Whitman students have always cared about making a difference. Now, they can formally integrate that passion into their studies with the new Social Justice Concentration launched in Fall 2024. This concentration can be added to any major, allowing students to draw together social justice issues across disciplines like Psychology, Politics, Film and Media Studies, and more.
The Social Justice Concentration is led by faculty members including Lisa Uddin, Associate Professor of Art History and Paul Garrett Fellow.
“We’re providing a flexible but structured pathway,” says Uddin, who’s teaching the first course, Introduction to Social Justice (SJ 110). “Students will study systems of oppression, interrogate their own relationship to injustice, and learn models for liberation and change, all while connecting theory and history to hands-on practice.”
Introduction to Social Justice lays the groundwork for students by covering core topics like structural oppression, power and positionality, and social movements.
“This course is all about developing our social, political and moral imaginations towards liberation and justice,” says Uddin. “We study conceptual tools, historical precedents and ourselves in the classroom with the goal of making knowledgeable and valuable contributions to social change.”
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