Whether studying community resistance to land development in Guatemala, advocating for inclusion through her work and volunteer efforts, or promoting ecological conservation through her beekeeping guild, Alexandra Pedersen’s pursuits have centred on community and social change.
Principal’s Action Group for Gender and Sexual Diversity (PAGGAS) co-chair Alexandra Pederse sat down with The Journal to speak about her contributions to Queen’s 2SLGBTQIA+ community.
Originally from rural Hamilton, Pedersen said there was little queer representation growing up.
“Any part that I’d expressed was really pushed back on with bullying, or just outright ostracization, and so I learned to hide my queer self, and it took a very long time before I was able to kind of express that again,” she said. “It was education, that pathway, and being around people where I finally saw role models.”
Pedersen’s desire to broaden her horizons and connect with new people is what led her to pursue higher education. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Development, Political Economy and Administrative Change from the University of Guelph, a master’s degrees in Global and International Studies from the University of Northern British Columbia and a PhD in Geography and Planning from Queen’s University.
Her graduate research focused on Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities’ experiences with, and resistance to, imposed development.
“Everything that I looked at was from a critical lens of either feminist geography, Indigenous studies, or queer theories,” she said.
Pedersen has also taken on multiple administrative roles in her time at Queen’s and now acts as the Arthur B. McDonald Canadian Astroparticle Physics Research Institute’s Manager for Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Indigenization Capacity Development. She also currently serves as co-treasurer of Queen’s University’s Association for Queer Employees.
It was through these experiences that Pedersen was invited to join PAGGAS, and for the past two years, she has served as co-chair alongside Stephanie Simpson, the University’s vice-principal (culture, equity, and inclusion).
PAGGAS initiates and supports aim to improve the Queen’s experience for students, faculty, staff, and alumni who are part of the 2SLGBTQIA+. Its goal has been to include diverse voices and identify the structural barriers that still exist at Queen’s.
One initiative is Pride 365, a survey and focus group aimed at determining how Queen’s could better serve the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. While they are still working to make the findings public, Pedersen shared that they found significant interest in Queen’s flying the Pride flag. In response, the University held a flag raising ceremony for the Intersex-Inclusive Progress Pride Flag on June 1.
Beyond that, PAGGAS published Research and Recommendations on Gender-Inclusive Washrooms and Changerooms, which Pedersen said highlighted the need for an intersectional lens when considering PAGGAS’s projects.
“Thinking as a geographer, as I am supposed to with my PhD, how has space and place been shaped over time? Who was here in the past that designed these spaces for who was there in the moment, and how did they fail to dream of the possibilities of who could be here in the future?” she said.
Pedersen said many buildings on campus lack both suitable women’s and all gender bathrooms, as well as easy access to both the buildings themselves and the bathrooms.
She highlighted the importance of student leaders and the younger generation overall in continuing to move this growth forward.
“I start to see the ways in which I wish others had opened doors for me, and how I can use my space now to open a door for somebody else,” she said.
Tags
2SLGBTQIA+, Alexandra Pedersen, PAGGAS, queer activism
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