Civic Studies
Tisch College is at the forefront of a growing academic discipline: Civic Studies. Civic Studies is an intellectual complement of movements to improve societies by engaging their citizens to make change. The process of change-making requires that people come together and ask, “What should we do?” Those four words raise intricate questions of individual and group identity, of shared and divergent values, of relationship- and trust-building, of strategies for collective action, of shared and divergent norms for discourse, and more. Each of these recurrent questions of process or method is deeply interrelated and is a topic of ongoing research, experimentation, and learning within the field of Civic Studies. See this “learning map” for an outline of the questions for the discipline.
Academics
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Tufts’ Civic Studies major is the first academic program of its kind in the world. Students focus on critical reflection, ethical thinking, and action for social change – within and between societies.
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For students interested in understanding the sustainability of nonviolent interaction and the nature of conflicts across contexts.
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For students who want to solve problems in today’s society and drive impact through practical, community-oriented enterprise.
Related Learning and Research
Civic Studies International Research Activities
Scholars at Tisch College, and Civic Studies-affiliated colleagues throughout Tufts, conduct research that examines the role of citizens and civic institutions in a variety of fields, from the social and physical sciences to the humanities.
Program for Public Humanities
Tisch College supports this field and movement of collaborative practices like historical inquiry, recovery, which uses narrative and artistic expression to produce civically minded, creative, and just mutual engagements.
Civic Science
Civic Science informs how we can bring science issues into our civic lives. It helps us make well-informed choices on science issues through dialogue to promote civic action, political advocacy, and community revitalization.
TUPIT
Tufts University Prison Initiative of Tisch College brings faculty & students together with incarcerated & formerly incarcerated people, & other stakeholders to facilitate responses to mass incarceration & racial injustice.