We are a network that brings together scholars and students across King's – whose research and teaching examines the influence of gender relations. We host a mailing list which publicises relevant events and provides a platform for discussion about gender in research and teaching.
Activities
Iran Protests 2022: a feminist uprising?
14 October 2022, 13:00 - 14:30. Protests sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Jina Amini in police custody in Iran over "improper dress" continue almost one month on. Described as a feminist movement, the recent uprisings span borders and intersections; its echoes reverberating across transnational feminist struggles for bodily autonomy and freedom. In this light, this roundtable aims to address how the success of this movement differs from past iterations in the modern history of Iranian women’s rights activism and what this means for the future of women’s rights activism in Iran and in the region?
Vernacular Rights Cultures: The Politics of Origins, Human Rights and Gendered Struggle for Justice
16 May 2022, 16:00-17:30. 'Vernacular Rights Cultures: The Politics of Origins, Human Rights and Gendered Struggle for Justice' offers a bold challenge to the dominant epistemologies and political practices of global human rights. This talk is with the book's author, Professor Sumi Madhok from LSE's Department of Gender Studies.
Feminist Theory and Gender Studies Global Voices Seminar Series
This series aims to bring a global conversation within and beyond our community members on issues pertaining to feminism, gender, and international relations.
Listening to Women Resisting Violence
27 January 2022, 19:00-20:30. At this online roundtable discussion, we present the Women Resisting Violence podcast project, which foregrounds the voices of women who have both suffered violence and who are building campaigns and initiatives to fight against gender violence from the grassroots up.
Black Box: the myth of the 'mysterious' female (reproductive) body
14 February 2022, 16:00-17:30. Sally King, Global Health and Social Medicine PhD Candidate at King’s College London, speaks about her research into biomedical, critical (feminist), and patient descriptions of PMS (Premenstrual Syndrome).
Book launch: Sexual Revolution. Modern Fascism and the Feminist Fightback
28 March 2022, 16:00-17:30. Laurie Penny, feminist writer of, amongst others, Penny Red, Meat Market, Unspeakable Things, Bitch Doctrine, and Everything Belongs to the Future. At this event, she will present her new book: Sexual Revolution. Modern Fascism and the Feminist Fightback, coming out this year with Bloomsbury.
Feminist International with Veronica Gago
How has the feminist movement been democratised? What differentiates the feminist strike front from the conventual labour strike? And how do we bring feminist activism into the everyday? In a special WORLD: we got this takeover, we hand the podcast over to the Gender Studies Network at King’s. Professor Jelke Bose, lead for the network, and Phoebe Martin, PhD candidate and editor of the Feminist Perspectives blog, spoke with Veronica Gago author of Feminist International: How to Change Everything.
Imaging Social Justice
Imaging Social Justice explores the interface between social science research and the arts through transnational collaborations around themes of social justice. Five early-career researchers based at King’s College London developed arts-based research projects in collaboration with colleagues in the arts. The result is an interdisciplinary set of images, sounds, and text reflecting struggles of some of the most vulnerable populations around the world: Rwandan families struggling with memory and reconciliation, Brazilian migrant women in London overcoming violence-related trauma, Ecuadorian indigenous women exploring image, archive and resistance, infrastructure and dispossession of Palestinian existence in Israel, and loss and identity in Latin American migrant communities in London. The projects include photography, archive and exhibition-as-dialogue, music and song-making, body mapping and narrative, and video and audio. In this launch event, the authors and artists will present and discuss how arts-based research can contribute to new forms of knowledge production and collaboration.
VEM+Exhibitions
The Visual Embodied Methodologies research group hold regular public exhibitions. Through video, film, performance, poetry, photography, public events and participation, VEM+Exhibitions invite you to discover the work of social scientists and artists within and outside of King's who use visual, embodied and art-based methodologies in the study of sensitive issues, including gender.
Postcolonial Banter with Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan
21 October, 16:00-17:30, Postcolonial Banter with Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan Join us for a reading and Q&A session with Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan, hosted by the SSPP EDI committee and the Gender Studies Network.
Selling Sex in Kenya: Gendered Agency Under Neoliberalism
12 November, 13:00-14:00, Eglė Česnulytė will talk about her new book: Selling Sex in Kenya: Gendered Agency Under Neoliberalism. Dr Česnulytė is lecturer at the University of Bristol. Hosted by the Gender Studies Network.
Podcast: Rock Our Priors
Dr Alice Evans (Department of International Development) runs a podcast called 'Four Questions', which includes interviews with academics about published papers and books. Topics include governance; social movements; economic development; poverty reduction; organised crime; gender equality; foreign aid; and international justice. Get in touch if you would like to promote your work.
'Calle K' Film Screening and Q&A
'Calle K' Film Screening and Q&A. This event has passed.
Revolutionary Feminisms Book Launch with Brenna Bhandar and Rafeef Ziadah
Revolutionary Feminisms Book Launch with Brenna Bhandar and Rafeef Ziadah. This event has passed.
Roundtable Report on Positionality in the field, 8 May 2019
Following a similar workshop held in 2016 on 'Gender in the Field', it became apparent that thinking about who we are in relation to your research environment is useful in order to prepare ourselves before going into the field, in thinking carefully about how our questions might be shaped by our position in terms of gender, sexuality, race, nationality, class, caste or religion, and how our relationship with respondents – and the answers we might get – are steeped in perceptions we have of them, and they have of us. Several PhD students discussed their experiences with positionality with students who still have to go into the field. A report of the discussion and a list of guidelines and tips can be found here.
Blog: Menstrual Matters
Sally King (Department of Global Health and Social Medicine) researches the topic of Premenstrual Syndrome. She is also the Director of Menstrual Matters, an online hub about the role of the menstrual cycle and hormonal medications in female-prevalent ill health. Her website combines evidence-based health advice with a monthly myth-busting blog that looks at the reasons why the menstrual cycle remains such a 'taboo' topic.
Reading groups
Queer@King’s reading group
The Queer@King’s reading group is open to students and researchers from King’s, other London universities, and interested members of the community. Convened by Bryony White and Rafael Lubner, the reading group meets three times per term and informally discusses pre-circulated readings and screenings over drinks and nibbles. To sign up and receive the readings or to contact the convenors, please email queer@kcl.ac.uk. Come for the discussion, stay for the drinks social.
Feminist Research reading group
The Feminist Research reading group has emerged out of the LISS-facilitated 'Feminist Methods' seminar that took place at King’s College in the summer of 2018. Our aim is to continue discussing the issues raised in the seminar (especially in regard to our own research) and to connect feminist researchers among departments and universities. We are mostly PhD students from King’s College and Queen Mary, but open to interested MA students and staff as well. If you are interested in joining us or have any other questions, please email: pgrfemreadgrp@gmail.com
Feminist Security Studies reading group
Women in War and International Politics offers a reading group on feminist security studies. We discuss literature that is usually overlooked or only briefly dealt with in class. This group is not just for those of you wanting to delve deeper into a decidedly feminist perspective on politics and security, but also for those of you who are simply keen to learn something new. We aim to look at a diverse selection of academic literature that takes into account a variety of voices and schools of thought, and look both at classics and lesser-known texts. Whether or not you have dealt with these topics before, this reading group is for you!
Activities
Iran Protests 2022: a feminist uprising?
14 October 2022, 13:00 - 14:30. Protests sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Jina Amini in police custody in Iran over "improper dress" continue almost one month on. Described as a feminist movement, the recent uprisings span borders and intersections; its echoes reverberating across transnational feminist struggles for bodily autonomy and freedom. In this light, this roundtable aims to address how the success of this movement differs from past iterations in the modern history of Iranian women’s rights activism and what this means for the future of women’s rights activism in Iran and in the region?
Vernacular Rights Cultures: The Politics of Origins, Human Rights and Gendered Struggle for Justice
16 May 2022, 16:00-17:30. 'Vernacular Rights Cultures: The Politics of Origins, Human Rights and Gendered Struggle for Justice' offers a bold challenge to the dominant epistemologies and political practices of global human rights. This talk is with the book's author, Professor Sumi Madhok from LSE's Department of Gender Studies.
Feminist Theory and Gender Studies Global Voices Seminar Series
This series aims to bring a global conversation within and beyond our community members on issues pertaining to feminism, gender, and international relations.
Listening to Women Resisting Violence
27 January 2022, 19:00-20:30. At this online roundtable discussion, we present the Women Resisting Violence podcast project, which foregrounds the voices of women who have both suffered violence and who are building campaigns and initiatives to fight against gender violence from the grassroots up.
Black Box: the myth of the 'mysterious' female (reproductive) body
14 February 2022, 16:00-17:30. Sally King, Global Health and Social Medicine PhD Candidate at King’s College London, speaks about her research into biomedical, critical (feminist), and patient descriptions of PMS (Premenstrual Syndrome).
Book launch: Sexual Revolution. Modern Fascism and the Feminist Fightback
28 March 2022, 16:00-17:30. Laurie Penny, feminist writer of, amongst others, Penny Red, Meat Market, Unspeakable Things, Bitch Doctrine, and Everything Belongs to the Future. At this event, she will present her new book: Sexual Revolution. Modern Fascism and the Feminist Fightback, coming out this year with Bloomsbury.
Feminist International with Veronica Gago
How has the feminist movement been democratised? What differentiates the feminist strike front from the conventual labour strike? And how do we bring feminist activism into the everyday? In a special WORLD: we got this takeover, we hand the podcast over to the Gender Studies Network at King’s. Professor Jelke Bose, lead for the network, and Phoebe Martin, PhD candidate and editor of the Feminist Perspectives blog, spoke with Veronica Gago author of Feminist International: How to Change Everything.
Imaging Social Justice
Imaging Social Justice explores the interface between social science research and the arts through transnational collaborations around themes of social justice. Five early-career researchers based at King’s College London developed arts-based research projects in collaboration with colleagues in the arts. The result is an interdisciplinary set of images, sounds, and text reflecting struggles of some of the most vulnerable populations around the world: Rwandan families struggling with memory and reconciliation, Brazilian migrant women in London overcoming violence-related trauma, Ecuadorian indigenous women exploring image, archive and resistance, infrastructure and dispossession of Palestinian existence in Israel, and loss and identity in Latin American migrant communities in London. The projects include photography, archive and exhibition-as-dialogue, music and song-making, body mapping and narrative, and video and audio. In this launch event, the authors and artists will present and discuss how arts-based research can contribute to new forms of knowledge production and collaboration.
VEM+Exhibitions
The Visual Embodied Methodologies research group hold regular public exhibitions. Through video, film, performance, poetry, photography, public events and participation, VEM+Exhibitions invite you to discover the work of social scientists and artists within and outside of King's who use visual, embodied and art-based methodologies in the study of sensitive issues, including gender.
Postcolonial Banter with Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan
21 October, 16:00-17:30, Postcolonial Banter with Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan Join us for a reading and Q&A session with Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan, hosted by the SSPP EDI committee and the Gender Studies Network.
Selling Sex in Kenya: Gendered Agency Under Neoliberalism
12 November, 13:00-14:00, Eglė Česnulytė will talk about her new book: Selling Sex in Kenya: Gendered Agency Under Neoliberalism. Dr Česnulytė is lecturer at the University of Bristol. Hosted by the Gender Studies Network.
Podcast: Rock Our Priors
Dr Alice Evans (Department of International Development) runs a podcast called 'Four Questions', which includes interviews with academics about published papers and books. Topics include governance; social movements; economic development; poverty reduction; organised crime; gender equality; foreign aid; and international justice. Get in touch if you would like to promote your work.
'Calle K' Film Screening and Q&A
'Calle K' Film Screening and Q&A. This event has passed.
Revolutionary Feminisms Book Launch with Brenna Bhandar and Rafeef Ziadah
Revolutionary Feminisms Book Launch with Brenna Bhandar and Rafeef Ziadah. This event has passed.
Roundtable Report on Positionality in the field, 8 May 2019
Following a similar workshop held in 2016 on 'Gender in the Field', it became apparent that thinking about who we are in relation to your research environment is useful in order to prepare ourselves before going into the field, in thinking carefully about how our questions might be shaped by our position in terms of gender, sexuality, race, nationality, class, caste or religion, and how our relationship with respondents – and the answers we might get – are steeped in perceptions we have of them, and they have of us. Several PhD students discussed their experiences with positionality with students who still have to go into the field. A report of the discussion and a list of guidelines and tips can be found here.
Blog: Menstrual Matters
Sally King (Department of Global Health and Social Medicine) researches the topic of Premenstrual Syndrome. She is also the Director of Menstrual Matters, an online hub about the role of the menstrual cycle and hormonal medications in female-prevalent ill health. Her website combines evidence-based health advice with a monthly myth-busting blog that looks at the reasons why the menstrual cycle remains such a 'taboo' topic.
Reading groups
Queer@King’s reading group
The Queer@King’s reading group is open to students and researchers from King’s, other London universities, and interested members of the community. Convened by Bryony White and Rafael Lubner, the reading group meets three times per term and informally discusses pre-circulated readings and screenings over drinks and nibbles. To sign up and receive the readings or to contact the convenors, please email queer@kcl.ac.uk. Come for the discussion, stay for the drinks social.
Feminist Research reading group
The Feminist Research reading group has emerged out of the LISS-facilitated 'Feminist Methods' seminar that took place at King’s College in the summer of 2018. Our aim is to continue discussing the issues raised in the seminar (especially in regard to our own research) and to connect feminist researchers among departments and universities. We are mostly PhD students from King’s College and Queen Mary, but open to interested MA students and staff as well. If you are interested in joining us or have any other questions, please email: pgrfemreadgrp@gmail.com
Feminist Security Studies reading group
Women in War and International Politics offers a reading group on feminist security studies. We discuss literature that is usually overlooked or only briefly dealt with in class. This group is not just for those of you wanting to delve deeper into a decidedly feminist perspective on politics and security, but also for those of you who are simply keen to learn something new. We aim to look at a diverse selection of academic literature that takes into account a variety of voices and schools of thought, and look both at classics and lesser-known texts. Whether or not you have dealt with these topics before, this reading group is for you!
