HIST 506 - War, Peace & Society | 2025-2026

Surveys the changing nature of and approaches to war and its effect on society from the Middle Ages to the present including an examination of various visions and proposals for peace. Includes an assessment of relatively recent armed conflict in Africa, Central Europe, and the Middle East, exploring the causes of contemporary conflict and some of its distinctive characteristics. Also evaluates the effectiveness of various strategies for preventing, abating, and terminating current forms of conflict. Some of the questions discussed are: Why do states go to war?

HIST 504 - Late Medieval Europe | 2025-2026

An inquiry into a period of Europe's past in which beliefs, attitudes and institutions, moulded in the previous centuries, were consolidated into shapes that mark modern European (and North American) culture. The outlines of the modern state and of the modern family are examined. It is also an examination of late medieval civilization for indications of decline and rebirth. The course looks for signs of struggle between forces of tradition and of innovation, and between idealism and material or corporeal realities.

HIST 503 - Engendered History | 2025-2026

Examines specific topics in the history of gender throughout the period known loosely as the modern world and is designed to clarify the process through which ideas of gender evolved and the ways in which masculinity and femininity have been constructed and experienced in a global context. Also examines group interactions across lines of race, class, ethnicity, region, and religion and the influence of groups striving to assert their own identities on ideas of gender.

HIST 435 - Social History of Canada | 2025-2026

An examination of major developments in the society and culture of Canada with a particular spotlight on the diverse experience of the people who made Canada. The course highlights aspects of Canadian identity as seen through the lenses of gender, race, class, ethnicity, religion, and region. The focus is on the interaction between migrant groups and the host society, rural and urban societies, education and social reforms, labour and capital, and changing gender roles.

HIST 411 - History, Culture & Interpreting the Past | 2025-2026

The study of history relies on the written and oral record of human experience. The use to which words have been put has varied over time ranging from the ancient world's innocent acceptance of recorded inventories and boastful heroic conquests, to the postmodern era where the text is not a bearer of truth but an instrument of power. This course traces the place of the text in the human effort to know and remember the past.