T.L. Cowan and Jas Rault as Keynote Co-Facilitators at TG23

By Zizi Li, 2023 Thinking Gender Coordinator

In lieu of a keynote address, this year’s Thinking Gender Conference will feature interactive presentations and workshops throughout the day with T.L. Cowan, Jas Rault, and Celine Parreñas Shimizu.

T.L. Cowan (she/they) and Jas Rault (they/them) are assistant professors of media studies at the University of Toronto. Cowan’s research focuses on cultural and intellectual economies and networks of minoritized digital media and performance practices. She is also a cabaret and video artist whose creative-research practice moves between page, stage, and screen. Rault’s research focuses on trans- feminist and queer digital praxes and protocols; media histories of settler coloniality, white supremacy and sexuality; aesthetics and affects of social movements. Together Cowan and Rault co-direct three online research environments: the Cabaret Commons, the Digital Research Ethics Collaboratory (DREC), and the Critical Digital Methods Institute (CDMI). They are co-editors and co-authors of numerous works, including a book entitled Heavy Processing, about trans- feminist and queer digital research methods and ethics (Punctum Books, 2023).

As a graduate student developing specializations in critical digital studies and feminist media studies/praxis, I was first introduced to Cowan and Rault’s research-creation through my mentor Professor Veronica Paredes. In a 2014 piece titled “Speculative Praxis Towards a Queer Feminist Digital Archive,” Cowan, Rault, and co-author Dayna McLeod reproduce the interrupted, reflexive flow of an early version of The Cabaret Commons project as a collaborative process document. I was fascinated by, for example, how the authors use the interface of the Word document comments to highlight the collaborative processes of and the labors that go into feminist and queer performance, archiving, and knowledge-making in/of the margins. I also grew interests in the generative potentials of experimentation, and the ethical challenges of building equitable research relationships online and offline. As such, I am excited to have Cowan and Rault be a part of Thinking Gender 2023.

The theme for this year’s conference is “Transforming Research: Feminist Methods for Times of Crisis and Possibility.” One key question for engagement is: How can we create and disseminate knowledge intentionally and ethically, with accountability to communities as well as awareness of our positionalities and limits to our knowledge? Cowan and Rault’s experience in collaboration and feminist, queer research methods and accountability make them the ideal interlocutors for the kind of dialogue we hope to have at Thinking Gender 2023.

At Thinking Gender 2023, Cowan and Rault will present “Heavy Processing for Networked Intimate Publics (NIPs): Trans- Feminist & Queer Digital Methods in and Beyond the University.” Attending graduate students will also have the opportunity to sign up for a closed workshop, “From Networked Intimate Publics (NIPs) to Networked Accountable Publics (NAPs): Making Time for Collaboration, Friendship & Comradeship in Research,” with Cowan and Rault.

Please visit our website to register to attend the conference and for more information on these events.