Undergraduate Course: Diversities: Canada and Beyond (SCIL10096)
Course Outline
| School | School of Social and Political Science |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | Multiculturalism was invented in Canada. It was a way to recognize the cultural diversity of its immigrant communities, and later a means by which Canada distinguished itself from the United States' 'melting pot.' This course takes this as a starting point to critically explore the ways in which Canada has responded to its societal diversity: its troubling relationship with indigenous Inuit, First Nations and Métis, demands for national recognition from Québec and for French language rights across Canada, and calls for recognition and equality from women and LGBTQ+ communities, and the consequences of immigration and wider processes of post/decolonial. The course draws on Canadian theory, and theorists, notably Charles Taylor, Will Kymlicka and Glen Coulthard, each of whom engage directly with these questions, as well as practice, comparing the Canadian experience with that of countries elsewhere, including the United States and Europe.
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| Course description |
Academic Description:
The course provides a cross-disciplinary approach to the study of diversities in Canada, drawing upon sociological, political, historical, anthropological and legal accounts. It examines key theories and concepts in relation to diversity in Canada. It investigates the relationships among the various diversities encountered in the course - regionalism, indigeneity, sub-state nationalism, immigrant cultures, gender, and sexuality. In doing so, the course illuminates the ways substantive case material informs theory-making.
Indicative Outline Content:
I. Preliminaries * The Making of Diversities in Canada * The Importance of Regionalism in Canada * II. Indigeneity and Settler Colonialism * (Unsettling) Settler Colonialism * Race, Space and Gendered Violence: Settler Colonial Nation Building * Indigenous Resurgence: Resistance in Knowledges and Actions * III. (Sub-)State Responses to Diversities * Canada and its Aboriginal Languages: Legal and Policy Framework * Multiculturalism as a Cultural Object * Québec: From Interculturalism to Laïcité * Trans Rights * IV. Reflections * Majority Nationalism as a Reaction to Diversities
Student Learning Experience:
The course will be taught across 10 weeks, with 20 hours of combined lecture and seminar discussion. There will be two essay assessments, midterm and final.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting students should have at least 3 Sociology or closely related courses at grade B or above (or be predicted to obtain this). We will only consider University/College level courses. |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2024/25, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 18 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 10,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 10,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
176 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Mid-term essay, no more than 1600 words (25%) focused on a Canadian theorist of diversity
Final long essay, no more than 3500 words (75%) on a topic to be agreed with the course organizer. |
| Feedback |
Midterm and Final Essays will be returned with feedback within 15 working days of submission. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate a critical understanding of key theories of diversity in Canada.
- Identify and describe major debates within the study of diversity in Canada.
- Analyze the ways diversity interacts with other political and social processes notably the state.
- Distinguish diversity in all its forms (indigenous, immigrant, sub-state nationalism, gender and sexuality).
- Critically compare and contextualize diversity across Canada.
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Reading List
- Coulthard, G. (2014) Red Skins, White Masks: Rejecting the Colonial Politics of Recognition, Minnesota UP
- Heaman, E.A. (2015) A Short History of the State in Canada, U of Toronto Press
- King, T. (2012) The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America, Anchor Canada
- Kymlicka, W. (1998) Finding Our Way: Rethinking Ethnocultural Relations in Canada, Oxford UP
- Kymlicka, W. (2009) Multicultural Odysseys: Navigating the New International Politics of Diversity, Oxford UP
- Saul, J.R. (2008) A Fair Country: Telling Truths about Canada, Penguin Canada
- Taylor, C. (1994) 'The Politics of Recognition' in A. Gutmann (ed.) Multiculturalism and the Politics of Recognition, Princeton UP
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
By the end of the course students should have strengthened their skills in:
critically evaluating the veracity of theoretical approaches (to the study of diversity in Canada)
undertaking a piece of independent research (within the topic of diversities in Canada)
constructing an argument while drawing on cross-disciplinary and varied methodological material |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr James Kennedy
Tel: (0131 6)50 4250
Email: j.kennedy@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mr Ethan Alexander
Tel: (0131 6)50 4001
Email: Ethan.Alexander@ed.ac.uk |
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