Course Offerings

This course provides an interdisciplinary introduction to the study of human rights, human diversity (e.g., race, ethnicity, culture, gender, sexual orientation, disability), and the complex relationship between human rights and human diversity within contemporary states. The course may involve the study of specific cases, issues, debates, and important historical events. Assessment will include a short written assignment.

Despite global economic growth, inequality between and within countries seems to have increased. This interdisciplinary course provides an introduction to international development: the processes, actors, approaches, interventions and policies affecting the lives of poor people across the world. Students will be introduced to key concepts and issues in international development, including such topics as human rights approaches to development, poverty, debt, environment, democracy, health, conflict, education, migration, indigenous peoples, culture and technology, and the role played by states, development agencies, international financial institutions, the United Nations and individuals.

Students analyze news media coverage of contemporary political controversies through lectures and visits to government meetings and courts, with the goal of discerning distinct journalistic approaches. They learn how conventional and advocacy journalists navigate the political landscape and the norms of journalistic objectivity, and apply that knowledge in their own reporting and writing.

This course takes disability as both the subject and object of inquiry. In order to critically examine the meaning of impairment and disability in contemporary culture, this course will draw from multiple disciplinary perspectives, including critical social theory, legal studies, human rights and biomedicine. Topics may include the history of disability studies, disability rights, advocacy and activism, biomedical and bioethical dilemmas regarding disability and impairment, and an exploration of disability as a social, rather than physical, construction.

Much advocacy, including that concerning human rights and human diversity issues, is ultimately aimed at changing government policy. Thus, whether one hopes to advance change from within or from outside of government, it is important for social leaders and issue advocates to understand how policy is made. This course adopts two perspectives to help students understand this process. From a structuralist perspective, students will learn how public policy makers are constrained by the demands of economic and institutional structures in contemporary Canadian society. From a dynamic perspective, students will explore the fluid ways in which relevant actors like interest groups, citizens, and decision-makers can and do interact to produce public policy. Discussion will be illustrated by examples of public policy and policy innovation in Canada in such fields as international policy and human rights, telecommunications, media and cultural policy, health care, environmental policy, and crime and justice.

This course focuses on the idea of a human right to a healthy and sustainable environment as an example of ongoing developments in the types of claims being made in the name of human rights. It explores the development of this emergent right, linking it to pressing global problems such as climate change, developing world poverty and deforestation.

This course examines Canadian and international, especially developing world, perspectives on the historical and current struggles of women and girls to achieve equality and recognition of their human rights. Special attention is paid to how women's efforts have been shaped by and, in turn have shaped, cultural mores and regulatory frameworks.

Canada continues to experience profound demographic shifts. This course examines the transformations, challenges and opportunities related to diversity facing today's leaders  and organizational members. This course will address such topics as: understanding diversity, self-cultural awareness, privilege and identity, systematic oppression, working with others, and intercultural communications, among other issues.

The theory and practice of information and interactive design for digital and social media, including designing for the web, wireless devices, and/or tablets. Students will learn how to analyze project needs, strategize, and develop information and interactive designs and content.

Focusing primarily on civil and political rights, this course introduces students to the idea and origins of human rights, the institutions that have been designed to protect them, and contemporary controversies surrounding them. Case studies and examples of violations will be addressed as appropriate. Assessment will include a short written assignment.

This course will introduce students to the issue of cultural diversity and to multiculturalism as a political response to cultural diversity in Canada and elsewhere. The course will focus on the historical development of cultural diversity and multiculturalism policy as well as contemporary controversies. This course requires students to participate in experiential learning outside of the classroom and to produce a written assignment(s) based on their experiences. (Students who are unable to obtain a placement due to problems in their police record will be accommodated.)

The course helps students understand the broad challenges and opportunities facing the peoples of the developing world (understood to include countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America) by studying the social and political context. Topics covered may include: the legacy of colonialism, global interdependence, religion, development, democratization, ethnicity and conflict, and women and gender.

This writing-intensive seminar will equip Human Rights & Human Diversity students to prepare for internships, postgraduate careers,and graduate study. Students will be introduced to and practice such transferable skills as resume and cover letter writing, presentation making, teamwork, grant applications, précis-writing, report writing, and media monitoring. Students will also explore career options and opportunities for graduate study as well as plan how to prepare for these opportunities.

This course provides an interdisciplinary introduction to the field of development studies. It focuses on theories and substantive issues of development, including the idea of development as a human right. Historical processes of development and underdevelopment, including internal and external factors, will be assessed. Theoretical approaches to the analysis of developing countries will be surveyed and their policy implications examined.

Fundraising is an important skill upon which many organizations advancing human rights and other causes rely. For some people fundraising forms part of their job; for others it is the focus of their career. This course introduces students key concepts and methods of fundraising. Topics addressed may include annual giving, special events, foundation relations, corporate relations, capital campaigns, endowed giving, and the ethics of fundraising.

This course provides students with an introduction to the theory and practice and issues and ethics related to human rights education, advocacy, and activism in educational, workplace, international development, media, public policy, non-profit organization, and social movement contexts.

Students explore the burgeoning world of advocacy journalism and related media forms that explicitly challenge dominant institutions and values. They learn about the history and structure of the alternative media. They discuss its role in building community and promoting social change and debate both its value and viability in the contemporary media environment. Students evaluate and/or produce stories that challenge journalism's professional and ethical conventions around objectivity, balance, transparency and relationship to sources.

This course will explore criminal injustice, legal rights violations, and breaches of ethics within criminal justice systems. Topics may include: the wrongfully convicted, false confessions, jailhouse snitches, junk science, ritual abuse, recovered memory syndrome, legal/political corruption, the War on Drugs, mandatory minimums, forfeiture, prison-industrial complex, racial profiling, police and prosecutorial misconduct, professional ethics and international perspectives on injustice.

This interdisciplinary course addresses issues related to children and youth with disabilities from the perspectives of critical disabilities studies and human rights. Topics addressed may include the roles of self-advocacy, social movements, and child advocates; policy and legislation; practical modalities to facilitate active inclusion; and the transition to adulthood. Domestic and international perspectives will be considered.

This course explores the theory and practice of children's rights in North America, other world regions, and international law (especially the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child). Topics will include: the concept of childhood, the evolution of children's rights, and contemporary issues, such as child labour, prostitution and sex trafficking, slavery, juvenile justice and child soldiers.

Students will receive a thorough grounding in the conceptual and practical sides of the often controversial relationship between the institution of journalism as an integral pillar of democracy and the role of journalism in promoting human rights and international development.

An examination of the different types of non-governmental organizations. This course will discuss the perspectives of managers, volunteers, board members, policy-makers, donors and clients.

This course provides students with an overview of rights and freedoms in Canada, the institutions that have been designed to secure and protect them, and the impact they have had on Canadian society and politics. While the course will focus primarily on the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (its origins, content, and impact) other topics may be addressed including human rights commissions and the development of constitutional rights in Canada.

This course addresses the phenomena of human trafficking and other contemporary forms of slavery and forced labour. It will address the historical context of these phenomena, causes that contribute to their prevalence, efforts to eradicate these practices, and the problematic nature of the term “human trafficking”, especially how it is often used in ways that conflate consensual and non-consensual forms of labour and human migration that skirt or violate the law.

This course addresses crimes against humanity and humanitarian law. Crimes against humanity will be studied in theory and in practice, including critical examination of important historical incidents of genocide, war crimes and other atrocities. Study of humanitarian law will address its origins, philosophical foundations and evolution.

This course examines the ways in which justice is done in the aftermath of mass atrocities such as genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. The course will address general approaches to justice after conflict (such as lustration, apology, reconciliation and criminal prosecution) and specific national and global mechanisms (such as War Crimes Tribunals, the International Criminal Court, Truth and Reconciliation Commissions).

This course focuses on the United Nations as an institution at the centre of a broad system of global governance that includes regional institutions like the European Union and Organization of American States. The course will have a special emphasis on human rights and will also address other global issues such as peace and security, economic development, workers' rights, the AIDS crisis, and environmental protection. Assessment will include a policy paper assignment.

This course focuses on the social determinants that influence the health of individuals, communities and countries and the social justice issues to which they give rise as an example of social and economic human rights in practice. Topics may include: economic, social and political dimensions of global emergency services; humanitarian aid; world health systems and development; international disease transmission; and population health and social justice.

This course addresses the topic of victims, victimization, and responses to victimization as a human rights issue and a challenge to social justice in Canada and internationally. The course adopts a broad definition of victim - acknowledging both those who are recognized by existing law and legal systems such as the criminal justice system, and those who are not (e.g., psychological abuse, harms perpetrated by corporations, environmental degradation, and institutional policies and practices).

This course critically examines the legal and social dimensions of intellectual property law in Canada and internationally. Students will be introduced to different types of intellectual property law and the influence of social developments on IP law (such as globalization or technological advancement) with special emphasis on the human rights implications of IP law.

This course provides students an introduction to the two primary methods of public opinion research (surveys and focus groups) as well as some basic statistical methods that are used to analyze the results. Topics will include the nature of random probability sampling, different sampling techniques, the psychology of answering survey questions, survey design, focus group construction, moderation and their interpretation, and basic descriptive and inferential statistics up to and including the ability to understand and interpret a linear regression. At the completion of the course students will be sufficiently familiar with the methods of public opinion research to competently deal with technical experts, interpret results and integrate findings into other projects.

This course critically examines the legal and social dimensions of labour law in Canada and internationally. Students will examine labour law as a means of distributing power between individual workers and managers and between social classes. Students will consider the role of international regimes in shaping local labour laws such as the International Labour Organisation and ‘free' trade as well as other possible topics including the political role of unions, workplace dangers, strikes, compensation, wrongful dismissal, discrimination and human rights at work.

This course examines theoretical and practical perspectives on migration. It also explores both international and national Canadian legal frameworks on immigrant and refugee protection, including jurisprudence of the Supreme Court of Canada. Topics to be addressed may include sovereignty and border control, admissibility, temporary and permanent immigration programs, citizenship, immigration and refugee board hearings and detentions.

Contemporary society is a complex network of relations among racial and ethnic groups and other minorities that occupy unequal economic, political and social positions in Canadian society and the world over. This course will examine how these relations are constantly negotiated and renegotiated. It will also consider efforts to advance equality and overcome social exclusion.

Consult the department for course offerings.

Consult the Department for course offerings.

This course applies an interdisciplinary approach to the study of immigrant and ethno-racial youth in Canada and, to a lesser extent, the United States. The course will cover such topics as: challenges faced by immigrant youth and how they differ from second- and third-generation immigrant youth; marginality, racism, and exclusion; and the critical role played by the educational experience on the outcomes of ethno-racial youth.

This course will explore how gender shapes our lives and the world around us. Using theories of gender we will examine topics such as: social constructions of masculinity and femininity, the connections between gender and sexuality, and links between gender, the media and popular culture. This approach enables us to view gender as much more than a simple biological difference. As part of this examination we will look at how factors such as race/ethnicity, class, age, and ability intersect with gendered identities.

This course explores the politics, history, and cross-cultural dimensions of efforts to advance the cause and recognize discrimination against people with minority gender identities and sexual orientations (e.g., lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer) as a human rights issue in Canada, in other countries, and at the international level.

This course combines participation in an internship or field placement with a human rights- or human diversity-related organization with the academic requirements of a senior undergraduate course. It is the student's responsibility to locate, obtain, and cover all costs associated with the internship. To receive academic credit for the placement, the placement must be pre-approved by the program co-ordinator. It is normally expected that the placement will be least 4 weeks or 160 hours in length, the student will write a formal research paper based upon the experience, and the student will make a presentation to an undergraduate class based on what he or she learned from the experience. The grade for this course will be based on an evaluation of the research paper and the presentation.

This course combines participation in an international internship or volunteer field placement in an international development context with the academic requirements of a senior undergraduate course. It is the student's responsibility to locate, obtain, and cover all costs associated with the placement. To receive academic credit for the internship, the internship must be pre-approved by the program co-ordinator. It is normally expected that the placement will be at least 4 weeks or 160 hours in length, the student will write a formal research paper based upon the experience, and the student will make a presentation to an undergraduate class based on what he or she learned from the experience. The grade for this course will be based on an evaluation of the research paper and the presentation.

A detailed examination of a field or topic of interest not covered by the regular program. Consult current departmental regulations.

This course combines participation in a Canadian or international internship or volunteer field placement with a human rights-, human diversity-, or international development-related organization with the academic requirements of a senior undergraduate course. It is the student's responsibility to locate, obtain and cover all costs associated with the placement. To receive academic credit for the internship, the internship must be pre-approved by the program co-ordinator, it is normally expected that the placement will be at least 10 weeks or 400 hours in length, the student must write a formal research paper based upon the experience, and the student must make a presentation to an undergraduate class based on what he or she learned from the experience. The grade for this course will be based on an evaluation of the research paper and the presentation.

This course focuses on the philosophical development of the idea of human rights, philosophical critics of the concept, and contemporary issues.

This course enables students to explore interactions between international human rights and state- and sub-state-level cultures, practices, laws and policies in Canada and around the world. Among topics that may be considered are: how elements of diversity like culture, religion, gender, disability, and human rights intersect; universalism versus cultural relativism; and approaches to address local practices that conflict with international human rights. Assessment will include a presentation and a research essay.

Consult the department for course offerings.

A detailed examination of a field or topic of interest not covered by the regular program. Consult current departmental regulations.

This course is designed to provide exceptional students an opportunity to work with a faculty member on a research project. While the content of the course will vary with the nature of the research project, it is anticipated that students will normally receive some specialized research training as well as hands-on experience assisting with scholarly academic research.