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Rachel Gorman

York University, Critical Disability Studies, Faculty Member

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Rachel da Silveira Gorman is Associate Professor in Critical Disability Studies at York University, Associate Professor (Status-only) in the Department of Social Justice Education at the University of Toronto, and an interdisciplinary scholar, choreographer, and curator working across fine arts, humanities, and sciences.

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Papers by Rachel Gorman

Affect regulation and the representational world of emerging adulthood

The Feminist Standpoint and the Trouble with “Informal Learning”: A Way Forward for Marxist-Feminist Educational Research

Palgrave Macmillan US eBooks, 2007

... and that home is a space where learners can take control of their own learning agenda. ... ra... more

Obama's my dad': Mixed race suspects, political anxiety and the new imperialism

thirdspace: a journal of feminist theory & culture, May 25, 2011

All my life I have encountered suspicion about my race. As a child in a working class neighbourho... more All my life I have encountered suspicion about my race. As a child in a working class neighbourhood of Toronto, Canada in the 1970s, my mixed race identity seemed to be an ontological threat to my European immigrant and white settler neighbours, and my 'Mediterranean' appearance rendered me unintelligible in relation to Blackness. 1 As a pre-teen transplanted to Muscat, Oman in the 1980s, I was intelligible as Arab, which, given Oman's historical and geographical proximity to Eastern Africa, did not preclude African ancestry. While I was unremarkable at the national school, I was questioned by British 'expats' when I circulated in the international neighbourhood, despite (or perhaps because of) the presence of several mixed families. 2 Back in Toronto during the aggressive intensification of war and occupation in the Middle East in the 2000s, my racial ambiguity has become suspicious in new ways. I am dating this shift from September 2000, the beginning of the second Intifada, not September 2001, when the New American Century went prime time. Much happened between the two Septembers-mass protests at the summit on the proposed Free

The Struggle Over Lifelong Learning: A Marxist-Feminist Analysis

Political and economic upheavals in the 1990s have left their mark on adult education. A major so... more Political and economic upheavals in the 1990s have left their mark on adult education. A major source of change is globalization of the capitalist economy and its restructuring, which make extraordinary demands on education, particularly adult education. Lifelong learning has become an ideological distraction shifting the burden of increasing adaptability to the worker and a ray of hope for a more democratic, engaged citizenry. A Marxistfeminist framework explains complex social relations that underpin the lifelong learning debate. Marxist feminism views feminism as a conscious intervention in the hierarchically organized regime of gender power. Instead of achieving prosperity for individual workers, reorganization of adult education is concurrent with emergence of a newly segmented working class. Talking about lifelong learning for a unified workforce is actually talking about a highly stratified group. By differentiating skills along lines of race and gender, workers with a wealth of skills, knowledge, and experience are devalued; the commodity value of white male labor continues to rise. An ever cheaper, ever more adaptable workforce is the only way to ensure continued growth of profit in a global capitalist system. As a citizencentered project of social change, lifelong learning must invigorate its ties with social movements, without which it fails to achieve its full potential. (Contains 13 references.) (YLB) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.

Unburying Our Histories

A. Space Gallery eBooks, 2013

Disabled Woman/Nation: Re-narrating the Erasure of (Neo)colonial Violence in Ondjaki's <i>Good Morning Comrades</i> and Tsitsi Dangarembga's <i>Nervous Conditions</i>

Journal of Literary and Cultural Disability Studies, 2010

... Our inquiry represents a transnational feminist response to calls for the narrating of lived ... more

Routledge eBooks, Sep 22, 2017

Women and Consciousness in the “Learning Organization”: Emancipation or Exploitation?

Adult Education Quarterly, Aug 1, 2003

This study&#39;s goal is to uncover the contradictions inherent in the philosophy and practic... more This study&#39;s goal is to uncover the contradictions inherent in the philosophy and practice of the learning organization. Through a Marxist-feminist analysis of recent shifts in adult education and workplace structure, this study attempts to uncover the function of the learning organization in the capitalist political economy, the location of workers in relation to the learning organization, and the role of learning rhetoric in maintaining the status quo. This study argues that the learning organization model can be seen both as a mechanism for the extraction of surplus value from workers and as a method of social control. The learning organization model is often associated with progressive, even emancipatory, claims of inclusion and collaboration in the work-place. However, this study argues that the educational legacies of feminism, trade unionism, antiracism, and revolutionary struggle are better places to seek the learning interests of the workers that make up the learning organization.

Quagmires of Affect: Madness, Labor, Whiteness, and Ideological Disavowal

American Quarterly, 2017

Dispersed Nationalism

Journal of Middle East Women's Studies, Mar 1, 2007

In this paper we provide an analysis of Kurdish women’s organizing in the diaspora, highlighting ... more In this paper we provide an analysis of Kurdish women’s organizing in the diaspora, highlighting the tension between “homeland” and “host-land” nationalisms, patriarchy, and feminism. This is the first feminist-transnational study of the experience of Kurdish women participating in a modern nation-building process in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq in the period of 1991–2003. The study is based on fieldwork among Kurdish women in Canada, Britain, Sweden, and Iraqi Kurdistan. We have analyzed the activities of four women’s organizations in the diaspora and have traced the impact of these organizations on the events and politics unfolding in the region. We have also observed and documented the impact of homeland politics on these diaspora organizations, paying special attention to the gendered influence exerted by Kurdish political parties. The theoretical contributions of this paper are twofold: One, we argue that diaspora should be understood as a historical rather than only a cultural phenomenon. Second, diaspora and transnationalism are both historical and political categories of social organization which involve a complex of national, international, and transnational political-economic relations.

Outgraced : Karen Miranda Augustine

Research that hurts or research that helps?: a critical framework for adult education inquiry and people with intellectual disabilities

In this paper, Gorman observes that adult educators often think only of the practical aspects of ... more In this paper, Gorman observes that adult educators often think only of the practical aspects of education for adults with intellectual disabilities. She believes that more attention should be paid to ways in which theoretical, political and economic approaches can be employed to assist them with their everyday experiences and to help combat human rights abuses. She maintains that the processes and structures used at present must be closely examined to ensure that they meet the needs of the intellectually disabled.

Radical Disability Politics

Routledge Handbook of Radical Politics, 2019

Dialectics of Race and Disability: On the Unintelligibility of Revolutionary Desire

a/b: Auto/Biography Studies, 2018

I am the daughter of an Afro-Portuguese anticolonial revolutionary and an Anglo-Jewish settler. M... more

Wikibase as an Infrastructure for Community Documents: The example of the Disability Wiki Platform

HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), Sep 12, 2022

The questions that can arise from the users searching for domain-specific answers can hardly be a... more The questions that can arise from the users searching for domain-specific answers can hardly be answered with Web search engines. A corpus-dedicated platform is generally needed. In this paper, we present how the Wikibase environment can be employed to make documents searchable efficiently. We use this environment for the Disability Wiki platform. Search for information can be both on the metadata as well as on the content of the documents.

Grieving Empire

His artwork explores the integration of trauma and violence in war zones; focuses on the recent U... more His artwork explores the integration of trauma and violence in war zones; focuses on the recent U.S led war in Iraq in 2003. Gita Hashemi's transmedia practice draws on visual, media, performance, site specific and live art strategies. Recurrent themes include decolonial acts and resistance, from 18th century East-West encounters and 1953 coup in Iran to the 1979 Revolution and Indigenous land rights in Palestine and Turtle Island.

Methodology for Creating a Community Corpus Using a Wikibase Knowledge Graph

Communications in computer and information science, 2022

Of the Learning Organization

This study’s goal is to uncover the contradictions inherent in the philosophy and practice of the... more This study’s goal is to uncover the contradictions inherent in the philosophy and practice of the learning organization. Through a Marxist-feminist analysis of recent shifts in adult education andworkplace structure, this study attempts to uncover the function of the learning organization in the capitalist political economy, the location of workers in relation to the learning organiza-tion, and the role of learning rhetoric in maintaining the status quo. This study argues that the learning organizationmodel can be seen both as amechanism for the extraction of surplus value fromworkers and as amethod of social control. The learning organizationmodel is often associ-ated with progressive, even emancipatory, claims of inclusion and collaboration in the work-place. However, this study argues that the educational legacies of feminism, trade unionism, antiracism, and revolutionary struggle are better places to seek the learning interests of the workers that make up the learning organization.

Unburying Our Histories

Dispersed Nationalism

Journal of Middle East Women's Studies, 2007

In this paper we provide an analysis of Kurdish women’s organizing in the diaspora, highlighting ... more In this paper we provide an analysis of Kurdish women’s organizing in the diaspora, highlighting the tension between “homeland” and “host-land” nationalisms, patriarchy, and feminism. This is the first feminist-transnational study of the experience of Kurdish women participating in a modern nation-building process in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq in the period of 1991–2003. The study is based on fieldwork among Kurdish women in Canada, Britain, Sweden, and Iraqi Kurdistan. We have analyzed the activities of four women’s organizations in the diaspora and have traced the impact of these organizations on the events and politics unfolding in the region. We have also observed and documented the impact of homeland politics on these diaspora organizations, paying special attention to the gendered influence exerted by Kurdish political parties. The theoretical contributions of this paper are twofold: One, we argue that diaspora should be understood as a historical rather than only a c...

Affect regulation and the representational world of emerging adulthood

The Feminist Standpoint and the Trouble with “Informal Learning”: A Way Forward for Marxist-Feminist Educational Research

Palgrave Macmillan US eBooks, 2007

... and that home is a space where learners can take control of their own learning agenda. ... ra... more

Obama's my dad': Mixed race suspects, political anxiety and the new imperialism

thirdspace: a journal of feminist theory & culture, May 25, 2011

All my life I have encountered suspicion about my race. As a child in a working class neighbourho... more All my life I have encountered suspicion about my race. As a child in a working class neighbourhood of Toronto, Canada in the 1970s, my mixed race identity seemed to be an ontological threat to my European immigrant and white settler neighbours, and my 'Mediterranean' appearance rendered me unintelligible in relation to Blackness. 1 As a pre-teen transplanted to Muscat, Oman in the 1980s, I was intelligible as Arab, which, given Oman's historical and geographical proximity to Eastern Africa, did not preclude African ancestry. While I was unremarkable at the national school, I was questioned by British 'expats' when I circulated in the international neighbourhood, despite (or perhaps because of) the presence of several mixed families. 2 Back in Toronto during the aggressive intensification of war and occupation in the Middle East in the 2000s, my racial ambiguity has become suspicious in new ways. I am dating this shift from September 2000, the beginning of the second Intifada, not September 2001, when the New American Century went prime time. Much happened between the two Septembers-mass protests at the summit on the proposed Free

The Struggle Over Lifelong Learning: A Marxist-Feminist Analysis

Political and economic upheavals in the 1990s have left their mark on adult education. A major so... more Political and economic upheavals in the 1990s have left their mark on adult education. A major source of change is globalization of the capitalist economy and its restructuring, which make extraordinary demands on education, particularly adult education. Lifelong learning has become an ideological distraction shifting the burden of increasing adaptability to the worker and a ray of hope for a more democratic, engaged citizenry. A Marxistfeminist framework explains complex social relations that underpin the lifelong learning debate. Marxist feminism views feminism as a conscious intervention in the hierarchically organized regime of gender power. Instead of achieving prosperity for individual workers, reorganization of adult education is concurrent with emergence of a newly segmented working class. Talking about lifelong learning for a unified workforce is actually talking about a highly stratified group. By differentiating skills along lines of race and gender, workers with a wealth of skills, knowledge, and experience are devalued; the commodity value of white male labor continues to rise. An ever cheaper, ever more adaptable workforce is the only way to ensure continued growth of profit in a global capitalist system. As a citizencentered project of social change, lifelong learning must invigorate its ties with social movements, without which it fails to achieve its full potential. (Contains 13 references.) (YLB) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.

Unburying Our Histories

A. Space Gallery eBooks, 2013

Disabled Woman/Nation: Re-narrating the Erasure of (Neo)colonial Violence in Ondjaki's <i>Good Morning Comrades</i> and Tsitsi Dangarembga's <i>Nervous Conditions</i>

Journal of Literary and Cultural Disability Studies, 2010

... Our inquiry represents a transnational feminist response to calls for the narrating of lived ... more

Routledge eBooks, Sep 22, 2017

Women and Consciousness in the “Learning Organization”: Emancipation or Exploitation?

Adult Education Quarterly, Aug 1, 2003

This study&#39;s goal is to uncover the contradictions inherent in the philosophy and practic... more This study&#39;s goal is to uncover the contradictions inherent in the philosophy and practice of the learning organization. Through a Marxist-feminist analysis of recent shifts in adult education and workplace structure, this study attempts to uncover the function of the learning organization in the capitalist political economy, the location of workers in relation to the learning organization, and the role of learning rhetoric in maintaining the status quo. This study argues that the learning organization model can be seen both as a mechanism for the extraction of surplus value from workers and as a method of social control. The learning organization model is often associated with progressive, even emancipatory, claims of inclusion and collaboration in the work-place. However, this study argues that the educational legacies of feminism, trade unionism, antiracism, and revolutionary struggle are better places to seek the learning interests of the workers that make up the learning organization.

Quagmires of Affect: Madness, Labor, Whiteness, and Ideological Disavowal

American Quarterly, 2017

Dispersed Nationalism

Journal of Middle East Women's Studies, Mar 1, 2007

In this paper we provide an analysis of Kurdish women’s organizing in the diaspora, highlighting ... more In this paper we provide an analysis of Kurdish women’s organizing in the diaspora, highlighting the tension between “homeland” and “host-land” nationalisms, patriarchy, and feminism. This is the first feminist-transnational study of the experience of Kurdish women participating in a modern nation-building process in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq in the period of 1991–2003. The study is based on fieldwork among Kurdish women in Canada, Britain, Sweden, and Iraqi Kurdistan. We have analyzed the activities of four women’s organizations in the diaspora and have traced the impact of these organizations on the events and politics unfolding in the region. We have also observed and documented the impact of homeland politics on these diaspora organizations, paying special attention to the gendered influence exerted by Kurdish political parties. The theoretical contributions of this paper are twofold: One, we argue that diaspora should be understood as a historical rather than only a cultural phenomenon. Second, diaspora and transnationalism are both historical and political categories of social organization which involve a complex of national, international, and transnational political-economic relations.

Outgraced : Karen Miranda Augustine

Research that hurts or research that helps?: a critical framework for adult education inquiry and people with intellectual disabilities

In this paper, Gorman observes that adult educators often think only of the practical aspects of ... more In this paper, Gorman observes that adult educators often think only of the practical aspects of education for adults with intellectual disabilities. She believes that more attention should be paid to ways in which theoretical, political and economic approaches can be employed to assist them with their everyday experiences and to help combat human rights abuses. She maintains that the processes and structures used at present must be closely examined to ensure that they meet the needs of the intellectually disabled.

Radical Disability Politics

Routledge Handbook of Radical Politics, 2019

Dialectics of Race and Disability: On the Unintelligibility of Revolutionary Desire

a/b: Auto/Biography Studies, 2018

I am the daughter of an Afro-Portuguese anticolonial revolutionary and an Anglo-Jewish settler. M... more

Wikibase as an Infrastructure for Community Documents: The example of the Disability Wiki Platform

HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), Sep 12, 2022

The questions that can arise from the users searching for domain-specific answers can hardly be a... more The questions that can arise from the users searching for domain-specific answers can hardly be answered with Web search engines. A corpus-dedicated platform is generally needed. In this paper, we present how the Wikibase environment can be employed to make documents searchable efficiently. We use this environment for the Disability Wiki platform. Search for information can be both on the metadata as well as on the content of the documents.

Grieving Empire

His artwork explores the integration of trauma and violence in war zones; focuses on the recent U... more His artwork explores the integration of trauma and violence in war zones; focuses on the recent U.S led war in Iraq in 2003. Gita Hashemi's transmedia practice draws on visual, media, performance, site specific and live art strategies. Recurrent themes include decolonial acts and resistance, from 18th century East-West encounters and 1953 coup in Iran to the 1979 Revolution and Indigenous land rights in Palestine and Turtle Island.

Methodology for Creating a Community Corpus Using a Wikibase Knowledge Graph

Communications in computer and information science, 2022

Of the Learning Organization

This study’s goal is to uncover the contradictions inherent in the philosophy and practice of the... more This study’s goal is to uncover the contradictions inherent in the philosophy and practice of the learning organization. Through a Marxist-feminist analysis of recent shifts in adult education andworkplace structure, this study attempts to uncover the function of the learning organization in the capitalist political economy, the location of workers in relation to the learning organiza-tion, and the role of learning rhetoric in maintaining the status quo. This study argues that the learning organizationmodel can be seen both as amechanism for the extraction of surplus value fromworkers and as amethod of social control. The learning organizationmodel is often associ-ated with progressive, even emancipatory, claims of inclusion and collaboration in the work-place. However, this study argues that the educational legacies of feminism, trade unionism, antiracism, and revolutionary struggle are better places to seek the learning interests of the workers that make up the learning organization.

Unburying Our Histories

Dispersed Nationalism

Journal of Middle East Women's Studies, 2007

In this paper we provide an analysis of Kurdish women’s organizing in the diaspora, highlighting ... more In this paper we provide an analysis of Kurdish women’s organizing in the diaspora, highlighting the tension between “homeland” and “host-land” nationalisms, patriarchy, and feminism. This is the first feminist-transnational study of the experience of Kurdish women participating in a modern nation-building process in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq in the period of 1991–2003. The study is based on fieldwork among Kurdish women in Canada, Britain, Sweden, and Iraqi Kurdistan. We have analyzed the activities of four women’s organizations in the diaspora and have traced the impact of these organizations on the events and politics unfolding in the region. We have also observed and documented the impact of homeland politics on these diaspora organizations, paying special attention to the gendered influence exerted by Kurdish political parties. The theoretical contributions of this paper are twofold: One, we argue that diaspora should be understood as a historical rather than only a c...