Abigail "Abbie" B. Bakan (born 1954) is a Professor

Professor

A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...

 of Political Studies at Queen's University

Queen's University

Queen's University, , is a public research university located in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Founded on 16 October 1841, the university pre-dates the founding of Canada by 26 years. Queen's holds more more than of land throughout Ontario as well as Herstmonceux Castle in East Sussex, England...

, Kingston

Kingston, Ontario

Kingston, Ontario is a Canadian city located in Eastern Ontario where the St. Lawrence River flows out of Lake Ontario. Originally a First Nations settlement called "Katarowki," , growing European exploration in the 17th Century made it an important trading post...

, Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. Her research focuses on employment equity, Marxist theory and "anti-oppression politics".

In a protest held in Toronto on July 29, 2006, Bakan criticized the Government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper

Stephen Harper

Stephen Joseph Harper is the 22nd and current Prime Minister of Canada and leader of the Conservative Party. Harper became prime minister when his party formed a minority government after the 2006 federal election...

 for supporting "Israel's illegal action against the Lebanese and Palestinian people." In a debate held at York University

York University

York University is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, Ontario's second-largest graduate school, and Canada's leading interdisciplinary university....

 on May 11, 2009, Bakan and Ryerson University

Ryerson University

Ryerson University is a public research university located in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its urban campus is adjacent to Yonge-Dundas Square located at the busiest intersection in Downtown Toronto. The majority of its buildings are in the blocks northeast of the square in Toronto's Garden...

 professor Alan Sears spoke in support of a boycott of Israeli academic institutions. The York's Excalibur newspaper reported that Bakan's comments were interpreted by some as calling for a boycott of individual Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

i academics. Bakan argues that condemning academic sanctions on the grounds that it politicizes a free and objective learning space is futile because institutions are inherently political. Bakan also argued that there is no other option but to boycott on an academic platform because boycotts allow us to “hear a voice that has been almost completely suppressed in Western world democracies. In the tradition of civil rights, we have to hear that call."

Educated at York University

York University

York University is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, Ontario's second-largest graduate school, and Canada's leading interdisciplinary university....

, Bakan has written and edited several books including:

• Negotiating Citizenship: Migrant Women in Canada and the Global System, co-authored with Daiva Stasiulis, University of Toronto Press, 2005.
• Critical Political Studies: Debates and Dialogues from the Left, co-edited with Eleanor MacDonald, McGill-Queen's University Press, 2003, ISBN 0-7735-2252-2
• Not One of the Family: Foreign Domestic Workers in Canada, co-edited with Daiva Stasiulis, University of Toronto Press, 1997, ISBN 0-8020-7595-9
• Imperial Power and Regional Trade: The Caribbean Basin Initiative, co-edited with David Cox and Colin Leys
  Colin Leys
  Colin Leys was employed as an academic at various universities of Oxford , Makerere , Sussex, Kivukoni College in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; Nairobi , Sheffield, and Queen's University, Canada, where he is an emeritus professor of Political Studies .He also holds an honorary professorship at...
  
  , Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1993, ISBN 0-88920-220-6
• Ideology and Class Conflict in Jamaica: The Politics of Rebellion, McGill-Queen's University Press, 1990, ISBN 0-7735-0745-0

External links