In , Rivers-Moore and Hardy explore how sex workers in Latin America are building collective power outside traditional employment structures. Drawing on research in Guatemala and Colombia, the article challenges longstanding assumptions about who can unionize and how labour organizing takes shape.

The authors demonstrate that, despite significant structural barriers, sex workers have successfully formed formal unions and leveraged “institutional power” to advocate for labour rights, recognition, and improved working conditions. This work offers important insights into labour organizing among informal and marginalized workers, and contributes to broader conversations on feminist political economy and global labour movements.

Megan Rivers-Moore is the Director and Associate Professor at the Feminist Institute of Social Transformation at ĐÓ°ÉÔ­´´ University. Her research focuses on how gender and sexuality operate transnationally, including projects on sex tourism in Costa Rica, sex worker organizing across Latin America, and clandestine abortion. Working at the intersections of sociology, gender studies, and Latin American and Caribbean studies, her scholarship examines labour, migration, and feminist political economy, with a strong commitment to community-engaged and activist research.

This publication reflects the continued impact of her research in advancing critical conversations on labour, gender, and collective organizing. !

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In , Dan Irving offers an autotheoretical exploration of desire, pedagogy, and trans becoming within graduate education.

Drawing on his experiences as a trans studies scholar, the piece reflects on the intersections of academic life, gender transition, and relational desire, and engages the concept of a “pedagogy of desire” through his relationship with his supervisor, Shannon Bell.

Blending personal narrative with critical feminist and educational scholarship, this work examines how desire can function as a generative force in learning environments, opening space for trans and queer becomings, ethical relationality, and transformative forms of knowledge production.

We are proud to share this important and thought-provoking contribution and the continued impact of Dan Irving’s scholarship.

Dan Irving is an Associate Professor cross appointed to the Feminist institute of Social Transformation and the Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies teaching in the  (IIS) and Sexuality Studies (FIST) programs. To learn more about Dan Irvings, visit: www.carleton.ca/fist/people/dan-irving/

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This recognition celebrates his research project, Reconfiguring Intra- and Interpersonal Relationships in the Era of GLP-1 Weight-Loss Medications, which explores the complex social, relational, and embodied dimensions of emerging weight-loss technologies.

The FASS Research Achievement Award recognizes excellence and innovation in research across the Faculty. Fady’s work stands out for its timely engagement with emerging health technologies and its commitment to critical, community-informed scholarship.

We are proud to celebrate this well-deserved recognition and the continued impact of Fady’s work.

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A three-day conference on October 2, 3, and 4, 2026, at Queen’s University (Kingston, ON) called Critical Feminist Histories in Canada. Our goal is to bring together feminist scholars to reimagine, revitalize, and reinvent the project of ‘feminist history.’

The conference is hosted by the (CCWGH), and we are committed to making this gathering an opportunity to welcome and support scholars whose work has too often been marginalized and silenced within Canadian women’s and gender history and beyond.

Keynotes include: Susan Stryker, historian, theorist, filmmaker, and activist and , the Canada Research Chair in Canadian Migration Policy

Plenary sessions: (1) Trans Histories; (2) Histories of Reproductive Justice; and (3) Feminist Histories for the Future

Please submit via email to cfhconference2026@gmail.com. The submission deadline is April 10, 2026. Applicants will be notified by early May 2026.

Please send inquiries to the Critical Feminist Histories organizers (Lisa Pasolli, Patrizia Gentile, Kristine Alexander, and Samantha Nicholls) at cfhconference2026@gmail.com

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This prestigious fellowship supports educators in advancing innovative teaching and learning practices, with a focus this year on immersive technologies and digital storytelling to enhance student engagement and success.

Dr. Birk is building off her experience of creating  to provide students in her Critical Race Studies classes with the tools to write and create their own narratives using digital storytelling. This project breaks away from traditional virtual reality experiences, which often present damage-centred narratives, and instead prioritizes empathy and inclusivity, while challenging students to critically examine systemic inequities.

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“Hi, I’m Megan Rivers-Moore, Director of the Feminist Institute of Social Transformation—aka FIST. We’re a small but mighty community at ĐÓ°ÉÔ­´´ where feminist ideas come to life through cutting-edge research, award-winning teaching, and real-world impact. Whether you’re here to study, organize, or just find your people, FIST is a space where you’ll be challenged, supported, and inspired. Let’s imagine a feminist future together—and build it

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We are thrilled to share that , co-edited by Fady Shanouda, Chelsea Temple Jones, and Lisanne Binhammer, is officially out today through Athabasca University Press! Published as part of the Issues in Distance Education series, this collection brings together scholars, educators, poets, and activists who explore how ableism persists in online learning spaces—and how we can do better.

Often framed as a tool for inclusion, online education is too frequently designed without the leadership or experiences of disabled, sick, mad, and crip educators and students. This timely volume challenges that gap. Through essays, conversations, interviews, and poetry, contributors reimagine what access could look like when rooted in justice, not just compliance.

In Fady Shanouda’s own chapter, “Caring Online: A Justice-Oriented Approach to Online Pedagogy” (co-authored with Jenna Reid), we’re invited to rethink care and connection in virtual classrooms. Rather than positioning access as a checklist or afterthought, the chapter—and the book as a whole—pushes us to center accessibility as a collective and political commitment.

In a time when digital learning is rapidly expanding, is an essential intervention. It expands our collective thinking about disability, design, and education—especially in spaces where the harms of inaccessibility are too easily hidden behind screens.

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Fady Shanouda and the entire editorial team on this powerful and much-needed publication. We look forward to seeing how it informs teaching, organizing, and advocacy in and beyond the academy.

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The Feminist Institute of Social Transformation is proud to celebrate the outstanding achievement and brilliance of our 2025 graduating M.A. students in Women and Gender Studies: Brittany Crane, Sierra Sherman, and Jade Sullivan.

Their scholarship exemplifies the depth and transformative potential of feminist research grounded in care, justice, and community. Throughout their graduate studies, Brittany, Sierra, and Jade have demonstrated exceptional commitment to advancing critical conversations within and beyond the academy. Each of their theses challenges dominant paradigms, centres marginalized voices, and reflects a profound engagement with the social and political urgencies of our time.

• Brittany Crane – “Navigating ‘Innocent’ Conversations: Early Childhood Educators’ Rationales for Addressing Topics of Gender and Sexuality with Young Children”
• Sierra Sherman – “Becoming ‘Lesbian’ in TV Land: Television as an Interlocutor of Queer Consciousness & Community”
• Jade Sullivan – “Legacies of Art and Activism: Black Feminist Resistance, Transformation, and Collective Care in the Caribbean”

To Brittany, Sierra, and Jade; thank you for the scholarship, passion, and care you have brought to your work and to our learning community. Your contributions have left a lasting impact, and we are deeply grateful for the knowledge, vision, and leadership you have shared. We look forward to witnessing the continued brilliance of your journeys ahead.

With heartfelt congratulations from all of us at FIST.

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