Karen Dubinsky – författare

Why do men rape women? This is a question for which there are many political, psychological, and sociological answers, but few historical ones. "Improper Advances" is a book exploring the history of sexual violence in a particular country. A study of women, men, and sexual crime in rural and Northern Ontario, it expands the terms of debates about sexuality and sexual violence. Karen Dubinsky relies on criminal case files, a revealing but largely untapped source for social historians, to retell individual stories of sexual danger - crimes such as rape, abortion, seduction, murder, and infanticide. Although her research supports many feminist analyses of sexual violence, Dubinsky differs from most feminist scholars by refusing to view women solely as victims and sex as a tool of oppression.

While international adoptions have risen in the public eye and recent scholarship has covered transnational adoption from Asia to the U.S., adoptions between North America and Latin America have been overshadowed and, in some cases, forgotten. In this nuanced study of adoption, Karen Dubinsky expands the historical record while she considers the political symbolism of children caught up in adoption and migration controversies in Canada, the United States, Cuba, and Guatemala.Babies without Borders tells the interrelated stories of Cuban children caught in Operation Peter Pan, adopted Black and Native American children who became icons in the Sixties, and Guatemalan children whose "disappearance" today in transnational adoption networks echoes their fate during the country's brutal civil war. Drawing from archival research as well as from her critical observations as an adoptive parent, Dubinsky moves debates around transnational adoption beyond the current dichotomy—the good of "humanitarian rescue," against the evil of "imperialist kidnap." Integrating the personal with the scholarly, Babies without Borders exposes what happens when children bear the weight of adult political conflicts.

While international adoptions have risen in the public eye and recent scholarship has covered transnational adoption from Asia to the U.S., adoptions between North America and Latin America have been overshadowed and, in some cases, forgotten. In this nuanced study of adoption, Karen Dubinsky expands the historical record while she considers the political symbolism of children caught up in adoption and migration controversies in Canada, the United States, Cuba, and Guatemala.Babies without Borders tells the interrelated stories of Cuban children caught in Operation Peter Pan, adopted Black and Native American children who became icons in the Sixties, and Guatemalan children whose "disappearance" today in transnational adoption networks echoes their fate during the country's brutal civil war. Drawing from archival research as well as from her critical observations as an adoptive parent, Dubinsky moves debates around transnational adoption beyond the current dichotomy—the good of "humanitarian rescue," against the evil of "imperialist kidnap." Integrating the personal with the scholarly, Babies without Borders exposes what happens when children bear the weight of adult political conflicts.

Even though they are aware of the Third World in relation to their daily lives, most Canadians know little about the historical foundations and complex nature of their country's entanglements with non-Western societies.Canada and the Third World provides a long overdue introduction to Canada's historical relationship with the Third World. The book critically explores this relationship by asking four central questions: how can we understand the historical roots of Canada's relations with the Third World? How have Canadians, individuals and institutions alike, practiced and imagined development? How can we integrate Canada into global histories of empire, decolonization, and development? And how should we understand the relationship between issues such as poverty, racism, gender equality, and community development in the First and Third World alike?

Even though they are aware of the Third World in relation to their daily lives, most Canadians know little about the historical foundations and complex nature of their country's entanglements with non-Western societies.Canada and the Third World provides a long overdue introduction to Canada's historical relationship with the Third World. The book critically explores this relationship by asking four central questions: how can we understand the historical roots of Canada's relations with the Third World? How have Canadians, individuals and institutions alike, practiced and imagined development? How can we integrate Canada into global histories of empire, decolonization, and development? And how should we understand the relationship between issues such as poverty, racism, gender equality, and community development in the First and Third World alike?

In some ways, Canadian history has always been international, comparative, and wide-ranging. However, in recent years the importance of the ties between Canadian and transnational history have become increasingly clear. Within and Without the Nation brings scholars from a range of disciplines together to examine Canada’s past in new ways through the lens of transnational scholarship.Moving beyond well-known comparisons with Britain and the United States, the fifteen essays in this collection connect Canada with Latin America, the Caribbean, and the wider Pacific world, as well as with other parts of the British Empire. Examining themes such as the dispossession of indigenous peoples, the influence of nationalism and national identity, and the impact of global migration, Within and Without the Nation is a text which will help readers rethink what constitutes Canadian history.

For more than thirty years, musician Carlos Varela has been a guide to the heart, soul, and sound of Havana. One of the best known singer-songwriters to emerge out of the Cuban nueva trova movement, Varela has toured in North America, the Caribbean, Latin America, and Europe. In North America, Varela is “Cuba’s Bob Dylan.” In Cuba, he is the voice of the generation that came of age in the 1990s and for whom his songs are their generation’s anthems. My Havana is a lyrical exploration of Varela’s life and work, and of the vibrant musical, literary, and cinematic culture of his generation.Popular both among Cubans on the island and in the diaspora, Varela is legendary for the intense political honesty of lyrics. He is one of the most important musicians in the Cuban scene today. In My Havana, writers living in Canada, Cuba, the United States, and Great Britain use Varela’s life and music to explore the history and cultural politics of contemporary Cuba. The book also contains an extended interview with Varela and English translations of the lyrics to all his recorded songs, most of which are appearing in print for the very first time.