Book Launch: Reading the Room: Lessons on Pedagogy and Curriculum from the Gender and Sexuality Studies Classroom (Concordia University Press, 2024), edited by Natalie Kouri-Towe

Registration Link: https://carleton.ca/fist/cu-events/reading-the-room/

Join us Tuesday, January 21, 2025 at 6:30pm, for the official launch of Reading the Room: Lessons on Pedagogy and Curriculum from the Gender and Sexuality Studies Classroom (Concordia University Press, 2024), edited by Natalie Kouri-Towe. This groundbreaking collection brings together first-hand experiences from gender and sexuality studies classrooms, offering profound insights into the transformative power of pedagogy.

The event will be hosted at FSS 4004, 120 University Private, Ottawa, ON K1N 9A7 and will feature conversations with contributors and a panel discussion that delves into the book’s key themes: navigating power dynamics in the classroom, addressing debates around “trigger warnings” and “cancel culture,” and creating equitable and inclusive learning environments. Panelists include: Natalie Kouri-Towe, Gulzar R. Charania, Kelly Fritsch, Dan Irving, and Megan Rivers-Moore.

This event is hosted by the Institute of Feminist and Gender Studies, University of Ottawa and the Feminist Institute for Social Transformation, Carleton University with support from the Joint Chair in Feminist and Gender Studies at the University of Ottawa and Carleton University.
Registration Link: https://carleton.ca/fist/cu-events/reading-the-room/

Light snacks will be provided and copies of the book will be available for purchase!
Book Description:

First-hand experiences from gender and sexuality studies classrooms that add depth to a topic often distorted by the media.

The contemporary post-secondary classroom has become a flashpoint in public debate on gender and sexuality, giving rise to controversies over gender-inclusive policies, “trigger warnings,” and “cancel culture” that have been misrepresented by opportunistic and divisive voices within and outside of the education sector. However, gender and sexuality studies scholars have long engaged in these debates over pedagogy, and closer study of gender and sexuality classroom practices reveals constructive and transformative ways of learning that grapple with power, conflict, discomfort, and safety in the classroom.

Reading the Room collects candid discussions on classroom experiences from instructors and students throughout Canada to provide guidance to educators on often-fraught issues relating to gender, sexuality, race, class, disability, and decolonization. Working from a place of coalition building, this volume is a frank, insightful, and pragmatic invitation to share different pedagogical practices with educators in a range of academic disciplines.

Contributors to this volume discuss an array of topics including asymmetrical power relations between students and teachers, how students and professors learn from each other, how to negotiate conflict in a classroom, and how to be self-reflective about methods of teaching and learning. They also consider debates around trigger warnings and students’ expectations, discuss methods for curriculum selection and pedagogical practices, reflect on what it is like to embody a subject one teaches, and show how university equity, diversity, and inclusion work is often offloaded to overburdened racialized students and precariously employed staff.

A thoughtful and generous work, Reading the Room shows how teachers and students can navigate the difficulty and discomfort of contentious topics and learn more from each other.