BIPOC-related course list
Courses related to Black, Indigenous and people of colour. You can also browse a list of BIPOC-focused courses.
Department of Art History
Undergraduate Courses
ARTH 353-A Technology and Contemporary Art: Gilbert Simondon, Machines, and Techno-aesthetic
Offered: 2020/2 (Fall)
Session/Credits: 13 weeks, 3 credits
Open Course: Yes (see notes)
This course is an introduction to Gilbert Simondon's thinking about technical objects and technology. A variety of topics and artists will be examined, including grain elevators, canoe building, the notion of the black technical object, and the use of technology to demarcate race.
Course Taught By: Charles Gagnon, Part-time professor
Notes: Students not enrolled in an Art History program may need to contact the Department to register. Please contact art.history@concordia.ca for assistance.)
ARTH 400-A Advanced Seminar in Art Historical Methods: Canadian Photography Through the Mirror of Memory
Offered: 2021/4 (Winter)
Session/Credits: 13 weeks/3 credits
Open Course: Yes (may enrol with permission)
Memory work can be the instrument for excavating racism, sexism, and other forms of systematic injustice, while developing counter narratives. The goal is to strengthen critical analysis and practice. Between 25 and 50% of in-class discussion; up to 100% of term paper, depending on student interest. BIPOC
Course Taught By: Dr. Martha Langford, Distinguished University Research Professor
As research chair and director of the Gail and Stephen A. Jarislowsky Institute for Studies in Canadian Art, Dr. Martha Langford is committed to transformative teaching that aligns with Canadian art experience.
Notes: Prerequisites: Third-year* standing in the Major in Art History and written permission of the Department of Art History. Contact department administrator and/or professor to enrol.
Graduate Courses
ARTH 610-A North American Art and Architecture: Between the Local and the Global – National Art Histories in an Unfinished World
Offered: 2020/2 (Fall)
Session/Credits: 13 weeks, 3 credits
Open Course: Yes
This seminar seeks to redefine national art history in general by taking an array of perspectives, such as postcolonialism, transnationalism, transculturalism, and with particular attention to each student’s situated approach. Between 25 and 50% of in-class discussion; up to 100% of term paper, depending on student interest. BIPOC
Course Taught By: Dr. Martha Langford, Distinguished University Research Professor
As research chair and director of the Gail and Stephen A. Jarislowsky Institute for Studies in Canadian Art, Dr. Martha Langford is committed to transformative teaching that aligns with Canadian art experience.
Notes: Prerequisite: Admission to MA graduate program. Contact department administrator and/or professor to enrol.
Department of Contemporary Dance
Undergraduate Courses
DANC 211-A Dance Traditions
Offered: 2020/2 (Fall)
Session/Credits: 13 weeks, 3 credits
Open Course: Yes
This course engages with BIPOC issues through the readings, the visual materials employed in class, and the engaged classroom discussion. Percentage of BIPOC-related content is approximately 1/3 to 1/2. BIPOC
Course Taught By: Philip Szporer, Part-time Instructor
Philip Szporer uses postcolonial and intercultural perspectives in his research, as well as inviting students invited into a deeply intimate tracing of the curvatures of rich human experience.
DANC 389-E Technique IIA
Offered: 2020/2 (Fall)
Session/Credits: 13 weeks, 3 credits
Open Course: Yes
This dance technique class includes a workshop with Mohawk artist Barbara Kaneratonni
Diabo (4% of the course). Methods and content are supported by my anti-racist learning and personal decolonization process. Group discussions centred on reality and experience constitute nearly half of the work, so BIPOC-related issues come up and are supported. I use music for dances mostly by women and BIPOC artists, and this choice is made explicit. I teach on September 30th, Orange Shirt Day, and our discussion that day will address the history of residential schools in Canada and artists’ response to it. I use citation in my class – written quotes and dances and movement practices; many cited are BIPOC and LGBTQ+ artists. BIPOC
Course Taught By: Marie Claire Forté, Part-time Instructor
Notes: Prerequisite: Enrolment in the Major in Contemporary Dance, or written permission of the Department. Instructor is teaching 5 weeks.
Faculty of Fine Arts
Undergraduate Courses
FFAR 298-B - Dancing Bodies in Popular Culture
Offered: 2021/4 (Winter)
Session/Credits: 13 weeks, 3 credits
Open Course: Yes
This course engages with BIPOC issues through the readings, the visual materials employed in class, and the engaged classroom discussion. Percentage of BIPOC-related content is approximately 1/3 to 1/2. BIPOC
Course Taught By: Philip Szporer, Part-time Instructor
Philip Szporer uses postcolonial and intercultural perspectives in his research, as well as inviting students invited into a deeply intimate tracing of the curvatures of rich human experience.
Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema
Undergraduate Courses
FMST 218 - History of Animated Film
Offered: 2021/4 (Winter)
Session/Credits: 13 weeks, 3 credits
Open Course: Yes (see notes)
This course begins by locating the origins of (U.S.) animation in minstrelsy. Focusing on animation's bodies, including in wartime propaganda means that students recognize anti-Blackness and racism (as well as women in animation) as some of the course's primary themes. BIPOC
Course Taught By: Dr. Alison Reiko Loader, Part-Time Faculty
Dr. Alison Reiko Loader applies intersectional concerns to histories of visual culture, animation and moving images.
Notes: This is a required course for Film Animation studies. This course prioritizes in-program students and opens if space becomes available. Contact the Department and professor to inquire about enrolling.
FMST 412-A Seminar in Geographies of Cinema: Radical Italian Cinema
Offered: 2020/2 (Fall)
Session/Credits: 13 weeks, 3 credits
Open Course: Yes
This course will devote about 1/3 of the class to issues of decolonization. Starting with The Battle of Algiers (1967), this portion of the class will look at Italian and European films made in solidarity with revolutionary decolonial movements in the Global South (Vietnam, Cuba, Congo, Mozambique, etc). BIPOC
Course Taught By: Dr. Luca Caminati, Professor
Dr. Luca Caminati, Professor of Film Studies. My areas of expertise are Postcolonial Theory, Political Films, and Italian Cinema.
Department of Theatre
Undergraduate Courses
PERC 306-A Theatre History and Theory, 1800 to Present
Offered: 2020/2 (Fall)
Session/Credits: 13 weeks, 3 credits
Open Course: Yes
The course as a whole discusses the intersection of modern performance and theory with questions of politics, identity, and ideology. 40% of the assigned readings (plays, theoretical texts, textbook excerpts) speak directly to BIPOC-related issues. BIPOC
Course Taught By: Dr. Catherine Quirk, Part-time Professor
Notes: Prerequisites: 24 credits or enrollment in the Department of Theatre
Department of Communication Studies
Undergraduate Courses
COMS 276-01 Communication Media: Sound I
Offered: 2020/2 (Fall)
Session/Credits: 13 weeks, 3 credits
Open Course: No
This course will examine excerpts from the film: Detroit Techno - The Creation of Techno Music (HighTechSoul) - 2006, to lead into a discussion about the origins of techno as Black music in Detroit, along with a video interview of Black artist Jeff Mills. Students will also be asked to watch an interview clip with the Indigenous electronic music group A Tribe Called Red. Students will then discuss the content via Zoom and break out into small groups to answer and present their viewpoints in relation to some critical questions. The influence and significance of Black and Indigenous voices in the history of electronic - and other forms of music - will be highlighted. 6.6% of course content. B, I
Course Taught By: Claire Kenway, Part-time Professor
Claire Kenway uses futurism, synthesizers and multicultural perspectives to address the creation and development of techno music and culture.
Notes: Prerequisite: Registration in the Major or Specialization in Communication Studies
COMS 384-01 Communication Media: Moving Images II
Offered: 2020/3 (Fall-Winter)
Session/Credits: 26 weeks, 6 credits
Open Course: No
The course uses the production of moving images to think through power, representation, racism, sexism and colonization. BIPOC
Course Taught By : Elizabeth Miller, MFA, Professor
Elizabeth Miller uses co-creation and creative production as methods to reframe the power of representation.
Notes: Prerequisites: COMS 284; permission of the Department.
Department of Education
Undergraduate Courses
ADED 403-AA Diversity in Adults
ADIP 598-AA Diversity in Adults
Offered: 2020/2 (Fall)
Session/Credits: 13 weeks, 3 credits
Open Course: Yes
This 3-credit course brings awareness among adult educators of the vulnerability of the diverse cohort of adults in their classroom to exclusion, racism, and discrimination that drastically affect their well-being and hinder their educational and economic success. To raise this awareness, students are introduced to the various historical ethno-racial relations in Canada and the significance of these relations on the maintenance of social cohesion and inclusivity. Students are invited to engage in a constructive dialogue about the struggles of minority groups including BIPOC, immigrants, LGBTQ community, and disabled people in order to capture the extent to which these minority groups are subject to interlocking discriminatory forces and how social categorizations are delineated and maintained. The main thread that is weaved throughout this course is the belief that it is time we move from the understanding of management of diversity as a project of tolerance of “the other” (multiculturalism) into a project for the genuine engagement with each other (cosmopolitanism). BIPOC
Course Taught By: Dr. Ghada Sfeir, Assistant Professor
Dr. Sfeir teaches diversity from a social justice perspective with emphasis on intersectionality.
EDUC 355 Teaching Ethics and Religious Culture
Offered: 2020/2 (Fall)
Session/Credits: 13 weeks, 3 credits
Open Course: No
In the context of the ethics competency of this course, best practices in multicultural education, anti-bias curricula, and anti-racist curricula are addressed. The religious culture competency of the course addresses best practices in teaching about religion (including Indigenous traditions) in elementary schools. Collectively, this material comprises approximately 30% of the course. BIPOC
Course Taught By: Dr. Holly Recchia, Associate Professor
Dr. Recchia's research focuses on children's moral development and education.
EDUC 402-A Diversity Issues in Childhood
Offered: 2020/2 (Fall) & 2021/4 (Winter)
Session/Credits: 13 weeks, 3 credits
Open Course: No
Approximately 30% of course content; introduction to various theoretical approaches to diversity (e.g., Feminist post-structuralist, social justice, anti-racist/anti-bias, critical race/multiculturalism) and to examine how these approaches apply to education and services for young children. BIPOC
Course Taught By: Dr. Elsa Lo, Assistant Professor
Notes: Prerequisites: Enrolment Major in Child Studies; EDUC 210 and EDUC 211
EDUC 454-BB Diversity in the Classroom
Offered: 2021/4 (Winter)
Session/Credits: 13 weeks, 3 credits
Open Course: Yes
The role of schooling as a terrain for struggle to empower or disempower minority groups has been widely recognized in the related literature. Thus, the purpose of this 3-credit course is to enhance prospective teachers’ understandings of the dynamics of various issues related to diversity and their intersections from a social justice perspective. These issues include, but not limited to, the various structures of racism, oppression, privilege, prejudice, ableism, and classism affecting BIPOC, LGBT community, disabled people, and immigrants. Emphasis is on the concept of intersectionality that highlights the interlocking systems of racism that affect these groups. BIPOC
Course Taught By: Dr. Ghada Sfeir, Assistant Professor
Dr. Sfeir teaches diversity from a social justice perspective with emphasis on intersectionality.
Graduate Courses
ADIP 598-AA Diversity in Adults
ADED 403-AA Diversity in Adults
Offered: 2020/2 (Fall)
Session/Credits: 13 weeks, 3 credits
Open Course: Yes
This 3-credit course brings awareness among adult educators of the vulnerability of the diverse cohort of adults in their classroom to exclusion, racism, and discrimination that drastically affect their well-being and hinder their educational and economic success. To raise this awareness, students are introduced to the various historical ethno-racial relations in Canada and the significance of these relations on the maintenance of social cohesion and inclusivity. Students are invited to engage in a constructive dialogue about the struggles of minority groups including BIPOC, immigrants, LGBTQ community, and disabled people in order to capture the extent to which these minority groups are subject to interlocking discriminatory forces and how social categorizations are delineated and maintained. The main thread that is weaved throughout this course is the belief that it is time we move from the understanding of management of diversity as a project of tolerance of “the other” (multiculturalism) into a project for the genuine engagement with each other (cosmopolitanism). BIPOC
Course Taught By: Dr. Ghada Sfeir, Assistant Professor
Dr. Sfeir teaches diversity from a social justice perspective with emphasis on intersectionality.
Department of Geography, Planning & Environment
Undergraduate Courses
GEOG 260-X - Mapping the Environment
Offered: 2021/4 (Winter)
Session/Credits: 13 weeks, 3 credits
Open Course: Yes
There is a unit on Indigenous mapping and counter mapping that covers how non-white, non-eurocentric peoples understand space, maps, making maps, and the processes of wayfinding. One lecture is dedicated to Indigenous mapping, and readings by Indigenous authors are included in the course outline. The concepts of counter mapping and the differences between mapping (a cognitive process) and map making (a physical process) are discussed throughout the course and how eurocentric and non-eurocentric cultures perceive use and document spaces differently. I, POC
Course Taught By: Thomas McGurk, Part-time Faculty
Thomas McGurk uses postcolonial and non-eurocentric perspectives in his research.
GEOG 466-X Geomedia and the Geoweb
Offered: 2020/2 (Fall)
Session/Credits: 13 weeks, 3 credits
Open Course: Yes (see notes)
There is 1 class on Colonial Cartography and Racism, 1 class on Indigenous Mapping and 1 or 2 classes on Mapping Life Stories of Exiles (BIPOC-related issues represent about 20% of the course). BIPOC
Course Taught By: Dr. Sébastien Caquard, Associate Professor
Dr. Sébastien Caquard's research is about alternative forms of cartography including Indigenous Mapping and Cartographies of Exiles.
Notes: Prerequisites: GEOG 363 or URBS 335; or permission of the Department Department of Geography, Planning and Environment
GEOG 474-AA - Sustainable Forest Management
Offered: 2020/2 (Fall)
Session/Credits: 13 weeks, 3 credits
Open Course: No
1/26 of the course on Traditional Ecological Knowledge. I
Course Taught By: Dr. Rebecca Tittler, Part-time Faculty, Loyola College for Diversity and Sustainability and Departments of Biology and Geography, Planning and Environment
Notes: Prerequisites: GEOG 374
URBS 480-AA - Impact Assessment
Offered: 2020/2 (Fall)
Session/Credits: 13 weeks, 3 credits
Open Course: Yes
Course examines Indigenous perspectives on impact assessment in Canada & Canadian impact assessment in the context of Reconciliation (8%). BIPOC
Course Taught By: Dr. Alexandra Lesnikowski, Assistant Professor
Dr. Alexandra Lesnikowski's research examines climate change adaptation governance in the context of social vulnerabilities.
Notes: Prerequisites: URBS 369 or 362 and 48 credits
Department of History
Undergraduate Courses
HIST 298-AA History and Culture in Objects
Offered: 2021/4 (Winter)
Session/Credits: 13 weeks 3 credits
Open Course: Yes
This course is centrally about the history, culture, and politics in public institutions, landscapes, discourses, and the material world. These are inevitably bound up with highly political issues of representation and identification, themselves profoundly shaped by histories and legacies of colonialism, genocide, and nationalism, whose brunt has been borne by BIPOC individuals (as well as those, like Jews and southern European ethnic groups, who were historically racialized and were not treated as White when they arrived in North America). BIPOC
Course Taught By: Dr. Erica Lehrer, Professor
HIST 306-AA History in Public
Offered: 2020/2 (Fall)
Session/Credits: 13 weeks 3 credits
Open Course: Yes
This course is centrally about the history, culture, and politics in public institutions, landscapes, discourses, and the material world. These are inevitably bound up with highly political issues of representation and identification, themselves profoundly shaped by histories and legacies of colonialism, genocide, and nationalism, whose brunt has been borne by BIPOC individuals (as well as those, like Jews and southern European ethnic groups, who were historically racialized and were not treated as White when they arrived in North America). BIPOC
Course Taught By: Dr. Erica Lehrer, Professor
HIST 398-E - Selected Topics in History: The Baroque
Offered: 2020/2 (Fall)
Session/Credits: 13 weeks, 3 credits
Open Course: Yes
This interdisciplinary history course examines the art and politics of the baroque (ca. 1600-1750) in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. The course addresses cultural struggles over the telling of histories, reflecting on art, archives, dance, music, and performance as well as roots of violence in conquest, extraction, and enslavement. Readings include Giuseppe Campuzano, Edouard Glissant, Nikole Hannah-Jones, Susan Hill, Nick Jones, Robin D. G. Kelley, Sanjay Subrahmanyam, Surekha Davies, Dylan Robinson, and Walter Mignolo. BIPOC
Course Taught By: Dr. VK Preston, Assistant Professor
Dr. VK Preston studies cultural and performance practices to address difficult histories.
Department of Journalism
Undergraduate Courses
JOUR 310-01 Gender, Diversity and Journalism
Offered: 2020/2 (Fall)
Session/Credits: 13 weeks, 3 credits
Open Course: No
About 1/3 of the class content will address issues regarding racism and journalism/the media, including BIPOC-related content as well as Indigenous perspectives. BIPOC
Course Taught By: Amélie Daoust-Boisvert, Assistant Prof. (tenure-track)"
Notes: Prerequisites: Registration in the Journalism program
Liberal Arts College
Undergraduate Courses
LBCL 494-A Thinking about Translation
Offered: 2020/2 (Fall)
Session/Credits: 13 weeks, 3 credits
Open Course: Yes
Conceived as a forum for wide-ranging reflection on literary translation, the course will be partly shaped by students' interests. Participants will be encouraged to consider translation from a number of perspectives, including ethnicity, race, and (post)colonial relations. The time dedicated specifically to these issues may range from 5 to 10 % of the entire course, depending on students' interests. BIPOC
Course Taught By: Dr. Ivana Djordjevic, Associate Professor
Dr. Ivana Djordjevic's interest in translation is that of a practising translator with a strong theoretical interest in medieval multilingualism and translation.
LBCL 490-A&B The Twentieth Century and Beyond: Forms and Critiques
Offered: 2020/3 (Fall-Winter)
Session/Credits: 26 weeks, 6 credits
Open Course: Yes (see notes)
This is a survey course with a broad range in both time period and interdisciplinary content. We spend five classes on reading Franz Fanon's Wretched of the Earth and Ellison's Invisible Man. Previous years have included Toni Morrison and Billy Ray Belcourt (the syllabus varies). Michelle Alexander's The New Jim Crow is in recommended reading, and racialized incarceration is discussed with Fanon, Ellison, and Foucault. B
Course Taught By: Dr. Ariela Freedman, Professor
Notes: Prerequisites: LBCL 292; 291; 295; 391; 393; or permission of the College. Students outside of the College should contact the College and professor to inquire about enrolling.
Loyola College of Diversity and Sustainability
Undergraduate Courses
LOYC 230-1 Globalization and Diversity
Offered: 2021/4 (Winter)
Session/Credits: 13 weeks, 3 credits
Open Course: No
About 15% of the course on race and the Anthropocene and Indigenous perspectives on the material world. I
Course Taught By: Dr. Peter Graham, À temps partiel
Peter Graham is an interdisciplinary social scientist with an interest in the process that transforms things into commodities and how that process in turn transforms peoples.
LOYC 298-01 - Ecocide and Dystopias
Offered: 2020/2 (Fall)
Session/Credits: 13 weeks, 3 credits
Open Course: No
About 8% of the course is devoted to the effects of ecocide on Indigenous peoples. I
Course Taught By: Philip Szporer, Part-time Instructor
Philip Szporer is a Montreal-based filmmaker, writer, and lecturer.
LOYC 340-1 - Culture and Communication
Offered: 2020/2 (Fall)
Session/Credits: 13 weeks, 3 credits
Open Course: No
25% of course on race and representation, cultural identities and postcolonialism, and cultural appropriation. BIPOC
Course Taught By: Philip Szporer, Part-time Instructor
Philip Szporer is a Montreal-based filmmaker, writer, and lecturer.
LOYC 320-01 Biodiversity on Earth
Offered: 2021/4 (Winter)
Session/Credits: 13 weeks, 3 credits
Open Course: No
9% on Traditional Ecological Knowledge. I
Course Taught By: Dr. Rebecca Tittler, Part-time Faculty, Loyola College for Diversity and Sustainability and Departments of Biology and Geography, Planning and Environment
Dr. Rebecca Tittler is an ecologist with expertise in forest ecology.
LOYC 330-01 Self, Culture, and Development
Offered: 2020/2 (Fall)
Session/Credits: 13 weeks, 3 credits
Open Course: No
25% of the course content is on youth and cultural issues among Black and Indigenous peoples and communities. B, I
Course Taught By: Dr. William Bukowski, Professor
William Bukowski is a developmental psychologist.
LOYC 398-02 - Diversity and Sustainability in the Era of the Covid-19 Pandemic
Offered: 2020/2 (Fall)
Session/Credits: 13 weeks, 3 credits
Open Course: No
12% of course content on the effects of the pandemic on BIPOC communities. BIPOC
Course Taught By: Dr. William Bukowski, Professor
William Bukowski is a developmental psychologist.
Department of Philosophy
Undergraduate Courses
PHIL 281-A Philosophy in the Islamic World
Offered: 2021/4 (Winter)
Session/Credits: 13 weeks, 3 credits
Open Course: Yes
An introduction to philosophy in classical and modern Islamic contexts. Authors may include al Fārābī, ibn Sīnā, ibn Tufayl, al Ghazālī, and ibn Rushd (classical); Muhammad Iqbal, Rokeya Sakhawat Hosein, Amina Wadud, Kecia Ali, and Abdol Karim Soroush (modern). POC
Course Taught By: Dr. Nabeel Hamid, Assistant Professor
PHIL 374-A Kant & 19th Century Philosophy
Offered: 2020/2 (Fall)
Session/Credits: 13 weeks, 3 credits
Open Course: Yes
This particular offering will focus on Kant's moral and political philosophy. We will read contemporary discussions of Kant's work besides Kant's own writings. One of the readings will be the paper "Black Radical Kantianism" by the Jamaican-American Black philosopher Charles W. Mills. B
Course Taught By: Dr. Pablo Gilabert, Professor
Notes: Prerequisites: 6 PHIL credits, or permission of the Department.
PHIL 380-A Chinese Philosophy: From Han to the 19th Century
Offered: 2020/2 (Fall)
Session/Credits: 13 weeks, 3 credits
Open Course: Yes
This course introduces the philosophical traditions of Chinese philosophy from 202 BCE to the 19th century. POC
Course Taught By: Dr. Jing Hu, Assistant Professor
PHIL 440-A Advanced Political Philosophy
PHIL 626-A Political Philosophy
Offered: 2021/4 (Winter)
Session/Credits: 13 weeks, 3 credits
Open Course: No
The focus of this particular course will be an in-depth discussion of John Rawls’s theory of justice. Besides exploring Rawls’s main texts, we will discuss critical assessments, e.g. by G. A. Cohen, C. Mills, A. Sen, among others. BIPOC
Course Taught By: Dr. Pablo Gilabert, Professor
Notes: Prerequisites: PHIL 241 or 342, or permission of the Department. This is a combined section class.
PHIL 498-CC Advanced Topics in Philosophy: Social Identity and Feminism
PHIL 659-CC Advanced Topics in Philosophy: Social Identity and Feminism
Offered: 2021/4 (Winter)
Session/Credits: 13 weeks, 3 credits
Open Course: No
The course is primarily about metaphysics of gender and the extent to which theorizing about gender is politically and socially significant. That said, questions of intersectionality are extremely important and so questions about the metaphysics of race (and other identities such as class) will come up often in the course. With respect to race, I plan to spend at least two weeks explicitly on questions of the intersections race and gender identity (reading bell hooks, Angela Harris, and Naomi Zack). The race content will likely be Black-focused but will also address issues to POC more generally. B, POC
Course Taught By: Dr. Theodore Locke, Visiting Assistant Professor
Notes: Prerequisites: 12 PHIL credits, or permission of the Department.
Graduate Courses
PHIL 626-A Political Philosophy
PHIL 440-A Advanced Political Philosophy
Offered: 2021/4 (Winter)
Session/Credits: 13 weeks, 3 credits
Open Course: No
The focus of this particular course will be an in-depth discussion of John Rawls’s theory of justice. Besides exploring Rawls’s main texts, we will discuss critical assessments, e.g. by G. A. Cohen, C. Mills, A. Sen, among others. BIPOC
Course Taught By: Dr. Pablo Gilabert, Professor
Notes: Prerequisites: PHIL 241 or 342, or permission of the Department. This is a combined section class.
PHIL 659-CC Advanced Topics in Philosophy: Social Identity and Feminism
PHIL 498-CC Advanced Topics in Philosophy: Social Identity and Feminism
Offered: 2021/4 (Winter)
Session/Credits: 13 weeks, 3 credits
Open Course: No
The course is primarily about metaphysics of gender and the extent to which theorizing about gender is politically and socially significant. That said, questions of intersectionality are extremely important and so questions about the metaphysics of race (and other identities such as class) will come up often in the course. With respect to race, I plan to spend at least two weeks explicitly on questions of the intersections race and gender identity (reading bell hooks, Angela Harris, and Naomi Zack). The race content will likely be Black-focused but will also address issues to POC more generally. B, POC
Course Taught By: Dr. Theodore Locke, Visiting Assistant Professor
Notes: Prerequisites: 12 PHIL credits, or permission of the Department
Department of Political Science
Undergraduate Courses
POLI 320-AA Development of the Western Legal System
Offered: 2020/2 (Fall)
Session/Credits: 13 weeks, 3 credits
Open Course:
In addition to discussing the development of the Western legal system, this course also explores racism and anti-Black racism through a few topics: police racial profiling (a class on its own); anti-Indigenous laws during colonization (a class on its own); the disproportionate targeting of Black men in the criminalization of HIV (part of a class on HIV criminalization); and mass incarceration with a focus on Black Americans and Indigenous Canadians (a class on its own). The professor incorporates a number of guest speakers throughout the semester, with an attempt to have 75% or more of them Black, Indigenous, or POC. BIPOC
Course Taught By: Max Silverman, Part Time Professor
POLI 328-BB Public Policy and the Politics of Equality
Offered: 2021/4 (Winter)
Session/Credits: 13 weeks, 3 credits
Open Course:
This course discusses the politics of equality rights as conferred by the Canadian Charter. The semester includes classes on racial profiling, discrimination in housing, and discrimination in the judiciary. This course attempts to include the voices of Black authors, for example by bringing in Robyn Maynard's “Policing Black Lives”. Additionally, this course previously included Cole's “The Skin We're In”. BIPOC
Course Taught By: Max Silverman, Part Time Professor
Department of Religions and Cultures
Undergraduate Courses
RELI 209-A Religious Imagination
Offered: 2021/4 (Winter)
Session/Credits: 13 weeks, 3 credits
Open Course: Yes
In this course, there is one to three articles/chapters on Black and Indigenous content/experience. As well, there are readings on the experiences of religio-cultural communities in Africa, Asia, South America as well as experiences of non-white immigrants to North America. In general, 12% and 25% of the course content is BIPOC-related. BIPOC
Course Taught By: Dr. Steven Lapidus, Affiliate Assistant Professor
Dr. Steven Lapidus is a social historian in cross-cultural classes, with an emphasis on socio-historical contexts.
RELI 220-A Introduction to Judaism
Offered: 2020/2 (Fall)
Session/Credits: 13 weeks, 3 credits
Open Course: Yes
In this course, there is one to three articles/chapters on Black and Indigenous content/experience. As well, there are readings on the experiences of religio-cultural communities in Africa, Asia, South America as well as experiences of non-white immigrants to North America. In general, 12% and 25% of the course content is BIPOC-related. BIPOC
Course Taught By: Dr. Steven Lapidus, Affiliate Assistant Professor
Dr. Steven Lapidus is a social historian in cross-cultural classes, with an emphasis on socio-historical contexts.
RELI 224-A Intro to Islam
Offered: 2020/2 (Fall)
Session/Credits: 13 weeks, 3 credits
Open Course: No
This course includes 2 sessions dedicated to Afro-American Islam and Indian Islam. B, POC
Course Taught By: Dr. Perwaiz Hayat, Part-Time Faculty
Dr. Perwaiz Hayat applies an inclusive approach to teaching about Islam.
RELI 225-A - Introduction to Hinduism
Offered: 2020/2 (Fall)
Session/Credits: 13 weeks, 3 credits
Open Course: Yes
Orientalism and Post-colonial theory grounds the course, including issues of representation, power/knowledge, and media literacy of bias. POC
Course Taught By: Dr. Marcel Parent, Assistant Professor
Dr. Marcel Parent centers teaching in postcolonial and decolonial perspectives to help transform presuppositions and perspectives.
RELI 226-A - Introduction to Buddhism
Offered: 2020/2 (Fall)
Session/Credits: 13 weeks, 3 credits
Open Course: Yes
Orientalism and Post-colonial theory grounds the course, including issues of representation, power/knowledge, and media literacy of bias. POC
Course Taught By: Dr. Marcel Parent, Assistant Professor
Dr. Marcel Parent centers teaching in postcolonial and decolonial perspectives to help transform presuppositions and perspectives.
RELI 310-A - Self and Other: Identity and Ethical Development
Offered: 2021/4 (Winter)
Session/Credits: 13 weeks, 3 credits
Open Course: Yes
In this course, there is one to three articles/chapters on Black and Indigenous content/experience. As well, there are readings on the experiences of religio-cultural communities in Africa, Asia, South America as well as experiences of non-white immigrants to North America. In general, 12% and 25% of the course content is BIPOC-related. BIPOC
Course Taught By: Dr. Steven Lapidus, Affiliate Assistant Professor
Dr. Steven Lapidus is a social historian in cross-cultural classes, with an emphasis on socio-historical contexts.
RELI 319-AA Modern Islam
Offered: 2021/4 (Winter)
Session/Credits: 13 weeks, 3 credits
Open Course: No
This course includes 2 sessions dedicated to Afro-American Islam and Indian Islam. B, POC
Course Taught By: Dr. Perwaiz Hayat, Part-Time Faculty
Dr. Perwaiz Hayat applies an inclusive approach to teaching about Islam.
RELI 320-A The Making of Christianity
Offered: 2020/2 (Fall)
Session/Credits: 13 weeks, 3 credits
Open Course: Yes
As this is a course dealing principally with ancient materials, BIPOC content is not primary. However, two segments of this course consider the way early Christian sources have been used to bolster racism in the present, and to combat it (specifically looking at the slavery of African peoples and its legacy). The course also challenges assumptions or representations of ancient Christians as “white” and “European.” Finally, a segment of the course also examines the history of anti-Judaism. BIPOC
Course Taught By: Dr. Carly Daniel-Hughes, Associate Professor
Dr. Carly Daniel-Hughes teaches from a feminist, queer positive, and antiracist perspective.
RELI 355-A - Religion and Violence
Offered: 2021/4 (Winter)
Session/Credits: 13 weeks, 3 credits
Open Course: Yes
In this course, there is one to three articles/chapters on Black and Indigenous content/experience. As well, there are readings on the experiences of religio-cultural communities in Africa, Asia, South America as well as experiences of non-white immigrants to North America. In general, 12% and 25% of the course content is BIPOC-related. BIPOC
Course Taught By: Dr. Steven Lapidus, Affiliate Assistant Professor
Dr. Steven Lapidus is a social historian in cross-cultural classes, with an emphasis on socio-historical contexts.
RELI 380-A - Religion and Sexuality
Offered: 2021/4 (Winter)
Session/Credits: 13 weeks, 3 credits
Open Course: Yes
In this course, there is one to three articles/chapters on Black and Indigenous content/experience. As well, there are readings on the experiences of religio-cultural communities in Africa, Asia, South America as well as experiences of non-white immigrants to North America. In general, 12% and 25% of the course content is BIPOC-related. BIPOC
Course Taught By: Dr. Steven Lapidus, Affiliate Assistant Professor
Dr. Steven Lapidus is a social historian in cross-cultural classes, with an emphasis on socio-historical contexts.
RELI 398A - Religious Bodies in South Asia
RELI 6003 - Religious Bodies in South Asia
Offered: 2020/02 (Fall)
Session/Credits: 13 weeks, 3 credits
Open Course: Yes
The course deals with embodiment in terms of concepts and practices in South Asia—that is, in the region including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal. The people of this region (and those in the diaspora, including in Canada, who trace their heritage to this region) are POC. The course does not address race as such, but will deal extensively with South Asian notions of the person. POC
Course Taught By: Dr. Leslie Orr, Professor
Notes: This is a combined section class. Permission required for the MA course RELI 6003
RELI 398-BB Animal Rights and Sustainability
Offered: 2021/4 (Winter)
Session/Credits: 13 weeks, 3 credits
Open Course: Yes
This course spends 2 weeks on explicitly decolonizing environmental ethics and indigenous perspectives, and indigenous and anti-colonial/anti-capitalist perspectives throughout. I
Course Taught By: Dr. Marcel Parent, Assistant Professor
Dr. Marcel Parent centers teaching in postcolonial and decolonial perspectives to help transform presuppositions and perspectives.
Graduate Courses
RELI 6003 - Religious Bodies in South Asia
RELI 398A - Religious Bodies in South Asia
Offered: 2020/02 (Fall)
Session/Credits: 13 weeks, 3 credits
Open Course: Yes
The course deals with embodiment in terms of concepts and practices in South Asia—that is, in the region including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal. The people of this region (and those in the diaspora, including in Canada, who trace their heritage to this region) are POC. The course does not address race as such, but will deal extensively with South Asian notions of the person. POC
Course Taught By: Dr. Leslie Orr, Professor
Notes: This is a combined section class. Permission required for the MA course RELI 6003
Centre for Engineering in Society
Undergraduate Courses
ENGR 392/2 - F Impact of Technology on Society
ENGR 392/2 - G Impact of Technology on Society
ENGR 392/4 - Q Impact of Technology on Society
ENGR 392/4 - S Impact of Technology on Society
Offered: 2020/2 (Fall), 2021/4 (Winter)
Session/Credits: 13 weeks, 3 credits
Open Course: See notes
ENGR 392 covers a wide range of topics related to technology and society. The course is not primarily focused on BIPOC-related content and issues; however, 15-20% of the readings and content explicitly address technology and race (e.g. technological colonialism, algorithmic justice), and numerous other units/readings include analysis of race and colonialism in technology alongside other topics. BIPOC
Course Taught By: Dr. Kari Zacharias, Assistant Professor
Dr. Kari Zacharias studies the formation of disciplinary and transdisciplinary identities and institutions that connect engineering and society.
Notes: Prerequisites: ENGR 201, 202; ENCS 282. ENGR 392 is a required course for all engineering students. Students should contact the Department to inquire about enrolment.
