Courses for the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Elective Group: 2024-2025

This course introduces students to the study and practice of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) as it has emerged in North America over the past ten years. Covering best practices in EDI, the course will engage with both the pitfalls and promises of efforts to make workplaces more equitable. Topics to be covered include: the origins of EDI, current debates, and case studies of institutional transformation. Students will also have the opportunity to apply their learning to specific work-place scenarios.

This course explores the main differences between the world’s major cultures, religious beliefs, and philosophies, and addresses the tensions between establishing universal values and maintaining cultural diversity in an age of accelerating globalization. There is also an emphasis on the conception of different levels of social complexity, principally the role of the individual, the interpersonal, and the group within a society. This course is intended to develop team research and presentation skills, and the ability to communicate and work effectively within a small group setting.

This course examines the lives and experiences of Canadian women and men marginalized because of their race, gender and/or sexuality. By looking at people on the margins, this course explores the intersections of gender, race, and space, and speaks to two key issues of today: equality and justice.

This course explores the social construction of gender categories both historically and in the present. The focus is upon examining the various theoretical perspectives which attempt to explain the ways in which society has organized “masculine” and “feminine” as the basis for social inequalities.

Note: This course is cross-listed with ANTH 276. Students may take either SOCI 276 or ANTH 276 but cannot receive credit for both.

This course provides a cross‑cultural, interdisciplinary approach to the study of human sexuality. There are three major components. One explores the validity of contemporary sexual beliefs and attitudes. Another focuses on the extent to which sexual beliefs and behaviours are socially organized. A third provides an introduction to theories which examine how biological and/or social forces shape our sexual lives.

Note: This course is cross-listed with ANTH 375. Students may take either SOCI 375 or ANTH 375 but cannot receive credit for both.

This introduction to the particular problems and issues in the study of women and religion uses case studies from various religious traditions. The course presents a survey of the different levels of participation, the complex ritual activities, and the intriguing divine imagery associated with women that are found in many religious traditions. Questions pertaining to the contemporary feminist discourse on such topics as witchcraft, matriarchy, and goddess religions are also explored.

The course recognizes that much of the city’s early Black history is unknown and that even today, the current knowledge of the Black experience in Montreal continues to be fraught with myth and misconception.  Thus, this course is largely designed to introduce students to the major themes, issues, and debates in Montreal’s Black history from its origins until today.  This interdisciplinary survey is organized chronologically and will determine how certain trends and critical milestones have shaped Black Montreal’s unique face and given rise to complex community building on and off the island. Our wider lens explores Blacks as their own agents, contributing to the greater society while simultaneously creating cultural resources and events that highlight the multifaceted ways Blacks made their own history while simultaneously shaping and contributing to the history of Montreal. Ultimately, students should gain an understanding of how Blacks lived, worked, socialized, and defined themselves in Montreal.

Note: This course is cross-listed with BLST 211. Students may take either LOYC 211 or BLST 211 but cannot receive credit for both.

This course examines the lives and experiences of Canadian women and men marginalized because of their race, gender and/or sexuality. By looking at people on the margins, this course explores the intersections of gender, race, and space, and speaks to two key issues of today: equality and justice.

Race and ethnicity are examined as bases of social differentiation. Ethnic group relations are analyzed in relation to stratification and the exercise of power. The course further involves exploration of the phenomena of discrimination, prejudice, and intergroup accommodation.

Note: This course is cross-listed with ANTH 230. Students may take either SOCI 230 or ANTH 230 but cannot receive credit for both.

Focusing primarily on the Indigenous peoples of Canada, this course examines the ecological, economic, social, and religious aspects of Indigenous cultures. A representative society from each geographic area of Canada is studied. This course is primarily ethnographic in emphasis, but it also seeks to provide some of the social and historical background necessary to understand the current situation of Indigenous communities.

This course examines recent patterns in Canadian recognition of colonialism and its impact on Indigenous people. It uses as its epicentre Concordia’s campuses and radiates out to the rest of the city, to examine Christian missionizing and colonial activity. The course makes use of memoir, artwork, online sources, and film to convey this history and its contemporary relevance. It considers links between local institutional history and Canadian Residential Schools, nationally funded institutions run by churches and orders, including those closely linked with Concordia and its surroundings. Students make use of literary and other creative responses, attend to the way Montreal developed and changed, while examining Concordia's platforms for addressing diversity, Indigenization, and decolonization.

Note: Students who have received credit for this topic under a HIST 298 or RELI 298 number may not take this course for credit.

This course examines the diverse Indigenous Traditions in the context of Turtle Island, or North America. Foregrounding the perspectives of Indigenous peoples, the course considers the impact of settler colonialism on indigenous communities. Topics may include Christian missions, residential schools, indigenous views of sacred, the land, gender and sexuality, ethics, and storytelling.

This course explores Indigenous spirituality through its various epistemologies (ways of knowing) and axiologies (ways of acting). A key component of the course is studying the emerging field of Indigenous methodologies. Students encounter some of the many expressions of Indigenous spirituality, as it is concretely embedded in all aspects of existence (physical, emotional) and in all our relations, that is, to the land, to human and non‑human animals, and to the spirit‑imbued world surrounding us. Consideration is also given to the relationship between Indigenous and non‑Indigenous spiritualities and methodologies.

This course is an anthropological approach to variations in cultural experience as they relate to communication. Students explore modes of expression and communication, including literature and film, with a view to examining questions of interpretation, aesthetics, and ethical judgment. Personal expression and communication are also discussed. This course is intended to develop an awareness of the role of imagination and creativity in expression and interpretation, and sensitivity to the role of cultural and other differences in processes of communication.

Note: Students who have received credit for LOYC 410 may not take this course for credit.

This course explores sacred music in its religious and cultural contexts. It examines the ways in which religion has served as an inspiration and performance context for music across the world, and some of the ways in which musical expression has been central to religious practice. Topics range from Gregorian chant to Quranic recitation, from Hindu, Muslim, and Sikh devotional song in South Asia to esoteric Tibetan chant, and from J.S. Bach to Gospel singing in African‑American churches.

Note: Students who have received credit for this topic under a RELI 398 number may not take this course for credit.

This course explores the relationship between film and religious narratives, concentrating on the approach of Canadian film and cultural criticism. The course examines the film culture of Canada with an awareness of the influence of American and European film and with an eye to the expressions of Canadian cultural diversity. It highlights independent films and the output of the National Film Board of Canada (NFB), with particular attention to NFB documentary tradition and the work within that context of Indigenous directors and writers. Topics covered include the special challenges and outcomes of addressing religious themes and the ways in which films are suited to exploring religious narratives and ideas.

Note: Students who have received credit for this topic under a FMST 398 or RELI 398 number may not take this course for credit.