Khadijah goes to School is a story about You. It is universal and empowering. In one word, its theme is Contribution: personal contribution, contribution to others, and contribution to society. It is a “device” designed to spark curiosity, discussion, and even break down some stereotypes.

Date: Saturday, February 11th., 2012
Time: 3:00 – 5:00 p.m.

This collection of essays considers how notions of embodiment and mothering are related to curriculum theory and practices in education. Advancing a new understanding of the maternal body, it argues for a ‘bodied curriculum’ that attends to the relational, social, and ethical implications of ‘being-with’ other bodies differently, and to the different knowledges such bodily encounters produce.
The contributors to this volume argue that the prevailing silence about the maternal body in educational scholarship reinforces the binary split between domestic and public spaces, family life and work, one’s own children and others’ children, and women’s roles as ‘mothers’ or ‘others.’ Providing an interdisciplinary perspective in which postmodern ideas about the body interact with those of learning and teaching, Mothering a Bodied Curriculum brings theory and practice together into an ever-evolving conversation.

Stephanie Springgay is an assistant professor in the Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto.

Debra Freedman is an instructor in the Department of Family Relations and Applied Nutrition at the University of Guelph.

Date: Thursday, March 29th., 2012
Time: 6:00 – 8:00 PM

A state’s ability to maintain mandatory conscription and wage war rests on the idea that a “real man” is one who has served in the military. Yet masculinity has no inherent ties to militarism. The link between men and the military, argues Maya Eichler, must be produced and reproduced in order to fill the ranks, engage in combat, and mobilize the population behind war.

In the context of Russia’s post-communist transition and the Chechen wars, men’s militarization has been challenged and reinforced. Eichler uncovers the challenges by exploring widespread draft evasion and desertion, anti-draft and anti-war activism led by soldiers’ mothers, and the general lack of popular support for the Chechen wars. However, the book also identifies channels through which militarized gender identities have been reproduced. Eichler’s empirical and theoretical study of masculinities in international relations applies for the first time the concept of “militarized masculinity,” developed by feminist IR scholars, to the case of Russia.

When: Thursday, January 26th., 2012
Time: 6:30 – 8:00 p.m.

How does settler colonialism shape queer politics? How do Two-Spirit activists challenge settler colonialism in queer politics and across Canada? In a provocative new book, author Scott L. Morgensen addresses these questions in a history of relationships that have linked non-native queer / trans people and Native Two-Spirit people. At once a critique of settler colonialism in queer / trans communities and an honouring of historical activism by Two-Spirit people and allies, Spaces between Us calls for a renewed conversation in gender and sexual politics about settler colonialism and anticolonial resistance.

Co-hosted by the Native Youth Sexual Health Network with proceeds supporting the organization. Event includes speakers from NYSHN and 2 Spirits and a reading by the author.

Date: Saturday, December 10th., 2011
Time: 5:00 – 7:00 PM

In this empowering, accessible guide, Jaclyn Friedman—co-editor of Yes Means Yes—gives young women the tools to decipher the modern worlds confusing, hypersexualized, sometimes dangerous landscape so they can define their own sexual identity. Friedman decries the hypocrisy and mixed messages of our culture (were failures if we dont act sexy, but were sluts if we actually pursue sex; we need to be protected from rapists lurking in bushes, but deserve “whatever we get” if we have a drink at a party and wear a skirt), and encourages readers to separate fear from fact, decode the damaging messages all around them, and discover a healthy personal sexuality.
Educational and interactive, What You Really Really Want includes revealing quizzes, creative exercises, and reality-based advice about sex and sexuality today. With Friedmans informed advice to guide them, readers will build new skills for safely expressing their sexuality with lovers and explore effective ways to talk about tricky issues with family and friends—and learn how to make the world a little safer for everyone elses sexuality along the way.

Date: Thursday, December 1st., 2011
Time: 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.

Two-time National Newspaper Award-winning journalist Michele Landsberg – one of the most respected voices in Canadian feminism – reflects on her groundbreaking columns for The Toronto Star. For 25 years, Michele wrote a highly influential column that both recorded and motivated change. Michele’s writing shows her fearless advocacy on behalf of women and children, peace and pluralism, human rights and social justice. Michele looks back over the past thrity years of the women’s movement, offering insight and reflection, and also looks to the future of feminism and the new generation of young women on its front lines.

When: Friday, November 25th., 2011
Time: 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.

Women and Environments International Magazine LaunchThe Women & Environments International Magazine is pleased to invite everyone to the launch of Women & Labour, The Spring/Summer 2011 issue, at the Toronto Women’s Bookstore.

Date: Thursday, November 24th., 2011
Time: 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.

From the fundamental rights proclaimed in the American and French declarations of independence to the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Hannah Arendt’s furious critiques, the definition of what it means to be human has been hotly debated. But the history of human rights—and their abuses—is also a richly illustrated one. Following this picture trail, Human Rights In Camera takes an innovative approach by examining the visual images that have accompanied human rights struggles and the passionate responses people have had to them.

Sharon Sliwinski considers a series of historical events, including the 1755 Lisbon earthquake and the Holocaust, to illustrate that universal human rights have come to be imagined through aesthetic experience. The circulation of images of distant events, she argues, forms a virtual community between spectators and generates a sense of shared humanity. Joining a growing body of scholarship about the cultural forces at work in the construction of human rights, Human Rights In Camera is a novel take on this potent political ideal.

When: Tuesday, November 22nd., 2011
Time: 6:30 – 8:00 p.m.

When Vancouver-based artist Tania receives a letter suggesting that her biological father may not be the man she has always known as such, her world turns upside down. As she struggles to understand the implications of this news and delves into her family’s complex past, Tania discovers the ultimate retribution that her life represents.
Narrated by Tania’s mother, Sol, and her grandmother, Soledad, Retribution spans over seventy years in the life of the Martinez family, from their daily existence before the 1973 military coup to the horror that ensued; their flight to Canada as political refugees, and back to Chile again as Sol joins the underground resistance movement to the dictatorship and looks for the remains of her disappeared husband.
Uplifting, forceful and unflinching, Retribution evocatively charts a family’s journey of struggle and survival from one home to the next as it pays tribute to the fortitude of mother-daughter-granddaughter relationships, and celebrates the triumph of beauty and dignity over darkness and horror.

When: Thursday, November 10th., 2011
Time: 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.