Global Asia Studies


Faculty List
  • R. Bai, M.A. (Beijing Foreign Studies), Ph.D. (Illinois), Associate Professor
  • L. Chen, M.A. (SUNY Buffalo), J.D.(Illinois), M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D. (Columbia), Associate Professor
  • E. Elhalaby, Ph.D. (Rice), Assistant Professor
  • Y. Gu, M.A. (Fudan), Ph.D. (Brown), Assistant Professor
  • B. Raman, M.A., Ph.D. (Michigan), Associate Professor
  • J. Sharma, M.A. (Delhi), M.Phil. (Delhi), Ph.D. (Cambridge), Associate Professor 
  • S. Ye, M.A. (Cincinnati), Ph.D. (Minnesota), Assistant Professor

Undergraduate Advisor Email: gas-undergrad-advisor@utsc.utoronto.ca
For more information, visit the Department of Historical and Cultural Studies website.

Global Asia Studies (GAS) has interdisciplinary undergraduate programs that enable students to intensively study Asia as part of a dynamic global and diasporic context in the past and present. Students learn cutting-edge Humanities methods and theories from a range of different disciplines. GAS programs link the academic study of Asia to Toronto's vibrant Asian communities through exciting co- and extra-curricular programming that nurtures socially responsible and educationally rigorous experiential learning. It incorporates various thematic interests such as the study of gender, diasporas and migration, religion, development, nationalism in contexts as different as mainland China and Tamil worlds.

The Specialist Program in Global Asia Studies and Major Program in Global Asia Studies are designed for those students who wish to acquire more in-depth knowledge of Asia that spans a number of disciplines, and may help better prepare them for a variety of careers.

The curriculum combines a variety of approaches. The first-year A-level courses GASA01H3/HISA06H3 and GASA02H3 provide a general introduction to Asia in a global context through historical and cultural perspectives respectively. 

GAS students then move onto courses at the B-level which provide a comprehensive foundation of knowledge in particular areas and fields relevant to the study of Asia. For example, see courses such as GASB57H3/HISB57H3.

In C-level courses, students investigate specific areas and problems pertaining to East and South Asia in greater depth. These courses are conducted in a lecture and tutorial discussion format. For example, see courses such as GASC20H3.

All D-level courses are conducted as small-group seminars where students conduct research and analysis of particular questions or topics, actively participate in class discussions and present their findings in class and in their research essays. For example, see courses such as GASD01H3. 

Language study for the Global Asia Studies program is particularly important for those students who wish to move onto advanced studies of East or South Asia at the university level, and to acquire a specialized knowledge base for a range of professional and academic opportunities. Languages offered at the university that count towards the Global Asia Studies degree includes Hindi, Mandarin Chinese, and Japanese. Students should get the Program Director's written approval before taking any language courses offered outside the University of Toronto Scarborough. The language study requirement is waived in specific cases.

Guidelines for first-year course selection

Students who intend to complete a Global Asia Studies program should include GASA01H3/HISA06H3 or GASA02H3 in their first-year course selection.
For updates and detailed information regarding Global Asia Studies please visit the Department of Historical and Cultural Studies website.

Program Combination Restrictions

The Specialist, Major and Minor programs in Global Asia Studies cannot be combined.

Experiential Learning and Outreach

For a community-based experiential learning opportunity in your academic field of interest, consider the course CTLB03H3, which can be found in the Teaching and Learning section of the Calendar.

Global Asia Studies Programs

SPECIALIST PROGRAM IN GLOBAL ASIA STUDIES (ARTS) - SCSPEGAS

Undergraduate Advisor: (416) 287-7184 Email: gas-undergrad-advisor@utsc.utoronto.ca

Program Requirements
Students must complete 12.0 credits, of which at least 4.0 credits must be at the C- or D-level, including at least 1.0 credit at the D-level:

1. 0.5 credit as follows:
GASA01H3/​HISA06H3 Introducing Global Asia and its Histories
or
GASA02H3 Introduction to Global Asia Studies

2. 9.5 credits at the B- or C-level in GAS courses, of which 3.0 credits should be at the C-level (students should check course descriptions for prerequisites)

3. At least 1.0 credit at the D-level in GAS courses (students should check the course description for prerequisites)

4. 1.0 credit from Asian language courses taught at the University

MAJOR PROGRAM IN GLOBAL ASIA STUDIES (ARTS) - SCMAJGAS

Undergraduate Advisor: (416) 287-7184 Email: gas-undergrad-advisor@utsc.utoronto.ca

Program Requirements
Students must complete 7.0 credits.

1. 0.5 credit as follows:
GASA01H3/​HISA06H3 Introducing Global Asia and its Histories
or
GASA02H3 Introduction to Global Asia Studies

2. 5.5 credits in GAS courses, of which at least 1.5 credits must be at the C-level and 1.0 credit at the D-level (students should check course description for prerequisites)

3. 1.0 credit from Asian language courses taught at the university

MINOR PROGRAM IN GLOBAL ASIA STUDIES (ARTS) - SCMINGAS

Undergraduate Advisor: (416) 287-7184 Email: gas-undergrad-advisor@utsc.utoronto.ca

Program Requirements
Students must complete 4.0 credits.

1.  0.5 credit as follows:
GASA01H3/​HISA06H3 Introducing Global Asia and its Histories
or
GASA02H3 Introduction to Global Asia Studies

2.  For the remaining 3.5 credits, students have two options:
Complete 3.5 credits in GAS courses, of which at least 1.5 credits must be at the C- or D-level
or
Complete 2.5 credits in GAS courses, of which at least 1.0 credit must be at the C- or D-level, plus 1.0 credit from Asian language courses.

 

Global Asia Studies Courses

GASA01H3 - Introducing Global Asia and its Histories

This course introduces Global Asia Studies through studying historical and political perspectives on Asia. Students will learn how to critically analyze major historical texts and events to better understand important cultural, political, and social phenomena involving Asia and the world. They will engage in intensive reading and writing for humanities.
Same as HISA06H3

Exclusion: HISA06H3
Breadth Requirements: History, Philosophy and Cultural Studies

GASA02H3 - Introduction to Global Asia Studies

This course introduces Global Asia Studies through the study of cultural and social institutions in Asia. Students will critically study important elements of culture and society over different periods of history and in different parts of Asia. They will engage in intensive reading and writing for humanities.

Breadth Requirements: Arts, Literature and Language

GASB05H3 - Media and Globalization

This course examines the role of technological and cultural networks in mediating and facilitating the social, economic and political processes of globalization. Key themes include imperialism, militarization, global political economy, activism, and emerging media technologies. Particular attention is paid to cultures of media production and reception outside of North America.
Same as MDSB05H3

Prerequisite: 4.0 credits and MDSA01H3
Exclusion: MDSB05H3
Breadth Requirements: History, Philosophy and Cultural Studies

GASB15H3 - The Arts of South Asia

The course will provide students with an introduction to the arts of South Asia, from classical to modern, and from local to global. Fields of study may include music, dance, drama, literature, film, graphic arts, decorative arts, magic, yoga, athletics, and cuisine, fields viewed as important arts for this society.

Breadth Requirements: Arts, Literature and Language

GASB20H3 - Gender and Social Institutions in Asia

This course examines the role of gender in shaping social institutions in Asia.

Breadth Requirements: History, Philosophy and Cultural Studies

GASB30H3 - Asian Religions and Culture

This course examines the close relationship between religions and cultures, and the role they play in shaping the worldviews, aesthetics, ethical norms, and other social ideals in Asian countries and societies.

Breadth Requirements: History, Philosophy and Cultural Studies

GASB33H3 - Global Buddhism in Historical and Contemporary Societies

This course examines the global spread of different versions of Buddhism across historical and contemporary societies.

Breadth Requirements: History, Philosophy and Cultural Studies

GASB42H3 - Culture and Society in Contemporary South Asia

This course surveys central issues in the ethnographic study of contemporary South Asia (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka). Students will engage with classical and recent ethnographies to critically examine key thematic fault lines within national imaginations, especially along the lines of religion, caste, gender, ethnicity, and language. Not only does the course demonstrate how these fault lines continually shape the nature of nationalism, state institutions, development, social movements, violence, and militarism across the colonial and post-colonial periods but also, demonstrates how anthropological knowledge and ethnography provide us with a critical lens for exploring the most pressing issues facing South Asia in the world today.

Same as ANTB42H3

Prerequisite: [ANTB19H3 and ANTB20H3, or permission of the instructor] or [Any 4.0 credits, including 0.5 credit at the A- or B-level in GAS or Africa and Asia Area HIS courses]
Exclusion: ANTB42H3, (ANTC12H3)/(GASC12H3)
Breadth Requirements: Social and Behavioural Sciences

GASB53H3 - Mughals and the World, 1500-1858 AD

Why does Southern Asia’s pre-colonial history matter? Using materials that illustrate the connected worlds of Central Asia, South Asia and the Indian Ocean rim, we will query conventional histories of Asia in the time of European expansion.
Same as HISB53H3

Exclusion: HISB53H3
Breadth Requirements: History, Philosophy and Cultural Studies

GASB57H3 - Sub-Continental Histories: South Asia in the World

A survey of South Asian history. The course explores diverse and exciting elements of this long history, such as politics, religion, trade, literature, and the arts, keeping in mind South Asia's global and diasporic connections.
Same as HISB57H3

Exclusion: HIS282Y, HIS282H, HISB57H3
Breadth Requirements: History, Philosophy and Cultural Studies

GASB58H3 - Modern Chinese History

This course provides an overview of the historical changes and continuities of the major cultural, economic, political, and social institutions and practices in modern Chinese history.
Same as HISB58H3

Prerequisite: Any 2.0 credits
Exclusion: HIS280Y, HISB58H3
Recommended Preparation: 0.5 credit at the A-level in HIS or GAS courses
Breadth Requirements: History, Philosophy and Cultural Studies

GASB65H3 - West Asia and the Modern World

For those who reside east of it, the Middle East is generally known as West Asia. By reframing the Middle East as West Asia, this course will explore the region’s modern social, cultural, and intellectual history as an outcome of vibrant exchange with non-European world regions like Asia. It will foreground how travel and the movement fundamentally shape modern ideas. Core themes of the course such as colonialism and decolonization, Arab nationalism, religion and identity, and feminist thought will be explored using primary sources (in translation). Knowledge of Arabic is not required.

Same as HISB65H3

Exclusion: HISB65H3
Breadth Requirements: History, Philosophy and Cultural Studies

GASB73H3 - Visualizing Asia

A survey of the art of China, Japan, Korea, India, and Southeast Asia. We will examine a wide range of artistic production, including ritual objects, painting, calligraphy, architectural monuments, textile, and prints. Special attention will be given to social contexts, belief systems, and interregional exchanges.
Same as VPHB73H3

Prerequisite: VPHA46H3 or GASA01H3
Exclusion: VPHB73H3, FAH261H
Breadth Requirements: Arts, Literature and Language

GASB74H3 - Asian Foods and Global Cities

This course explores the social circulation of Asian-identified foods and beverages using research from geographers, anthropologists, sociologists, and historians to understand their changing roles in ethnic entrepreneur-dominated cityscapes of London, Toronto, Singapore, Hong Kong, and New York. Foods under study include biryani, curry, coffee, dumplings, hoppers, roti, and tea.
Same as HISB74H3

Exclusion: HISB74H3
Breadth Requirements: Social and Behavioural Sciences

GASB77H3 - Modern Asian Art

An introduction to modern Asian art through domestic, regional, and international exhibitions. Students will study the multilayered new developments of art and art institutions in China, Japan, Korea, India, Thailand, and Vietnam, as well as explore key issues such as colonial modernity, translingual practices, and multiple modernism.
Same as VPHB77H3

Exclusion: VPHB77H3
Recommended Preparation: VPHA46H3 or GASA01H3
Breadth Requirements: Arts, Literature and Language

GASC20H3 - Gendering Global Asia

This course offers students a critical and analytical perspective on issues of gender history, equity, discrimination, resistance, and struggle facing societies in East and South Asia and their diasporas.

Prerequisite: 8.0 credits, including 0.5 credit at the A-level, and 1.0 credit at the B-level in CLA, FST, GAS, HIS, or WST courses
Recommended Preparation: GASA01H3 or GASA02H3
Breadth Requirements: History, Philosophy and Cultural Studies

GASC33H3 - Critical Perspectives in Global Buddhism

This course critically examines different aspects of Buddhism in global context.

Prerequisite: Any 4.0 credits
Breadth Requirements: History, Philosophy and Cultural Studies

GASC40H3 - Chinese Media and Politics

This course examines the complex and dynamic interplay of media and politics in contemporary China, and the role of the government in this process.
Same as MDSC40H3

Prerequisite: 4.0 credits
Exclusion: MDSC40H3
Breadth Requirements: History, Philosophy and Cultural Studies

GASC41H3 - Media and Popular Culture in East Asia

This course introduces students to media industries and commercial popular cultural forms in East Asia. Topics include reality TV, TV dramas, anime, and manga as well as issues such as regional cultural flows, global impact of Asian popular culture, and the localization of global media in East Asia.
Same as MDSC41H3

Prerequisite: 4.0 credits
Exclusion: MDSC41H3
Breadth Requirements: History, Philosophy and Cultural Studies

GASC42H3 - Film and Popular Culture in South Asia

This course offers students a critical perspective on film and popular cultures in South Asia. Topics include Bombay, Tamil, and other regional filmic industries, their history, production, and distribution strategies, their themes and musical genres, and a critical look at the larger social and political meanings of these filmic cultures.

Prerequisite: Any 4.0 credits
Breadth Requirements: Arts, Literature and Language

GASC43H3 - Colonialisms and Cultures in Modern East Asia

This course explores the development of colonialism, modernity, and nationalism in modern Japan, Korea, China, and Taiwan. Key issues include sexuality, race, medicine, mass media, and consumption.

Prerequisite: Any one of [GASB20H3 or GASB58H3/HISB58H3 or GASC20H3]
Breadth Requirements: History, Philosophy and Cultural Studies

GASC45H3 - Film and Popular Cultures in East Asia

This course offers students a critical perspective on film and popular cultures in East Asia. The course examines East Asian filmic industries, and the role they play in shaping worldviews, aesthetics, ethical norms, folk beliefs, and other socio-cultural aspects in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, and Japan.

Prerequisite: Any 4.0 credits
Breadth Requirements: Arts, Literature and Language

GASC48H3 - Partition in South Asia

This course examines the history of South Asia's partition in 1947, in the process of decolonization, into the independent nation-states of India and Pakistan. Major course themes include nationalism, violence, and memory. Students will read historical scholarship on this topic and also engage with literature, film, oral histories, and photography. Partitioning lands and peoples is an old colonial technology of rule. Why did it become such a compelling solution to the problems of group conflict in the Indian subcontinent and beyond in the twentieth century even after 1947? How did the emergence of different ideas of nationalism – Indian, Pakistani, Hindu, Islamic, and beyond – contribute to this? Why was the Partition of India so violent? What happened to the people who were displaced at the time of Partition? How has the Partition been remembered and narrated and how does it continue to echo through national and regional politics? Beyond the subcontinent's partition into India and Pakistan, the course will introduce comparative case studies of Burma and Sri Lanka, among others.

Prerequisite: Any 4.0 credits, including 0.5 credit at the A- or B-level in HIS or GAS courses
Recommended Preparation: HISB02H3 or HISB57H3/GASB57H3
Breadth Requirements: History, Philosophy and Cultural Studies

GASC50H3 - Comparative Studies of East Asian Legal Cultures

An introduction to the distinctive East Asian legal tradition shared by China, Japan, and Korea through readings about selected thematic issues. Students will learn to appreciate critically the cultural, political, social, and economic causes and effects of East Asian legal cultures and practices.
Same as HISC56H3

Prerequisite: Any 4.0 credits, including 0.5 credit at the A- or B-level in GAS or HIS courses
Exclusion: HISC56H3
Recommended Preparation: GASB58H3/HISB58H3
Breadth Requirements: History, Philosophy and Cultural Studies

GASC51H3 - From Opium to Maximum City: Narrating Political Economy in China and India

This course addresses literary, historical, ethnographic, and filmic representations of the political economy of China and the Indian subcontinent from the early 19th century to the present day. We will look at such topics as the role and imagination of the colonial-era opium trade that bound together India, China and Britain in the 19th century, anticolonial conceptions of the Indian and Chinese economies, representations of national physical health, as well as critiques of mass-consumption and capitalism in the era of the ‘liberalization’ and India and China’s rise as major world economies. Students will acquire a grounding in these subjects from a range of interdisciplinary perspectives.

Same as HISC51H3

Prerequisite: Any 4.0 credits, including 0.5 credit at the A-level and 0.5 credit at the B-level in HIS, GAS or other Humanities and Social Sciences courses
Exclusion: HISC51H3
Recommended Preparation: GASA01H3/HISA06H3 or GASA02H3
Breadth Requirements: History, Philosophy and Cultural Studies

GASC53H3 - The Silk Routes

The Silk Routes were a lacing of highways connecting Central, South and East Asia and Europe. Utilizing the Royal Ontario Museum's collections, classes held at the Museum and U of T Scarborough will focus on the art produced along the Silk Routes in 7th to 9th century Afghanistan, India, China and the Taklamakhan regions.
Same as VPHC53H3

Prerequisite: One full credit in art history or in Asian or medieval European history.
Exclusion: VPHC53H3
Breadth Requirements: Arts, Literature and Language
Course Experience: University-Based Experience

GASC54H3 - Eating and Drinking Across Global Asia

Students examine historical themes for local and regional cuisines across Global Asia, including but not limited to Anglo-Indian, Arab, Bengali, Chinese, Himalayan, Goan, Punjabi, Japanese, Persian, Tamil, and Indo-Caribbean. Themes include religious rituals, indigenous foodways; colonialism, industrialization, labour, gender, class, migration, globalization, and media. Tutorials are in the Culinaria Kitchen Lab.

Same as FSTC54H3 and HISC54H3

Prerequisite: Any 4.0 credits, including 0.5 credit at the A- or B-level from CLA, FST, GAS, HIS or WST courses
Exclusion: FSTC54H3, HISC54H3
Breadth Requirements: Social and Behavioural Sciences

GASC57H3 - China and the World

A study of the history of China's relationship with the rest of the world in the modern era. The readings focus on China's role in the global economy, politics, religious movements, transnational diasporas, scientific/technological exchanges, and cultural encounters and conflicts in the ages of empire and globalization.
Same as HISC57H3

Prerequisite: Any 4.0 credits, including 0.5 credit at the A- or B-level in GAS or HIS courses
Exclusion: HISC57H3
Recommended Preparation: GASB58H3/HISB58H3
Breadth Requirements: History, Philosophy and Cultural Studies

GASC59H3 - The Making of Tamil Worlds

This course explores the transnational history of Tamil worlds. In addition to exploring modern Tamil identities, the course will cover themes such as mass migration, ecology, social and economic life, and literary history.

Same as HISC59H3

Prerequisite: Any 4.0 credits, including 0.5 credit at the A- or B-level in GAS or HIS courses
Exclusion: HISC59H3, (GASB54H3), (HISB54H3)
Recommended Preparation: GASB57H3/HISB57H3
Breadth Requirements: History, Philosophy and Cultural Studies

GASC73H3 - Making the Global South

The course will explore the history and career of a term: The Global South. The global south is not a specific place but expressive of a geopolitical relation. It is often used to describe areas or places that were remade by geopolitical inequality. How and when did this idea emerge? How did it circulate? How are the understandings of the global south kept in play? Our exploration of this term will open up a world of solidarity and circulation of ideas shaped by grass-roots social movements in different parts of the world

Same as HISC73H3

Prerequisite: Any 4.0 credits, including 0.5 credit at the A- or B-level in GAS or HIS courses
Exclusion: HISC73H3
Breadth Requirements: History, Philosophy and Cultural Studies

GASC74H3 - A Tale of Three Cities: Introduction to Contemporary Art in China

An introduction to Chinese contemporary art focusing on three cities: Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. Increasing globalization and China's persistent self-renovation has brought radical changes to cities, a subject of fascination for contemporary artists. The art works will be analyzed in relation to critical issues such as globalization and urban change.
Same as VPHC74H3

Prerequisite: 2.0 credits at the B-level in Art History, Asian History, and/or Global Asia Studies courses, including at least 0.5 credit from the following: VPHB39H3, VPHB73H3, HISB58H3, (GASB31H3), GASB33H3, or (GASB35H3).
Exclusion: VPHC74H3
Breadth Requirements: Arts, Literature and Language

GASD01H3 - Senior Seminar: Topics in Global Asian Migrations

This course offers an in-depth and historicized study of important cultural issues in historical and contemporary Asian, diasporic and borderland societies, including migration, mobility, and circulation. It is conducted in seminar format with emphasis on discussion, critical reading and writing, digital skills, and primary research.

Same as HISD09H3

Prerequisite: Any 8.0 credits, including [0.5 at the A- or B-level in CLA, FST, GAS, HIS or WST courses] and [0.5 credit at the C-level in CLA, FST, GAS, HIS or WST courses]
Exclusion: HISD09H3
Breadth Requirements: History, Philosophy and Cultural Studies

GASD02H3 - Senior Seminar: Topics in Global Asian Societies

This course offers a capstone experience of issues which confront Asian and diasporic societies. Themes include gender, environment, human rights, equity, religion, politics, law, migration, labour, nationalism, post-colonialism, and new social movements. It is conducted in seminar format with emphasis on discussion, critical reading, and writing of research papers.

Prerequisite: Any 8.0 credits, including: [0.5 credit at the A- or B-level in GAS courses] and [0.5 credit at the C-level in GAS courses]
Course Experience: University-Based Experience

GASD03H3 - Senior Seminar: Topics in Global Asia Studies

The course offers an in-depth, special study of important topics in the study of Global Asia. Special topics will vary from year to year depending on the expertise of the visiting professor. It is conducted in seminar format with emphasis on discussion, critical reading, and writing of research papers.

Prerequisite: Any 8.0 credits, including: [0.5 credit at the A- or B-level in GAS courses] and [0.5 credit at the C-level in GAS courses]
Breadth Requirements: History, Philosophy and Cultural Studies
Note: Topics vary from year to year. Check the website: www.utsc.utoronto.ca/~hcs/programs/global-asia-studies.html for current offerings.

GASD06H3 - Global History of Crime and Punishment since 1750

An exploration of the global problem of crime and punishment. The course investigates how the global processes of colonialism, industrialization, capitalism and liberalization affected modern criminal justice and thus the state-society relationship and modern citizenry in different cultures across time and space.
Same as HISD06H3

Prerequisite: Any 8.0 credits, including: [0.5 credit at the A- or B-level in GAS or HIS courses] and [0.5 credit at the C-level in GAS or HIS courses]
Exclusion: HISD06H3
Breadth Requirements: History, Philosophy and Cultural Studies

GASD13H3 - Living within Violence: Exploring South Asia

What is violence? How do we study violence and its impact? How do people subjected to violence communicate, cope and live with violence? The course is designed to study South Asian communities through the concept of violence by exploring various texts. By looking at the various cases, structures and concepts in relation to violence in different parts of South Asia the course will analyze and understand how forms of violence transfigure, impact, make and remake individual life, and communities within and beyond South Asia. We will analyze different forms of violence from structural, symbolic to discreet and every-day expressions of violence. The course closely looks at how, on the one hand, violence operates in the everyday life of people and how it creates social suffering, pain, silence, loss of voice, difficulties of communicating the experience of violence, etc. On the other hand, the course will focus on how ordinary people who were subjected to violence cope, live, recover and rebuild their life during and in the aftermath of violence.

Prerequisite: Any 8.0 credits, including [0.5 at the A- or B-level in CLA, GAS, HIS or WST courses] and [0.5 credit at the C-level in CLA, GAS, HIS or WST courses]
Breadth Requirements: Social and Behavioural Sciences

GASD20H3 - Advanced Seminar: Social Change and Gender Relations in Chinese Societies

This seminar examines the transformation and perpetuation of gender relations in contemporary Chinese societies. It pays specific attention to gender politics at the micro level and structural changes at the macro level through in-depth readings and research.
Same as SOCD20H3

Prerequisite: [SOCB05H3 and 0.5 credit in SOC course at the C-level] or [GASA01H3 and GASA02H3 and 0.5 credit at the C-level from the options in requirement #2 of the Specialist or Major programs in Global Asia Studies] or [10.0 credits including IDSB11H3 and enrolment in the Certificate in Global Development, Environment and Health]
Exclusion: SOCD20H3
Recommended Preparation: GASB20H3 and GASC20H3
Course Experience: University-Based Experience

GASD30H3 - Gender and Techno-Orientalism

This course examines how popular culture projects its fantasies and fears about the future onto Asia through sexualized and racialized technology. Through the lens of techno-Orientalism this course explores questions of colonialism, imperialism and globalization in relation to cyborgs, digital industry, high-tech labor, and internet/media economics. Topics include the hyper-sexuality of Asian women, racialized and sexualized trauma and disability. This course requires student engagement and participation. Students are required to watch films in class, and creative assignments such as filmmaking and digital projects are encouraged.
Same as WSTD30H3

Prerequisite: 1.0 credit at the B-level and 1.0 credit at the C-level in WST courses or other Humanities and Social Sciences courses
Exclusion: WSTD30H3
Breadth Requirements: History, Philosophy and Cultural Studies
Note: Priority will be given to students enrolled in the Major/Major Co-op and Minor programs in Women’s and Gender Studies, and the Specialist, Major and Minor programs in Global Asia Studies. Additional students will be admitted as space permits.

GASD40H3 - Senior Seminar: Issues in Chinese Media Studies

The Chinese government has played a central role in the development of print, electronic and digital media. Recent changes in the political economy of Chinese media have had strong political and cultural implications. This senior seminar course examines the complex and dynamic interplay of media and politics in contemporary China.

Prerequisite: Any 8.0 credits, including: [0.5 credit at the A- or B-level in GAS courses] and [0.5 credit at the C-level in GAS courses]
Note: Topics vary from year to year. Check the website www.utsc.utoronto.ca/~hcs/programs/global-asia-studies.html for current offerings.

GASD53H3 - Africa and Asia in the First World War

This seminar course examines the First World War in its imperial and colonial context in Africa and Asia. Topics include forgotten fronts in Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific, colonial armies and civilians, imperial economies and resources, the collapse of empires and the remaking of the colonial world.

Same as AFSD53H3 and HISD53H3

Prerequisite: 8.0 credits, including: 1.0 credit in AFS, GAS or Africa and Asia area HIS courses
Exclusion: AFSD53H3, HISD53H3
Breadth Requirements: History, Philosophy and Cultural Studies

GASD54H3 - Aqueous History: Water-Stories for a Future

This upper-level seminar will explore how water has shaped human experience. It will explore water landscapes, the representation of water in legal and political thought, slave narratives, and water management in urban development from the 16th century. Using case studies from South Asia and North America we will understand how affective, political and social relations to water bodies are made and remade over time.

Same as HISD54H3

Prerequisite: Any 8.0 credits, including: [0.5 credit at the A- or B-level in GAS or HIS courses] and [0.5 credit at the C-level in GAS or HIS courses]
Exclusion: HISD54H3 

GASD55H3 - Transnational Asian Thought

This course explores the transnational connections and contexts that shaped ideas in modern Asia such as secularism, modernity, and pan Asianism. Through the intensive study of secondary sources and primary sources in translation, the course will introduce Asian thought during the long nineteenth-century in relation to the social, political, cultural, and technological changes. Using the methods of studying transnational history the course will explore inter-Asian connections in the world of ideas and their relation to the new connectivity afforded by steamships and the printing press. We will also explore how this method can help understand the history of modern Asia as a region of intellectual ferment rather than a passive recipient of European modernity.

Same as HISD55H3

Prerequisite: Any 8.0 credits, including: [0.5 credit at the A- or B-level in GAS or HIS courses] and [0.5 credit at the C-level in GAS or HIS courses]
Exclusion: HISD55H3
Breadth Requirements: History, Philosophy and Cultural Studies

GASD56H3 - 'Coolies' and Others: Asian Labouring Diasporas in the British Empire

'Coolie' labourers formed an imperial diaspora linking South Asia and China to the Caribbean, Africa, the Indian Ocean, South-east Asia, and North America. The long-lasting results of this history are evident in the cultural and ethnic diversity of today's Caribbean nations and Commonwealth countries such as Great Britain and Canada.
Same as HISD56H3

Prerequisite: [8.0 credits, at least 2.0 credits should be at the B- or C-level in GAS or Modern History courses] or [15.0 credits, including SOCB60H3]
Exclusion: HISD56H3
Breadth Requirements: History, Philosophy and Cultural Studies

GASD58H3 - Culture, Politics, and Society in Late Imperial China

A study of major cultural trends, political practices, social customs, and economic developments in late imperial China (1400-1911) as well as their relevance to modern and contemporary China. Students will read the most recent literature and write a substantive research paper.
Same as HISD58H3

Prerequisite: Any 8.0 credits, including: [0.5 credit at the A- or B-level in GAS or HIS courses] and [0.5 credit at the C-level in GAS or HIS courses]
Exclusion: HISD58H3
Recommended Preparation: GASB58H3/HISB58H3 or GASC57H3/HISC57H3
Breadth Requirements: History, Philosophy and Cultural Studies
Course Experience: University-Based Experience

GASD59H3 - Law and Society in Chinese History

A seminar course on Chinese legal tradition and its role in shaping social, political, economic, and cultural developments, especially in late imperial and modern China. Topics include the foundations of legal culture, regulations on sexuality, women's property rights, crime fictions, private/state violence, laws of ethnicities, prison reforms and modernization.
Same as HISD59H3

Prerequisite: Any 8.0 credits, including: [0.5 credit at the A- or B-level in GAS or HIS courses] and [0.5 credit at the C-level in GAS or HIS courses]
Exclusion: HISD59H3
Recommended Preparation: GASB58H3/HISB58H3 or GASC57H3/HISC57H3
Breadth Requirements: History, Philosophy and Cultural Studies

GASD71H3 - Cuisine, Culture, and Societies Across Global Asia

Examines the central place of cuisine to families, societies, and cultures across Global Asian societies and their diasporas, using tastes, culinary work techniques, community-based research, oral histories, digital humanities and multi-media experiential learning, as well as critical reading and writing.

Prerequisite: 8.0 credits, including 1.0 credit from any program offered by the Department of Historical and Cultural Studies
Breadth Requirements: History, Philosophy and Cultural Studies
Course Experience: Partnership-Based Experience

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