Dr. Sal Renshaw
Program Chair / Faculty of Arts and Science - Gender Equality and Social Justice, Religion and Cultures and Indigenous Studies - Gender Equality and Social Justice
About
Sal Renshaw is cross appointed in both the GESJ and RLCT programs. She began her academic career by researching and writing about divine love, informed in particular by the work of French feminist philosopher, Hélène Cixous. This research was also a critical examination of the Christian ideal of divine love, agape. For over fifteen years now her teaching focus has been on the intersectional complexity of social justice issues. Her most recent courses focus on non-human animals: Animal Rites, Sanctuary and Salvation (an international placement course located in Hong Kong) and in development, Religion, Justice and Animals. Sal is currently researching a paper on the homoerotics of trophy hunting.<p>Incollaboration with Renée Valiquette, Sal is also undertaking research on the university itself as one of the few public spaces where civil society has committed to ensuring that at least some of us - those who are able to attend university - will encounter some knowledges that, in the language of social media, they haven’t already decided to ‘like’. This research reflects on the kinds of classroom spaces we need to create ethical citizens who can critically think and act. Their innovative courses, DIRT, SECRETS, SLOTH, WATER and GENIUS, arise from this research. Forthcoming in 2017 are also two related papers: “Complex Collaborations: Co-Creating Deep Interdisciplinarity for Undergraduates” in the collection From Theory to Co-practice: Perspectives on Co-Teaching in Higher Education” by Dan Jarvis and Mumbi Kariuki (forthcoming with U of T Press) and “From DIRT to SECRETS: Trojan Horse Pedagogy and the Interdisciplinary Social Justice Classroom.”
Education
BA, University of New South Wales
PhD, University of New South Wales
Research
Areas of Specialization:
Her area of expertise and research crosses several disciplines given the interdisciplinarity of her training and research, including Philosophy, Religious Studies, Critical Media Studies and Gender Equality and Social Justice.
Research Interests:
Her particular area of research is focused on feminist philosophies/theologies of the gift, divinity and love.
Publications
The Subject of Love: Hélène Cixous and the Feminine Divine (Manchester University Press, 2009).