Dr. Jijian VoronkaE-mail: jvoronka@uwindsor.ca
Degrees: Ph.D. Social Justice Education, OISE at the University of Toronto, M.A. Sociology & Equity Studies in Education, OISE at the University of Toronto, B.A. (Hon.) University of Toronto
Scholarly Interests: Critical Disability & Mad Studies, Social Movement Activism & Disability Justice Education, Housing Precarity, Homelessness, Housing First, Disability Leadership, Inclusion, Participation, Resistance, Interdisciplinary Critical Theory, Disability Identity & Culture, Poststructural Qualitative Methods & Methodologies
Dr. JIJIAN VORONKA is an Associate Professor and current Disability Studies Program Coordinator in the School of Social Work at the University of Windsor. She teaches primarily for their Disability Studies program, where she uses Critical Disability Studies perspectives to elucidate confluences of power that affect disabled people in everyday, community, and institutional life. Her current research uses Critical Disability and Mad Studies to explore disability inclusion strategies; survivor research methodologies in practice; sites of confinement in the age of deinstitutionalization; and teaching and learning through disability justice frameworks. Her work prioritizes mental health service user knowledge production through service user-led, community-based, discourse, and narrative inquiry.
Recent Courses Taught
- DISB 2010: Disability Studies: Theory & Culture
- DISB 3020: Historical Approaches to People with Disabilities
- DISB 4010: Community Approaches, Advocacy & Empowerment
- DISB 4020: Service Delivery Systems & Independent Living
- SWRK 9720: Epistemology & the Philosophy of Science in Social Work
Dr. Merrick Pilling
Degrees: Ph.D. Gender, Feminist and Women’s Studies, York University; M.A. Social Justice and Equity Studies, Brock University; B.A. (Hon.) Conflict Resolution Studies, Women’s Studies, University of Winnipeg
Scholarly Interests: Disability and madness; trauma-informed care and two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer (2SLGBTQ) people; critical approaches to violence and trauma; intersectional, anti-racist approaches to understanding gender and sexuality; Trans Studies; social justice education in healthcare and social services; community based research and qualitative methods
Dr. Pilling is an Assistant Professor in Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of Windsor where he teaches courses on disability, race, sexuality, and gender. His work employs an intersectional, anti-racist lens that emphasizes the importance of lived experience, relevance to the communities being researched, and making changes to the systems that create marginalization. Previously, Dr. Pilling was a Postdoctoral Fellow in Social and Behavioural Health Sciences at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto and taught at Ryerson University’s School of Disability Studies. He has worked in research positions at a number of institutions including the Wellesley Institute, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, and York University’s School of Social Work.
Dr. Pilling has two books in the interdisciplinary field of Mad Studies. Interrogating Psychiatric Narratives of Madness: Documented Lives explores cultural representations of race, gender, sexuality, madness, and class in psychiatric inpatient charts. Queer and Trans Madness: Struggles for Social Justice is a monograph that explores the tensions and overlaps at the intersection of queer and trans madness.
Dr. Pilling has taught the following courses related to social justice and Disability Studies:
- WGST 2990 Disability, Madness and Social Justice
- WGST 2100 Gender, Sexuality, and Social Justice
- WGST 2200 Women, Race, and Social Justice