardi, Pascoli, and D’Annunzio, the course explores the main literary, artistic and socio-political issues that characterize Italy’s cultural contribution within the context of the romantic movements in Europe. This course includes a component designed to enhance students’ research experience.
Prerequisite: ITA250Y1/ITA251Y1/ITA252Y1 and at least 0.5 FCE ITA literature courses at the 300-level

ITA410H1 Masterpieces of Modern Drama

An analysis of the most representative works of 20th-century Italian dramatists, from Pirandello to Fabbri to Fo. This course includes a component designed to enhance students’ research experience.
Prerequisite: ITA250Y1/ITA251Y1/ITA252Y1 and at least 0.5 FCE ITA literature courses at the 300-level

ITA421H1 Spinning a Tale: The Italian Short Story after 1800

The short story genre and its development from 1800 to the present. Authors to include Pratesi, Verga, Negri, Landolfi. This course includes a component designed to enhance students’ research experience.
Prerequisite: ITA250Y1/ITA251Y1/ITA252Y1 and at least 0.5 FCE ITA literature courses at the 300-level
Exclusion: ITA421Y1

ITA441H1 Italian Novel into Film: Aspects of Cinematic Adaption

An analysis of the process of adaptation in an exploration of the ideological and narratological perspectives as well as the stylistic elements of literary and cinematic discourse. Selections include novels by Verga, Tomasi di Lampedusa, Moravia, Bassani and their filmic adaptations by directors such as Visconti, De Sica, Bertolucci. This course includes a component designed to enhance students’ research experience. (Given in English)

ITA491H1 Topics in Contemporary Fiction

This course traces the debate on the relationship between writing and reality in contemporary fiction from the early 20th century to neo-realism and post-modernism. Texts studied are by such prominent writers as Pirandello, Svevo, Gadda, Vittorini, Calvino, Morante, and Eco. This course includes a component designed to enhance students’ research experience.

JRA437H https://politics.utoronto.ca/graduate/courses/fallwinter-timetable/?id=3001

PHL210Y1Y 17TH AND 18TH CENTURY PHILOSOPHY

The scientific revolution transformed how philosophers thought about human knowledge, making the early modern period one of the most important for epistemology in Western intellectual history. In this course, we will examine how early modern philosophers understood the nature of human knowledge. What do I know? How do I know it? What is the relationship between knowledge, reason, and the senses? We will first study the accounts of knowledge developed by two schools of thinkers in this period, namely, the rationalists (René Descartes and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz) and the empiricists (George Berkeley and David Hume). We will then consider Immanuel Kant’s critical philosophy as a response to these two schools. Throughout the course, we will also examine some of the contributions made by women philosophers, including Elisabeth of Bohemia, Mary Astell, and Mary Shepherd.

PHL217H1F INTRODUCTION TO CONTINENTAL PHILOSOPHY

This course explores a series of efforts to find a meaning for being human in a world dominated by inhumane (and so all too-human) social and political orders. Each thinker claims modern philosophy directly contributes to our predicament, and so each must reinterpret philosophy. This search for meaning raises challenging questions about ethics, about the limits of our knowledge and about how language does more than simply name the world. As a result these authors avoid writing in a straight-forward argumentative style so that they engage the reader in more complex and creative ways. Our focus will be learning how thinking arises by reading basic texts from a variety of thinkers, including Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Levinas and Derrida.

PHL265H1F INTRODUCTION TO POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY

Modern states claim to be entitled to tell people what to do and to force them to do as they are told. They claim the power to regulate many aspects of life, to enforce property rights, to collect taxes and decide how to spend them, and give their officials powers that private persons lack. These powers are made more puzzling by the thought that nobody is entitled to rule by birth. In the course we will look at philosophical accounts of the basis of these remarkable powers, including such questions as: under what conditions could they be legitimate? Are there limits on their legitimate exercise? How are they related to ideas about freedom and equality? Our primary texts will be drawn from the social contract tradition. Writers in that tradition seek to justify the state’s powers by constructing an account of life in a “state of nature” without political institutions, and arguing that people in such a condition would have adequate reasons to set up a state. The authors we will read have very different conceptions of what life in such a condition would be like, and very different views about what it would be for the state to solve them. As a result, they also have different conceptions of the powers that a legitimate state could have.

Readings: In addition to classic discussions by Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau and Kant, we will also read contemporary versions of their positions, and important critiques of the social contract enterprise by Hume and Marx.

PHL310H1F THE RATIONALISTS

This course will focus on comparing the account of the mind and the body, and their relation, offered by Descartes and Spinoza. One of the most well known, and controversial, contributions of Descartes to philosophy is his dualism—the view that mind and matter are two distinct types of thing, with mind irreducible to and separable from the body. We will examine and evaluate Descartes’ arguments for dualism, and how Descartes departs from and challenges his scholastic predecessors. Spinoza agrees with many of Descartes core assumptions about how to pursue philosophical inquiry, but he ends up with a dramatically different account of the nature of mind and body and how they are related. We will compare these two views, with an eye to understanding each in their own right as well as understanding what leads these two philosophers to such different conclusions.

PHL311H1S THE EMPIRICISTS

This course will offer an in-depth study of the central figures in the Early Modern period associated with Empiricism: Locke, Berkeley and Hume. Of particular interest will be the relationship between Empiricism and Skepticism and the nature, possibility, and limits of knowledge.

PHL314H1F KANT

This course will consist in an intensive introduction to Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason. With the CPR, Kant set out to determine whether and how metaphysics is possible. In doing so, he developed a revolutionary account of self-consciousness and of the possibility of empirical knowledge that was an immediate and lasting source of philosophical controversy.

PHL316H1F HEGEL

This course will consist in an intensive introduction to Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit. The Phenomenology offers a rigorous and intricate answer to a deceptively simple question: what can I know? Written in the aftermath of Kant’s “critical” philosophy, the Phenomenology presents, through a philosophical account of the nature of scientific, social, moral and religious experience, a novel and challenging conception of human subjectivity.

PHL317H1S MARX AND MARXISM

This course is an advanced introduction to the thought of Karl Marx. We may also read some contemporary Marxists as well as critics of Marxism.

PHL323H1S SOCIAL AND CULTURAL THEORY

A study of philosophical approaches to understanding various aspects of contemporary culture and/or society. Topics may include theories of modernity, capitalism and consumerism, architecture and design, cultural pluralism, globalization, media and internet.

PHL325H1F EARLY ANALYTIC PHILOSOPHY

An examination of some of the classic texts of early analytic philosophy, concentrating on the work of Frege, Russell, and Wittgenstein.

PHL338H1F JEWISH PHILOSOPHY

This course will deal with the thought of the person many believe to have been the greatest Jewish philosopher of the 20th century, Franz Rosenzweig (1886-1929). We will be reading some of his essays, plus his magnum opus, The Star of Redemption. We will be exploring the question of what is Jewish philosophy, and what is Rosenzweig’s place in the history of western philosophy and in the history of Jewish theology.

PHL366H1S TOPICS IN POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY

There is a traditional view of the state, according to which it is absolutely sovereign, owes little or nothing to anyone except its own citizens, and is the political embodiment of a culturally homogenous people or “nation.” All of these assumptions are problematic today, but what picture should take its place? In this course, we will discuss the very idea of a sovereign nation-state, questions about human rights and global justice, the challenges of multiculturalism, and problems concerning migration. Readings will be drawn primarily from contemporary sources, including works by John Rawls, David Miller, Will Kymlicka, Iris Marion Young, Michael Walzer, and Joseph Carens. Special attention will be paid to the way these issues bear on Canada today.

PHL388H1F LITERATURE AND PHILOSOPHY

In this course we will consider the linked concepts of (1) uncanniness and (2) distorted narrative, through close examination of various theoretical texts (Freud, Kristeva, Mulhall, Zizek) and screenings of two trios of films: Hitchcock’s Psycho, North by Northwest, and Vertigo; and then Rashomon, Betrayal, and Memento.

POL207Y1Y Politics in Europe

This course provides an introduction to the study of comparative politics with a focus on Europe. The course will introduce students to key questions, theories and methods in comparative politics, and will explore these questions through the comparative study of national European polities. We will cover theories of transitions to democracy, formation and development of the nation-state, political institutions and their effects, parties and party systems, elections and electoral behaviour, nationalism, populism and identity politics. Students will become familiar with the recent history, politics and governments of contemporary European countries and the European Union through the lens of current and classic themes in comparative politics.

POL219H1F Unpacking Political Systems: Institutions and Behaviour in Comparative Perspective

The discipline of Political Science, since its establishment in the late nineteenth century, has concerned itself with the study of institutions. This course will explore the effect of institutions on power, coups and attempted coups, segregation and racial discrimination, women’s rights, LBGTQ+ rights, economic reform and inequality, immigration and immigration policy, and the segregation and sterilization of people with mental disabilities, among other topics. Institutions examined will include classic formal institutions (electoral systems, constitutions, courts, executives, legislatures, party systems), intermediate institutions (trade unions and interest groups), and sub rosa institutions (homes for the feebleminded and residential schools).

POL300Y0 Modern Greek Culture: People, Tradition, Language and Cuisine (SUMMER SCHOOL)

This course explores Modern Greek culture in the context of the Mediterranean and European regions and with reference to the continuing Greek influence on western civilization. Hellenism has influenced the world since the ancient times. Starting from their remarkable contributions in philosophy, politics, science, architecture, history, music, theatre and literature, Greeks continue to impact our everyday lives through their language and culture. It is impossible to celebrate the liberties and responsibilities of democracy, to embrace the spirit of the Olympic games, to enjoy the flavours of Mediterranean cuisine or to feel the magic of a theatrical play, without revealing their Greek connections. The course analyzes important aspects of contemporary Greek society and its values along with elements of Greek language, literature, food and arts.

POL310H1S The People from Nowhere

This course is a case study of nationalism based on the experience of a stateless people in Europe called Carpatho-Rusyns. Emphasis is on how factors such as historical ideology, language, education, religion, and politics are used by the intelligentsia to create a national consciousness among the inhabitants.

POL320Y1Y Modern Political Thought

This course looks at some of the more influential political theory texts of the 18th and 19th centuries. We focus on competing understandings of key concepts and tensions contained within political thought both leading up to the French Revolution and in its wake. The first term is focused on thinkers who help elucidate debates concerning the meaning of the concepts of “liberty”, “equality” and “fraternity”, as the key triad informing the politics of the French Revolution. During the second term, authors and texts will be divided into those who accept the basic conceptual terrain of post-revolutionary politics and those who develop a more radical contestation of it.

POL344Y1Y Social Movements in Europe and North America

A comparative examination of the development and impact of social movements and counter-movements in Canada, the U.S., and various European countries, with some examples also drawn from other parts of the world. Among the movements to be examined are those focusing on women’s rights, Indigenous rights, environmentalism, global social justice and sexual orientation rights. Questions to be addressed include: why do particular movements emerge when they do, what organizational form do they take, and what relationships do they develop with mainstream political processes

POL354H1F Politics and Society in Russia

POL358H1F Conflicts, Minority Rights and Para-States in Europe

POL372H1F Political Economy of Germany and the EU

The goal of this course is to explore the structure of the German political economy in the context of EU integration and economic globalization. This includes providing an understanding of the economic and political system (and its regional manifestations), which was once (and is now again) viewed as a successful socially-balanced alternative to the market-liberal structures in the Anglo-Saxon economies. Drawing upon the varieties-of-capitalism approach, the main themes in the course address the institutional conditions for growth. In a comparative perspective, the course explores topics, such as the role of collective agents, corporate governance and finance, collective bargaining, inter-firm co-operation and regional networks, social security systems, and population structure and immigration. In order to understand the heterogeneous challenges to the “German model”, the conditions are explored under which regional economies develop. This includes an analysis of the reunification process, and of the economic and political situation in the new Länder. Further, the question is raised as to how the “German model” can adapt to challenges related to globalization, climate change and economic crises.

POL377H1F Topics in Comparative Politics I

The Making of Modern Democracy: From the Middle Ages to the European Union

This course examines political change in Central and Eastern Europe (with limited discussion of Western Europe) from the Middle Ages to the present day. How are democracies created and why do they collapse? We will approach this question from an historical perspective, considering in succession the multiple “layers” of historical legacies—old regime, nineteenth century, interwar period, and state socialist—in their relation to the region’s contemporary politics. Throughout, the course will introduce students to a variety of historical explanations for present-day political phenomena (especially democratization and de-democratization) as well as accounts centered on more proximate causes, such as leadership-centric and strategic interaction-based explanations.

POL385H1S Issues in Contemporary Greece

POL410H/2391H-F Topics in Comparative Politics III: Politics and Policy of the Nordic Region

This course on the Nordic region (Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Iceland, and other Nordic territories) looks in detail at some of the political institutions and policies presented in POL300H1F Topics in Comparative Politics (Introduction to the Politics and Society of Northern Europe). We will review first the main political parties, trade unions and social movements in the Nordic countries, including the recent surge of populism. Then we will look at the politics of the welfare state, labour markets and income equality. The last part of the course will be devoted to migration and integration aspects, foreign policy and relations with the European Union, and other important challenges to the sustainability of the Nordic political model.

POL410H/2391H-S Topics in Comparative Politics III: Culture and Society of the Nordic Region

This course on the Nordic region (Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Iceland, and other Nordic territories) looks in detail at some of the social institutions presented in POL300H1F Topics in Comparative Politics (Introduction to the Politics and Society of Northern Europe), and introduces some key aspects of the Nordic culture. The first part of the course will be devoted to the cities and regions in the Nordic countries, including the Arctic, their main demographic groups -especially women-, social relations, and equality and diversity. The second part will review the most relevant works and authors in Nordic film, theatre, literature, architecture and design. The course will finish with a look at the international projection of the Nordic culture and social model.

POL438H/POL2321H Topics in Comparative Politics I: Political Economy of Europe

This course surveys major theoretical and empirical contributions on the political economy of Western Europe. The course explores the political sources of how and why European societies have adopted different economic institutions and policies in the global economy. We analyze theories of the welfare state, growth models and capitalist diversity, business-labor relations, and financial markets. The course then examines the deeper processes of European integration that have shaped European economies, with a particular focus on monetary integration. Finally, we discuss contemporary issues that define economies in Western Europe today — the eurozone crisis, Brexit, and populism.

POL455H1F Twentieth-Century Ukraine

This course will focus on the evolution of Ukraine as a state from its failed struggle for independence after World War I, its existence as a Soviet Ukrainian state, to its full
independence after the collapse of Communist rule and the Soviet Union.

POL456Y1Y/POL2256Y1Y The G8, G20 and Global Governance

The development, operation, and participants of the Group of Seven (G7), Group of Eight (G8) and Group of Twenty (G20) of institutions, their growth and performance as centres of global governance, and their relationship with the United Nations and Bretton Woods galaxy in providing public goods in economic, social, environmental and security realms.

POL459Y1Y/POL2216Y1Y The Military Instrument of Foreign Policy

This course analyses the relationship of military force to politics: nuclear war and deterrence, conventional war, revolutionary war, terrorism and counter-insurgency are examined from the perspectives of the US, Russia and other contemporary military powers.

POL466H1S/POL2207H1S Topics in International Politics III

Global Politics of State Formation

This intensive seminar will examine the history of state formation through the prism of international forces like imperialism, globalization, and hegemonic war.

POL486H1F Topics in International Politics I

The Domestic Politics of the Soviet Collapse

This course examines the final years of the Soviet Union with an emphasis on the internal politics of the disintegration.

PRT250H Introduction to Lusophone Culture

A survey of historical and cultural trends in the Portuguese-speaking world, from colonial past to the present. (Offered in alternate years; taught in English)

SLA103H Slavic Civilizations

A survey of Slavic civilizations through literature, art, architecture, and film. Key moments in the development of the cultures of Slavic countries are examined in a comparative framework, juxtaposing the varied historical, cultural, linguistic, religious, social, and political developments of the countries involved. Taught in English, all readings in English.

SLA194H Utopia Interrupted: Late and Post-Soviet Russian Literature

Almost 30 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, what can we understand about its culture and people, and its impact on the popular imagination in the West? To answer these questions, the course introduces students to canonical literary and cinematic works from the post-Stalin era to the present, with particular attention to the literary and cultural peripheries. Some of the topics will include: Gulag, or Return of the Repressed, Counter-Culture, Space Race, Immigration, Gender, Perestroika, and Putin’s Russia. All readings in English. Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

SLA195H Literature and Painting in Russia and the West

What makes literature ‘visible’? How do the verbal and the visual coexist? This seminar explores the relationship between words and images, texts and pictures through history, in Russia and the West. Special attention will be paid to the figure of the artist. Is it a writer’s alter ego, the incarnation of creativity, or just a character among others? Literary texts (mainly short stories) from Balzac and Gogol to Chekhov and O. Henry, Maugham and Bunin, Nabokov and Camus will be studied along with the paintings of some major 19th-20th century artists. The comparative dimension of the course will help students contextualize Russian literature and think about its relationship with the Western canon. We will also watch some 21st century films about artists (such as Julie Taymor’s Frida (2002), Milos Forman Goya’s Ghosts

[2006]

, and Mike Leigh Mr. Turner (2014)). All texts will be in English. Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

SLA298H The Slavic Grecian Formula: From Ancient Rhapsode to Modern Slav Song

Slav singers of heroic tales about war, lust, honour and revenge have made a special contribution to our appreciation of classical literature and mythology. We will compare Slavic epics and African-American rap songs to reveal the connection between Homer’s Iliad and Nas’s iconic Illmatic, between the mythical image of the pagan goddess Aphrodite and the mystique of Nicki Minaj, Lauryn Hill, and other iconic singers today. As we read The Iliad closely, we will study songs from the Russian, Bosnian Muslim, Croatian and Serbian traditions. Employing new performance formulaic theory, we will learn that they share much, in melody and message, with the work of today’s hip-hop artists, whose roots of rap “flowing” reach back to the beginnings of Western literature and the epic singers of ancient Greece. Students will have the opportunity to interact with a unique online multimedia edition of an epic song by a traditional Slavic singer. No knowledge of languages other than English is required. Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

SLA199H Re-imagining Central Europe: Imaginary Galicia

Galicia was an invented province of Austria-Hungary, created at the first partition of Poland in 1772. From the moment of its creation, it stimulated a very wide range of literary representations. As if to mirror its invented political status, the Galicia that appears in fiction is a world of fantastic wonders, strange delights, and ferocious terrors. Whether in Austrian, Jewish, Polish, or Ukrainian national imaginations, Galicia is a place with a uniquely hybrid culture. We explore this imaginary place through the writings of Ivan Franko, Joseph Roth, Stanislaw Lem, Bruno Shultz, Leopold Von Sacher-Masoch, Andrzej Stasiuk and other authors from a variety of traditions. The course focuses on the cultural understanding of geography with a specific focus on a place where a variety of national cultures interact. A number of short assignments offer students an opportunity to develop and polish their writing skills. Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

SLA203H1 Faking It

The role of forgery in cultural, national, and personal identities. A scholar “discovering” an “ancient” manuscript, a noblewoman in disguise joining the army, an impostor conning a provincial town, a writer faking political loyalty. Literary texts from Central and Eastern Europe expose the porous boundaries between authenticity and lies, highlighting the artificiality and vulnerability of social and cultural conventions. Taught in English, all readings in English.

SLA212H1 The Russian Novel

Introduction to the Russian novelistic tradition at the height of its creative power. We examine the Russian novel’s universal appeal and influence, and its impact on modern art and thought. Authors may include (depending on instructor) Gogol, Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Belyi, Nabokov, Pasternak, Solzhenitsyn. All readings in English.

SLA215H1 Czech and Slovak Cultures

Some of the most important features of Czech and Slovak cultural history are introduced in a survey of the national myths, traditions and cultural trends. (Offered every three years).

SLA216H1 Introduction to Polish Culture

Major cultural traditions, historical processes, myths, and figures that have shaped and redefined Polish civilization and national identity are problematized and contextualized with the help of works of literature, history, philosophy, political science, music, visual and performing arts. Readings in English (also available in Polish). (Offered in alternate years).

SLA227H South Slavic Literature

A survey of the most significant twentieth-century novels from Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia through a chronological selection of literary texts (poems, plays, novels) from the eighteenth to the twentieth century. The course places South Slavic literary developments within the broader context of European intellectual history as well as Balkan cultural and political life. Taught in English, all readings in English.

SLA234H1 Russian and Soviet Cinema

A survey of the Russian cinematic tradition from its beginnings through the first decade following the disintegration of the USSR. The course examines the avant-garde cinema and film theory of the 1920s; the totalitarian esthetics of the 1920s-1940s and the ideological uses of film art; the revolution in film theory and practice in the 1950s-1960s; cinema as medium of cultural dissent and as witness to social change. Students also acquire basic skills of film analysis. Taught in English, all films subtitled in English.

SLA260H Constructing Space: A History of Russian Art and Architecture

Chronologically organized and covering a period of ten centuries, from the eleventh to the twenty-first, the course has a special focus, the rendering of space and perspective. Beginning with the so-called “reverse perspective” of Russian Icons and the devotional world of churches and cathedrals, continuing with the geometrically organized, rational space of the 18th century and St. Petersburg, and moving on to the distorted reality of the Russian avant-garde and Socialist Realism’s attempt at reproducing reality “as it is,” the course concludes by asking where this oscillating acceptance and rejection of illusion leaves us in the 21st century. Consideration of paintings, buildings, sculptures, selected literary texts and films.

SLA247H (Post) Yugoslav Cinema

An overview of the Yugoslav and post-Yugoslav cinematic tradition from the 1960s to the present. Topics include revolution and socialism; cinema as activism; ideology and politics; sex and gender; war and trauma. Taught in English. All films with subtitles.

SLA248H1 Women and Women’s Themes in Ukrainian Literature

This course examines the presentation of women and women’s themes in works of Ukrainian literature. The subjects covered include: role models, freedom, socialism, nationalism, feminism, and sexuality.

SLA300H Russian Literature in the Age of Empire

Survey of major movements and institutions, familiar and less studied writers and intellectuals of the first half of the nineteenth century. Imperial culture between and within Europe and Asia. Romanticism as literary movement, cultural ideology, and lifestyle. Emergence of literature as profession and public sphere. Literature and nationalism. Taught in English, all readings in English.

SLA302H1 The Imaginary Jew

The course examines the genesis and evolution of the image of the Jew, central to all European cultures, from the theology and psychology of Christian anti-Judaism to their reflection in folklore, visual, plastic, and verbal arts, and to the survival of the imaginary Jew in secular forms. Special attention is given to the Jews of Slavic and East European imagination. All readings are in English.

SLA303H Literary Imagination and Jewish Identity in Modern Europe

An exploration of Central and East European authors writing in different languages but united by Jewish ancestry. We examine the responses of artists and intellectuals of Jewish extraction (Sholem Aleichem, Babel, Bialik, Heine, Kafka, Mandelshtam, Sforim, Zhabotinskii, etc.) to cultural secularization and modernity. Taught in English. Readings in English.

SLA310H Russian Literature Between Tradition and modernity

Survey of major movements and institutions, genres, familiar and less studied writers and intellectuals of the second half of the nineteenth century. Imperial culture in the reform era. Realism as literary movement, professionalization of literature and criticism, the novel and serialization, the short story and drama. Taught in English, all readings in English.

SLA311H1 Gogol

Fantastic and grotesque works by the most hilarious, obsessive, and delusional character in Russian literature, who teased, fascinated, and polarized readers. Gogol’s writings are examined through various theoretical approaches. Includes cinematic (Taras Bulba, Viy, Overcoat) and musical (Shostakovich’s “Nose”) re-creations of Gogol’s works. Taught in English, all readings in English.

SLA312H Nabokov

A study of Vladimir Nabokov’s novels written in Europe and the United States. Special attention is paid to the nature and evolution of Nabokov’s aesthetics; the place of his novels in European and American literary traditions; Nabokov’s creative uses of exile to artistic, philosophical and ideological ends; the aesthetic and cultural implications of the writers’ switch from Russian to English. Novels studied: Defense, Despair, The Gift, The Real Life of Sebastian Knight, Lolita, Pnin, Pale Fire. Taught in English, all readings in English.

SLA314H Dostoyevsky

Crime and Punishment, The Brothers Karamazov, and short works. Dostoevsky’s political, psychological, and religious ideas as they shape and are shaped by his literary art. Readings in English. Taught in English, all readings in English.

SLA317H1 Tolstoy

War and Peace or Anna Karenina, and some shorter works. Tolstoy’s political, psychological, and religious ideas as they shape and are shaped by his literary art. Taught in English, all readings in English.

SLA331H1 Modernism and Visual Arts

Synthesis of visual arts, music, and literature in the late Russian Empire-early Soviet Union. Baba Yaga’s hut and levitating sculptures; symphony in words and the language of stars; from princesses and puppets to the first peeks into the fourth dimension. Kandinsky, Bely, Zamyatin, Malevich, and many others. Taught and read in English.

SLA333H1 Animated Film in Europe

Trends in the history of European animated film, focusing on Central and Eastern European cinematic traditions. Aesthetics of animated image and peculiarities of animation as an art form. Films are analyzed in their artistic, cultural and political contexts. Taught in English, English subtitles.

SLA342H Theatricality and Spectacle in the History of Russian Culture: From Jesters to Meyerhold

We will study Russian public spectacles from the eighteenth century imperial court festivities all the way through the Revolutionary festivals of the 1920s. We will also look at the 2003 celebration of the 300 year anniversary of St. Petersburg and the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Special emphasis on those figures who influenced twentieth century theatre and film in the West (such as Konstantin Stanislavsky, Vsevolod Meyerhold, Sergei Diagilev). All readings in English. No knowledge of Russian required.

SLA345H1 Russian Modernism

A history of Russian modernist culture from the 1890s to 1940. Topics include: Russia’s fin-de-siècle art and thought in European context; the aesthetic and philosophical evolution of Russian modernism as a cultural community; modernist experiments in literature; conservative reactions to modernism before and after the communist takeover in Russia; the modernist strategies of survival. Taught and read in English. Exclusion: SLA246H1

SLA346H Communism and Culture

Probes the paradoxes of politics, culture and everyday life by analyzing the complex coexistence of art and literature with changing cultural politics in a totalitarian and post-totalitarian system, with simplistic ideology and political dissent, and with prevailing myths about the West and the East. Readings in English (Polish for majors).

SLA356H1 What’s New? Polish Culture Today

The amazing cultural transformations of Poland in the last fifteen years within a changing Europe. The impact of these changes on Poland’s social consciousness and perception of identity, history, and nationhood. The most recent literature, fine arts, music, and popular culture. Readings in English (Polish for majors).

SLA357H Literature of Exile and Immigration

This course examines novels and short stories by writers from the former Yugoslavia (including Dubravka Ugreši?, Aleksandar Hemon) that thematize exile, migration, and displacement. Alongside literary works, we will read theoretical essays that speak to concepts of home, nation, and language. Taught in English. Readings in English.

SLA358H1 Breaking Away from Empire: Ukrainian Fiction Since Independence

This course traces the extraordianry development of Ukrainian prose since the collapse of the Soviet Union. We will explore post-modernist _uphoria, colonial angst, cultural entropy, hooliganism, national identity, gender issues, and other aspects of modern Ukraine. All readings in English.

SLA367H1 Chekhov

Selected stories, plays; stylistic, structural, and thematic analysis, literary and historical context, influence in Russia and the West. Taught in English, all readings in English.

SLA377H1 Post-socialism in Literature and Film

This course examines the era inaugurated by the collapse of the state-socialist regimes in the former Eastern Bloc, marked by political turmoil, major economic restructuring, and social ambivalences. The course investigates topics such as: socialist legacy and nostalgia, mass emigrations and refugee crises, conflicts over national identity and borders, sociocultural anxieties about inclusion in the EU, perspectives on the future of socialist thought and practice in Eastern Europe.

SLA429H Shevchenko

A critical study of Taras Shevchenko. Life, works, and significance. Readings in Ukrainian.

SLA463H Themes in Russian Realism

What is distinctive about Russian realism? The course will examine nineteenth century Russian realist fiction in relation to various theoretical approaches, from Erich Auerbach to Roman Jakobson. We will read contemporary works of criticism and thought from Russia and Europe that may have influenced it.

SPA341H1 Modernist Movements in Spain

Literary and artistic movements in Spain from 1890 to 1940, with special attention to the convergence and mutual mediation of politics and art. Materials to be studied include novels, poetry, the urban environment, graphic art, literary journals and manifestos, and some early Hispanic film. (Offered every three years).

SPA345H1 Spanish Cinema

Analysis of the development of Spanish Cinema within its social and political contexts. Directors studied include Buñuel, Bardem, Erice, Saura, Almodóvar and Bigas Luna. (Offered every three years).

SPA435H1 Fictions of Contemporary Spain

Study of major currents in narrative fiction during the last twenty years, a period of return to democratic government, the relaxing of censorship and the opening up of Spanish culture. Analysis of works from several generations of male and female writers. (Offered every three years).

Major in Hungarian Studies

Degree requirements

6 full courses or their equivalent including two FCEs in Hungarian language study.

First Year: HUN100Y1
Higher Years:

HUN200Y1, HUN310Y1, HUN320Y1 and
two courses from:

EUR200Y1,HIS241H1,HIS242H1, HIS251Y, HIS364H-S, INI381H1

The Hungarian program participates in the Faculty of Arts and Science’s Language Citation initiative. Students may achieve this Citation in Hungarian. The Language Citation recognizes a significant level of achievement in language study. For course selection students should consult the Undergraduate Coordinator as early as possible since not every language course is offered each year. Students who begin language study at the Intermediate level should consult the Undergraduate Coordinator for approval of advanced literature and culture courses that may satisfy the requirements for the Language Citation. The Language Citation in Hungarian is available to students who complete HUN200Y1 and HUN310Y1 with a grade of at least B-.

Minor in Hungarian Studies

Degree requirements

4 full courses or their equivalent, including at least one at the 300+ level from:

Four courses from: HUN100Y1, HUN200Y1, HUN310Y1, HUN320Y1, HIS241H1, HIS242H, HIS251Y HIS364H-S, HIS367Y0, INI381H1

Courses

HUN100Y1 Elementary Hungarian

This course is aimed at students interested in Hungarian but have no prior knowledge of the language. The course emphasizes essential vocabulary, basic comprehension, speaking, reading and writing skills with a balance between communicative activities and grammar practices. Communicative activities will include group and partner work to encourage interactive learning.

HUN200Y1 Intermediate Hungarian

Review of descriptive grammar; studies in syntax; vocabulary building; intensive oral practice; composition; reading and translation.

HUN310Y1 Advanced Hungarian

This course is intended to build on the skills and knowledge acquired by the students in the previous Hungarian language courses. It will consist of a more advanced study of grammar, more complex vocabulary, higher level of oral skills and longer reading, writing and translation exercises. Communicative activities will include group and partner work to encourage interactive learning.

HUN320Y1A Survey of Hungarian Literature

EUR200Y1 Europe: Nation-State to Supranational Union

HIS241H1 Europe in the Nineteenth Century, 1815-1914

HIS242H1 Europe in the 20th Century

The evolution of European politics, culture, and society from 1914: the two world wars, Fascism and Nazism, the post-1945 reconstruction and the movement towards European integration.

HIS 364H1-S From Revolution to Revolution: Hungary from 1848 to 1989

INI381H1 Aspects of a National Cinema

In-depth treatment of a national cinema in a seminar format. (Offered in alternate years)
Prerequisite: INI115Y1

Hellenic Studies

Please note that this is not a standalone undergraduate program. For more information, please consult the European Studies and Political Science detailed course listings.

Courses

MGR100H Introductory Modern Greek

This course is designed for absolute beginners in the Modern Greek language. The overall goal is to facilitate understanding and use of familiar everyday expressions and phrases aimed at the satisfaction of basic communicative needs. Students will familiarize themselves with the Modern Greek alphabet, pronunciation and grammatical rules. No previous knowledge of Modern Greek required.

Exclusion: Students who have completed High School in Greece or a Grade 12 Modern Greek language credit.

MGR101H Elementary Modern Greek

This course builds on MGR100H1 and aims to develop competence in the Modern Greek language at the basic level. Students will attain elementary proficiency in the spoken and written language by familiarizing themselves with a variety of grammatical and syntax structures while continuing to enrich their vocabulary. Emphasis will be placed on reading and conversational skills while students are expected to write short descriptive paragraphs.

Prerequisite: MGR100H1
Exclusion: Students who have completed High School in Greece or a Grade 12 Modern Greek language credit.

MGR245Y Intermediate Modern Greek

A course designed for students with some command of the language: vocabulary building; study of grammar and syntax; compositional skills leading to the study of a prose literary work.

Prerequisite: First-year Greek or equivalent; permission of instructor that includes language placement test evaluation

MGR300H Advanced Modern Greek I

This course builds on the Intermediate level background knowledge to prepare students as independent users of the Modern Greek language. In order to attain conversational fluency and communicate effectively and accurately with native Greek language speakers, students will practice on reading and interpreting magazine and newspaper articles on various topics as well as applying more complex grammatical and syntax rules to write essays on assigned subjects.

Prerequisite: Completion of MGR245Y1 or permission of instructor

MGR301H Advanced Modern Greek II

The aim of this course is to facilitate fluency both in spoken and written Modern Greek. Proficiency at this level will be attained through familiarization with various texts and genres including a Modern Greek literature anthology and selected academic articles. Emphasis will be placed on writing which will lead to the production of a short research paper in Modern Greek.

Prerequisite: Completion of MGR300H1 or permission of instructor

POL300Y0 Modern Greek Culture: People, Tradition, Language and Cuisine (Summer Abroad)

Hellenic civilization has influenced the world since the ancient times. Starting from their remarkable contributions in fields such as philosophy, science, architecture, history, music, literature and politics, Greeks continue to impact our everyday lives through their language and culture. It is impossible to celebrate the liberties and responsibilities of democracy, to engage the spirit of the Olympic games, to enjoy the flavours of Mediterranean cuisine or to feel the magic of a theatrical play, without revealing their Greek connections. This course is intended for anyone who wishes to explore Modern Greek culture both in the context of the Mediterranean and European regions and with reference to the continuing Greek contributions to world civilization. Important aspects of the contemporary Greek culture and values will be examined along with elements of the Greek language, literature, food and arts. Students will experience living in glorious Athens, a European megalopolis surrounded by significant monuments and museums, before travelling to Rhodes and the Dodecanese to learn more about the Hellenic tradition and enjoy the beauty and hospitality of the Greek islands. The course is taught in English and there are no Greek language requirements.

POL385H1S Issues in Contemporary Greece

Enrolment

Please note:

European Studies Major and European Union Studies Minor are Type 2
Hungarian Studies and Hellenic Studies are Type 1

For application process and deadlines please consult:

https://sidneysmithcommons.artsci.utoronto.ca/program/apply-for-programs/ and https://www.artsci.utoronto.ca/academics/course-enrolment

FAS links and FAQ

FAS links

FAS page contains information about academic dates, registration, course enrolment, subject post (program) enrolment as well as other important information:https://www.artsci.utoronto.ca/current/academics
Program Toolkit: https://sidneysmithcommons.artsci.utoronto.ca/program/
Sessional dates: https://fas.calendar.utoronto.ca/sessional-dates
Timetable listings https://timetable.iit.artsci.utoronto.ca/

FAQ:

Q: I am considering applying to European Affairs Program. What makes the program so special?

A: It’s a boutique program. There are about 100 students enrolled in the European Studies major and the European Union minor. They are very well integrated in activities of and have access to resources of CERES and the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. Because of relatively small program numbers, the students enjoy a personalized approach and become a part of a tight-knit community.

Q: How do I get involved in this community?

A: Join ESSA! ESSA -or the European Studies Students Association- is a great way to get involved and meet people. It publishes an annual journal Messages in the Media that studies the media of Europe and is funded by CERES. In addition, ESSA offers a variety of other activities–career talks, socials, movie nights and lectures.

Q: How do I get enrolled?

A: The European Affairs major (POST: ASMAJ1626) and the European Affairs minor (ASMIN1626) are Type 2 programs. They have prerequisite courses and require you to obtain a minimum grade of 65% in those courses. Hungarian Studies (ASMAJ1124 for major and ASMIN1124 for minor) is a Type 1 which does not have any specific courses required for enrolment. As long you are on your way to completing 4.0 FCEs, you can apply to a Type 1 Program. Students request their enrollment in the POSt via ACORN. https://sidneysmithcommons.artsci.utoronto.ca/program/apply-for-programs/

Q: How do I enroll in Hellenic Studies?

A: Hellenic studies is not a standalone undergraduate program but a part of the European Studies program. It’s a set of courses with a focus on the history, language, and culture of Greece and the wider Balkans. For more information, please consult the European Studies and Political Science detailed course listings.

Q: What are European Affairs Major program requirements?

A: Academically, there are 7 credits to take in the major. Three of them must be in a European language. Out of the remaining four, students take EUR200Y, which is a survey of Eu r ope 1789 – 1989, and 1 credit in PolSci courses from POL219H1, POL324H1, POL358H1, POL359H1, POL387H1, or any POL course with European content approved by the Program Coordinator. In the final year, students take a capstone course EUR498H, a seminar course that deals with the European Union and its core institutions. That leaves 1.5 credits in electives! Lots to choose from as long as it is Europe since 1789.

Q: What are European Union Studies Minor program requirements?

A: There is no foreign language requirement. You will start your program with EUR200Y, which deals with Europe between 1789 and 1989. Then similarly to European Affairs Major you could choose if you want to study Europe’s east or Europe’s west and take two full credits in eligible elective courses.

Q: What is a language requirement for European Affairs Major?

A: Language competence is at the centre of the European Affairs Program. Students can start their foreign language training in any year depending on their placement by the respective department. Students need to have three language credits:

They must be progressive (beginner->intermediate->advanced)
They must be sequential (they take the beginner class before the advanced one)
They must be in a single language only.
A two-year progressive sequence of courses in a single language must total 2.0 credits. After that, a student can take either an additional 1.0 credit in the single language already chosen, or 1.0 credit in non-language courses related to culture, film, or literature taught in the language of your choice. Variations on this can be discussed with the Program Coordinator.

For example:

in your first year, you could start with SPA100Y. Then in your second year, continue with SPA220Y, and in your third year, either take SPA320Y Advanced Spanish or take 1.0 credit in Spanish culture course on a 300+ level.

Q: Do you have all elective courses listed on CERES website?

A: No. The selection of courses varies from year to year. Please check the list of courses offered in relevant departments. In addition to that, students can take courses in any department with the approval of the instructor and the undergraduate coordinator, provided that the student submits coursework related to Europe.

Q: What are opportunities for international experiential learning?

A: There are a number of U of T summer abroad courses offered in Europe. For more details see: https://summerabroad.utoronto.ca/

– a trip to Georgia in the International/Indigenous Course Modules (ICM) program: https://news.artsci.utoronto.ca/all-news/undergraduate-students-tbilisi-georgia-icm/

More information on funding opportunities could be found here:https://www.artsci.utoronto.ca/funding-opportunities/icm-program

-The Faculty of Arts & Science encourages as many students as possible to undertake a significant, academic-related international experience during their academic careers. To allow as much planning time as possible, the table below summarizes requests for proposals for A&S international-related programs.

https://www.artsci.utoronto.ca/international-programs-partnerships/apply-international-programs

-finally, UofT offers numerous short term, long term or summer opportunities for learning abroad https://learningabroad.utoronto.ca/. Please note all international experiences Safety Abroad procedures are required https://www.studentlife.utoronto.ca/cie/sao.

Q: What are major career pathways for European Affairs students?

A: Many students decide to continue studying the region on a graduate level at CERES or other comparable institutions. With a strong language skills that the program offers, the European Affairs graduates find themselves working in various government and non-government organizations as well as in the private sector. Use the opportunity to get involved in the ESSA activities such as editing or writing for the journal Messages in the Media, and attend conferences and events at CERES and the Munk School. The opportunities for networking are limitless.

Q: Where can I find more information about employment and careers?

The Career Centre is dedicated to helping students and recent alumni (up to 2 years) map out the career path best suited for them and putting them in touch with work opportunities. A personalized, student-centred website provides 24-hour access to thousands of part-time, summer, full-time employment and volunteer listings. The Centre’s Career Resource Library contains valuable information on career development, further education and employment. The Career Centre is located in the Koffler Student Services Centre, 214 College Street. Website: http:// www.studentlife.utoronto.ca/cc

ESSA

ESSA executive committee members posing

The European Studies Students’ Association, or ESSA, is the official student organization of the European Studies Program at the University of Toronto.

Through its affiliation with the Centre for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies at Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, our members benefit from the access to, and knowledge of more than ten departments in their learning about Europe and European issues.

We encourage our members to actively participate in academic and social events to enrich their university experience. ESSA offers a variety of activities–career talks, socials, movie nights and lectures.

We also publish an annual journal Messages in the Media. Funded by CERES, it studies the media of Europe and features fourteen country-specific reports that examine the most important political topics in each country with a special emphasis on the country’s relationship with the EU. By analyzing the major themes discussed in the national media in both EU and non-EU member states, these reports aim to provide valuable insights into the challenges facing each country today, and the way these domestic perspectives inform dialogue on the supranational level. Messages in the Media combines national media coverages from a variety of countries to give a greater understanding of the perception of the most important issues in the eyes of national media.

To get involved email at essa.toronto@gmail.com.

website: www.essauoft.org

Instagram: @essauoft

Twitter: @ESSAuoft

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/essauoft/

International Experience

There are several courses with an emphasis on experiential learning that take place in Europe and taught by European Studies faculty such as:

– a summer program in Athens, Greece
– a trip to Georgia in the International/Indigenous Course Modules (ICM) program.

In addition to these UofT offers numerous short term, long term or summer opportunities for learning abroad https://learningabroad.utoronto.ca/.

-Please note: for all international experiences you need to fulfill all Safety Abroad requirements! https://www.studentlife.utoronto.ca/cie/sao.

More information on funding opportunities could be found here: https://www.artsci.utoronto.ca/funding-opportunities/icm-program

https://www.artsci.utoronto.ca/international-programs-partnerships/apply-international-programs

Summer Schools

For a complete list of summer school opportunities, procedures and deadlines please consult with the database of the Centre for International Experience at https://learningabroad.utoronto.ca/

Austria:

The Graz International Summer School Seggau is designed for internationally oriented, highly motivated graduate and undergraduate students from all disciplines, who wish to deepen their understanding of current European and international affairs by studying and discussing global developments and challenges within the context of transformation processes and demographic change reflecting aspects of individual, social, political, religious, cultural, literary, regional, economic, cohort and national identities.

Credit 6 ECTS

Estonia:

Summer school “Understanding Russia: Insights into Contemporary Russian Culture and Politics”, the University of Tartu, Estonia.

The summer school explores the complex social, cultural and political developments that drive Russia’s domestic and foreign policy, underlie the current crisis in Russia’s relations with the West, and influence the daily realities and perspectives of the Russian people.

Held in Estonia, a country with a long and complex history of relations with Russia, the school is hosted by the Centre for EU-Russia Studies and Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies at the University of Tartu (UT). Founded in 1632, the UT is the leading research university in the New Europe (Times Higher Education, 2018). The school takes place in the three main cities of Estonia: the capital Tallinn (week 1), the university town of Tartu (week 2) and the Russian-speaking border city of Narva (weekend). The format of the school combines lectures and seminars with study trips, site visits, and a rich cultural and social program.

The school is open to undergraduate and graduate students. Upon completion of the programme, 4 ECTS is awarded. The programme fee is €1,600 and includes tuition, multiple study visits, cultural and social programme, and services of the host university with accommodation in double rooms in a student dormitory. Participants are responsible for their travel, travel insurance and visa arrangements, if needed.

More information about the program is available at: https://www.ut.ee/en/studies/understanding-russia-insights-contemporary-russian-culture-and-politics

Contact: Ms Mari-Ann Susi, Programme Director, mari-ann.susi@ut.ee, phone +372 737 6609.

Martens Summer School on International Law at the University of Tartu, Pärnu College (Ringi 35, Pärnu, Estonia)
Level: advanced undergraduate, MA students and professionals (approximately 25-30 students)

Objectives: The 8th Martens Summer School on International Law, organised by the School of Law of the University of Tartu in the Estonian coastal resort town Pärnu, will deal with the comparative aspects of international law and human rights, mostly in Europe and in Russia. One of the underlying ideas is to bring together international law scholars, practitioners and students from Western and East European countries. Each year we invite 4 distinguished professors from different countries and each professor will present 5 lectures over 5 days of the week.

Credits: The programme awards 2 ECTS with the option of 4 ECTS in case the student submits an individual research paper. This needs to be agreed upon with the programme academic manager Professor Lauri Mälksoolauri.malksoo@ut.ee prior the course.

Finland:

“DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION OF STATE AND SOCIETY IN RUSSIA”, University of Helsinki, Finland. The course is designed for advanced undergraduates or Master’s level students of humanities and social sciences.

The ‘digital’ is profoundly changing Russia today, equally transforming the methods used to study Russia. To grasp this two-fold transformation, this course brings together leading Helsinki experts in Russian Studies and digital humanities to examine how Russian society, politics, economy and culture are reconfigured in the context of digitalisation. We now have a wealth of new (big) data sources, such as digital archives, social media and various kinds of ‘digital-born’ content that allow us to investigate Russian society in novel ways.

Through a series of lectures, demos and workshops culminating in a three-day hackathon, the course provides a concise overview of the novel opportunities for applying digital methods and big data to the study of Russian state and society. We will address methodological questions that are particular to the study of Russia, such as Russian social media platforms and the analysis of Russian-language sources, as well as legal and ethical controversies involved in working with Russian digital research materials. The course is suitable for all students interested in the changing field of Russian Studies at the intersection of the ‘societal’ and the ‘digital’.

Credit 6 ECTS

Germany:

European Summer Course in Otzenhausen, Germany

FUTURE4EUROPE: Key Settings for a Changing European Union is 12- -day intensive study course which analyses key topics of today’s European Union and offers a broad range of subjects in politics, economics and legal aspects of European integration. Students take part in this academically demanding programme of an international seminar and explore Europe with fieldtrips to Brussels and Strasbourg. The course is open to CERES MA candidates and European Studies undergraduates. Internal deadline for applications: 1 March, 2020.

For more information, contact Joseph Hawker <j.hawker@utoronto.ca>

Credit 6 ECTS

The European Studies course at Ludwig-Maximilians-University (LMU) Munich

Vienna – Prague – Munich: Globalization – Europeanization – Times of Crisis

In an interdisciplinary learning environment, you will boost your knowledge on Europe and the EU in particular, supervised by established researchers who motivate you to work on your own research topic. Besides, participants will immerse into the German and European culture by visiting three vibrant European cities and their cultural sites.

Discover Europe in Germany: Study for a year at the University of Freiburg and earn Canadian university credits.
The program is open to students of all disciplines from Canadian universities and colleges.
Language requirement: Beginners and intermediate university German (A2 level) or high school and intermediate university German or equivalent.
This program is organized by the German Studies Section of the Department of Languages and Literatures, Acadia University, Wolfville, Nova Scotia.

Lithuania:

Vilnius Summer School, Vilnius, Lithuania, is a week-long academic program dedicated to facilitate dialogue and in-depth analysis on a variety of security issues at national, regional and global levels.
They offer four separate courses on military, cyber and energy security, as well as on countering organized crime on July 11-18, 2020

Tuition fee with accommodation: 800 Eur. Tuition fee with accommodation includes complete course reading materials, accommodation and two meals per day (breakfast and lunch), student’s handbook, maps, field-trips, and cultural and special events. Students are responsible for their own travel costs, dinners and other personal expenses.

NB: No credit transfer

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Centre for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies

European Affairs Major (ASMAJ1626)

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European Affairs Minor (ASMIN1626)

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“Mix and match” 1.0 credit from:

Elective Courses:

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Hellenic Studies

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Enrolment

FAS links and FAQ

FAS links

FAQ:

ESSA

International Experience

Summer Schools

Austria:

Estonia:

Martens Summer School on International Law at the University of Tartu, Pärnu College (Ringi 35, Pärnu, Estonia)
Level: advanced undergraduate, MA students and professionals (approximately 25-30 students)

Finland:

Germany:

Lithuania:

Upcoming Events

Babyn Yar: History and Memory

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Centre for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies

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Centre for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies

European Affairs Major (ASMAJ1626)

Program Requirements

European Affairs Minor (ASMIN1626)

Degree Requirements

Courses

Required courses:

“Mix and match” 1.0 credit from:

Elective Courses:

Major in Hungarian Studies

Degree requirements

Minor in Hungarian Studies

Degree requirements

Courses

Hellenic Studies

Courses

Enrolment

FAS links and FAQ

FAS links

FAQ:

ESSA

International Experience

Summer Schools

Austria:

Estonia:

Martens Summer School on International Law at the University of Tartu, Pärnu College (Ringi 35, Pärnu, Estonia) Level: advanced undergraduate, MA students and professionals (approximately 25-30 students)

Finland:

Germany:

Lithuania:

Upcoming Events

Babyn Yar: History and Memory

Recent CERES Internships

Latest Entries

Social Media Connection

Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy @ University of Toronto

Centre for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies

Newsletter Signup Sign up for the CERES newsletter.

Martens Summer School on International Law at the University of Tartu, Pärnu College (Ringi 35, Pärnu, Estonia)
Level: advanced undergraduate, MA students and professionals (approximately 25-30 students)