My social justice education throughout the MA Human Rights and Social Justice program has profoundly shaped the way I understand inequality, justice and resistance. Each course offered not only academic knowledge but also meaningful opportunities to reflect on my own positionality, challenge assumptions, and understand how the meaning of justice differs from person to person.
In this program, one of the most transformative courses was HRSJ 5710 – Food, Art, and Community Empowerment, where I learned to see food not simply as nourishment but as a means of struggle, identity, and connection. Through Vandana Shiva’s book, I explored how corporate food systems reinforce colonialism, dispossession, and ecological harm. My article review and presentation on Food-Systems-Racism: From Mistreatment to Transformation deepened my understanding of how race, class, and capitalism shape access to food and land. The experiential learning visits to the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc Food Sovereignty Garden, KFPC Butler Urban Farm, and The Stir grounded classroom theories in lived practices of resilience and community effort.
My understanding of social justice further expanded in HRSJ 5120—Settler Colonialism, Decolonization, and Responsibility, where I examined settler colonialism not as a historical event but as an ongoing system that structures land relationships, law, and identity. Reading Unsettling Canada by Arthur Manuel and Ronald Derrickson challenged me to confront uncomfortable truths about displacement, extraction, and the erasure of Indigenous rights. For my final project, I created a handbook connecting all 46 articles of UNDRIP to the constitution of Nepal, a project that pushed me to reflect deeply on my responsibilities as someone from the Global South engaging with decolonization in a Canadian context. This course encouraged me to think not only about systemic injustice but also about my role in fostering meaningful dialogue, supporting Indigenous sovereignty, and practicing relational accountability.
In HRSJ 5140 – Art, Media, and Dissent, I explored how feminist movements use creativity and media to mobilize resistance and reshape public consciousness. Through weekly art projects, I learned to express social justice concerns visually and conceptually—an experience that challenged me to think beyond academic writing and engage more intuitively with activism. The group presentation on a film proposal demonstrated the power of visual storytelling in shaping collective memory and political imagination. This course taught me that art is not only expression but also a political act—one that can dismantle dominant narratives, uplift marginalized voices, and inspire social change.
Across these courses, my learning was enriched by class discussions, community engagement, and opportunities for creative and critical reflection. I began to see how systems of power operate across food systems, media spaces, artistic expression, and colonial structures and how communities resist these forces through solidarity and collective action. My coursework has taught me that social justice requires more than theoretical understanding, it requires empathy, self-reflection, creativity, and an ongoing transformation. By combining academic analysis with experiential learning, I have developed not only a deeper understanding of inequality but also a stronger sense of responsibility to contribute meaningfully to social justice movements locally and globally.
