Women, Gender, and Politics

N21(b) - Critical Lens on Academia: Institutions and Discourses

Date: Jun 5 | Time: 03:30pm to 05:00pm | Location:

Discussant/Commentateur/Commentatrice : Alisha Dhingra (University of Delhi)

Sites of Everyday Vulnerabilities: A Framework for Evaluating Meaning in Place Within Complex Institutions: Erin Nuckols (University of Victoria), Annie Pearce (Virginia Tech University)
Abstract: Universities, and other complex organisations, often engage in institutional siloing of the processes and people undertaking tasks of planning, maintenance, provision of access, and human support programming. These intra-organisational realities can be especially problematic when individuals, like lactating parents, find themselves in precarious situations within the unique, socio-political ecosystems affected by academic power dynamics within universities. Approaches which put meaning at the centre of space-making are needed to understand the impact of design on these "everyday vulnerabilities" - places where people enact particularly vulnerable human action (lactation) in publicly managed spaces (lactation room). This ecofeminist research is defined not in terms of body pieces and parts, but, rather, departs from essentialism to discuss power relationships within institutions in sites that bring the natural into the unnatural (Labuski & Bell, n.d.). Building from Smith’s (2005) institutional ethnography work, a mixed-methods framework was developed and tested to acknowledge knowledge-keepers that operate and utilise institutional place, including the site as its own narrator (Barth, 1995; Barbour, 2016). Lactation places in two university case studies reflected sites of meaning-making (physical, social, political). This research illuminated interactions between and amongst siloed institutional workers and those having an embodied experience in these contrived spaces. The tested framework could support others’ intersectional research in place-making and institutional policy and programming to identify key issues and concerns for underserved populations. This work opens the door for enhancing the dignity of users and developing pathways for improving the policy-to construction pipeline used to create physical spaces in complex institutions.

The Wounded Scholar: Research Trauma in the Field of Political Science: Clare McKendry (University of Waterloo)
Abstract: In Greek mythology, Chiron was a knowledgeable centaur, skilled healer, teacher, and mentor to heroes like Achilles and Hercules. His story as the “wounded healer” stemmed from an accidental injury, but despite his immense knowledge of healing, Chiron could not heal his own wound and traded his immortality to be freed from eternal pain. This myth serves as a perfect metaphor for researchers who face potential exposure to violence, grief, human rights violations, social injustices, and personal accounts of trauma or conflict; what has come to be called “research trauma”. Research trauma can wreak havoc on a researcher’s personal life, productivity, mental and physical health, leading to an increased risk of developing depression, anxiety, burnout, trauma disorders and more. This paper the impact of research trauma on graduate students, focusing on the discipline of political science. I begin by defining “trauma” and the potential triggers associated with direct and vicarious trauma. The following sections explores studies of research trauma in political science and engage with the detailed stories of scholars that developed trauma as a result from their (or other’s) research. In the closing section, I focus on the best practices identified in the literature to support the mental health of researchers in the field. I argue that the academic environment currently provides inadequate institutionalized support mechanisms for researchers engaged in trauma-centred studies. The objective of this paper is to provide a starting point for an improved awareness of research trauma and to spur researchers to approach sensitive areas of research with their well-being in mind.