The University of Winnipeg (U of W) will see the next iteration of the Axworthy Lecture Series on Nov. 16 with Anita Sarkeesian, the creator of Feminist Frequency, a gender equality advocacy organization.

Sarkeesian’s lecture shares a title with her upcoming book, History vs. Women: The Defiant Lives that They Don’t Want You to Know, which will discuss stories of impactful women from around the world.

U of W student Ty Walters plans on attending Sarkeesian’s lecture. “She’s trying to be a voice for everyone else who has been oppressed,” they say.

Walters references Gamergate, a controversy that saw Sarkeesian violently harrassed for indicting sexualization of women in video games. “Women are super sexualized in media, but in games, it’s super intensified,” Walters says.

Walters hopes that the lecture will culminate in people continuing to advocate for safe spaces for women and other oppressed people.

“Know your privilege and try to speak up for certain people, but if those people are present and able to speak up for themselves, let them do so,” they say.

Another guest speaker coming to the U of W campus is Pauline Gerrard, the deputy director of the International Institute for Sustainable Development - Experimental Lakes Area (IISD-ELA).

Gerrard’s lecture on Nov. 6 will be about innovative Canadian freshwater science and its global impact. It will be given at a University of Winnipeg Retirees Association (UWRA) meeting.

Gerrard says she regularly gives guest lectures on IISD-ELA at universities and to other organizations like the Rotary Club of Canada and the Lake of the Woods District Property Association.

“I try to get my message heard through stories. I find people remember things better if there is a personal touch and you relate your stories back to the audience themselves,”
Gerrard says.

“When speaking to university students, I often tell the story of my own career path,” she says. “If I’m speaking with a general public audience, I will tell the stories of some of the big IISD-ELA experiments as they relate to all of us and our own habits and practices.”

Gerrard gives the example of research that leads to restrictions of phosphorus in soaps.

Gerrard will speak to the UWRA about the unique research conducted in ELA, which has generated more cost-effective environmental policies, regulations and management to ensure the safety of freshwater supplies.

“My lecture (on Nov. 6) will give a few stories about the experiments themselves and the results that they have had,” Gerrard says.

On Nov. 7, Dr. Edward Doolittle from the First Nations University of Canada in Saskatchewan will speak on Indigenous mathematics.

Doolittle has spoken at events, such as the eighth Aboriginal Mathematics Symposium on education in First Nations communities in Canada, and specifically about math, learning and land.

Doolittle will speak as part of the U of W’s Weweni Indigenous Speakers Series, presented by the Academic Lead of Indigenous Affairs. This lecture and all other Weweni lectures are open to the public and free of charge.

Published in Volume 73, Number 8 of The Uniter (November 1, 2018)