The Global Development Studies program (GDST) takes an interdisciplinary and critical approach to understanding the processes of economic, political, social, and environmental change that shape relations between people and communities across the world. The program examines global inequalities and their historical and contemporary foundations, while exploring different approaches to development, justice, rights, sustainability, and social transformation. Students are encouraged to examine conventional understandings of development critically and to consider how global processes are experienced and contested in different regions and communities.
Small Group Teaching
The Department of Global Justice and Development at Trent is committed to small group teaching and individual attention to students. Professors know most students by name and provide personalized support for assignments and related work. Enrollment in upper-year courses is generally small, allowing for a vibrant learning environment where students interact closely with their instructors and peers.
Theoretical and Experiential Learning Combined with Critical Thinking
Courses in Global Development Studies are theoretically grounded while also engaging with real-world issues, communities, and policy debates. Our aim is to achieve a balance between theory and practice while challenging students to rethink conventional assumptions about international development. A number of upper-year courses provide opportunities for experiential and community-based learning, field courses, research practica, and independent research. Through this combination of theoretical and experiential learning, students develop critical thinking, research, and analytical skills that prepare them for further study and a wide range of professional settings.
Thematic Focus
The program offers foundational courses that introduce students to global development, inequality, and justice and provide the historical and theoretical grounding necessary for more advanced study.
Students can then pursue particular themes through courses offered by faculty in the Department. These include political economy, capitalism and globalization; colonialism and decolonization; environment, food and climate justice; rights, citizenship and governance; migration, refugees and transnationalism; and courses focused on particular regions of the world. Students can also develop more concentrated areas of study through specializations in Global Migration and Refugee Studies, Latin American Studies, and Global Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Social Change.
Curriculum Map: Global Development Studies
I. Understanding Global Development
Foundations of Global Development, Inequality, and Justice
· GDST 1001H – Human Inequality in Global Perspective (4)
· GDST 1002H – Issues in Global Human Inequality (4)
· GDST-HURI 2001H – Global Justice, Decolonization, and Development
· GDST 3001H – Development, Political Struggle, and Transformation
· GDST 3000Y / 3002H / 4000Y / 4001H – Current Issues in Global Development
II. Thematic Pathways
Political Economy, Capitalism, and Globalization
· GDST 1030H – Globalization, Transnational Corporations, and Global Development (4)
· GDST-ADMN 2030H: Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation in the Global South (4)
· GDST 3220H – Global Political Economy
· GDST 3310H – The Economics of Developing Countries
· GDST 3330H – The Economics of Global Interdependence
· GDST 4100H – Global Development Studies in an Economic Context (4)
· GDST 4111H – Capitalism
· GDST - HURI 4130H– Global Cities and Social Justice
· GDST 4255H – Globalization and the Politics of Work
· GDST 4240Y – Canada, Globalization, and Development
Colonialism, Decolonization, and Area Studies
· GDST 2401H – The Emergence of Modern Africa Before 1880
· GDST 2402H – The Emergence of Modern Africa Since 1880
· GDST 3281H - Government and Politics in the Middle East
· GDST 3282H - Politics of Arab-Israeli Conflict
· GDST 3401H – Southern Africa in the Nineteenth Century
· GDST 3402H – Southern Africa in the Twentieth Century
· GDST 3770Y – Society, Culture, and Development in Africa
· GDST 2422H – Freedom Narratives: Resistance and Survival
· GDST 2471H – Introduction to Latin America
· GDST 3890Y / 3891H – Latin American Economies, Cultures, and Societies
· GDST 3760Y – Bolivian Seminar
· GDST 4770H – Anthropology of Colonialism
Environment, Food, Agrarian Change, and Climate Justice
· GDST 2500H – The World Food System
· GDST 2600H – Peasants, Food, and Agrarian Change
· GDST 3602H – Environment and Development
· GDST 3603H – Environmental Justice
· GDST 3230H – Environmental Problems and Solutions in Small Island Developing States
· GDST 4150Y – Climate Crisis and Radical Hope
· GDST 4610H – Global Environmental Policy
Rights, Citizenship and Governance
· GDST 2005H: Law, Violence, and Transitional Justice
· GDST 2001H: Global Justice, Decolonization, and Development
· GDST 2251H: Gender, Human Rights and Development
· GDST - HURI 3115H: Citizenship Rights and Development (1)
· GDST 3121H: Human Rights: Law and Institutions (1)
· GDST 3880H: Gender, Globalization, Resistance.
· GDST 4230H: Global Social Movements
· GDST 4260H: Global Governance, Human Rights and Social Justice
· GDST 4272H – Liberal Democracy at the Crossroads
· GDST 4750H – Ethnicity, Political Conflict, and Genocide (1)
Migration, Refugees & Transnationalism
· GDST-HURI 3150H: Global Migration (1)
· GDST 4252H: Refugees, Forced Migration, and Experience in Canada
· GDST 4873H: Community-Based Research with Immigrants
Experiential Learning, Research, and Field-Based Practice
· GDST 3700Y / 3710H / 3720H – Community-Based Research
· GDST 4220/4221Y – Rights-based Methods & Research Project; Rights-based Methods and Migration Project (1)
· GDST 4873H – Community-Based Research with Immigrants (1)
· GDST 3800D – Community Development (Ghana)
· GDST 3830H – Field Course in Andean Community Development
· GDST 3850H – Migration Field Course (1)
· GDST 4800Y / 4801H / 4802H – Research Practicum
· GDST 4900Y / 4901H / 4902H – Reading Courses
III. Thematic Pathways and Specializations
(1) Global Migration and Refugee Studies (Specialization)
(2) Latin American Studies (Specialization)
(3) Global Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Social Change (Specialization)
IV. List of Electives
· GDST 3532H – Issues in Global Media
· GDST 3131H – Cinema of Global Change in History
· GDST 3132H – Cinema of Contemporary Global Change
· GDST 2030H – Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation in the Global South
· GDST 3030H – Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation Field Course
· GDST 3050Y – Indigenous and International Community Development
· GDST 4512H Global Health and Human Rights
Course Listing - Global Development Studies