Men and Masculinities: Rethinking the Rules that Delineate Masculinity -- a Conversation with Michael Kehler and Wali Shah
Acknowledging that there is a link between some conceptions of masculinity and gender-based sexual violence (extreme forms of which can lead to sex-trafficking), this webinar will be an open conversation about ways of conceiving masculinity, with Mississauga's Poet Laureate, Wali Shah, and Michael Kehler, Professor of Masculinities Studies at the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary. Specifically, the conversation raises questions about performances of masculinity in different environments, how these contribute to heteronormativity and can maintain, challenge, or disrupt normative masculinity. The goal of this webinar is to provoke a dialogue in which we begin rethinking and reconfiguring the rules, the barriers and instead consider ways that men can relocate and redefine how men “do” men.
SPEAKERS
Michael Kehler
Michael Kehler holds the Research Professorship in Masculinities Studies in Education at the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary - the first Masculinities Studies program in North America. Kehler’s scholarly engagement in masculinities encompasses several funded research projects - in Canada and internationally - examining critical environments in boys' youth where the performance of masculinity is engrained, focusing in particular on school locker rooms and boy’s literacy. Michael's current projects include an International Masculinities Speaker Series hosted at the University of Calgary, which is opening up a broad conversation about what it means to be a man/boy in today’s #metoo, #timesup social climate.
Kehler is the author of numerous articles, and co-editor (with Michael Atkinson) of Boys’ Bodies; Speaking the Unspoken, and of The Problem with Boys’ Education: Beyond the Backlash with Drs. W. Martino and M. Weaver-Hightower.
Wali Shah
Selected as one of Canada’s Top 20 Under 20 in 2014, Wali Shah is a spoken word poet and public speaker, addressing social issues through personal stories, comedy, and his South Asian and Muslim background. He has spoken on subjects of bullying, mental health and toxic masculinity in hundreds of schools across North America. Through his philanthropic work, Wali has raised over one million dollars for The United Way, as its ambassador for Mississauga's Peel region.
Wali is completing his studies at University of Toronto, while serving as the Poet Laureate of his home-town, Mississauga, Ontario.