Arts Courses That Focus on Equity, Diversity, Inclusivity and Decolonization

(Plus some with significant Indigenous content) Winter 2021 in the Faculty of Arts at UAlberta

Published in

UAlberta Arts Insider

6 min readDec 10, 2020

We are back at the time of year where you are looking for a course to add to your Winter semester. Also, if you made it this far, you are probably interested and maybe even passionate about EDID (equity, diversity, inclusivity and decolonization). Or you may be searching for courses with Indigenous content.

Keep reading to discover courses that have been pooled together that have significant Indigenous content and/or focus on equity, diversity, inclusion and decolonization.

*Please note that course content, delivery method and instructors are subject to change. Refer to the course syllabus for full and final details.

Philosophy (PHIL 203) — Islamic Philosophy

Number of Sections Offered: 1
Professor/Instructor: Hassan Masoud
Delivery Method: A combination of synchronous/real-time and asynchronous/any-time learning
Course Time: T/R from 9:30–11:20am MT
Pre-requisite: none

Detail from ‘The Meeting of the Theologians’ by Abd Allah Musawwir, mid-16th century. Courtesy Wikipedia.

Course Description: This course covers the main figures and schools of thought in the Islamic world during the period from 10th to 17th century CE. The figures studies include Al-Farabi, Avicenna, Ghazali, Averroes, Suhrawardi, Ibn Arabi, Rumi, and Mulla Sadra. This course will be of interest not only to philosophy students, especially those who study medieval philosophy, but also to students of history, religious studies, and political science who are willing to investigate the intellectual/philosophical background that underlies the contemporary worldviews of the Muslim societies.

Other Themes Covered: Identity (race, gender, sexuality, culture, age, etc.) | Beliefs and values | Equity, diversity, inclusivity and decolonization

Women’s and Gender Studies 298 (WGS 298) — Critical Issues: Decolonizing Fashion

This Course Has Significant Indigenous Content
Number of Sections Offered: 1
Professor/Instructor: Dr. Lana Whiskeyjack
Delivery Method: Entirely or mostly synchronous/real-time
Course Time: T/R from 11–12:20pm MT
Pre-requisite: None

Course Description: This course offers an introduction to select topics in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Fashion offers students a vivid, familiar, and fresh perspective to critically explore issues surrounding colonization, identity, gendered intersections, from an Indigenous perspective.

Anthropology 484 (ANTHR 484-B2) (45387) — TOPICS IN ARCH/BIOL ANTHRO (Seminar): Native American Science

This Course Has Significant Indigenous Content
Number of Sections Offered: 1
Professor/Instructor: Maggie Spivey-Faulkner
Delivery Method: A combination of synchronous/real-time and asynchronous/any-time learning
Course Time: T from 2–4:50pm MT
Pre-requisite: none

Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago

Course Description: Critical observation of the world is a fundamental part of Native North American cultures. In this course, we investigate Native American scientific epistemologies in spacetime, ecology, mathematics, astronomy, agriculture, and forestry. Due to the fragmented nature of evidence remnant from settler colonialism, we are forced to take a multi-national view of Native American science, using case studies from multiple regions, peoples, and Native Nations. We pay special attention to evaluating phenomena of the world through Indigenous, emic paradigms of thought and will require the student to demonstrate mastery of this material through the completion of problem sets.

Other faculties/programs that would take this as an option course: ALES | Native Studies | Science | Computing Science

History of Art, Design, & Visual Culture 100 (HADVC 100-B1) — Introduction to the History of Art, Design, and Visual Culture (Lecture)

Number of Sections Offered: 1
Professor/Instructor: Lisa Claypool
Delivery Method: A combination of synchronous/real-time and asynchronous/any-time learning
Course Time: M/W from 12:30–13:50pm MT
Pre-requisite: none

Course Description: This course introduces the history of art, design, and visual culture to first-year university students, building the skills needed for classes at the 200 level and above. Rather than presenting a general historical survey of European and North American arts, the course travels around the globe and presents a series of case studies that foreground the processes of seeing, reading, and interpreting as integral to the experience of images and objects. The learning outcomes for this course are:

1) Skills in visual, formal, and material analysis
2) Enhanced skills in reading comprehension and written communication
3) Ability to contextualize works of art, design, and visual culture in their historical surrounds
4) Experience in viewing works of art, design, and visual culture firsthand
5) having fun

You will meet the outcomes listed above through a combination of the following activities in this course:
● Careful viewing of online videos and PowerPoint presentations
● Detailed reading of assigned texts
● Participation in study groups through weekly posting
● Regular online quizzes
● Attending study sessions with TA
● Completion of written assignments

Other Themes Covered: Conflict and adversity | Power and authority |Equity, diversity, inclusivity and decolonization | Politics and the arts

Other faculties/programs that would take this as an option course: ALES

Anthropology 386 (ANTHR 386-B2) (45669) — TOPICS BIOL ANTHRO OR ARCHLGY (Seminar): Indian Country in the American Imagination

@BunkHaus Instagram, Bunky Echo-Hawk “Throws-the-book” 2012

Course Description: 18th and 19th Century Western conceptions of Native American cultures form the foundations of modern Native American life in the United States. In this course, we will examine the laws and opinions that comprise early Federal Indian Law and extract the axioms on Native American cultures embedded within them. Those axioms will then be critically examined against our current understandings of Native American cultures via anthropological data and interpretation. The resulting societal fallout from the gap between the American imaginations of Native Americans and the Native lived reality will be evaluated. This course heavily draws from literature written by Native American authors.

Other faculties/programs that would take this as an option course: Education | Native Studies

Women’s and Gender Studies 360 (WGS 360) — Race, Class and Gender

Number of Sections Offered: 1
Professor/Instructor: Dr. Nixon, Randelle
Delivery Method: Entirely or mostly synchronous/real-time
Course Time: T/R from 3:30–4:50pm MT
Pre-requisite: Any Women’s and Gender Studies Course (or cross-listed course) from the 200 level up or at the instructor’s discretion.

Course Description: Historical, contemporary, and comparative perspectives on the interaction of race, class, and gender experiences. From a critical feminist lens, students interrogate issues of identity, social intersections, inequalities, and underlying power relations that shape our lives as individuals and groups.