Office:	GSJ and GPSJ Programs, Chester New Hall – 213
	Email:	akbara@mcmaster.ca
	Phone:
	OFFICE HOURS:	Mondays 10 am – 12 pm or by appointment

Dr. Aytak Dibavar (they/she) is a queer Iranian artist, activist, and feminist educator at GSJ and GPSJ programs at McMaster University. Aytak’s art/work/research is entangled with feminist, queer, decolonial, and anti-racist knowledge production and creative/art-based teaching practices. Aytak has a great passion for people and their lived experiences and is interested in life narratives; the ways in which people make sense of their own lives, whether and how they narrate them to others, and why they remain silent about them. Aytak reads and writes about race, gender, memory, political trauma and silence. For more than a decade, Aytak has developed a dual academic and activist career on issues pertaining to women’s and LGBTQIA+ community’s rights – specifically related to trauma survivors, resettlement, and barriers to education and workplace access for femme refugees.

Aytak tries to spend most of their free time either outdoors enjoying and experiencing nature or creating and consuming art. Painting, performance and poetry are not only important political categories for their work but are deeply a part of who they are. They incorporate art in their daily life – through visiting local galleries, performing and painting – and in their pedagogy. For more information on Dr. Dibavar’s work and research please visit their website at www.aytakdibavar.com