DTS200Y1 - Introduction to Diaspora and Transnational Studies I
Full Year 2024–25
Wednesdays, 10:00am - 12:00pm
What is the relationship between place and belonging, between territory and memory? How have the experiences of migration and dislocation challenged the modern assumption that the nation-state should be the limit of identification? What effect has the emergence of new media of communication had upon the coherence of cultural and political boundaries? All of these questions and many more form part of the subject matter of Diaspora and Transnational Studies. This introductory course ex-amines the historical and contemporary movements of peoples and the complex issues of identity and experience to which these processes give rise as well as the creative possibilities that flow from movement and being moved. The area of study is comparative and interdisciplinary, drawing from the social sciences, history, the arts and humanities. Accordingly, this course provides the background to the subject area from diverse perspectives and introduces students to a range of key debates in the field, with particular attention to questions of history, globalization, cultural production and the creative imagination.
Instructors: A. Shternshis, A. Allen
Exclusion: DTS201H1, DTS202H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities, Social Science course
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1) + Society and its Institutions (3)
DTS300H1 - Qualitative and Quantitative Reasoning
Winter 2025
Tuesdays, 10:00am – 12:00pm
Focuses on research design and training in methods from history, geography, anthropology, literary and cultural studies, and other disciplines appropriate to Diaspora and Transnational Studies. Prepares students to undertake primary research required in senior seminars.
Instructor: A. González Jiménez
Prerequisite: Completion of 9.0 credits
Recommended Preparation: DTS200Y1/CJS200H1/CJS201H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities, Social Science
Breadth Requirement: The Physical and Mathematical Universes (5)
DTS311H1 - Fun in Diaspora
Fall 2024
Wednesdays, 1:00pm – 3:00pm
From parkour to “Baby Shark” remixes, concepts and practices surrounding fun, entertainment, and pleasure transcend cultural boundaries, reveal the reach of globalization, and help facilitate the maintenance of transnational communities through shared activities. This course will examine these relationships with fun, and we will also assess cases where concepts of fun diverge and clash in intercultural contexts. Additionally, the class will consider the relationship between entertainment practices and politics, marketing, and social movements. Cases examined will include K-pop fandom, bucket challenges, social media memes, and global YouTube phenomena.
Instructor: A. Allen
Prerequisite: DTS200Y1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities, Social Science
Breadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)
DTS390H1 - Independent Study
Fall 2024, Winter 2025
A scholarly project chosen by the student, approved by the Department, and supervised by one of its instructors. Consult with the Diaspora and Transnational Studies Program Office for more information. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.
Prerequisite: DTS200Y1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities, Social Science
DTS390 Independent Study From.pdf
DTS390Y1 - Independent Study
Full Year 2024–25
A scholarly project chosen by the student, approved by the Department, and supervised by one of its instructors. Consult with the Diaspora and Transnational Studies Program Office for more information. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.
Prerequisite: DTS200Y1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities, Social Science
DTS390 Independent Study From.pdf
DTS401H1 - Advanced Topics in DTS: Diaspora and Liberation
Fall 2024
Wednesdays, 2:00pm - 4:00pm
Description TBA
Instructor: S. Kassamali
Prerequisite: 14 FCE, including DTS200Y1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities, Social Science
Breadth Requirement: Society and its Institutions (3)
DTS402H1 - Advanced Topics in DTS: Borders and Border Cities
Winter 2025
Thursdays, 10:00am - 12:00pm
Description TBA
Instructor: A. González Jiménez
Prerequisite: 14 FCE, including DTS200Y1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities, Social Science
Breadth Requirement: Society and its Institutions (3)
DTS403H1 - Advanced Topics in DTS: Transnational Toronto
Fall 2024
Mondays, Lecture: 12:00pm - 2:00pm Tutorial: 2:00pm - 4:00pm
Toronto is a city increasingly configured through transnational connections and practices. It is a city defined by the scale at which its residents live their lives; a scale that is no longer (if it ever was) parochial, but extends across time and space to connect people and practice across a multitude of locales. Contemporary understandings of Toronto can only be reached through adopting a transnational lens. This course will examine the processes that have produced Toronto as a transnational city over time, including the dynamics of immigration and mobility, experiences of alienation, the global extension of capitalism, and the (re)formation of communities grounded in the complex dynamics of identities produced in a space that is both ‘home’ and away’. We will also explore the specific practices, and connections that produce “Toronto” as a space that transcends its physical geographic boundaries and is continually reproduced in and through the flows of people, capital, objects, ideas, - and the many forces that reproduce and reconfigure these flows.
Instructor: K. MacDonald
Prerequisite: 14 FCE, including DTS200Y1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities, Social Science
Breadth Requirement: Society and its Institutions (3)
DTS404H1 - Advanced Topics in DTS: History and Counterstories in the Black Mediterranean
Fall 2024
Wednedays, 2:00pm - 4:00pm
This course explores colonial histories and counter- stories of resistance in the Black Mediterranean. Intended not only as a physical space but also as a symbolic site, the Black Mediterranean can be seen as a new theoretical approach useful to understand the racialized production of bodies and borders, and to highlight forms of resistance. The course will focus on Italy and its (post)colonial ties with Libya, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia. Going from the Italian invasion of Eritrea in 1890 to the current so-called “refugee crisis”; the case of Italy illustrates the intersections and resignification of race, bodies and borders in the Mediterranean region, as well as the presence of important histories of resistance and alternative conceptualisations of belonging.
Instructor: A. Pesarini
Prerequisite: 14 FCE, including DTS200Y1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities, Social Science
Breadth Requirement: Society and its Institutions (3)
DTS405H1 - Advanced Topics in DTS: Human Trafficking and/in Diaspora
Fall 2024
Thursdays, 1:00pm - 3:00pm
Description TBA
Instructor: TBA
Prerequisite: 14 FCE, including DTS200Y1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities, Social Science
Breadth Requirement: Society and its Institutions (3)
DTS406H1 - Advanced Topics in DTS: Religion and Space in Diaspora
Winter 2025
Thursdays, 2:00pm - 4:00pm
Description TBA
Instructor: TBA
Prerequisite: 14 FCE, including DTS200Y1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities, Social Science
Breadth Requirement: Society and its Institutions (3)
Regarding Diaspora and Transnational Studies Courses
University of Toronto Mississauga courses that can be applied to the program
Please visit the UTM Diaspora & Transnational Studies page.