IDS 101 College Colloquium Oh Canada!

Prof. Sammy Basu with Writing Center Associate Slater Smith

with the generous assistance of the Government of Canada/ avec l’aide du gouvernement du Canada

Course Description

Oh Canada! Where is it? What is it? How and why is it different from America? What can we learn about ourselves by getting to know our northern neighbor? To what extent do we define ourselves in relation to an ‘Other’? This course begins with a beer commercial and ends by reflecting on competing visions of the future of North America. Along the way, we will look at Canadian history, geography, politics, and culture, consider the place of First Nations and Québec, as well as explore public policies towards health-care, welfare, religion, gender and sexuality, crime, the environment, multiculturalism, and war and peace. We will visit the web a great deal in class, host a guest speaker or two, try to imitate the great Canadian thespian William Shatner, and might … even … manage … a field-trip to … Victoria B.C. (but no promises, eh).

Course Readings

					Other
Patrick James and Mark Kasoff (Eds.) Canadian Studies in the New Millennium (2007)	Diana Hacker, A Pocket Style Manual (2008, 5^th edition)	Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Discover Canada (2009)	Statistics Canada, Canada at a Glance (2011)	Eugene Forsey, How Canadians Govern Themselves (2005)

All additional readings will be available online within the course syllabus page or the WISE site

Syllabus	Students