Program Overview

Canadian Social History (HIST*3660)

Course Details

The course code for Canadian Social History is HIST*3660, and it is offered in Section 01 during the Fall 2023 term.

Course Description

This course examines new directions in social history that have emerged in the last decade and focuses on the 19th and 20th centuries. The course is divided into three sections, which focus on how HOME, WORK, and PLAY were historically understood and experienced by people in the past. Special attention will be given to spatial context and gendered ideals and experiences. Students will engage a wide variety of historical evidence, methods, and approaches, as they learn about evolving cultural ideals that characterized Canada in an age of immigration, industrialization, urbanization, and nation-building.

Course Format

This course is held in class on campus. Each week, students will meet twice for an eighty-minute class. The first 50 minutes are a lecture, and the last 30 minutes are devoted to discussing the seminar reading for that day.

Learning Outcomes

By the successful completion of this course, a student will have learned to:

• Critically analyze primary sources by doing two document assignments
• Critically analyze scholarly articles in seminars
• Write concisely and persuasively
• Communicate knowledge about social history and its historiography
• Communicate effectively in seminars
• Lead a seminar discussion with thought-provoking questions
• Synthesize knowledge learned in lectures, seminars, and course assignments into a meaningful whole on the final exam

Methods of Evaluation and Weights

• Seminar participation and leadership - 30%
• Document Analysis 1 - 20%
• Document Analysis 2 - 20%
• Final Exam - 30%

Required Texts

• James Opp and John C. Walsh, eds., Home, Work, and Play, 3rd edition (Oxford University Press, 2015), new and used hard copies available.

Departments and Schools

The course is associated with the following departments and schools:

• School of Theatre, English, and Creative Writing
• School of Fine Art and Music
• School of Languages and Literatures
• Department of History
• Department of Philosophy
• Interdisciplinary Programs

Centres, Institutes, and Labs

The university features the following centres, institutes, and labs:

• Centre for Scottish Studies
• Grounded and Engaged Theory Lab (GET)
• Interdisciplinary Design Lab
• The International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation
• The Humanities Interdisciplinary Collaboration Lab (THINC)
• The School of Fine Art & Music Print Study Collection