In Anthropology & Sociology 345: Global Justice Movements, Professor Rusty Shekha brings theory and practice together in the study of human rights, social movements, and economics. In addition to more traditional classroom practices, Dr. Shekha connects his class to practitioners to enhance his students’ learning experience. In fall 2013, Dr. Shekha had a number of virtual visitors to his class including:
Megan Keaveney ’11 Skype’d in to a session of the class to discuss her experiences in the Peace Corps. Megan worked in Jamaica doing HIV education and prevention. She discussed what working in the Peace Corps entailed and how humanitarian organizations can contribute to global justice goals.
Jonathan Luna also paid a virtual visit to SA 345 via Skype. Formerly active with the National Student Farm Worker Alliance, Jonathan currently works with Pollinization a group that split off from the Beehive Design Collective, both organizations are non-profits that use media to communicate stories of resistance to corporate globalization. Jonathan works with mining groups in the highlands of Colombia to air their grievances through documentary films. He spoke with SA 345 as a way of exploring issues critiquing global capitalism.
See some of Jonathan’s work:
- The History of the Quimbo in Colombia: Dammed or Damned?
- Damming Magdalena: Emgesa Threatens Colombian Communities
Dr. Shekha also invited members of Ohio Fair Food, an organization of people that actively support the Coalition of Immokalee (CIW) Workers Campaign for Fair Food, to come to his class. The CIW is a migrant farmworker led organization fighting for their rights in the tomato fields of Florida and beyond. It led to the class organizing the 1st Denison Fair Food Festival featuring a CIW farmworker and a Student/Farmworker Alliance (S/FA) member from Immokalee, Florida and local nonprofit organizations, farms and businesses. Students from the course then went on in spring 2014 to make the Denison Student Farmworker Alliance (DUSFA) chapter an officially recognized student organization. Last fall we did the 2nd Fair Food & Campus Sustainability Festival and the DUSFA is already beginning to plan the third.
Global Justice Movements will be offered again in Fall 2015 and Dr. Shekha will be inviting more practitioners and global activists to participate in class.