Events are typically free and open to the public, but seating may be limited. For most events we ask that you please register. Pratique du bilinguisme passif dans les échanges.
WINTER 2018
Please check this page often as we regularly update our schedule of events.
January
"'Push-button Aphrodite': Computers and Romance Simulations, 1950-1990,” An Esquisses Talk by Dr. Reem Hilu
Tuesday, January 30
12:30-2pm
IGSF Seminar Room (3487 Peel, 2nd Floor)
Reem Hilu holds a BA in Cinema Studies from the University of Pennsylvania, and an MA and PhD in Screen Cultures from Northwestern University. Reem’s research interests span the fields of feminist media studies, media history, and the history of computing. Her dissertation, entitled The Family Circuit: Gender, Games, and Domestic Computing Culture, 1945-1990, explores the introduction of computing and digital media in domestic space; that is, how computer chips and microprocessors first entered the American home in the shape of interactive talking dolls, computerized board games, and embedded in domestic appliances. Reem’s postdoctoral project further develops this exploration of the changing norms and practices of sociability and intimacy in the digitally mediated home. By focusing on the intersection between computers and domesticity, her research investigates how digital media reconfigured family relations to accommodate cybernetic models, as well as how the encounter with family life helped redefine computers as extensions of family intimacy. Reem also plans to undertake a project on the history of computers and gaming in the K-12 classroom. As Mellon Postdoctoral Researcher in the Digital Humanities at McGill, Reem is an active member of the Laboratory for Experimental Studies in Culture, Art and Technology (LESCAT), and works under the supervision of Professor Jonathan Sterne in the Department of Art History and Communication Studies.
Register here.
February
“Transform(ing) Digital Humanities Writing and Research: An Autoethnography of DH and Feminist Ethics,” A Masterclass with Dr. Moya Bailey (Northeastern University)
"#RobinHoodFail: The Limits of Digital Humanities," A Talk by Dr. Moya Bailey
Alternative “academic” Platforms: A Workshop for Graduate Students in Humanities and Social Sciences
February 14, 2018
12-1:30 pm
IGSF Seminar Room
link to powerpoints: http://www.historicalcookingproject.com/2018/02/alternative-academic-platforms.html
10th AFRO LGBTQ FILMS AND ARTS FESTIVAL, TD présente/presents ▶ MASSIMADI ◀
Future Ecologies: Speculative Forms and Feelings
February 23, 2018
IGSF, McGill University
3487 Peel St.
Free and open to the public
This workshop explores speculation as what José Muñoz calls a world-making practice in art, media, literature and theory. Drawing on critical insights from feminist, decolonial, queer, Indigenous, and critical race theories, we will explore the affective force of imagination in creating social forms, through reading sessions, artist talks, and presentations and discussion. Please do the readings beforehand.
Reading Sessions: all readings available here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ligi9zdmh1gvxbs/AABif8BdzV8aqbZ9Sgsy4a_3a?dl=0
11-11:45
Heather Davis, IGSF Visiting Scholar
“Queer Ecologies”: “Toxic Sexes” Malin Ah-King & Eva Hayward; “Distributed Reproduction, Chemical Violence, and Latency”, Michelle Murphy
11:45-12:30
Serenity Joo, University of Manitoba and Muriel Gold Visiting Professor, IGSF
Octavia Butler’s "Amnesty"
Lunch break
Artist Talks and Discussion
1:30-2:15
Skawanetti, artist and Co-Director of Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace (AbTeC), Concordia
2:15-3
Kelly Jazvac, artist and professor of Studio Arts, Concordia
Break 30 mins
3:30-5
Keynote: Selmin Kara,professor of Film and New Media Studies, OCAD University
"Anthropocene Cinema and Future Ecologies"
5:00 Reception
"Against a Secular Transgender: The Enchanted Science of 1950s Trans Feminine DIY," A Masterclass with Dr. Julian Gill-Peterson (Uni. of Pittsburgh)
"Trans Boyhood in the 1970s: Medicine, Race, and the Generational Border Wars," A Talk by Dr. Julian Gill-Peterson
Collage Workshop with girlplague
February 28, 6 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
3487 Rue Peel, 2nd Floor (IGSF)
near McGill metro
$25 // buy tickets here: https://elysium.sharetribe.com/girlplague
Participate in a 2-hour collage workshop with girlplague, a collage artist with a decade of experience whose work has been shown in galleries worldwide (portfolio: www.girlplague.com).
Students will learn cutting and application techniques, differences in adhesives, basic composition, as well as tips and tricks along the way.
This workshop is open to all levels.
Scissors and adhesives included. Collage material will be provided but students are encouraged to bring their own.
If you REALLY want to come but can't afford a ticket, please message girlplague to work out a pay-what-you-can donation, or to discuss further. Art should be accessible, we mainly want you to come collage with us!
ACCESSIBILITY INFO:
Unfortunately, IGSF is up a flight of stairs and is not wheelchair accessible.
Please don't wear perfumes or scented products to the workshop, as there may be participants with chemical sensitivities.
No oppressive behaviour will be tolerated.
March
Feminist Research Colloquium
"Transversality, Partial Knowledges and Uneven Inquiry Amidst Colour, Language and Cinema," An Esquisses Talk by Nicole De Brabandere, Postdoctoral fellow, IGSF and Moving Image Research Lab, the University of Chicago
"Woubi Cheri," A Screening and Discussion with Ellise Barbara
When: Tuesday, March 13 @ 7:30 PM
Where: Arts Building, Room W215
Screening and discussion of Woubi Cheri (Ivory Coast, 1998, 62 minutes), followed by a discussion with Ellise Barbara, in Arts W 215. The first film in the "Making Scenes" screening series, part of The Arts of Trans, Gender Diverse and Two-Spirit Lives series at the Institute for Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies, McGill is Woubi Cheri, hosted and with a post-film discussion by Ellise Barbara. This documentary from 1998 explores perspectives on gender variance and diversity outside of the westernized radical norm. As California Newsreel describes this: "Woubi Chéri is the first film to give African homosexuals a chance to describe their world in their own words. Often funny, sometimes ribald, but always real, this documentary introduces us to gender pioneers demanding their right to construct a distinct African homosexuality."
Ellise Barbara is a Montreal-based artist and singer. Rising from artist-run spaces at the turn of the current decade, their recent efforts have been centered around transgender community organizing. With a group called the Black Space and a lineup made of musicians of Sub-Saharan descent, Ellise Barbara aims to recenter contemporary blackness via the rejection of racialized tropes. The Black Space is working on a sci-fi multumedia concert to be shown at the MAI in April this year.
This event is open to the public and is a PWYC fundraiser for Taking What We Need. Presented by IGSF, the Moving Image Research Lab, Mediaqueer and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
"Race, Futurity, and the Anthropocene," An Esquisses Talk by Hee-Jung Serenity Joo, IGSF Muriel Gold Visiting Professor and Associate Professor of English, University of Manitoba
Queer Research Colloquium
"Attacking the Clones: Deciphering the Woman Problem in Star Wars," by Professor Rebecca Harrison, Visiting Scholar, IGSF and MIRL, University of Glasgow
Growth on the Horizon: Arts-based Healing Practices Addressing Rape Culture & Gendered Violence on Campus
In the spirit of wellness, community building, and collective reflection, join us for a student-initiated, arts-based event aimed at understanding, addressing, and healing from rape culture and gendered violence on campus.
Growth on the Horizon will bring survivors, students, artists, allies, community organizers, administrators, faculty, staff, and front-line workers together at McGill to participate in arts-based activities that foster exchange and reflection around the reality of sexual and gendered violence on campus, along with individual, collective and institutional forms of healing and care.
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Schedule of Workshops and Presentations
[Disclaimer: The following workshops address sexual assault, sexual harassment, and related forms of violence and may be emotionally triggering for some people. Please also note that the schedule may be subject to change due to circumstances beyond our control.]
In addition to all-day activities in the McGill University Arts Building Lobby on March 22, the following interactive workshops & presentations will be offered across campus:
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10 - 11 AM - A Letter to my Future Self
Arts 350 (accessible)
Participants will write supportive letters to themselves for a future moment of hopelessness, sadness, or vulnerability. What would help you in that moment? How might you be able to achieve your desired state?
Facilitators: Chelsey Weir & Hayley Crooks
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10:30 - 11:30 AM - Forum Theatre Disclosure Workshop
Arts B55, The Moving Image Resource Lab (not accessible due to 5 stairs; volunteers are on stand-by to provide assistance to any students with accessibility needs who would like to attend this workshop -- please message sofia.misenheimer [at] mail.mcgill.ca for more information)
Our goal is to explore the complexity and challenges that come with seeking help, disclosing, responding and writing policies in response to sexual aggression. Discussions following the workshop will facilitate an expansion of awareness about rape culture and gendered & sexual violence, exploring the space between what rape culture is perceived to be versus what it is day-to-day. This piece will be of interest to students, teachers, staff and administration and individuals writing policy.
Facilitators: Eric Craven
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11 AM - 1 PM - Speaking our Healing
Arts 350 (accessible)
What do we do in aftermath of sexual violence? How do we rediscover our voice? How can we begin to express what happened or who we are now? If rape culture demands our silence – is expression the path to our healing? These are some of the questions this workshop seeks to explore. The first half will be spent discussing the importance and the challenge of self-expression for sexual violence survivors; during the second half, participants will be invited to express their thoughts, feelings and/or reflections through the written and spoken word (i.e. letter-writing, poetry, prose, short stories, creative non-fiction, etc.). This workshop is closed to self-identified victims & survivors of sexual violence. This includes those who've experienced sexual harassment as well as sexual assault.
Facilitator: Malek Yalaoui
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11 AM - 12:30 PM - Tender Hearts Work Hard: A zine workshop with Ambivalently Yours
Leacock 738 (accessible)
Inspired by the idea that talking and making collectively in a safe setting can facilitate and inspire feminist action, artist Ambivalently Yours invites member of the public to join her for a collaborative zine making workshop. This activity will mirror aspects of the artist's online practice, which uses drawing, ambivalence, and anonymity as a means to expand the limits of empathy and feminist discussions. This workshop is open to participants of all ages, gender identities and artistic levels.
Facilitator: Ambivalently Yours
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12 - 2 PM - Herbalism & Trauma: Herbal Support
IGSF Seminar Room 3487 Peel St, 2nd Floor (not accessible)
This workshop will explore some of the top herbal allies for anxiety, trauma, and mental health. We will take the time to connect with different herbs through our senses and make a personalized blend to take home. RSVP required: http://www.mcgill.ca/igsf/herbalism
Facilitator: Pamela Fillion
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12 - 1:30 PM - Self-Care Corner: Wellness Through Potting Event
Office for Sexual Violence Response, Support and Education 550 Sherbrooke O. Suite 585 (accessible)
For centuries the therapeutic use of plants has been used as a means for healing. Today, this approach helps trauma survivors and people with PTSD develop emotional safety, engage in narrative restructuring of trauma, and practice mindfulness by reconnecting with the earth. The goal of this self-care corner is to promote wellness for individuals on our campus. There is no cost to this event. Plants, soil, pots, hot water, food and cups will all be provided. RSVP required: https://involvement.mcgill.ca/event/77929
Facilitators: Consent McGill
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1 - 2 PM – Health and Wellness at the Library: Creating an Inclusive Space for Students
Research Commons Room A, Redpath Library Building (accessible)
Students face a variety of challenges and high levels of stress throughout their time at university, and many spend a significant amount of time in the library while coping with these issues. In an effort to support our students, we have developed resources, spaces, and collections to help make the library a safe, inclusive, and welcoming space. This presentation will highlight the various health and wellness related initiatives taking place at the McGill Library, as well as upcoming projects. It will be followed by a short tour of the library to highlight spaces and resources mentioned during the presentation.
Facilitator: Robin Canuel, Head Librarian
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1 - 3 PM - Making Memes: Equity and diversity in STEMM with Women in Physics
Leacock 738 (accessible)
This workshop will open dialogue about issues related to race, class, gender and ability and their intersection with the under-representation of minority populations in STEM fields. We'll discuss issues pertaining to the social construction of gender, masculinity and femininity in STEM, intersectionality, implicit bias, micro-aggressions, work-life balance, stereotype threat and imposter syndrome. We will also examine recent media products including cartoons and memes, and discuss origins and solutions to the problem of under representation. Finally, participants can create some memes to convey their thoughts and feelings on any of the topics! Everyone is welcome!
Facilitators: Hannah Wakeling & Dr Rosa Rodríguez
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2 - 3 PM - Forum Theatre Disclosure Workshop
Arts B55, The Moving Image Resource Lab (not accessible due to 5 stairs; so volunteers are on stand-by to provide assistance to students with accessibility needs who would like to attend this workshop -- please message sofia.misenheimer [at] mail.mcgill.ca for more information)
Our goal is to explore the complexity and challenges that come with seeking help, disclosing, responding and writing policies in response to sexual aggression. Discussions following the workshop will facilitate an expansion of awareness about rape culture and gendered & sexual violence, exploring the space between what rape culture is perceived to be versus what it is day-to-day. This piece will be of interest to students, teachers, staff and administration and individuals writing policy.
Facilitator: Eric Craven
*
2 - 4 PM - Picturing Consent: A Photovoice Workshop
Education Building, 3700 McTavish, 1st floor (accessible)
This workshop will explore the concept of consent in an academic contexts and university campuses. The audience will use their hands to make symbols and gestures of "consent." They will take pictures using a digital camera, print the photo on site and write a small caption on the meaning of the picture. The pictures will be displayed in the space to show the different meanings of consent and sexual-gender-based violence within an academic context, and will be exhibited in the Art Hive during the event.
Facilitator: Milka Nyariro, McGill Art Hive Initiative
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2 - 4 PM - Hands-on, Hands-off: A Textile Workshop
Education Building, 3700 McTavish, 1st floor (accessible)
As human beings, we rely on our hands for mostly everything we do. We use them as tools to explore the world and transform it, and to connect with each other. This workshop focuses on our hands’ creative and caring potential, but also intends to create awareness about their damaging power. Hands-on, Hands-off encourages participants to share their experiences, thoughts and needs, and invites them to listen, understand and respect those of others. In a safe and supportive environment, participants are invited to use their hands to transform fabric gloves to represent experiences related to gender-based violence that may be hard to express in words. The gloves will be creatively transformed to address and understand gender-based sexual violence and rape culture on campuses, allowing our bodies to become sites for healing, resistance, communication, and commemoration.
Facilitator: Maria Ezcurra, McGill Art Hive Initiative Facilitator
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3 - 4:30 PM - Bodily, Walking Into the Woods
Lobby of the Education Building, 3700 McTavish
Walking is as mundane an activity as it can be challenging. For those of us who have experienced any kind of (bodily/psychological) trauma or live with any variety of anxiety disorder or depression, something as simple as "walking" (i.e.: putting oneself in the public sphere to get from point A to point B) may not be a source of respite or mental relaxation, rather, a space of confrontation (oneself with one's thoughts; oneself with the world). Bodily, Walking Into the Woods proposes a silent, meditative and collective foray onto the path in the grand park that is Mount-Royal. The act of collectively creating a container for this everyday action may hopefully offer even the smallest moment of respite as we walk together, in solidarity (even if in silence), sharing a moment of quietude and natural beauty. 2. Walking is as mundane an activity as it is profound. Not only does it allow a moment of being with our thoughts - a precious time to process events (big and small) - it also opens a space for breath and time for decompression. Or to leave thoughts behind. In this interval-like activity, I have experience some of my most cherished moments of simple joy. Living with chronic low grade depression, I have also noticed how walking, as a practice, has acted like a reset button over and over again. Something about the body connecting with breath, sky, and ground (simultaneously) has repeatedly cleared the cobwebs, making wellness seem like an actual and attainable possibility. 3. When we walk in a place, over and over, that place becomes ours. It recalls our experiences as we rewrite them onto these paths. Walking as reclamation of (public) space.
Facilitator: Victoria Stanton
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TBA - Film screening of "Cold Hands"
TBA
This student-made film by Eric Bizzarri tells the story of the protagonist Lucas, who in an effort to make friends in high school finds himself in a position that compromises his safety. In the aftermath, he realizes that the support he seeks is not guaranteed.
Facilitators: Bianca Tetrrault & Aliya Nowaczynski
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3 - 5 PM - Safety Strategies Workshop
Arts B55, The Moving Image Resource Lab
(not accessible due to 5 stairs; so volunteers are on stand-by to provide assistance to students with accessibility needs who would like to attend this workshop -- please message sofia.misenheimer [at] mail.mcgill.ca for more information)
Using large maps of campus and surrounding areas, we will use art to explore our personal experiences of those spaces and discuss accessibility, equity, and safety at McGill. This workshop is an opportunity to celebrate your favorite spaces to hang out and to share with others, or to talk about how you navigate struggles and use safety strategies to get around these spaces. Safety strategies are any tools, resources, or approaches we use in our day-to-day lives to increase feeling of safety (not just physical safety, but comfort, access, ease, etc.) in the spaces around us. The goal of the workshop is to create a personal artwork depicting your unique experience or safety, or lack thereof, on and around campus. With your consent, artwork produced during this workshop will be published as part of a digital art exhibition and zine.
Facilitators: Right to Campus McGill
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3 - 5 PM - Shield Making: An Art Therapy Workshop
Leacock 738 (accessible)
This art therapy experiential workshop will explore how creating and altering images can help to externalize and reorganize the physical and emotional narrative, increase feelings of power, control, and facilitate the positive reintegration of feelings. This workshop is intended for survivors of gendered & sexual violence, and those interested in experiencing the art therapy process and how it may be useful for healing.
Facilitators: Marissa Singer (art therapist, MA, ATPQ) & Jessica Gardner (art therapist, MA, ATPQ)
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6 - 8 PM - How to Respond to Disclosures
Brown Building, Room 5001 (accessible)
This free 2 hour interactive workshop is available to students, faculty, and staff at McGill. During the workshop, participants learn about the prevalence of sexual violence at McGill and in the larger community, and the various impacts that sexual violence can have on individuals. You will learn how to respond to and support people affected by sexual violence by using appropriate tools and approaches. Participants will then practice these tools and methods they have learned through group activities and case scenarios. The workshop will also explore key terms and discuss common myths and misconceptions about sexual violence that may affect one's ability to effectively respond to and support disclosures. Participants will also learn about the many different support resources available on campus and in the community.
Facilitator: Bianca Tétrault, Sexual Violence Education Advisor
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This event will be the first of many on other Montreal campuses that continue the ideas and conversations born of this initial community gathering.
Collaborators include IGSF, McGill, Atwater Library and Computer Centre, Art/iculation magazine, Sexual Assault Centre of the McGill Students' Society (SACOMSS), It Happens Here (Dawson College), Right to Campus McGill, Social Equity and Diversity Education Office (SEDE), McGill University, McGill Social Work Student Association (SWSA), Machino, AdDisplay, McGill Library, Status of Women Canada + MORE (TBA).
"Institutional/Organizational Social Justice," An Esquisses Talk by Dr. Ada Sinacore, Associate Professor, Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Director, Social Justice and Diversity Research Lab
April
Release of Art/iculation magazine special issue, "Alive & Well"
The Arts of Trans, Gender Diverse, and Two-Spirit Lives Conference
Gender, Sexuality, Feminist and Social Justice Research Showcase
FALL 2017
September
Exhibition | The Gendered Cultures of Beer and Cheese: the Regulation of Human and Microbial Bodies on the Home and Industrial Scales, 1616 - 2017
September 11- October 2, 2017Vernissage: Friday, September 29, 6-8 pm
McIntyre Medical Building, Osler Library of the History of Medicine, 3rd floor, 3655 promenade Sir William Osler
This exhibition, comprised of medical texts, cookbooks, training manuals, and industry documents, showcases the ways in which advice about best fermentation practices has changed over time. As you visit the exhibition, we hope you will consider the following questions: How is the language employed around ideas of public health, food, and alcohol production gendered and classed? Are ideas about "what is safe" and "what is dangerous" regarding fermentation practices restricted to scientific understanding? To what degree are these ideas socially embedded concepts?
The materials for this exhibit come from McGill University’s Osler Library of the History of Medicine; Rare Books and Special Collections; the Schulich Library of Physical Sciences, Life Sciences, and Engineering; the MacDonald Campus Library; the Blackader-Lauterman Collection of Architecture and Art; and the private collection of Alex Ketchum.
This exhibit has been made possible by the generous support of McGill University’s Faculty of Medicine; the Institute of Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies; the Department of History and Classical Studies; the Department of English; and the Office of the Vice Principal’s Research and Innovation Grant.
We are pleased to offer this exhibit as part of this fall’s conference, “Leavening the Conversation: Food, Feminism, and Fermentation" (September 29- October 1st). For more information, please visit: foodfeminismfermentation.com and https://www.mcgill.ca/library/channels/event/exhibition-gendered-cultures-beer-and-cheese-regulation-human-and-microbial-bodies-home-and-270061
Curated by Alex Ketchum, PhD candidate, Department of History and Classical Studies
For Osler Library of the History of Medicine's opening hours, please click here.
Studio XX: Alanna Thain in conversation with Michele Pearson Clarke
"For NDN Girls at The End of The World: stories about sovereignty," by Erica Violet Lee, followed by IGSF Welcome Reception Wine & Cheese
September 20, 2017
5:30PM – 7:00PM
Room 219, Leacock Building (accessible)
From 7:00 onwards IGSF Welcome reception wine and cheese in TNC (Tuesday Night Café), Morrice Hall (accessible).
The Institute for Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies is delighted to welcome writer and activist Erica Violet Lee. Lee is a nêhiyaw community organizer and writer from inner-city Saskatoon. Her work moves across academic, activist, and artistic fields, transgressing colonial borders and disciplines. Her talk will consider what resistance looks like today through an Indigenous feminist lens. Her talk will be followed by the IGSF start of the year reception with a wine and cheese. Please come out and meet other members of McGill queer and feminist research community!
For more information about Erica, visit https://moontimewarrior.com/about-erica or contact info.igsf [at] mcgill.ca.
In partnership with: 7th Annual Indigenous Awareness Week
Esquisses Speaker Series: "The Digital Ruins of Amores Expressos: Re-examining Gender and Space in Brazilian Literary Blogs," by Prof. Cecily Raynor
Sight and Sound Festival, Co-sponsored with Eastern Bloc
LEAVENING THE CONVERSATION: intersections of food, fermentation, and feminism
October
Visiting Speaker: Florence Freitag on ground-breaking feminist filmmaker Maya Deren
Renowned Performance and Media Artist Johanna Householder in conversation with Catherine Lavoie-Marcus
October 5, 4 pm
IGSF Seminar Room, 3487 Peel, 2nd floor
Johanna Householder is a Professor in the Faculty of Art and Graduate Studies at OCAD University, and is currently Chair of Cross-Disciplinary Art Practices. She has taught performance art and new media at OCAD U, since the early 90s. Her interest in how ideas move through bodies has led her often collaborative practice, and informs her research and writing on the impact that “performance” has in contemporary art and new media. She performs and lectures internationally. As a member of the notorious feminist performance ensemble, The Clichettes in the 80s, she helped reestablish lip sync as a viable medium for social critique.She is keenly interested in issues of embodiment, and the histories of live art as contained in the archives and the repertoire, and she recently reset her 1978 solo on dancers at Toronto Dance Theatre and in Residuals, at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO).
With Tanya Mars, she has co-edited two books: Caught in the Act: an anthology of performance art by Canadian women (YYZ, Toronto, 2004), and More Caught in the Act (YYZ, Toronto/ArtexteMontréal, 2016), and with Selma Odom contributed to Renegade Bodies: Canadian Dance in the 1970s (Dance Collection Danse, 2012). She is one of the founders of the 7a*11d International Festival of Performance Art which will hold its 12th biennial festival in Toronto in October 2018, and she co-chairs the Artistic Research Working Group of Performance Studies international. She is performing Oct. 6, 9pm as part of the VIVA! Art Action festival: http://skol.ca/en/programming/viva-art-action-johanna-householder-et-catherine-lavoie-marcus/
Catherine Lavoie-Marcus Catherine Lavoie Marcus is a choreographer, performer, teacher and researcher in dance. Since 2008 she has presented her creations in theatres and artist-run centres in Quebec (Tangente, Studio 303, Usine C, Centre d'art Skol, Fonderie Darling) and has shared her personal and group research internationally (France, China). She publishes theoretical and critical reflections in the form of articles and essays in the Presses du réel, in Dance collection Danse Press/es and in the magazines Spirale, Jeu, and esse arts+opinions. Catherine is newly a columnist for the publication esse in collaboration with Michel F. Côté and continues doctoral research at the University of Quebec in the program "études et pratiques des arts".
Policing Black Lives: State Violence in Canada From Slavery to the Present by Robyn Maynard
Esquisses Speaker Series: "Becoming Provincial: Women & Perfomance Outside London in the Long Eighteenth Century," by Prof. Fiona Ritchie
Women and the Law Workshop: “Animations of Indigenous Law in Louise Erdrich’s La Rose”
“Plural Marriage and Women’s Rights” by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
“How Does Intersectionality Help us Understand the Issue of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women?” with Dr. Sherene Razack
Talk by Karolin Heckemeyer: "The heteronormative logic of sport and the myth of a level playing field”
Karolin Heckemeyer (University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland - College of Education)
Monday, Oct. 30, 3 pm
IGSF (3487 Peel St., 2nd floor)
Competitive sports are mostly gender segregated. Men compete against men, women against women. By implementing gender categories sport organizations intend to guarantee a level playing field for all competitors as well as fair and meaningful competitions for women. However, gender categories in sport are strictly binary and refer to medical criteria that pathologize and exclude those who do not conform to the idea of «natural» masculinity or femininity. History shows that women athletes in particular were subject to different forms of sex tests and gender verification procedures that were meant to confirm the athlete’s gender and allow or disallow their participation in the women’s category. Even though international sporting bodies such as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) are no longer performing mandatory sex tests, current regulations continue these discriminatory practices, reproducing the idea of a natural gender binary and a hegemonic vision of heteronormative femininity thus maintaining and legitimizing the gender hierarchy of competitive sport.
November
2017 Fall Mallory Lecture, “Where was Democracy? The Case of Woman Suffrage in Canada”
Exhibition: Reading Performance at Artexte
An Annotated Bibliography in Real Time: Performance Art in Quebec and Canada III
A research exhibition and a series of discussions and screenings
November 1st – December 15, 2017
Opening reception and discussion Wednesday, Nov. 1st at 5 PM
Discussion about bibliographical research on performance at Artexte with Nicole Burisch, Joana Joachim (EAHR, Concordia) and Victoria Stanton.
Moderators: Barbara Clausen and Geneviève Marcil.
Reading Performance is the third edition of the two-fold exhibition project An Annotated Bibliography in Real Time presented at Artexte in 2015. Echoing the lively research context at Artexte, this project, taking form as an exhibition, as well as a series of screenings, discussions and talks will offer a dynamic space for discussion and exchange on past and present performance-based practices, writings and bibliographical research in Quebec and Canada.
This latest rendition is part of the long term university research project An Annotated Bibliography: Performance Art in Quebec and Canada initiated by the Art History Department at UQAM. It is dedicated to an extensive bibliographic survey and a comprehensive overview of writings, publications and printed matter on performance-based practices since the 1940s. By taking account of the wide variety of existing publications and discourses Reading Performance will reflect on the collective spirit inherent for performance art, shedding light on various modes of production and circumstances of experience as well as the ongoing reception of performance art over more than half a century. Reading Performance is a situation, as well as a process and a tool reflecting on the relationship between research and artistic production.
Curatorial team: Jade Boivin, Emmanuelle Choquette, Geneviève Marcil.
Barbara Clausen, Curator and Research Director
Research group: Jade Boivin, Emmanuelle Choquette, Maude Lefebvre and Geneviève Marcil.
Part I (November 1–11)
TEXT - The art manifesto as performative text
Curator: Geneviève Marcil
Part II (November 15–25)
SPACE - Exhibiting research
Curator: Emmanuelle Choquette
Part III (November 29—December 15)
IMAGE - Image as tool of identity
Curator: Jade Boivin
Public opening : Wednesday to Friday from noon to 7 PM, and Saturday from noon to 5 PM.
"Get it Together! Feminism, Collectivity, Media" & Master class with Sophie Mayer
November 2-3
This two-day event considers feminism, media, and collectivity with a master class by Sophie Mayer (registration info below), and conference with Ella Cooper, Anne Golden, Gina Haraszti, Lynne Joyrich, Kathleen Kampeas, Sophie Mayer, Dayna McLeod, Lydia Ogwang, and Tess Takahashi!
Master class with Sophie Mayer: “Fuck Patriarchy, Screw Precarity: Uses of the Erotic in Feminist Film Criticism & Curation”
This master class addresses the feminist erotic and the ethics, accountability, and pleasures of curating feminist porn and sexually explicit films, as well as their relation to economic and geographical precarity and marginality to sex work, to QTBIPOC communities,and to the erasure of both geographies and histories. We will look at the rise of feminist and queer porn festivals (and their legal challenges), how queer and feminist erotic cinema offers an account of community-building *in place*, activist politics and the continued lack of engagement in film studies with the agency, aesthetics, choreography and politics of the sexual body.
To register and get readings (space are limited), message kim.reany [at] mcgill.ca with subject heading: Master class Registration IGSF
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/142983146434587
Keynote: "Reclaiming the Black Female Body : Embodied Inquiry & Social Change" by Ella Cooper
Thursday, Nov. 2
5:30 - 7 pm
Moving Image Research Labratory (3475 Peel)
Ella Cooper is an award winning multimedia artist, educator, impact producer, community arts programmer, filmmaker and the founder of Black Women Film! Canada. Cooper’s creative work explores themes of racialized identity, Canadian diaspora, reclamation, embodied landscapes, ecstatic nudes, contemporary dance and representations of the Black female body in Western visual culture. Her work has been presented in galleries, public spaces, festivals and for broadcast across Canada, with recent screenings and exhibitions in Berlin, San Francisco, Los Angeles and at the Art Gallery of Ontario. She receives continued support from the Canada Council and Ontario Arts Council, as well as being a recipient of a City of Vancouver award, a 2017 Toronto Arts Council Cultural Leader and a recent artist in residence at the Banff Centre for the Arts.
Cooper is also known for creating and facilitating transformational leadership and arts equity programs for diverse communities in Canada, US, Jamaica and South Africa. Ella is also a part-time lecturer at the University of Toronto and has been a featured speaker and guest facilitator for national and international conferences.
Opposing Racial Profiling and Police Violence
Global Gay Rights: A History of the International LGBT Rights Movement
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Trans Rights in Québec
A talk by IGSF Visiting Scholar, Jennifer Drouin
Thursday, November 16 5:00 pm
IGSF Seminar Room (3487 Peel, 2nd floor)
On 10 June 2016, “gender identity or expression” was added to the Québec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms as a prohibited ground of discrimination, just like race, religion, or political convictions. A year later, on 19 June 2017, “gender identity or expression” was added to the Canadian Human Rights Act, thereby protecting trans persons from discrimination in federal matters.
With these two important legislative changes, the state of trans rights has changed radically, although more work remains to be done, and the law on the books does not always translate into concrete changes in everyday life. This talk will address how the introduction of “gender identity or expression” as a prohibited ground of discrimination has an impact on discrimination in provincial matters, such as employment, housing, access to transportation, and public spaces, as well as in federal matters, such as hate crimes, banking, customs, prisons, and the military. In addition, this talk will answer practical questions, such as how one can change one’s first names and designation of sex on official documents, what health care costs related to gender transitioning are covered by Québec health insurance, going through airport security and customs at the border, and what to do when one has suffered discrimination. Finally, this talk will look at issues specific to trans parents, trans migrants, trans persons in prison, and trans sex workers.
Where Laws Meet Lives: Trans Activists Talk Back
Following Jennifer Drouin's talk
Thursday, Nov. 16
IGSF Seminar Room (3487 Peel, 2nd Floor)
Dalia Tourki came to Montreal in 2011. Since then, she completed an M.A. in literature and became an advocate for trans migrants’ rights. She helped organize the Trans March of 2016/17 and has participated in panels where she talked about her experience as an Arab trans migrant in Canada. She is also a writer; her recent work includes the essay "As an Arab trans woman there's no language for who I am” in The Independent.
Florence Ashley is a transfeminist activist and LL.M. candidate at McGill University, specialising in trans issues. They are a member of the Conseil québécois LGBT and part of the advisory board of the Trans Legal Clinic in Montreal, and have contributed to public and academic debates on trans issues, with publications in The Advocate, the Globe and Mail, and the University of Toronto Law Journal.
William Hébert is a PhD Candidate in Social-Cultural Anthropology and a Junior Fellow of the Centre for Criminology and Sociolegal Studies at the University of Toronto. His dissertation addresses the over-representation and vulnerability of trans prisoners in Canadian correctional facilities. It investigates the emergence of trans-affirming policies and projects for justice-involved trans people, asking what they reveal about the conditions of, and limits to, inclusion. William has collaborated on numerous community-based projects, including research on trans youth’s wellbeing, trans aging, and trans legal needs.
Screening of "Disabled!" A short documentary, followed by discussion with Olivia Dreisinger
Thursday, November 23, 4:30-5:30PM
Leacock 219 (accessible, but please message info.igsf [at] mcgill.ca to coordinate use of wheelchair elevator)
Join River Tam on a tour through the many worlds of fan fiction and disability in the experimental audio-visual essay "Disabled!" by Olivia Dreisinger.
Esquisses Speaker Series: "Identifying Parents-in-Law: Recent Developments in Law's Understanding of the Parent-child Relationship," by Assoc. Provost Angela Campbell
Collage Workshop with girlplague
Girlplague is teaching a 2-hour collage workshop where participants will learn cutting and application techniques, differences in adhesives, basic composition, as well as tips and tricks along the way! This workshop is open to all levels. Scissors and adhesives included. Some collage material will be provided but students are encouraged to bring their own.
November 30th, 6 p.m. – 8 p.m.
3487 Rue Peel, 2nd Floor (IGSF)
$25, sign up using PayPal or credit card at http://elysium.sharetribe.com/girlplague
Portfolio: http://www.girlplague.com | FB: girlplague
