About the speaker:
Professor Shireen Hassim is the Canada 150 Research Chair in Gender and African Studies at Carleton University, Ottawa. She has written and edited several books including No Shortcuts to Power: Women and Policymaking in Africa, and Go Home or Die Here: Violence, Xenophobia and the Politics of Difference in South Africa. Women’s Organisations and Democracy: Contesting Authority won the Victoria Shuck Award for Best Book in Women and Politics from the American Political Science Association. Her most recent book was an archival recuperation of the work of the South African sociologist, Fatima Meer. She is a Member of the Academy of Science of South Africa and served as an elected member of its National Council.

About the lecture series:
‘One decade forward, two decades back’ is the second lecture of On the Frontlines of Democracy, a new public lecture series to analyze its prospects in the twenty-first century, organized by Professor Sanjay Ruparelia, the Jarislowsky Democracy Chair at Ryerson University.

Around the world, democracies face serious challenges, old and new. Can we protect our constitutional democracies in an era of popular mistrust, severe partisanship and resurgent nationalism? Can they reduce inequalities of power, wealth and status, defend deep diversity and confront climate change in the new digital age? And can we develop innovative strategies to revitalize civic action and empower public institutions to renew the promise of democracy?

This lecture will be recorded by CBC Radio One IDEAS.