2018 McGill Feminist Research Colloquium: Identity and (In)visibility

March 1 and 2, McGill University, Montreal

*Please note that this event has been moved to SSMU Club Lounge (Rm. 401) -3480 McTavish St. (University Centre) in order to be held in an accessible space. 

Graduate students from the Institute for Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies invite members of the research community to participate in the first Annual McGill Feminist Research Colloquium on March 1st and 2nd, 2018. This colloquium is a forum for the scholarly community to exchange ideas and share research pertaining to gender studies, sexuality studies, and feminism. We welcome scholars of all disciplines. This event is open to the public and free of charge.

This colloquium is fully organized by graduate students with the generous support of IGSF, PGSS, and the Graduate Sociology Student Association.

THURSDAY, MARCH 1 - University Centre, SSMU Club Lounge (401), 3480 McTavish St.

2:30 - 3:00 - Registration / coffee

3:00- 3:15 – Welcome and introductory remarks

3:15 - 4:00 - Panel 1: Re-thinking Space

"Walking With: Reflections on creating a listening walk with a decolonizing pedagogical strategy" - Pohanna Pyne Feinberg, Concordia University

My doctoral research-creation explores the pedagogical potential of walking as a form of artistic inquiry and expression. I am interested in developing pedagogical contexts that encourage kinaesthetic and inter-sensorial experimentation with walking. My thesis project is an audio walk that features insights from eleven artists who have created works that emerged from their relationship with Mooniyang (in Anisshnaabemowin), Tiohtià:ke (in Kanien'kehà:ka / Mohawk), or Montreal (as it is called in French and English). Each of these artists identifies as a woman. Specifying gender is a deliberate decision motivated by my personal interest to these artists' stories, but also intended as a political gesture to infuse the contemporary walking art discourse (which tends to concentrate on white male artists) with voices that offer varied perspectives. For my presentation, I will describe my research-creation process, play some of the excerpts from the audio walk, and share some questions around inclusion and accessibility that are informing the final stages of my thesis project.

“Northern Lights/ Southern Views: Depicting the Arctic Environment, Empire, and Exploration” -Chris Gismondi, Concordia University

What comes to mind when you imagine the Arctic landscape? For many, the image is a "flat, white nothingness". My project aims to explore the historic roots of this perception and asks why and how explorers from the eighteenth to the early twentieth centuries represented the Canadian Arctic as devoid of its diverse flora. In doing so, this project is the first Arctic environmental art history, which critiques the white, colonial male's body in the space of Inuit territory. No scholarly inquiry has yet examined explorers' sketches, prints, and other disseminated visual culture. Thus, we do not know why explorers -often traveling in the blooming summer months -chose to depict the Arctic as infertile. This shift in focus in the landscape genre coincides with artist's rarely representing the environment without the explorer's presence. I repeat, these "landscapes" largely illustrate the white, qallunat male exploring. My research is interdisciplinary in scope, utilizing settler-colonial art history, environmental history, as well as whiteness and masculinity studies to dissect the creative processes and ideological messages of these colonial images.

4:00-4:15 - Break 1 

4:15-5:00 - Panel 2: State Recognition and legibility

"La reconnaissance des personnes non binaires dans le genre au Québec"- Antoine Masson-Courchesne, Université du Québec à Montréal

Au Québec, le nouveau projet de loi 35, entré en vigueur en octobre 2015, reconnaît que l’identité de genre ne découle pas du sexe anatomique en permettant aux personnes trans de modifier leur mention de sexe légale indépendamment de la forme de leurs organs génitaux et de leur corps. Malgré la plus grande liberté d’autodétermination que cela permet, la possibilité d’exprimer une identité de genre non binaire reste absente. Le premier objectif de ma recherche est d’identifier les déficits de reconnaissance sociale, légale, culturelle, linguistique et interpersonnelle vécus par les personnes non binaires dans le genre au Québec. Le deuxième objectif est de comprendre comment ces déficits s’incarnent dans leur vie quotidienne. Cette communication vise à présenter le plan de mon projet de mémoire ; la problématique, la question de recherche, la méthodologie ainsi que les résultats préliminaires si possible.

"‘Le gouvernement des corps des indigène de la République’ ou l'agentivité décoloniale des héritières de l'immigration maghrébine” -Sonia Alimi, Université du Québec à Montréal

C’est à partir d’un travail réalisé pour la session d’automne 2017 2 et des réflexions issues d’expériences féministes, que je vous propose de questionner la liminarité du changement de statut de corps colonisés à corps résistants dans un contexte néo-colonial. Plus précisément, sur les questions liées à la sexualité des héritières de l’immigration maghrébine (marocaine, algérienne et tunisienne) en France. Depuis l’impérialisme français les corps des femmes maghrébines ont été « spatialisés » ( Di Méo, 2010) comme territoire à conquérir. Édifiant ainsi, leurs sexualités comme lieu de pouvoir ( Taraud, 2003). Or, ces rapports de force instituées par la colonisation, se déploient similairement et insidieusement auprès des françaises-ses héritiers-tières de l’immigration de pays anciennement colonisés. En témoigne les représentations contemporaines –largement répandues au sein de la société française- de «  l’homme maghrébin, violent et pervers » et de la « femme maghrébine soumise, à libérer et à émanciper sexuellement » ( Hamel,2006). De ce fait, ces corps, ces sexualités désignés comme non conforme à ses principes et valeurs, lui ( à la société française) permettent de faire fi des oppressions systémiques qu’elle produit ( Guénif- Souilamas, 2005). Cependant, ces corps colonisés, ou héritiers de l’oppression coloniale, deviennent également des espaces de résistances. La présentation tentera ainsi, de démontrer l’agentivité, par la réappropriation d’une oppression- via la revendication de la virginité- de certaines femmes héritières de l’immigration maghrébine (Tersigni, 2001; Hamel 2006). Il s’agira de comprendre en quoi la revendication et la conformité à l’état de virginité de certaines femmes héritières de l’immigration maghrébine participent t’elles à une décolonialité des corps ?

5:00-5:15 - Break 2

5:15 - 6:15 - Panel 3: Medical Technologies and The Body (3)

“Différents défis dans la construction du projet parental chez les couples où l’homme trans est enceinte” - Mylène Shankland, Université du Québec à Montréal

Autant en sociologie qu’en santé publique, les expériences et les vécus de la gestation chez les hommes trans sont encore peu explorés (Giami, 2014). Il est possible dans plusieurs pays de procréer à partir de ses organes reproducteurs assignés à la naissance, tout en s’identifiant – et en étant institutionnellement reconnu – comme appartenant à un autre genre. Ceci crée des situations où les hommes sont enceints et où les femmes procréent avec leur sperme. Toutefois, l’invisibilité des grossesses masculines contribue à marginaliser les expériences d’expressions transgenres de la parenté. Avec une approche féministe post-moderne/post-structuraliste (Baril, 2015), il s’agit de s’intéresser aux vécus des hommes trans et aux expériences habituellement réservées aux femmes. Notamment, la qualité des relations entretenue par ses hommes avec l’hôpital ou l’école, le regard porté sur les grossesses masculines, ainsi que les transformations corporelles que ces hommes vivent.

“Banner the Cosplaying Service Dog: non-visible disabilities, labour, and discrimination in the service dog community” -Olivia Dreisinger, Independent Scholar

This talk addresses non-visible disabilities, non-visible forms of labour, and discrimination in the service dog community. Service dog users with non-visible disabilities (who "pass" as non-disabled) are more likely to be questioned about the legitimacy of their disability and their need to use a service dog compared to visibly disabled service dog users. In my talk, I will focus specifically on Banner the “Cosplaying Service Dog” and her handler Koyote. Koyote lives with a variety of non-visible disabilities such as non-combative PTSD, severe anxiety, manic depression, and chronic migraines. As a medical and psychiatric service dog, Banner alerts Koyote to oncoming migraines, anxiety attacks, and PTSD episodes, assists with running errands, stops destructive behaviour, and more. Of particular interest is the additional labour and support Banner performs through their large social media fan base as a cosplaying service dog, often acting as a surrogate for Koyote to more comfortably discuss what it’s like living with disability or experiencing discrimination through their participation in fan spaces and culture.

“Visible Fetus, (In)visible Mother: Ultrasound and Visual Knowledge” -Melodie Cardin, Carleton University

Prenatal care in Canada has become highly reliant on technological intervention. As the use of ultrasound has become increasingly routine, the sonogram has become an icon signifying pregnancy. Thus, ultrasonography has become a form of “media spectacle”, with the fetal image “fully incorporated into popular culture” (Draper, 2002). The intense cultural focus on producing babies understood as healthy serves not only to (re)produce ableist norms, but also to locate intense scrutiny and surveillance on the body of the mother (Gentile, 2013). Ultrasound contributes to self-regulatory behaviours that are framed as liberating and empowering, while simultaneously serving to erase the mother’s identity (Lupton, 1999). Her self-care, her health care, and the discourses that engender risk avoidance - all are fetus-directed. This presentation considers how the visibility of mother/fetus contributes to subjectivity within the context of ultrasound technologies, and the impacts for health care.

FRIDAY, MARCH 2 -University Centre, SSMU Club Lounge (401), 3480 McTavish St.

3:00 - 3:30 - Registration/ coffee

3:30 - 4:15 - Rachel Zellars -Keynote Speech

Rachel Zellars is a postdoctoral fellow in History at the University of Vermont.  Her work and research explores the “afterlife of slavery” as it relates to 3 major research areas:  schooling violence, gender violence, and disability. Her talk explores the historical relationship between Blackness, enslavement, and disability, with a specific focus on putting in context, recent and ongoing police killings of Black disabled peoples in light of this history. 

4:15 - 4:30 - Break 1

4:30 - 5:30 - Panel 4: Transgressing Borders

“Bridging scientific laboratories and commercial kitchens with inter-epistemics; or, the story of ‘a handmade cheese.’” - Maya Hey, Concordia University

Feminist critiques of science usher in productive epistemological conversations between subjectivity and objectivity (Harding, 1986; Knorr Cetina, 2001; Barad, 2007; Haraway, 1991). These arguments help analyze the ways in which food knowledge is produced and reified in places such as scientific laboratories and commercial kitchens. Fermented foods bridge these two spaces given their microbial presence. Though invisible, microbes can animate discourses of contamination and disgust in relation to the eater’s body. Particularly useful are Elizabeth Grosz’s word of caution that the body is neither unified nor universal (1994), as well as Lisa Heldke’s understanding of “mentally-manual activities” in her articulation of foodmaking as an epistemic endeavor (1992, p.218). In the same spirit that feminist critiques try to breathe nuance and complexity into dominant claims, this paper attempts to imbue new meanings in (re)mediating relationships with microbial life.

“Représentations visuelles par UNHCR Canada des réfugié-es syriens/syriennes réinstallé-es au pays”- Charlotte Dahin, Université d’Ottawa

Les représentations visuelles utilisées par les médias et les organisations internationales pour représenter les personnes réfugiées sont de puissants outils de communication. Ces images ont un impact important sur la manière dont le public se représente les personnes réfugiées en général, mais aussi sur le soutien qu’il portera (ou non) aux politiques d’immigration (Johnson, 2011, 1016). Dans cette communication, j’étudierai les représentations visuelles (et les légendes) utilisées par UNHCR Canada pour traiter de la réinstallation récente de réfugié-es syriens et syriennes au sein du pays. Dans une perspective féministe intersectionelle et postcolonialiste, et sur base de la littérature relative aux représentations des réfugié-es en général, je proposerai une analyse des différentes stratégies (hypervisibilité des femmes et des enfants ; utilisation de l’iconographie chrétienne ;…) utilisées par UNHCR Canada par rapport à l’objectif poursuivit de promouvoir la réinstallation et l’insertion des nouveaux/nouvelles arrivant-es et leurs implications (Baines, 2004; Bleiker et al., 2013; Kogut and Ritov, 2005; Lenette, 2016; Wright, 2002).

“The Rise of Fourth Wave Feminism in the MENA region? Cyber-feminism and Women’s Activism at the Crossroads of the Arab Spring” -Maha Tazi, Concordia University

This paper explores the rise of fourth wave feminism in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Fourth wave feminism finds its origins in Web 2.0 and User Generated Content (UGC) technologies; it is characterized by a mass of tech savvy and young feminists who harness the power of the Internet and the ICTs to advocate for social justice and gender equality. Whereas much of the existing literature about this new wave tends to focus on Europe and North America, periodizing its emergence in 2008, research documenting the rise of fourth wave feminism in the MENA region is actually limited. However, the advent of the Internet and the ICTs has also, if not primarily, impacted the feminist movement in the Middle East in the recent years in the context of the Arab Spring, where the democratization of digital technologies played a crucial role in enabling feminist activists to work around state censorship and repression to contest both authoritarian regimes and the ongoing gender inequalities in the region.

5:30 - 5:45 - Break 2

5:45 - 6:45 - Panel 5: Women Doing

“Presencing Settler Colonialism: Settler girls’ engagement with colonial violence against Indigenous women and girls” -Stephanie Claude, University of Ottawa

I explore how current understandings of Euro-Western girlhood are predicated on an invisible foundation of settler colonialism that has never been interrogated. While there has been an overrepresentation of Euro-Western girls’ voices within both feminist and girlhood studies, virtually no attention has been given to the complex ways that settler colonial forces mediate Settler girls’ lived realities and identity formation. Further, while there exists an abundance of literature related to Euro-Western girlhood and violence, there is a silence in the literature regarding how Settler Canadian girls engage with recently emerging discourses surrounding systemic violence towards Indigenous girls and women. Drawing on the contributions of Indigenous feminist and girlhood scholars, I argue that such a silence precludes a critical understanding of the ways in which the identity formation of Settler girls is intricately linked to the subjugation and violation of Indigenous girls. This silence further prevents an examination of the complicity/active participation of Settler girls in maintaining colonial systems of injustice and violence. “Presencing” settler colonialism within girlhood and feminist studies, I argue, is critical to exposing the ever-present dynamics of settler colonization and their powerful effects on both Settler and Indigenous girls. Such “presencing" also disrupts the colonial fixation on the so-called “Indigenous problem” in order to interrogate the Settler problem — colonial ideologies and practices that allow Settler girls to profit from the dispossession, dehumanization and disposal of Indigenous girls and peoples.

“Maintenance Labour, Legacy, and the Archive: A Visit with Éléonore de Lavandeyra Schöffer” -Lindsay Leblanc, Concordia University

While on a trip to Paris, France this past October, I scheduled an appointment to visit the atelier of the late artist Nicolas Schöffer—the subject of my Master’s thesis, who is best known for introducing the scientific discourse of cybernetics to art. Today, the artist’s widow Éléonore de Lavandeyra Schöffer maintains his estate, and continues to manage his artistic practice after his death by routinely collaborating with museums and scholars toward the exhibition and restoration of his works. She was also the one to guide me through Nicolas Schöffer’s archive the day of my visit. Speaking with her shed new light on my research and brought considerations to the table that suddenly felt critical to my approach; the discussions I was able to have with her raised serious questions about my accountability as an academic researching her late husband’s work. In this presentation, I will share my experience visiting with Éléonore, and discuss the feminized labour that upholds the legacy of history’s great, male, modernist artists.

“Radical Subjectivity in Soviet Melodrama of the Khrushchev Thaw” -Meredith Slifkin, Concordia University

The Khrushchev Thaw (roughly 1953-1964) heralded a period of cultural renaissance in the USSR. A new language was needed during the Thaw to understand the changing cultural landscape and the subsequent subjectivity newly afforded to its citizens. I argue that melodrama functions as a tool for understanding and articulating this new subjectivity, by renegotiating identity and emotional expression through cinematic language. Thaw melodramas respond to the need for stories that deal with the personal, the experiential, and the emotional. This paper will examine specifically the roles and representations of women, through analyses of The Cranes are Flying (Kalatozov, 1957) and Spring on Zarechnaya Street (Khutsiev, 1956), two melodramas typical of the Thaw aesthetic and ideology. I argue that these films constitute a dramatic shift in the representation of women in Soviet melodrama, from the heroic “new woman,” who embodies the socialist ideal, to the radical subjectivity of the “real woman,” who emotes unprecedented fragility, ambiguity, and desire.

6:45 - 7:00 - Break 3

7:00 - 7:45 - kimura byol-nathalie lemoine -Keynote Speech and Presentation of Short Films

kimura byol-nathalie lemoine (나타리 르무완 * ナタリー.ルモワーヌ) is a conceptual multimedia feminist artist who works on identities (diaspora, ethnicity, colorism, post-colonialism, immigration, gender), and expresses it with calligraphy, paintings, digital images, poems, videos and photography. kimura*lemoine’s work has been exhibited, screened, published and supported nationally and internationally. As a curator, kimura-lemoine has developed projects that give voice and visibility to minorities and as an activist archivist, ze is working on ACA (adoptees cultural archives)  to document the history of adoptee’s culture through media and arts. Ze is a recipient of 2014-2015 Mentorship Program from Montreal Arts Interculturals and a 2015 Vivacité Grant from Montreal  Arts Council and the Prize PowerHouse from Gallery La Centrale and the 2017 doc residency ‘Regard sur Montréal‘ (CAM, NFB, ACIC).

kimura*lemoine will present a series of short films, followed by the talk on the following subject:

when the body doesn’t fit the mind

when the language doesn’t fit the person

when the race doesn’t fit the language

when the mind doesn’t fit the person 

quand le corps de correspond pas à l'esprit

quand la langue ne correspond pas avec la personne

quand la race ne correspond pas à la langue

quand l'esprit ne correspond pas à la personne

7:45 - 8:30 -Post-colloquium snacks and wrap up in the SSMU Club Lounge
We will continue the generated discussions over drinks at Thomson House (3650 McTavish St.) afterwards, please join us.