Former Director, Women
and Gender Studies Institute, University
of Toronto (2003-2008)
http://www.utoronto.ca/wgsi/
Past-President, Canadian Association
for the Study of Adult Education
http://www.casae-aceea.ca/?q=about
Marxist-Feminism: Research, Teaching, and Praxis - http://www.oise.utoronto.ca/marxfem/index.html
Scholar, teacher, and activist, Shahrzad Mojab is internationally known for her work on the impact of war, displacement and violence on women’s learning and education. Her extensive empirical research in diasporic communities in Canada and Europe and the conflict zones of the Middle East has deepened our understanding of gender relations, patriarchy, culture and fundamentalisms. A unique feature of Professor Mojab’s work is making knowledge accessible to public through the use of arts such as story-telling, dance, drama, painting and film.
Shahrzad Mojab, Professor, teaches at the Department of Adult Education and Counselling Psychology, the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. She earned her B.A. in English Language in Iran (1977), M.A. in two areas of Comparative Education and Administration, Higher and Continuing Education (1979), and Ph.D. in Educational Policy Studies and Women’s Studies (1991) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She spent four years (1979-1983) in post-revolutionary Iran, where she became active in the women’s movement and the social movements of Kurdistan. Before joining the University of Toronto in 1996, Shahrzad taught and worked at University of Windsor, Ryerson University, and Concordia University (Montreal).
Shahrzad’s areas of research and teaching are: educational policy studies; gender, state, diaspora and transnationality; women, war, militarization and violence; women, war and learning; feminism, anti-racism, colonialism and imperialism; Marxist-feminism and learning; adult education in comparative and global perspectives. Her approach to the study of race, gender, class, nationality, transnationality, and ethnicity is informed by feminist, dialectical, and historical materialism. She is critical of theoretical frameworks which treat race, gender, and class atomistically and reduce them to the domains of discourse, text, language or identity. She critiques monopolies of knowledge and power in education, and advocates dialogical and inclusive pedagogical practices.
She is the recipient of several awards, including the prestigious Royal Society of Canada Award in Gender Studies; 2008 Distinguished Contribution to Graduate Teaching Award at the University of Toronto. In 2006 she was named Noted Scholar in the Faculty of Education, University of British Columbia. In the same year, the Student Administrative Council (SAC) of the University of Toronto recognized her commitments to equity and social justice by giving her the SAC Certificate. Shahrzad was the first prize winner in the Women’s WORLD writing contest, “Women’s Voices in War Zones” in 2003 as well as being recognized as the Distinguished Visitor at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.
In recent years, Shahrzad has attempted to diversify the dissemination of her research results and has used the art form of dance, drama, storytelling, film and visual arts to capture the experience, desires and dreams of political prisoners and activists.
COURSES TAUGHT
Doctoral Level
Adult Education Approaches to State, Equity, and Democracy
Historical Materialism in Adult Education: Consciousness, Ideology and Praxis
Political Economy of Adult Education in Global Perspectives
Marxism and Adult Education
Doctoral Thesis Seminar
Masters Level
Outline of Adult Education
Comparative and International Perspectives in Adult Education
Lifelong Learning and Social Change
Power and Difference in the Workplace
Comprehensive Seminar in Adult Education
Women, War, and Learning
Culture and Diversity in Adult Education (Mount Saint Vincent University)
AWARDS
2010
Royal Society of Canada Award in Gender Studies
2010
New College, “The Shahrzad Mojab Book Prize in Women and Gender Studies”
2009
Ian Martin Award for Social Justice for the Best Paper, SCUTREA, University of Cambridge, UK
2008
Distinguished Contribution to Graduate Teaching Award, OISE/University of Toronto
Dean’s Excellence Award, Faculty of Arts and Science, University of Toronto
2007
Dean’s Merit Award, Faculty of Arts and Science, University of Toronto
2006
Noted Scholar, Faculty of Education, University of British Columbia
SAC Certificate, Equity Commission of the Students Administrative Council, University of Toronto
Dean’s Merit Award, Faculty of Arts and Science, University of Toronto
2005
Dean’s Merit Award, Faculty of Arts and Science, University of Toronto
2004
Dean’s Merit Award, Faculty of Arts and Science, University of Toronto
2003
First prize winner in the Women’s WORLD writing contest, ‘Women’s Voices in War Zones.’
EFF Distinguished Visitor, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
1986
Winner of the 1986 Women in International Development Student Paper Competition, University of Illinois, U.S.A.
1986
Graduate College Thesis/Project Grant, University of Illinois, U.S.A.
1984
Graduate SEAL Grant, University of Illinois, U.S.A.
1984-87
Verdell Frazier Young Awards, U.S.A.
1977-79
Scholarship, Ministry of Higher Education, Iran
PUBLICATIONS- Selected/abbreviated
Books
2010
Women, War, Violence and Learning (ed.). London: Routeldge,155 pages.
2004
Mojab, S. and N. Abdo (eds.) Violence in the Name of Honour: Theoretical and Political Challenges. Istanbul: Bilgi University Press, 253 pages.
2001
Women of a Non-State Nation: The Kurds (ed.). Costa Mesa, California: MAZDA Publishers, 263 pages. Translated into Turkish by Fahriye Adsay, Sema Kiliç, and Ekin Uşakl, Develtsiz Ulusun Kadinlari: Kürt Kadini Üzerine Araştirmalar. Istanbul: Avesta, 2005, 356 pages.
Bannerji, H. and S. Mojab, and J. Whitehead (eds.) Of Property and Propriety: The Role of Gender and Class in Imperialism and Nationalism. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 244 pages.
2000
Mojab, S. and A. Hojabri (eds.) Women of Iran: A Subject bibliography. Cambridge, MA: Iranian Women’s Studies Foundation, 106 pages.
Mojab, S. and A. Hojabri (eds.) Two Decades of Iranian Women’s Studies in Exiles: A Subject Bibliography [in Farsi]. Cambridge, MA: Iranian Women’s Studies Foundation, 154 pages.
Monographs
2010
Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa, and the Middle East Journal, guest editor, special issue on Gender and Empire, 30 (2).
Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa, and the Middle East Journal, guest editor, special issue on Gender and Empire.
Carpenter, Sara, Marilyn Laiken and Shahrzad Mojab (eds.) Spaces/Places: Exploring the Boundaries of Adult Education, Proceedings of the Canadian Association for the Study of Adult Education (CASAE), Carleton University, Ottawa.
2008
International Journal of Lifelong Education, guest editor with Stephan Dobson, special issue on Women, War and Learning.
2007
Mojab, S. And Nadeen El-Kassem, “Cultural Relativism: Theoretical, Political and Ideological Debates,” The Canadian Council of Muslim Women, Ottawa, 30 pages.
2005
Mojab, S. and H. Nosheen Proceedings of the Canadian Association for the Study of Adult Education, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, May, 312 pages.
2003
Bannerji, H. and S. Mojab Resources for Feminist Research, 30 (3/4), guest editor, special issue on War and Militarization.
2002
Mojab, S. and W. McQueen (eds.) Adult Education and the Contested Terrain of Public Policy Toronto: The Canadian Association for the Study of Adult Education, 436 Pages.
Mojab, S. and N. Binder Wall and S. McDonald, Collaborative Learning for Change. OISE/University of Toronto, Department of Adult Education, Community Development and Counselling Psychology, April, 28 pages.
Documentary Films
Talking Prison, Creating Art and Making Justice
This documentary is co-produced by Bethany Osborne and is based on an-art based project funded by the Ontario Arts Council and Toronto Arts Council called Words, Colour and Movement. Working with artists, a group of former political prisoners from Iran have come together to narrate, perform, and present their experience of state violence during and after their imprisonment. The documentary depicts dance and drama performances as well as series of narratives which were presented at a sold-out event on June 19, 2010 at Hart House Theatre at the University of Toronto.
Samjana: Memoirs and Resistance
Based on my research on women in the post-war Nepal, their role in the peace process, as well as the role of women’s NGOs in building sustainable peace, I have produced a documentary film called, Samjana: Memoirs and Resistance. This documentary is filmed and directed by Shahrzad Arshadi, a Canadian film maker and photographer based in Montreal. The first screening of this documentary for audience review was at OISE/UT on June 23, 2007. More than one hundred people attended the session and the film was very well received. In May 29, 2008 it was shown at the Centre Culturel Simón Bolívar in Montreal and was sponsored by the Consulat Général de la République Bolivarienne du Venezuela á Montréal. Migrant Women's Coordinating Body screened this documentary in their first organizing meeting in Toronto on January 24, 2010.
Refereed Articles
2011
“Cultural relativism: Theoretical, political and ideological debates,” with Nadeen El-Kassem, in The Struggle for Secularism in Europe and North America, Dossier 30-31, July, Women Living Under Muslim Laws: 191-210.
2010
“Gender and Empire,” Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa, and the Middle East Journal, 30 (2): 220-223.
"Of Property and Propriety: The Role of Gender and Class in Imperialism and Nationalism: A Decade Later" with Himani Bannerji, and Judith Whitehead, Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa, and the Middle East Journal, 30 (2): 262-271.
2008
"Women, war and learning," International Feminist Journal of Politics, 10(3): 402‑411.
"Women, war, and learning," editorial with Stephan Dobson, International Journal of lifelong Education, 27 (2): 119-127.
2007
"Dispersed Nationalism: War, Diaspora and Kurdish Women's Organizing,"with Rachel Gorman in Transnational theory, national politics and gender in the contemporary Middle East/North Africa, Journal of Middle East Women's Studies, 3 (1), Winter: 58-85.
2006
"Women in the war zone of the Middle East: Fragmented solidarities and scattered resistances," Feminist Approaches in Culture and Politics, Issue 1, October [in Turkish].
"In the quagmires of ethnicity: A Marxist critique of liberal exit strategies," Journal of Ethnicities, 6 (3): 341-361.
2005
"Middle East and Adult Education," in Leona M. English (ed.), International Encyclopedia of Adult Education. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 400-404.
"Kurdish women," in Suad Joseph (ed.), Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures. Volume II, Family, Law and Politics. Brill: Leiden-Boston, pp. 358-366.
"Honor: Iran and Afghanistan," in Suad Joseph (ed), Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures. Volume II, Family, Law and Politics. Brill: Leiden-Boston, pp. 215-216.
2004
"Layla Zana," in Philip Mattar (ed) Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa, Vol. 4, 2nd Edition. Detroit, Michigan: Mcmillan Reference USA.
"Introduction," in Bannerji and Mojab (eds.) War and Militarization, special issue of Resources for Feminist Research, 30 (3/4):7-12.
"State-university power struggle at times of revolution and war in Iran," International Higher
Education, No. 36, Summer: 11-13.
A. Hassanpour "Kurdish diaspora," with Ian Skoggard (ed.) Encyclopedia of Diasporas. Diasporas. Human Relations Area Files, Inc: New Haven, Connecticut: 214-224.
2003
Butterwick, S., Tara Fenwick, and Shahrzad Mojab,"Canadian adult education research in the 1990s: Tracing liberatory trends," The Canadian Journal for the Study of Adult Education. 17 (2): 1-19.
Mojab, S. and R. Gorman "Women and consciousness in the learning organization: Emancipation or exploitation?" Adult Education Quarterly: A Journal of Research and Theory, 53 (4): 228-241.
Grace, A., P. Gouthro, and S. Mojab,"Thinking the practice:Academic adult educators reflections on mediating a summer institute as a multicultural learning journey for graduate students," Studies in Continuing Education, Vol. 25, No. 1, May: 51-73.
"Kurdish women in the zone of genocide and gendercide," Al-Raida Magazine, Institute for Women's Studies in the Arab World, Lebanese American University, Vol. XXI, No. 103: 20-25.
2002
Mojab, S. and A. Hassanpour, "The politics and culture of honour killing: The murder of Fadime Şahindal," Pakistan Journal of Women's Studies: Alam-e-Niswan, June, (9) 1:57-77.
"Honor Killing: Culture, politics and theory," Middle East Women's Studies Review, Spring/Summer 17 (1&2): 1-7.
Mojab, S. and A. Hassanpour, "Thoughts on the struggle against honour killing," The International Journal of Kurdish Studies, (16) 1 & 2: 83-97. Translated in Farsi by Farideh Fatah Ghazi in Rawangeh, (4) 18.
"Fundamentalist and capitalist wars on women," Fireweed, Special issue on Women, Race, War and Resistance, No. 7, Part 1: 12-19.
2001
Women's studies across nations; Facing the challenges of global feminisms, Pakistan Journal of Women's Studies, 8 (1&2): 27-40.
The politics of cyberfeminism in the Middle East: The Case of Kurdish Women, Journal of Race, Gender, and Class, 8 (4): 42-61.
Theorizing the politics of Islamic Feminism,Feminist Review, Winter, No. 69: 124-146. Reprinted in Lola Press (International Feminist Magazine), 2002.
2000
"Adult education in the Middle East: Etatism, patriarchy and civil society,"Convergence, 33 (3): 9-24.
The feminist project in cyberspace and civil society,Convergence, 33 (1-2):106-119.
Doing fieldwork on women in theocratic Islamic states,Resources for Feminist Research, Spring/Summer, 28 (1-2): 81-98. Re-printed in Janet Momsen (ed.) (2008) Gender and Development, Volume II, Policy and Practice.New York: Routledge.
Educational voyaging in a globalizing planet: The conference of the rich, the poor, and the oppressed, Atlantis: A Women's Studies Journal. 24 (2): 123-134.
Vengeance and violence: Kurdish women recount the war, Canadian Woman Studies Journal. 19 (4), Winter: 89-94. Also is translated into German, Rache und Gewalt: Kurdische Frauen erinnern den Krieg,Kurdische Studien 1 (2001) 1: 53-63.
1999
"De-skilling immigrant women," Canadian Woman Studies Journal. 19 (3), Fall:123-127.
1998
The state, university, and the construction of civil society in the Middle East, Futures, the special issue on The Future of the University, September 30 (7): 657-667.
Muslim women and Western Feminists: The debates on particulars and universals, Monthly
Review, December, 50 (7):19-30. Translated in Swedish available on (http://www.solidaritet.dk/soli99-3/muslimq.html) In German by Eva Kalny in Arbeitskreis Emanzipation und Partnerschaft Informationen, Nr. 2: 12-13, 2003 and Frauensolidarität No. 4: 6-7, 2002. Reprinted in Fraz: Frauenzeitung, October-November 2003, p. 11 and Prav~da, (1999), 6 (2 & 3): 35-39.
1997
Crossing boundaries of nationalism, patriarchy, and Eurocentrism: The struggle for a Kurdish Women Studies Network,Canadian Woman Studies,17 (2): 68-72. Translated in Farsi in Rumange: Monthly Bi-lingual Magazine, 2003, No. 12, pp. 14-16.
Speaking of our lives: Minority women in academe,Convergence, 30 (2 & 3):115-125.
1996
Nationalism and feminism: The case of Kurdistan,Institute Simone de Beauvoir Bulletin, (16): 65-76.
1995
Academic Freedom and Diversity in Canadian Universities,Women's Education des femmes, the publication of Canadian Congress for Learning Opportunities for Women, 11 (4): 18-22.
Islamic feminism: Alternative or contradiction?Fireweed. Winter, (47):18-25.
1989
University reform in Iran: The development dimension, 1981-89, Muslim Education Quarterly, 7 (1): 34-42.
1987
The Islamic Government's Policy on Women's Access to Higher Education: 1979-85. Women in International Development Publication Series, Working Paper # 156, Michigan State University, U.S.A., December, 18 pages. Translated into Persian by E. Dolkhanian, Nimeye-Digar: Persian Language Feminist Journal (U.S.A.), Summer (7):16-31.
Women in Politics and War: The Case of Kurdistan. Women in International Development Publication Series, Working Paper # 145, Michigan State University, U.S.A., September, 18 pages. Translated into Persian by E. Dolkhanian, Nimeye-Digar: Persian Language Feminist Journal [U.S.A.], No. 9, Spring 1989, pp. 41-62; translated into Norwegian, Kvinner Spesial nummer om Kvinner, [Oslo, Norway], March 1989, pp. 9-13; translated into Kurdish, Afret le meydanî Õer û siyaset da (ezmûnî Kurdistan), Rabûn [Stockholm], 1992, (4):73-90.
Book Chapters
2009
“Imperialism, ‘Post-war Reconstruction’ and Kurdish Women’s NGOs,” Nadje Al-Ali and Nicola Pratt (eds.) Women and War in the Middle East: Transnational Perspectives. London, UK: Zed Books Publishers: 99-128.
“Turning work and lifelong learning inside out: A Marxist-Feminist attempt,” in Linda Cooper and Shirley Walters (eds.) Learning/Work: Turning Work and Lifelong Learning Inside Out. Cape Town, South Africa: Human Sciences Research Council: 4-15.
2008
“War, Diaspora, Learning and Women’s Standpoint,”with Rachel Gorman in Maroussia Hajdukowski-Ahmed and Nazilla Khanlou (eds.) Not Born A Refugee Woman: Contesting Identities: Rethinking Practices. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 135-149.
“Women, violence and informal learning,” with Susan McDonald in Kathryn Church, Nina Bascia, and Eric Shragge (eds.) Learning Through Community: Exploring Participatory Practices. Springer Publishers, 37-53.
2007
“Years of solitude, years of defiance: Women political prisoners in Iran,” in Agah, A., Sousan Mehr and Shadi Parsi, We Lived to Tell: Political Prison Memoirs of Iranian Women. Toronto: McGilligan Books, 7-18.
“Cultural relativism: Theoretical, political and ideological debates,” with Nadeen El-Kassem in Canadian Council of Muslim Women, Canadian Muslim Women at the Crossroads: From integration to Segregation: 3-44.
2006
“War and diaspora as lifelong learning contexts for immigrant women,”in Carol Leathwood and Becky Francis (eds.) Gender and Lifelong Learning: Critical Feminist Engagements. London: Routledge, 164-175.
“Gender, nation and diaspora: Kurdish women in feminist transnational struggles,” in Haideh Moghissi (ed.) Muslim Diaspora: Gender, Culture and Identity. London: Routledge: 116-132.
“Adult education without borders” in Fenwick, Tara, Tom Nesbit and Bruce Spencer (eds.) Contexts of Adult Education: Canadian Perspectives. Toronto: Thompson Educational Publishing: 347-356.
“Gender, political Islam and imperialism,” in Colin Moores (ed.) The New Imperialists: Ideologies of Empire. Oxford: Oneworld Publications:61-85.
2005
“Race and class,” in Tom Nesbit (ed.), Class Concerns: Adult Education & Social Class. New Directions in Adult and Continuing Education, no. 106. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass: 73-82.
2004
The particularity of ‘honour’ and the universality of ‘killing’: From early warning signs to feminist pedagogy,” in Mojab, S. and N. Abdo (eds.) Violence in the Name of Honour: Theoretical and Political Challenges. Istanbul: Bilgi University Press, pp. 15-37.
Mojab, S. and N. Abdo “Introduction,”in Mojab, S. and N. Abdo (eds.) Violence in the Name of Honour: Theoretical and Political Challenges. Istanbul: Bilgi University Press, pp. 1-12.
“From the ‘Wall of Shame’ to September 11: Wither adult education?” in Peter Kell, Michael Singh, and Sue Shore (eds.). Adult Education at 21st Century. New York: Peter Lang, pp. 3-19.
“No “Safe Haven” for women: Violence against women in Iraqi Kurdistan,” in W. Giles and J. Hyndman (eds.) Sites of Violence: Gender and Identity in Conflict Zones. Berkeley: University of California Press, pp. 108-133.
2003
Mojab, S. and B. Hall “Education of a non-state nation: Reconstructing a university in the war zone of Iraqi Kurdistan,” in Wayne Nelles (ed.) Comparative Education, Terrorism and Human Security. New York, Palgrave McMillan, pp. 159-173.
2002
“Equity coordinator: The change agent in an unyielding structure of power,” in Elena Hannah, Linda Paul, and Swani Vethamany-Globus (eds) Women in the Canadian Academic Tundra: Challenging the Chill, McGill-Queen's University Press, Montreal, pp. 162-167.
2001
Bannerji, H. Mojab, S. and J. Whitehead “Introduction,” in Bannerji, H., S. Mojab and J. Whitehead (eds.) Of Property and Propriety: The Role of Gender and Class in Imperialism and Nationalism. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, pp. 1-33
Mojab, S. “Conflicting Loyalties: Nationalism and gender relations in Kurdistan,” in Bannerji, H., S. Mojab and J. Whitehead (eds.) Of Property and Propriety: The Role of Gender and Class in Imperialism and Nationalism. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, pp. 116-152.
‘Introduction: The solitude of the stateless: Kurdish women at the margins of feminist knowledge.’ In Mojab, S. (ed.) Women of a Non-State Nation: The Kurds. Costa Mesa, California: MAZDA Publishers, pp. 1-21.
‘Women and nationalism in Kurdish Republic of 1946.’ In Mojab, S. (ed.) Women of a Non-State Nation: The Kurds. Costa Mesa, California: MAZDA Publishers, pp. 71-91.
2000
“The power of economic globalization: Deskilling immigrant women through training,” Cervero, Ron M. and Arthur L. Wilson (eds.) Power in Practice: Adult Education and Struggle for Knowledge and Power in Society. New York: Jossey-Bass, pp. 23-41.
“Iranian women’s studies: Further steps toward internationalization of feminist inquiry,” in S. Mojab and A. Hojabri (eds.) Women of Iran: A Subject bibliography, Cambridge, MA: Iranian Women’s Studies Foundation, pp. 1-12.
“Frauen und nationalismus in der Kurdischen Republik von 1946,” [Feminism and nationalism in the Kurdish Republic of 1946] in Savelsberg, Eva, Siamend Hajo, and Carsten Borck (eds.) Kurdische Frauen und das Bild der Kurdischen Frau. Münster: LIT, pp. 129-155.
“Civilizing the State: the University in the Middle East,” in Inayatullah, S. and Gidley, J. (eds.) The University in Transformation: Global Perspectives on the Futures of The University, Greenwood, Westport, pp. 137-148.
1999
“The International Kurdish Women’s Studies Network,” Mapping the World of Women's Information Services: A Global Sourcebook. The Netherlands: The Know How on the World of Women's Information.
1997
“Women and the Gulf war: A critique of feminist responses," Sharpley-Whiting, T. Denean and Renée T. White (eds.), Spoils of War: Women of Color, Cultures and Revolution. Savage, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. pp. 61-82.
1995
“Education and human rights: Iran,” in John Daniel et al (eds.), Academic Freedom 3: Education and Human Rights. World University Service. London: Zed Books, p. 140-159.
“Politics of nationality and ethnic diversity.” With Hassanpour, A. In Rahnama, Saeed and Behdad, Sohrab (eds.) Iran After the Revolution: Crisis of an Islamic State. London: British Academic Press/Tauris, pp. 229-250. |
