MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR

Dr. Rinaldo Walcott

I am pleased to welcome you to our new HSSSJE department which represents the multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary humanities and social sciences in education of both SESE and H&P.  HSSSJE takes seriously the idea that the humanities and social sciences as disciplinary orientations have much to offer education broadly defined, as well as schooling in its most restricted sense. HSSSJE brings together faculty and students engaged in research with a disciplinary focus. It brings together the many sub-fields of the related disciplines and other relevant and cognate multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary fields such as sociology, economics, anthropology, literature and religious studies, disability studies, gender and feminist studies, critical race theory and studies of empire). We provide our students with a solid and broad education in the humanities, social sciences and social justice education.

MISSION STATEMENT

The Department of Humanities, Social Sciences and Social Justice Education (HSSSJE) is a multi- and interdisciplinary graduate program developed from the past programs of History and Philosophy of Education as well as Sociology and Equity Studies in Education.  This new department provides students with critical understandings of the social, historical, cultural, political, economic, and ethical contexts of education, broadly conceived. Based on the diverse intellectual traditions of the humanities and social sciences, the department is committed to multi- and interdisciplinary studies in education, with a focus on history, philosophy, sociology and social justice education. Through humanities, social sciences, and/or social justice education, faculty and students may pursue studies including anti-racism, critical race theory and Indigenous studies; aesthetics, media, and communication; feminist and gender studies; class and poverty studies; francophone studies; post-colonial, diaspora, and transnational studies; queer and disability studies; and/or may follow traditional disciplinary inquiry.

The department's vision is to enable students to explore such questions as "What was, what is, and what should be the relationship between education and society?"  The Department aims to provide graduate students and initial teacher education students with the disciplinary background, substantive knowledge, and theoretical language necessary to raise questions of critical importance to educational theory, practices, and society.

The streams of studies offered in HSSSJE include:

• Critical race and indigenous studies in education
• Feminism and gender studies
• Cultural and philosophical contexts in education
• Aesthetics, communication and media
• Democracy, ethics and social class
  
  
  Please visit HSSSJE Faculty Profiles for individual expertise and biographies.