Cultural Studies students can take a wide variety of courses. We've chosen some representative examples to highlight here, but you can see a complete list on our Program page and a complete list with full descriptions in the Academic Calendar.
Popular Lecture/Seminar Courses:
CUST 2029Y: Science Fiction: An introduction to the history, theory, and representative works and authors of science fiction, from Shelley and Wells to Dick, Le Guin, and Gibson. Examines stories of alternate worlds, technoculture, and space adventure, including cyborgs, alien encounters, non-contemporary earth life, and human destiny.
CUST 2035Y: Media and Society: An introduction to key innovations in the media ranging from papyrus to wearable computers. Analyzes the effect these innovations have had on society from diverse perspectives, including critical interpretation, political economy, sociology, anthropology, gender studies, and media ecology, giving students a toolbox to be used in other Media Studies courses.
CUST 2045Y: Music and Society: An introduction to music as cultural practice, exploring formulations of the relationship between music and society offered by ethnomusicology, sociology, semiotics, and feminist theory. Emphasis is placed on the development of listening skills through engaging with a variety of musical texts/practices from Western art music, popular music, and world music traditions. No formal background in music required.
CUST 2551H: Popular Culture and Modern Thought: Ideology, Language: Examines how culture and modern thought shape one another. We consider major currents of modern thought through a variety of media: film, literature (fiction, autobiography, theatre), and the visual arts, focusing on the relation between culture and politics as well as the question of culture and language.
CUST-COIS 3533H: Game Studies: An introduction to game studies that explores the implications of games and play. What can games tell us about what we value, how we think, and who we are?
CUST 3535H: Television Studies: An introduction to television studies with an emphasis on the historical transformations of TV from the 1950s to the YouTube era.
CUST 4523H: Shapeshifters: Narrative Adaptations across Media: Engages specific “cases” of adaptations across media, including “Snow White,” Pride and Prejudice, and The Walking Dead, to explore contemporary issues in adaptation studies such as the nature of the object; the question of “fidelity”; and the formal and material conditions of narrative production related to different media.
Popular Workshop Courses:
CUST 2186H: Photography: An introductory photography course looking at analog and/or digital photography. Historical and contemporary issues are examined through practical hands-on experiences, including basic use of cameras, darkroom techniques, and basic digital post-production.
CUST 3111Y: Visual Arts Studio: An introductory studio exploring two-, three- and four-dimensional art production using a variety of materials and techniques. Emphasis is placed on research-creation, the exploration of materials and concepts (with attention to space, form, image, and experience), and the intersection of traditional and contemporary practices (including the relationship between art and technology).
CUST 3143H: Electronic Music Production: Students learn the basics of software music production, generate one or more pieces of music, and explore the media critically in discussions of both theoretical and practical texts. Music and songwriting skills are developed in conjunction with software learning. No previous training in music making is required.
CUST 3175Y: Staging Ideas: A practical course in modern acting with a focus on methods of performance in works that dramatize ideas and the conflicts between them.
CUST 3186H: Experimental Film: Students carry out a series of visual exercises in Super-8 film and 16mm film. The emphasis for this course is on avant-garde cinema practices.
CUST 3573H: Theatre of the Absurd: The Theatre of the Absurd has been one of the most influential movements in twentieth and twenty-first century theatre and performance. This course focuses on the development of the ideas and practices that it expresses, and pays particular attention to the dramatic works of Samuel Beckett.