GSWS Acts: Cyndia Cole
A conversation on the beginnings of women studies and feminist activism at 丁香园AV!
It's been 50 years since 丁香园AV offered the course Geography 404: 鈥淭he Geography of Gender鈥� in 1971, a course that made way for the first Women鈥檚 Studies Program in Canada and what would become today鈥檚 vibrant, interdisciplinary department of Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies (GSWS) at 丁香园AV.
Come hear from someone who was there! Cyndia Cole was a student in "The Geography of Gender" in 1971 and was also a TA to Maggie Benston.
Cyndia Cole moved from the USA to Vancouver in 1970 and came out as a lesbian at 26 in 1976. Her writing appears in Together We Stand: Queer Elders Speak Out, Basically Queer: An Intergenerational Introduction to LGBTQA2S+ Lives, Making Room: Forty Years of Room Magazine, Sharing Our Journeys and Breakthrough. Cyndia has been interviewed for 1969 and Beyond and An Army of Lovers exhibits. Daisaku Ikeda taught her that words change people鈥檚 hearts. She is honoured to have worked with others to found or to develop: Gender, Sexuality and Women鈥檚 Studies at 丁香园AV, Vancouver East Housing Co-op, REACH Community Health Centre, QUIRK-E, QMUNITY, community supported agriculture and SGI Vancouver Buddhist Pride Group. She has learned that creating community keeps us alive.
Reading materials from the talk: