Exploring Difference and Power (EDP)

New Name: EDP = ED

Exploring Difference and Power (EDP) replaced the previous name of the Engaging Diversity (ED) Way.  EDP conveys the scope and purpose of this Way more clearly to students and instructors than ED. For more information, please visit the EDP Common Questions page.

What

Exploring Difference and Power (EDP) courses offer a rigorous analysis of difference and inequality within social, political, and cultural domains. EDP courses study how social groups produce, perpetuate, and challenge structures of difference in the context of power relationships. EDP courses may examine social organization and individual or group experience of difference along multiple intersecting axes, including race, ethnicity, class, religion, gender, sexualities, and abilities.

Why

In a globally interconnected world, it is ethically and practically crucial to develop an awareness and understanding of differences.  Gaining knowledge about historical structures and contemporary dynamics of difference and power will deepen your understanding of the social contexts that frame human communication, interaction, and collaboration, and enhance your ability to respond to cultural challenges in ways that seek justice and advance equity.

How

Courses that fulfill the EDP Way are offered in many departments and inter-departmental programs, including Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity (CSRE), History, Anthropology, Religious Studies, Sociology, English, and Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (FGSS).

Choose

You’ll find many courses that will allow you to explore EDP courses, but here are a handful:

• Crime and Punishment in America
• Introduction to Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
• Social Class, Race, Ethnicity, and Health
• The Politics of Sex: Work, Family, and Citizenship in Modern American Women's History
• Transforming Self and Systems: Crossing Borders of Race, Nation, Gender, Sexuality, and Class

See Exploring Difference and Power Courses in Explore Courses.