European Studies Courses

Introduction to European studies

The European Union consists of 27 European countries. The continent has a rich and varied history as the birthplace of many important ideologies, art forms, and political institutions.

This course gives a broad introduction to the wide range of topics explored by the European Studies Program, starting with a ‘Tour of Europe’. In class, we examine different European countries on their own, as well as in relation to each other and to the EU. In doing so, we focus on key issues and contemporary thinkers associated with the study of European integration. This is an interdisciplinary course, including the areas of politics, history, language, law, and economics. Some topics include the history of modern Europe, the debates and ideas behind the creation of the EU, and the cultural and political ramifications of ‘East-West’ legacies in Europe. The course also examines a number of current events and recent challenges facing the EU, to include the debt crisis, identity politics, and issues surrounding further political integration.

Calendar Description

Introduction to European cultures and identities

This course explores the evolving and interconnected cultural dialogues of European societies as they relate to one other and the world at large. The particular experiences and cultural innovations of each European society contributes a piece to a puzzle, which considered together paints a narrative of at times contrasting and at times complementary identities.

We will consider, for instance, how Ancient Greek ideas of democracy were enriched by Roman notions of cosmopolitanism, how Mediaeval European societies were enriched by interactions with Jewish, Muslim and Christian cultures on the Iberian Peninsula, and how European sciences arose in conjunction with artistic developments in Renaissance Italy. Throughout the course, issues such as religious intolerance, imperialism and colonialism are critically examined, as well as the collaborative endeavours that are at the root of the relative prosperity of Europe today.

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Governments and Politics in Europe

Historical backgrounds to, institutional framework for, and players involved in, political conflict in European countries. Consideration is given to contemporary policy issues and the process of European integration.

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The European Legacy

Course Description

You use the term “Western culture,” but do you know what that really means? What are its defining values and where did they come from? In this interdisciplinary seminar course, you will explore the roots of western culture in the narratives of shared values that accompanied the historical emergence of something called “Europe”, and identify the legacy of these narratives in some of the most pressing issues of our times.

Our inquiry will revolve around four mutually implicit, double-edged themes:

1) faith/tolerance; 2) the value of the individual; 3) cosmopolitanism; 4) knowledge as universal truth. For each of these, we will examine historical sources and seek out its ongoing operation in current events. Weekly synchronous seminars and asynchronous online forums will provide an opportunity for you to share ideas, review readings and integrate course material toward a final term paper on a topic of your choice.

Intended Learning Outcomes

In this course you will gain a more complex, critical and historical understanding of the roots of western culture, the nature and source of its defining values and how they continue to operate in our present. You will be challenged to become more attentive readers, better writers, and more critical thinkers and cultural observers. You will have the opportunity to devote the semester to developing a research paper on a topic of your own choice, including developing an abstract and bibliography, and presenting your work to colleagues.

Taught by Dr. Nina Belmonte

2020 Course syllabus

Calendar description

Directed studies in Europe I & II: EU Field School

EUS 390A/B is a directed studies course; this can either be the EU Field School, or a special project approved by the EUS Director. Every May, EUS 390A/B is offered as the EU Field School, which starts in Brussels, and takes students on a tour through the key sites of European Union institutions and civil society organisations. Students will engage with representatives of the EU’s administrative and political leadership, such as the European Commission, Parliament, Court of Justice, and Central Bank, along with other European organizations such as NATO, the European Court of Human Rights, and the Canadian Mission to the EU. The Tour is not simply an accredited course, it is a full immersion into European history, culture, and political formation, a program for self-directed and independent study.through various important EU institutions, and gives students an opportunity to have “face to face” contact and dialogue with presenters and seminar leaders from the ranks of those actively involved in the day to day work of the EU. Students will also meet with representatives of other European institutions, diplomatic representations to the EU (including Canada), policy think tanks, and civil society organizations. 

Read the EUS 390A (1.5 credit) course outline or the EUS 390B (0.0 credit) course outline for more information.

Calendar descriptions

Individual examination of analytical issues in European Studies in relation to work, internship, volunteer activities, or other pre-approved activities under the guidance of a faculty member. Student and instructor must have agreed on learning objectives and methods of assessment before experiential learning opportunity begins. Learning opportunity must be distinct from any previous or concurrent Co-op work-term placements. Must involve a minimum of 200 hours of the activity per 1.5 units of credit.

*Credit for EUS 495 may be applied to West Coast Model EU. 

Directed reading and/or a research project in European Studies under the supervision of a Faculty Member.

1.5 Units

Eligible courses in Art History and Visual Studies:

• AHVS 328 Gothic art and architecture
• AHVS 339 The Global Renaissance (permission of the program)
• AHVS 341A Art in Renaissance Florence
• AHVS 341C Michelangelo and Leonardo
• AHVS 342A Baroque Art in Italy 1550-1770
• AHVS 342B Experiencing Baroque Painting
• AHVS 343A Art in Venice 1500-1800
• AHVS 343B The 18th Century in Northern Europe
• AHVS 344A The Art of Travel 1200-1600 (permission of the program)
• AHVS 344B The Art of Travel 1600 to Present Day (permission of the program)
• AHVS 345 People and Things in the Early Modern Domestic Interior
• AHVS 346C Visual culture in Jane Austen's world
• AHVS 349 Islam and the West: Artistic contacts, 1500-1900
• AHVS 357 Arts of Mediterranean Islam, 13th-20th centuries
• AHVS 362A Modern Art in Europe and North America: 1900 to 1945
• AHVS 362B Art in Europe and North America: 1945 to Today
• AHVS 387A European and North American Architecture, 17500-1900
• AHVS 392 Special Topics in Art History and Visual Studies (permission of the program)
• AHVS 397 Impressionism: A social history
• AHVS 397A A social history of Post-Impressionism
• AHVS 398A Art and Revolution I
• AHVS 398B Art and Revolution II
• AHVS 411 Seminar in World Histories of Art (permission of the program)
• AHVS 420 Seminar in Medieval Art (permission of the program)
• AHVS 435 Seminar in Late Medieval and Early Renaissance Art, c. 1200-1500
• AHVS 447 Seminar in Early Modern Art, c. 1500-1750 (permission of the program)
• AHVS 492 Advanced Studies Art History and Visual Studies (permission of the program)

Eligible courses in Anthropology:

• ANTH 361 Archaeology of Medieval Europe
• ANTH 365 Colonialism and Daily Life
• ANTH 372 Economic Underworlds and Globalization (permission of the program)
• ANTH 391 Selected Problems in Anthropology: Area Studies (permission of the program)
• ANTH 393 Selected Problems in Anthropology: Cultural Anthropology (permission of the program)
• ANTH 398 Life and Death in the Viking World

Eligible courses in Economics:

• ECON 337 History of Economic Thought to 1870
• ECON 338 History of Economic thought since 1870
• ECON 495 Directed Studies (permission of the program)

Eligible courses in English:

• ENGL 337 Medieval British Literature in Translation
• ENGL 437A Modern Drama to World War II
• ENGL 437B Modern Drama since World War II
• ENGL 340 Introduction to Old English
• ENGL 341 Old English Literature
• ENGL 342 Early Middle English Literature
• ENGL 343 Later Middle English Literature
• ENGL 350 Medieval and Renaissance Scottish Literature
• ENGL 353 Studies in Medieval English Literature
• ENGL 359 Sixteenth-Century Poetry and Prose
• ENGL 360 Special Studies in Shakespeare
• ENGL 362 Special Studies in Renaissance Literature
• ENGL 364 English Renaissance Drama
• ENGL 365 17^th Century Poetry and Prose to 1660
• ENGL 366B Shakespeare: Histories and Tragedies
• ENGL 366C Shakespeare: Comedies, Problem Plays, and Romances
• ENGL 369 Milton: Major Poetry and Selected Prose
• ENGL 372 Special Studies in 18th Century Literature
• ENGL 373 English Literature of the Restoration Period: 1660-1700
• ENGL 376A The Beginning of the English Novel: 1660-1750
• ENGL 376B The English Novel: 1750 to the Early 19th Century
• ENGL 379 British Fiction and Non-Fiction of the Early 19th Century
• ENGL 380 Victorian Fiction: Dickens to Eliot
• ENGL 381 Late Victorian and Edwardian Fiction
• ENGL 382 The Romantic Period I
• ENGL 383 The Romantic Period II
• ENGL 385 Special Studies in 19th Century British Literature
• ENGL 386 Victorian Poetry
• ENGL 387 Victorian Culture and Thought
• ENGL 388 Special Studies in 20th Century British Literature
• ENGL 410 Backgrounds to English Literary Traditions
• ENGL 433A Modern Irish Literature
• ENGL 433B Contemporary Irish Literature
• ENGL 434 The Bible and Literature in English
• ENGL 434A British Poetry from 1914 to 1950
• ENGL 434B British Poetryfrom1950 to the Present
• ENGL 436A 20th Century British Fiction to World War II
• ENGL 436B 20th Century British Fiction after World War II
• ENGL 437A Modern Drama to World War II
• ENGL 437B Modern Drama Since World War II
• ENGL 460 Classic Literary Criticism
• ENGL 461 Introduction to Contemporary Literary Theory
• ENGL 462 Studies in Modern Critical Theory
• ENGL 464 The Bible and Literature in English
• ENGL 479 Victoria and Edwardian Children’s Fiction
• ENGL 466 Cultural Studies
• ENGL 467 Seminar in 20^th-Century Literary Criticism

Eligible courses in French:FRAN 100 Intensive French I

• FRAN 300 French Reading Course
• FRAN 310 Literary Texts II
• FRAN 350 Advanced Oral French
• FRAN 402 An Advanced Language Course in Modern French Usage
• FRAN 404 History of the French Language I
• FRAN 405 History of the French Language II
• FRAN 406 Studies in Translation
• FRAN 430 Studies in French Literatures and Culture before 1800
• FRAN 431 Medieval Literature
• FRAN 434 Medieval and Renaissance Theatre
• FRAN 435 Renaissance Poetry
• FRAN 436 Renaissance Prose
• FRAN 385 French Syntax and Semantics
• FRAN 400 Advanced Studies in French Linguistics
• FRAN 443 Representations of 17^th-Century French Society
• FRAN 444 18^th Century French Literature and Culture
• FRAN 446 The Englightenment
• FRAN 450 Studies in French Literature and Culture after 1800
• FRAN 452 French Romanticism
• FRAN 453 Decadence and Symbolism
• FRAN 456  20^th-Century French Theatre
• FRAN 457 Breaking New Ground after Existentialism

Eligible courses in Geography:

• GEOG 388 Regional Studies (permission of the program)
• GEOG 391 The Anthropocene (permission of the program)

Eligible courses in Germanic Studies and Slavic Studies:

• GMST 300 German Cultural Studies
• GMST 301 Advanced German I
• GMST 302 Advanced German II
• GMST 350 A Short History of German Film
• GMST 351 The New German Cinema
• GMST 352 Recent Film
• GMST 353 Literature and Film of the Holocaust and “Third Reich”
• GMST 355 German Expressionism (1910-1933)
• GMST 362 The Two Germanies
• GMST 365 Marx, Nietzsche, Freud
• GMST 401 Topics in Popular Culture (in German)
• GMST 402 Film (in German)
• GMST 405 Reading, Grammar and Translation
• GMST 450 Major Filmmakers
• GMST 452 Representations of Nazism in Contemporary Film and Visual Culture
• GMST 453 After-Images of the Holocaust in Text and Film
• GMST 454 A Cultural History of Vampires in Literature and Film
• GMST 455 German Visual Culture
• GMST 460 Multi-Cultural and Transnational Studies
• GMST 461 Metropolis Berlin
• GMST 465 Adorno, Benjamin and Frankfurt School Critical Theory
• GMST 480 Major Writers
• GMST 481 The Age of Goethe and Romanticism
• GMST 488 Performing German Drama
• GMST 489 (3.0 units) I-witness Field School

Eligible courses in Greek and Roman Studies:

• GREE 301 Greek Epic
• GREE 302 Greek Tragedy
• GREE 303 Greek Historians
• GREE 304 Plato
• GREE 306 Greek Comedy
• GREE 310 Koine Greek
• GREE 481 Seminar in Greek Literature
• GRS 300 Heroes and Heroines in Action in Ancient Greek Epics
• GRS 314 Age of Nero
• GRS 315 Age of Augustus
• GRS 316 Pirates and Passion in Greek and Roman Novels and Romances
• GRS 320 Greek Tragedy
• GRS 323 Ancient Comedy and Satire
• GRS 325A Topics in Greek Literature
• GRS 325B Topics in Roman Literature
• GRS 326 Topics in Greek and Roman Civilization
• GRS 328 Myth and Theory
• GRS 331 Greek History from the Bronze Age to Alexander
• GRS 332 Social and Economic History of Greece
• GRS 333 Alexander and the Hellenistic Age
• GRS 335 Women in the Greek and Roman World
• GRS 336 Democracy in the Ancient Mediterranean and its Legacy
• GRS 337 Herodotus and Greek Ethnography
• GRS 341 Rome's Empire
• GRS 342 Roman Daily Life
• GRS 344 The Fall of the Roman Republic
• GRS 348 The City of Rome
• GRS 349 Jews and Christians in the Roman World
• GRS 350 Late Antiquity
• GRS 361 Aegean Bronze Age
• GRS 371 Greek Art and Archaeology
• GRS 372 Roman Art and Archaeology
• GRS 374 Pompeii and Herculaneum
• GRS 376: Ancient Technology
• GRS 377 Ships and Seamanship in the Ancient World
• GRS 379 Early Greek Thought
• GRS 380 The Life and Times of Socrates
• GRS 381 Greek and Roman Religion
• GRS 432 The Ancient Economy
• GRS 442 Roman Law and Society
• GRS 443 The Athenian Empire
• GRS 461 Greece and the Near East
• GRS 462 Archaeology of Athens
• GRS 480A Seminar in Greek History
• GRS 480C Seminar in Roman History
• GRS 482A Seminar in Greek Archaeology
• GRS 482B Seminar in Roman Archaeology
• GRS 493 Directed Study in Greek or Roman Civilization
• GRS 495 Practicum in Archaeology 

Eligible courses in History:

• HSTR 300A The Backpacker's Guide to European History
• HSTR 312 Tudor-Stuart England
• HSTR 313A Britain's Rise to World Power, 1689-1837
• HSTR 313B English Society, 1689-1837
• HSTR 314A Becoming the Victorians, Britain 1789-1851
• HSTR 314B The Victorians to the Great War, Britain 1851-1914
• HSTR 315A Britain's Short Twentieth Century 1901-1951
• HSTR 315B Modern Britain 1951-the present
• HSTR 316B Death and the Afterlife in England, 1750 to the Present
• HSTR 318 The Bloody Code: Crime in England, 1660-1800
• HSTR 320A The British Monarchy since 1689
• HSTR 320B Homicide in Modern Britain
• HSTR 320C Bloodfeud, Politics and Culture in the Celtic World, 1485-1746
• HSTR 336A Topics in Medieval Europe
• HSTR 337A The Birth of the Renaissance
• HSTR 337B Reformation and Reformation and Religious War in Europe
• HSTR 340 Topics in European History
• HSTR 340A Terror, Security and Military Intervention in Europe
• HSTR 340B Migration and Ethnic Tension in Post-1945 Europe
• HSTR 342A Europe from Louis XIV to the French Revolution
• HSTR 342B Revolutionary and Napoleonic Europe, 1789-1815
• HSTR 324C Democracy, War and Nation Building in Europe, 1814-1914
• HSTR 344A The First World War
• HSTR 344B The Second World War and the Recovery of Western Europe
• HSTR 345 The Eastern Front in the First and Second World Wars
• HSTR 346 France from the Renaissance to Louis XIV
• HSTR 347A Reaction, Reform and Revolution in France, 1814-1914
• HSTR 347B Decline and Renewal of France, 1814-1914
• HSTR 349 Hitler in History
• HSTR 350A Imperial Germany
• HSTR 350B Weimar and Nazi Germany
• HSTR 350C Germany After 1945
• HSTR 351 Imperial Russia, 1689-1917 (permission of the program)
• HSTR 352 The Soviet Union and its Successor States, 1917-2000 (permission of the program)
• HSTR 353 Modern Ukraine and Russian-Ukrainian Conflict (permission of the program)
• HSTSR 370A Intersections of Law and Religion from Ancient to Current Worlds
• HSTR 382 Topics in the Historical Study of Peace and War (permission of the program)
• HSTR 385 Topics in Social and Cultural History (permission of the program)
• HSTR 385A Witchcraft and its Persecution in the Early Modern Atlantic World
• HSTR 385D Pirates and Piracy Since 1500
• HSTR 412A Crime and Criminality in Medieval England
• HSTR 414 Seminar in 17th-century England
• HSTR 415 War and Social Change in England During the Two World Wars
• HSTR 416 Mass Media and British Politics and Society, 1896-1956
• HSTR 420 Seminar in British History
• HSTR 436 Seminar in Medieval Europe
• HSTR 436F Individual, Family and Community in Medieval Society
• HSTR 436L Lawyers, Writing and the Medieval Formation of the West
• HSTR 436W Medieval Foundations of the Western Legal Tradition
• HSTR 440 Seminar in European History
• HSTR 442 Criminality and Violence in Europe, 1400-1800
• HSTR 444 Early Modern French Cultural History
• HSTR 445B Scandals and Political Culture in France, 1870-2000
• HSTR 447 Seminar in Russian and Eastern European History
• HSTR 450 The Holocaust
• HSTR 451 Seminar in Russian and Eastern European History
• HSTR 460 Seminar in World History (permission of the program)
• HSTR 471 Seminar in Thematic and Comparative History (permission of the program)
• HSTR 482 Seminar in peace and War Studies (permission of the program)
• HSTR 485 Seminar in Social and Cultural History (permission of the program)

Eligible courses in Italian:

• ITAL 300 Italian for Reading Knowledge
• ITAL 304 Rome, the Eternal City (in English)
• ITAL 306 Italian Culture (in English)
• ITAL 350 Advanced Italian Grammar
• ITAL 351 Advanced Italian Language
• ITAL 373 The Birth of the Renaissance (in English)
• ITAL 378 From Mussolini to Berlusconi and Beyond (in English)
• ITAL 379 Female Beauty in Italian Culture (in English)
• ITAL 470 Dante's Divine Comedy
• ITAL 472A Boccaccio's Decameron (in English)
• ITAL 478 Topics in Modern Italian Literature (in English)
• ITAL 479A Women in the Hispanic and Italian World
• ITAL 485 Topics in Italian Film (permission of the program)
• ITAL 495 Directed Reading Course (permission of the program)

Eligible courses in Latin:

• LATI 301 Vergil
• LATI 306 Horace
• LATI 307 Historian of the Republic
• LATI 308 Cicero
• LATI 309 Ovid
• LATI 310 Roman Love Poetry
• LATI 350 Medieval Latin

Eligible courses in Medieval Studies:

• MEDI 303 The Medieval World
• MEDI 304 Medieval Studies (permission of the program)
• MEDI 360 Selected Topics in Medieval Culture (permission of the program)
• MEDI 401 Seminar in Medieval Culture
• MEDI 402 Cross-Cultural Encounters and Exchanges
• MEDI 442 Common Grounds in European Medieval Literature
• MEDI 451 Reading, Writing and the Book in the Medieval World
• MEDI 452 Special Topics in Medieval Manuscript Studies 

Eligible courses in Mediterranean Studies:

• MEST 300 Unity and Diversity in the Mediterranean (in English)
• MEST 308 Fascism and Authoritarianism in the Mediterranean (in English)
• MEST 310 The Portrayal of the Family in Mediterranean Culture (in English)

Eligible courses in Music:

• MUS 322 A Composer's Style and Music
• MUS 323 Forms and Genres in Music
• MUS 391 Cross-Cultural and Historical Topics in Music
• MUS 421 Selected Topics in Music History (if sufficiently related to European History or Culture)

Eligible courses in Philosophy:

• PHIL 314 19th-Century Philosophy
• PHIL 316 History of Analytic Philosophy
• PHIL 301 Plato
• PHIL 303 Aristotle
• PHIL 305A Early Medieval Philosophy
• PHIL 305B Later Medieval Philosophy
• PHIL 306 The Rationalists
• PHIL 308 The Empiricists
• PHIL 309 Kant
• PHIL 311 Existentialist Thinkers
• PHIL 379 Early Greek Thought
• PHIL 383 The Life and Times of Socrates

Eligible courses in Political Science:

• POLI 336 The Modern State
• POLI 311 Governments and Politics in Europe
• POLI 319 Issues in Comparative Politics (if sufficiently related to European History or Culture)
• POLI 349 Issues in International Politics (if sufficiently related to European History or Culture)
• POLI 379 Topics in Contemporary European Politics
• POLI 414 Politics in the European Union (seminar course)

Elibible course in Slavic Studies:

• SLST 300 Slavic Cultural Studies
• SLST 301 Advanced Russian
• SLST 303 Russian Popular Culture (in Russian)
• SLST 345 The Eastern Front in the First and Second World Wars
• SLST 350 Introduction to Russian Film
• SLST 360 Major Figures of Russian Culture and History
• SLST 480 Tolstoy and the Age of Anna Karenina
• SLST 481 Existence and Anxiety in Dostoevsky
• SLST 461 Putin’s Russia

Eligible courses in Spanish:

• SPAN 305 Upper Intermediate Topics in Hispanic Culture
• SPAN 340 Spanish Immersion Literature
• SPAN 350A Upper Intermediate Spanish I
• SPAN 350B Upper Intermediate Spanish II
• SPAN 355 Communicating in Spanish
• SPAN 391 Hispanic Literature II
• SPAN 408A Advanced Topics in Spanish Culture
• SPAN 417 Global Perspective in the Spanish-Speaking World
• SPAN 450A Advanced Spanish I
• SPAN 450B Advanced Spanish II
• SPAN 460 Hispanic Poetry
• SPAN 469 Special Topics in Hispanic Literatures
• SPAN 470 Medieval Literature
• SPAN 472 Cervantes' Don Quixote
• SPAN 473 Spanish Golden Age Literature
• SPAN 478B 20^th Century Drama and Poetry
• SPAN 479A Women in the Hispanic and Italian World
• SPAN 487 Spain in the Pacific Northwest

Eligible courses in Theatre:

• THEA 309A History of Opera to the Late 19th Century
• THEA 309B Modern Opera
• THEA 310 Seminar in Theatre History I (permission of the program)
• THEA 311 Seminar in Theatre History II (permission of the program)
• THEA 314 Studies in Theatre of the Ancient World
• THEA 315 Studies in Medieval Theatre
• THEA 316 Studies in Theatre of the Enlightenment
• THEA 317 Studies in 19th-Century Theatre
• THEA 319 Theatre of the Renaissance in Italy, France and England
• THEA 391 Directed Studies in the History of Drama (permission of the program)
• THEA 410 Seminar in Theatre History III (permission of the program)
• THEA 411 Seminar in Theatre History IV (permission of the program)