Victoria College CoursesVic One, Vic First Pathways, CTEP, Literary Studies; Renaissance Studies; Semiotics; Other. |
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First Year Seminars The 199Y1 and 199H1 seminars are designed to provide the opportunity to work closely with an instructor in a class of no more than twenty-four students. These interactive seminars are intended to stimulate the students’ curiosity and provide an opportunity to get to know a member of the professorial staff in a seminar environment during the first year of study. Details here.
Consult Vic One Liaison Officer, Michelle Mitrovich, Victoria College m.mitrovich@utoronto.ca
The following courses are available to students admitted to Vic One: VIC150Y1 This course will be about the social and historical role of the school. The course will examine schools and learning as social, political, intellectual, and economic pheomena. VIC151Y1 The course focuses on connecting theories and practice of teaching with a view to having students develop their personal understanding of teaching. Students will be involved in a practicum. VIC162H1 A study of culture with a view to developing basic concepts with examples drawn from the visual arts, music, film, literature, architecture, and/or local urban artifacts. VIC163H1 A study of culture with a view to developing basic concepts with examples drawn from the visual arts, music, film, architecture, and/or local urban artifacts. We will emphasize how contemporary thought has affected the practice of everyday life. VIC164H1 A study of the ideas and concerns of creative thinkers and their impact upon cultures. The course includes literary, scientific and/or religious intellectuals from the major traditions. Attention to modes of reasoning, cultural definition and expression. Emphasis on philosophical and artistic concepts. VIC165H1 A study of art, with a focus on poetry, as an essential mode of experience and knowledge, in the context of contemporary and modern society. Along with literary artists, the course includes writers on history and sociology and presents the interplay between artistic vision and socio-political situations. VIC170Y1 How rhetoric and statistical analysis are used to communicate scientific observations and theories will be examined in seminars. Problems including the nature of evidence, risk assessment, random error and systematic error (bias) will be discussed using examples drawn from the physical, life and social sciences. VIC171Y1 An examination of scientific theories and their logic, the role in life sciences of models and mathematics, and issues in experimental design and data analysis. Particular emphasis will be placed on evolutionary theory, genomics, contemporary scientific controversies and ethical issues. VIC181H1 This course will review issues in contemporary world affairs, from the fall of the Berlin Wall to the present day. The course will examine the politics and practice of foreign policy decision making. Issues to be covered include the collapse of the Soviet Union, intervention in humanitarian crises, and the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Co-requisites: VIC183H1, VIC184H1, VIC185H1, and a First year VIC183H1 The course explores how public service and citizenship are developed. Topics may include the role of law and government, civil liberties, rights and responsibilties, and the role of protest. Emphasis on individuals and movements that have shaped modern memory. VIC184H1 A seminar course that examines the contribution of an individual or individuals to the public sphere. The course will explore how public service and citizenship are developed in social, philosophical, cultural contexts. We will examine our evolving role in developing collective, cultural and counter memory. VIC185H1 The course uses events to discuss the nature of society including major revolutions, economic crises, and the impact of significant artistic, cultural and technological developments. Emphasis on our responsibilities towards social justice.
Consult VC Program Liaison Officer, vic.academics@utoronto.ca VIC101H1 The course is a general orientation toward conflict, and develops a basic understanding of essential conflict resolution principles that will complement the study of conflict theory. The course will examine the differences between conflicts and disputes, the functions and desirability of conflict, and the conditions that facilitate conversion of conflicts from destructive to constructive. VIC102H1 VIC102Y1 This course examines a specific event, or events, in relation to the public sphere. The course will use events or an event as an entry point to discuss the nature of society including topics such as major revolutions, economic crises, the impact of the appearance of significant artistic or cultural works, and the impact of technological changes. We will emphasize case studies of recent social issues. VIC103H1 VIC103Y1 This course examines how political ideas are formed and developed through literature, art, plays, essays and philosophical works in the twentieth century. VIC104H1 Vice is popular: a prestigious university press has brought out a series of seven books on the Seven Deadly Sins. This course examines such questions as the following. Are greed, lust and gluttony just bad names for necessary and otherwise acceptable instincts? What is the place, in a good human life, of such qualities as honesty, trust, civility and the like? Are vices and virtues culturally determined or a matter of individual preference? Can character be taught, or is it rather a matter of genes and luck? VIC105H1 Metaphors and motivations of journeying have long intrigued human beings as they have attempted to understand the meaning of their existence: the setting out, the seeking for a desired object, the pilgrimage of religious observance, and the longing to return home. Through texts, art, music and film, this course will explore some of the shaping journey-myths of our culture from classical, Hebrew, medieval and modern sources. VIC106H1 This course explores central developments and ongoing controversies in the scientific study of the human mind, brain and behavior. It examines topics such as: psychoanalysis, behaviourism, humanistic psychology, evolutionary psychology, intelligence testing, and feminist perspectives. Goals include understanding the historical evolution and social relevance of scientific psychology. VIC107H1 In this course we examine major episodes in the history of evolution and genetics in the XX century. Topics include Darwinian evolution, sociobiology and evolutionary psychology, eugenics, and genetic screening and therapy. We will examine different views about the control of evolution and genetic manipulation in their socio-cultural-economic context and discuss the ethical and social implications of those views. VIC108H1 VIC108Y1 This course will examine a number of questions related to the origins of national identities and the sustainability of nation-states. Topics covered will include: language, ethnicity, religion, politics, war, symbols, the arts, sport and public spectacle, and cuisine. VIC109H1 VIC109Y1 A study of the ideas and concerns of innovators who questioned traditional views and values. The course includes creative thinkers who challenged basic concepts on politics, philosophy, religion, and society. VIC112Y1 There has never been a period of time, nor has there ever been a culture, without some kind of puzzle tradition. Are puzzles just playful artifacts, intended merely to entertain? Or are they mirrors of something much more fundamental in human life? The course will take a close look at what puzzles tell us about the human mind and human culture. VIC113H1 This course will study accounts of world travelers and explorers from the Middle Ages to the present, including representative examples drawn from the Age of Exploration, the Grand Tour, scientific and map-making expeditions, and the contemporary genre of travel writing. Particular attention will be given to the trans-cultural nature of travel, and the interactive aspects of the gulf between the observer and those observed. Students will analyze the diverse motivational factors behind excursions and expeditions, and apply a critique to written accounts in light of such factors as self-discovery, knowledge and imagination, Euro-centrism, orientalism, cultural relativism, colonialism/imperialism, race, gender, and eco-tourism. VIC114H1 VIC114Y1 This course explores the depiction of the Renaissance in a wide range of plays, films and novels. The focus is on the exchange between film, fiction, and ‘fact’, and on how the values and concerns of the present shape creative recreations of the past in popular culture. VIC115H1 VIC115Y1 In this course we will study a number of literary and cinematic works that take up questions of power, duty, rights, responsibility, and freedom. Our texts will be drawn from a long history, and from many parts of the world. The sequence however will not be chronological. VIC117H1 This course examines two key issues about the performing arts that concern both artists and theorists: the nature of interpretation and of expression. What might we mean when we say that a work, a piece of music or a dance for example expresses something? What is it to express? And what is the nature of interpretation? Are there any constraints or boundaries on interpretation? We will draw on both philosophers and non-philosophers to explore these sorts of questions. VIC118H1 This course will examine the phenomenon of individuals and communities who rebel against the general social norms upheld by the majority in societies throughout history. These societal conventions can include generally-accepted moral and religious tenets, as well as the formal legal or political powers employed by those with the levers of social control. The rebels’ motives can range from the purely criminal, as with many notorious outlaws, to struggles for social justice, in the case of rebellious slaves or proponents of civil disobedience. Students will develop a theoretical framework which they can apply to the lives and motivations of a diverse representation of social rebels and outsiders, among them: pirates and mutineers, bandits and members of street/biker gangs, anarchists, disaffected intellectuals and religious leaders, punks and goths. Besides examining the sociological and philosophical aspects of rebellion, the course will consider the rebel as a prominent element in popular culture. VIC119H1 VIC119Y1 This course provides an introduction to modern forms of ancient narratives, exploring the ways in which selected ancient literary sources and myths have been adapted to modern Canadian literature. Ancient narratives or ‘old stories’ are often reused, reinterpreted or reconstructed in modern narratives and given new relevance in a contemporary context. Students will encounter sources and contexts of ancient narratives VIC130H1 Through films like American Beauty (Sam Mendes, 1990) and Unforgiven (Clint Eastwood, 1992), through literature like Arthur Rimbaud’s A Season in Hell or Raymond Carver’s short stories, this course is going to take a look at human beings in the extremes of experience: revenge, desire and an appetite for self-destruction. VIC131H1 Covers the evolution of Germany from a defeated dictatorship in 1945 to a re-unified republic in 1990. Examines major events of the Cold War, from the Marshall Plan to the Berlin Wall; also includes aspects of “popular culture” in both East and West Germany. VIC132H1 Covers major events from America’s emergence as a superpower in 1945 to the end of the Cold War in 1991, including: commitment to Europe through NATO and the Marshall Plan; Civil Rights; Vietnam. Also explores “popular culture” of the time: the suburbs; the baby boom; THE 1960s; Watergate, etc. VIC133H1 This course covers issues in diplomacy and international crisis management from the fall of the Berlin Wall to the present day. The course examines the real world of political decision making. Both Canadian and American policy will be analyzed. Issues to be covered include the collapse of the Soviet Union, military intervention in humanitarian crises, the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the impact of globalization. This interdisciplinary course explores the contemporary
character of globalization. The world is shrinking as money, goods, people,
ideas, weapons, and information
flow across national boundaries. Some commentators assert that a more tightly
interconnected world can exacerbate financial disruptions, worsen the gap
between rich and poor nations, undermine democracy, imperil national cultures,
harm
the environment, and give unconstrained freedom to predatory corporations.
Others proclaim that globalization - understood as capitalism and free markets
- fosters economic growth, encourages creative collaboration, inspires technological
breakthroughs, and enhances human prospects for a better life, in rich and
poor countries alike, in unprecedented ways. Our task is to evaluate the
evidence and draw our own conclusions.
In The Origin of Species Darwin concluded there was no
evidence to suggest that life was designed by a higher power. A corollary
of this is that our lives
lack any necessary purpose or meaning. Our reading will be directed to the
question of what it means to lack ‘Meaning’.
Texts:
Janet Browne, Darwin’s Origin of the Species: A Biography (Toronto: Douglas & MacIntyre,
2006)
J.S. Mill, On Liberty
Two of: Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus; J. P. Sartre,
Words; Samuel Beckett, Waiting For Godot
VIC201Y1 Selected forms (such as epic, romance, satire, tragedy, lyric, utopia, autobiography, confession), with special attention to their roots in the Ancient and Medieval period. Texts may include selections from Aboriginal, Asian, Hebrew and Babylonian creation myths, epic narratives; history and law; drama; lyric poetry, songs and spells; philosophy and theology. VIC210Y1 The rise of modern European literatures in various contexts - colonialism, humanism, literacy, nation-states, democracy, ideology, individualism - that prompted development of new literary genres, figures, personae and filiations. VIC300H1 VIC300Y1 Interdisciplinary seminar on an author or extensive work (eg. Proust’s, Remembrance of Things Past, Joyce’s, Finnegans Wake) or on a genre. Emphasis on literature and its relation to fine arts, philosophy, politics, history VIC301H1 VIC301Y1 Interdisciplinary seminar on a historical period (eg. Late Antiquity, Romanticism, the Harlem Renaissance) or critical event. Emphasis on literature and its relation to fine arts, philosophy, politics, history. VIC309H1 Detailed study of a major modernist text or author(s), some of the surrounding theoretical debates, and other forms of cultural expression such as cinema, photography, collage, mass advertising, music, etc, that may be relevant. VIC310H1 Texts from the second half of the 20th century and after, to foreground the reaction to modernism, and to consider the challenges to memory and representation that accompany historical crisis. Questions of language, representation, aesthetics and politics, interpretation. VIC311H1 An introduction to the main questions raised by translation studies, and an examination of the relationships it has established with other disciplines such as linguistics, film studies, literary theory, philosophy, anthropology, political-economy, psychoanalysis, the hard sciences. VIC401H1 VIC401Y1 This course offers senior students in Literary Studies the opportunity to take part in a graduate seminar in Comparative Literature. Topics change annually. VIC410H1 VIC410Y1 For senior students enrolled in the Literary Studies program, although other students are welcome. Intensive study of general issues of poetics and critical theory, including representative literary and philosophical texts. VIC411H1 VIC411Y1 Study of current filmic and literary theories, with emphasis on the rhetoric of film: the concept of the trope, metaphor, metonymy, allegory, irony, repetition, and specific thematic tropes like the eye, the face, the death mask, the mirror, the dream, etc. JNV300H1 The study of a selected group of creative writers from at least two national literatures whose texts raise issues regarding gender as either an historically or culturally variable construct. Texts will be chosen on the basis of a shared historical era, a literary genre, experience, institutional categorization, or project. VIC240Y1 An interdisciplinary introduction to the civilization of the Renaissance illustrated by a study of the institutions, thought, politics, society and culture of both Italy and Northern Europe. Italian city states such as Florence, Urbino and Venice, Papal Rome and despotic Milan are compared with the northern dynastic monarchies of France and England. VIC341H1 A study of the changing conception of the human self in the Renaissance, and of its representation by major authors: Erasmus, Rabelais, Marguerite de Navarre, Castiglione, Machiavelli and others. VIC342H1 Focusing on writers from various geographical areas, the course examines a variety of texts by early modern women (for example, treatises, letters, and poetry) so as to explore the female experience in a literate society, with particular attention to how women constructed a gendered identity for themselves against the backdrop of the cultural debates of the time. VIC343Y1 An interdisciplinary approach to questions of gender and sexuality in early modern Europe, with special focus on the representations of the sexual drive, the gender roles of men and women, and varieties of sexual experience in the literature and art of the period. VIC344H1 Focuses on analysis of short stories and longer prose works including, in English translation: Boccaccio’s stories of love, fortune and human intelligence in the Decameron; Rabelais’ humorous parody of high culture in Gargantua; the tragic tale of Romeo and Juliet; and the adventures of picaresque rogues in Lazarillo de Tormes and Nashe’s Unfortunate Traveler. VIC345H1 This course examines the various media (printing press, representational art, music, preaching) and social and political forces (family and political networks, censorship, education, etc.) that conditioned the communication of ideas in early modern society. VIC347H1 Studies in the development of new forms in music, drama and dance in the Renaissance. The course will consist of seminars and lectures, and may incorporate live performances taking place in Toronto in addition to recordings. VIC348Y1 An interdisciplinary course exploring the history, art, architecture, literature, and music of the Renaissance in one or more cities from ca. 1400-1650. The course will investigate how local political and social-historical contexts shape ideas and cultural forms, and so illustrate the process and effects of cross-fertilization in the Renaissance period. VIC349H1 VIC349Y1 Studies in an aspect of the Renaissance based around lectures, seminars, and readings. See annual course listing for the year’s theme. VIC440Y1 An interdisciplinary seminar on Florence in the 15th and 16th centuries: humanism, culture and society in the republican period, the rise of the Medici, Florentine neoplatonism, the establishment of the Medici principate, culture, society and religion. VIC449H1 VIC449Y1 An in-depth study in an aspect of the Renaissance based around lectures, seminars, and readings. Content in any given year depends on the instructor. See annual course listing for the year’s theme. VIC220Y1 Studies the international culture emerging in media and literature and examines recent communication theory as it applies to literary, social and cultural issues. VIC223Y1 This course will introduce the main elements of semiotic theory, applying it to the study of human culture, from language, myth, and art to popular forms of culture such as pop music and cinema. It will deal with primary texts in the development of semiotics, and cover a broad range of cultural applications of semiotic theory. VIC224H1 VIC224Y1 This course is about things – the everyday objects of past and present cultures. It examines the meanings people have invested in objects and how those meanings have changed over time. Using interdisciplinary approaches, students investigate objects found in homes, retail spaces, cities, art galleries and museums in order to develop new understandings of the objects that structure daily lives and their material world. VIC320Y1 Theories and models of applied semiotics: analysis of sign systems as articulated in various forms of artistic and cultural production. VIC322H1 An in-depth examination of some aspect of Semiotic theory or practice. Content in any given year depends on instructor. Not offered every year. JFV323H1 The study of readings from major French literary semioticians will be combined with the practical application of theory to the analysis of selected literary texts. (Given by the Department of French and Victoria College) VIC323Y1 Theories of signification studied with a focus on major works in the semiotics of modern and contemporary culture. Concurrent Teacher Education Program (CTEP) Courses VIC260H1 This course focuses on raising awareness and sensitivity to equity and diversity issues facing teachers and students in diverse schools and cultural communities. It builds knowledge of how oppression works and how cultural resources and educational practices may be brought to bear on reducing oppression and improving equity.This course’s field experience entails observation of and participation in equity and diversity efforts in a culturally-rooted school and/or community organization. VIC261H1 This course examines how children and adolescents develop and explores how best to facilitate their growth and learning in the area of education. Major topics include cognitive, emotional, social, moral, physical and language development. Themes addressed include interpersonal relationships such as pro-social and aggressive behaviour, as well as the influence of schooling, family life and culture. This course includes a 20-hour field experience located in a school and entails observation of development across the various age groups.This may be satisfied by participation in Vic Reach or in another organization with the approval of the Vic Concurrent Education Coordinator. JSV262H1 The purpose of this course is to provide knowledge and skill acquisition in the areas of interpersonal conflict resolution and communication. VIC360H1 Students are required to complete an internship in an educational or community source environment.This may be satisfied by participation in Vic Reach or in another organization with the approval of the Vic Concurrent Education Coordinator. Written assessment of the internship will be required.
VIC259H1 VIC259Y1 A second year course. Topics vary from year to year depending on the instructor. VIC299Y1 Credit course for supervised participation in faculty research project. Details here. VIC350Y1 Practice and instruction in writing poetry and fiction, paired with study of literature and theory introducing the multicultural richness of contemporary English writing. Approximately three-quarters of class periods are workshops, one-quarter lecture discussions. Work by many writers from contemporary and traditional literatures are read in English translation. VIC351H1 This course examines the evolution of higher education in Canada. Using Victoria University and Victoria’s affiliates as a case study, the course explores the intersection of gender, race, class and religion. Comparisons are made with other denominational and secular institutions in the context of late nineteenth and early twentieth century education. International contexts of education through student service and missions are discussed. VIC352Y1 This course will examine how a variety of international authors, both nineteenth century and modern, handle the themes of mortality, sexual passion and love in their short fiction. Particular emphasis will be placed on the artistry of the writer’s presentation, the role of dialogue, the economy of narrative, etc, etc. Students will read Chekhov (The Kiss, Lady with a Dog) and Tolstoy (Master and Man) but will also be exposed to such contemporary popular authors as Elmore Leonard (When the Women Come Out to Dance), Truman Capote (Mojave), Richard Ford (The Occidentals), Philip Roth (The Dying Animal), Ian McEwen, (The Cement Garden) and David Bezmosghis (Natasha). VIC359H1 VIC359Y1 An upper level course. Topics vary from year to year depending on the instructor. VIC397H1 Course content, travel destination, etc., will depend on the instructor. Topics will vary from year to year. VIC390Y1 VIC391H1
VIC491H1 These courses provide an opportunity to design an interdisciplinary course of study not otherwise available within the Faculty. Written application (detailed proposal, reading list and a letter of support from a Victoria College faculty member who is prepared to supervise) must be made through the Program Director for approval by Victoria College Council’s Academic Advisory Committee at least one month prior to the start of the relevant term. Students should have a minimum CGPA of 3.0 and have completed 10 FCEs FOR390Y1 or 391H1, and a minimum of 15 FCEs FOR490Y1 or 491H1. Students should contact Lynn Welsh, VC 105, lynn.welsh@utoronto.ca. |
VIC134H1