Welcome to the Department of Gender Studies at Memorial University!

We are an expanding department in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences with faculty research and teaching interests in citizenship and human rights, reproductive rights, Irish studies, auto/biography and life writing, feminist theory, the body, environmental and Aboriginal studies, and postcolonial theory.

STATEMENT OF SOLIDARITY FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF GENDER STUDIES

June 29, 2023

The Department of Gender Studies at Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador stands in solidarity with the Department of Philosophy at the University of Waterloo today.  We send our sincere sympathy to the three victims of the stabbing attack on June 28th, and wish them a speedy recovery.

The attack was a targeted one, carried out by an individual who entered a PHIL 202 Gender Issues class and asked what the class was about.  While we know few details, this information is enough to make us afraid, which of course is the intention.  But, it also makes us furious and more determined to continue teaching Gender Studies in classrooms. 

Gender Studies is a critical discipline that aims to provide students with the tools to understand and question the operation of power in our world.  We want our students to use the tools of feminist theory to inform feminist action to promote equity and foster a society in which we can co-exist peacefully.  Those who hate us, and our students, want the opposite. 

The rise of targeted hate, disinformation, and aggression against those who are teaching and learning about the operation of power in our world, whether that is in Gender Studies, Critical Race Studies, Indigenous Studies, or other disciplines, is terrorizing and it should make all of us afraid, and then angry.  Such hate and violence are designed to shut down critical dialogue and actions that shift the status quo and promote equity. 

Attacks like this one impact everyone who supports freedom of thought and freedom of education.  They make it clear that what we do is more vital than ever.

Department of Gender Studies, Memorial University

Join Drs. Carol Lynne D’Arcangelis and Vicki Hallet for a discussion on how gender shapes our identities, our social interactions and our world. The Gender Studies 101 event is now viewable via YouTube.  

Our April event with the Department of Religious Studies, Doing Representation Justice: Writing the Self and Beyond with award-winning Canadian authors Kaie Kellough and Zalika Reid-Benta, is now available to view on YouTube.