Master of Arts - Geography and Spatial Justice

Program Description This new ‘MA in Geography: Spatial Justice’ responds to Irish President Michael D. Higgins’ call to attend to the ‘serious contradictions and obstacles to a genuinely inclusive citizenship’ resulting from recent social and environmental crises. In this course, students will consider pressing global, European and Irish issues through the lens of spatial justice. In addition to learning how to understand, document and map forms of discrimination, violence and displacement at different scales, students will learn how citizens and groups challenge historical legacies and existing structural injustices, and seek more equitable alternatives. Students will gain insights into ‘third spaces’, grassroots movements, and forms of solidarity that may significantly lead to re-thinking current inhabitants’ rights to the city, shared resources, and the right to living in healthy places in Ireland. Through unique public engagement opportunities with civil society partners and cutting-edge research modules, students will gain training in ethical, collaborative and responsible research practices; fieldwork; and working with civil society, community-based, NGO, cultural and government partners. The MA in Spatial Justice can be taken either full time (1 year, MHN66) or part time (2 years, MHN67). Geographers have a particular set of perspectives on justice: we may speak of spatial, environmental and land, and place justice. Maynooth Geography is internationally known for its research expertise about such concerns as related to: the Irish housing and homelessness crisis, the severity of Direct Provision in relation to Europe’s migration and refugee crisis, the HIV/AIDs epidemic, and other current health and environmental crises. Our staff are internationally recognised for their work related to: housing justice; economic and work justice; land justice; health justice; the ‘right to the city’; place-based memory work; social and ecological commons; ethical geographies; vital geographies; sexualities and genders; migration; environmental justice; feminist methodologies; and activist scholarship. Working with Maynooth Geographers are our public engagement partners, which have included the Pavee Roads Home research group, Maynooth Housing Justice Research Group, the Irish Housing Network, Right to Water, Dublin Bay North Choice and Equality Network, and the Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland. Our research-led and community-based teaching and learning approach in this course has been recognised nationally by the Irish University Association and will be featured soon in a Digital Badge Course through Campus Engage.