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March 31st 2022 Equity, diversity and inclusion initiatives are often characterized as a “hallmark of the neoliberal university,” and a “non-critical, anti-theoretical and ahistorical answer to managing difference” (“Equity, Diversity, Inclusion: A Dialogue with Human Rights and Decolonization,” a roundtable hosted by Wilfred Laurier University on November 13, 2020). In this contribution to the SNID […]

Panelists will draw from their studies both in Canada and internationally to highlight the lives and livelihoods reproduced, sustained and compromised by the circulations and politics of waste. Dr Kesha Fevrier is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography and Planning at Queen’s University. Her research unfolds broadly at the intersection of race and […]

Canada’s waste crisis is the product of two inter-related issues: the problems of amplification and ongoing settler colonialism. In this presentation, Dr Myra Hird draws on decades of empirical waste studies research to argue that resolving our waste crisis requires an orientation away from techno-fixes and individual responsibility and towards upstream social justice issues.

On February 17, 2022, Dr. Shobhana Xavier delivered a SNID lecture entitled “Between Violence and Piety: The Case of Sufi Shrines in Sri Lanka”. The religious topography of Sri Lanka remains delicate in its post-war context, especially for ethno-linguistic and religious minority communities, such as Muslims. Amidst this precarity Sufis, Muslims with esoteric orientation towards Islam, resist their social and political marginalization through sacred spaces, such as Sufi shrines. However, these spaces oscillate between contestation and accommodation in the present climate of Islamophobia and Buddhist hegemony.  

The panel featured in this episode brings together a group of Kingston/Katarokwi/Queen’s, Toronto and Calgary artists for a discussion of activism and the arts. In this conversation, we will discuss how social justice concerns shape their art and what forms activism takes in their practice. Panelists will share insights from their own projects, which engage in issues and themes including gender and resource extraction; prison abolitionism; the legacies of the G20. Also check http://shespreads.com/ Panelists: Clare Preuss, Kemi King, Darwin Lyons, Zoe Sweet, Michael Wheeler, Mariah (Mo) Horner. Facilitation: Rebecca Hall

Jan 20th, 1-2:20 pm Spin Doctors: How media and politicians misdiagnosed the COVID-19 pandemic  Nora Loreto (writer, activist, editor of the Canadian Association of Labour Media ) presented their talk “Spin Doctors: How Media and Politicians Misdiagnosed the Covid-19 Pandemic” for SNID on January 20th 2022 1-2:30 PM. Synopsis: From January 2020 to July 2021, Canada experienced waves of mass death and infections from COVID-19. Canadians were often told by politicians, public health officials and journalists that stopping the spread of COVID-19 was in their hands. In this talk, Nora Loreto will examine the limits of this rhetoric, from uncontrolled COVID-19 spread in workplaces to inadequate safety measures within residential care. The truth was that individuals could do very little to keep themselves safe.

Please join SNID for a conversation with Queen’s University’s 15th Chancellor, the Honourable Murray Sinclair LLB MSC IPC. In this presentation, the Honourable Murray Sinclair will talk about his work with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and his recently appointed role as Queen’s University’s new Chancellor.

Theories of hauntology emphasize how past experiences leave an imprint by re-appearing in people’s present lives, affecting emotions and gendered reactions. This talk draws on these theories to illuminate how the mother’s ghostly presence, intertwined with the long spectre of the border regime, affects men’s masculinities as they un-settle in European countries. Dr. Ingvars’ work is based on ethnographies conducted mainly in Greece and Germany between 2012-2021, centred around masculinities among activists from Middle Eastern and Sub-Saharan nation states. Recurrent discussions about their mothers revealed shifting emotions such as fierce admiration and benevolent protectiveness, repressed anxieties and bridled humour, moral obligations and desires for labour autonomy. As such, the mothers appeared as both benign spirits and haunting ghosts from the men’s past, affecting their present lives and actions as the men felt obligated to engage in illicit economies to finance family reunions or send remittances. In doing so, they became vulnerable to exploitation which went unreported due to the fear of deportation, confining the men in harmful masculinity structures. They suppressed anxieties as not to worry their mothers while seeking substitution for the benign spirit elsewhere. Thus, this presentation will argue that mother’s influence on un-settled men’s identities is set within inter-related gendered spectres.

A conversation about the film Kapana and LGBTQI+2 rights in Africa, with filmmaker Philippe Talavera and artist and educator Nashilongweshipwe Mushaandja moderated by professor Marc Epprecht.  

In this talk, Dr Debora Lima delivered on October 21st 2021, discusses the ultra-neoliberal narrative that the Brazilian government has used to justify measures that result in green grabbing, and the impact of this on the socio-environmental resistance in Brazil.  

Join SNID for a panel discussion about intellectual property rights and global vaccine (in)equity. Our speakers will discuss: how transnational trade law and the World Trade Organization’s TRIPS (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) shape the availability, pricing, and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines; the proposed TRIPS waiver and its potential impact on vaccine equity; and the importance of a decolonial framing of human rights in global health during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. Dr Hyo Yoon Kang is a Reader in Law at the University of Kent, UK. She holds degrees from the London School of Economics and European University Institute. She has conducted far-reaching research at the intersection of intellectual property, history of sciences, science studies, political economy, law and humanities. Her most recent work examines the need for the TRIPS waiver from the viewpoint of intellectual property scholarship. Dr Sharifah Sekalala is a Reader in the Law School at the University of Warwick. Dr. Sekalala also currently serves as an Associate Fellow in the Global Health Programme of Chatham House. Dr. Sekalala’s current research projects focus on human rights and COVID-19, social reproduction in global health and the use of digital health tools in Sub Saharan Africa. Dr Lauren Paremoer is a senior lecturer in the Political Studies Department at the University of Cape Town and a member of the Peoples Health Movement. Her research focuses on health activism, global governance for health, and political mobilisation aimed at realising social citizenship in societies of the Global South.

In this season launch of Studies in National and International Development, Celina Caesar-Chavannes presents a talk on vaccine equity in Canada. Caesar-Chavannes is a business consultant, coach and international speaker, who currently serves part time as the Sr. Advisor, EDI Initiatives and Adjunct Lecturer at Queen’s University. Her new memoir, “Can You Hear Me Now?” was published by Penguin Random House Canada, in February 2021 and was selected as a finalist for the 2021 Shaughnessy Cohen prize for political writing and a book award finalist for the Speaker of Ontario Legislature. She was the former Member of Parliament for Whitby, Parliamentary Secretary to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Parliamentary Secretary for International Development. During her term as a Member of Parliament, Celina was awarded several distinctions including a feature in the April 2018 edition of O (Oprah Winfrey) Magazine entitled, “What would you stand up for and named Chatelaine Magazine’s Woman of the Year (2019). She has a Bachelor of Science, an MBA in Healthcare Management and an Executive MBA from the Rotman School of Management. Celina founder Resolve Research Solutions, Inc. in 2005. It is a research management consulting firm with the aim to provide research, consulting and education services to organizations seeking equity and advancing progress for those with multiple intersecting identities. Learn more about upcoming SNID lectures here.

María Constanza Guzmán The author of Mapping Spaces of Translation in Twentieth-Century Latin American Print Culture discusses her investigation of the interplay of translation and Latin American intellectual history in the 20th century. She reflects on translation in 20th-century Latin American print culture, tracing the trajectory of influential periodicals and publishing houses from the 60s and 70s. Guzmán unpacks the complex tensions that arise in Latin American “spaces of translation”, between enabling the perpetuation of colonial legacies and illuminating collective efforts to mobilize translation as a decolonial tool. The study allows for an analysis of translation in cultural institutions and provides a lens through which to uncover linguistic plurality past borders of seemingly monolingual ideologies.

In early November 2020, a civil war broke out in Ethiopia that quickly turned into a humanitarian crisis. The raging conflict, involving neighboring Eritrea, risks destabilizing the whole Horn of Africa region. It jeopardized the safety of more than 90,000 Eritrean refugees in the Tigray region of Ethiopia, and displaced hundreds of thousands of Tigrayans from their home, 60,000 of whom crossed the border into Sudan as refugees. This panel will discuss the intersection of conflicts and migration in the Horn of Africa with special attention to the root causes of the ongoing conflict and the displacement of civilians that preceded and followed it. Meron Estifanos, Eritrean Human Rights activist and co-founder of the International Commission on Eritrean Refugees. She is also the host and presenter of Radio Erena’s weekly program known as “Voices of Eritrean Refugees,” that airs from Paris. Tsedale Lemma,  Founding Editor and Editor-in-Chief of Addis Standard, Ethiopia. The English publication reports critically on domestic and foreign sociopolitical current affairs impacting Ethiopia. Tsedale Lemma has previously served in Ethiopia’s foreign missions and has given many talks, including testifying in front of US House foreign relations sub-committee on Africa. Dr. Awet T. Weldemichael, Professor and Queen’s National Scholar in the Department of History, Queen’s University, and a member of the Royal Society of Canada, College of New Scholars. He is an expert of the Horn of Africa and has been closely following the ongoing web of conflicts in the region. Moderated by Dr. Reena Kukreja, Assistant Professor, Global Development Studies, Queen’s University.

Join SNID for a panel discussion about the role of grassroots movements and local activism during COVID-19 with Jade Da Costa of The People’s Pantry (Toronto/Tkaronto), Tom deGrey of the Downtown Eastside SRO Collaborative (Vancouver/Unceded Coast Salish Territory), Queen’s Post-Doctoral Fellow in Geography and Planning Dani Aiello, and Liz Turner of Mutual Aid Katarokwi (Kingston/Katarokwi). This panel discussion took place virtually on February 11th 2021 at 1 PM.

This episode features a presentation by Dr. Scott Rutherford (Queen’s University).  He discusses the histories of “Red Power” in Canada within a broader context of global anti-colonial and anti-racist movements of the 1960s and early 1970s. He attempts to make sense of the complicated ways that global reference points were used to describe local protests; how mainstream media, police and government, for example, often framed such high profile moments, to borrow Trouillot’s words, as impossible events that only took place because of various “outside” influences. He also discusses how Indigenous activists challenged such discourse by insisting that, for example, park occupations, border protests and rights marches be understood within longer histories of empire and resistance; ideas and actions that were shaped both by local experience as well as transnational processes.

The pandemic has magnified many issues that we face as a society, including post-secondary programming in the arts, including music. Post-secondary music programs have been criticized in recent years for their lack of equity and diversity, a problem that is undeniably systemic. Changes to post-secondary curricula need to better reflect a diversity of arts-making and makers, as well as support an understanding of the nature and scope of careers within the arts. Without illuminating this pathway, and making it as direct as possible, post-secondary music programs are inevitably excluding many potential students from choosing to study music in post-secondary education. In this talk, we will describe the cultural domains in Canada and the different ways that artists can work within and/or across them. We also highlight some of the challenges faced by the industry and offer some insights about how changes in post-secondary programs could better equip musicians to diversify their craft and/or pivot across domains. We also identify some areas for policy changes that could better support the industry and the individuals that work within it. Dr. Julia Brook is an Assistant Professor of Music Education at the Dan School of Drama and Music, Queen’s University in Kingston. She holds degrees in Piano Performance and Music Education. Her SSHRC and CFI-funded research examines ways to ensure accessible and appropriate music education programs in schools, higher education and the community. Dr. Brook has worked as an elementary and specifically education music teacher, studio piano teacher and collaborative pianist. Dr. Colleen Renihan is Assistant Professor and Queen’s National Scholar in Music Theatre and Opera at the Dan School of Drama and Music. She holds degrees in Voice Performance and Musicology. Her book, The Operatic Archive: American Opera as History, was published this year. Colleen is embarking on a SSHRC and CFI-funded project with Dr. Julia Brook that investigates universal design principles for music theatre performance, and they have just completed a SSHRC funded project examining the scope and nature of work for musicians across Canada’s cultural domains. Ben Schnitzer a PhD candidate in Cultural Studies at Queen’s, where he also taught in the School of Policy Studies. After studying voice and performing in Canada and in Europe, Ben completed a Master of Public Service (Waterloo) and worked in cultural policy for the Canadian government. A member of the North American Cultural Diplomacy Initiative (NACDI) and was awarded a Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship from SSHRC to support his research on Canadian cultural diplomacy in the contemporary period. Recorded via Zoom, November 5th 2020

In the aftermath of the so-called “refugee crisis” of 2015-16, the migration regime consolidating in Europe entails the management of newcoming populations through their accommodation in camps. This talk will account for neglected aspects of this process in the case of Greece, focusing on the everyday economic practices, interactions and networks emerging in, around and because of camps. Drawing on examples from recent filed research, it will highlight the “productive” functions and economic geographies of migrant camps. Dr Panos Hatziprokopiou is Assistant Professor at the School of Spatial Planning & development, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He has studied economics, sociology and human geography in Greece and the UK. His research interests focus on socio-spatial aspects of migrants’ settlement, labour market pathways, housing geographies and everyday interactions. He is currently involved in a European project on transnational figurations of protracted displacement and the role of mobility and connectivity. Dr. Hatziprokopiou gave his virtual presentation on Thursday November 26th at 1 PM for SNID. Content recorded by SNID and provided as is to CFRC with permission of the lecturer.

Kingston Frontenac Public Library, The Black Luck Collective, and Queen’s SNID are pleased to present Eternity Martis, author of the enlightening memoir, They Said This Would Be Fun. A booksmart kid from Toronto, Eternity Martis was excited to move away to Western University for her undergraduate degree. But as one of the few Black students there, she soon discovered that the campus experiences she’d seen in movies were far more complex in reality. Eternity Martis is the author of the bestselling memoir They Said This Would Be Fun, “A powerful, moving memoir about what it’s like to be a student of colour on a predominantly white campus.” The Constellations lectures series encompasses politics and identity, science and technology, arts and letters, and practical skills relevant to contemporary life. This Constellations event was co-presented virtually on October 7th 2020 with Kingston’s Black Luck Collective and Queen’s University’s Studies in National and International Development. Constellations is sponsored by the Friends of the Kingston Frontenac Public Library.

In this first podcast of the new Studies in National and International Development 2020-21 year, Dr. Chery Thompson leads the discussion.  Dr. Thompson explores the mutation of Uncle Tom from 19th C. literary character to the relentless reworking of Uncle Tom into a nostalgic racial metaphor with the power to shape how we see Black men.  How, whey and with what consequences for our society did Uncle Tom morph first into a servile old man (Josiah Henson) and then to a racial epithet hurled at Black men deemed, by other Black people, to have betrayed their race?  Learn more and listen in! This virtual talk was given and recorded October 15th 2020.