Department of Women's and Gender Studies, School of Arts and
SciencesWebsite:http://womens-studies.rutgers.edu
Chair: Abena Busia
Director of Undergraduate Studies: Yana Rodgers
The social justice minor is
designed to introduce students to the complexity of social justice issues,
cultivate their capacity to identify key determinants of structural inequities,
familiarize them with various social justice practices and strategies, and
prepare them for advocacy and activism to address these pressing issues.
The social justice minor draws
upon resources in multiple academic units, disciplines, and interdisciplinary
programs to involve students in ongoing struggles to define and achieve social
justice locally and globally. Through
individual courses that incorporate service learning, as well as internships,
study abroad, and alternative spring break experiences, students are encouraged
to recognize injustice and work to eradicate it. Among the manifold dimensions
of injustice, the social justice minor pays particular attention to modes of
exploitation, marginalization, structural and physical violence, and cultural
imperialism that produce systems of advantage and disadvantage.
Students who complete the 18-credit program will learn to think analytically; integrate social justice
theory and practice; identify structural constraints and trace their operation
across social, economic, political, cultural, and environmental terrains;
understand the effects of various social and economic policies on the scope and
intensification of inequality; and grasp the complex interrelation of local and
global justice issues.
