Disability Publics Lab Discussion with Dr. Flavia Novais & Dr. Max Ferguson

We’re excited to invite you to the next gathering in our Disability Publics Lab Discussion Series, an informal space to connect over coffee, tea, and treats while sharing work-in-progress and engaging in conversations around disability, madness, and Deaf studies.

Join us on Wednesday, May 14 from 12:00 to 1:00 PM in the Disability Publics Lab (SHE Building, Room 576 – 99 Gerrard St. E.) or virtually via Zoom for a conversation with Dr. Flavia Novais and Dr. Max Ferguson, the current postdoctoral fellows in the School of Disability Studies at Toronto Metropolitan University.

Flavia and Max will share their research programs, with time for discussion and informal exchange.

Dr. Flavia Novais earned her PhD from UFRGS in Brazil in 2023 and she is currently the Ethel Louise Armstrong Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of Disability Studies at TMU. Dr. Novais has experience working and researching mainly on human rights; sexual, gender and body diversity; and care theories, inspired by science and technology studies (STS) and postcolonial and ethnographic approaches. During her postdoc, she is conducting research inspired by Anzaldúa (2005; 2021), who proposes weaving as a form of manual action that goes beyond writing. By engaging with collective spaces for handmade crafts such as embroidery, crochet, knitting, etc., she aims to understand how this production and exchange of experiences impact the lives of people with diverse corporalities, from a perspective based on anti-ableist approaches of feminist disability studies.

Dr. Max Ferguson earned his PhD in Gender, Feminist and Women's Studies from York University in June 2024 and is the current Tanis Doe Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of Disability Studies at TMU. His work brings together mad and disability justice with arts-based methods to challenge the medicalization of trans identity and the medical model itself. Drawing from his artistic and curatorial background and his MFA from the University of Regina, Max is building on past Death Care Café events hosted at the School to explore connections between trans medicalization, gender-affirming care, mortality, and the implications of MAiD. His research contributes to an under-discussed area of scholarship at the intersection of trans experience, mad studies, the current political climate, transphobia, and end-of-life discourse, and aims to spark international dialogue through conference presentations, publications, and future collaborations.

This event is hybrid. Snacks, coffee, and tea will be available for in-person attendees.

To register, please email Tali Cherniawsky at avital.cherniawsky@torontomu.ca.
Let us know if you plan to attend in person or virtually, and feel free to include any access questions or requests.