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Explore Our Programs
waterloo
Faculty of Arts | Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies
Our world faces pressing questions of global justice in relation to issues such as armed conflict, human migration, economic inequality and environmental change. To understand and address these issues, no single disciplinary perspective will suffice. The MA in Religion, Culture and Global Justice was developed precisely to offer students a crucial interdisciplinary space of reflection. Alongside questions of policy, the program fosters critical analysis of cultural and religious processes as well as their political implications in a globalizing world.
Our faculty, drawn from Laurier’s departments of Religion and Culture and Global Studies, are specialists in disciplines across the social sciences and humanities and conduct research around the world. We bring our diverse knowledge and expertise into the classroom and to our student supervision to foster transformative learning and the spirit of free inquiry.
We encourage students to interrogate conventions and develop new modes of ethical engagement. In doing so, we seek to cultivate the critical skills and the knowledge that students need to succeed both within and beyond the university.
The interdisciplinary nature of the program prepares students to move into professional arenas within and outside of academia like international relations and public policy, interreligious dialogue and peace-building, refugee and migrant resettlement, institutional human rights and diversity policy, journalism and communications, as well as programming on multiculturalism and community development.
Program Options
We offer two options in our MA in Religion, Culture, and Global Justice: a coursework option and a thesis option.
- Coursework option: you are required to complete four half-credit electives and a major research project for credit in RE698.
- Thesis option: you are required to complete four half-credit electives and prepare an acceptable thesis proposal, thesis and oral defence for credit in RE699.
In addition, whichever option you choose, you are required to complete RE693: Religions and Cultures in Global Contexts. This course provides a common grounding in influential methods and theories for the academic study of religious, cultural, and global studies. In addition, RE690: Colloquium is required to stimulate intellectual engagement within and outside of the university community and for professionalization beyond the MA program.
Contact Us:
Ali Zaidi, Graduate Coordinator
General Inquiries
Info for Current Students
Department of Religion and CultureFunding
- Winners of major external awards (OGS, QEII and Tri-Council) may be eligible for top-up funding which includes the Dean’s Graduate Scholarship (total value exceeds $10,000).
- Eligible domestic students admitted to study on a full-time basis are entitled to one year of funding totalling, on average, $14,500. This support may be made up of teaching assistantships, internal/external scholarships, and/or faculty-funded studentships or research assistantships.
- A list of all funding opportunities available to Laurier graduate students, including information about OGS, QEII and Tri-Council, is available on our graduate funding webpage.
Research Focus
Our faculty have a number of research interests including:
- study and politics of religion and culture
- globalization and global justice
- peace and conflict
- religion and international development
Requirements
- A four-year (honours) undergraduate degree (or equivalent).
- A minimum B average in your fourth year of undergraduate study.
- Applications are reviewed by the graduate program committee, which considers all prior university grades, statement of research interests, a writing sample and letters of reference.
Careers
Our graduates have gone on to work in education, research, business and social services. Examples of jobs held by our graduates include:
- Bilingual results coordinator.
- Child and youth diversity coordinator.
- Records clerk.
- Research assistant.
- Teaching and research.
- Position at an NGO.
- Policy in the areas of multiculturalism, heritage, immigration, and global affairs.
- Nonprofit advocacy and organization: community development, refugee settlement, arts and culture.
- Journalism.
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