Actioning social justice into the engineering curriculum

Abstract

Engineering education could facilitate the transformation of the engineering practice into one that centers social justice. Doing so could cultivate in engineers: (1) the practice of acknowledging and reconciling our history; (2) the value in co-designing with the community; (3) the ability to incorporate frameworks of justice in the engineering disciplines. This transformation will require a rethinking of the curriculum and the faculty expertise necessary to enact it. This paper discusses why the shift towards social justice is critical for the discipline while outlining a teaching praxis of social justice in engineering. In exploring this proposed praxis, we juxtapose how the status-quo of engineering education teaches sustainability against a ‘just sustainability’ that centers social justice. We conclude with a call to action for faculty and administrators to transform the engineering curriculum through an actively anti-oppressive socially just praxis of engineering to meet the needs of communities and society.