Students in other disciplines can pursue their interests and enhance their Brock degree by obtaining a minor in Black Studies, Critical Animal Studies, Critical Criminology, and Sociology. Interested students should contact the undergraduate academic advisor.
Minor in Black Studies
Brock University is located in the heart of the Niagara Region, a major hub for border-crossing in previous centuries by freedom-seeking enslaved people of African descent. The region’s rich heritage — which includes the Underground Railroad, civil rights activism, and Afro-Caribbean migration — makes it an ideal place to offer students both academic- and community-based learning opportunities in Black Studies.
A student pursuing a minor in Black Studies must complete 4.0 credits from a bank of courses in programs such as Sociology, Critical Criminology, Canadian Studies, Child and Youth Studies, English, French, History, Labour Studies, Political Science, and Women’s and Gender Studies. Crossing interdisciplinary boundaries, Black Studies focuses on Africa and the worldwide Africana diaspora across time and space.
- SOCI 2P47: Racialization and Society
- SOCI 3P45: Sociology of African Canadians
- HIST 2P51: Piracy and Ransoming in African History
- LABR 2P92: Hip Hop and the Urban Working Class
- WGST 2P93: Beauty, Bodies and Cultures
Minor in Critical Animal Studies
Critical Animal Studies focuses on exploring the role of animals in human societies through a sociological lens. This area of study draws on multidisciplinary research to develop new ways of thinking about human-animal relationships, animal cultures, representation, and ethics.
A student pursuing a minor in Critical Animal Studies must complete 4.0 credits from a bank of courses in programs such as Sociology, Critical Criminology, Child and Youth Studies, English, Political Science, Tourism, and Visual Arts. Courses explore the role and treatment of animals in society from the perspectives of animal justice, inequality and speciesism.
- SOCI 2P85: Multispecies Justice
- SOCI 3P65: Animals and the Law
- CRIM 3Q94: Environmental and Green Criminology
- POLI 3Q90: Animals, Sex and Power
- TOUR 3P96: Tourism, Animals and Ethics
Minor in Critical Criminology
Critical Criminology focuses on a critical analysis of the criminal justice system, youth offenders, law and punishment. This area of study pushes the boundaries of criminological thinking, examining law as social control and raising ideas about social harm.
A student pursuing a minor in Critical Criminology must complete 4.0 credits from a bank of courses exploring topics of law, abolition, incarceration, punishment, surveillance, Indigenous criminalization, and sex work.
- CRIM 2P33: Law and Social Justice
- CRIM 2P61: Foundations of Critical Criminology
- CRIM 3P61: Sociology of Punishment
- CRIM 3P67: Crime and the Media
- CRIM 3Q93: Regulating and Policing Sex Work
Minor in Sociology
Sociology students are encouraged to develop and employ their sociological imagination to examine the complex social world, relationships and the human condition.
A student pursuing a minor in Sociology must complete 4.0 credits from a bank of courses exploring topics of gender, sexuality, race and racism, globalization, immigration, class, work and the economy, and education.
- SOCI 2P22: Education and Society
- SOCI 2P51: Sociology of Gender
- SOCI 3P56: Sociology of Sport
- SOCI 3P98: Domestic and Intimate Violence
- SOCI 3P99: Social Dimensions of Mental Health and Illness
