International Women’s Day

 

Sunera Thobani spoke on International Women’s Day, March 8, at the Simone de Beauvoir Institute. She is seen above, flanked by Principal Lillian Robinson and Tanisha Ramachandran, who teaches part-time at the Institute and is a PhD candidate. Thobani is an assistant professor of women's studies at the University of British Columbia, and was the first woman of colour to serve as president of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women, Canada's largest feminist organization. She attracted notice, much of it critical, for a speech she gave after 9/11 in which she said that “there will be no emancipation for women anywhere on the planet until Western domination of the planet is ended.” She has subsequently developed this theme, saying that militarism in the name of democracy does not further women's liberation in the third world, and only oppresses women here by brutalizing their men. Her talk at Concordia, titled “Imperial Longings, Feminist Responses: Recasting Canadian Nationhood After 9/11,” was well attended.

Coming up tomorrow at the Institute, 2170 Bishop St., at 1 p.m., Ann Braithwaite, coordinator of the Women’s Studies Program at the University of Prince Edward Island, will present material from Troubling Women’s Studies, book of essays on the future of the discipline, and how it will be passed on.

Outstanding women recognized

 

Congratulations to painter Françoise Sullivan, given a Governor-General's Award in Visual and Media Arts. It is far from the first award she has won.

Sullivan was one of the signatories of the Refus Global, the 1948 manifesto by young artists that inspired the Quiet Revolution. In her youth, she was known for her modern dance, but painting is her first love. She has taught at Concordia since 1977.

Congratulations also to Danielle Morin, Vice-Provost, Academic Programs, who is one of the finalists in the education category for this year's Women of Distinction Awards, given by the Women's Y. Before her current appointment, she was an academic administrator and popular professor in the John Molson School of Business. The finalists will be revealed at a gala on April 26.