Academic Aunties

We've talked a lot this season about the accelerating attacks on academic freedom, including the campaigns of repression against expressions of Palestine solidarity. Student groups, faculty and staff are increasingly surveilled, policed and targeted with spurious charges of antisemitism if they dare to voice support for Palestine. We often focus on faculty and students, but it's easy to forget how vulnerable staff are with few protections. This was the case at the University of Alberta, where after a post was shared by staff and volunteers at the U of A Sexual Assault Centre about a student-organized Palestine solidarity event, they were subjected to harrasment online, in person and via phone calls. And on January 23, they were fired from their jobs. On this episode, we talk to three core staff members of the Centre about the conflicting messages they received from university administration leading up to their firing, the harrasment they faced, and the toll all of this has taken.Thanks for listening! Get more information, support the show, and read all the transcripts at academicaunties.com. Get in touch with Academic Aunties on Twitter at @AcademicAuntie or by e-mail at podcast@academicaunties.com.

A few days ago, we recognized International Women’s Day. Every year we shine a spotlight on the continuing realities of gender-based discrimination and gender-based violence worldwide. So on this episode, we are so glad to have Dr. Mandi Gray. She has just released a new book “Suing for Silence: Sexual Violence and Defamation Law,” which unpacks the ways that systems of power - specifically the criminal legal system that is “composed of patriarchal and colonial laws” – protect the privileged. In our conversation, we explore the ways that abusive men and abusive institutions punish women for speaking up about their experiences of abuse, and how they they also punish women for providing support to women who have experienced sexual abuse. This includes campus sexual violence, and the repercussions faced by students and faculty members who break the silence. Win a free copy of Suing for Silence!If you want a chance to win a free copy of “Suing for Silence,” retweet or repost this episode using hashtag #SuingforSilence, and tag Mandi at @gotmysassypants and Acadmic Aunties at @AcademicAuntie on Twitter or @AcademicAunties on Bluesky and InstagramRelated LinksSuing for Silence: Sexual Violence and Defamation Law by Mandi Gray, UBC PressMandi Gray's WebsiteCan't Buy My Silence

Without community, a I wouldn’t have lasted through grad school and the years since. For me, in grad school, a special community that I was with were the group of critical Filipinx scholars who I’ve since grown with over the years. We called ourselves the “Kritikal Kolektibo,” and we were grad students and junior faculty at the University of Toronto who met regularly, to hang out of course, but also to share our work, and dream about what Filipinx Studies in Canada could look like.We shared stories of what was going on with our lives. We talked about the gendered and racial microaggressions - and outright aggressions - that we experienced, our strategies for subversion, and our moments of triumph. One member of this group, and our guest this week is Dr. John Paul Catungal. JP and I started our PhDs at the same time, in different departments with very different research projects. And yet, we were oftentimes pitted against each other. We knew this too: we knew, for example, that if one of us got shortlisted for a position, the other cannot be, because there can be “only one of us,” – there can only be one Filipino, no matter the differences in our research and our approaches. This is how the neoliberal academy operated, and how it still operates. On today's episode, we talk about friendship, our parallel paths through academia and our attempts to do and be otherwise.Thanks for listening! Get more information, support the show, and read all the transcripts at academicaunties.com. Get in touch with Academic Aunties on Twitter at @AcademicAuntie or by e-mail at podcast@academicaunties.com.

Dr. Gulzar Charania discusses her book 'Fighting Feelings: Lessons in Gendered Racism and Queer Life' exploring experiences of Black and racialized women in white-dominated spaces, smartness as property in education, challenges faced in schooling, and the importance of confronting racial violence.

For many in academia, there is always a certain ambivalence about being here. And historically, institutions have been pretty ambivalent about our presence here too. Academia has traditionally never been a place for those who are Black, Indigenous, women of colour. For many scholars, a pragmatic approach is to have one foot in, and one foot out, of the academy. In today’s episode, we talk to Dr. Chavon Niles and Dr. Nicole Bernhardt. Both Chavon and Nicole had found themselves having one foot in, and one foot out, of the academy while they pursued their PhDs. They both worked outside of academia throughout. Yet the academy called them back. We talk about why they came back and what they’re doing to stay true to the values that made them keep one foot out of the academy in the first place.Related LinksThe Leak in the Academic Pipeline: on Black Women SociologistsThe leaky pipeline of diverse race and ethnicity representation in academic science and technology training in the United States, 2003–2019Scientists from historically excluded groups face a hostile obstacle course (PDF)Thanks for listening! Get more information, support the show, and read all the transcripts at academicaunties.com. Get in touch with Academic Aunties on Twitter at @AcademicAuntie or by e-mail at podcast@academicaunties.com.

We're just a couple of weeks into 2024 and we are tired. After a restful break, we are back to the intense pressures of teaching, advising, and dealing with administrative tasks, plus all of the care and domestic responsibilities that many women have to also take on. Host, Ethel Tungohan, wanted strategies to manage, so she decided to talk to good friends, Dr. Tobin LeBlanc Haley and Dr. Laura Pin to get their advice.Thanks for listening! Get more information, support the show, and read all the transcripts at academicaunties.com. Get in touch with Academic Aunties on Twitter at @AcademicAuntie or by e-mail at podcast@academicaunties.com.

As the year comes to a close, many of us are feeling unsettled. After the rush of marking, teaching, and activism, are we allowed to rest during this holiday season? In this episode, Dr. Ethel Tungohan and Dr. Nisha Nath close out 2023 talking about why rest is political, and how community care is even more essential these days.  Related Links"In Hajar's footsteps : a de-colonial and islamic ethic of care" by Sarah MunawarBlack Liturgies by Cole Arthur Riley

We recently passed the 34th anniversary of the École Polytechnique anti-feminist shootings. The sad thing is that this horrendous crime isn't a thing of the past. From a stabbing attack on a Gender Issues course at the University of Waterloo in June, to the mass shooting at the University of Nevada, violence against academics is a serious concern. And while these are just two prominent examples of physical violence, we know of so many scholars who are victims of persistent cases of doxing, cyber harassment, and cyber bullying. This week, we continue our conversation about safety on university campuses. Joining us is Dr. Fady Shanouda, an Assistant Professor at the Feminist Institute of Social Transformation at Carleton University. He spoke to Ethel about the frustrating journey he was forced to take to seek safety after becoming the target of vitriolic, hateful cyber harassment last summer. We ask: What do we do when institutions do not have an organized response in the face of such violence? What are the different parts of the institution that have competing agendas, agendas which may actually paradoxically lead them to work against the interests of those facing violence? And what does a safe university look like? Thanks for listening! Get more information, support the show, and read all the transcripts at academicaunties.com. Get in touch with Academic Aunties on Twitter at @AcademicAuntie or by e-mail at podcast@academicaunties.com.

In this episode of Academic Aunties, host Dr. Ethel Tungohan talks to Dr. Rebecca Major about the realities of gendered, racialized violence in academia. Dr. Major reflects on her own personal experiences with threats and harassment as an Indigenous scholar, which escalated to involve doxing and cyber harassment. She provides insightful strategies for those undergoing similar experiences, such as documenting incidences, notifying relevant university personnel, implementing safety plans, and building supportive relationships within the institution. We also also talk about the need for changes in university practices.Related LinksThe UniSAFE Survey on Gender-Based ViolenceNational Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and GirlsThanks for listening! Get more information, support the show, and read all the transcripts at academicaunties.com. Get in touch with Academic Aunties on Twitter at @AcademicAuntie or by e-mail at podcast@academicaunties.com.

As the staggering death toll in Palestine rises, we talk about the censuring of Palestine solidarity discourse and the weaponization of anti-racism and equity, diversity, and inclusion language to silence and attack activists and scholars calling for peace. Joining Ethel is Dr. Rachel Brown, an activist with Jewish Voice for Peace, and Dr. David McNally, who has been a global justice activist since the Vietnam era.  Want to learn more? Please attend the "Academic Unfreedom: Speaking and Teaching Palestine" webinar, to be held on Tuesday, November 21, from 6 to 8 pm EST. Register to get the Zoom link.Registration: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf33hz-C-k55o3Z-yPaUDRC6tU1WafGGw6Oblj1sYcTm3gm8g/viewformRelated LinksJewish Voice for Peace