Course Exam—HIST 331

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HIST 331 is an arts/humanities course at the intermediate-undergraduate level designed for individualized study. It highlights key constructs in Canada’s social history from 1867 to the present. These include national identities, demographics, the 2SLGBTQ+ movement, immigration, health, consumerism, and eugenics.

This three-credit course has no prerequisites, although it picks up from the content found in HIST 330 (Social History of Canada: European Contact to Early Industrialization). Students cannot enroll in HIST 331 if they have previously taken HIST 329. The course is also available as a Challenge for Credit.

Who Should Take This Course and Why

Dr. Frits Pannekoek, who is the course coordinator and tutor, says that HIST 331 “is as diverse as a student’s imagination” and recommends it to students who are intrigued by unorthodox perspectives on Canada’s past. Some of the questions he would want interested students to consider are: the Canadian’s changing attitude toward the human body, the evolving concepts of gender, the commemoration of Canadian identity, and the influence of eugenics theory on policies regarding gender roles, immigrants, and residential schools.

Course, Assignments, and Exam Details

The course is split into four parts. The first part looks at Canadian identity; the second part covers the changing Canadian demography (immigration, gender, and sexual orientation); the third part discusses the impacts technology and science have had on consumers; and the last part addresses men and women’s health, particularly how humans are medicalized, and what constitutes illness according to societal norms.

To complete HIST 331, students must submit two assignments worth 25% and 35% each as well as the final exam valued at 40%.

Course Tutor’s Advice for the Course

With deep knowledge about Canada’s social history and heritage as well as Indigenous history, and having done extensive research on residential schools, heritage interpretation, and heritage preservation policy, Dr. Pannekoek encourages students to approach him with any inquiries about the course’s material.

HIST 331 provides an ever-expanding, multimedia teaching experience, and Dr. Pannekoek believes that there are plenty of topics for students to ponder over that could be relevant to them. Such topics include, for example, household appliances and the car, adolescence, medical history, the woman’s body, immigration, and being a man in a regulated environment. The organization of “self-contained and distinct” units in this course, he adds, also helps students to focus their individual interests.