Questions about the causes and costs of injustice in society are often asked first – and often most potently -- in literature. So literature has often had a profound effect on social politics, literally changing the world it writes about. If you are interested in how literature engages with the politics of gender, race, class, religion, and other aspects of social justice, consider building your program around the following courses.
- ENGL 2100Y: Perilous Realms: Medieval and Renaissance Literature
- ENGL 2703H: Literature and Social Justice
- ENGL 2705H Literature and the Environment
- ENGL 3121H: Love, Honour, and the Pursuit of Happiness: Medieval Romance
- ENGL 3123H: Angels and Demons, Shepherds and Shrews: Medieval Drama
- ENGL 3125H: Desire, Sex, and Death on the Road to Canterbury:Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales
- ENGL 3304Y/3305H: Modern American Fiction
- ENGL 3306Y/3307H: Latino/Latina American Literature
- ENGL 3308Y/3309H: African American Literature
- ENGL 3451H: Contemporary African Fiction
- ENGL 3481H: Indigenous Fiction
- ENGL 3483H: Indigenous Poetry
- ENGL 3604Y/3605H: Theories of Race and Ethnicity
- ENGL 3609H: Sick Lit
- ENGL 3700Y/3701H: Writing the Body
- ENGL 3707H: Literature and Globalization
- ENGL 4450Y/4451H Postcolonial Texts
- ENGL-4121H: Gender, Monstrosity and the Other (Advanced Studies in Middle English Literature)
Other programs that offer courses in social justice include Gender and Women’s Studies, Cultural Studies and Indigenous Studies. Of particular interest to English students engaged with these topics will be:
- WMST 2210H Gender and Popular Culture
- INDG 2300Y Introduction to Key Concepts and Issues in Post-Colonial Theory
- WMST 2410H The Revolution Will be Recorded: Popular Culture, Gender, and Social Movements
- CUST 2552H Popular Culture and Modern Thought: Gender, Globalization, and the Virtual
- WMST 3860H Gender, Race and Class
A plan of study built around studies in social justice will be valuable to anyone thinking about a career in social work, law, politics, medicine, or NGO management, as well as anyone planning graduate work in Women’s Studies, Cultural Studies, or English.
For more information about the study of literature and social justice, contact englishadvice@trentu.ca.