Department of Global Development Studies

The Queen’s Cuban Culture and Society course (DEVS 305) remains open for applications!  

Applications will be accepted until October 31, 2017 for DEVS 305 "Cuban Culture and Society", an interdisciplinary course six-unit course which takes place at Queen’s during the winter semester and at the University of Havana in May 2018.  Details and application forms are available on the DEVS website http://www.queensu.ca/devs/undergraduate/international-study-program-cuba

For more information, please do not hesitate to drop into the DEVS office located in Mackintosh-Corry Hall, B401 or send an email to develstu@queensu.ca

DEVS 305 students in Havana, Cuba in May 2017

DEVS MA Student Successfully Defends MA Thesis

Congratulations to Laura Myers for successfully defending her thesis entitled "When You Change the Life of a Woman, You Change a Nation": Analyzing the Experiences of Indigenous Women's Organizations and Organizers in Canada on Monday August 28, 2017.

Thank you to committee members:  Dr. Marc Epprecht (Chair), Dr. Villia Jefremovas (Supervisor), Janice Hill (External Examiner), and Professor Robert Lovelace (Internal Examiner).

The Departments of Global Development Studies and Languages, Literatures, and Culture are happy to announce the appointment of Dr. Michael Doxtater as the Queen’s National Scholar (QNS) in Indigenous Studies: Land- and Language-Based Pedagogies and Practices.

Dr. Doxtater is an award-winning documentarian and scholar of international stature. A member of the Haudenosaunee Nation, and fluent in Kanyen'keha (Mohawk), Dr. Doxtater has both a deeply-rooted understanding of traditional oral knowledge and a clearly articulated vision for the future of lndigenous Studies at Queen's. Involved in grassroots organizing around environmental protection, he is highly regarded as an art practitioner, community activist, educator, strategic planner, and administrator. He possesses extensive professional and scholarly experience in addition to his status as a healer and mediator within his own communities.

The university's reputation is part of what attracted Dr. Doxtater to Queen’s.

“When I opened the email and saw it was a posting at Queen's University...It's one of those universities that has a certain place in the higher learning sphere. It is a first-class university,” he says.

His ambition is to develop a Centre of Excellence Dedicated to Aboriginal Recovery (CEDAR) that would place Queen's at the forefront in the growing field of applied, land-based pedagogies.

“Having Queen's be the platform for this initiative makes sense because of the pilot project’s orientation, which is working with the Iroquois community,” he adds. “With their traditional territory stretching from the Montréal area to the Six Nations territory in southern Ontario, we are geographically in the middle.”

In his free time, Dr. Doxtater stays in shape through visits to the gym, daily runs, and Wasáse – a type of tai chi based on Native dance forms. He is working on selling a screenplay he wrote, and plays guitar.

The QNS program was established in 1985. Since then, more than 100 QNS appointments have been made in a wide variety of disciplines, and the appellation of Queen’s National Scholar has become synonymous with academic excellence.

To learn more about the Queen's National Scholar program, click here.

Laura Myers, DEVS MA Candidate won the CASID Institutional Membership Prize, which is awarded annually to the best original essay by a student in the area of international development studies.

The Prize includes $1,000 cash and consideration of the essay in the regular editorial process of the Canadian Journal of Development Studies (CJDS). 

Laura presented her paper entitled "Liberal Multiculturalism and Its Effects on Indigenous Peoples" on Friday June 2, 2017 as part of the Colonizing and Decolonizing Development in Canada and Abroad session.