Alumni

B.A., Environmental Studies, University of Colorado at Boulder (2013)
M.A., Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice, UBC (2017)

BA, Anthropology & Law, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) (2015)
MA, Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice, UBC (2017)

Thesis:  Reading the threat, imagining otherwise : Notting Hill Carnival, the London Riots and a global issue of blackness

B.A., Sociology and Law and Society, UBC (2015)
M.A., Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice, UBC (2017)

Thesis: Engendering unification: Family law and women’s legal subjectivity in Southern Yemen

B.A., Honours in Communication, Media & Culture joint Publishing Media, Oxford Brookes University (2013)
A.A., Sociology, The College of The Bahamas (2007)
M.A., Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice, UBC (2016)

B.A., English (Hons), Delhi University, India (2009)
M.A., English Literature, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India (2011)
M.A., Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice, UBC (2017)

B.A., Educational Studies & Peace & Conflict Studies, Colgate University (2015)
M.A., Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice, UBC (2017)

Thesis: Resistance in and of the university: Neoliberalism, empire, and student activist movements

B.A., Double Major Political Science and Pacific & Asian Studies, University of Victoria 2007-2012
M.A., Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice, UBC (2015)

Thesis: Postmemory work in the Cambodian diaspora: Using the past to access the present

B.A., Journalism – Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio) (2013)
Postgraduate in Literature, Art and Contemporary Thought
M.A., Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice, University of British Columbia (2018)

Thesis:  Finish the eulogy, Brazil: A call for the end of the subject

BA, Women’s Studies, Colgate University (2016)
M.A., Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice, UBC (2019)

Thesis: The case for black girl joy in America

Amel Eldihaib is a researcher and social activist. Over the last ten years she worked and volunteered with different international and national civil society organizations in Sudan (both South and North), as well in other countries in the Horn of Africa and Yemen. Her work and activism is mainly around areas of social justice, active citizenship, peace building and environment.

Thesis: Reclaiming Feminist Postcoloniality: Negotiating Naitonalism, Gender Politics and Violence in Sudan and the Nuba Mountains

LUNA M. FERGUSON (Ph.D.) is a trans (they/them) filmmaker, writer, artist, and advocate. Their advocacy for non-binary legal recognition has contributed to policy changes in Canada. Ferguson’s filmmaking includes the award-winning Whispers of Life (2013); Limina (2016), which was shown at festivals around the world and praised for its trans inclusivity; and the queer love story Henry’s Heart (2019). Their writing and advocacy efforts have been featured in international publications including HuffPost, VICE, BuzzFeed, Teen Vogue, OUT Magazine, NBC News, The Guardian, and the Toronto Star. Ferguson lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, with their partner Florian. Their first book, Me, Myself, They, a memoir, was published by House of Anansi in May 2019.

M.A., Honors Research Masters in Social Science,University of Amsterdam (2010)
B.A., Honors Anthropology, Sociology, & Russian and Eastern European Studies, University of Michigan (2008)
C.S.S., Certificate in Social Science, Eötvös Loránd Tudományegyetem, Budapest (2006)
A.A., Honors Liberal Arts in Science, Delta College, USA (2005)
Ph.D., Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice, UBC (2016)

Dissertation Title: Accordion homes: Lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) refugees’ experience of home and belonging in Canada

Serah Gazali joined the GRSJ institute M.A. program in the fall of 2013. Her studies are focused on issues affecting the process of gender mobility and migration. She has been involved with refugees cases since 2008, both in the Mexican Aid Committee for Refugees and the Immigrant Services Society of British Columbia where she works now as the assigned resettlement counselor for the Arabic and Spanish speaking communities. Her current research scope is concerned with gender roles’ reconstruction and negotiation strategies among Iraqi women who are resettled to Metro Vancouver.

Thesis: Digital Burqa or Business Suit: Social Media and the Gender Digital Divide Among Resettled Iraqi Women

Chaya was born and raised in Manila, Philippines. She completed a BA in Anthropology in UBC and an MA at the Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice. From November 2013 to June 2014 Chaya worked as an emergency relief worker across the Visayan islands in the Philippines devastated by the super typhoon Yolanda/Haiyan. Her MA thesis is a feminist anthropological research on women survivors’ perceptions of disaster and their relations to water-related hazards.

Hedda Hakvag graduated with an MA at the Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice. She holds a BA with distinction in Women’s Studies and Creative Writing from the University of Alberta. Her research interests are diverse and include social discourses of the body/embodiment, consumerism, children’s toys and teen culture, gender violence activism, and terrorism and Islamophobia.

As a Desi-American from Cleveland, One of the most frequent reactions to my story I hear is that people “like me” could not possibly come to exist. That is, they mean, someone “like me” must be Coastal, and White. I seek to challenge the narratives of people “like me” in showing that places and peoples considered “fly-over territory” do indeed have their own narratives.

Sarah Leamon obtained her Master of Arts degree from the University of British Columbia in 2010.  Prior to that, she had studied law in Australia and earned a Juris Doctor from Bond University.  Sarah’s academic studies were focused on miscarriages of justice, popular culture, horror and the macabre.

Sarah was a finalist in Canadian Lawyer Magazine’s 2018 list of 25 Most Influential Lawyers in Canada and a winner of Business in Vancouver’s 2018 Forty Under 40 Award. [Read More]

Lyra McKee grew up in Texas and holds an MA in Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice. She is a white settler whose research interests include transgender studies, critical race theory, political philosophy, queer theory, and qualitative geography. She also adores the performing arts and enjoys singing, dancing, and acting.

Thesis: White Supremacy and Patriarchal Cisgenderism in US Nation-Building and Resistance by Transgender and Non-Binary People of Colour

Travelling since the tender age of 6 months, I have always had an interest in the world and the people in it. My love of language led me to ESL, but my interest in social issues, media and activism led me to The Social Justice Institute. It is my hope to ‘put my money where my mouth is’ and learn what needs to be done, and the best way to do it.

Thesis: I Thought Canadians Were White! An Intersectional Gendered Visual Analysis of Race, Nation, Gender, and LGBT+ Representation in ESL/ELL Textbooks

Kate Reid is a professional queer-musical-activist based in Vancouver, British Columbia. With rapid-fire wit, a raw and often irreverent delivery, Kate is a guitar-playing, harmonica-slinging, singer-songwriter and bona-fide entertainer. Her lyrics are honest and poignant, sometimes hard-hitting and sometimes hilarious and she is known for her self-deprecating and tongue-in-cheek humour.

Khaldah Salih is a Master’s student at the Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice. She is from Sudan and grew up largely in the Diaspora. She is interested in humanitarian work, specifically in Sudan and in Africa generally, while also emphasizing and debating its ethics and boundaries. Khaldah to contribute to studies and literature on oppression in Sudan, noting the lack of diversity in knowledge that is available and accessible. Her research is focused on NGOs and political activism in Sudan, exploring the ways in which government policy and international donor funding have impacted the political landscape through NGOs. Broadly, Khaldah is interested in all issues related to Africa and the Middle East and specifically the role of changing global economies and politics on individuals and communities.

Thesis: Institutionalised Activism and Politicised NGOs: The State’s Engagement with NGOs in Sudan

Sejin Um is an MA student at the Social Justice Institute who is interested in gender; work; family; education; and social movements. She holds a BA in International Studies and Law and Public Administration from Korea University.  Prior to joining the MA program, she worked in the private sector for three years, and the work experience there strengthened her passion for feminist research and activism. She has been part of the millennial feminist movement in South Korea since 2015, both on-line and off-line, studying feminist theories and organizing various events, marches and protests with multiple organizations and groups. She continues to be engaged in the women’s movement in South Korea and is also currently involved in feminist communities in Vancouver, Canada.

Manuela Valle’s research interests include the gendered and sexual narratives of neoliberalism, militarism and imperialism, and the intersections between gender and nationalism. Her research project aims to explore how in Latin American post-dictatorship societies such as the Chilean, the continued legacy of an authoritarian culture limits the exercise of citizenship and rights for women and men and children, arguing that a real democratization in these societies requires the transformation of gender meanings and sexual imaginaries through a repoliticization of the domestic space and gender relations.

Thesis: Neoliberal Desires, Spectacles of Market-Nationalism, Utopian Performances: A Feminist Analysis of Gendered Cultural Narratives in Post-Dictatorship Chile