The Gender and Authority project, jointly supported by The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities and the Balliol Interdisciplinary Institute, aims to explore and question received notions of social and cultural authority, specifically as they intersect with issues of gender. Provoked initially by the idea of the canon, ‘the list of works considered to be permanently established as being of the highest quality’ (OED), we wish to consider three points: how do social and gender norms determine ‘quality’? How permanent is authority? What is ‘work’? We propose an expansive definition of work that includes all forms of cultural production, individual or collaborative. We also seek to examine spaces in which gender, as it intersects with other vectors of power, has led to the marginalisation of intellectual and artistic creation or labour. This project, led by Adele Bardazzi, David Bowe, Natalya Din-Kariuki, and Julia Hartley will bring together participants from disciplines across the Humanities and Social Sciences.

As part of our project, this series of podcasts mainly features, although it is not limited to, recordings from our seminars and other events. The series is produced and edited by Adele Bardazzi, David Bowe, Natalya Din-Kariuki, and Julia Hartley.

You can learn more about Gender & Authority by visiting our website at https://womenandthecanon.wordpress.com and on our TORCH webpage a thttp://torch.ox.ac.uk/genderandauthority as well as by following us on Twitter @womencanonox