Dr. Michael Kehler and Dr. Gabriel Knott-Fayle| Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, Canada
Thursday, November 30, 2023 | 12:30 – 2:00 p.m. (PST) | Scarfe 310 (In-person only)
Faculty Host: Dr. LeAnne Petherick
View the Seminar Poster
Abstract
In this seminar, Dr. Kehler and Dr. Knott-Fayle reflect on their recent and ongoing research into engaging boys and men in social justice education. Kehler and Knott-Fayle explore three distinct but overlapping projects. The first, conversations with schoolboys and their parents throughout COVID-19 about the social and educative disruption that resulted from the pandemic. These conversations were rich with reflections on boys’ navigations of masculinity inside and outside of school. The second, observations from an optional course designed and facilitated by Kehler and Knott-Fayle for UCalgary pre-service teachers. The course explores pedagogical obstacles and opportunities to respond to contemporary articulations and embodiments of masculinities in schools. The third, a program of workshops with Grade 9 students created in response to growing misogyny, homophobia, and transphobia, particularly amongst schoolboys. Kehler and Knott-Fayle consider the threads that link these three projects and invite conversation and reflection on what they say about the challenges and possibilities of gender-transformative pedagogy, engaging boys and men as allies and advocates, and the role and responsibility of education and educators in ongoing conversations about masculinity.
Short Bios
Dr. Michael Kehler is the Research Professor of Masculinities Studies in Education at the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary. His research addresses: masculinities, men/boys as advocates-allies for change, mental health, #MeToo, body image, Health and Physical Education, sport and homophobia and disrupting heteronormative masculinity in schools and beyond. His research is found in journals and books including Boys’ Bodies; Speaking the Unspoken (Peter Lang); co edited, The Problem with Boys’ Education: Beyond the backlash and among journals including: Boyhood Studies: An interdisciplinary journal; International Journal of Men’s Health; Thymos: Journal of Boyhood Studies as well as chapters appearing in Men’s Lives 10th Edition (Oxford Press); The Sociology of Education in Canada: Contemporary Debates and Perspectives (Open University); Child’s Play: Sport in Kids’ Worlds (Rutgers University Press).
Dr. Gabriel Knott-Fayle is a Post-Doctoral Scholar of Masculinities Studies in Education at the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary. His research focuses on masculinities, gender-diversity, allyship and advocacy, body image, sport and physical education, heteronormativity, and cisgenderism. His academic work has been published in journals and including Feminist Media Studies, Feminism & Psychology, Journal of Bodies, Sexualities, and Masculinities, International Journal of Education Research, as well as in edited books such as Gender Diversity and Sport: Interdisciplinary Perspectives (Witcomb & Peel 2022).