The art of asking meaningful and provocative questions forms the core of the social sciences as they examine the complexity of individual and collective human behavior, experience and interaction with the environment. The substance of the discipline’s charge ranges from the analysis and application of economic theory to the candid, and often visceral, examination of human rights issues. Consequently, social studies courses at York are designed to elicit intellectual as well as empathetic curiosity; they engage students in their own development towards becoming informed, proactive and judicious citizens in their community, country and world. Scholarship becomes the vehicle by which the answers are deemed only as consequential and profound as the questions that lead to them, questions rooted in the failures and triumphs of the human narrative. This approach embodies the mission of the Social Studies Department at York and promotes the best qualities of the social science tradition: responsible skepticism, inquisitiveness, comprehensive research, defensible argument and the promise of a better human existence.