January 13, 2022 • 10:00 am – 11:30 am
Intersectionality in Equity, Inclusion and Belonging in the University

Objectives

Over the past 18 months, universities have been called to address systemic barriers present within academia, and many faculties and departments are striving to answer the call. Essential to this planning is the centering of intersectionality within systems change.

With this session, we are aiming to:

• • Deepen understanding of the concept of intersectionality and how the intersection of oppressions manifest on an everyday basis in postsecondary environments.
  • Discuss what it means to take action on the concept of intersectionality in a tangible way in Equity, Inclusion and Belonging work.
  • Explore strategies that create opportunities to actualize the concept of intersectionality in systemic change work.

Speaker

Hae Yeon Choo
Associate Professor, Department of Sociology
University of Toronto

 

Hae Yeon Choo is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto. She is the author of Decentering Citizenship: Gender, Labor, and Migrant Rights in South Korea (Stanford University Press, 2016). Her research on gender, intersectionality, citizenship, and urban sociology has appeared in Gender & Society, Sociological Theory, positions: asia critique, Urban Studies, and Sexualities. Her current book project examines social activism in contemporary South Korea as sites of emergent critical social theory and new political imagination. She has translated Audre Lorde’s Sister Outsider and Patricia Hill Collins’s Black Feminist Thought into Korean.

January 24, 2022 • 10:00 am – 11:30 am
The Future of Campus Safety Through an Antiracism Lens

Objectives

In light of the many calls for systemic changes in the areas of policing, law enforcement and campus safety, we are aiming to:

• Create space for critical dialogue on the role of community in establishing safety practices.
• Identify what systemic antiracism changes in community safety can look like.
• Discuss the role all levels of the university play in re-envisioning safety practices through an antiracism lens.

Speaker

Akwasi Owusu-Bempah
Associate Professor, Department of Sociology
University of Toronto

 

Akwasi Owusu-Bempah BA (Carleton) MA, PhD (Toronto) is a faculty member in the Department of Sociology at the University of Toronto, an Affiliate Scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and a Sr. Fellow at Massey College. Prof. Owusu-Bempah’s work examines the intersections of race, crime and criminal justice, with a particular focus in the area of policing. Prof. Owusu-Bempah is frequently sought out to provide commentary and advice to justice agencies, government bodies, community organizations, and media outlets on matters relating to policing, justice and social inequality. He frequently appears on radio and tv and publishes regularly in academic and popular forums. Prof. Owusu-Bempah is the author of Race, Ethnicity, Crime and Justice: An International Dilemma (Routledge, 2020 with Shaun Gabbidon). His academic research has been published in academic journals such as Policing and Society, The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, Crime and Justice, Theoretical Criminology, Race and Justice, The International Journal of Drug Policy. His work has recently been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Forbes, The Guardian, and The Globe and Mail.

Register

Format: Virtual – Zoom Platform
Audience: Faculty, Staff, Students and External Community
Cost: Free

 

January 31, 2022 • 10:00 am – 11:30 am
ANTISEMITISM: HERE AND NOW

Objectives

Join us as we engage in conversation with Dr. Lipstadt and take a deeper dive into her book “ANTISEMITISM: HERE AND NOW“.

During this session we will explore the overt and subtle manifestations of antisemitism on university campuses, discuss the noticeable increase in antisemitic incidents experienced by Jewish communities across post-secondary institutions in North America and identify tools,  universities can employ to address antisemitism and foster inclusive environments.

Speaker

Deborah E. Lipstadt
Dorot Professor, Holocaust Studies
Emory University

 

Dr. Deborah E. Lipstadt, Dorot Professor of Holocaust Studies at Emory University in Atlanta, has published and taught about the Holocaust and anti-Semitism for close to 40 years. Professor Lipstadt’s book, “ANTISEMITISM: HERE AND NOW” has just been published to stellar reviews and been awarded the NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARD.
She is frequently called upon by the Congress of the United States to testify and consult on contemporary anti-Semitism.

She is probably most widely known because of the libel lawsuit brought against her (1996) by David Irving for having called him a Holocaust denier. Irving then was arguably the world’s leading denier. At Emory she directs the website known as HDOT [Holocaust Denial on Trial]  which contains a complete archive of the proceedings of Irving v. Penguin UK and Deborah Lipstadt. It also provides answers to frequent claims made by deniers.

Professor Lipstadt was an historical consultant to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and helped design the section of the Museum dedicated to the American Response to the Holocaust.

Read full bio

 

Register

Format: Virtual – Zoom Platform
Audience: Faculty, Staff, Students and External Community
Cost: Free

 

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This event is in collaboration with the Multi-Faith Centre
March 4, 2022 • 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm • In recognition of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
Islamophobia and the 9/11 Generation: Lessons for Higher Education

Objectives

This session will examine how Canadian Muslim youth navigate Islamophobia in a Post-9/11 world. Twenty years after the 9/11 attacks, we will consider how the global war on terror and heightened anti-Muslim racism has affected a generation of Canadians who were socialized into a world where their faith and identity are under siege. How can we understand the ways that campus culture has been shaped in this age of empire? How can university communities be allies in combatting Islamophobia?

This session aims to:

• • Unpack the dynamics of Islamophobia and its impact on diverse Canadian Muslim youth.
  • Examine Islamophobia and campus culture in an age of empire.
  • Consider how a decolonial praxis can combat anti-Muslim racism in higher education.

 

Speaker

Jasmin Zine
Professor, Sociology/Religion & Culture/Muslim Studies
Wilfrid Laurier University

 

Jasmin Zine is a Professor of Sociology & Muslim Studies at Wilfrid Laurier University. She is author of the forthcoming book: Under Siege: Islamophobia and the 9/11 Generation (McGill-Queens University Press, 2022) based on a 6-year study funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). Dr. Zine is currently working on another SSHRC funded study mapping the Canadian Islamophobia Industry. She has worked as a consultant with the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (ODHIR/OSCE), the Council of Europe (COE), and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on developing guidelines for educators and policy-makers on combating Islamophobia and anti-Muslim racism. Dr. Zine is a faculty member in Critical Muslim Studies Institute on Decolonial Struggles and Liberation Theologies in Granada, Spain. She is co-founder of the International Islamophobia Studies Research Association (ISSRA). In Canada, she served as the co-chair of the Islamophobia sub-committee of the Ontario Anti-Racism Directorate.

 

Register

Format: Virtual – Zoom Platform. Accessibility information for Zoom.
Audience: Faculty, Staff, Students and External Community
Cost: Free

 

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Past Events

 

2020-2021 Speaker Series | 2019-2020 Speaker Series