The Centre for Feminist Research at York University presents a talk by Elaine Stavro, political studies professor at Trent University, on “Rethinking the Role of the Critical Intellectual: Liberating or Colonizing?” from 3 to 5 p.m. on Jan. 17.
During the Algerian War (1954-62), Djamila Boupacha, a member of the Algerian independence movement Front de Libération Nationale (FLN) was tortured and raped by French soldiers to gather information. In protesting her torture, Boupacha’s lawyer solicited Simone de Beauvoir’s assistance to mount her defense. De Beauvoir’s intervention raises the question of whether an intellectual can represent a marginal group or, whether it is impossible to escape appropriating minority voices and thereby contributing to their disempowerment.
Stavro will be introduced by Jacinthe Michaud, associate professor of gender and women’s studies at York University.
Stavro is an associate professor in the Department of Political Studies at Trent University. She has recently published Emancipatory Thinking: Simone de Beauvoir and Contemporary Political Thought (2018) with McGill-Queen’s University Press. Copies of the book will be available for purchase at this talk.
The event takes place in 305 Founders College at the Keele Campus of York University. It is a free event, and everyone is welcome. Light refreshments will be provided. Founders College is wheelchair-accessible, and there is a gender-neutral bathroom on first floor, and a single-stall, accessible bathroom on third floor. Wayfinding signs will be posted.
RSVP with dietary needs to juliapyr@yorku.ca.
Co-sponsors of this event include: Founders College, Graduate Program in Social and Political Thought, School of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies and the Department of Politics at York University.