Introduction to Politics in Canada (Generic Course Design)

Introduction to Politics in Canada Instructor: Phil Henderson, PhD Lectures: Location: Office Hours: Course Description: This course provides a survey of political issues in the Canadian context, with a primary focus on social struggles. Rather than focusing on ‘Canadian politics,’ the approach of this course is to learn about politics as they take place in Canada. That is, it begins from the assumption that most of the big political issue of our times are not neatly contained within the nation-state; more often, they can be understood either as localized instances of supra-national political issues, or as nationalizing issues that began far more locally. As such, ‘Canada’ is a container in which we can observe and study specific instances of political phenomena, while also considering how the actions of the Canadian state itself end up shaping those phenomena. In order to fulfill this goal, we’ll be taking an issues-based approach wherein we’ll consider specific political struggles week-by-week. This will allow us to historicize those struggles and place them in the local/global contexts that shape them. Importantly, while these are approached individually, we’ll also be flagging how these issues intersect/overlap with one another. To that end, the course is divided into four sections, the first of which will provide theoretical/analytical lenses by which to understand a number of supranational structures of power. Section two studies the politics of land, considering such political movements as decolonization, secession, environmentalism, and housing justice. Section three studies labour struggles, including the state of the labour movement, migrant worker justice, and feminist struggles over unwaged and socially reproductive labour. Finally, in the third section, we consider both policing and the decline of the social welfare state as challenges for establishing security of person. Intended Learning Outcomes: Students will leave this course with an introductory understanding of many of the primary political issues in Canada today, beginning to appreciate their historic development up to the present, as well as how they relate to one another. Students will also begin developing an appreciation of what it means to situate the specifically Canadian contexts for each major theme within more global and local contexts that shape and inform them. Students will be exposed to a number of theoretical frameworks through which they can begin to assess these politics, including: Liberalism, Marxism, Anti-Colonial/Decolonial Thought, Feminist and Anti-Racist frameworks. Finally, through their assignments and tutorials, students will develop core analytical and communicative skills, with which they will be able to better assess the strength/evidence of scholarly arguments, all while developing their own capacities for the same. Required Text: - Christopher Cochrane, Kelly Blidook, and Rand Dyck. Canadian Politics: Critical Approaches, 9th Edition. Nelson Education, 2020. - Any readings not contained in the textbook will be posted on the course website as PDFs. Overall Grade Breakdown: Deadline Tutorial Attendance and Participation 15% Ongoing Annotated Bibliography 15% Week 5 pp. 1 Deadline Mid-Term Exam Term Paper Cumulative Final Exam 15% 25% 30% Week 8 Week 12 Final Exam Period Assignment Guidelines: Tutorial Attendance and Participation: Attendance is a critical part of this course; obviously attending lectures is vital as readings alone will not provide the necessary information, however tutorials also are an essential part of developing our understanding of the material collectively with one another. Tutorials work primarily through a collective commitment to ongoing dialogue with one another. All participants are therefore responsible for attending tutorials unless extenuating circumstance make this impossible. Failure to attend 80% of tutorials without documented reasoning may result in an incomplete grade in this section of the course. While contributions to discussions are clearly very important, they are assessed on the basis of quality rather than quantity. Thoughtful engagement is more desirable than merely controlling the conversation. Thoughtful engagement does not necessarily mean offering something that is profoundly innovative or novel, but may include offering thoughtful questions that open up new avenues for consideration/discussion, it may also include careful and generative responses to others. Due: Ongoing throughout term. Annotated Bibliography: As preparation for the Term Paper assignment, students are required to submit an annotated bibliography. The bibliography must include a minimum of ten scholarly (ie. peer reviewed) sources, each should also be accompanied by a ~200 word annotation that details in-brief: the argument/thesis of the source; the relevance of this source to the paper you are preparing (this could be as data, as a theoretical framework, as a supporting argument/important counter-argument, etc.); your assessment of the relative strength of this source. It is expected that all bibliographic entries be properly cited according to the Chicago style guide. In addition to providing encouragement to begin working on your Term paper, this assignment will be used to assess your ability to conduct an independent search and evaluation of the existing scholarly literature. Students will be assessed on the appropriateness of their source selection for their paper topic, their ability to synthesize/analyze the material, and their adherence to formatting guidelines. Due: Week 5. Mid-Term Exam: A mid-term exam will be scheduled during Week 5 of the semester. This exam will cover all materials from section 1 and 2, inclusive of lectures, lecture readings, and tutorial readings. The exam will include two sections. Section one will be a series of multiple choice questions to assess basic comprehension. The second section will test student’s ability to synthesize and develop course material through short answer questions that ask students to define and explain the significance of a series of events, concepts, or actors. Due: Week 8. Term Paper: This is a chance for you to put to use many of the analytical and argumentative skills that you will have been learning throughout the year. Papers ought to be 14-16 pages in length (adhering to the Formatting Guidelines below); this page-count does not include your title page, works cited, and any endnotes. Papers are assessed on their individual merit, with attention paid to the quality pp. 2 of research, clarity (including: spelling, grammar, and clarity of argument), depth of analysis, and innovation of the argument. A list of paper topics will be provided to students by Week 3 of the course; but students are also invited to discuss alternative topics with the professor and in consultation with their TA. Regardless of topic, it is required that students develop an argumentative paper. As such, one of the core assessment criteria is the degree to which students have marshalled sufficient, and convincing, evidence in support of their core argument. Due: Week 12 Final Exam: A final exam will be scheduled by the university administration during the end-ofterm exam period. This exam will be cumulative of all course materials (lectures, lecture readings, and tutorial readings), including from before the mid-term. The exam will be three hours and open-book in format. It will have three sections. Section one, will be a series of multiple choice questions. Section two, will include a number of short answer questions where the student is expected to to define and explain the significance of a series of events, concepts, or actors. And section three will prompt students with essay-length questions, from which they must select a single question to answer in a full, formatted essay that includes a clear and precise thesis statement answering the prompting question. More information regarding the precise breakdown and relative weight of these sections will be made available to students prior to the end-of-term exam period. Due: TBD, final exam schedule set by university administration. Instructions: Late Policy: A penalty of 3% per day (excluding holidays and weekends) will be applied, up to a maximum of 15% after which an incomplete will be awarded to the assignment. Unless extensions are sought from the instructor, or valid medical notice is provided, all due dates will be held firmly for the sake of fairness. So long as a request is made with sufficient lead-time, I am typically happy to offer extensions that facilitate students managing workload across courses and with employment/family commitments. Formatting Guidelines: All submitted work should be formatting as follows: Times New Roman, 12 point font, double spaced, and justified margins. Additionally, standard (2.0cm) margins apply. All citations should be formatted as endnotes, and conform to the Chicago Style Guide. Reading Guidelines: For each week of the course, there are lecture readings; these are listed in the table below in the column immediately adjacent to each week’s thematic title (this column is shaded in grey throughout the syllabus). It is expected that all course participants will come to lecture having read and prepared to discuss all the readings for that week. Typically, these readings will be drawn from the required textbook. Each week also has tutorial readings listed in the column immediately below the lecture readings (this column is left unshaded throughout). Tutorial readings may include scholarly articles, legislation, grey documents, movement publications, significant public addresses, or news reports that provide context for the themes developed in the lecture readings that week. Each week’s tutorial discussion will focus on bridging the lecture and tutorial readings. pp. 3 Week - Seminar Themes Readings Section 1: Frameworks, Methods, and Assumptions Lecture Readings: - Olúfęmi O. Táíwò, “States are Not Basic Structures: Against State-Centric Political TheIntroduction to Studying ory,” Philosophical Papers 48(1) (2019): 59-82. Politics in Canada - Warren Magnusson and Rob Walker, “De-Centring the State: Political Theory and Canadian Political Economy,” Studies in Political Economy 26(1) (1988): 37-71. Week 1 Lecture Readings: - Robyn Maynard, Policing Black Lives: State Violence in Canada from Slavery to the Supranational Structures Present, (Fernwood Publishing, 2017): 17-49. of Power I: Race and - William K. Carroll and J.P. Sapinski, Organizing the 1%: How Corporate Power Works, Class (Fernwood Publishing, 2018): 1-21. Week 2 Tutorial Reading: - antipodeonline, “Geographies of Racial Capitalism with Ruth Wilson Gilmore - An Antipode Foundation Film,” YouTube (June 1, 2020): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CS627aKrJI Discussion Questions: Táíwò argues that states ‘are not basic structures,’ what does he mean by this? What are some of the ‘basic structures’ that he points to? How does race shape the global political situation? How does class, and in particular class rule, do the same? What does Gilmore tell us about the relationship between these social forces? Lecture Readings: - A.J. Withers, Disability Politics & Theory Revised Edition, (Fernwood Publishing, Supranational Structures 2024): 11-28. of Power II: Disability and - Jill Vickers, Reinventing Political Science: A Feminist Approach, (Fernwood Publishing, Sex, Gender, and Sexuali1997): 25-47. ty Week 3 Tutorial Reading: - Pluto Press, “Tithi Bhattacharya: What is Social Reproduction Theory?” YouTube (November 22, 2017): https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uur-pMk7XjY Discussion Questions: What does it mean to take a ‘social constructivist’ vs a ‘naturalist’ approach to understanding disability? How has the gender-binary been fundamental to shaping dominant social and political contexts? Outline the ways in which ‘socially constructed’ is often misunderstood as ‘voluntary’ or ‘made-up’; what does a better understanding of ‘socially constructed’ entail? Section 2: Politics of and for Land Lecture Readings: - Arthur Manuel, Unsettling Canada: A National Wake-up Call, (Between the Lines Press, Colonialism, Dispossession 2015): 1-12, 167-194. and Indigenous Sovereign- - Christopher Cochrane, Kelly Blidook, and Rand Dyck, “Indigenous Peoples,” in Canaties dian Politics: Critical Approaches 9th Edition, (Nelson Education, 2020): Chapter 4. Week 4 Tutorial Reading: - Harsha Walia, “‘Land is a Relationship’: In conversation with Glen Coulthard on Indigenous nationhood,” Rabble (January 20, 2015): https://rabble.ca/columnists/land-relationship-conversation-glen-coulthard-on-indigenous-nationhood/ Discussion Questions: Using the native-land.ca tool, take some time to collectively learn about the Indigenous nations and treaties that pertain to your hometown (or, if you prefer, to where you presently live). What was taught about local histories of Indigenous sovereignty, treaty-making, and/or settler dispossession prior to arriving at university? How visible has Indigenous leadership and resistance been in your previous learning or media consumption, as compared to Indigenous suffering? pp. 4 Week 5 Secessionist Politics Lecture Readings: - Alexandre Blanchet and Mike Medeiros, “The Secessionist Spectre: The Influence of Authoritarianism, Nativism, and Populism on Support for Quebec Independence,” Nations and Nationalism 25(3) (2019): 803-821. - Christopher Cochrane, Kelly Blidook, and Rand Dyck, “French Canada and the Quebec Question,” in Canadian Politics: Critical Approaches 9th Edition, (Nelson Education, 2020): Chapter 5. Tutorial Reading: - Carlos Freire-Gibb, “Alberta Sovereignty Push: Learning from the Economic Fallout of Similar Separatist Movements,” The Conversation (January 3, 2024): https://theconversation.com/alberta-sovereignty-push-learningfrom-the-economic-fallout-of-similar-separatist-movements-219475 Discussion Questions: What were the historic grievances that fuelled the Québécois nationalist movement to its heights in the 1970s? How do these differ from the secessionist movement’s aims in the post-FLQ period? What accounts for this major transition within the movement? What fuels the present rise of a separatist or sovereigntist discourse within western Canada, specifically in Alberta? Lecture Readings: - Ingrid R.G. Waldron, “Women on the Frontlines: Grassroots Movements against EnviEnvironmentalism and the ronmental Violence in Indigenous and Black Communities in Canada,” Kalfou 5(2) Climate Catastrophe (2018): 251-268. - Christopher Cochrane, Kelly Blidook, and Rand Dyck, “Advocacy Groups, Social Movements, and Lobbying,” in Canadian Politics: Critical Approaches 9th Edition, (Nelson Education, 2020): Chapter 4. Week 6 Tutorial Reading: - Liam Casey, “Inside the Battle over Ontario’s Ring of Fire,” CBC News (October 10, 2023): https://www.cbc.ca/news/ canada/toronto/ont-ring-of-fire-1.6991468 Discussion Questions: Climate change is often described as a future-oriented crisis; how do the struggles of Indigenous and racialized feminists reshape our thinking about who environmental crises are impacting most, and when those impacts are being felt? Thinking back to Ruth Wilson Gilmore’s video, why is that environmental catastrophes so often impact Indigenous and racialized communities most acutely? And using Bhattacharya’s framework, why is that it’s often women who lead the organizing within these communities? Week 7 Housing and Shelter Lecture Readings: - Andrew Crosby, Resisting Eviction: Domicide and the Financialization of Rental Housing, (Fernwood Publishing, 2023): 14-35. - David Macdonald and Ricardo Tranjan, Out of Control Rents: Rental Wages in Canada, 2023, (Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, 2024). Tutorial Reading: - Ricardo Tranjan, “There is No Housing Crisis,” The Walrus (August 7, 2023): https://thewalrus.ca/there-is-no-housingcrisis/ Discussion Questions: What does Tranjan mean when he says ‘there is no housing crisis’? Given what we learned about the state of the housing market, what are some of the social policy-based reasons why politicians and state officials in Canada have been reluctant to deflate the value of homes? How are tenant organizers working for housing justice, and how has/can this be connected up to broader struggles for social justice—including, but not limited to, Indigenous anti-colonial movements? Section 3: Politics of Labour and the Working Day Lecture Readings: - Stephanie Ross and Larry Savage, editors. Rethinking the Politics of Labour in Canada Union Struggles and In2nd Edition, (Fernwood Publishing, 2021): 1-28. dustrial Relations - Suzanne Mills and Natalie Oswin, “Finding Work in the Age of LGBTQ+ Equalities: Labor Market Experiences of Queer and Trans Workers in Deindustrializing Cities,” Economic Geography 100(2) (2024): 170-190. Week 8 pp. 5 Tutorial Reading: - Aalya Ahmad, “Randcuffed?” Our Times (December 12, 2018): https://ourtimes.ca/article/randcuffed Discussion Questions: What is the current state of organized labour in Canada today, and how does it compare historically and internationally? Why have workplace struggles (either inside formal unions or not) been central to the cause of progressive movements? What have been the major limiting factors impeding the labour movement’s success? Lecture Readings: - Aziz Choudry and Mark Thomas, “Labour Struggles for Workplace Justice: Migrant and Hyper-exploitation and Immigrant Worker Organizing in Canada,” Journal of Industrial Relations 55(2) (2013): the Role of Race/Citizen212-226. ship - Ethel Tungohan, “The Transformative and Radical Feminism of Grassroots Migrant Women’s Movement(s) in Canada,” Canadian Journal of Political Science 50(2) (2017): 479-494. Week 9 Tutorial Reading: - Delphine Nakache, et al, “Why Canada Must Act Urgently to Give Undocumented Migrants Legal Status,” The Conversation (July 4, 2024): https://theconversation.com/why-canada-must-act-urgently-to-give-undocumented-migrantslegal-status-232686 Discussion Questions: Why is the Canadian economy so heavily dependent upon migrant and temporary foreign workers? How have race and citizenship been used as tools by employers in order to advance their own interests? What have been the primary tactics of migrant justice campaigns and who have their allies been? Where do you see room for future strategic efforts? Lecture Readings: - Meg Luxton, “Never Done: The Challenge of Paid Work in the Home,” Feminism’s Unwaged and ReproducFight, (UBC Press, 2023): 92-126. tive Labour - Erika Finestone and Cynthia Stirbys, “Indigenous Birth in Canada: Reconciliation and Reproductive Justice in the Settler State,” in Indigenous Experiences of Pregnancy and Birth, edited by Hannah Neufeld and Jaime Cidro, (Demeter Press, 2017):176-202. Week 10 Tutorial Reading: - Canadian Labour Congress, “Our Solutions to the Pension Crisis,” https://canadianlabour.ca/research/issues-researchour-solutions-pension-crisis/ Discussion Questions: What is ‘socially reproductive labour’? Why is so much of it unpaid? What are the ideological strategies that have been used to normalize the gender-imbalance in the amount of unwaged labour that must go on within the home? How has reproductive autonomy remained an incomplete struggle in Canada? And how, in particular, have race, class, and disability, intersected with sex/gender/sexuality, to make the reproductive autonomy of certain groups even further from fulfillment? Section 4: Politics of Security of Person Lecture Readings: - Stephen McBride and John Shields, Dismantling a Nation: The Transition to Corporate The Declining Welfare Rule in Canada, (Halifax: Fernwood, 1997): 17-34. State - John Grant, Lived Fictions: Unity and Exclusion in Canadian Politics, (UBC Press, 2018): 144-180. Week 11 Tutorial Reading: - David Moscrop, “Ontario’s Health-care System is in Crisis: More Privatization isn’t the Answer,” TVO (June 5, 2024): https://www.tvo.org/article/ontarios-health-care-system-is-in-crisis-more-privatization-isnt-the-answer Discussion Questions: What is ‘neoliberalism’? How does it differ from other forms of liberal political economy, and what have its major consequences been? Where in your own life, or in the lives of those around you, have you seen the consequences of the decline in the welfare state most acutely? Is the post-war ‘Fordist’ compromise attainable once again? Would it be desirable if it were? Discuss the various reasons for your responses either way. pp. 6 Lecture Readings: - Miles Howe and Jeffrey Monaghan, “Strategic Incapacitation of Indigenous Dissent: Policing and the Carceral Crowd Theories, Risk Management, and Settler Colonial Policing,” Canadian Journal of State Sociology 43(4) (2018): 325-348. - Linda Steele, “Policing Normalcy: Sexual Violence Against Women Offenders with Disability,” Continuum 31(3) (2017): 422-435. Week 12 Tutorial Reading: - Canadian Civil Liberties Association, “Press Release: Police-Involved Deaths on the Rise Across Canada,” (February 23, 2023): https://ccla.org/press-release/press-release-police-involved-deaths-on-the-rise-across-canada/ Discussion Questions: In the Canadian context, what is the history of the police as an institution? In an era in which much of the state appears to be in ‘decline,’ why is that policing and police budget seem almost impervious to cuts? What can this history and this contemporary dependency on the police tell us about the social role of this state institution? Final Grades: Standing in a course is determined by the course instructor subject to the approval of the Faculty Dean. This means that grades submitted by the instructor may be subject to revision. No grades are final until they have been approved by the Dean. Academic Accommodations: Carleton University is committed to providing access to the educational experience in order to promote academic accessibility for all individuals. Academic accommodation refers to educational practices, systems and support mechanisms designed to accommodate diversity and difference. The purpose of accommodation is to enable students to perform the essential requirements of their academic programs. At no time does academic accommodation undermine or compromise the learning objectives that are established by the academic authorities of the University. More information on accommodations for pregnancy, religious obligations, students with disabilities, survivors of sexual violence, and student activities can be found at: https://students.carleton.ca/courseoutline/ Plagiarism and Academic Integrity The University Academic Integrity Policy defines plagiarism as “presenting, whether intentionally or not, the ideas, expression of ideas or work of others as one’s own.” This includes reproducing or paraphrasing portions of someone else’s published or unpublished material, regardless of the source, and presenting these as one’s own without proper citation or reference to the original source. Examples of sources from which the ideas, expressions of ideas or works of others may be drawn from include but are not limited to: books, articles, papers, literary compositions and phrases, performance compositions, chemical compounds, art works, laboratory reports, research results, calculations and the results of calculations, diagrams, constructions, computer reports, computer code/software, material on the internet and/or conversations. Examples of plagiarism include, but are not limited to: • any submission prepared in whole or in part, by someone else; pp. 7 • using ideas or direct, verbatim quotations, paraphrased material, algorithms, formulae, scientific or mathematical concepts, or ideas without appropriate acknowledgment in any academic assignment; • using another’s data or research findings without appropriate acknowledgement; • submitting a computer program developed in whole or in part by someone else, with or without modifications, as one’s own; and • failing to acknowledge sources through the use of proper citations when using another’s work and/or failing to use quotations marks. Plagiarism is a serious offence that cannot be resolved directly by the course’s instructor. The Associate Dean of the Faculty conducts a rigorous investigation, including an interview with the student, when an instructor suspects a piece of work has been plagiarized. Penalties are not trivial. They can include a final grade of “F” for the course or even suspension or expulsion from the University. Course Copyright: Classroom teaching and learning activities, including lectures, discussions, presentations, etc., by both instructors and students, are copyright protected and remain the intellectual property of their respective author(s).All course materials, including PowerPoint presentations, outlines, and other materials, are also protected by copyright and remain the intellectual property of their respective author(s). Students registered in the course may take notes and make copies of course materials for their own educational use only. Students are not permitted to reproduce or distribute lecture notes and course materials publicly for commercial or non-commercial purposes without express written consent from the copyright holder(s). pp. 8