Teaching
As a lecturer, I designed and taught a course (Gender and Feminist Theories in International Relations, Winter 2023) on gendered aspects of international politics (including security, military, governance, political economy, migration, development, environment, humanitarian issues) to a group of 60+ students from diverse backgrounds.
Since the renowned theorist Cynthia Enloe first raised the question “where are the women?” many theorists of International Relations (IR) have sought to investigate various issues in global politics – from wars to diplomacy as well as global economy and climate change – through a feminist lens, thus challenging the common notion that these phenomena are “gender neutral.” What is a feminist understanding of IR? The primary goal of this course is to provide students with insights into the different ways in which IR – both in theory and practice – are deeply gendered. The course also seeks to develop a critical perspective on how traditional approaches in IR are often “gender-blind.” Beyond “adding women and stirring,” the course encourages students to look at gender as a global power structure at the intersection of other markers of identity such as race, class, and sexual orientation. This course, through the use of theoretical definitions, concrete empirical examples, and the invitation of practitioners, aims to stimulate academic interest and “feminist curiosity” in the study of IR.
"This class allowed for a more holistic understanding of IR, as well as feminist IR theory! The professor clearly loves what she is teaching and puts a lot of effort into her work, as well as cares a lot about her students!"
"I have learnt more from her than most professors in three years in this department."
"This was one of the most interesting and informative classes that I have taken in my undergrad. I found myself being able to take the subjects/ideas that were covered in this class and use them to my benefit in other classes, particularly Poli–sci classes that covered issues of security, statelessness, and conflict. I was able to take the critical approach, or feminist curiosity, that we learned in this class and apply it to other classes that I took this semester."
Teaching evaluations (Winter 2023)
"I liked that the guest speakers experiences and insights truly reflected and talked about the content that we were learning in class. The classes were very informative and handled sensitive topics very respectfully. Feedback was always constructive and helping in my learning."
Communications
Scientific communications (peer-reviewed)
Santoire, Bénédicte. "Gender norms amid multidimensional security crisis in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh: from resistance to opportunity" European Conference on Politics and Gender, July 9, 2024. Ghent, Belgium.
Santoire, Bénédicte. "Women, Peace and Security Agenda Between Russia and the West: Regional Trends in Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus" Tartu Conference on East European and Eurasian Studies, June 21, 2024. University of Tartu, Estonia.
Santoire, Bénédicte. « ‘Living on a ticking bomb’: Resolution 1325 and the understanding of peace and security in Armenia and Ukraine » International Studies Association Annual Convention, April 4, 2024. San Fransisco, USA.
Santoire, Bénédicte. 2023. “Women, Peace and Security Agenda in Long-term Protracted Conflicts: Exploring the Cases of Moldova and Georgia” Gender and Transformation in Central-Eastern Europe and Eurasia Workshop, September 8, 2023. The City University of New York, USA (online).
Santoire, Bénédicte. 2023. “‘We are afraid that the bear could wake up’: gendered (in)securities and protracted conflicts in Moldova and Georgia” Tartu Conference on East European and Eurasian Studies, June 12, 2023. University of Tartu, Estonia.
Santoire, Bénédicte. 2023. “Strategic narratives in multilateral diplomatic spaces: the post-Soviet States in the Security Council Open Debates on Women, Peace and Security from 2000 to 2022,” ASN World Convention, May 20, 2023. Columbia University.
Santoire, Bénédicte. 2023. “Western Feminist Foreign Policies and the Russian Invasion of Ukraine” International Studies Association Annual Convention, March 16, 2023. Montréal, Canada.
Anctil-Avoine, Priscyll and Bénédicte Santoire. 2023. “WPS Agenda and Women’s Armed Resistance: (Im)possible Agency?” International Studies Association Annual Convention, March 18, 2023. Montréal, Canada.
Santoire, Bénédicte. 2022. “Women, Peace and Security Agenda and/in De Facto States: Challenges and Possibilities” Tartu Conference on East European and Eurasian Studies, June 13, 2022. University of Tartu, Estonia.
Santoire, Bénédicte. 2022. “Between War, Militarization, and Nationalism: the Necessity of Feminist Peace Research for/in post-Soviet Europe” Annual Congress of European Peace Research Association, June 1, 2022. University of Tampere, Finland.
Anctil-Avoine, Priscyll and Bénédicte Santoire. 2021. “Gendered (In)securities in Brazil and Colombia: A Critical Take on the (Non)Deployment of the WPS Agenda National Action Plans” Annual Congress of the Canadian Association for Latin American and Caribbean Studies. August 24, 2021. University of Toronto, Canada (online)
Public conferences/public engagement
Santoire, Bénédicte. 2024. "Under Bombs and Missiles: Feminist Organizing and the Situation of Women’s Human Rights Defenders in Ukraine" Research Network on Women, Peace and Security (RN-WPS), University of Ottawa, February 9, 2024.
Invited expert for an internal briefing "WPS and the 2023 UNSC Open Debate: A View from Civil Society" Global Affairs Canada, November 30, 2023 (online).
Invited consultant for the event “By the Numbers: Gender & Employment in Mine Action” United Nations Headquarters Geneva, November 23, 2023.
Invited expert for the roundtable “Peace in the South Caucasus: Feminist Perspectives on R2P & WPS in Karabakh” Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies (MIGS), November 16, 2023.
Invited expert for the discussion « Femmes, Paix et Sécurité » Standing Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Senate of Canada, November 1st, 2023.
Invited expert for the roundtable “La chute du Haut-Karabakh” Centre d’études et de recherches internationales (CÉRIUM), Université de Montréal, October 12, 2023.
Invited expert for the workshop “L’agenda Femmes, Paix et Sécurité: quel rôle pour l’éducation?” Fondation Paul Gérin-Lajoie, April 18, 2023. Montréal, Canada.
Invited author for the live event “Échanges sur l’antiféminisme : contrecoups, politisation et constellations conceptuelles” by Fundación Lüvo, June 23, 2022.
Santoire, Bénédicte. 2021. “Les contours ambigus de l’agenda Femmes, Paix et Sécurité en espaces postsoviétiques” Presented at the workshop Réseau québécois d’études postsoviétiques, June 14, 2021 (online).
Santoire, Bénédicte. 2019. “Femmes et conflits armés : le cas des guérillas kurdes” Public conference presented at l’Université d’été Féministe à l'UdeM, University of Montreal, July 5, 2019.
Roundtables and workshops
Panel « Feminist and queer perspectives on peace, justice and (in)security in Eurasia » European Conference on Politics and Gender, juillet 2024. Ghent, Belgium. Co-organizer and co-chair with Laura Luciani.
Roundtable « Feminist Peace and Security in the Face of Russian War on Ukraine » International Studies Association Annual Convention, April 6, 2024. San Fransisco, USA. Participant.
“The regional implications of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on the implementation of the Women, Peace and Security agenda: fieldwork reflections” Invited visiting research fellow by Professor Andrey Makarychev in the workshop The New Baltic Insecurities, A Euro-Atlantic Perspective. Fletcher School of Diplomacy/University of Tartu, Estonia. May 30, 2023. Tartu, Estonia.
Roundtable “Women in Conflict: Survivors, Soldiers, and Peacebuilders.” Women in International Security (WIIS-Queen’s), March 11, 2023. Kingston, Canada. Invited speaker.
Roundtable “Feminist Insecurities in Less Visible Locations of Central, Eastern and Southern Europe” International Studies Association Annual Convention, March 16, 2023. Montréal, Canada. Participant.
Panel “(Re)thinking the relation to militarism and militarization in feminist IR” International Studies Association Annual Convention, March 18, 2023. Montréal, Canada. Co-organizer with Laurence Deschamps-Laporte and Chair.
“Reflections on the COVID pandemic and Critical Security Studies,” April 29, 2022. International Studies Association Annual Convention. Nashville, United States (online). Participant.
“Entre instrumentalisation et fétichisation des femmes en armes : perspectives féministes critiques sur les représentations médiatiques occidentales des combattantes kurdes” Invited guest speaker by Professor Adib Bencherif in the workshop Genre, conflits et sécurité : déconstruire les orientalismes, March 23rd 2022. University of Sherbrooke, Canada.
Panel chair, moderator or discussant (selection)
Chair for the panel "Reflections from/with the South Caucasus: Precarities, Subjectivities and Values" Tartu Conference on East European and Eurasian Studies, June 20, 2024. University of Tartu, Estonia.
Moderator for the event “Resistance and Resilience: Reflections from Ukrainian Activists” Event organized by Women, Peace and Security Network-Canada (WPSN-C), Equality Fund and Gender, Peace and Security Collaboratory, October 18, 2023. University of Ottawa, Canada.
Chair for the panel “Diplomacy and Conflict” Tartu Conference on East European and Eurasian Studies, June 13, 2023. University of Tartu, Estonia.
Discussant for the panel “Feminist and LGBTQ+ activism in and outside of Russia in times of war” Tartu Conference on East European and Eurasian Studies, June 13, 2023. University of Tartu, Estonia.
Chair for the panel “The Impact of Russia’s War on Ukraine Decolonizing and Deterritorializing the Study of Gender and Sexuality in Russia, Eastern Europe, and Eurasia”, May 18, 2023. ASN World Convention, Columbia University, United States.
Discussant for the panel “Accountability for Sexual Violence Committed during the Russian Invasion of Ukraine”, May 19, 2023. ASN World Convention, Columbia University, United States.
Moderator for the webinar “What's Next for the Nuclear Ban in Canada?” Event organized by Project Ploughshares, Mines Action Canada, and the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN). May 18, 2022. Ottawa, Canada (online).
Chair for the panel “Official Nationalism in Russia” ASN World Convention, May 6, 2022. Columbia University, United States (online).
Chair for the panel “Russia’s Foreign Policy: Ideology, History, and Discourse,” May 5, 2022. ASN World Convention, Columbia University, United States (online).
Chair for the panel “Gender Transitions: Multidisciplinary Perspectives after Three Decades,” May 5, 2021. ASN World Convention, Columbia University, New York, United States (online).
Chair for the panel “Crossed Analysis of the Donbas War: The Case of Ukrainian, Russian and Belarusian Combatants,” May 8, 2021. ASN World Convention, Columbia University, New York, United States (online).
Invited guest speaker/lecturer
“Regional case study & fieldwork in Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus” Guest lecturer invited by Nancy Wright in the class Politics: A Comparative Introduction. Pace University, April 19, 2023. Level: Undergraduate Studies (online)
“L’agenda WPS et ses débats féministes” Guest lecturer invited by Professor Stephen Baranyi in the seminar Conflit, transitions et paix. School of International Development and Global Studies, University of Ottawa, February 10, 2023. Level: Graduate Studies.
“Conducting a regional case study in Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus: Post-fieldwork Reflections” Guest lecturer invited by Bertrand Belhomme de Franqueville in the class Introduction to Comparative Politics. University of Ottawa, December 1, 2022. Level: Undergraduate Studies.
“L’agenda WPS, expériences genrées et débats féministes” Guest lecturer invited by Professor Stephen Baranyi for the seminar Conflit, transitions et paix. School of International Development and Global Studies, University of Ottawa, February 7, 2022. Level: Graduate Studies (online).
Guest speaker invited by Professor Laurence Deschamps-Laporte in the seminar Perspectives féministes en Relations Internationales. University of Montréal, March 29, 2021. Level: Graduate Studies (online).
ASN World Convention, Columbia University (May 2023)
Women in International Security, Queens University (March 2023)
Regional Conference on Networks among Women Peacebuilders and Mediators in Eastern Europe, South Caucasus and Central Asia, Istanbul, Turkey (June 2023)
Global Network of Women Peacebuilders, Chisinau, Moldova (July 2022)
How does Canada's approach to the WPS agenda compare with that of other countries? What are the challenges ahead? What is its place in research? What is the role of a Canadian research network in this field?
My insights for the Research Network on Women, Peace and Security (2023)
What does implementing the WPS agenda 'at home' looks like?
Watch the publication launch of Women, Peace and Security Network - Canada's newest publication on domestic applications of the third Canada National Action Plan, which I co-edited with Katrina Leclerc and Beth Woroniuk
Op-eds and media interventions
Santoire, Bénédicte. 2023. “Les Arméniens du Haut-Karabakh au bord du gouffre” La Presse, August 31st 2023.
Santoire, Bénédicte et Félix-Antoine Cloutier. 2020. “Vers un changement politique en Biélorussie?” Le Devoir, August 19th 2020.
Cited or interviewed as an expert:
“Women of Ukraine Fight Back: How They’re Revolutionizing the Role of Women in War” Interviewed by Reader’s Digest, New York, March 24th,2022.
“Le rôle des femmes ukrainiennes en période de guerre” Interviewed for the radio show Dans la mosaïque, Radio-Canada Toronto, March 8, 2022.
“Conflit entre la Russie et l’Ukraine : où sont les femmes?” Interviewed for the radio show Le 6 à 9, Radio-Canada Manitoba, March 3, 2022.