The Social Justice Colloquium (SJC) is an opportunity to begin your academic life at StFX with a cohort of students as interested as you in thinking about why inequality exists and about how we can work together to create a world with greater opportunities for all people.
As a SJC student, you will be enrolled in special sections of three subjects. For the 2011-17 academic year, these courses will be Anthropology (Anth 111 and Anth 112), History (Hist 141 and Hist 142) and Women’s and Gender Studies (Wmgs 100). Faculty members teaching these courses coordinate their curricula so that you can use each of these disciplines to explore the following types of questions:
- Have people always had differential access to political, economic and personal power depending on social categories like gender, class, race, ability, sexuality or age?
- Can these patterns be attributed to our biological nature or are they the results of social processes?
- What prompted European nations to colonize many regions of the world, and what are the lasting effects of colonization today?
- What are the origins of social justice thinking and how have social change movements evolved historically and globally? For instance, what were some of the turning points in past social change movements? What are the characteristics of people who initiate social change? What are the effective strategies used by social change movements?
- What is my responsibility as a member of my community and as a citizen of the world?
In addition to the classroom component of the program, all SJC participants will be involved in an in-depth service learning experience in the local community of Antigonish. This experience will become the basis for class discussion and assignments that will integrate your learning in and outside the classroom and across disciplines.
The SJC will be enriched by special lectures delivered by university scholars from related disciplines and by participants in the Coady International Institute. Additionally, as a SJC student, you have the option to live in a common residence (newly renovated Mount Saint Bernard), sharing your life with a cohort of peers who share your interests and enthusiasm.
For more information about the Social Justice Colloquium, please see the FAQ section or contact the SJC Coordinator, Dr. Clare Fawcett (cfawcett@stfx.ca).
Watch videos about the SJC to find out why you want to enroll:
Betsy MacDonald (StFX 2007)
Lisa Gunn (StFX 2014) and Jillian Hennick (StFX 2011)
