Biography
I am a Professor in the Political Science Department at the University of Guelph. My research examines gender justice and the political and philosophical dimensions of reproductive rights. I am also interested in transnational expressions and limitations of reproductive rights and justice across borders. My current research examines global reproductive health commitments in practice in Guatemala and Mexico and the politics of feminist solidarity. I am committed to socially engaged research methods as a way to inform inquiry and build theory and have conducted research with partners and communities throughout North America and Latin America. I have won the CPSA’s Jill Vickers Award twice (2009, 2017) for my research on gender and politics and have published widely in the fields of gender and politics, health policy, and Latin American politics. My recent books include: Human and Environmental Justice in Guatemala (co-edited with Stephen Henighan, University of Toronto Press, 2018), and Maternal Transition: A North-South Politics of Pregnancy and Childbirth (Routledge, 2016). In addition, I have served as the Associate Director of the Women and Politics Institute at American University, Washington, DC, the President of the Canadian Politics section of the American Political Science Association, and the Chair of the Women’s Caucus of the Canadian Political Science Association. I am the co-founder of the Grounded and Engaged Theory Lab at the University of Guelph.
My research attempts to reconcile two sub-disciplinary areas within political science: political theory and public policy. Most of my published work entails the application of theoretical tools and frameworks to complex global reproductive rights issues; I am also committed to socially engaged feminist research, standpoint methodologies, community engaged collaborations, and transnational dialogue. In 2017 and 2009, I was awarded the Canadian Political Science Association’s Jill Vickers Prize in recognition of my research on gender and politics and was nominated for this award on two other occasions (in 2011 and 2015).
I have published in many academic journals including Signs (forthcoming), Feminist Theory, Politics, Groups, and Identities, PhiloSOPHIA, Canadian Journal of Political Science, and Polity.
In 2014 I published Maternal Transition: A North-South Politics of Pregnancy and Childbirth (Routledge; paperback in 2016), which is a comparative examination of maternal health preferences in Canada, the United States, Cuba, and Honduras and the ways in which these preferences reflect global, regional, national, and micro-scalar dynamics (the research for which was supported by a SSHRC Standard Research Grant). https://www.routledge.com/Maternal-Transition-A-North-South-Politics-of-Pregnancy-and-Childbirth/Johnson/p/book/9781138126060
I have also published more widely on women and politics, health care policy, and Latin American politics. My latest book is a volume on Human and Environmental Justice in Guatemala, co-edited with Stephen Henighan, published by the University of Toronto Press in 2018. https://utorontopress.com/ca/human-and-environmental-justice-in-guatemala-2
My current research includes a multi-year project (funded through a SSHRC Insight Grant) on global maternal health commitments in practice with one segment that focuses on Canadian development partnerships in Guatemala and a second segment that entails working with research partners in Mexico to examine the ways in which various contexts interact with reproductive autonomy. I am also interested in the #MeToo movement and its significance for emotional citizenship.
Prior to joining the faculty at the University of Guelph in 2003, I held academic positions in the Department of Government at American University in Washington, DC, and in the Department of Community Health Sciences at Brock University in St. Catharine’s, Ontario.
Select Publications
Candace Johnson and Stephen Henighan, eds. 2018. Human and Environmental Justice in Guatemala. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Candace Johnson. 2014; 2016. Maternal Transition: A North-South Politics of Pregnancy and Childbirth. New York: Routledge.
Candace Johnson. Forthcoming. “Reproductive Subjects and Shifting Global Health Policy Discourses.” Signs.
Candace Johnson. 2021. “The End of the Maternal Health Moment: An Examination of Canada’s Evolving Global Reproductive Policy Commitments.” International Feminist Journal of Politics. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14616742.2021.1997150?src=
Candace Johnson. 2020. “Responsibility, Affective Solidarity, and Transnational Maternal Feminism.” Feminist Theory. 21(2): 175-198.
Candace Johnson. 2020. “Socially Engaged Research Across Borders: Feminist Bridges for Global Gender Justice and Human Rights.” Politics, Groups, and Identities. 8:2, 444-452.
Ebenezer Agyei and Candace Johnson. 2019. “The Politics of Global Policy Frames: Reproductive Health and Development in Ghana.” Global Health Governance. 9(1&2): 69-85.
Candace Johnson. 2017. “Pregnant Woman versus Mosquito: A Feminist Epidemiology of Zika Virus.” Journal of International Political Theory, 13(2): 233-250.
Candace Johnson and Surma Das. 2014. “The Human Rights Framing of Maternal Health: A Strategy for Politicization or a Path to Genuine Empowerment?” In The Uses and Misuses of Human Rights: A Critical Approach to Advocacy. George Andreopoulos and Zehra Arat, eds. Palgrave.