Current Ruth Wynn Woodward Endowed Chair
Dana Mohammed Olwan
Room: AQ5094 Tel: 778-782-4352 Email: dolwan@sfu.ca Appointment times: |
We wish to welcome Dana Mohammed Olwan, the Ruth Wynn Woodard Junior Chair in Women's Studies for the year 2011-2012. Tentatively entitled "Dishonourable Crimes: Murder, Rescue, and the Politics of Canadian Multiculturalism," this project lies at the intersections of race, gender, and feminist studies. Utilizing a broad range of theoretical frameworks, my work maps the ways in which ideas about states, citizenship, belonging, and religion are deployed to code certain acts of violence against women as “honour crimes.” In this work, I explore a range of issues relating to the areas of Islam, Gender Studies, and the politics of Canadian multiculturalism. During her tenure at SFU, Dana will teach a number of courses, including two courses on transnational feminist theory in the Fall term and one on Islam and feminism during the Spring term. Dana is committed to doing anti-racist feminist work in the classroom and beyond. She has participated in various activist organizations, including Free Queen’s!, OPIRG Kingston, The Ban Righ Center, and Faculty for Palestine. |
Teaching - Fall 2011
GSWS 405-5 "Theoretical Issues in Women's Studies"
In April 2011, over three thousand women marched in Toronto Slutwalk. Originating from Canada and organized in response to a Toronto police officer’s advice that women stop dressing like “sluts” in order to avoid rape, Slutwalk is now a global phenomenon. From Toronto to Vancouver, Chicago to Berlin, and Sydney to New Delhi, the movement’s transnational growth offers insights into the status of feminist thought and praxes, as well as their potentials and limitations. Using the discussions and debates that such examples of feminism in action inspire, this course will ask:
How do feminisms or feminist theories signify and travel from one place to another? What does being a feminist theorist or doing feminist work look like in national and transnational contexts? What does transnational feminist theory mean? How can this expansive body of academic scholarship help illuminate current political, racial, social, sexual and gendered issues and concerns? These are some of the questions that this upper-level theory course will focus on in order to understand how intersecting and interlocking systems of power and oppression operate at home and abroad. Based on a mixture of lectures, seminar presentations, textual readings, film viewings and class discussions, we will engage critical questions and debates concerning the status and relevance of academic feminist theorizing to our increasingly globalized world realities.
GSWS 822-5 Graduate Seminar in Feminist Theory
The subject being taught will be “Contemporary Trans/National Feminist Theories on Race, Gender, and Sexuality.”
This course examines contemporary feminist theories on racism, gender, and sexuality. We will study how feminist theories can illuminate
current political, racial, social, and gendered realities for subjects in national and international contexts. While focused on seeing links between this large and intersecting body of scholarship, special attention will be paid to the ways in which feminist theory can allow us to
(or prevent us from) the task of challenging and dismantling multiple and interlocking systems of oppression both at “home” and “abroad.”
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Public Events
September 22, 2011: "New Tricks, Old Hat: ‘Pinkwashing’ Israel, Islamophobia, and the Honour Crime Industry" at Thinking about 9/11 Ten Years After: First Annual Middle East and Beyond Symposium. Le Moyne College, Syracuse, NY.
November 1, 2011: "Killed in Canada and Remembered in Israel: Mapping the Geopolitics of the 'Aqsa Parvez Memorial Grove'" Talk at the Liu Institute for Global Issues & RAGA, Vancouver.
November 11, 2011: "In the House of Silence: Feminist Studies and the Question of Palestine" as part of "A Breach in the Wall? Teaching Women’s and Gender Studies through a Transnational Lens" panel discussion. National Women Studies Association Conference, Atlanta, GA.
RWW CHAIR LECTURE AND WORKSHOP SERIES
Spring 2012
Resisting Gendered and Colonial Violence Against Women
Schedule of Events
December 8, 2011: "Demystifying Gender Violence in Muslim Communities" at A Breakfast to Celebrate Activism Against Gender Violence in Vancouver: Red Shoes Green Belts White Ribbons, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, BC.
Friday, January 27, 2012: Jessica Yee "Marginalization Doesn't Happen by Accident: Colonialism and Violence from the State" SFU Vancouver campus
January 6th-8th, 2012, Panel on Gender Liberation. Tragedy of the Market: from Crisis to Commons. Burnaby, Coast Salish Territories
Saturday, February 3, 2012: Workshop with the Steering Committee on “Gendered and Colonial Violence in Times of War and Empire: A Discussion and Workshop” SFU Burnaby Campus, Diamond Alumni Centre
Monday, February 20, 2012: Professor Chandra Talpade Mohanty. “Imperial Democracies, Militarized Zones, and Feminist Engagements: Keynote Address and Discussion” SFU Vancouver campus
In the News
Israeli-Palestinian project involves locals
Queen's and Simon Fraser University team receives $223,00 federal government grant. An ongoing multimedia project hopes to bring to life the diverse histories of homes in the Jerusalem neighbourhood of Qatamon. A team comprised of professors and students from Queen’s and Simon Fraser University (SFU) will work closely with families displaced by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Read more...
Academics and filmmakers create Israeli-Palestinian artistic research project
A new community-based, multi-generational video project designed by Queen’s and Simon Fraser university researchers will engage the complex bi-national and multi-ethnic histories of a neighbourhood in southern Jerusalem. Read more...
For more information, visit the Dorit Naaman/DiaDocuMEntaRy website.
RWW Chair Background
In 1984, with a grant from Secretary of State and matching funds from private donations, an endowed chairship in Women's Studies was established. Private donors included Mrs. Mary Twigg White and Mrs. Elizabeth Russ, daughters of Ruth Wynn Woodward; the Vancouver Foundation; and many other individuals and groups. The Canadian government, through the Office of the Secretary of State, established five regional chairs across the country in women's studies with an endowment fund at Mt. St Vincent University, Laval University, Ottawa-Carleton Universities (joint chair), University of Manitoba-Winnipeg (joint chair) and Simon Fraser University.
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Ruth Wynn Woodward
The chairship was named for Ruth Wynn Woodward, one of British Columbia's outstanding pioneer women. Through a lifetime of public service and personal accomplishment, she demonstrated the importance of the work of women to Canadian society. As well as raising three children, she was director and vice-president of Woodwards' Stores Ltd., owner/operator of Woodwynn Farm, a founding director of the Junior League of Vancouver, and president of the Women's Auxiliary of Vancouver General Hospital. Ruth Wynn Woodward was also BC’s Chatelaine from 1941-1946, her husband William Culham Woodward was BC’s Lieutenant Governor. |
Photo courtesy of Office of the Lieutenant Governor |
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Ruth Wynn Woodward Chair Strategic Plan
In the 2010 budget year, the matched AP‐4 from FASS was withdrawn. Under instruction
from Finance, the FASS budget people transferred continuing unfilled faculty lines into the
TA/TI budget in the previous year and were then instructed again to cut TA/TI budgets in
the current budget shortfall. Read more...
Ruth Wynn Woodward Chair Terms of Reference
Past Occupants of the RWW Chair
Thea Cacchioni, sociologist and activist, 2010 - 2011
Dana Claxton, interdisciplinary artist, 2009 - 2010
Dr. Afua Cooper, historian, writer, 2008 - 2009
Dr. Susan Stryker, philosopher, writer, 2007 - 2008
Kate Braid, poet, non-fiction writer, carpenter, 2006 - 2007
Elizabeth Philipose, political scientist, 2005 - 2006
Louise Chappell, political scientist & senior lecturer, Spring 2005
Dr. Sue Wilkinson, psychologist, 2002 - 2004
Dionne Brand, poet, novelist and essayist, 2000 - 2002
Dr. Sunera Thobani, sociologist and activist, 1996 - 2000
Dr. Vanaja Dhruvarajan, sociologist, 1994 - 1995
Dr. Hilda Ching, scientist, 1990 - 1991
Dr. Marjorie Griffin Cohen, economist, 1989 - 1990
Daphne Marlatt, writer and literary critic, 1988 - 1989
Rosemary Brown, politician, 1987
Dr. Susan Penfold, psychiatrist, 1985 - 1986
For several years, the department offered RWW post-doctoral fellowships. Other programs funded by the RWW endowment include a traveling speaker series; local, national and international conferences; a bi-annual women's studies retreat for instructors from colleges and universities in BC and the Yukon; and sponsorship and co-sponsorship of invited speakers on campus and in the community.
RWW Invited Speakers have included Nicole Brossard, bell hooks, Evelyn Fox Keller, Joy Kogawa, Teresa de Laurentis, Maria Mies, Himani Bannerji, Madhu Kishwar, and Marilyn Waring, among others.
The Ruth Wynn Woodward Chair enables us to make short-term appointments in areas where we lack faculty and to give courses in addition to those we are required to offer. As well, it provides the resources to host conferences and to invite high-profile speakers to address issues of current interest and concern. Below is a listing of some of the activities we have undertaken.
Past Conferences sponsored by the Ruth Wynn Woodward Endowed Chair:
Dr. Thea Cacchioni. The Medicalization of Sex (2010-2011)
Dana Claxton. Symposium: Unpacking the Indigenous Female Body (2009-2010)
Dr. Afua Cooper. Workshop: Knowledge Production and the Black Experience (2008-2009)
Dr. Susan Stryker. TransSomatechnics: Theories and Practices of Transgender Embodiment (2007-2008)
Dr. Kate Braid. Tradeswomen: A Winning Ticket! (2006-2007)
Dr. Elizabeth Philipose. Gender, Race, Islam and the War on Terror (2005-2006)
Dr. Sue Wilkinson. Gender, Sexuality & Health (2002-2004)
Dionne Brand. Poetry Matters: A Festival of Women Poets (2002)
Dionne Brand. Writers Series (2001)
Dr. Sunera Thobani. Canada in Denial: Socially Admissible Forms of Racism (2000)
Dr. Sunera Thobani. Women’s Gathering at the World Trade Organization Summit (1999)
Dr. Sunera Thobani. Women’s Conference Against APEC (1996-1998)
Dr. Vanaja Dhruvarajan. Bridging the Race and Gender Gap (1995)
Dr. Vanaja Dhruvarajan. Celebrating the Goddess (1994)
Dr. Vanaja Dhruvarajan. Women and the Canadian Environment (1994)
Are We Having Fun Yet? Building, Decorating and Finding the Body (1993)
Tapestry: A Celebration for Women of Colour and First Nations Women (1992)
Dr. Hilda Ching. Women in Engineering (1990-1991)
Dr. Dr. Marjorie Cohen. Women, Work, and Unions (1989-1990)
Dr. Daphne Marlatt. Telling it: Women and Language Across Cultures (1988-1989)
Dr. Rosemary Brown. Occupational Health and Safety for Clerical Workers (1986-1987)
Dr. Susan Penfold. Women, Medicine and Psychoanalysis (1985-1986)
The Women's Studies Summer Institute
In 1988 we offered our lst Summer Institute at Harbour Centre on Women, Life and the Planet with Vandana Shiva, an international scholar, environmentalist and feminist.
Our 2nd Summer Institute was held in 1999 on Standpoint Theory through the Work of Dorothy Smith.
During the Summer of 2002, our 3rd Summer Institute, Poetry Matters, included a gathering of local poets.
The 4th Summer Institute (2004) was organized by Dr. Sue Wilkinson, "International interdisciplinary conference on Gender Sexuality and Health"
More information coming soon.
Link to Previous Ruth Wynn Woodward Chairs
Quicklinks:
Activities of Current Ruth Wynn Woodward Endowed Chair
Past Conferences Sponsored by the RWW Endowed Chair
Previous RWW Chairs (More)
The Women’s Studies Summer Institute
Page last updated on
February 6, 2012
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