Viviane Namaste

Viviane K. Namaste is a Canadian feminist professor at Concordia University in Montreal. Her research focuses on sexual health, HIV/AIDS prevention, and sex work.^[1]

Education and work

Namaste received a Bachelors of Arts from Carleton University in 1989, an MA in Sociology from York University, and a doctoral degree from Université du Québec à Montréal in Semiotics and Linguistics.^[2]^[3] She worked within ACT UP Paris.^[3] In 2001, she received the Outstanding Book Award from the Gustavus Myers Center for her book titled, Invisible Lives: The Erasure of Transsexual and Transgendered People.^[4] That same year, Namaste was also a director in the documentary Madame Lauraine's Transsexual Touch which deals with transsexual sex workers as well as sexual health and clientele.^[5]

Namaste became an associate professor and the Research Chair in HIV/AIDS and Sexual Health at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.^[4] In 2009, she received the "Canadian Award for Action on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights", awarded jointly by the HIV Legal Network and Human Rights Watch.^[6]

In 2013, she was called as an official intervenor in a hearing at the Supreme Court of Canada^[7] on whether the ban on solicitation, prohibition of brothels and criminality of making a living from prostitution violates the Charter of Rights.^[8]

The feminist journal, Hypatia, has called Namaste's work, "extremely important".^[9]

2000 · Invisible Lives: The Erasure of Transsexual and Transgendered People
2005 · Sex Change, Social Change: Reflections on Identity, Institutions, and Imperialism
2005 · C'était du spectacle! L'histoire des artistes transsexuelles à Montréal, 1955–1985
2012 · HIV Prevention and Bisexual Realities
2015 · Oversight
2017 · Imprimés interdits: La censure des journaux jaunes au Québec, 1955–1975
2019 · Thinking Differently about HIV/AIDS: Contributions from Critical Social Science
2019 · Savoirs créoles: Leçons du sida pour l'histoire de Montréal