General Education: Humanities
World Views (HUM-102)
345-102-03 (3-0-3) 2 credits
Courses in this category explore a range of world views from the individual to the ideological, the national to the cross-cultural, the past to the present.
The Ancient Greeks
This course will introduce students to the importance of world views and their relationship to society by studying the Ancient Greeks from earliest times to the Hellenistic period. Included in the course will be the major ideas of Greek poets, playwrights, philosophers, historians, and scientists. Students will be introduced to the rich diversity of world views and experiences which characterized the Ancient Greeks and which led them to influence and shape Western Civilization.
Ideas and Ideologies in 20th-Century Germany
This course introduces students to contemporary Germany, tracing problems of the present back to their origins with a particular focus on National Socialism. Cultural trends and tendencies will be examined in their socio-political context. Well-known German authors will offer interpretations of their time.
World Symbols: Making Your Mark
A symbol is something that represents a concept or thing through association, resemblance, or convention. Cultural identities around the world have relied upon visual symbols as key players in the communication of their ideologies. In order to comparatively study the past and the present, the course follows a thematic format and addresses topics such as art, the body and mythology.
Women, Art and Society
Few female artists have received much attention or acclaim. In this course this situation will be remedied and students will be presented with an overview of the role of female artists over the past five centuries. Focus will be given to the art works of individual women in the context of
their own times, and thus discussion will cover not only the techniques and principles of a particular female artist’s work, but also the social conditions and expectations that fostered or inhibited her artistic production.
U.N.: North-South Simulation
In this course, students will learn: a) how the world body—the United Nations—works by simulating its sessions; b) understand the institutional arrangements that link the rich industrialized nations of the North and the developing nations of the South; c) explore the economic, political, cultural and ideological issues which are constantly raised in the major international forums of our planet; d) gain knowledge of the structures and functions of inter-national organizations; e) explore, analyze and formulate coherent personal views regarding major issues that both divide and unite the contemporary world; and f) acquire personal experience of games nations play in their everyday relationships.
The Nature of Work
The jobs that people hold can have a profound effect on the way they view the world. By examining the division of labour, the organization of production, and the evolution of the labour movement in Canada, students will be encouraged to look at work and leisure from the perspective of the worker.
Planes, Trains and Automobiles
As long as humans have been recording their history, they have recorded their travels. Or have they? As technology has changed, travel too has changed. Or has it? Can a written account of a personal adventure tell us something more than what was seen or visited? In this course, students explore the methods, means and motives for travel through the ages. By means of an historical overview, students will survey travel writing with an eye on technology and selected themes.
Stories and Storytelling
In today’s rapidly changing society, much of our heritage gets lost in the shuffle as borders of all descriptions come down, cultures assimilate, and we move closer towards a global society. This course will examine how culture is transmitted from society to society, and generation to generation, using the art of storytelling. Included will be a look at myths and fables from different cultures, as well as personal myths, oral histories and family stories. Practical storytelling exercises will be included as part of the course. By finding our personal heritage, we not only discover ourselves and our world, but we develop the capacity to change it as well.
Shifting Visions of the Cosmos
Cosmology, the study of world views, describes the physical facts of life by which we justify our values and behaviour. Although our conception of the physical world has changed over the past 3,000 years, many of our ideas are derived from earlier world views. In this course we test the validity of these values and explore the possibility of developing values based upon current ideas about the physical world and how it works.
Propaganda
Propaganda is commonly defined as “the systematic propagation of a given doctrine.” Whether someone regards a set of ideas as “propagandistic,” however, depends on that person’s values and ideology or “world view.” For this reason, propaganda can often insinuate itself undetected in everyday social discourse, especially when its content overlaps with the prevailing ideology in society. In other words, many of the messages we are exposed to everyday can be considered forms of propaganda. This course is designed to help students see through propaganda, whatever its source.
Nineteenth-Century Thinkers
The mid-nineteenth century in Europe was a time of radical social and intellectual change. This age witnessed the birth of Marxism and of the theory of evolution; the first debates about women's rights and capital punishment; and the first attempts at coping with mass industrialization and urbanization through mass education. This course will look at the nineteenth century as an age of new ideas and rapid change and will examine the writings of eminent European writers.
Listen to the Music
Through the study of major works of music dating from the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, students will gain insight into various world views. Although much of the focus will be on the European tradition, examples will be taken from the jazz, popular, and "world" repertoires.
European Modernism: 1900-1930
The early 20th century was a time of unprecedented technological, scientific and cultural change. Innovations as diverse as the telephone and the theory of relativity attest to the inventiveness of this period, and helped to alter radically the ways in which people viewed both themselves and their world. In this course, students will examine the major ideas, values and implications of modernist world views by studying the art, literature, and music that were employed to express these world views. In the process, students will embark on an intellectual journey through central Europe in the period between 1900 and 1930.
Broadway, Blues and Bernstein
This course is concerned primarily with exploring music in America at the turn of the century, in particular, ragtime, blues and the multi-heritage which produced jazz. It will deal further with the evolution of jazz from the beginnings, in New Orleans, and its eventual spread to Chicago, New York and the west coast. It will discuss trends today in jazz and its relation to contemporary folk music. Major composers and performers will be highlighted. This course will involve the use of recordings and tapes in lectures, discussions and listening sessions. Attendance at live performances and concerts in Montreal is encouraged.
Architecture—A World View
This course incorporates ideas drawn from a variety of disciplines to present architecture as a form of cultural expression. Specific moments from architectural history are used as illustrations of how, at any given time, the world views held by patrons, architects, and builders influence ideas about what buildings should do, how they should look, and how people should behave within them. Assignments change from semester to semester based on exhibitions and events in the Montreal area, as students are encouraged to learn to experience buildings outside of the classroom.
Men and Masculinity
This course will investigate how the lives of men are shaped by the varying demands of masculinity. It will be seen that masculinity is primarily a social construction and that men fashion their gender identities in response to contrasting social prescriptions. In this vein, particular attention will be given to homophobia and heterosexism. We shall also explore the extent to which dominant masculinity functions as a powerful ideology affecting the outlooks of both women and men.
Beyond Bollywood
India is the second most populous country and a leading emerging economy in the world. It is also a land of contrasts – living folk traditions and MTV, clay pots and camera phones. The course works to develop an understanding of India and her people through an exploration of some of her major ideas and values, as well as the stresses and tensions that are a result of the rapid changes taking place. India (and South Asia depending on the period in focus) also provide a case study towards understanding the evolution and functioning of a society – how it constructs attitudes, traditions and social structures (a world view); how a world view continues to evolve as it intersects with historical, political and other socioeconomic factors. By the end of the course students should also have a better understanding of their own world view.
The Artist and Society
The central question underlying the course is: What is the relationship between the artist and the particular historical period in which he operates? The major portion of the course will deal with art and music in Western Europe from the Renaissance through the early twentieth century. A few prominent painters, architects, musicians and sculptors will be selected as representative of the age. By choosing artists of the same generation, we will be able to study not only their relationship to the particular society, but also the relationship between the various art forms. The last two weeks of the course will consist of voluntary student presentations using audio-visual material.
