SPT at Acadia

Explore diverse and innovative issues in the Social and Political Thought (SPT) Graduate Program at Acadia University. Founded in 2007, Acadia’s SPT Program is the first interdisciplinary theory program in the region and the only SPT program east of Ontario.

SPT at Acadia develops the knowledge and skills needed to thrive in an interconnected and evolving world. Students are invited to explore interdisciplinary knowledges and pursue their own unique interests, which they will develop into a completed Masters thesis.

Acadia SPT’s unique approach to building reciprocal connections among academic and non-academic communities enhances intellectual, cultural, social, and economic interdisciplinarity and contributes to an innovative, resilient, culturally rich, and affirming community. The SPT community exemplifies how existing disciplines can learn to branch out and incorporate other disciplines’ core strengths. The SPT faculty come from the Departments of English and Theatre, Environment and Sustainability Studies, Philosophy, Politics, Sociology, and Women’s and Gender Studies.

This diverse community provides a unique potential for reflexive engagement with interdisciplinarity and a breadth of theoretical approaches. While recognizing productive tensions between analytic, critical, contemporary, and continental approaches to theory, the SPT community is committed to a dizzying array of questions concerning: the human, the machine, the animal, the planet, and the viral; technology, information, communication, and media; gender, race, Indigeneity, sexuality, location, and class; ethics, morals, techne, praxis, and poiesis. Our lists and connections are as endless as we are collectively creative. Come join us!

The SPT graduate program at Acadia is small and personalized. You will have ample opportunities to work one-on-one with SPT’s core faculty, expand your writing, reading, and critical thinking repertoire, contribute to exciting seminar work, build interesting and meaningful academic and community connections, and develop important and useful professional skills. Whether it is the graduate student journal (TBD*), the biennial graduate student conference, the SPT colloquium and speaker series, your co-supervised thesis, and/or your small interactive seminars, the SPT program is designed to challenge the boundaries of thinking.

Acadia’s SPT program excels in building theoretical scholarship from a broad interdisciplinary perspective, allowing students to shape communities and study holistically. You should apply if:

• You are looking for an intellectually challenging, rigorous, interdisciplinary program
• You are excited by ‘big questions’ about political, social, moral, and economic life
• You have completed or are about to complete an undergraduate degree, majoring in a relevant discipline (english, history, philosophy, political science, sociology, etc.) or interdisciplinary program (communication and cultural studies, environmental and sustainability studies, women’s and gender studies, etc.)
• You feel that you would thrive in the highly supportive environment of an M.A.-only graduate program, with small class sizes and a high degree of faculty-student interaction

Applicants for September admission and funding will be considered beginning February 1. Applications submitted after this deadline will be considered on a case by case basis.

If you want to speak to the SPT program coordinator about your ideas, your proposed area of study, or your interest in the program, please email: jesse.carlson@acadiau.ca

For all questions about admissions procedures (TOEFL, GPA, Transcripts, etc.) please email Research and Graduate Studies: gradadmissions@acadiau.ca