Social Justice & Community Engagement

This interdisciplinary course with a sociological focus will present a unique opportunity in which students will become directly involved in the realities of community engagement and grassroots politics through community service placements. Students will engage in critical thought and reflection on urban inequalities in London while examining the historical, sociological, and political context of community service and social, economic, and political exclusion in the UK. Students will explore three key interrelated themes: urban life, super-diversity, and welfare and exclusion. This course is 6 credits.

This course will enable students to engage directly with London as a specific landscape in which feminism is embedded, examining the historical and ongoing legacy of feminism in the city: how feminists have shaped and continue to influence the fabric of London, not only its physical infrastructure, but also its identity, reputation, and character. Topics include women’s writing, sexuality, consumerism, class dynamics, campaigns for political rights and representation, fashion and style, imperialism and its legacies, feminism and popular culture, Black & Asian feminisms, and the impact of social media upon feminist activism and discourse. This course taps into the zeitgeist surrounding women’s activism and utilizes the London cityscape enabling students to apply classroom learning to their field studies and their own experiences.

The Global Internship Course is designed to be completed alongside an internship placement, allowing students to earn academic credit. Students will attend weekly, discussion-led sessions that include educational support and mentoring in a classroom environment; develop personal and professional skills, learn to contextualize their internship experience socially and culturally, and employ the use of Globally Networked Learning technology to conduct a comparative global analysis with other CAPA students. At times, this analysis will be facilitated through CAPA Masterclasses led by professionals in a diverse range of fields.

The Global Internship Course is designed to be completed alongside an internship placement, allowing students to earn academic credit. Students will attend weekly, discussion-led sessions that include educational support and mentoring in a classroom environment; develop personal and professional skills, learn to contextualize their internship experience socially and culturally, and employ the use of Globally Networked Learning technology to conduct a comparative global analysis with other CAPA students. At times, this analysis will be facilitated through CAPA Masterclasses led by professionals in a diverse range of fields.

This intensive seminar provides a multi-disciplinary introduction to human rights, a topic central to today’s global politics. Students will explore the theoretical foundations and history of human rights concepts and issues from global, local, and regional perspectives, and the philosophies underpinning them; develop an understanding of the frameworks of human rights law; critically examine the politics of human rights, their contentious nature, and uneven global implementation; analyze a variety of case studies and related practical issues; and evaluate key debates about the politics and morality of human rights.

This course will examine how complex, multiethnic diversity shapes and defines our understanding of modern Britain, through a specific focus on Muslim communities in London and the nature of their interactions with wider society. Students will analyze the ways in which imperialism and its legacy, as well as Britain's global relationships, have influenced political policies and social attitudes toward multiculturalism and Muslim groups in particular; explore London’s spaces of diaspora identity, including Southall and Spitalfields; and develop an understanding of contemporary race relations in Britain.