Social Justice and Peace Studies

This course is an interdisciplinary introduction to key concepts and practices of social justice and peace in local and global contexts. Focusing on events, movements, figures, theories, and texts of the twentieth century, students will examine the realities of injustice and the various strategies for social change, equality, and peace that have emerged in response. Some of these include human rights declarations, truth and reconciliation commissions, non-violent resistance techniques, politics of recognition, and practices of ethical responsibility.

The study of selected stories of marginalized peoples in order to gain a better understanding of oppression, poverty, and trauma from the inside. This course introduces students to human rights violations and social injustice both globally and locally through first-hand literary accounts.

This course introduces students to a number of socioeconomic factors that influence the performance of educational institutions. The social factors to be studied will be family economic issues, educational policies, crime, and allocation of resources. The assumption of this course is that before considering a career in education one needs to examine the social issues which inform educational practices. One of the goals of this course is to provide an opportunity for students to make comparisons between different societies and how they respond to various social challenges. This course is intended to engage students by providing a direct immersion experience where they are forced to examine the social issues which influence how schools can function.