40 undergraduate courses in the 2026–27 Undergraduate Calendar.
GSJ 100Introduction to Gender and Social Justice0.50 units
Students will gain a broad introduction to the interdisciplinary field of gender studies. They will learn to explain how experiences of gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality, disability, class, and nationality work together. By examining social justice activism, students will explore how to form solidarity and coalition to challenge gender injustices produced by forces such as racism, colonialism, and globalization. Students can expect to engage with a wide range of material, from art, activism, popular culture, and scholarship across fields such as biology, geography, health, history, law, literature, media studies, philosophy, psychology, religious studies, and sociology.
GSJ 201Gender and Social Justice in Popular Culture0.50 units
From film, television and the internet to fashion magazines, computer games and music videos, popular culture is a ubiquitous part of people's lives. This course examines popular representations of gender, race, ethnicity, sexual identity, (dis)ability, class, religion, and other axes of oppression. How does popular culture reinforce norms and stereotypes that disadvantage people in virtue of their gender or other identity? How can popular culture help to address such disadvantages? At the end of the day, is popular culture a force for justice or for injustice (or both)?
GSJ 202Introduction to Gender and Sexuality in Communication0.50 units
This course introduces the basic theories for studying the multiple relationships between communication practices and gender. The course emphasizes how communication creates gender and power roles and how communicative patterns reflect, sustain, and alter social conceptions of gender.
This course surveys the history of feminist theory and activism from the 19th century to the present through the familiar metaphors of first-, second- and third-wave feminism. Upon which principles or methods do the waves agree? Disagree? Is the wave metaphor helpful or harmful? What wave, if any, are we in today?
GSJ 205Technology, Gender, and Social Justice0.50 units
This course explores the interaction of gender and other axes of oppression with technology. From condoms to the internet, from vacuum cleaners to space shuttles, we will examine the ways in which the design, engineering, production, and consumption of various technologies differentially affect people based on their demographic features. We will survey feminist and other technology scholars to consider the ways in which technology can both oppress and liberate.
This course provides an introduction to feminist legal thought with a particular focus on Canadian cases, legislation, law reform, and legal literature. Included is an analysis of the ways in which law contributes to women's legal, social, political, and economic status as well as the manner in which the law is used as a mechanism of social change for women. The intersection of gender with age, race, ethnicity, religion, and class will be addressed.
GSJ 207Entrepreneurship, Gender, and Social Justice0.50 units
This course examines how race, ethnicity, sexual identity, (dis)ability, class, religion, and other axes of oppression influence the way people have engaged in labour and entrepreneurial activities from the 19th century to the present.
GSJ 211First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Literatures0.50 units
This course examines literary works in a variety of genres by First Nations, Métis, and Inuit authors in Canada. Students will study the literature in relation to key concepts that recur in Indigenous literary criticism such as land, teaching, and respect.
This course introduces students to the study of language and culture. Topics covered include language socialization, narrative, the politics of multilingualism, and hate speech.
Drawing on a range of disciplines, students will be introduced to different conceptions of gender, with an emphasis on feminist, queer, and trans perspectives. Students will explore questions about how categories of gender and sex are shaped within various historical and geographic contexts through interactions with systems such as the law, health care, science, and the family. This exploration will help students identify how some gender expressions or identities have been given more social influence than others. Students will gain a foundation in methods in philosophy and in gender studies, including reading, writing, and discussion skills. In addition, students will gain an appreciation for diverse modes of gender expression.
Drawing upon diverse anthropological perspectives, this course takes a holistic biocultural approach to exploring what human bodies are, what they are used for, by whom, for what purposes, and how we come to know such things.
Enormous inequalities in health persist both within and between countries. These inequalities can be seen across various axes including gender, ethnicity, and access to material resources. As such, those relatively deprived/underprivileged have substantially poorer health than those better off. The course will demonstrate the extent of inequalities in health, and it will explore current theories explaining how inequalities arise, focusing on behavioural/cultural, psychosocial, and structural/material explanations. The course will also investigate the role of various approaches to economic and social policy in creating or reducing inequalities.
Through a review of the teachings of the great religious traditions about gender, this course aims to arrive at a global view of the situation of beliefs and practices related to gender "in the world of religion". It will examine the role of religion as an important influence on gender and human development.
This course introduces the varied production of world-wide gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender cinema. Inquiry will focus on how queer cinematic production serves as a vehicle for documentation and education, aesthetic and sexual experimentation, as well as cultural export and self-inquiry.
Students will investigate how feminists conceptualize social justice in the struggle to create a better world by examining feminist theory as it engages with categories such as race, class, sexuality, and disability. Through this examination, students will explore the relationship between feminist theory and feminist practice. Students will also develop an understanding of a range of views about the nature of oppression and inequity as well as strategies for resisting oppression and inequity.
What does Buddhism have to say about engagement with contemporary social issues, such as peacemaking, environmentalism, political reform, race and gender concerns, and LGBTQ+ rights? How do Buddhists combat social injustice, poverty, lack of health care, and other sources of suffering? Do mindfulness, loving-kindness meditation, and other Buddhist practices have a role in social transformation? These and other questions at the nexus of Buddhism and social engagement are examined through experiential learning exercises, readings, and guided research projects.
GSJ 302Thinking Through Gender: Feminist Perspectives0.50 units
This course presents students with an opportunity to engage with a range of feminist theories and approaches to better understand gender in relation to the body, identity, law, sexuality, space, the State, and/or subjectivity. Queer and transgender theories and issues will also be addressed.
This course considers the potential for research as a form of feminist and social justice praxis. The first half of the course is comprised of a basic introduction to qualitative and quantitative research methods in the humanities and social sciences. In the second half of the course, students will be introduced to a range of feminist and other challenges to the research methods "status quo," and will explore radical research methods that straddle the line with social justice activism.
This course draws on a range of feminist theories and frameworks to examine the interconnections between gender and health in local, national, and international contexts. Topics may include the medicalization of gendered bodies; reproductive experiences, choices, technologies and rights; health care systems and institutions; health policy; and the links with leisure, recreation, and health. Intersections of gender with race, ethnicity, sexual identity, (dis)ability, class, religion, aging, and other axes of oppression will also be addressed.
An examination of how contemporary literary and cultural texts represent, reconfigure, and resist ideas of race. Analyzing literature, film, art, popular culture, and social movements, this course covers major debates in critical race theory and anti-racist practices.
A study of the social, historical, and rhetorical dimensions of collective action. Topics may include health and welfare movements, civil rights and anti-war protests, and environmentalism.
GSJ 315Islam, Women, and the Modern World0.50 units
This course examines the lives and contributions of Muslim women in history - past and present - and political, social, and cultural influences that have affected the lives of Muslim women around the world. Challenging stereotypes of Muslim women and using religious, historical, and literary images, the course focuses on contributions of Muslim women as religious leaders, scholars, and politicians.
Despite the commonly held belief that sexuality is nothing more than "doing what comes naturally," cultural definitions, including prohibitions against specific forms of conduct, impinge upon the most private or intimate of acts. This course examines the social construction and control of sexuality through law.
From clothing to hairstyles to tattoos, how we dress can express beliefs, aspects of identity, and power. This course examines dress in a variety of religions from ancient Greece to the modern era. The course includes attention to the look and feel of dress on the body, conflicts that can arise over dress and religion, as well as the role of dress in the formation and maintenance of religious communities. Through reading, discussion, writing, and research on a topic of their choice, students will explore the diversity of ways in which dress is vitally important to both ancient and modern cultures.
An examination of various themes in the history of peace and war using gender as a central category of analysis. Theoretical literature and international case studies will be used to explore how the discourse and enactment of war and peace are influenced by societal constructions of gender, both historically and in the present.
An examination of women's roles in music from a cross-cultural perspective. Topics may include women's music as a genre, historical accounts of women's music-making, and the effects of gender ideology on women's musical activities, behaviour, and performance.
This course explores the ways in which Early Modern European women experienced, participated in, shaped, and responded to the world they inhabited. It investigates the ways in which women negotiated the Early Modern world as it unfolded in the Renaissance, the Reformation, European encounters around the world, and the challenges of everyday life.
This course examines anthropological perspectives on variations in gender roles and systems through the comparison of ethnographies. Topics include the relationship of gender to social organization, sexuality, economic and political processes, belief systems, and social movements.
This course explores ethical issues in health sciences, emphasizing population and public health. The course begins by considering canonical ethical theories and frameworks for applying these theories to population health. Specific topics in population health, including the conflict between public health and individual autonomy, the just distribution of health resources, and responsibility for health outcomes will then be discussed. The overall objective of the course is to provide students with tools to discuss and assess ethical arguments and to form their own views on issues within population health.
We are becoming a global community; increasingly, health concerns are international in nature and impact. The student will build upon core content concerning population and public health, health systems, and social determinants of health to address emerging global health concerns.
GSJ 402Studies in Feminist Philosophy/Philosophy of Sex0.50 units
Special topics in feminist philosophy, women philosophers, and/or the philosophy of sex, as announced by the School of Social, Political and Historical Research.
In this course students will learn about women authors such as Aphra Behn, Ann Finch, Elizabeth Wortley Montagu, Phillis Wheatley, Anne Radcliffe, and Jane Austen, and consider their contemporary resonance. Students will explore such topics as female authorship, romance and the gothic, and intersections of gender, race, and colonialism. Students will develop their ability to read period texts closely and to communicate their understanding through different written forms.
GSJ 430Unruly Women in Early Modern Hispanic Culture0.50 units
This course will examine works by and about women in early modern Hispanic culture (16th and 17th centuries), with particular attention to engagements with and subversions of patriarchal culture in theatre, prose, and poetry. Authors to be discussed may include, among others, Santa Teresa de Avila, Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, Maria de Zayas, and Ana Caro.
This course examines postcolonial literature (fiction, poetry, and drama) from Africa, Australia, Britain, India, New Zealand, and Pakistan. Topics may include the range of creative forms and language use in texts; indigeneity and migration; intersections of gender, sexuality, and race; and resistance, nationalism, and history.