Mission
The Department of Gender Studies practices interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research, teaching, and programming that advance our commitment to social justice and social change.
We embrace an approach to gender that explores and challenges racism, capitalism, colonialism, (hetero)sexism, ableism, and other manifestations of power.
Our scholarship, activism and community work centre marginalized, alternative, and relational knowledges, span local and global contexts, and engage historical and contemporary perspectives. Together we foster an accessible, culturally diverse, and transformative learning environment.
Curriculum
Gender Studies at Queen’s is distinguished by the centrality of race and colonialisms across our curriculum, and by a focus on the applications of gender studies within work for social change.
Our curriculum advances knowledge in eight key areas:
- Feminist, queer, trans, anti-racist, Indigenous, and postcolonial theories and methodologies
- Political economy and class inequality
- Activism and social change
- Indigenous, racialized, and diasporic communities
- Oral histories and community memories
- Health, reproduction, education and welfare: politics and policy
- Body and beauty cultures
- Representation, art, literature and creative work
Vision
Building on our existing strengths, we aim to advance our standing, internationally, as a leader in transformational education. Specifically, we aspire to 1) diversify our curriculum, grow our enrollments, and enrich the student experience; 2) expand our faculty complement; 3) raise our profile within and outside Queen’s; and 4) enhance connections among our teaching, research and community work.
History of Women's and Gender Studies at Queen's
The idea of creating a Women’s Studies Program took root in the early 1980s when the Principal’s Advisory Committee on the Status of Women at Queen’s established a Women’s Studies Sub-Committee.
The History and Future of Black Studies at Queen’s
"Black Studies was formalized and institutionalized during and soon after the civil rights and anti-colonial movements in North America, Africa, the UK and the Caribbean in the 1960's and 1970's. We could argue that it's much longer, that it dates from before that time. From about the late 1960's to the 1980's, many universities in the United States successfully fought for programs and departments in Black Studies, Africana Studies and African Diaspora Studies. And in Canada and the UK, we're seeing programs that focus on Black diasporic cultures and Black Canada. At Queen's, we began envisioning and administering the minor in Black Studies about eight years ago with the program being officially launched [Spring 2021]." Katherine McKittrick, "What is Black Studies?"
Visual identity
Gender Studies
Colored stripes are arranged in stylistic reference to LGBTQ+ pride flags, with the six colors coming from the Queen’s University coat of arms. The circle represents inclusion, togetherness, and that all of us – students, staff, faculty, administration – have a role in enacting the department’s mission. The Queen’s Q centred on this background reminds us that our work begins here on campus.
Black Studies
Communicating the intellectual and creative worlds that animate our Black Studies Program and the diaspora more broadly, the image captures both the intensity and beauty of the 1960s and 1970s—two decades that must be read not just as “a moment” in time, but that taught us to study future-past-present struggles for freedom across the globe. The sunglasses animate our commitment to Édouard Glissant’s opacity, while the image as a whole speaks to our love of black aesthetics.
History of social justice work
Throughout its thirty-five-year history, the Department of Gender Studies at Queen’s University has demonstrated a longstanding and steadfast commitment to social justice work both at and outside of the university across local, national, and international scales. Providing a curriculum described as “one of the most theoretically innovative and advanced of equivalent departments anywhere in the world” (CPR External Review Team Report, 2015), the department has a reputation as a vital hub for social justice work on-campus and in the community at-large.
Strategic Plan, 2019 -22
The Department of Gender Studies practices interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research, teaching, and programming that advance our commitment to social justice and social change.
We embrace an approach to gender that explores and challenges racism, capitalism, colonialism, (hetero)sexism, ableism, and other manifestations of power.
Our scholarship, activism and community work centre marginalized, alternative, and relational knowledges, span local and global contexts, and engage historical and contemporary perspectives. Together we foster an accessible, culturally diverse, and transformative learning environment.
Contact Us
Queen's University
138 Union Street
Kingston ON
K7L 2P1
Gender Studies
13-533-6318
genderstudies@queensu.ca
@QueensGenderStudies
Black Studies
613-533-6268
BLCK@queensu.ca