Social Justice

Students on this pathway will embark on a reflective journey drawing upon decolonising, feminist, and ethical perspectives on social justice, forging transformative outputs as agents of change.

You will engage with key societal challenges, for example Covid-19 as a social crisis with impact on gender and racial identities.

The pathway will allow you to monitor and critically evaluate policies and human rights treaties, and produce and disseminate digitally fluent, international and sustainable project findings.

The Social Justice Pathway is based upon Dr Jane Krishnadas' underpinning research as a transformative methodology which centres the experience of those most marginalised in society, for us to understand how we can develop pathways to transform justice.

The module will begin by focusing on your role as an agent of change. We will reflect upon how we position ourselves in a changing society - particuarly in times of crisis such as the Covid-19 pandemic - and understand and experience different levels of discrimination or privileges based on our identities.

We will:

• consider our capacity in relation to the resources which we have access to - including money, property or skills - and how they may be valued differently in society;
• consider our location, in terms of geography and nationality, and whether our work is located in the private or public sphere, and to see how this impacts our mobility in society;
• reflect on our own position in relation to Rawl's theory of justice - and critique from feminsist and decolonising perspectives;
• listen to different voices of experience from local organisations - such as Savana, New Era, and the Staffordshire Association of Black Lives Equality, and then reflect on their local work within the national picture - questioning how voices such as Bibaa Henry, Nicole Smallman and Sabina Nessa are silenced through the intersection of race, gender and the public and private divide of violence;
• examine the UK's duties under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; Civil and Political Rights; Economic and Social and Cultural Rights; Women; Racial Rights; Disability; LGBTQ+; Immigtration and Asylum; Environmental rights; and Health rights.

In the first year you will develop a digital project to disseminate information to raise consciousness and awareness on these issues, and in the second year you will develop an active engagement project as a Community Legal Companion. In the final year you will engage internationally with organisations based in India and Kenya.

In the second year we will build upon your orientation to local social justice issues, the Sustainable Development Goals and the United Nations Conventions on Human Rights, to develop national research and strategic interventions on social justice issues.