GENDER.ED’s New Interns: Maéva Thibeault and Mouna Chatt

Mouna and Maéva are GENDER.ED’s Undergraduate Communications and Events Intern and PhD Research and Communications Intern. They met to get to know each other and discuss their research interests, what drew them to GENDER.ED and what they hope to learn from their internship.  

Mouna: Welcome Maéva! Can you tell me a bit about yourself? What do you do for GENDER.ED and what are you interested in?  

Maéva: Hi Mouna! Nice to see you. 

I’m a PhD student and my research focuses on alternative and non-punitive forms of justice in response to sexual violence. At GENDER.ED I work on two projects; the first is Women’s, Gender, Feminist and Sexualities Studies Teaching at the University of Edinburgh - An Oral History Project, for which I’m currently conducting oral history interviews with academics at the University, and the other is a book project based on GENDER.ED’s 16 Days International Blogathon.  

Can you tell me about you? 

Mouna: I’m a 4th year Sociology and Politics student and GENDER.ED’s undergraduate communications and events intern. I’m mostly interested in postcolonial feminist theory. More generally, I’m interested in migration and racialization processes, particularly in the Nordics, and how these overlap with gender.  

What attracted you to GENDER.ED? 

Maéva: Well I’m currently based in the Law School, but my research interests and background are very much interdisciplinary. I did a BFA in Film Production, a BA in Sociology and an MA in Gender Studies. Now I’m pursuing a PhD in Law, but I’m still interested in building connections with feminist research and feminist researchers at the University and so GENDER.ED seemed like the perfect place for me to do that. During my undergraduate studies I also worked at the Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling back in Montreal and so I was really excited about the idea of working on an oral history project.  

What interested you in GENDER.ED? 

Mouna: For me, I think it was the intersectional focus that GENDER.ED has. I think considerations of race and capitalism are sometimes dismissed in some mainstream feminist spaces, so I actively seek out spaces where this is not the case. At the same time, I appreciate that while GENDER.ED focuses on academic work, it also has an outreach element and collaborates with communities outside the University.  

Maéva: I totally agree. It’s really nice to be in a feminist space that aligns with the type of feminism that you adhere to and that values building bridges between academia and community spaces.  

When did you first become interested in feminist work?  

Mouna: To be honest, I don’t really know! I guess for some people there was a specific moment or event that triggered their interest in feminist work, but I can’t say I had a moment like that. I guess it’s been a matter of growing up as a Muslim woman in a society where your identity is constantly on the political agenda while you’re simultaneously navigating other forms of misogyny and sexism in everyday life. Then, when I reached my teens, I got more and more interested in what was happening around me and I began reading feminist literature and asking questions related to social justice, and so on.   

When did you get interested in feminist work?  

Maéva: I have a similar answer in that there is no specific moment that comes to mind. I suppose it has been a series of experiences and encounters. I already had an interest in feminism during my undergraduate studies, but I would say that moving to Europe to study gender studies and meeting so many brilliant feminist friends and colleagues really cemented my commitment to feminism and social justice and had the biggest influence on my personal and professional life.  

What do you hope to learn through working with GENDER.ED? 

Mouna: I would like to continue to explore the diversity of gender studies. From working with the GENDER.ED course directory and reading through the blog posts on our website over the summer, I have realized there is so much you can focus on that would have never even crossed my mind! 

What about you? 

Maéva: Most of all, I hope to hone my interviewing skills and to learn as much as I can about the publishing world!  

Thank you for this conversation, Mouna. It has been a pleasure talking to you. 

Mouna: I also really enjoyed this chat! Thank you so much, Maéva.