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A New Class from the Centre for the Study of Co-operatives Beginning January 2008 / Fridays / Time TBA Interdisciplinary Studies 898.3: Special Topics in Co-operatives and Sustainable Development Course Overview Co-operatives have played an important role in many countries in working to alleviate poverty. As an organizational form they excel in providing a participatory model that builds sustainable enterprises, while at the same time addressing social objectives. The purpose of this class is to examine the role that co-operatives have played in Canadian communities under stress, and to conduct comparative research in Canada and other countries to determine the feasibility of successfully transferring the co-operative model to other cultural settings. Course Objectives to explore issues related to historical and contemporary sustainable development using the co-op model; the economic behaviour of co-operatives; governance and regional development; gender and diversity within the context of co-operative leadership; and legal and political frameworks for co-operative development to conduct field research to contrast and compare co-operative development in other countries with co-operative development in Canadian communities under stress, with a particular emphasis on Indigenous communities to facilitate knowledge and skills development in the practice of community-based participatory research Course Content the history of co-operative development sustainable development and co-operatives the economics of co-operative development regional government / women's participation in politics women's participation in co-operatives Aboriginal economic development and the role of co-ops Written Assignments and Grading Course requires an advanced understanding of the issues related to the topic as demonstrated through discussions with the instructors, and the satisfactory completion of a case study and a joint report. Instructors Lou Hammond Ketilson is the course co-ordinator. Others involved are Brett Fairbairn, Michael Gertler, Murray Fulton, Isobel Findlay, Len Findlay, and Roger Herman. For more information contact Centre for the Study of Co-operatives Phone: 306-966-8509 Fax: 306-966-8517 E-mail: coop.studies@usask.ca Website: www.usaskstudies.coop Download PDF Version

Academic Information

Student Information
Scholarships for Studies in Co-operation

The Centre was conceived as a research and teaching centre that would bring together faculty members from different disciplines to study the issues surrounding co-operatives and co-operation. To accomplish its goals, the Centre has a unique structure. The four academic members—currently from agricultural economics, history, political studies, and sociology—are hired into their home departments, where tenure and promotion decisions are made, and where they are expected to teach and do research. At the same time, they also come together at the Centre, which has its own set of offices, to work on co-operative topics. They are joined by associate researchers and visiting scholars whose research overlaps with and contributes to the research of the Centre's faculty.

The result of this structure is a group of people who address a common set of questions and issues through different disciplinary lenses. The researchers have found that it is only by examining co-operatives from these different angles that they can begin to fully understand them. Universities are increasingly adopting this approach to problem solving, and the Centre has played a valuable role in demonstrating how interdisciplinary work can be fruitfully undertaken.

The Centre does not offer a program of study in co-operatives at the undergraduate level. Research faculty from the Centre teach classes in their home departments on co-operatives and undergraduate students wishing to learn about co-operatives may take these courses as part of their larger program in colleges such as arts and science, agriculture, commerce, or education. However, students must be enrolled in one of the currently existing programs on campus to be able to take these courses in co-operatives.

At the graduate level (MSc and PhD), students interested in researching co-operatives have two options. The first is to enter one of the existing graduate programs on campus (e.g., history, agricultural economics, marketing, sociology) and then do a specialization in co-operatives as part of their research or thesis work. The other option is to enter a special case interdisciplinary MSc or PhD program. Experience with this second option is very limited. Students wishing to follow this option must have a clear research project in mind and must be willing to work independently. In either case, faculty from the Centre can be approached to provide teaching, supervision, or advice. Students need to consult with the faculty of the Centre for the Study of Co-operatives before pursuing either option.

View our student package for more details, or contact the Centre direction at:

Centre for the Study of Co-operatives
101 Diefenbaker Place
University of Saskatchewan
Saskatoon SK S7H 5B8
Canada

Phone: 306-966-8509
Fax: 306-966-8517
E-mail: coop.studies@usask.ca

Scholarships for the study of co-operation are also available.