Erica Lawson

.Associate Professor 

Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies
MA, PhD (OISE, University of Toronto)
Office: Lawson Hall 3234
Phone: 519-661-2111 ext. 86941
elawso3@uwo.ca  

 

Areas of research and teaching interests

Motherhood studies; grief, bereavement, and maternal activism; critical race studies, Black feminist studies; gender and post-conflict reconstruction (with a focus on Liberia)

Select Publications 

Peer-Reviewed Journals

Lawson, E.S., and O. Osman. “Maternal Activism and the Politics of Memorialization in the Mothers of the Movement.”  In Crosby, A. & Evans, H. (eds). Memorializing violence: Transnational feminist reflections. Rutgers University Press (forthcoming 2024).

 Lawson, E.S. “Black Maternal Grief and Grievance against the Liberal State.” In M. Caputi and P. Moynagh (eds). Research Handbook on Feminist Political Thought. Elgar Edward Press (forthcoming 2024).  

Lawson, E.S. 2023. “Black Women’s Mothering Practices in the Canadian Racial State: Reflections on Maternal Sufferation in the Afterlife of Slavery.” Journal of Canadian Studies, 57(1):1-19.

Lawson, E.S. 2022. “Unsettling the Great White North.” Historical Journal of Education, pp. 72-74.

Luginaah, Nasong, Irenius Konkor, Erica S. Lawson, et. al. 2021. “Concurrent Sexual Partnerships and HIV Testing among Heterosexual Black Men in Ontario, Canada: Findings from the weSpeak Study. Ethnicity & Health.

Lawson, Erica S, Florence W. Anfaara, Vaiba K. Flomo, Cerue K. Garlo, and Ola Osman. 2020. “The Intensification of Liberian Women’s Social Reproductive Labor in the Coronavirus Pandemic: Regenerative Possibilities.” Feminist Studies, 46(3): 674-683.

Lawson, Erica S. 2020. “Anti-Black Racism on the Sidelines: The Limits of ‘Listening Sessions’ to Address Institutional Racism at Canadian Universities.” Committing Sociology Symposium: Canadian Review of Sociology, pp. 491-494.

Lawson, Erica S., and Vaiba K. Flomo. 2020. “Motherwork and Gender Justice in Peace Huts: A Feminist View from the Liberian Context.” Third World Quarterly, pp. 1-18.

Huff, Stephanie, Debbie Laliberte Rudman, Lilian Magalhães, Erica S Lawson and Maimuna Kanyamala. 2020. “Enacting a critical decolonizing ethnographic approach in occupation-based research.” Journal of Occupational Science, DOI: 10.1080/14427591.2020.1824803 

Konkor, Irenius, Erica S. Lawson, R. Antabe, Martin MacIntosh, Winston. Husbands, Josephine Wong, and Isaac Luginaah. 2020. “An Intersectional Approach to HIV Vulnerabilities and Testing Among Heterosexual African Caribbean and Black Men in London, Ontario: Results from the weSpeak Study.” Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities,

Lawson, Erica S. 2018. “Bereaved Black Mothers and Maternal Activism in the Racial State.” Feminist Studies, 44(3): 713-735.

Huff, Stephanie, Debbie Laliberte Rudman, Lilian Magalhaes, and Erica S. Lawson. 2018. “Africana Womanism: Implications for Transformative Scholarship in Occupational Science.” Journal of Occupational Science,

Hamilton, Patricia, Erica S. Lawson, Crystal Gaudet, Jennifer Chisholm, Jaspreet Kaur & Susan Abercromby. “At the Intersection of Idealized Youth and Marginalized Almost-Adulthood: How Girls Negotiate Motherhood in London, Ontario.” Journal of Youth Studies, DOI: 10.1080/13676261.2018.1451628

Book Chapters

Lawson, Erica S. 2022. “Black Canadian Feminist Thought.” Reading Sociology, 4th ed. (forthcoming)

Lawson, Erica S, and Ola Osman. 2022. “Maternal Activism and the Politics of Memorialization in The Mothers of the Movement: A Black Feminist Reading.” In A. Crosby, M. de Alwis, and H. Evans eds. Remembering and Memorializing Violence: Transnational Feminist Dialogues. (forthcoming)

Lawson, Erica S., Florence W. Anfaara, and Ola Osman. 2022. “Sustainable Development Goals and the Internal logics of “Gender Equality” in the Liberian Context.” In A. Williams and I. Luginaah (eds.). Gender matters globally: Geography, health, and sustainability. (forthcoming)

Lawson, Erica S. 2019. “Mercy for Their Children: A Feminist Reading of Black Women’s Maternal Activism and Leadership Practices.” In T. Kitossa, E. Lawson, and P.S.S. Howard, eds. African Canadian Leadership: Continuity, Transition and Transformation, pp. 190-210. Toronto: University of Toronto Press

Co-edited Book

Kitossa, Tamari, Erica S. Lawson, and Philip S.S. Howard eds. African Canadian Leadership: Continuity, Transition, and Transformation. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2019.

Current Funded Research (Principal Investigator)

June 2021- present: Racialized and Immigrant Women at the Pandemic Frontlines: A Feminist Inquiry into the Lives of Essential Workers in Ontario. SSHRC Insight Development Grant.

April 2017-present: Peace Huts, Gender Equality and Women’s Post-Conflict Aspirations: Lessons from Women in Liberia. SSHRC Insight Grant.