Schedule now available!
(subject to change)
“Feminisms in Fast Forward”, a graduate conference organized by the Political Science Graduate Students’ Association (PSGSA) at the University of Alberta, invites participants to explore past, present, and future developments in the study of gender and politics, broadly conceived. Home to one of only four political science departments in Canada offering students the opportunity to specialize in the study of gender and politics, the University of Alberta is the perfect place to undertake this exploration. Following decades of feminist scholarship that established gender as a relevant category of analysis in the study of politics, the U of A Political Science Department institutionalized the study of gender and politics in 1999 and redefined what constitutes the political. Join us as we go back in time to explore the subfield’s establishment, look to the future of the field, and explore the continued salience of gender in our contemporary “queer times”.
Through this conference we not only conceptualize time queerly, recognizing the ways in which past, present, and future converge in research and politics, but we also recognize the queerness of our current political times. Our contemporary “queer times”, to borrow Jasbir Puar’s phrase, are characterized by strange and unusual tensions and contradictions surrounding sexuality, gender, race, and nation. In our queer times, for instance, white queer citizens achieve national belonging meanwhile while politicians target Muslim bodies for electoral gain. The West drops bombs in the name of preventing terror, while white police officers terrorize black lives. Trans activism propels important shifts in the way we think about gender, yet many cis feminists declare that trans women aren’t their sisters. National apologies are broadcast live and governments speak of “truth” and “reconciliation” as Indigenous women and girls continue to go missing. Climate change threatens our very existence demanding we reconceive power in relation to the environment, yet states declare environmentalists a security threat. Through this conference, we navigate these queer times using concepts like gender, sexuality, race, nation, colonialism, Indigineity, and global capitalism.
Through this conference we not only conceptualize time queerly, recognizing the ways in which past, present, and future converge in research and politics, but we also recognize the queerness of our current political times. Our contemporary “queer times”, to borrow Jasbir Puar’s phrase, are characterized by strange and unusual tensions and contradictions surrounding sexuality, gender, race, and nation. In our queer times, for instance, white queer citizens achieve national belonging meanwhile while politicians target Muslim bodies for electoral gain. The West drops bombs in the name of preventing terror, while white police officers terrorize black lives. Trans activism propels important shifts in the way we think about gender, yet many cis feminists declare that trans women aren’t their sisters. National apologies are broadcast live and governments speak of “truth” and “reconciliation” as Indigenous women and girls continue to go missing. Climate change threatens our very existence demanding we reconceive power in relation to the environment, yet states declare environmentalists a security threat. Through this conference, we navigate these queer times using concepts like gender, sexuality, race, nation, colonialism, Indigineity, and global capitalism.