Tasnia Mozammel
Program of Study: Double major in Sociology and DTS
College: University College
Year of Study: 3
Hometown: Dhaka, Bangladesh
I took DTS200 over the summer of my first year. What drew me to the lectures was how much the study applied to my life. I come from a family of expats and have lived with my parents in Bangladesh, Canada, and Bahrain. My father (currently residing in Bahrain) spent the vast majority of his life in the UK, and my mother (currently on contract in Shanghai) went to boarding school in Singapore. Thus, growing up, I embodied a transnational outlook that strengthened during my time in DTS. The program enables students to possess a unique perspective through a myriad of multinational lenses, and develop an understanding of how cultures, traditions, and lived experiences are transmitted to succeeding generations regardless of locality. What additionally made my experience in DTS notable was the faculty. Every individual faculty member is driven to help students succeed, both in transferring the value of the studies’ purposes and in assisting students moving forward. During the summer of my second year (2019), I decided to apply for a summer exchange program in the Czech Republic. This was made possible due to an exceptionally detailed reference letter provided by Kevin O’Neill. Although the program focusses on Social Sciences and Humanities, I would recommend DTS to anyone as DTS courses concentrate on a combination of social, economic, and political aspects that create a society or diaspora.
Saba Javed
Program of Study: Double major in DTS and Peace, Conflict and Justice; minor in Near and Middle Easter Civilizations
College: University College
Year of Study: 3
I first learned of the Diaspora and Transnational Studies program in the summer between my first and second year while studying abroad in the Coexistence in the Middle East program. When posed with the question of how to remediate the fraught relationship between the different identities in Israel and Palestine, I was immediately drawn to the unique way this conflict manifested itself in Diaspora communities. Upon researching this subject further, I stumbled upon the Diaspora and Transnational Studies program at UofT. In a refreshing approach, DTS spins existing theories on their heads and asks its students to constantly challenge their assumptions about the world as they interact with it.
As a part of the DTS 200-level course, we’ve pushed past the tired Eurocentric narrative of popular political coursework and have covered contemporary theories on everything from nationalism and remittances to yoga culture and Oprah’s impact. Of the many social science and humanities programs offered at UofT, I am grateful I found DTS, as it has shown me that there is space in academia for the everyday, the human, and the emotional elements of political science – elements which are too often pushed aside in traditional programs.
In DTS200 – unlike many other courses – our discussions in lecture are lively, full of debate, and guided by a professor and TAs whose care for the material is visible each week. While the academic language or pace of many courses can be a barrier to success, I feel encouraged to ask questions – from the obscene to the most basic – in DTS. In this course, the support for students is viscerally felt. Based on my experience, I would recommend this program to any student looking into Political Science; Peace, Conflict and Justice; or International Relations. Even if you are a student outside of social science or humanities, this course is one of the most memorable ones you will take at UofT. Joud is a PhD candidate at the Department for the Study of Religion and the Centre for Diaspora and Transnational Studies. Her current research provides an ethnographic account of how life in Dubai shapes Muslim women’s subjectivities, affective relationships, and ethical ideals. Joud’s academic research interests include the anthropologies of Islam, neoliberal governmentality, and transnational migration.
Iane Romero
Program of Study: Major in Diaspora and Transnational Studies; Minor in Latin American Studies; Specialist Program in Peace, Conflict and Justice Studies
College: University College
Year of Study: 3
Before I took DTS200, I didn’t even know what diaspora was, but I decided to take it under the recommendation of my college’s career advisor. She really sold me on the program, and she was right. Right away, it was my favourite class. I really felt I could engage with the material, and I felt like I fit right into the program. My favourite moment was doing the final assignment for DTS200. It allowed us to explore any topic at all that interested us (as long as it was related to Diaspora and Transnationalism) and pursue it in any medium we wanted. This idea really excited me because it allowed me to think of my own life, and my relationships to what it meant to be Latin American in Toronto. It allowed me to develop story telling in a way that felt very natural to me and felt very personal and accessible. It has honestly been the first assignment at U of T that didn’t feel like a chore. I was super excited to work on it every day, and make it amazing. I would definitely recommend DTS to other students because it lets you dissect topics like identity, belonging, and exclusion, through analyzing case studies like Oprah, the Filipino fashion industry, or armoured vehicles. It provides a whole new lens to look at the world and understand human experience.
