Recent News

Upcoming Event: Feel (in) the Gaps: (In)visible Disabilities

Please join us!

The Program for Critical Studies in Equity and Solidarity & The Centre for the Study of the United States present Feel (in) the gaps: (In)visible disabilities.

This event will include a virtual exhibit tour and a panel discussion with artists Letícia Barreto, Cinzia Greco, Maica Gugolati, Jaime Lee Loy, and Gabrielle Le Roux.

October 3, 2023
1-3pm
William Doo Auditorium, 45 Willcocks St. 
This is a hybrid event
Register for online participation here

Learn more about the event and the artists, and see the event poster.

Previous News from Critical Studies in Equity and Solidarity

In Memoriam: Dr. Safia Gahayr

With much grief and sadness, we share news of the passing of Dr. Safia Gahayr. Safia was a beloved member of New College and the Critical Studies in Equity and Solidarity (CSES) community for many years. She received her undergraduate degree with a double Major in Equity Studies and Indigenous Studies before going on to receive her MA and PhD from the Department for Social Justice Education at OISE. She defended her doctoral dissertation—“Erased: The Invisibility of Somali Women in The Diaspora”—in 2021.

Read more about Safia and her contributions to the CSES community.

Congratulations Boomba Nishikawa, winner of the 2023 David Clandfield Scholarship in Scholarly Activism!

Our sincere congratulations to CSES student Boomba Nishikawa, winner of the 2023 David Clandfield Scholarship in Scholarly Activism!

Boomba is entering their 4th year of undergraduate studies, majoring in Ethics, Society, and Law & Critical Studies in Equity and Solidarity with a minor in Asian Canadian Studies. In addition to their coursework focused on questions of equity and solidarity, Boomba has been organizing around climate issues for many years.

On campus, they organize with Climate Justice University of Toronto (CJ UofT), calling on the university to sever ties to the fossil fuel industry and address the broader climate catastrophe. Within CJ UofT, Boomba has organized banner drops, marshaled rallies, liaised sit-ins, led meetings, and led the recent occupation of Victoria University – one of the three federated colleges that did not divest when the university as a whole did in 2021. The action led to the college divesting its endowment from fossil fuel holdings. The Clandfield scholarship will help to support Boomba’s important activist work on and off campus, organizing and fighting for the people and planet they love and for a just future.

Congratulations Boomba and thank you for your important work!

The Clandfield Scholarship is open to all CSES Majors in their 3rd year. Next year’s Call for Applications will be circulated in the Spring 2024. 

Welcome to Dr. Sheryl Nestel as New College Affiliate Scholar!

We are delighted to welcome Dr. Sheryl Nestel as a New College Affiliate Scholar with the program for Critical Studies in Equity and Solidarity. Rooted in transnational feminist and anti-colonial/postcolonial theory, Sheryl’s interdisciplinary scholarship on Jewish identity, Zionism and Race provides the foundational underpinnings for her decades-long activism in Palestine solidarity. She engages extensively in community education on antisemitism from an anti-racist and anti-colonial perspective: over the past several years, she has delivered dozens of educational seminars and webinars on antisemitism to labour organizations, faith groups and faculty and student groups. Sheryl is a founding member of Independent Jewish Voices (IJV)—an organization that is internationally recognized for its activism on behalf of justice for Palestinians—and served on the IJV steering committee for 11 years. Last fall, Sheryl was the first author on a groundbreaking national report documenting the repression faced by academics, students and Palestine solidarity activists in Canada. As a current member of the Jewish Faculty Network steering committee, Sheryl brings an essential anti-racist and anti-colonial voice to campus discussions around antisemitism and Jewish solidarity and support for Palestinian human rights.  

Dr. Nestel holds a Master’s degree in Adult Education and a PhD in Sociology and Equity Studies from OISE, where she went on to teach a range of core courses on critical race, transnational feminism and anti-colonial thought. Sheryl is an award-winning researcher: her book, Obstructed Labour: Race and Gender in the Re-emergence of Midwifery (UBC Press, 2007) received the Canadian Women’s Studies Association Annual Book Prize in 2008. 

Please join us in welcoming Dr. Nestel as a New College Affiliate Scholar! We look forward to her contributions to the intellectual life of CSES. 

Previous Events from Critical Studies in Equity and Solidarity

March 29: Comrades: Work and Community

Comrades: Work and Community

This event was a coming together of current New College faculty members Professor Chandni Desai, Professor Anne McGuire, Professor Chris Ramsaroop and Professor Kevin Edmonds from Critical Studies in Equity and Solidarity, The Center of Caribbean Studies, and Community Engaged Learning programs. They all spoke about the interconnections between their work, their lives and community.  Professor June Larkin, former director of the Critical Studies in Equity and Solidarity program, was also in attendance. The event was curated by Stan Doyle-Wood, the Professor of CSE270: Foundations of Community Dis/Engagement and Solidarity.

February 3: Virtual Book Launch

Virtual Book Launch

Marxism and Migration
Edited by Genevieve Ritchie, Sara Carpenter, Shahrzad Mojab

European Launch:
 January 20, 2023, 10am EST (on Zoom)
Register Here

North American Launch 
February 3, 2023, 3:00pm EST (on Zoom)
Register Here

About the Editors:

Genevieve Ritchie is Lecturer in Critical Studies in Equity and Solidarity, New College, University of Toronto.

Sara Carpenter is Associate Professor of Educational Policy Studies at the University of Alberta, Canada.

Shahrzad Mojab is Professor of Adult Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, Canada and Acting Director of the Women and Gender Studies Institute

This book approaches migration from Marxist feminist, anti-imperialist, and anti-colonial perspectives. The present conditions of transnational migration, best described as a kind of social expulsion, include migrant caravans and detained unaccompanied children in the United States, thousands of migrant deaths at sea, the razing of self-organized refugee camps in Greece, and the massive dispersal of populations within and between countries. Placing patriarchal capitalism, imperialism, racialization, and fundamentalisms at the center of the analysis, Marxism and Migration helps build a more coherent and historically-informed discussion of the conditions of migration, resettlement, and resistance. Drawing upon a range of academic disciplines and diverse geopolitical regions, the book rethinks migrations from the vantage point of class struggle and seeks to ignite a more robust discussion of critical consciousness, racialization, militarization, and solidarity.

See event poster here