Canada pROGRAM dATES
CSUF Campus Instruction: Wed, June 5 –Thurs, June 7
Vancouver arrival: Mon, June 10
Depart Vancouver to US: Tues, June 25
Study Abroad Canada Application
Early Deadline: December 4, 2023
Final Deadline: March 4, 2
About the program
This Study Abroad Program offers experiential learning via both field experiences and service learning during which students will take what we learn during classroom-based activities and apply it to the social context of Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Vancouver offers an ideal social landscape for this type of examination as it is Western Canada’s largest city, is known as a multicultural beacon of tolerance and inclusivity, has a rich history and is home to varied indigenous and immigrant populations.
Students will learn from local experts and community organizations about the ways the country of Canada, province of British Columbia, and City of Vancouver conceptualize, navigate, and respond to family violence. Specifically, we will examine intimate partner violence, child abuse, and elder abuse and neglect.
Program Highlights
- Open to all majors
- Scholarships available
- Earn 6 units of upper division GE and/or elective credit
- Course taught by CSUF faculty
- Canada Place & Canadian Trail
- Group walking of the Stanley Park Seawall walk
- Visit Burnaby Village Museum
- Visit to the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia
- Visit to Hyatt Regency “Wall for Women”
- Visit to Family Services of Greater Vancouver
- Academic experience with the Vancouver support organizations
- Service learning experiences
- Excursion to Grouse Mountain Gondola Ride
Program Fee (tentative)
$1500 - $2,000
The program fee includes the following items:
- Housing
- All program academic field trips
- All-access ground transportation travel pass
- Group lunches
- International travel insurance
The student fee does not include the following:
- CSUF books and tuition
- Round-trip airfare
- Passport or visa fees if applicable
- Daily personal meals and other expenses
Program Courses
SOCI 385: Family Violence (3 units) [G.E. – D.3]
In examining family violence through a sociological perspective, this course develops your capacity to think deeply and critically about a variety of forms of family violence. Specifically, in this course, we focus most closely on intimate partner violence, child maltreatment (neglect, psychological, physical, and sexual), and elder abuse. We will study the ways these forms of family violence are understood, explained, studied, and prevented.
Traveling to Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada offers us a unique experience. Not only will we be learning the academic content and knowledge related to family violence, but this experience will facilitate a comparative lens by which to examine the ways family violence exists, is navigated, and is sanctioned within different places and communities. We will engage with the history, geographic sites, social service organizations, and symbols specific to Canada to grow our understanding of the complicated and ever-evolving dynamics related to family violence.
SOCI 356: Social Inequalities (3 units) [GE D.3 & Z]
This course is an investigation into the unequal distribution of experiences, resources, and opportunities. Broadly, we will explore why social inequality persists, how it operates, and the social costs. Vancouver, Western Canada’s largest city, is known as a multicultural beacon of tolerance and inclusivity. Additionally, it has a rich history and is home to varied indigenous and immigrant populations. Vancouver holds a unique mix of European, Asian, and First Nations influences. In fact, Vancouver is the most Asian metropolis outside of Asia and First Nations populations, such as the Coast Salish and Nuu-chah-Nulth peoples, have lived in British Columbia for over 10, 000 years. Thus, students also will learn to apply an intersectional analytical framework to assess the impact of inequality on members of targeted groups (e.g., based on race, class, indigeneity, and sexuality). We will use existing research, as well as our experiences in Vancouver, to challenge our understanding of how inequality “works” and to debunk myths around social inequality.
Faculty
Dr. Devon Thacker Thomas
Sociology, CSUF
Devon Thacker Thomas is an Associate Professor of Sociology at CSUFand formerly served as a Sociology undergraduate advisor and the department Vice Chair. She teaches courses on gender, crime, and victimization as well as research-based (Research Applications) and student support-based courses (Peer Mentorship) within Sociology. Her research interests include: Intimate partner, family, and interpersonal violence; Gender and victimization; Law enforcement and the criminal legalsystem; and Corrections, penology, and reentry. More recently, she has been integrating her passion for teaching and student support into her research by undertaking program development and evaluation. Dr. Thacker Thomas has been to Vancouver several times and has taught the coursesoffered in this program for over nine year.
