Arts Menu
Course Descriptions
HRSJ 5010 Foundations of Human Rights and Social Justice (0,3,0) HRSJ 5010 Foundations of Human Rights and Social Justice (0,3,0)Credits: 3 credits Students explore themes of human rights and social justice. Students engage with issues of justice, fairness, and decolonization at local, national and transnational settings. Students examine relevant theoretical approaches such as universalism/relativism, equity, diversity and inclusion, intersectionality, distributive justice, critical race theory, disability theory, feminist analysis, and the role of social and political structures. The foundations course places emphasis on Indigenous, anti-colonial, decolonizing, antiracist, and global south perspectives. Thematic areas may include practical application of theoretical approaches in international and domestic contexts, such as human rights laws, social movements and activism, decolonization and reconciliation, torture and lack of legal process, refugee and immigrant rights, access to justice, disability rights, governance and transnational governance, Indigenous rights, and international human rights.
|
HRSJ 5020 Indigenous Ways of Knowing: Resurgence of Land Based Pedagogies and Practices (0,3,0) HRSJ 5020 Indigenous Ways of Knowing: Resurgence of Land Based Pedagogies and Practices (0,3,0)Credits: 3 credits Students explore Indigenous land-based epistemologies within an interdisciplinary framework of Indigenous law, geography, social work, education, health and wellness. Through an alignment with Indigenous intergenerational land-based contexts, practices, and processes, students experience and articulate ethical modes of living that respect Indigenous self-determination and sovereignties. Students take an experiential approach that centres Indigenous knowledges and considers the land as the primary text and instructor. Students explore how policies and practices of colonialism and violence systematically block Indigenous access to the land and how diverse resistance and resurgence movements are asserting Indigenous rights in relation to food, water, education, ceremony, and movement.
|
HRSJ 5030 Problem Solving in the Field: Study Techniques and Methods (0,3,0) HRSJ 5030 Problem Solving in the Field: Study Techniques and Methods (0,3,0)Credits: 3 credits Students examine social science and humanities field research as multidisciplinary practices that take place over a variety of contexts and locations. Students engage with quantitative and qualitative epistemologies and methodologies. Students learn to formulate basic research questions, and move on to explore methodological research choices and ethical implications. Students engage with Indigenous and anti-colonial approaches to research methods including data collection and analysis practiced in the global south. Students learn to create a comprehensive research proposal and ethics application. Students may choose to use this work as a thesis or project proposal.
Prerequisites: Admission into the MA HRSJ program |
HRSJ 5110 Genocide in the 20th Century (0,3,0) HRSJ 5110 Genocide in the 20th Century (0,3,0)Credits: 3 credits Students investigate an interdisciplinary approach to the complex issues of genocide from a philosophical, historical, and literary perspective. Variable elements of the course include particular case studies of genocide, the use of language, the role of eugenics and colonialism, ethical and moral considerations, and international efforts to define and tackle the various kinds of genocide. Using a variety of sources and methodologies, students start to formulate an original contribution to the increasingly important field of genocide studies.
|
HRSJ 5120 Settler Colonialism: Decolonization and Responsibility (0,3,0) HRSJ 5120 Settler Colonialism: Decolonization and Responsibility (0,3,0)Credits: 3 credits Students explore the operation of settler colonialism as a distinct ongoing structure rather than an historical event. Students examine settler colonialism as a cultural project of overt colonial domination producing a new entity, such as Canada, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand, and thus premised on the ongoing dispossession of Indigenous Peoples from land. By investigating the process of settler colonialism as it emerged out of colonial expansion and domination globally and attending to the ways in which settler colonialism manifests and maintains itself locally, students will examine themselves in relation to settler colonialism.
|
HRSJ 5130 Body Rights: Systems and Social Movements (0,3,0) HRSJ 5130 Body Rights: Systems and Social Movements (0,3,0)Credits: 3 credits Students explore the ways that body rights are understood, accepted, and contested in global historical and contemporary case studies. Through an intersectional lens, students deepen their understanding of theoretical, social, and historical underpinnings of body rights. Through case studies, students investigate systemic inequalities and consider ways to advocate for body rights in different local and global contexts.
Prerequisites: Admission into the MA HRSJ program. |
HRSJ 5140 Art, Media & Dissent: Bridging the Local & Global from Guerilla Girls to the #MeToo Movement (0,3,0) HRSJ 5140 Art, Media & Dissent: Bridging the Local & Global from Guerilla Girls to the #MeToo Movement (0,3,0)Credits: 3 credits Students investigate and explore a series of diverse case studies related to the art, sociology and media practices of feminist social movements. Students investigate, analyze and critique the goals and achievements of feminist social movements, the complex media practices that emerge from and about them, and the artistic practice and production they generate. Students consider feminist issues such as the body and autonomy, sexual violence, environmentalism, and access to public and digital space in the context of activism and mobilization, evaluating the opportunities and
challenges in building social justice frameworks for women in society.
Prerequisites: Admission into the MA HRSJ program. |
HRSJ 5150 Truth to Power: Promoting Social Change on Stage and Screen (0,3,0) HRSJ 5150 Truth to Power: Promoting Social Change on Stage and Screen (0,3,0)Credits: 3 credits Students examine significant script-to-play-to-film adaptations that engage human rights and social justice, by probing creative expressions of social justice issues on stage and screen in a variety of forms, from conventional to avantgarde. Students analyze texts using tools drawn from creative writing, theatre studies, media studies, as well as critical and adaptation theories. Students create their own stage play or screenplay that promotes change on a social justice issue.
Prerequisites: Admission into the MA HRSJ program. |
HRSJ 5160 Social Justice & Network Culture: Digital Communities, Mediated Identity & Online Journalism (0,3,0) HRSJ 5160 Social Justice & Network Culture: Digital Communities, Mediated Identity & Online Journalism (0,3,0)Credits: 3 credits Students explore the technologies, structures and practices of networked culture to analyze the implications for human rights and social justice. Students investigate the inherent tensions within the myths of an open and accessible internet in the contexts of challenging structural inequalities and social constructs of identity, accessing public discourse, and building and sustaining robust civic media. Engaging various theoretical perspectives on networked culture and communication, students question what can be communicated, by whom and for what purposes in networked space, evaluating online practices and platforms as productive tools for social justice projects.
Prerequisites: Admission into the MA HRSJ program. |
HRSJ 5210 Law, Human Rights and Theories of Justice (0,3,0) HRSJ 5210 Law, Human Rights and Theories of Justice (0,3,0)Credits: 3 credits Students explore the history, nature, and scope of the concept of rights: legal rights, civil rights, political rights and human rights, both as these pertain to individuals and as they pertain to groups and collectivities. Students trace the history of rights theory from early social contract theories (Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau) to contemporary theories of rights and justice. Students examine the relation between rights, conceptions of justice and power relations, and the law; how conceptions of rights may promote or inhibit the social advancement of particular groups; and how rights have been connected to people from equity-seeking groups in theory and in practice.
Prerequisites: Admission into the MA HRSJ program |
HRSJ 5220 Trauma, Rights and Justice: From War and Gender-Based Violence to Peacebuilding (0,3,0) HRSJ 5220 Trauma, Rights and Justice: From War and Gender-Based Violence to Peacebuilding (0,3,0)Credits: 3 credits Students confront gender-based violence in situations of war and conflict. Students use critical analysis tools, guidelines of social justice, and potentialities for solutions to analyze war and conflict. Using the expertise of various disciplines to uncover the complexities of what gender-based violence and trauma mean in the context of war and conflict, students explore the possibilities for peacebuilding and healing. In tackling all of these issues, students engage with the larger issues of human rights.
Prerequisites: Admission into the MA HRSJ program. |
HRSJ 5230 States, Violence, Revolutions and the Emergence of Global Capitalism (0,3,0) HRSJ 5230 States, Violence, Revolutions and the Emergence of Global Capitalism (0,3,0)Credits: 3 credits Students explore the history and development of modern political structures such as the nation-state and the capitalist global order through processes of social and political revolution, war and pacification, liberal constitutionalism and democratization. Students discuss cosmopolitanism and its relationship to contemporary awareness of global interconnection. Students trace the patterns of conflict and cooperation between state actors and social groups at regional, national and transnational levels. Students also examine key questions in the contemporary world from the perspectives of different social science disciplines and draw on core theories related to cosmopolitanism, materialism and post-structuralism, and consider how states can peacefully coexist in an anarchistic world system.
|
HRSJ 5240 Water: A Case Study of Human Rights and Social Justice in the Age of Climate Change (0,3,0) HRSJ 5240 Water: A Case Study of Human Rights and Social Justice in the Age of Climate Change (0,3,0)Credits: 3 credits Students explore human rights and social justice issues surrounding water through multidisciplinary lenses such as science, engineering, literature, aesthetics including art and performance, spirituality, recreation, politics, and management. In the course, students draw on local, regional, national, Indigenous, and international examples to consider the significance of water as a human right and common heritage. Students examine topics that may include peace and international conflict; laws and policies; the privatization of water; water education; water and art; spiritual engagements with water; Indigenous peoples' laws and perspectives; equitable access; water and health; water and culture; and impacts of climate change on the future of water supplies.
Prerequisites: Admission into MA HRSJ program. |
HRSJ 5250 Risk, Place, and Social Justice in a Turbulent World (0,3,0) HRSJ 5250 Risk, Place, and Social Justice in a Turbulent World (0,3,0)Credits: 3 credits Students examine different types of risks in society and the different populations, places and life experiences associated with these risks, the forms of planning and practices to reduce risks, the gaps in knowledge and policies in addressing particular risks, and media coverage of differing types of risks. Students follow a case study approach, allowing for different disciplines to be integrated through varied readings from sociology, history, politics and environmental studies in assessing through social justice the inclusionary / exclusionary practices in addressing risks.
|
HRSJ 5260 Moral Economies and Social Movements in Contemporary Capitalism (0,3,0) HRSJ 5260 Moral Economies and Social Movements in Contemporary Capitalism (0,3,0)Credits: 3 credits Drawing on geography, sociology, anthropology, and law, students examine contemporary capitalism as a system connecting extraction, production, consumption, and disposal at different spatial scales and across political jurisdictions, as well as differing cultural and social contexts. Beginning with the moral economists' critique of capitalism and its redefinition of human relations, students examine economic globalization under de-regulated capitalism. Students may examine moral economies in terms of production, labor, commoditization, valuation, and/or consumption with various themes and case studies. Students will also explore social movements that resist capitalist extraction and exploitation through labor, migrant, environment, or gender justice movements.
|
HRSJ 5270 Health for All: Global Inequities, Social Determinants and Medical Care (0,3,0) HRSJ 5270 Health for All: Global Inequities, Social Determinants and Medical Care (0,3,0)Credits: 3 credits Students canvass theories from multiple disciplines, including sociology, history, geography, law, and medicine, that attempt to explain health inequities within and across global contexts. Social determinants of health and legal access to treatment are explored within the context of global capitalism. Students assess the role and impact of state-based, international, and community-based responses to health inequities, and develop action-based responses to real-world examples of health inequity.
Prerequisites: Admission into the MA HRSJ program. |
HRSJ 5040 Human Rights and Social Justice Field Experience (0,6,0) HRSJ 5040 Human Rights and Social Justice Field Experience (0,6,0)Credits: 3 credits Students investigate research problems related to human rights and social justice by working with relevant organizations and groups. With the help of the Arts Graduate Coordinator and Practicum Coordinator, students partner with local, provincial, national, or international organizations or groups that do work related to human rights and social justice. Students conduct research or work on research projects developed in agreement with the partner organizations or groups. Prior to field experience, students participate in training around cultural sensitivity, ethics and safety.
Prerequisites: Admissions into the MA HRSJ program. |
HRSJ 5910 Master of Arts Thesis (0,24,0) HRSJ 5910 Master of Arts Thesis (0,24,0)Credits: 12 credits Students explore and develop an original and substantial research project related to issues of human rights and social justice. Students completing the thesis completion option work under the direction of a faculty supervisor and a thesis advisory committee. Students completing the thesis option register in this course after completing nine credits at the 5000 level. Students remain enrolled in HRSJ 5910 until they have completed all of the requirements.
|
HRSJ 5920 Master of Arts Creative Research Project (0,24,0) HRSJ 5920 Master of Arts Creative Research Project (0,24,0)Credits: 12 credits Students develop an original and substantial creative research project related to issues of human rights and social justice. Creative research projects can include, but are not limited to, art exhibits, creative writing, and theatre production. Students completing the creative completion option work under the direction of a faculty supervisor and an advisory committee. Students completing the creative option register in this course after completing nine credits at the 5000 level. Students remain enrolled in HRSJ 5920 until they have completed all of the requirements.
|
HRSJ 5930 Master of Arts Research Project (0,12,0) HRSJ 5930 Master of Arts Research Project (0,12,0)Credits: 6 credits Students develop and research a project, typically in consultation with a partner organization or group, related to issues of human rights and/or social justice. Students completing the research project option work under the supervision of a faculty project advisor. Students completing the research project option can register for this course any time after completing nine credits at the 5000 level. Students remain enrolled in HRSJ 5930 until they have completed all requirements.
Prerequisites: Admission into the MA HRSJ program; The agreement of a research project supervisor from among faculty members qualified to supervise in the MA HRSJ program; Completion of at least 9 credits at the 5000 level in the MA HRSJ program |
HRSJ 5940 Master of Arts e-Portfolio (0,3,0) HRSJ 5940 Master of Arts e-Portfolio (0,3,0)Credits: 3 credits Students create an e-portfolio summarizing their experiences and learning within the MA program. Students enroll in HRSJ 5940 if they have decided to take the course-based completion option for the MA, and they work with a faculty supervisor. Students can enroll in HRSJ 5940 after having completed nine credits at the 5000 level, but typically do not finish the e-portfolio until they have completed all required credits for the MA HRSJ.
Prerequisites: Admission into the MA HRSJ program; The agreement of a supervisor among faculty qualified to teach in the MA HRSJ program; Completion of at least 9 credits at the 5000 level in the MA HRSJ program
|
