FCAT Community in Practice

Community in Practice Day: Disability Justice with Dr. Fady Shanouda

Date: Friday, January 31, 2025
Time: 9:30am - 4:00am
Location: Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue and streamed online

Dr. Fady Shanouda: Accommodations vs. Access: Disability Rights vs. Disability Justice

In-person and online tickets are available HERE.

The processes involved in securing accommodations for disabled and mad students in Canadian higher education institutions are failing. These processes extend from the increasing carceral logics governing postsecondary institutions in this country. These logics include measures such as defensive architecture, the use of chemical and physical restraints during hospital transfers, and involuntary leave policies—measures that are often physically, emotionally, and psychologically violent. The accommodations process operates under the broader umbrella of disability services at universities, which usually encompasses health services and counselling, and wellness practices and programs. As Mimi Khúc (2024) writes, this system is frequently making us unwell. In this presentation, Dr. Fady Shanouda reflects on the violences embedded in the accommodation process in relation to the changing geographies of higher education. Dr. Shanouda consider the challenges and benefits of transitioning toward an access-oriented model for responding to bodymind differences in higher education and examine the tensions between disability rights and disability justice models of access in these spaces.

Keynote Speaker Bio:

Fady Shanouda is an assistant professor in the Feminist Institute of Social Transformation at Carleton University. He serves as co-director of the Disability Justice and Crip Culture Collaboratory and as co-editor of the Disability Culture and Politics Series at UBC Press. His scholarly contributions lie at the theoretical and pedagogical intersections of disability, mad, and fat studies and involve socio-historical examinations of the interconnections of colonialism, racism, ableism, sanism, fatmisia, and queer- and transphobia. He has published scholarly articles on disability/mad-related issues in higher education, Canadian disability history, anti-fat bias in medicine, and community-based learning.

Beyond Diversity and Inclusion in the Academy: Restoring Indigenous Land and Life

Kim TallBear, Professor, Faculty of Native Studies, University of Alberta | Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Peoples, Technoscience, and Society

Date: Thursday, January 4, 2024
Time: 10:00am - 11:30am
Location: Live streamed and recorded

*In-person tickets have SOLD OUT, waitlist and live stream tickets are available HERE.

Indigenous peoples are often at the receiving end of the colonial gaze, and this includes the gaze of non-Indigenous researchers. Science and technology, social scientific, and humanities fields have all developed in tandem with the growth of colonial states and their longstanding anti-Indigenous assumptions. Even well-intended researchers may be unaware of how such ideas continue to inform their assumptions about Indigenous peoples. Dr. TallBear calls attention to ongoing colonial ideas in the academy. To counter such ideas, she highlights precise definitions of inclusion, reconciliation and decolonization—ideas that are often conflated and their meanings and differences diminished—in everyday academic speak. Those precise definitions are then used to analyze new academic efforts that go beyond inclusion of Indigenous people to help transform research and learning for the benefit of Indigenous peoples. Such efforts also aim to return resources and space to Indigenous peoples. Finally, Dr. TallBear will highlight the role of academic research in helping promote Indigenous governance of science and other research.

About Dr. Kim TallBear

Kim TallBear (Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate) is Professor and Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Peoples, Technoscience, and Society, Faculty of Native Studies, University of Alberta. She is the author of Native American DNA: Tribal Belonging and the False Promise of Genetic Science. In addition to studying the implications of genomics for Indigenous peoples, Dr. TallBear studies colonial disruptions to Indigenous sexualities. She is co-founder of the Indigenous sexy storytelling and cabaret show, Tipi Confessions. She is also a regular panelist on the weekly podcast, Media Indigena. You can follow Dr. TallBear’s research group at IndigenousSTS.com. You can also find her on Mastodon @KimTallBear@mastodon.social.

Safe Space for White Questions (SSFWQ) YouTube community discussion with Dr. Ajay Parasram and Dr. Alex Khasnabish

In September 2023, Parasram and Khasnabish joined FCAT virtually for a live SSFWQ discussion on YouTube. Copies of Frequently Asked White Questions were sent to all FCAT faculty and staff in advance of this event. 

Learn more.