Social Justice Analysis Summer Program

The department of Sociology would like to invite you to study abroad on our Social Justice Analysis Practicum (SOC 207). As part of our Social Justice Analysis concentration, the Department has created opportunities for students to undertake community-based learning courses while studying abroad. Students will enroll in courses at the host universities and participate in community-based learning social justice service, advocacy, research, or policy activities with appropriate community nonprofit organizations. This pilot program is available through six study-abroad programs offered by the GU Office of International Programs, in the following countries:

- Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
- Dakar, Senegal
- Alanya, Turkey
- Quito, Ecuador
- Santiago, Chile

The Sociology Program worked with the Office of International Programs and the Center for Social Justice to develop a template for course expectations to meet the department's requirement for its Social Justice Analysis Practicum (SOC 207) course. Sites were selected from among Georgetown's study abroad programs based on the capacity of the host institutions to meet our expectations for a quality educational experience that is well-connected to ongoing social justice work in the host community. These expectations include: appropriate orientation to the local community; explicit curriculum content related to social justice and the work being done in the community; reading, analysis, and reflection exercises connecting the community work with the academic literature and research; at least 60 hours of work in the community; and clearly articulated learning goals that include academic content, social justice theory and practice, and intercultural sensitivity. The sites have demonstrated curriculum strength and quality community partnerships through which to implement this initiative. We expect that GU students participating in this program will engage in powerful, transformative work being done at the community level and will experience a tremendous learning opportunity through which they will deepen their understanding of social and cultural challenges against social justice, and their own personal responses to these challenges. The Social Justice Analysis concentration resulted from the department's deliberations over its vision and mission, prompted by the College Curriculum Reform Project. Initiated in 2001, the Department articulated a vision of itself as fostering in our students "a lifelong engagement with questions of social justice. We bring theoretical and methodological rigor to understanding complex social and cultural realities both local and global." This Study Abroad social justice initiative through the Social Justice Practicum helps us to make real the department's mission "to foster sociological imaginations that envision a more just society."

For more information about the Social Justice Analysis concentration click here.