We are thankful to be welcome on these lands in friendship. The lands we are situated on are covered by the Williams Treaties and are the traditional territory of the Mississaugas, a branch of the greater Anishinaabeg Nation, including Algonquin, Ojibway, Odawa and Pottawatomi. These lands remain home to many Indigenous nations and peoples.

We acknowledge this land out of respect for the Indigenous nations who have cared for Turtle Island, also called North America, from before the arrival of settler peoples until this day. Most importantly, we acknowledge that the history of these lands has been tainted by poor treatment and a lack of friendship with the First Nations who call them home.

This history is something we are all affected by because we are all treaty people in Canada. We all have a shared history to reflect on, and each of us is affected by this history in different ways. Our past defines our present, but if we move forward as friends and allies, then it does not have to define our future.

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COMM 3710U – Media, Identity and Intercultural Communication

Our identities–our sense of “who we are '' and “who we are not” in society–are powerfully shaped by our histories and lived experiences as related to race, ethnicity, nation, language, religion, gender, class, age, ability, lifestyle, and so much more. Our identities are also shaped by media representations, but with all kinds of media playing such a significant role in underrepresenting, misrepresenting and sometimes outright stereotyping identities in society, much is misunderstood, and everything from cross-cultural confusion to inter-group conflict may ensue. This course surveys the field of intercultural communication in an age in which our identities are mediatized, and wherein everything from ads to anime to Instagram posts play a formative role in shaping how we come to know ourselves in relation to the identities of others. In this course, students learn how identities are shaped by communication and media with an eye to equity, diversity and inclusivity. They develop the intercultural knowledge and competence required to communicate professionally with people from a diversity of communities and cultures that may be unlike their own.