Leslie Kern

Associate Professor
Email
Office
AVDX 320A

Biography

Leslie Kern, PhD, is the author of two books on gender and cities, including Feminist City: Claiming Space in a Man-Made World (Verso). She is the director of Women's and Gender Studies. Kern's research has earned a Fulbright Visiting Scholar Award, a National Housing Studies Achievement Award, and several national multi-year grants. She is also an award-winning teacher. Kern's writing has appeared in The Guardian, Vox, Bloomberg CityLab, and Refinery29. Kern's next book project is an intersectional guide to gentrification, forthcoming from Between the Lines Books in 2022.

Publications

Kern, Leslie. 2019. Feminist City: A Field Guide. Toronto: Between the Lines Books. Also published as Feminist City: Claiming Space in a Man-Made World. 2020. London and New York: Verso.

Kern, Leslie. 2010. Sex and the Revitalized City: Gender, Condominium Development, and Urban Citizenship. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press.

Kern, Leslie. 2021 Stories we tell. Commentary on "Feeling otherwise." Dialogues in Human Geography 11(1) 122-125.

Hawkins, Roberta, Falconer, Al-Hindi, Karen, Moss, Pamela, and Kern, Leslie. 2020. Reflections on a collective biography journey. Emotion, Space & Society 37.

Kern, Leslie, and Kovesi, Caroline. 2018. Environmental justice meets the right to stay put: mobilising against environmental racism, gentrification, and xenophobia in Chicago's Little Village. Local Environment 23(9) 952-966.

Education

2008 York University, PhD in Women's Studies  
2002 University of Toronto, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), MA in Sociology and Equity Studies in Education  
1998 University of Toronto, Honours BSc  

 

 

Teaching

GENV 1201 The Human Environment
GENV 2811 Urban Social Geography
GENV 3111 Gender, Race, and Environmental Justice
GENV 3831 Global Cities
GENV/WGST 4811 Gender, Culture and the City
WGST 4001 Contemporary Issues in Women's and Gender Studies

Research

Gender and cities
Gentrification
Feminist urban theory
Urban environmental justice
Collective biography

Grants, awards & honours

2020 Finalist, New Brunswick Book Awards, Feminist City
2020 Paul Paré Excellence Award, Mount Allison University
2015 SSHRC Insight Development Grant, "Resisting environmental gentrification: Working towards sustainability and justice in urban neighbourhoods."
2015 Fulbright Visiting Research Chair, Kennesaw State University, Georgia
2014 J.E.A. Crake Teaching Award, Social Sciences
2012 SSHRC Insight Development Grant, "Bodies out of place: Gentrification discourse in Toronto."
2009 National Housing Studies Achievement Award, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation