Morgan Gagnon and Shawn Huberdeau Awarded SSHRC Scholarships

The Philosophy Department is pleased to announce that Morgan Gagnon and Shawn Huberdeau, MA students in Philosophy, have each won a Canada Graduate Scholarship (CGS) from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).

Morgan Gagnon says about her research:

"My research is motivated by a deep concern for the way in which universities respond to issues of sexual violence. I’m interested in the potential of restorative justice to address instances of sexual violence in the university, which commits me to tracing the complications/challenges of rape culture as well as institutional hierarchies. In this, I rely on both case studies (e.g. the Dalhousie School of Dentistry, the University of Alberta) and philosophical accounts of restorative justice and/or reconciliation. Capped by my MRP, I hope my research will provide strong philosophical arguments for sexual violence policies that are survivor-centred and committed to the well-being of the university community."

Shawn Huberdeau has been working and writing on the concepts of sex and gender:

"My research endeavours to establish a political philosophy of sex and gender that orients feminist politics toward gender abolition. I motivate gender abolition by claiming sex and gender to be both hierarchical and ubiquitous. As hierarchy undermines equality, gender is therefore unjust. Radical feminists have historically conceived of gender as the social expression of sex, where gender is the hierarchy constructed atop the natural fact of sex. I contest the idea that sex is natural; justice demands that we recognize this. I further argue that sex categories require examination as socially constructed. Questioning the naturalized conception of sex changes the feminist political programme. If sex is socially constructed, where social construction express power relations, then we must consider sex abolition as a part of emancipatory feminist politics."

Canada Graduate Scholarships are highly competitive, prestigious awards. These successes are a testament to the strengths of the Philosophy Department's graduate students and their high quality work. Congratulations, Morgan and Shawn!