sf Courses and Academic Research in Canada

University	sf Course	Canadian Content?	Instructor	Research Interests
Acadia University Wolfville NS	English 3723 Fantasy	No	Dr. Ray Thompson	Gordon Dickson, Arthurian legend, interviews with Arthurian authors
	English 4153 Tales of Terror	No	Dr. Robert Morrison	Blackwoods Magazine, Vampire literature etc.
University of Alberta Edmonton AB	Comparative Lit. 342 Intro. to Science Fiction		Dr. Peter Swirski	Eastern European sf
	English 487 Harry Potter	No	Dr. R. Jones
	English 483: Studies In The Literature Of Popular Culture In English: Fantasy	Yes: Guy Kay	Dr. Douglas Barbour	sf book reviews, Delany, poetry, etc.
			Dr. Craig Gordon	science fiction
Athabasca University Athabasca AB	No relevant courses; mention in genre film course		No one
Augustana University College Ave  Camrose	No relevant courses		No one
Bishop's University Sherbrooke QC	English 117A The Arthurian Tradition	No	Dr. Joanne S. Norman	not listed
Brandon University Brandon MB,	English 281 Science Fiction	Yes Gibson	research interests not listed
Brescia College London ON	No relevant courses		Dr. Monika Lee	Frankenstein
University of British Columbia Vancouver BC	English "Topics" seminars and Film 332 may include sf	unknown	research interests not indicated
British Columbia Open University Burnaby BC	No relevant courses		research interests not readily indicated
Brock University St Catharines ON,	No relevant courses		no one
University of Calgary Calgary AB	English 393: Science Fiction	Yes: Sawyer (Golden Fleece); Robert C. Wilson Darwinian	Dr. Ruby Ramraj	Canadian sf
		unknown	Dr. Janis Svilpis	sf, gothic, 18th century
	English 395: Fantasy	no	Dr. Rod McGillis	Westerns (!)
		no	Dr. Lorne Macdonald	gothic, Vampyre, Frankenstein, etc.
			Dr. Susan Stratton (formerly Stone-Blackburn)	sf; utopian
Campion College Regina SK	See University of Regina courses		Dr. J. Alex MacDonald	not listed
University College of Cape Breton Sydney NS B1P 6L2 ,	No relevant courses		research interests not indicated
University College of the Cariboo Kamloops BC	No relevant courses		research interests not indicated
Carleton University Ottawa ON	Anthro 54.382: Anthropology and Science Fiction	no
	No English Literature courses		Dr. Tom Herrington (retired)	sf
Concordia University College of Alberta Edmonton AB	no		no one
Concordia University Montreal QC	English 245N Science Fiction	Yes: Atwood, Gibson	unknown
	English 362: Studies in Science Fiction	content varies	Robert M. Philmus	past editor of Science Fiction Studies
			David Ketterer (at Concordia?)	the book, Canadian Science Fiction
	English 250: Forms of Popular Writing (may contain sf)	unlikely	unknown
Dalhousie University Halifax NS	English 2233: Science Fiction     English 2216: Gothic Novel	Atwood (Handmaid), Gibson (Neuromancer), Robinson (Deathkiller) No	Pat Monk	Canadian literature; Science Fiction
CollËge dominicain de philosophie et de thèologie Ottawa ON
University College of the Fraser Valley Abbotsford BC	ENGL 270: Popular Fiction (sf one option)		no one
University of Guelph Guelph ON	37-286:Science Fiction	unknown	Dr. Peter Bigg	sf, J. G. Ballard, Leguin, Herbert
...cole des Hautes ...tudes Commerciales Montrèal QC
Huron University College London ON	no		research interests not indicated
King's College London ON	134E Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Other Forms of Romance	unknown	research interests not indicated
King's University College Edmonton AB	English 380: Arthurian Literature		No one
University of King's College Halifax NS	No relevant courses		research interests not indicated
Lakehead University Thunder Bay ON	No		Dr. Jim H. Gellert	children's lit, fairy tales, fantasy
Laurentian University of Sudbury / Universitè Laurentienne de Sudbury Sudbury ON	ENGL 3687E01: Legends of Arthur in Literary and Popular Culture	No	Dr. Patti Brace	No; Medieval Literature
Universitè Laval CP 2208 Succ Terminus  Quèbec QC	No relevant courses*
University of Lethbridge Lethbridge AB,	No; English 3700 "Genres and Forms" may include sf		No One
Luther College Regina SK	No relevant courses		research interests not indicated
Malaspina University-College Nanaimo BC	No relevant courses		Dr. Ron Bonham	science fiction (ranked 4th of 5)
			Dr. Jacqueline Wytenbroek	fantasy & science fiction (ranked 2nd of 9)
University of Manitoba Winnipeg MB	No relevant courses		Dr. John J. Teunissen (retired)	Editor of Other Worlds: Fantasy and Science Fiction Since 1939
McGill University Montreal QC	No relevant courses		Darko Suvin (retired) Marc Angenot	both are past editors of Science Fiction Studies; Angenot's research
McMaster University Hamilton ON L8S 4L8 ,	No relevant courses		No one
Memorial University of Newfoundland St. John's NF	No relevant courses		No one
Universitè de Moncton Moncton NB
Universitè de Montrèal Montrèal QC
Mount Allison University Sackville NB	English 4221: Myth and Legend in Renaissance Drama	No (obviously)	No one
Mount Saint Vincent University Halifax NS	ENGL 2262: Fantasy and Science Fiction	unknown	Ms. Dorothy Shostak (formerly Dorothy Wells)	science fiction (2nd of 4)
	ENGL 2205: Literature for Children (several fantasy works)	no	Dr. Peter Schwenger	not relevant
			Dr. Steven Bruhm	gay/gothic
University of New Brunswick Fredericton & Saint John, NB	Engl 3708: Contemporary Science Fiction: Loving the Alien ENGL 3708: Contemporary Science Fiction: Gender in Space	No	Dr. Miriam Jones	science fiction (8th of 9)
	Engl 3973:Science Fiction Film	No	A.B. Cameron	film; nothing relevant
	3978 Monsters and the Grotesque in Literature	unknown	unknown	na
			Dr. James Noble	Arthurian Legend
			William Prouty	Utopian
	Ward Chipman Library sf Collection	Yes	one of 3 best research collections in North America
Nipissing University North Bay ON	No relevant courses		No one
University of Northern British Columbia Prince George BC	ENGL 480: Science Fiction (includes fantasy) ENGL 486: Literature of the Fantastic ENGL 680: Science Fiction (includes fantasy; graduate course) ENGL 686 Literature of the Fantastic (graduate course)	unknown	Dr. Stan Beeler (Program Chair)	science fiction & fantasy (4th of 4)
Nova Scotia Agricultural College Truro NS,	No relevant courses		No one
Nova Scotia College of Art and Design Halifax NS	No relevant courses		No one
Okanagan University College Kelowna BC	No relevant courses		No one
University of Ottawa / Universitè d'Ottawa Ottawa, ON	Eng 2132: Utopian Fiction	no	Dr. David Shore	Nothing relevant
	Eng 2130: Tradition of King Arthur	no	Dr. David Stains	Arthurian literature
	Eng 2136: Fiction of Horror	unknown	TBA
			Dr. Camille R.LaBossière	science fiction (48th of 48)
...cole Polytechnique de Montrèal Montrèal QC
University of Prince Edward Island Charlottetown PE	No relevant courses		research interests not indicated
Universitè du Quèbec Quèbec QC,
Universitè du Quèbec en Abitibi-Tèmiscamingue Rouyn-Noranda QC
Universitè du Quèbec ‡ Chicoutimi Chicoutimi QC
...cole nationale d'administration publique Quèbec QC
...cole de technologie supèrieure Montrèal QC
Universitè du Quèbec ‡ Hull Hull QC
Institut national de la recherche scientifique Quèbec QC
Universitè du Quèbec ‡ Montrèal Montrèal QC
Universitè du Quèbec ‡ Rimouski Rimouski QC
Tèlè-universitè Quèbec QC
Universitè du Quèbec ‡ Trois-RiviËres Trois-RiviËres QC
Queen's University at Kingston Kingston ON	No relevant courses		No one
Redeemer University College Ancaster ON	No relevant courses		research interests not indicated (but unlikely to include sf)
University of Regina Regina SK	Hum 260: Utopian Literature, Thought and Experiment Literature and Science (Frankenstein, Brave New World, etc.)	No	Dr. J. Alex MacDonald	Not listed (Campion College)
	Wells, Darwin, and Scienctific Romance (also offered at graduate level) Popular Fiction (includes sf)	No	Dr. Nicholas Ruddick	British sf
Royal Military College of Canada / College militaire, royal du Canada Kingston ON	ENE401: Science Fiction (science/Engineering Arts option)	unknown	No one
Royal Roads University Victoria BC	No relevant courses		No one
Ryerson Polytechnic University Toronto ON	ENG 503 Science Fiction ENG 072: Popular Literature (includes sf)	Yes: Gibson unknown	Dr. Jennifer Burwell	Notes on Nowhere: Feminism, Utopian Logic and Social Transformation
Universitè Sainte-Anne Pointe-de-l'...glise
CollËge universitaire de Saint-Boniface Saint-Boniface MB
St. Francis Xavier University Antigonish NS	English 201 Science Fiction and Fantasy	unknown; probably Gibson	Research interests not indicated
St. Jerome's University Waterloo ON (University of Waterloo)	Engl 208A Forms of Fantasy Engl 208B: Science Fiction	unknown	Dr. G. Drapper (Dept Chair)	Not listed
Saint Mary's University Halifax NS	English 356: The Development of Science fiction to the Golden Age English 357: Recent Science Fiction	no   Gibson	Dr. Margaret Harry	Folklore, popular lit., mediaeval and Celtic studies, etc.
University of St. Michael's College Toronto ON M5S 1J4 ,	No relevant courses (theology faculty only)
Saint Paul University / Universitè Saint-Paul Ottawa ON	No relevant courses (seminary only)
St. Thomas University Fredericton NB	English 2513: Science Fiction I: The development of science fiction to 1950s English 2563: Science Fiction II: Themes in Contemporary Science Fiction	unknown	No one (but only partial listing of research interests available)
St. Thomas More College Saskatoon, Saskatchewan	No course or faculty lists; See University of Saskatchewan
University of Saskatchewan Saskatoon SK	eng 287.3 fantasy	unknown	Dr. Terry Matheson	Utopia/dystopia; science fiction
Saskatchewan Indian Federated College Regina SK	No relevant courses		No one
Universitè de Sherbrooke Sherbrooke QC
Simon Fraser University Burnaby BC	English 383 Studies in Fantasy and Popular Literature(eg:) Cybervision; Arthurian legend; Gothic (content varies, not all sections sf)	Yes: Gibson	S. Haag	cyberculture
		no	Shelia Roberts	Arthurian legend
		no	N. Currie	Gothic
		unknown	Mason Harris	fantasy & science fiction (3rd of 5)
University of Sudbury / Universitè de Sudbury Sudbury ON	No relevant courses		No one
University of Toronto Toronto ON	ENG 237: Science Fiction and Fantasy ENG 238 Science Fiction and Fantasy: Film	Yes: Atwood, Gibson No (American films only)	Instructor not indicated
			Ian Lancashire (New College, English)	Science Fiction (2nd of 2)
			Dena Bain Taylor (Physical Education and Health)	Science fiction and fantasy (1st of 2)
			Peter Fitting (New College, French)	Utopian literature; science fiction
			Josiah Blackmore (Dept. of Spanish and Portuguese)	Monsters in myth, culture and literature
University of Toronto at Scarsburogh	Eng B41 Science Fiction	Yes: Atwood, Gibson	Russell Kilbourn	not relevant
Trent University Peterborough ON	English/Cultural Studies 229 Science fiction	Yes: Gibson	Veronica Hollinger (Cultural Studies);	Co-editor, Science Fiction Studies vampires
	English/Cultural Studies 329: Utopia (Future Fiction)	unknown	John Fekete	science fiction utopian lit. (3rd & 4th of 11) other books
			Donald F. Theall (retired, Past President of Trent University)	Science Fiction Studies
University of Trinity College Toronto ON	No relevant courses (part of University of Toronto)
Trinity Western University Langley, BC	ENGL 392 Fantasy Literature	No, focus on precursers: Beowulf and Gawain and the Green Knight	research interests not indicated
University of Victoria Victoria BC	No relevant courses		Dr. Lianne McLarty (Associate Dean Fine Arts)	Science Fiction & Horror Film
			Dr. Nelson C., Smith	does not announce sf interests
			Dr. John Greene (French Dept)	science fiction
Victoria University Toronto ON	No relevant courses; part of University of Toronto
University of Waterloo Waterloo ON	ENGL 208B Science Fiction	unknown	Gary Draper	Science fiction
	ENGL 208H: Arthurian Legend	No
	English 725 The Dustbin of History: Apocalyptic Science Fiction from The Last Man to Pastwatch (Grad course)	unknown	Dr. Julia M. Wright	Gothic, Mary Shelley
			Dave Switzer (computer science)	Joan Slonczewski
	Library Special Collections B. P. Nichol Library of Science Fiction
University of Western Ontario London ON	English 171F: Speculative Fiction: Science Fiction	No	M. Jane Toswell	Speculative fiction (4th of 6)
	English 172G: Speculative Fiction: Fantasy	No
	ENGLISH 117 Reading Popular Culture (includes Horror but no sf)	No	unknown
			Ernest H. Redekop	science fiction (5th of 6)
Wilfrid Laurier University Waterloo ON	English309t: Special Topics: Tolkien and Fantasy	No	James Weldon	unrelated
	English 409e: Special Topics: Imagination, Mourning, and Millennium	Yes: Gibson	Dr. Joel Faflak	popular culture
	Film Studies 343g: Special Topics: Gothic Film	No	Dr.Jodey Castricano	Gothic
University of Windsor Windsor ON	No relevant courses		Dr. Carol Margaret Davison	Gothic
University of Winnipeg Winnipeg MB	English 17.2612/3 Science Fiction	unknown	unknown; research interests not indicated
York University North York ON	AS/EN 2240: Apocalyptic science Fiction	No	Dr. Allan Weiss	sf, Canadian sf
			James Carley	Arthurian

Commentary This table probably under-represents the number of sf-related courses taught in Canada because some campuses did not list courses if they happened not be be offered this term; some sf courses may be listed under non-descriptive generic titles such as "Special Topics" courses or "honour seminars" even though particular sections may be routinely devoted to sf the analysis focused on departments of English literature, film studies, and comparative literature and consequently may have missed courses offered in other departments (e.g., the anthropology course offered at Carleton); and some community colleges and technical schools are not members of the AUCC and so were not included in this study. Similarly, the table probably understimates the amount of sf content in university level courses, as many non-sf courses may include one or more sf readings; e.g., Childrens literature courses often include reference to Harry Potter and courses on Canadian, American, British, etc. literature may include some sf. This table definitely under-represents the number of sf-related scholars in Canada because academic calendars generally do not list faculty research interests and this information was not always made available on-line; some faculty may not want to include their interest in sf in their list of specializations, preferring instead to highlight their more respectable research related to literary cannon (e.g., Shakespeare); the focus on English departments in this study may have overlooked considerable expertise in other faculties (e.g., Dave Switzer in Computer Science at Waterloo); there are likely others teaching at community colleges and technical schools which not members of the AUCC and so not included here; and considerable scholarship in sf has been undertaken by those outside of academia (John Clute and Elisabeth Vonnarburg come immediately to mind) and who therefore do not show up in this table, but whose contributions are nonetheless highly significant. This table also probably underestimates the amount of Canadian sf included in university-level courses, as examples of the genre may turn up in Canadian literature classes, women studies courses (e.g., Atwood's Handmaid's Tale), children's literature, etc. That said, it is interesting to note that there are now over 65 English language, university-level sf related courses offered on 35 campuses in Canada. Similarly, there are over 65 Canadian academics self-identifying as specializing (at least to some degree) in sf. This strongly suggests that sf is now regarded as at least worthy of some academic attention. Considering that it must compete with the recent proliferation of many other equally worthy specializations (mystery, women's studies, African and Carbiban literature, gay and lesbian literature, hypertext, etc.) as well as the traditional cannon (Shakespeare et al), sf scholarship and teaching is doing quite well. There are, for example, far more sf-related courses than mystery genre courses, even though both are evenly matched in terms of readership. My strong impression, upon speaking with various instructors and in examining prerequiaites and exclusion lists (i.e., which courses students cannot take together for credit) is that the sf course is generally targetted to science and engineering students as their "arts option", rather than to English majors. In other words, the greater popularity of sf courses with departments of English is that they are likely to attract larger enrolments, and does not indicate greater academic prestige or interest. One unexpected finding of this study was that specializing in sf no longer appears as an impediment to an academic career. Not only were many of the academics identified in this study full professors, but two had achieved Department Chair status, and one was the (past) President of his university. [This contrasts sharply with the attitude of my own former Dean who appeared to consider my announced interest in sf akin to advocating child pornography; and who dismissed my efforts as co-editor of Tesseracts5 with the abrupt comment that he was "only interesting in reading good books".] On the other hand, Canadian sf gets rather less attention than one might hope. There are only a handful of scholars who have published or are about to publish on Canadian sf. Given that "science fiction" or even "Canadian fiction" are themselves only recent upstarts as specializations, and that there is a lot of ground to be covered in such courses, hoping for a focus on Canadian sf is perhaps unrealistic. Where Canadian content is included, it tends to come down to Gibson's ground breaking Neuromancer and Atwood's Handmaid's Tale, with occasional mentions of Robert Sawyer and Spider Robinson. Of course, individual students may do projects or class presentations on some topic in Canadian sf, but this is not the same as being part of the assigned course reading. What seems called for, then, is a resource, or set of resources, on Canadian sf that can be made available to both instructors and students. Students are more likely to pick, and instructors more likely to assign, paper topics on which there are materials readily available. Hopefully the NCF Guide can become part of that solution, but a book of readings (such as Edo Van Belkom's Aurora Winners) and a book or two of collected criticism, are also required. Robert Runté Associate Professor Faculty of Education University of Lethbridge This page last updated June 7, 2001.

Definitions: "University" is defined here as a member of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada. "sf " is defined as speculative or imaginative fiction, including the genres of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. "sf course" is defined as one in which explicit reference to sf is made in the course title. (Other courses may include examples of, or references to sf, and not be noted here. For example, Canadian literature courses were not examined to see if they included examples of Canadian sf.) Where web links are indicated, clicking on the link should take you to the course outline. (On some campuses, several course outlines are included in the same web page; you may have to scroll down or use your browser's page-search function to find the specific course cited here.) "Canadian content" refers to any course that includes at least one piece of assigned Canadian fiction or criticism of Canadian fiction. "Instructor" is the professor teaching the course (if known), or a member of the English or Literature department whose announced specialties include science fiction, fantasy, or horror. Where web links are indicated, clicking on the link should take you to the instructor's home page. "Research Interests" lists the relevant areas of that instructor's announced research specializations. Where web links are indicated, clicking on the link should take you to the relevant article, bibliography, web page, etc. *Note: As I am not fluent in French, it is possible that I missed references to relevant courses when reviewing the websites of francophone campuses. To add, update or comment on information in this table, email R. Runté.