GWS News and Events Archive
December 3, 2018
Dr. Struthers Montford’s visits on December 3. She will be giving a public presentation in the gathering space at the BU Library from 5-6:30PM.
Follow the link below for more information
https://events.brandonu.ca/event/guest-speaker-the-toxicity-of-penal-agribusiness/
November 1, 2018
September 20 & 21, 2018
Medical Humanities Symposium
The Medical Humanities Symposium is the inaugural event organized by the Medical Humanities Research Group at Brandon University. Centre co-founders and co-directors are Jonathan Allan, Ariane Hanemaayer, and Eftihia Mihelakis.
The event includes two public talks, and faculty, students, and members of the public are invited to attend.
Synesthesia and Holism: The Importance of Literature in Medical Humanities
Time: 5-7PM
Date: Thursday, September 20, 2018
Location: HSB141
This public talk will propose a genealogy of the relation between medical humanities and literature based on the two competing approaches that dominate those intersecting fields today: holism and narrative medicine. It will explore the ongoing struggle between nostalgia for a seamless experience of the human body as a wholesome system, and the need to integrate the reality of that body’s heterogeneous malfunctions and irregularities as well as the slow, seemingly irrational unraveling of the micro-episodes of its dereliction. Somewhere in between lies our better understanding of what it means to see ourselves reflected in the transformative fantasies of art while haunted by the imperceptible processes of ageing.
Dr. Daniel Laforest is associate professor of French and cultural studies at the University of Alberta. His work is situated at the crossroad of literature and medical humanities. He has been Visiting Professor at the Stanford University Center for Biomedical Ethics, and is an alumnus of the Fulbright Foundation, as well as of the Banff Centre Leighton Artist Colony. He is the author of two monographs, L’archipel de Caïn: Pierre Perrault et l’écriture du territoire (Jean-Éthier Blais Prize 2011), and L’âge de plastique: Lire la ville contemporaine au Québec. He has also co-edited the bilingual collection of essays: Reading the Biomedical Body at the Presses de l’Université de Limoges in France. He currently pilots the SSHRC-funded research project “The Biomedical Body and Everyday Life in Québec & Canada”.
“I was diagnosed with …” A performative conference on the challenges of the “I” in Medical Humanities
Time: 3-5PM
Date: Friday, September 21, 2018
Location: HSB141
The question of the use of the first person as a Medical Humanities scholar is one that needs to be rethought, reworked, re-experienced. Do I need to be sick in order to understand sickness? Or do I need to be physically and emotionally detached from my subject matter in order to critically approach it? The emotional implication of the “I” can be a critical limit if we want to remain impartial. But who said I wanted to be impartial? In this presentation, I want to advocate for a validation of the I in academia. An emotional I. A fragile I. A politically involved I.
Trained in contemporary dance in France, Dr. Lucille Toth is an Assistant Professor in the department of French and Italian at the Ohio State University. Her areas of specialization lie at the intersections of dance performance studies, medical humanities, queer and migration theory. She recently finished a manuscript entitled Le virus et ses mouvements. Performer la contamination dans la danse contemporaine française, and she has started her new project On Board(hers), an all-women dance performance based on the recorded voices of ten female immigrants’ testimonies that explores how global mobility is gendered.
March 1, 2018
February 28 @ 7:30 pm – 8:30 pm
“Mino Bimaadiziwinv, Reconciliation in Action” research celebration
https://events.brandonu.ca/event/bu-professors-to-celebrate-prestigious-2-5-million-sshrc-partnership-grant/
November 20, 2017
Dr. Emma Whelan
The Gendering of Hand Hygiene 1920 – present
7:00 p.m. Brandon Public Library – Please see poster
November 16, 2017
Artist Vivek Shraya will discuss how she uses art to explore and celebrate racialized femininity. Focusing on her new EP “Part-Time Woman” with the Queer Songbook Orchestra, Shraya will pose both question and critique: What defines woman?
October 26 & 27, 2017
Dr. Martine Delvaux will hold English and French speaking engagements in Brandon on Thursday, Oct. 26 and Friday, Oct. 27, 2017.
October 4, 2017
Sisters in Spirit Walk October 4th 2017 3:00 p.m. Please see poster.
September 21, 2017
Grandmothers Walk: Protecting Sacred Lives
September 21, 2017 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Princess Park Brandon
Please see poster for more details
August 17, 2017
Centennial of suffrage to be focus of summer institute
https://www.brandonu.ca/news/2017/08/17/centennial-of-suffrage-to-be-focus-of-summer-institute/
August 8, 2017
Manufacturing Urgency: Author Corinne Mason In Conversation with Inter Pares
Wednesday, September 20 2017
7 PM
@25One Community
251 Bank St. 2nd floor
Sponsored by
University of Regina Press, Joint Chair in Women’s Studies – Carleton University & University of Ottawa, and Inter Pares
June 28, 2017
Call For Papers
Demeter Press: Seeking submissions for an edited collection entitled:
Thriving Mothers/Depriving Mothers: Mothering and Welfare (Working Title)
Co-‐editors: Karine Levasseur, Stephanie Paterson and Lorna Turnbull Publication
Date: 2019 Please see link below:
welfarecfp
June 13, 2017
BU Gender & Women’s Studies Caps Year of Giving
BRANDON, Man. – The Gender & Women’s Studies (G&WS) program at Brandon University (BU) supported community programs with more than $15,000 through the Margaret Laurence Community Grants Program in 2017. The grants are made possible by the Margaret Laurence Foundation.
The latest grant is $1,000 to support the screening of “Fire Song” at the Evans Theatre on Wednesday evening, part of the Pride Brandon celebrations of Pride Week.
“Fire Song” tells the story of Shane, a gay Anishinaabe teenager in Northern Ontario, who is struggling to support his family in the aftermath of his sister’s suicide. If he fails, he will be forced to choose between his family’s home and his own future. It will be shown at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, June 14.
Other Margaret Laurence grants provided this year have gone to support women’s, newcomer, and Indigenous programs. The annual grants are flexible, and designed to help foster links and engagement between community-based organizations and the G&WS program.
“Gender and Women’s Studies has a strong record of putting its curriculum into action through the teaching and research of its members, and through student initiatives. The Margaret Laurence grants help us to bring that activity into the community as well,” said Prof. Rosanne Gasse, coordinator of the G&WS program. “We are grateful for an endowment that allows us wide latitude in choosing programs that can make best use of these funds.”
This year’s grants were:
- $5,000 — Women’s Resource Centre — Support Group Series for Spanish-Speaking Women
- $3,925 — YWCA Women’s Shelter —High School Outreach Initiative
- $1,150 — Hispanic Association of Manitoba — ESL Conversational English Classes
- $4,600 — Supporting and Honouring Indigenous Families Together (SHIFT) Manitoba — Indigenous Doula Initiative
- $1,000 — Pride Brandon — “Fire Song” screening
“These are some of the very dedicated groups doing very important work in our community, and we are always impressed by the impact they can have on peoples’ lives” Gasse said. “We are extremely pleased to support these organizations and the wonderful programs and initiatives that they provide.”
This year’s largest grant, for $5,000, was provided to the Women’s Resource Centre in Brandon for their Support Group Series for Spanish-Speaking Women. The daylong programs, held every other month, target the self-identified female, Spanish-speaking population in Brandon and area, including newcomers to Brandon – visitors, students, immigrants, and permanent residents – as well as Canadian citizens.
The second-largest grant, for $4,600, was to help fund the Indigenous Doula Initiative through SHIFT. An Indigenous doula, who does not perform any clinical procedures, is a specially trained and culturally grounded birth companion who provides emotional, physical and spiritual support for women and families during pregnancy, labour, and after birth.
Another large grant was $3,925 to the YWCA Women’s Shelter, to support their High School Outreach Initiative. The YWCA will coordinate two-hour presentations to junior high and high school students in the Brandon and Westman area and they hope to reach approximately 20 schools and 400 students aged 12–18, both male and female.
The final two grants included $1,000 for the Pride Brandon film screening as well as $1,150 to the Hispanic Association of Manitoba for ESL Conversational English Classes, targeting Spanish-speaking women in Brandon who want to improve their English speaking ability, largely to gain employment.
Gender & Women’s Studies invites students to challenge prevailing notions of gender and sexualities, and to learn about gender relations as they have been constructed culturally, globally, historically, and institutionally. G&WS students develop the critical knowledge and skills to explore the intersections of gender, sex, race, class, religion, sexuality, (dis)ability, colonialism, imperialism, citizenship, and transnational identity while paying attention to power, oppression, and resistance within a historical context. Students engage in dialogue about such topics as feminist and queer activisms, transnational poverty and marginalization, diverse masculinities, popular culture and media, reproductive justice, racial politics across borders, and war and violence.
Brandon University, founded in 1899, promotes excellence in teaching, research, and scholarship, and educates students so that they can make a meaningful difference as engaged citizens and leaders.
https://www.brandonu.ca/news/2017/06/12/bu-gender-womens-studies-program-caps-year-of-giving/
May 27, 2017
2:00 to 3:00 pm Congress Expo Event Space, Mattamy Athletic Ce
ntre, Ryerson University
Book Launch
Manufacturing Urgency: The Development Industry and Violence Against Women
with Dr. Corinne Mason (Gender & Women’s Studies, Brandon University), in conversation with Dr. Kathryn Trevenen (Feminist and Gender Studies, University of Ottawa)
Violence against women is now a major priority issue for development agencies across the world, with white papers, statistics, economic indices, and other studies produced to show it. The World Bank has calculated the economic cost of gendered violence, and the U.S. Agency for International Development even identifies violence against women as a national security concern. But amidst this, something is missing. In Manufacturing Urgency, Corinne Mason looks at the rhetorical and discursive framings of violence against women. Through careful consideration of anti-violence initiatives–“The Hillary Doctrine,” the World Bank’s “The Cost of Violence” campaign, and the United Nations’ “UNiTE to End Violence Against Women” and “Say NO” campaigns–Mason shows how these development industry projects advance the neoliberal, technocratic concerns of the state, often at the expense of the women they are intended to protect.
Everyone is welcome to attend. Light refreshments will be served.
Speaker Bios
Corinne L. Mason is an Assistant Professor in Gender & Women’s Studies and Sociology at Brandon University.
Kathryn Trevenen is an Associate Professor in Feminist and Gender Studies at the University of Ottawa. She is also Interim Director of the Institute of Feminist and Gender Studies (U. Ottawa).
May 17, 2017
A Community Celebration of Sexual and Gender Diversities
International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia & Biphobia
Please click May 17 IDAHOT Poster for more details
April 5, 2017
2017 Red River Women’s Studies Conference
The Red River Women’s Studies conference will be held all day, Friday, October 21, in the NDSU Alumni Center.
Please note that the night before at 7 pm, transgender activist, Janet Mock will be presenting in question/answer format in Festival Concert Hall, followed by a book signing of either Redefining Realness, or her to-be released book, Surpassing Certainty. We are working on a block of hotel rooms at the Radisson at the NDSU rate, and will provide more information once the arrangement is set.
A more detailed call for papers and panels will be out in August.
March 31, 2017
The YWCA Westman Women’s Shelter is currently hiring Casual Crisis Counsellors
Casual Crisis Counsellor Employment Ad
January 30, 2017
Women’s and Gender Studies et Recherches Féminstes condemns in the strongest way the anti-Muslim events that have unfolded over the weekend: the travel ban in the US and the confusion and disarray this has engendered, and the shootings yesterday at a Quebec City mosque. As an academic association dedicated to the critical analysis of identity and power, we denounce acts and rhetorics designed to create divisiveness and intolerance. The tragic events of people being targeted for who they are goes against all principles of human and social justice that our association reflects, as well as broader Canadian values based on diversity, inclusion and respect for which this association stands. We offer our deepest sympathy to everyone targeted by these related events, and our full and ongoing support to everyone fighting against them. Together, united in our differences, we will continue to work, in collaboration with others, toward a more just and equitable world for all.
November 2016
Gender Frontiers Speaker Series: Female Suicide Bombers and Attempts at Emancipation
When: November 22, 2016 @ 7 pm
All too often female perpetrators of suicide bombings, their acts of violence and the broader collective struggles of which they are part become delegitimized by journalists and scholars. This undermines the promise of emancipation entailed in their violence. In Female Suicide Bombers: A Critical Gender Approach, W. Andy Knight and Tanya Narozhna enhance our understanding of the nuanced ways in which gender, power and academic practices influence our perceptions of female suicide bombings and attempts at emancipation.
Sponsored by:
- Department of Political Science
- Gender Frontiers Speakers Series
- Manitoba Chair of Global Governance
Light refreshments. All are welcome to attend.
https://www.brandonu.ca/event/gender-frontiers-speaker-series-female-suicide-bombers-and-attempts-at-emancipation/
The Gender Frontiers Speaker’s Series is proud to present an act about Indigenous masculinities by comedian
Nelson Mayer
When: Monday, November 7, 2016 @ 7pm
Where: Glen P. Sutherland Gallery of Art – Brandon University 2021 Victoria Ave, Brandon MB
This event is free and open to the public. Guests are encouraged to bring a non-perishable food item for the BUSU student food bank.
Nelson Mayer is a long-time contributor to the Winnipeg comedy scene both as a comedian and promoter. He has performed at the Comedy Store in Los Angeles, the Winnipeg Gone Wacky show, and the Rumours Comedy Club to name a few. Mayer was an organizer and contributor to the touring act The Rez Dogs with Don Burnstick and Chaz Anderson, and runs the Shut-Up and Laugh Comedy Series and the Canadian Comedy Invasion series in Grand Forks. He and Bill Burfoot have a podcast called Who’s Your Daddies providing their views on topics like parenting. Recently Mayer was part of the Rape is Real and Everywhere: A National Comedy Tour that featured comedians who have experienced sexual violence. His comedy act at Brandon University will address Indigenous masculinities. In addition to being a comedian and promoter, Mayer is the proud father of six children and is a children rights advocate.
Gender and Women’s Studies thanks Nelson Mayer, the Margaret Laurence Endowment Fund, and the Glen P. Sutherland Gallery
https://www.brandonu.ca/event/the-gender-frontiers-speakers-series-comedian-nelson-mayer/
May 2016
Gender and Women’s Studies, with the support of the Margaret Laurence Endowment Fund, has helped to hire alumnus Faith John Praise to work with The Women’s Resource Centre on a newcomers project this summer. Read more here.
The Gender and Women’s Studies Alliance attended a local Gay-Straight Alliance summit with Dr. Corinne L. Mason and Rune Breckon (LGBTTQ* Coordinator, Sexuality Education Resource Centre) to announce their Camp Aurora bursary. Camp Aurora is a 4-day summer camp for LGBTTQ* youth and their allies. This bursary will help a few local LGBTTQ* youth to attend the camp by covering the cost of the camp and their transportation to Winnipeg. At the GSA summit, the Alliance made pizzas and queer buttons with the youth, and spoke about their club’s work in Gender and Women’s Studies.
April 2016
Ten Gender and Women’s Studies students presented their research at the Senior Student Arts Colloquium on April 11, 2016. Topics included sexual education, porn, Indigenous perspectives on gender, animal studies, reproductive justice, breastfeeding, domestic violence, and Mixed Race theory.
March 2016
Gender and Women’s Studies Major Shaylyn White was honoured during Brandon University’s Women’s Week. Shaylyn says that she changed majors after experiencing a Gender and Women’s Studies class. Read more of her accomplishments here.
The Gender and Women’s Studies Alliance celebrated Gender Performativity Awareness Week (G-Paw) by inviting all genders from the campus and community to wear lipstick to support non-normative gender expressions.
February 2016
The Yes Means Yes! campaign is running a week of events dedicated to building consent culture at Brandon University. See all the events here.
Dr. Jonathan A. Allan’s new book is making waves! Check out some great interviews here:
Vice: http://www.vice.com/en_ca/read/this-professor-spent-the-last-three-years-researching-butthole-culture
Dazed: http://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/29616/1/why-is-anal-sex-still-so-taboo
January 2016
GWS affiliate Cathy Mattes (Visual and Aboriginal Art) is one of two organizers working with a committee to bring Walking With Our Sisters to Brandon University. GWS is a proud supporter of this important art installation.
Dr. Jonathan A. Allan’s new book ““Reading from Behind: A Cultural History of the Anus” was named “Sixteen for ’16” by literary critic Steven Beattie for Quill & Quire. Congratulations!
The Gender and Women’s Studies Alliance were at Clubs Day in the mingling area on Janaury 5, 2016. The Alliance received 18 new participant emails! The next meeting will take place on Tuesday January 12th CHO 212 @ 12:30. Tell your friends, mark your calendars, come one and come all!
Gender and Women’s Studies announced our annual call for community project proposals. We welcomed applications from non-profit community organizations for two $2000 grants to foster links between the community and our program. The deadline to apply was March 1, 2016.
November 2015
GWS affiliate Dr. Rhonda Hinther organized a Gender Frontiers Speakers Series featuring Drs. Kristin Burnett and Shannon Stettner. The talk explored reproductive justice as a lens to investigate the untold and obscured histories of reproductive health in Canada. This talk was sponsored by the Margret Laurence Endowment Fund.
Students in GWS have established an alliance! The Gender and Women’s Studies Alliance is an outlet to make change on and off the Brandon University campus, and a great place to meet new people and socialize. The Gender and Women Studies Alliance is an inclusive and diverse group. Their mandate is simple: stand up for people of all backgrounds and provide a community of culture and entertainment. The alliance meets every Tuesday at 12:30 pm in room 212, Clark Hall.
GWS organized and supported Transgender Day of Remembrance with its community partners on November 20, 2015. Many GWS students attended two local events to mourn the lives of people killed because of their gender identity or expression, and committed to action to ensure the safety of trans* and genderqueer people in our community.
GWS students took part in World AIDS Day by creating hundreds of safer-sex kits at the Sexuality Education Resource Centre to be distributed around Brandon.
GWS was reviewed by two external gender and women’s studies scholars on November 11 and 12th. This review will lead to significant and important changes to the GWS program as it continues to grow in enrollment.
On 6-7 November, Dr. Allison McCulloch along with Dr. Siobhan Byrne (University of Alberta) organized a workshop on “Power-Sharing Pacts and the Women, Peace and Security Agenda: Constructive Engagements” at Queen’s University Belfast, where Dr. McCulloch is currently a visiting research fellow. The interdisciplinary workshop brought together scholars from Northern Ireland, Ireland, Scotland, Cyprus, USA, and Canada with politicians, policy practitioners and community organizers to discuss the challenges and opportunities for women’s effective inclusion in peace negotiations and power-sharing arrangements adopted after conflict. Further details about the workshop can be found at: http://genderandpowersharing.com/
October 2015
Dr. Corinne L. Mason and Dr. Jonathan A. Allan took three GWS students to the annual Red River Women’s Studies Conference at Minnesota State University Moorehead.
Alanaise Bone (Native Studies) presented research on Indigenous Feminism, matriarchy, and the mainstream women’s movement. Justin Shannon and Elizabeth Porrier were also in attendance.
We were lucky to hear Wawgatwe Sara Wanjuki speak about sexual violence on campus, and the role of universities in creating safer spaces for all genders. Feminist fun was had by all!
Dr. Jonathan A. Allan (Canada Research Chair, Queer Theory) was interviewed by Global TV News about Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his “looks.” http://globalnews.ca/news/2295823/what-we-talk-about-when-we-talk-about-justin-trudeaus-looks/
With the help of the Indigenous Peoples’ Centre at Brandon University, GWS hung red dresses to mark the absence of missing and murdered Indigenous Women in the Mingling Area of the student building. Read more about this community-building art project by Jaime Black here: http://www.theredressproject.org/
The Gender Frontiers Speakers’ Series hosted a keynote address by Adrian Stimson entitled “Too Two Spirited For You.” As one of the “must sees” of Canadian Art for the week of October 8 to 14, it is no surprise that the lecture hall was packed!
September 2015
Gender and Women’s Studies helped to organize this year’s Take Back the Night with the Brandon University Student Union and community partners. Our students came out and took the night back!
Dr. Corinne L. Mason spoke to the Brandon Sun about sexual assault on campus and violence against women in relation to the event. http://www.brandonsun.com/local/despite-more-awareness-women-still-face-risks-329625231.html?thx=y
Dr. Allison McCulloch was interviewed by the Brandon Sun about sexual assault in the Canadian military. http://www.brandonsun.com/breaking-news/military-sex-assault-crisis-centre-falls-short-bu-prof-says-328798491.html?thx=y
The Yes Means Yes! campaign has launched on campus. The aim of the campaign is to educate students on consent, healthy sexuality, and rape culture. Look for the posters around campus!
Dr. Corinne L. Mason spoke to the CBC about the gender neutral washrooms on campus. Read more here: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/brandon-university-adds-gender-neutral-campus-washrooms-1.3214888
August 2015
Dr. Allison McCulloch was interviewed by the CBC about frustrations over voter registration due to the early election call. Read more here: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/voters-frustrated-with-digital-wall-on-elections-canada-website-1.3184769