Abigail "Abbie" B. Bakan (born 1954) is a Canadian academic.

Academic career

Bakan was chair of the Department of Humanities, Social Sciences and Social Justice Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

from 2013 to 2018 and after the end of her term remains a professor in the department. Her research focuses on employment equity,

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

theory and "anti-oppression politics". From 1998 to 2013, she was

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

of Political Studies at Queen's University, Kingston,

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada after being an associate and then assistant professor at the university from 1985 until 1998. From 2011 to 2013 she served as Head of the Department of Gender Studies at Queen's. Bakan was educated at

York University York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...

Views on Israel/Palestine

In a protest held in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

on July 29, 2006, Bakan criticized the government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper for supporting "Israel's illegal action against the Lebanese and Palestinian people." In a debate held at

on May 11, 2009, Bakan and Ryerson University professor Alan Sears spoke in support of a boycott of Israeli academic institutions.The Middle-East debate rages on at York
by Scott McLean, Excalibur Web edition, York University, May 13, 2009.

Books

Bakan has written and edited several books including: * ''Negotiating Citizenship: Migrant Women in Canada and the Global System'', co-authored with Daiva Stasiulis,

University of Toronto Press The University of Toronto Press is a Canadian university press. Although it was founded in 1901, the press did not actually publish any books until 1911. The press originally printed only examination books and the university calendar. Its first s ...

, 2005. * ''Critical Political Studies: Debates and Dialogues from the Left'', co-edited with Eleanor MacDonald, McGill-Queen's University Press, 2003, * ''Not One of the Family: Foreign Domestic Workers in Canada'', co-edited with Daiva Stasiulis, University of Toronto Press, 1997, * ''Imperial Power and Regional Trade: The Caribbean Basin Initiative'', co-edited with David Cox and Colin Leys, Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1993, * ''Ideology and Class Conflict in Jamaica: The Politics of Rebellion'', McGill-Queen's University Press, 1990,

Family

Bakan is the daughter of

psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and explanation, interpretatio ...

and academic David Bakan and

philosopher Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

and academic Mildred Bakan. She is the cousin of law professor Joel Bakan and ethnomusicologist Michael Bakan.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bakan, Abbie 1954 births Living people Canadian political writers Academic staff of Queen's University at Kingston Academic staff of the University of Toronto Canadian political scientists Canadian women political scientists Marxist writers Canadian anti-Zionists