Diversity: Issues and Solutions

This course will examine the concept of 'Diversity' as it applies, mainly, to the large metropolitan centers in Canada like Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. This course introduces students to the issues related to diversity and social justice in the field of community justice and focuses on providing students with the theoretical grounding to enable them to understand the various aspects of diversity and justice as well as the development and application of the skills that will enhance their ability to work with and support diverse clients and personnel in the field. The understanding of 'Diversity' and the values surrounding the concept and the debate engendered by activists, academics, writers, critics and artists will be placed within the framework of social justice discourse and human rights ideology. In this course students will address specific aspects of diversity including gender, race, sexual orientation, ability, class, etc., as well as the ways in which the intersections of these sites of difference affect people's lived realty in society and also affect their experiences in the justice system.
The course will support students' development of skills that will facilitate a critical engagement with these issues, develop a clear understanding of the impacted groups and potential strategies of community empowerment. Further, this course will provide students with opportunities to explore and critically examine their personal identity locations and the ways in which those identities inform ones understanding of diversity and difference. Self-awareness and sensitivity are essential skills when providing justice based services to diverse populations and can guard against unnecessary bias and stereotyping that emerges from lack of knowledge and understanding of these differences.
The course will demonstrate by way of lectures, small group discussions, activities, critical reviews, readings and examination of policy issues, ways of experiencing and understanding diversity as it relates to the voice and status of the other when compared to the mainstream or dominant culture. A practical method of applying the concepts will be reached by way drawing from literature, language, oral traditions, contemporary art and music to discussions surrounding the issues of national identity, migration, multiculturalism, indigenous rights, anti-racist education and the cultural politics of race, class, sexual orientation and gender.