Friday, November 22, 2024

submitted by finka2@augsburg.edu

The Youth Studies minor is an interdisciplinary exploration of young peoples’ lived realities and opportunities to support them. The minor is designed to supplement a student’s current course of study particularly if that student is considering youth work in the future. Youth Studies students develop constructive and critical lenses for understanding society’s perceptions and treatment of young people. These lenses also shed light on young peoples’ processes of constructing meaning and culture. Students in this minor also gain practical skills through experiential learning opportunities. The underlying philosophy of the Youth Studies minor is one that supports young people’s voice and power. Young people are often targeted as a menace to society, but we see young people as gifted and powerful agents of positive change. Students in this minor will learn to take this approach to youth work into their chosen professions.

YST 320: Working with Children & Youth (4 credits, MWF) will be offered this spring with Professor Terrance Kwame-Ross. It will discuss interdisciplinary approaches to working with young people.

Contact Alex (finka2@augsburg.edu) with questions!

Youth Studies Minor & Courses

submitted by truesmit@augsburg.edu

Introducing the Interfaith Institute’s 2024-25 Advancing Religious Pluralism Faculty Fellows!

Margit Berman, Department of Clinical Psychology
Kathleen Clark, Department of Nursing (Chair)
Sarah Degner Riveros, Department of Languages and Cross-Cultural Studies
Daniel Hickox-Young, Department of Physics
Brooklyn Loxtercamp, Department of Nursing
Sergio Madrid-Aranda, Department of Education
Vanessa Marr, Department of Social Work
Kao Nou Moua, Department of Social Work

We are so pleased to welcome this cohort from across academic disciplines. The cohort is led by El-Hibri Endowed Chair Najeeba Syeed and Matthew Maruggi, Chair of Religion and Philosophy Department. In addition to working on curricula in their own fields related to religious pluralism they will be supported for further training in religious pluralism.
We look forward to their campus wide impact!

Interfaith Blog Post

submitted by devries@augsburg.edu

HIS 440: Black Migrations to the United States
Spring 2024

Tuesday / Thursday 9:40 11:20AM (on campus)
Taught by Prof. Ibrahim Hirsi

An estimated 48 million people in the United States identify as Black. Their migrations—forced and voluntary—began in 1619 and continue to the present day. They came from Africa, Europe, the Caribbean, and South and Central America. Many are descendants of enslaved people; others have emerged from places like Somalia and Ethiopia and Ghana and Jamaica. This course provides an overview of the journeys and experiences of African Americans and Black migrants and examines their unbroken ties—imagined and real—to the African continent. The course draws from a wide range of interdisciplinary sources, exposing students to major historical themes and significant Black figures. Through lectures, discussions, and thesis-driven writing assignments, students gain a substantive understanding of the African diaspora’s historical formation and develop critical reading and writing skills essential to successful careers. (Prerequisite: ENL 111)

Prof. Ibrahim Hirsi is finishing his Ph.D. in Immigration History at the University of Minnesota, after working as a journalist for the Sahan Journal, MinnPost, and Minnesota Public Radio. In addition to English, he speaks Somali, Arabic, and Swahili.