LLL Dinner with Dr Annie Sansfaçon: Gender, University spaces, and the similarities of the Colonial Experience

We had the pleasure of inviting Dr. Sansfaçon to our home on Thursday 10th March 2022. We were all very eager to learn and waited in anticipation for her arrival. The dinner began with a conversation on gender and the plight of transgender people both in this country and in the world at large. The alarming statistics around the murder and abuse of trans people as well as the suicide rates, painted an all-too grim yet realistic picture of the struggles that members of our human family face.

We then spoke about why the rights of people who are deemed ‘different’ are often violated by those who hold power over them. This led to a discussion on the role of education, misinformation, and (in the case of our country) the role that spatialised apartheid had played in creating isolated communities of undereducated citizens.

Education seemed to be a key conversation point in the night, as we went on to discuss how we could change our communities (both university and local) through the power of education, and that ‘having conversations and solid principles’ is simply not enough, as there needs to be a physical representation of the values which we claim to hold dear. This brought into play the concept of ‘Positive Role Modelling’ - leadership that inspires others to enact the very values of which the community has chosen. We discussed how this could be achieved in the University Residence structures and on a broader campus as well.

(from left to right: Zamani Zwane, Dr. Sansfaçon, Amina Monyane, Katleho Letuka, Adam Narain, Tinotenda Muserere)

Dr. Sansfaçon subsequently offered to put us in touch with a group of students from the University of Montreal, where we could discuss their approaches to achieving social justice in their communities, the similarities in experiences as marginalised peoples, as well as sharing ideas and strategies which we could adopt in our respective spaces.

We were honoured to have this opportunity to speak with her, as it was a learning experience for all of us, with one LLL’er calling it a “Life Affirming” moment. Further, the conversation provided an opportunity for us to be as vulnerable as we wanted to be due to Dr Sansfaçon’s personable demeanour and willingness to engage in whatever direction we steered the conversation.

We look forward to our meeting with the students from Montreal, and hope our collaborations will help make the world a better, safer place for all people.

*Dr. Annie Pullen Sansfaçon is Professor of Social Work at the University of Montreal and hold the Canada Research Chair on Transgender Children and their Families. Over the past 10 years, she has focused much of her research time on various projects aimed at better understanding the experience of trans youth and their families. She has published 4 books, including Supporting Trans and Gender Creative Youth: Schools, Families, and Communities in Action (Peter Lang, 2014 and 2018) as well as over 100 book chapters and journal articles. Most of her writing focuses on ethics, on the experience of trans children and youth and their families, and on the development of trans-affirming practices, stressing the importance of social changes in order to ensure youth well-being. She is also interested in methodologies that facilitate the inclusion and the empowerment of trans and gender diverse youth and other populations in research. She also has a long track record of community involvement and is one of the co-founders of Gender Creative Kids Canada, a Montreal-based community organisation working with trans children and youth and their families.*