Skip to main content
Next-Gen. Now.
The Campaign for Concordia
Concordia University Concordia celebrates 50 years!
fr
Concordia University Concordia celebrates 50 years!

The SHIFT Centre for Social Transformation

The SHIFT Centre for Social Transformation

The SHIFT Journal of Social Transformation

Seeing systems change in action

General submission & publication guidelines

Interested in publishing in the SHIFT Journal? Check out our guidelines to learn more about what we're looking for and how to submit your work for publication. 

Learn how to submit your work

Social Transformation as an Act of Love

Social Transformation as an Act of Love is looking for submissions of love letters addressed to future generations, movements, ancestors, and/or the Earth. We will take up to 16 submissions total for publication on or around Valentine’s Day.  

It is our hope that this space for reflective writing provides some time for grounded expression and acts as a small reminder of the light that we are working towards during the cold months. Let these love letters remind and recommit you, and all those who will have the pleasure of reading them, to the lifelong dedication of building a better world.  

Submission Guidelines: 

  • 25-500 words 
  • French or English 
  • Love letters should fall under at least one of the four themes:  
  •     Future generations 
  •     Ancestors 
  •     Movements 
  •     Earth 
Submit Now

Featured works

No security in repression: an interview with May Chiu from the Chinatown Round Table

by May Chiu and John

How are narratives of safety are being used as justification to repress people disrupting the “social order” all over the city, including in neighbouring communities like Chinatown? In this interview, May explains the on-the-ground realities and tensions facing the neighbourhood she works in.

Moving beyond "flat": a case for dynamic governance

by Kristen Young

How does a dynamic governance model, inspired by "sociocracy," offer a different kind of shared power based in consent over consensus?

Building an effective community research collaboration

by Dagen Perrott

SHIFT hosted a talk on Indigenous community-based research collaborations, and the potential in creating partnerships across disciplines towards social transformation. Featuring a research project collaboration between SHIFT partner Tkà:nios, and the Gina Cody School of Engineering.

To the Community That Made Freedom School Possible: A Love Letter

by Adama Kaba and Jade Almeida

In this piece, Adama and Jade reflect on the first year of Harambec's Freedom School, a two-week summer program for Black youth across Montreal. 

Additional works

A letter from SHIFT: Journal Launch

by Richenda Grazette

For the inaugural month of the SHIFT Journal of Social Transformation, we have a selection of written pieces that explore what it means to "return" to approaches of trust and mutual understanding. In this letter, Program Coordinator Richenda discusses her experience of learning at a recent conference, and the theme of October's publications

Participatory granting: Cultivating intimacy and working with risk

by Richenda Grazette

Imagine a world in which there are no boards or donors, and all decisions about resource distribution are collectively held and community-accountable. How would that impact the ways in which we fund? How would we manage risk?

4 lessons in navigating conflict

by Lena Andres

SHIFT welcomed speakers Phillipe Koffi, Gabriela Gomez, and Dominic Barter to sit on a panel together about responding to conflict within communities both formal and informal.

What can academia learn from models like SHIFT?

by Andrea Clarke

In this first part of her short series, Andrea shares her reflections on what university institutions can learn about community collaboration and feedback from units like SHIFT. 

Reawakening, not revitalization

by Autumn Godwin

Through her organization "Buckskin Babes," Autumn leads moose-hide tanning camps for urban Indigenous youth and Elders alike. In this piece, originally from May 2023, she explains why the word "revitalization" doesn't fit the project.

About the SHIFT Journal

As a non-academic university unit, the SHIFT Journal provides an avenue for our partners to publish through an institution regardless of their involvement in academia, and outside of the challenges of rigid publication rules. 

Shared power is SHIFT’s core operating principle. With the Journal, we hope to share not just the lessons we've learned over the last five years of SHIFT, but also the many exciting and alternative paths that our wider community is taking towards a more just future. 

Back to top

© Concordia University