Undergrad Research

Medieval studies students bring the diverse gender experiences of the past into the present

siddiq22 — Thu, 01 Jun 2023 20:16:38 +0000

Medieval studies students bring the diverse gender experiences of the past into the present

siddiq22 Thu, 06/01/2023 - 16:16

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Medieval studies student Dena Abtahi researched the trial of Katherina Hetzeldorfer, who was executed in 1477 (photo by Diana Tyszko)

Sean McNeely

Topic

Our Community

Faculty of Arts & Science

LGBTQ

Medieval Studies

New College

St. Michael's College

Undergrad Research

Subheadline

Exhibit highlighted examples of saints and other historical figures who challenged traditional gender roles

Students from the University of Toronto’s department of medieval studies in the Faculty of Arts & Science recently presented an exhibit that highlighted the diverse gender experiences of people during the medieval period.

Students from the Medieval Genders and Sexualities course held a poster fair at St. Michael’s College that showcased specific historical figures (including many saints), offering evidence of people who lived outside of – or challenged – gender norms.

The exhibition capped the upper-year undergraduate course, which explores ideas about sexes, genders and sexualities in the medieval Christian West.

For the exhibit, second-year student Hilary Packard explored the history of French saint Joan of Arc
(photo by Diana Tyszko)

“Parts of our society tend to think that aspects of sexualities and genders that we see now are part of some social change that's gone on in the past decade,” Murray says. “These misunderstandings are fueling the harshness and the almost inhumane treatment that we see of trans people in some quarters of society, particularly in the United States.”

Twelve students working individually and in groups presented six posters covering important figures from the 5th to 15th centuries, highlighting how they have been understood and misunderstood throughout history.

Hilary Packard, a second-year visual studies student in the Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design who is also taking courses in medieval studies, was part of a trio that created a poster about Joan of Arc, a French saint who was burned at the stake for heresy.

“I loved the fact that I got to dive deeper into Joan’s story,” Packard says.

Scholars and artists have more recently begun to see Joan’s cross-dressing as more of a representation of masculine gender expression, as opposed to the more traditional view that she wore masculine clothing to appear sexless.

“I'm American and I’m trans, so being able to put this into the context of history and to say, ‘We've been here all along and we belong here’ is a very powerful thing because a lot of the arguments people are making are that people just started being trans in this century,” Packard says.

"I’m getting to see the historical re-evaluation that is currently happening, this new wave of understanding with people reflecting their own stories back on things – that's how history should work.”

The Trans Middle Ages Poster Fair was held in the John M. Kelly Library at St. Michael's College (photo by Diana Tyszko)

Fourth-year student Dena Abtahi created a poster covering the trial of Katherina Hetzeldorfer, who is considered the first woman to be executed for homosexuality – a then-nameless crime – in 1477. Originally from Nuremberg, Hetzeldorfer moved to Speyer in 1475 and dressed as a man in the company of a woman, where they both lived together as a married couple.

“Katherina’s is one of the first historical accounts of trans people, which allows for people in our generations to look back and see that LGTBQ+ individuals have always been around,” says Abtahi, who is studying human biology and molecular biology.

“In this sense, Katherina is a symbol of the importance of self-expression and self-identification. “And in so many ways, Katherina's story highlighted how in some respects our society has remained stagnant on views pertaining to LGBTQ+ people and their rights.”

For Abtahi, researching a person being persecuted for simply being who they want to be struck a personal chord.

“People in Iran, where I am from, are being killed for being gay or being transgender,” she says. “And in Iran, when people do come out as homosexual, there are some instances where they are forced to undergo transgender surgery, as way of a correction.”

Sasha Jennings, left, discusses her research on Hildegund, a German saint (photo by Diana Tyszko)

Sasha Jennings, a third-year student studying classics, medieval studies and Celtic studies, was part of a duo that created a poster about Hildegund, a German saint who was assigned female at birth but adopted the name Joseph and joined a Cistercian monastery as a man.

In fact, it was only after Joseph’s death in 1188, as his body was being prepared for burial, that his fellow monks discovered that their brother was in fact born female.

Joseph’s life went on to be recorded as an example of piety for Cistercian nuns and monks to aspire to – portraying Joseph as a physically and spiritually pure asset to the monastery.

“When it comes to religious identity, there's a really interesting relationship between gender fluidity and piety and sanctity,” Jennings says.

“There was an idea that if you could shed your biological limitations – especially if you were a biological woman – that put you on the path to religious piety and sanctity, and that was seen as a very good thing.”

Course instructor Jacqueline Murray, a graduate of U of T's Centre for Medieval Studies and a university professor emerita from the University of Guelph, says that in researching these ancient examples of gender fluidity, the students have come away with an understanding of what the stories of Hetzeldorfer, Hildegund, Joan of Arc and others mean in the modern context.

“Understanding trans issues and trans people has become so important in our society,” Murray says.

“We're trying to be part of this process of giving trans people their history, because there are – and have always been – many ways that individuals experience and live their identity.”

Undergrad researcher: Jordana Lowe

krisha — Fri, 09 Sep 2016 14:24:57 +0000

Undergrad researcher: Jordana Lowe

krisha Fri, 09/09/2016 - 10:24

Krisha Ravikantharaja

Author legacy

Krisha Ravikantharaja

Topic

Our Community

Undergrad Research

Students

Subheadline

“You contribute, you’re actively engaged, and you get to meet so many incredible people”

“I wanted to have a research experience during my time here, but to be honest, I didn’t expect to like it nearly as much as I did. I just thought it was something everyone should do and I would just get in and get out.”

Jordana Lowe graduated in June with a double major in physiology and molecular genetics, and she is the first to admit that at the beginning of her undergraduate career, she looked at research as something she felt she needed to check off to say she had done.

But Lowe was quick to change her mind.

Lowe’s first experience came in the summer of 2014 in the form of an Undergraduate Student Research Award from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada in Brian Cox’s systems biology lab where she worked on a bioinformatics project on the evolution of the placenta.

Lowe recalls her first days in the lab.

“The first couple weeks were difficult,” she says. “It was a lot of hitting my head against the wall trying to get the script to run and not truly understanding what I was doing, so the satisfaction of when things started to come together was wonderful.”

Lowe attributes a large part of her growth to her supervisor, Cox.

“I’m grateful that he took the chance on me because I came into it with no independent research experience, particularly doing a bioinformatics project, and he gave me an incredible amount of guidance on a day to day basis that helped me succeed.”

In addition to giving her some background in programming, Lowe says that her first lab experience has helped her to hone her critical thinking skills, allowing her to think outside of the box to come up with different ways to answer the questions she investigates.

Lowe says that her first taste of research that summer changed her perception of research as “stuffy and repetitive,” and she completed a project in the same lab during the following school year.

This time, Lowe’s work focused on testing a reporter for trophoblast stem cell fate.

“The process of changing cell types tells you a lot about the gene networking behind determining one cell type, but first, you need to see if the cells have successfully been converted.”

Lowe explains that traditional methods to test for cell fate do a screen of the gene expression of these cells, but are less efficient than using a ‘reporter.’

“I was testing a fluorescence reporter. The idea is that if you’ve successfully converted to the right cell type, the cell will fluoresce. Then you can start working backward to figure out how you got there and what that means for the cell’s underlying biology.”

After completing the yearlong project, Lowe began working with Mikko Taipale last summer as part of the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program in the department of molecular genetics on a project looking at fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma - a type of liver cancer. She’s back working in Taipale's lab on the project this fall.

“It was only relatively recently that they were able to do genomic screens on these patients and their tumours, and figure out that in this type of cancer, there is a deletion in the genome that results in the production of a fusion protein. My project was specifically looking at how this fusion protein plays a role in the development, progression or maintenance of this cancer.”

Entering with a base understanding of research techniques, Lowe reflects that she was able to broaden her skills as well as gain confidence in her abilities as a researcher under Taipale’s guidance.

Lowe has had an abstract published in the journal Placenta, and has presented at several poster fairs at U of T where summer research students showcase their research.

Being involved in the health care community through research has reinforced that Lowe wants to pursue a career in medicine, but also made her realize that she aims to remain a collaborator in research.

“I think people often see research and clinical medicine as being quite separate, but in molecular genetics, for instance, many labs are integrated right into the hospitals so you really are working in a setting where there’s a lot of room for collaboration between physicians and researchers.”

Lowe emphasizes that research experience allows for a much better ability to see the strengths and weaknesses of previously published research undergrads read about in class.

“When you’re learning just in a classroom setting, it’s hard to truly understand what it all means, especially when you’re doing things like critically evaluating research that’s already been published.”

Lowe is thankful for the skills that she learned in the lab, and for supervisors like Cox and Taipale who invested time in being mentors to her.

But most of all, she says she is grateful for the community she found through research.

“You hear a lot of undergrads talk about U of T being this huge place and not feeling like they belong, but being in research, you feel like you’re part of what makes the university great.”

“You contribute, you’re actively engaged, and you get to meet so many incredible people.”

Summer in the city: undergrad researchers making new bike lanes happen

lanthierj — Fri, 17 Jun 2016 20:03:40 +0000

Summer in the city: undergrad researchers making new bike lanes happen

lanthierj Fri, 06/17/2016 - 16:03

Cutline

Torontonians have lobbied for more and better-designed bike lanes for years (photo by Andrew Rivett via flickr)

Peter Boisseau

Author legacy

Peter Boisseau

Topic

Faculty of Arts & Science

If you've been looking forward to getting around the city by bike this summer, you might want to thank some University of Toronto students for making that a little easier.

In 1976, the City of Toronto proposed bike lanes for a busy section of Bloor Street that includes an area known as the “Annex.” Forty years later, those bike lanes may finally become a reality – and U of T's Cody Kita capped his undergraduate career by playing a small but important role in the epic battle.

As part of Active Citizenship in a Canadian Context, a University College fourth-year course in Canadian studies, Kita and classmate Adam De Luca spent seven months studying the issue of the Annex bike lanes and reporting their insights to the local Business Improvement Area (BIA).

Kita says the bike lanes had been the subject of numerous studies and debates over the decades, but the key factor was getting area businesses on board.

“It’s kind of amazing, because bike lanes are a need that has been expressed by the community for a long time, and finally that support is coming from the businesses as well

“I mean, it was 40 years in the making while other bike lanes around the city went ahead, but Bloor has always been fraught with all kinds of issues, and it’s like a perfect storm where it all finally came together.”

City Council approved construction of new bike lanes by late this summer through the Annex as part of a larger pilot project along Bloor St. West. The data Kita and De Luca collected on the neighbourhood will be part of the information available to the BIA and planners as they work out details for things such as signage and metering.

A decision on whether to make the bike planes permanent will come in 2017. The pilot project will create bike lanes in each direction along a 2.6-km stretch of Bloor St. West, but parking will be maintained on at least one side of the street.

(Cody Kita and instructor Siobhan O'Flynn/photo by Diana Tyszko)

The Annex situation presented the perfect intersection of real-life community development and the course themes of citizen inclusion and city building, says Kita.

The course helped students consider various strategies to benefit urban planning, including the importance of building connections with community organizations like BIAs, which are often in need of expert assistance and support when it comes to neighbourhood development issues.

Economic and safety benefits

Building on the work of previous studies, Kita and De Luca were able to illustrate both the economic and safety benefits that closing one lane to cars in favour of bikes would create in the area.

They found that the majority of customers patronizing local businesses were from the immediate area and either walked, biked or took transit, while car traffic was mainly just passing through.

They also noted a study published in 2009 by the Clean Air Partnership that found that cyclists spent more money in local businesses than people driving to the area.

Further, they pointed out that while the removal of parking on Bloor in favour of a bike lane would put more parking pressure on nearby side streets, there was still capacity on many of those streets to handle some of the overflow.

The 20-page presentation Kita and De Luca made to the BIA included parking data, maps and a written report summarizing their findings. He says their report considered points of view from both the businesses and residents.

With its easy access to transit, high volume of bike users, and eclectic mix of student, resident and workforce commuters, the Annex is the ideal case study in how neighbourhoods and communities in large cities can have the best of both worlds, says Kita, noting that any measures that reduce carbon emissions and promote alternate modes of transportation benefit everyone.

“This was a really an incredible way to end my undergraduate career,” says Kita.

“It connected all the areas I had been exploring in my course work about giving people the capacity to create changes in their community.”

(Visit flickr to see the original of the photo used above)