Community-engaged learning brings carceral geographies to life

In the Winter 2025 term, MA Criminology and Social Justice students in CR8103: Carceral Geographies and the Production of Space engaged in community-based learning that connected the course’s critical themes to their lived experiences in the city of Toronto. 

Taught by Professor Stephanie Latty, this graduate course examines how systems like racism, sexism, capitalism, and colonialism shape our cities and justice systems. Students learned how these forces show up in prisons, policing, and public spaces. The class considered how carceral logics shape and are shaped by the built environment. Adding to the experience, the course incorporated hands-on, community-based activities that helped students engage with these themes.

One of the highlights of the course was a Black history walking tour through downtown Toronto, created in collaboration with the Ontario Black History Society (external link) . The tour brought students to important but often forgotten sites of Black history. One stop was St. Lawrence Hall, where students learned about the 1851 North American Convention of Colored Freedmen, which was a gathering organized in direct response to the enactment of the Fugitive Slave Act. Guest speakers further expanded the conversation. Cara Chellew, a researcher in urban planning, joined the class during the tour to share her work and discuss her research on hostile and defensive architecture.

Students also visited the Provincial Courthouse at 10 Armoury Street, a site many students were already familiar with. However, learning about the history of St. John’s Ward, a once-thriving Black and immigrant neighbourhood that was torn down to make way for urban development, gave them a new perspective. “I integrated Community-Engaged Learning and Teaching activities because I wanted students to engage with the social world in a spatial, experiential and embodied way,” added Latty. This was a new and embodied way to engage with a space that was familiar to many students.

“The Black history tour not only changed how I see Toronto,” reflected student Kiera Sheppard, “but also shifted the way I relate to my hometown and other cities I visit, prompting a deeper curiosity about hidden histories that have shaped city spaces as they are today.”

Additionally, as a final assignment, students participated in a zine-making workshop facilitated by Sylvia Nowak, McKenna, and Farida from the Toronto Zine Library. The session introduced the radical history of zines as tools of resistance and knowledge production. Students explored how zines challenged mainstream ideas and provided a platform for individuals to express themselves, share their perspectives, and discuss important issues. “Most students had never heard of zines before, so this introduction was essential,” shared Latty. “The assignment asked students to creatively and critically engage the course content while considering the spatial layout of their zines. By combining creative practice with critical analysis, the zine assignment supported key learning outcomes related to spatial thinking, carceral critique and alternative modes of knowledge production.”

For student Jewel Mathew, this creative process brought together the main themes of the course: “The Toronto Zine Library workshop summed up the course by showcasing interdisciplinary ways in which we can practice resistance as individuals. I was so excited to creatively materialize my learning into a zine and demonstrate how deeply inspired I was by this course.”

CR8103 offered students more than a traditional academic experience. The course focused on working together as a community through walking tours, guest speakers, and creative activities. 

“As an educator, the course pushed me to move beyond conventional teaching methods and to experiment with new methods of critical pedagogy. The community engaged and experiential activities were crucial in helping students understand how carcerality and power are not just concepts, but are lived, felt and mapped onto the city,” shared Latty.

Activities in this course were supported by the Experiential Learning Project Grant and the Community Engaged Learning & Teaching Office (Reena Tandon), Faculty of Arts at Toronto Metropolitan University.