Title: Gender Politics, Feminism and International Conflict
Lecturer: Sunera Thobani (Professor of Institute of Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice & Department of Asian Studies, UBC)
Chairperson: Lu Xinyu (Zijiang Distinguished Professor, East China Normal University)
Date: 9 am, November 21st, 2017 (Tuesday)
Venue: Room 5303, Building of School of Humanities, Minhang Campus, ECNU
Sponsor: Si-mian Institute for Advanced Studies in Humanities, ECNU
Abstract of the Lecture:
With the West being defined as endangered by the violence of its Islamist Other, the War on Terror is reconfiguring the practices that constitute whiteness, gender and feminism. Critical race and feminist theorists have long defined ‘whiteness’ as a form of subjectivity that is socially constructed, historically contextual, and inherently unstable. The equation of whiteness as a social identity with the socio-political category of the West has been seen as particularly problematic for its furthering of colonial and imperialist projects. These theorists have also noted that the economic and political power of the West has enabled white subjects to exalt themselves even as they have sought to define the nature of the Other as degenerate. This lecture examines the shifting politics of gender and whiteness by examining how key feminist texts engage with the War on Terror.
Brief Introduction of the Lecturer:
Dr. Sunera Thobani, professor of Institute of Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice & Department of Asian Studies, UBC. Her scholarly interests are located in the interdisciplinary fields of Critical Race Studies; Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; and South Asian Studies. Her research program focuses on particular aspects of post/colonial relations, globalization and migration, and sovereignty and subjectivity, with a focus on race, gender and sexuality. She was nominated for Dean of Arts Teaching Award in 2013 and Honoring Women in Vancouver in 2008.