Winner, 2021 Distinguished Faculty Award, Mount Royal University
At Mount Royal University, I teach introductory and advanced courses in queer, trans, and sexuality studies, transnational feminisms, global gender issues, critical masculinity studies, and Indigenous/decolonial feminisms. Whether I'm leading folks on my walking tour, facilitating community workshops and trainings, teaching classes at Mount Royal University (where I direct the Women's and Gender Studies Program), I bring energy and humour to my work. Having taught adult learners for over twenty years, I have a wealth of experience collaborating with diverse groups of people to engage in honest and brave conversations about DEI and social justice.
At Mount Royal University, I teach introductory and advanced courses in queer, trans, and sexuality studies, transnational feminisms, global gender issues, critical masculinity studies, and Indigenous/decolonial feminisms. Whether I'm leading folks on my walking tour, facilitating community workshops and trainings, teaching classes at Mount Royal University (where I direct the Women's and Gender Studies Program), I bring energy and humour to my work. Having taught adult learners for over twenty years, I have a wealth of experience collaborating with diverse groups of people to engage in honest and brave conversations about DEI and social justice.
Special Topics Courses
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Community Engagement & Social Policy Advocacy (3000-level)
Examines the dynamic interplay between grassroots community engagement and the shaping of social policy in local, regional, and national contexts. Rooted in feminist and intersectional frameworks, students explore how community organizing and advocacy can drive systemic change. Through case studies, guest lectures, and experiential learning opportunities, the course delves into the strategies and challenges of advocating for equity in diverse policy areas such as reproductive rights, housing, immigration, disability justice, healthcare, and 2SLGBTQIA+ issues. Students develop skills in coalition building, policy analysis, and strategic communication, learning to navigate the intersections of race, class, gender, sexuality, and other related dimensions of identity in public policy. By the end of the course, students create a comprehensive advocacy plan addressing a real-world issue in collaboration with a local community partner. This course is ideal for students aiming to bridge theory and practice to advance social justice. Calgary's $ex Industry (3000-level) Investigates the long history and complex politics of Calgary’s thriving sex industry within the context of 1) the ongoing inter/national debate between criminalization, legalization, and decriminalization, 2) Calgary’s notoriety as the “Man Capital of Canada” (Calgary Herald, July 18, 2007) and 3) as one of Canada’s worst urban places to be a woman according to the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. |
Men & Masculinities in Alberta (3000-level)
Interrogates the intersections of masculinities, settler colonialism, and white supremacy, exploring how these systems of power mutually reinforce each other in shaping identities, systems, and institutions. Drawing on feminist, decolonial, and critical race theories, students analyze the historical and ongoing roles of hegemonic and subordinate masculinities in the maintenance of colonial and racial hierarchies. Key topics include: the construction of masculinity in settler colonial projects, the connection between extraction-based economies and the continued marginalization of women and other gender and sexual minorities, the intersections of race, gender, and power in white supremacist ideologies, and the resistance and resilience of Indigenous, Black, and other racialized masculinities. Through critical discussions, case studies, and community-based projects, students examine pathways to disrupt these interlocking systems and envision masculinities rooted in decolonial and anti-racist frameworks. This course is particularly relevant for those interested in understanding the intersections of gender, race, and colonialism as central to social justice efforts. Sex Work in Local and Global Contexts (2000-level) Explores various issues related to sex work and the global sex industry, including prostitution, trafficking in women and children, sex tourism, mail order brides, and erotic performances. The goal is to understand sex work as work and as a significant political, economic, and cultural issue. |
Courses Taught in Regular Rotation
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Introduction to Women's & Gender Studies (1000-level)
This course is an introduction to the major theories and concerns of Women’s and Gender Studies. Students will consider how sex and gender intersect with race, sexuality, class, disability, size, and citizenship while paying attention to the context of colonization in Canada and imperialism globally. Feminist Thought (3000-level) Focuses on the key concerns of the contemporary field of women’s and gender studies. Students will engage interdisciplinary and intersectional feminist thinking about sex, gender, race, sexuality, disability, neurodivergence, size, colonization, nationalism, migration, violence, and/or social movements. Applied Feminist Research Methodologies (3000-level) Explores intersectional feminist modes of research inquiry and connections between epistemology, method, and methodology. Students will develop an understanding of theoretical and ethical issues involved in feminist research from an interdisciplinary perspective and will apply various methodologies in practice. Decolonizing Feminisms (3000-level) An examination of the global processes and politics of ongoing imperial conquest and subsequent decolonization efforts. Among the key themes explored in the course are the gendered characteristics of colonialism, white supremacy, racial fetishism, technologies of violence, and gender and nationalism. Gender, Race, and Power (3000-level) Uses a combination of Indigenous feminist as well as feminist critical race and post-colonial theoretical approaches to examine how sexism, racism, classism, and colonialism have been — and continue to be — mobilized by/in popular and political culture. The goal is to understand the settler colonial contexts out of which these stereotypes have emerged and continue to operate. |
Sex, Gender & the Body (3000-level)
Examines historically varying ideas about sex and gender, and culturally formulated discourses of embodied masculinities and femininities at the intersection of sexuality, race, class, disability, age, size, and other dimensions of difference. Students will consider how the body has been viewed, explained, classified, used, governed, regulated, represented, and studied, and will think about the centrality of the body in social interactions, identity, inequality, and resistance. Transnational Feminisms (2000-level) This course examines the theories and impacts of ongoing colonization in Turtle Island and globally. In doing so, students will engage with critical calls to decolonize and unsettle the field of women’s and gender studies. Highlighting Indigenous feminisms, Two Spirit, and Indigiqueer scholarship, topics may include gendered and sexualized characteristics of imperial conquest, technologies of violence, gender and nationalism, approaches to decolonization and Indigenization, and Indigenous movements for social justice. Gender, Sexuality and Health (2000-level) This course takes a lifecourse approach to examining health equity and healthcare access issues facing people of diverse genders and sexualities. With an emphasis on application, students will explore how social norms and systems impact health equity and healthcare access, and examine “health” itself as a social institution shaped by various dynamics of power and ideas about gender, sexuality, race, class, ability, age, and more. Selected themes may include reproductive justice; end-of-life care; dynamics of care labour; healthcare activism; and racism in Canadian healthcare. |
Other Courses
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Gender, Nationalism, and International Relations
Feminist Theories and Methods Feminist Theories Beyond Gender (graduate) Gender, Technology and Human Rights |
Gender, Sexuality and Popular Culture
Women, Art and Culture Cultural Politics of Gender and (Imagi)Nation |
