Announcing! MA Race, Migration and Decolonial Studies Artist in Residence 2020-2021 is Rajinder Singh

‘Decolonising the Body, Decolonising the Mind’ - Rajinder Singh is the UCD MA Race, Migration and Decolonial Studies Artist in Residence 2020-2021

Rajinder Singh:

'Choreography is a score for a bodily or movement practice that purveys a politics. Through choreography, power relations and ideological effects can be rendered visible. My work with choreography enters domains beyond the aesthetic, and to me any piece of choreography can be seen as the product of choices that represent the social and political consequences of a given action.

'I am interested in how choreography and the moving body create conditions of resistance to different hegemonic regimes such as colonialism and capitalism as well as magico-religious belief systems. I think of the intercultural encounter as performative, as a choreographed activity. And I think of any kind of oppression or discrimination as a type of choreopolicing -- a prevention of any formation or expression of the political. How do choreopolitics interact with the choreopolicing of oppression within/during any intercultural encounter? Using choreographic practice as a frame of reference, can new resonances be developed through the innovative spirit of creative praxes to sensitise the body to meaningful intercultural encounters?

'In this residency, I will be exploring questions like:

• How does the project of 'decolonising the mind' relate to the project of 'decolonising the body'?
• What are the possibilities of other ways of thinking about interculturality through the bodypolitics of knowledge?
• Is it possible to learn from the movements of the Other in an intercultural encounter?'

You can learn more about Rajinder's work on his website.

The MA Race, Migration and Declolonial programme is run by Assistant Professor Alice Feldman at the UCD School of Sociology.  A Graduate Diploma is also available.  More information on the programme and subject matter can be found through the UCD programme info page and the   programme website.

If you're interested in speaking to someone about applying please contact:

Lucia Suchorova
lucia.suchorova@ucd.ie
Masters Programme Administrator
+353 1 716 8674
​
Alice Feldman, Programme Coordinator
alice.feldman@ucd.ie

Go to the link at the bottom of this page to apply.

UCD Sociology's Barbara Gornicka and Mark Doyle awarded SPARK funding for Sex-Ed project

The Sex Ed you wish you had: towards better sexual health, enjoyment and empowerment in UCD. The project has two overarching aims:

1. To give UCD students the knowledge and skills they need to make informed choices about their non-involvement or involvement in sexual activity that will support their happiness, health and wellbeing.
2. To build responsible and respectful attitudes towards gender and sexuality.

These aims will be realised by developing and delivering workshops that will educate and inform students in a range of issues pertinent to sex, sexuality and sexual identity.

Recent academic research and available sexual health data indicates that younger people have significant knowledge gaps regarding sexual health contributing to increased rates of sexually transmitted infections (EMIS, 2019; Courtenay, 2019). Sexual consent is also an important topic for younger people, with many lacking appropriate understandings of how to negotiate their consent (O’Higgins, 2010). These gaps in knowledge are not surprising in the Irish context given the paucity of sex education in Irish secondary schools. Though some sex education is provided, it is yet to be provided in an inclusive and accessible manner where younger people are empowered to make positive choices regarding their sexuality. An effect of this being, students commencing third level education where they may lack the necessary literacy to make informed and safe choices. Technological change is also defining younger people's sexual experiences and opening up new risks. However, this can be countered with appropriate training.

In an effort to tackle the issues listed above, we are proposing a series of workshops that will be held from January - April 2020:

1. Sexual Health
2. Porn Literacy
3. Digital Dating, Sex and Safety

These workshops are a pilot before up-scaling and hopefully becoming an important part of the UCD student experience. The end result will be a student body who have greater awareness about their decision making. The workshops will be an open, safe and non-judgmental space underpinned by an ethos of empowerment. The workshops are interactive and participatory with discussions, quizzes as well as practical activities. This creates varied sessions which hold the interest of the young participants and increase their ability to integrate their awareness.

To find out more about this project, you can contact the project lead: barbara.gornicka@ucd.ie