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SHIFT Centre for Social TransformationMarch 2025 |
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Last week, the geese returned home—a beautiful way to communicate the arrival of spring. We can look at our calendars, or notice the days getting longer, but the more holistic evidence comes in this form: a cross-species recognition that we made it through another winter, together.
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Real world learning, real world impact: Panel & Art Exhibit for SHIFT's Internship Program |
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Thursday, April 10 @ 5-7 p.m., LB 145 (SHIFT Centre) Join us for an inspiring celebration of community-based experiential learning at Concordia through the SHIFT Internship Program! Through hands-on experiences in the community sector, participating undergraduate and graduate students deepen their learning while making meaningful contributions to socially transformative initiatives. Discover the impact of the program firsthand through presentations, art exhibits, and conversations. Together, we’ll celebrate the power of experiential learning to build deeper collaborations, bridge university and community knowledge, and equip the next generation of changemakers. Light refreshments will be served. |
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Other events at our space Wednesday, March 19 @ 6-8 p.m. A discussion on the links between university structures, governance, privatization and how to revolutionize these institutions from the bottom up. This panel will explore power dynamics, and the repression experienced on campuses. Whose interests guide descision making? Whose interests do they serve? Ka-artehan: a monthly Filipinx/a/o artist tambayan with Ka Collective Thursday, March 20 @ 6pm Whether you call yourself an artist or flirting with the title, come and hang out with other Filipinx/a/o creatives: shoot the shit, talk process or just have some merienda while you meet other people. Kita kits! Gaza as a Compass for Thinking: keynote lecture by Dr. Alia Al-Saji Friday, March 21 @ 5-8 p.m. What is it to take Gaza as the compass for thinking? What might it mean to resist and refuse the inevitability of this colonial duration? Drawing on concepts of qahr (suffering, oppression), ashla’a dismemberment), shaheed (martyr, witness) and sumud (steadfastness), found in Palestinian, Arab and Muslim thinking—and on thinkers from Fanon to Shariati, Azoulay, and Meari—I reconfigure an approach to philosophy that might begin to do justice to Palestine. Saturday, March 22 @ 12-8 p.m. Join us this upcoming Saturday, March 22nd 2025 for our QTBIPOC Community Healing Day! This event is about prioritizing holistic healing and collective care for racialized queer & trans people. Scroll to see all details. All sessions are offered at zero-cost for community members. Beyond Bilingualism: Revitalization & Preservation of Indigenous Languages Wednesday, March 26 @ 6-8 p.m. Join us for a thought-provoking event focused on the importance of preserving and revitalizing Indigenous languages. Learn from experts in the field, engage in discussions, and explore innovative strategies to ensure these languages thrive for generations to come. This in-person event is a unique opportunity to be part of a movement towards linguistic diversity and cultural preservation. Intergenerational Resistance: A discussion with Kelechi Okafor Thursday, March 27 @ 12–2 p.m. In this discussion, Jade Almeida (Harambec) will engage Kelechi Okafor in a conversation about intergenerational knowledge, healing, and resistance, drawing inspiration from Kelechi’s work and experiences. As Harambec continues to shape spaces for Black women and non-binary people in Montreal, this exchange will explore what can be learned from Kelechi’s multidisciplinary approach to storytelling, movement, and advocacy. Defund Conversations Towards Abolition Friday, April 11 @ 6-8 p.m. Join us for the launch of the book Defund: Conversations Towards Abolition (Haymarket Books, 2024), a collection of interviews with abolitionist organizers and thinkers that considers how #defund can bridge the divide between reform and abolition, becoming a catalyst to help organizers realize abolitionist visions. The book launch will feature an author talk by Dr. Calvin John Smiley, in conversation with Freeman from the Termite Collective, followed by a Q&A. |
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"Letters, in all of their diverse manifestations, keep bringing love back into the centre. They remind us of the deep joyfulness of moving towards truth together. Connect us with love that is anchored in justice, power, resistance and creativity, love that is anchored in the inner knowing of our own and others’ self-worth. Learning that is anchored in humility." |
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As part of last edition of the SHIFT Journal, former Program Coordinator Stephanie reflects on her time at SHIFT and the honour it is to witness dozens of kinds of love languages working towards various social transformation efforts every day: |
Testimonials from the SHIFT Internship program,which connects Concordia students and socially transformative initiatives across Montreal through paid, mutually-beneficial experiential learning opportunities. |
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The SHIFT internship program "brought me out of my academic funk because I could actually do projects that were exciting. I could actually do a project for the sake of helping the community and not because I need to write a paper." —Akinyi Oluoch MA in Drama & Creative Arts Therapy Assistant Program Coordinator, Black Healing Centre |
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Let's stay in touch!Come see us: LB 145 |
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