Yolande Bouka
Associate Professor | Canada Research Chair (Tier 2) in Afrofeminist Thought and Political Transformation
She/Her | PhD (American University); MA (Seton Hall University)
International Relations, Gender and Politics
Political Studies
Queen's University
Mackintosh-Corry Hall, C425
Research Interests
Gender and security; African politics and security; International Relations; Political violence; Decoloniality
Biography
Dr. Yolande Bouka is the Canada Research Chair on Afrofeminist Thought and Political Transformation, and an Associate Professor of gender and politics and international relations at 黑料吃瓜资源 in Canada. She also serves as the co-director of the MINDS-funded and as a Visiting Professor at Nelson Mandela University鈥檚 . Prior to her academic appointment, she worked as a researcher at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) in the Conflict Prevention and Risk Analysis Division, focusing on Africa鈥檚 Great Lakes Region. Her research focuses on gender, political violence, and race and international relations. Some of the key questions driving her multidisciplinary research agenda are how vulnerable groups and individuals understand and navigate structural and political violence and how these experiences influence the social and political landscapes of conflict-affected societies. Her work also aims to foreground the intellectual contributions of Black women from Africa and the Diaspora to decolonize the study and teaching of International Relations. Her research has received support from the Fulbright Scholar Program, the American Association of University Women, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. She is the recipient of the 2021 International Studies Association (ISA) Feminist Theory and Gender Studies Section (FTGS) Early Career Community Engagement Award.
Selected Publications
"La contestation politique de 2015 au Burundi: Les r茅alit茅s 芦 par le bas 禄 de la crise." with Marie-Eve Desrosiers and Guillaume Ndayikengurutse Revue internationale de politique compar茅e (2025).
鈥淚mplementing Inclusion: Gender Quotas, Inequality, and Backlash in Kenya鈥 with Marie Berry and Marilyn Muthoni Kamuru, Politics and Gender 17:4, 640-664 (2020)
鈥淏arriers and Enablers of Women鈥檚 Political Participation in Kenya鈥檚 Devolved Political System.鈥 2019. Journal of Eastern African Studies 13(2): 313-333 (with Marie. Berry and Marilyn Muthoni Kamuru)
鈥(Oral) History of Violence: Political Analysis of Conflicting Narratives.鈥 2013. Oral History Forum, 33, Special Issue: Confronting Mass Atrocities.
鈥淐reate Foreign Policies as if Black and Brown Lives Mattered鈥 In Feminist Solutions to Ending War, edited by Megan MacKenzie and Nicole Wegner (London: Pluto Press, 2021).
鈥淲omen, Colonial Resistance and Decolonisation: Challenging African Histories鈥 In The Palgrave Handbook of African Women鈥檚 Studies edited by Olajumoke Yacob-Haliso and Toyin Falola (New York: Palgrave, 2020)
鈥淏urundi: Between War and Negative Peace鈥 In War and Peace in the Great Lakes Region, edited by Gilbert Khadiagala. (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017).
鈥淣acibazo, No Problem: Journeying Beneath the Official Discourse of Post-Genocide Rwanda.鈥 In Emotional and Ethical Challenges for Field Research in Africa: The Story Behind the Findings,edited by Susan Thomson, An Ansoms and Jude Murison. (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013).
鈥淚s Canada鈥檚 Foreign Policy Really Feminist?鈥 with St茅fanie von Hlatky, St茅phanie Martel, Sarah-Myriam Martin-Br没l茅, Maria Martin de Almagro, Marie-Jo毛lle Zahar, Network for Strategic Analysis (2021)
鈥淭hird Portfolio Evaluation of the UN Peacebuilding Fund (PBF) Support to Burundi (2014 鈥 2020) 鈥 Final Report (with Susanna Campbell, Travis Curtice, Raymond Blaise Habonimana, and Guillaume Ndayikengurutse, UN Peacebuilding Fund (2021)
"" DFID/EARF Report, 2017 (with Marie Berry and Muthoni Kamuru)
鈥.鈥 Africa Policy Brief, No 16. Egmont 鈥 Royal Institute for International Relations, 2016.
鈥溾 East Africa Report, Issue 7 Institute for Security Studies, 2016 (with Romi Sigsworth).
鈥溾 Central Africa Report, Issue 6. Institute for Security Studies, 2016 (with Stephanie Wolters).
鈥溾 Heinrich B枚ll Foundation E-Paper, 2016 (with Nanjala Nyabola).
鈥溾 Central Africa Report, Issue 1. Institute for Security Studies, 2014.
鈥", Revista L眉vo vol 13, no. 1, 2026
鈥溾 Research Methods Tutorial Videos 鈥 Research Ethics and Integrity, Sage Publishing, March 2022.
鈥,鈥 Research Methods Tutorial Videos 鈥 Research Ethics and Integrity, Sage Publishing, March 2022.
鈥,鈥 Research Methods Tutorial Videos 鈥 Research Ethics and Integrity, Sage Publishing, March 2022.
鈥,鈥 Research Methods Tutorial Videos 鈥 Research Ethics and Integrity, Sage Publishing, March 2022.
鈥淲hy Is Mainstream International Relations Blind to Racism?鈥 Foreign Policy. With Gurminder K. Bhambra, Randolph B. Persaud, Olivia U. Rutazibwa, Vineet Thakur, Duncan Bell, Karen Smith, Toni Haastrup, Seifudein Adem, July 2020
鈥淐anada's COVID-19 Blind Spots on Race, Immigration and Labour.鈥 Policy Options, May 2020
Contestation en Afrique, with Marie-Eve Desrosiers (Les Presses de l鈥橴niversit茅 de Montr茅al, 2022).