April 2014 The Pauline Jewett Institute of Women’s and Gender Studies CONTENTS From the Director’s Desk 2 PJIWGS Sponsored Events 3 The Joint Chair 4 Events Organized and Sponsored by the Joint Chair 5 Graduate Karaoke Party 6 Graduate Bowling Event 7 New Nomadic Display 8 Activism Activities 9 International Day of the Girl 11 New Faces 12 Did You Know? 14 Meet Three Alumni 18 UG Scholarship Winners 21 Grad Scholarship Winners 22 Congratulations Graduates 23 From the Director’s Desk As I sit here writing this, the corridors are quiet and the hubbub of term has ended for another year. It has been a great year at the Institute. We welcomed two new, young scholars to our teaching faculty. Many of you will have had the pleasure of meeting, working with, or taking courses from Dr. Rivers-Moore and Dr. Hari. We are thrilled to announce that they are both now in tenure track positions and so will be with us for the long-term. We were able to appoint Dr. Debra Graham to a tenure track position last July and she continues to be a wonderful addition to our ranks. Her work as the Undergraduate Director has helped the Institute to flourish this year. It was a busy year with many exciting events. Dr. Sandy Campbell released her book, “Both Hands”: A Life of Lorne Pierce of Ryerson Press (McGill-Queens), this September to rave reviews! We hosted an All-Star Panel for International Women’s Day in collaboration with the President’s Office, which was a great success. Alia Hogben delivered this year’s Florence Bird Lecture, speaking on the Quebec Charter of Values and its impact on Muslim women in Canada. Our graduate students assisted in organizing two student conferences. The first, in collaboration with the University of Ottawa, was “Under my Skin: The Politics of Flesh” an examination of the body and embodiment. Ann Morneau and Sarah Hedges-Chou were the Institute’s members of the organizing committee. The Women and Technology conference was a collaborative effort led by Alex Born and Nasreen Rajani. It was held on April 16th and drew scholars from a wide array of disciplines. It is wonderful to see our scholars, new and established, working to build new knowledge and strength connections. It is also a time for bidding farewell to the current Joint Chair, Dr. Pamela Walker, and welcoming the new one, Dr. Sylvie Frigon. Dr. Walker had a busy year and hosted here at Carleton three films and a panel discussion on a City for All Women. She has completed her term and will be returning to the Department of History. We thank her and wish her all the best. The new Joint Chair, Dr. Sylvie Frigon, will join us for the fall term. Dr. Frigon does path-breaking work on incarcerated women and creativity. Look for her exciting new graduate course “Gender, confinement and creativity” this fall. We hope that you had a great year and that you have a safe, relaxing, and happy summer. We look forward to seeing many of you back in the fall. For those of you who are graduating: CONGRATULATIONS. We have a wonderful graduating cohort of undergraduate students and our second cohort of graduate students will also cross the stage in June. Convocation is always a special time and many of us will be on stage to hood you and extend our congratulations in person. As you graduate, please remember to stay in touch – let us know what you are doing and watch the website for news of what’s happening at the Institute. Katharine 2 PJIWGS Sponsored Events May 22, 2013 Quality Analysis Conference: A key component of the conference is inclusion of participation by graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. Students and postdoctoral fellows who attended the conference had the opportunity to experience ‘first-hand’ the cross-discussion and dissemination of traditional and emerging theories existing among many diverse interest groups. The conference also featured a talk from Dr. Sherryl Kleinman, of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, who provided her thoughts on fieldwork. October 9, 2013 “Undressing the Pacific” a public lecture on representation and identity by Shigeyuki Kihara, renowned Samoan photo/video and performance artist. November 22, 2013 “Reflections on Gender Issues in Afghanistan” a talk by Sabrina Saqeb (former member of the Afghan National Parliament). January 29, 2014 “LGBT Activism in Africa” with S.N. Nyeck of Clarkson University and Marc Epprecht of Queen’s University. January 31-February 2, 2014 “Vitalizing Movements: Bodies, Environments and Biopolitical Struggles”: An interdisciplinary conference on social movements and the politics of health and sexuality. March 4, 2014 “Women in Law” a panel discussion featuring a group of successful women in the field of law and legal studies hosted by the Carleton Law Society. March 7, 2014 “Looking Back; Moving Forward” a Panel Discussion featuring Maureen McTeer (Lawyer, Professor, Author, Leading Health Advocate and Symbol of Gender Equality in Canada), Monia Mazigh (Author and Human Rights Advocate), and Caroline Andrew (Director of the University of Ottawa’s Centre on Governance, Scholar, Lifelong Advocate of Equality and Social Change for Women), moderated by Mary McGuire (Professor, School of Journalism and Communication, CU) March 7, 2014 2013-2014 Florence Bird Lecture: “Challenges for Canadian Muslim Women: The Quebec Charter of Values” by Alia Hogben (Executive Director of the Canadian Council for Muslim Women). March 8, 2014 “Vagina Monologues” performance by CU students benefiting the Ottawa Rape Crisis Centre. March 14, 2014 “Ambassadrices extraordinaires: Gender and Religion in France’s Middle East Diplomacy (1685-1709). Dr. Matt Lauzon, History, University of Hawaii and Carleton alumni. April 16, 2014 “Women and Technology” conference highlighted scholarship on women as producers and users of technology in applied and technical fields and the relationship(s) between women and technology. 3 JOINT CHAIR, DR. PAMELA WALKER Interview with Joint Chair in Women’s Studies – Professor Pamela Walker, By Erika Thirnbeck Joint Chair in Women’s Studies at Carleton University and the University of Ottawa, Professor Pamela Walker recently sat down for an interview to discuss her tenure as Chair, what she had achieved in that role, her motivations and her hopes for the future. Dr. Walker is an historian with a particular interest in religion and gender. She received her PhD in modern European and women’s history from Rutgers University in 1992. She joined the Carleton History Department in 1991 and served as Joint Chair in Women’s Studies during the 2010- 2011 and 2012-2014 academic years at both Carleton University and the University of Ottawa. Dr. Walker was drawn to the position of Joint Chair because there was a lot of room to do interesting things that were outside the box and to branch into many different fields. One event in particular that stands out for her, during her time as Chair, was a 2011 conference discussing the Bedford v. Canada case. The conference included guest speakers Valerie Scott (one of the Litigants) and her lawyer, Alan Young. The conference was videotaped by CPAC and is available for viewing from their archives. On March 26/27, 2014, Professor Walker hosted a second conference, Sex Work After Bedford: Legal Reform in Canada that looked at the impact of the December 2013 Supreme Court ruling that overturned many of the current laws concerning prostitution. Speakers included Valerie Scott, a plaintiff in this ground breaking case, Alan Young, a professor at Osgoode Law School and the lawyer who argued the case before the Supreme Court, Libby Davies, MP, and scholars and activists from across Canada. The keynote speaker, Catherine Healy, led the successful decriminalization campaign in New Zealand. She spoke about the current situation in New Zealand and described how a sex worker successfully charged a brothel manager with sex harassment using employment law. Carleton University Women’s and Gender Studies professor, Megan Rivers Moore, presented research on the transnational sex industry in Costa Rica that will be published by the University of Chicago Press in her forthcoming book. Carleton MA student Ann Morneau chaired a panel with representatives from several Canadian sex worker rights groups. The large audience engaged in lively debate with the speakers. As well as being Joint Chair, Dr. Walker is also a dedicated and passionate teacher. She finds it satisfying to give students’ important life opportunities and tools for their future. She finds teaching in an interdisciplinary program can sometimes be challenging but also a very rewarding experience. As a historian, her outlook is derived from her discipline and students from many different backgrounds and disciplines have taken her classes. She finds that this often leads to very interesting debates and Dr. Walker loves to learn from her students. So what does the future hold? The position of Joint Chair has awarded Dr. Walker many interesting opportunities in terms of travel and conferences and she is looking forward to finishing her current research project, ‘Missions to the Metropolis’. It examines issues of race and gender in an attempt to understand “how the imperial world of the later nineteenth century mattered to the religious beliefs and practices of British men and women.” Her research involves case studies that examine three missionary organizations “that each, in different ways, was created and sustained by cross-national influences and problems.” Dr. Walker is also working on a book that has been ten years in the making. Dr. Walker has greatly enjoyed her time as Joint Chair. She believes Carleton has a fascinating and dynamic Women’s and Gender Studies program that has much to offer to current and prospective students.