Course Catalogue

In June each year, this six credit hour summer course offered by Dalhousie's Fountain School of Performing Arts and the University of King's College gives students in Theatre, History, Music and other related disciplines a firsthand view of the splendour of European Baroque civilization. The class is taught in the beautiful town of Český Krumlov, located in Southern Bohemia in the Czech Republic.

Český Krumlov is a UNESCO World Heritage site: a town largely intact from the seventeenth century. The State Castle of Český Krumlov houses one of only two surviving fully functional Baroque theatres in the world.  It also owns a substantial collection of historical costumes. Taught on site at the State Castle, the class involves a combination of historical and cultural research in one or more of the following fields: seventeenth- and eighteenth-century theatre and opera; historical costume; the court life of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Europe; and the history of Central Europe with its Italian and French influences. Familiarity with foreign languages is not required. Excursions to Prague and local sites of interest will be arranged.

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Taught entirely on site in Florence, Italy, this month-long, full-credit (6 credit hours) course provides a unique opportunity for students to consider the art, literature, philosophy, and politics of Early Modern Italy (1280-1580) through daily visits to the city’s churches, palaces, and museums. Students will gain a profound knowledge of the civic, ecclesiastical, and domestic spheres of Renaissance life through an interdisciplinary analysis of contemporary objects, spaces, and texts. Readings include Dante’s Vita Nuova, Boccaccio’s Decameron, and Machiavelli’s Discourses on Livy.

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Under the auspices of the Contemporary Studies program, this one-month, 6-credit residency course will take place in Berlin, Germany. Entitled “Memory, Politics, Place: Berlin’s Twentieth Century,” it offers students a chance to intensively engage with the dynamics of memory, remembrance and commemoration in the specific context of the catastrophes of Germany’s twentieth century (Nazism, the Holocaust, the Cold War). Readings will include literature, writings focusing on the Berlin of the pre- and post-World War II period, studies in cultural memory and place, and critical theory involving themes such as nostalgia, historical erasure, and national identity.

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The Dalhousie Field School in Saint-Pierre and Miquelon is a three-week immersion program. Students will complete two university courses in French and live with a French family. The program is based at the Francoforum, a dedicated language training centre, and is supervised by a Dalhousie professor who accompanies the group.

The program is open to all students who have an intermediate level of French (FREN 1045/1050 or equivalent), from all faculties. It is a great way to kickstart a Major or Minor in French, or develop advanced oral French skills for future career opportunities.

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This course is designed to provide students who have fourth-year standing in Political Science the opportunity to gain practical experience by working at a government or non-government, research, or advocacy organization that is instrumental in shaping public policy or advancing human rights. The practicum is an opportunity for students to learn about the services, projects, and campaigns undertaken by specific organizations; to apply and share the knowledge that they have gained from their academic studies in political theory, public policy, international relations, and/or human rights advocacy; and to become familiar with the day-to-day challenges of employment in government and non-government organizations and public services.

Experiential learning is an opportunity for students to reflect on the global/local and theory/practice dynamics of the world around them. Other programs and departments use terms such as internship, volunteer or co-op placements. IDS has adopted the term experiential learning because it reflects the interplay between academic and practical skills development that this program offers. Experiential learning courses are available for both local/Canadian and international placements. The Canadian component of experiential learning focuses on the themes of community development and public engagement. The international component addresses questions of global citizenship. The Canadian component of experiential learning combines classroom learning with volunteer work experience in a community organization in Halifax or other parts of Canada. Students are required to volunteer for a minimum of 60 hours in each term, or approximately 3 hours/week. In addition to this work, students are required to complete a set of readings and assignments.
NOTES: Students taking this course must register in and complete INTD 3118 and INTD 3119 in consecutive terms; credit will not be granted if courses are not completed consecutively. Partial credit will not be given for a single term.

FORMAT:

• Seminar
• Discussion

PREREQUISITES: INTD 2001.03 and INTD 2002 .03 or instructor's permission
EXCLUSIONS: INTD 3107.06

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The experiential learning abroad course is open to International Development Studies students who wish to obtain academic credit for an overseas placement, volunteer experience or internship. Students who have already secured a place in an overseas experiential learning program can register for this half credit. Special permission to register for this course is required and an application for this course must be completed prior to registration. Students are required to complete course readings and to write several reports reflecting on the relevant literature and the practical work experience. One half credit is completed over the course of a full academic year.

FORMAT: Seminar
PREREQUISITES: This course is open to non-IDS students with the permission of the instructor.

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This course offers students the chance to engage in real, applied research under the close supervision of the instructor. It brings community groups, members, or agencies with an identifiable research request into the classroom so that students can collectively address some clearly defined research need. Tasks assigned for credit might include: delineating a researchable problem, selecting an appropriate methodology, designing research instruments (for example, interview or observation guide or surveys), conducting research, drawing conclusions, and presenting research findings. Students might work in teams on different aspects of the research. The course will close with a presentation of research findings back to the community partner.

There are three parts to this course. In Manifestation we explore theories of activism to understand how motivated individuals managed to change their societies. In Organization we wrestle with the legalities of forming a civil-society organization. In Dissent we take our skills to the streets by organizing lawful protests.

This course is designed for third year undergraduate students who are interested in a career in international development. The course will introduce students to the internal dynamics of development organizations (both governmental and non-governmental), development planning, methodologies of development practice in the field, ethical issues related to development work, fundraising, project proposal writing and project evaluation. The major assignment will involve the preparation of a development project proposal. Because this is a course in development practice, it will involve both seminar discussions and practical ‘hands-on’ activities. Different sections of the course may include different thematic emphasis – e.g. rural development, gender and development and community development.

By examining global inequities that lead to health injustices, this course explores why health care is abundant for some and nonexistent for others. It identifies why some are born to live well, and other are doomed to die quick. It asks, "what are we going to do about it?

Students gain practical, workplace experience with an organization appropriate to their course of study. The Short Apprenticeship will represent approximately 50 – 60 hours of work on an approved project with a sponsoring organization.

This course looks at the way states decide which diplomatic strategies to pursue, and why these succeed or fail. Among the themes considered are the evolution of diplomacy as an international institution, national power and bargaining leverage, and the effects of domestic politics, psychology, and culture on international negotiation. Specific historical cases which may be reviewed in any given year include: the Peloponnesian War, the Munich Crisis, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the negotiation of the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement and NAFTA, and the Kyoto Protocol. Students participate in a negotiation-simulation exercise and write a paper on a particular historical case.

The primary goal of this course is to help students understand the operation of the UN system through preparation for Model UN meetings. The course is designed for students who are participating in Model UN meetings and aims to help students prepare effectively for those meetings. Through their preparatory research for the meetings, students will learn the politics of UN voting practices of various countries and the relationships between domestic politics, international politics and UN voting records. This course will also enable students to understand the internal dynamics of the UN General Assembly and committee systems, how UN meetings operate, and the professional skills involved in drafting and negotiating the text of resolutions. The course will also provide students with the opportunity to learn about the political issues that influence the positions at the UN of various countries (assigned by the Model UN Assembly to individual students), and about committee issues under debate at the UN (assigned by the Model UN Assembly to individual students).

This seminar investigates the history, evolution and contemporary debates of efforts to enhance yields and livelihoods via increased agricultural production in low-income countries. The course is organized into three distinct sections. The first focuses on theoretical perspectives, the second on case studies, and the third consists of a simulated negotiation.

Security and development are indissolubly linked: development is compromised when security remains problematic, while a secure environment requires some form of sustainable development. Two of the principle manifestations of this ‘security-development nexus’ have been intrastate wars and collapsed states. In 2011 for example, none of the states emerging from civil war had reached any of the Millennium Development Goals set by the United Nations. Moreover, the security-development relationship conditions our capacity to develop effective policies on how and whether to intervene in 'fragile' or 'collapsed' states where the security environment is highly problematic, and our capacity to contribute to the economic and human development of these countries. This course aims, first, to give students a broad understanding of the various dimensions of the security-development nexus; and second, to address significant practical implications of this nexus. An important portion of the course will examine specific case studies, and feature an interagency simulation to provide students with a sense of what it is like to grapple these concepts beyond the classroom.

Students will meet in group session during the fall term to workshop their material that will lead to the production of a full manuscript of poetry. In the winter term students will meet on an individual basis with the professor to discuss and facilitate the completion of this project.

Students will meet in group session to workshop their material that will lead to the production of a full manuscript of fiction (short stories or novel).

The Bachelor of Music programs (Performance, Composition, Musicology and General) offer a rich collection of experiential learning opportunities for their students. Learn more about performance opportunities and participation in ensembles.

The Theatre programs (Acting, Costume Studies, Stage Design & Technical Theatre and Theatre Studies) offer a range of courses that provide their students with an opportunity to work on at least one stage production:

• THEA 1051 / 1052: Introduction to Theatre Organization and Stagecraft
• THEA 1450: Introduction to Costume Studies
• THEA 2070: Performance Technology
• THEA 2451: Costume in Performance 1
• THEA 2710: Stage Design 1
• THEA 3070: Performance Technology II
• THEA 3451: Costume in Performance II
• THEA 4070: Performance Technology 3
• THEA 4450: Costume Technology
• THEA 4800: Acting IV
• THEA 4840: Advanced Performance Techniques