Haunted by Purpose (and Possibility): My Journey Integrating TRC, EDI & SUS
Dr. Zaynab Ali
Professor
School of English and Liberal Studies
zaynab.ali@senecapolytechnic.ca
Teaching and Learning Day – Spring 2025
Why “Haunted by Purpose (and Possibility)”?
Teaching and Learning Day – Spring 2025
Teaching and Learning Day – Spring 2025
What we’ll explore today
Teaching and Learning Day – Spring 2025
The Course Description Right Now:
Gothic horror uses elements of fear, gloom, violence, death, and the paranormal to tell its story and to explore its content: the “dark side” of human nature, ghosts and other supernatural entities, the mysterious power of emotions and psychology, and more. Students will develop a critical appreciation for the Gothic horror genre by writing short assignments and a seminar-essay. Short stories and films will be the primary modes of analysis. By the course's end, students will query the wider role supernatural horror has to play; it is not just about being scared, but about asking questions about the world around you.
Teaching and Learning Day – Spring 2025
Course Description (with TRC, EDI, and SUS)
Gothic horror reflects society’s deepest anxieties, about race, gender, Indigenous histories, colonialism and the environment. This course explores classic and contemporary gothic horror literature and film, analyzing how monstrosity, the “dark side” of human nature, ghosts, other supernatural entities, and the mysterious power of emotions and psychology, has been used to reinforce and challenge power structures.
Students will engage with diverse gothic horror traditions, including Indigenous, Black, feminist and Eco-Gothic narratives, developing critical and creative responses that consider gothic horror as both a literary form and a cultural critique. Land-based storytelling, for example, explores how land itself functions as a character or a site of haunting in gothic horror texts. Through short assignments a seminar essay and multimodal projects, students will analyze short stories and films as primary modes of exploration and consider how gothic horror both reinforces and challenges dominant narratives. By the courses end, students will analyze the broader role of gothic horror: not just as a means of fear, but as a reflection of systemic oppression, environmental crisis, and cultural resistance. Gothic horror is not just about being scared, but about asking questions about the world around you.
Teaching and Learning Day – Spring 2025
Reflective Prompt: Your Course, Your Center
If you had to choose one word that describes what your course currently centers, what would it be?
What’s one word for what it could center instead?
Teaching and Learning Day – Spring 2025
Where We Are Now: Learning Outcomesďż˝
General and content-based
Linking past/present representations
Writing essays
Recognizing Gothic themes, forms and functions
Teaching and Learning Day – Spring 2025
How can we revise learning outcomes, so they make space for justice (not as an afterthought but as a goal of the course itself)?
Teaching and Learning Day – Spring 2025
Current | REVISED (with TRC, EDI, and SUS components) |
Identify gothic characters, settings, and themes in novels and short stories | Identify gothic characters, setting and themes and trace how race, gender, colonialism and the environment shape these narratives |
Recognize historical fascinations/roots of Gothic literature (architecture, paintings etc.) | Critically examine the roots of Gothic horror literature, including its colonial histories and Indigenous storytelling traditions |
Recognize historical fascinations/roots of Gothic literature (architecture, paintings etc.) | Link past and present representations of Gothic horror in literature and film by analyzing how contemporary creators reinterpret traditional through the lens of racial, gendered and colonial anxieties, Indigenous story telling and land-based hauntings and environmental fears. |
Link between past and present representations of Gothic, including modern cinema | Develop analytical and creative responses to Gothic horror by incorporating intersectional, decolonial and sustainability-focused perspectives |
Write essays/commentaries drawing out key Gothic themes/motifs | Develop analytical and creative responses to Gothic horror by incorporating intersectional, decolonial and sustainability-focused perspectives |
| New: Critically analyze how disability and mental health are constructed in gothic horror and explore how these portrayals reflect broader societal attitudes toward difference and care |
Surface level 🡪 Values driven outcomes
Teaching and Learning Day – Spring 2025
Where We Are Now: The Current State Of The Course Assessmentsďż˝
Teaching and Learning Day – Spring 2025
Current Assessments | TRC/EDI/SUS Alignment |
Storyboard Outline | Partial (has options for creativity) |
Storyboard Assignment | Partial (has options for creativity) |
Comparative Essay Outline | None as of yet |
Comparative Essay | None as of yet |
Research Proposal & Annotated Bibliography | None as of yet |
Research Essay | None as of yet |
Asynchronous Activities | Moderate |
Final Exam | None as of yet |
Teaching and Learning Day – Spring 2025
Storyboard assignment:
Adapt prompt to include land-based settings, Indigenous horror traditions, or climate fear narratives.
Could include a comparison between Eurocentric and decolonial or feminist horror texts
Require at least one text or concept from a marginalized author or perspective (EDI, TRC)
Teaching and Learning Day – Spring 2025
Research Essay:
Guide students to explore themes like trauma, memory, identity, land, displacement through horror
Allow creative or critical responses focused on horror and social issues
Asynchronous assignments:
Include listening journals, climate horror reflection boards, or visual decolonial prompts
Teaching and Learning Day – Spring 2025
What I Envision: A Course Assessment that Integrates SUS
Eco-Gothic World-Building Project:
Description: students design a Gothic horror setting that reflects contemporary environmental concerns using sustainable world-building principles (example, a cursed forest that reflects real-world deforestation* and climate-induced displacement **)
Objective: to explore how gothic horror literature can be used as a tool for discussion on environmental crises.
Assessment type: Visual (art, storyboard) or written story with a reflection on how their project integrates at least one UN SDG component
* SDG 15, life on land
** SDG 13, Climate Action
Teaching and Learning Day – Spring 2025
Consider...
Could a reflection in your course ask students to consider land, community or intergenerational knowledge?
Could an assignment in your course ask students to analyze identity, bias, or power in a case study?
Teaching and Learning Day – Spring 2025
The Current State of the Curriculumďż˝
Teaching and Learning Day – Spring 2025
�Week 5: Madness and the Uncanny�Changes (with TRC & EDI focus)��
Teaching and Learning Day – Spring 2025
Your Turn: Cross-Disciplinary Ideas to consider
Questions to consider
What hidden themes or assumptions shape your syllabus?
How might these ideas translate into your field?
Teaching and Learning Day – Spring 2025
Aligning Learning with Real-World Skills
Teaching and Learning Day – Spring 2025
Speaking about “Journey”... : How this work has impacted me
Teaching and Learning Day – Spring 2025
What I Hope You Take With You
Reimagine curriculum as a space for ethical engagement
Align learning outcomes with TRC, EDI & Sustainability
All disciplines can support justice-centered teaching
Curriculum change = cultural change
Teaching and Learning Day – Spring 2025
Questions to Carry Forward
What assumptions does my course make?
Whose voices are present, and whose are missing?
How can I shift from content delivery to values-driven learning?
Teaching and Learning Day – Spring 2025
Thank You & Let’s Keep Talking
Teaching and Learning Day – Spring 2025
Apply for a Microcredential
Visit event website: bit.ly/TLday-spring
This microcredential is part of the �2024-25 Conferencer series.
Learn about the milestone badge�on our event website.
Teaching and Learning Day – Spring 2025