Maria-Belén Ordóñez

Dr. Maria Belén Ordóñez is Assistant Professor (Teaching Stream) of Social Sciences/Humanities in the Faculty of Arts and Science. Her research intersects feminist and queer theories, multi-sited ethnography, and critical theory, with a focus on sexuality, intimacy, and body politics. Ordóñez' past ethnographic research, conducted in Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver, examined unofficial channels of public pleasure, desire, and affect, as well as Canadian media headlines and queer/feminist oppositions to obscenity and censorship laws. Her work has also tracked affect in Canadian legislative challenges related to sexuality, censorship, and morality. Ordóñez's research includes anti-oedipal readings of parent-child relationships in legal, cultural, and cinematic forms. Currently, she is collaborating with Dr. Laura Thrasher (Educational Developer, Inclusive Teaching, at OCADU) on a Research Seed Grant project that develops a participant-driven unconference, creating resources and materials for accessible pedagogy in art and design post-secondary education. This project involves organizing and documenting the Transformative Access Unconference (TAU), which explores the intersection of critical pedagogy, neurodivergence, disability, art, and design. Ordóñez has also collaborated on projects such as Feminist Technology Networks and teaches courses in feminist theories, experimental ethnography, critical theory, social change, and body politics.