The University of Saskatchewan announced a new interdisciplinary certificate program in queer theory, gender diversity, and sexualities..This new program is different from the existing women’s and gender studies programs..Carolina de Barros is pursuing a masters in psychology at the University of Saskatchewan and goes by “they.”.“I didn’t have the opportunity to have a central queer certificate. So mostly what I would do is I would go onto the course catalogue for the University of Saskatchewan and just scour like every single department,” said Barros to CBC News..Barros said the old system of trying to figure out where to find these courses was “a lot of work.”.Barros wants to learn more about sexuality and how “labels are used.”.University of Saskatchewan history professor Alessio Ponzio hopes the new certificate will help LGBTQ+ feel more accepted, and the planning started years ago..“The queer certificate is going, really, to be a way to make queer people feel, I think, accepted more. And it’s going to be a way also to teach them about themselves, about others, about history, about anthropology,” Ponzio told CBC News..“As a queer person, I felt it was very important for me to offer to the students something that would allow them to understand themselves, understand the world around them.”.All students can take the new certificate and they spread the courses across different university departments, not just within the Women’s and Gender Studies department..Some of the courses include Situated Transnational Feminisms, Reading on the Edge Feminist and Queer Cultural Texts, Politics of Gender and Sexuality in Transnational Feminisms, and Performing Masculinities..The new certificate program begins in May 2022..Chris Oldcorn is a Western Standard Reporter based in Regina.,coldcorn@westernstandard.news,Twitter: @chrisoldcorn,.Parler: @chrisoldcorn
