Feministing in Political Science examines what is at stake in contesting the boundaries of the contemporary university. This critique of mainstream Canadian political science pushes beyond typical studies of institutions and political life. Instead, the collection draws together personal essays, pedagogical interventions, dialogues, and original research to reflect on how “feministing” as an orientation and as an analytic can centre experiential knowledge and reshape our understandings of political science. Collectively, these contributions lay bare the ways that power moves in and through the academy, naming the impacts on those who are most structurally precarious, all while pointing to futures available to us through refusal, solidarity, and hope.

Contributors: Yasmeen Abu-Laban, Julianne M. Acker-Verney, Kelly Aguirre, Jeanette Ashe, Nicole S. Bernhardt, Amanda Bittner, Alana Cattapan, Elaine Coburn, Jamilah A.Y. Dei-Sharpe, Rita Kaur Dhamoon, Alexandra Dobrowolsky, Nick Dorzweiler, Tammy Findlay, Mariam Georgis, Emily Grafton, Joyce Green, Genevieve Fuji Johnson, Kiera L. Ladner, Lindsay Larios, Manon Laurent, Fiona MacDonald, April Mandrona, Kimberley Ens Manning, Sarah Munawar, Nisha Nath, Michael Orsini, Stephanie Paterson, Tka C. Pinnock, David Semaan, Gina Starblanket, Heidi Kiiwetinepinesiik Stark, Melanee Thomas, Reeta Chowdhari Tremblay, Ethel Tungohan, Nadia Verrelli, Leah F. Vosko, and Chamindra Weerawardhana.

Alana Cattapan is an assistant professor at the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy and an associate member of the Department of Community Health and Epidemiology in the College of Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan. A longtime feminist researcher and activist, she studies women’s participation in policy making — identifying links between the state, the commercialization of the body, biotechnologies, and reproductive labour. Cattapan’s work is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and the Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation. Her research is interdisciplinary and has been published in journals across a range of fields, including Studies in Political Economy, the Journal of Medical Ethics, the Canadian Medical Association Journal, and the Canadian Journal of Law and Society.

Alana Cattapan's profile page

Ethel Tungohan is the Canada Research Chair in Canadian Migration Policy, Impacts, and Activism and an assistant professor of politics at York University

Ethel Tungohan's profile page

Nisha Nath is Associate Professor of Equity Studies at Athabasca University.

Nisha Nath's profile page

Fiona MacDonald is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of the Fraser Valley.

Fiona MacDonald's profile page

Stephanie Paterson is a professor of political science at Concordia University. She specializes in feminist and critical policy studies. Her work centres on the effects produced when states take up and deploy feminist knowledge and expertise, and includes substantive expertise in feminist governance, gender mainstreaming, and the politics of reproduction.

Stephanie Paterson's profile page

“Diverse voices use scholarly pieces, personal reflections, stories, letters, and dialogues to highlight how they have pushed back against the entrenched norms and practices of the discipline. The insights in Feministing in Political Science will resonate with academics as well as students.” Jocelyne Praud, Vancouver Island University

“This collection offers an intersectional feminist critique of both the discipline of political science in Canada and the contemporary Canadian university system. The contributors illuminate the ways in which the discipline continues to fail Canada by systematically excluding or muting certain voices. They then move the conversation about the discipline forward in numerous ways.” Lisa Young, University of Calgary