Organized with the Department of Sociology at the University of Pittsburgh with guest speaker Dr. Natalie Kouri-Towe, Concordia University Associate Professor 

Academic talk: November 14th, 12:00 PM

Workshop: November 15th, 12:00 PM

Location: Colloquium Room, Department of Sociology, Posvar Hall 2nd floor

RSVP to one or both portions of the event here:https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeY3AhhJzW_9EStbczEfUyFh6uFgPn1rzulJ8gYrdxD9KR1Kw/viewform

ACADEMIC TALK - Beyond Safety in the Classroom: Transformative Approaches to Addressing Power and Violence in Education

In recent years, post-secondary educational institutions across North America have developed a new kind of interest in concepts of safety both within the classroom and across campus spaces. Many schools have renamed their campus security offices as “campus safety,” institutional policies, such as those relating to code of conduct or equity, diversity, and inclusion, have centered on ensuring feelings of safety on campus, and political debates over whether campus-based demonstrations, protests, and encampments are safe illustrate an unprecedented focus on safety in the context of education. Juxtaposed against the increasing securitization of campuses under the auspices of safety, this talk examines how transformative approaches to violence prevention can redirect our attention and energy towards more effective ways of addressing the risks around violence in education.

WORKSHOP - Critical and Constructive Approaches to Safety in the Classroom in the Context of Israel and Palestine

(This workshop is co-sponsored by the University Center for Teaching and Learning, among others)

This workshop invites participants to examine how concepts like safety, inclusion, and rights are debated and deployed in the classroom and other learning environments when the topic of global conflicts is introduced. The workshop will explore what safety is and how to differentiate between, and respond to, discomfort versus harm in the classroom. The goal of the workshop is to help encourage and support learning about global conflicts such as Israel and Palestine in the classroom through preparation, support, and collaboration and to equip participants with the tools to appropriately respond to difficult classroom dynamics that can arise during these discussions.

In this workshop, participants will: 

Consider the distinction between safety, discomfort, and harm in learning environments when addressing global conflicts. Identify how classroom dynamics and institutional contexts shape conversations about global conflicts.

Identify and apply strategies that foster supportive and inclusive dialogue about global conflicts.

Bio: Natalie Kouri-Towe is an Associate Professor of feminism and sexuality at the Simone de Beauvoir Institute at Concordia University. Her research has been published in both academic and non-academic venues on topics related to affect theory, solidarity, kinship, queer activism, trigger warnings, gender and sexuality pedagogies, masculinity, and responses to war in the Middle East. Her edited collection, Reading the Room: Lessons on Pedagogy and Curriculum from the Gender and Sexuality Studies Classroom (Concordia University Press) is forthcoming this November. Along with Myloe Martel-Perry, she has also published an open access teaching guidebook, Better Practice in the Classroom: A Teaching Guidebook for Sustainable, Inclusive, and Equitable Learning from a Gender and Sexuality Studies Framework (2024).