Description:

In this course we discuss social movements and social activism in the context of
modern Canada with a strong focus on the 20th and 21st-centuries and especially the
period from 1950-the present time. We will strive to use an entirely interdisciplinary
analysis where we use insights from Political Science, History, English Studies,
Sociology, Indigenous Studies, and Gender and Sexuality studies, among other
disciplines. We will discuss different variants of Canadian “identity”- race and ethnicity,
gender and sexual identity, Indigeneity, class and income-based perspectives, ability,
and region. We will focus on two key concepts in the course: “social movement theory,”
– in essence how movements for social change develop and succeed or fail at their
chosen goals and “intersectionality” – how different identities, such as those noted
above, interact with each other and often mutually reinforce one another. We will focus
on these concepts as a group and will examine and discuss these, and other, issues
through class discussions, presentations, and in two essays.