Conrad Grebel University College at the University of Waterloo is pleased to be offering a new course titled “Refugees and Forced Migration” in Winter 2016. This course will assist students in understanding and responding to the current global refugee crisis.
The course will be taught by Marlene Epp, a professor in the Peace and Conflict Studies and History departments. Because of her own scholarly expertise and also community involvement in refugee issues, Epp has been wanting to offer this course for some time already. Given the global attention right now to the thousands of Syrians and others in the Middle East and Africa seeking asylum in Europe and elsewhere, the course is timely.
The third-year undergraduate course will draw on case studies from past and present to understand why people flee their homelands to seek refuge elsewhere. It will examine the policies and practices of government and non-governmental agencies in facilitating or blocking such movements of people. The course will also analyze the attitudes, values, and language embedded in civil society as well as the state, which shape local and global responses to refugee movements. Students in the course will become acquainted with organizations that work with refugees in Waterloo Region and will gain a critical understanding of Canada’s role in refugee reception.
"It is current and fitting that such a course be offered by Peace and Conflict Studies at University of Waterloo," said Dean Trevor Bechtel. "The PACS program is motivated by a holistic understanding of peace as a healthy society where communities and individuals flourish.”
Read Epp's op-ed in The Record: Show inclusion, compassion for refugees.
Marlene Epp is also a board member of Mennonite Coalition for Refugee Support.