Jennifer Komorowski

Jennifer HeadshotAssistant Professor

Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies & Indigenous Studies
MA & PhD (Western University)
Office: Lawson Hall
Phone: 519-661-2111
jkomoro2@uwo.ca

Jennifer Komorowski is a member of the Oneida Nation of the Thames and is of mixed Indigenous and European ancestry (Polish/English). She holds an MA and PhD from The Centre for the Study of Theory and Criticism at Western University where she completed her SSHRC-funded dissertation “The Masochian Woman: Coming to a Philosophical Understanding of Haudenosaunee Women’s Masochism.” Jennifer was previously an Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Toronto Metropolitan University.

Research Interests: Indigenous philosophy, storytelling, decolonial psychoanalysis, Indigenous feminisms, masochism, futurisms

Undergraduate Teaching

Toronto Metropolitan University (undergrad): Decolonial Theory; Intro to Indigenous Philosophy; Philosophy of Beauty; Philosophy, Diversity, and Recognition; Decolonial Psychoanalysis; (graduate): Indigenous Ecocriticism
Winter 2026 (Western): Indigenous Sexualities GSWS 3356G and Indigenous Futurisms GSWS 3315G

Select Presentations and Publications

Recent Publications

“Haudenosaunee Storytelling as a Philosophy of Being in the World” Storytelling, Identity Formation, and Resistance in North American Indigenous Culture. John Benjamins Publishing (forthcoming fall 2025)
“Sadomasochistic Readings of Indigenous Pain and the Phenomenon of Pretendianianism." English Studies in Canada 47.
“‘Bad Stories’: A Theory of Indigenous Dispossession." English Studies in Canada 47.1
Recent Presentations
2025 - “Theory from Life: a roundtable on Indigenous philosophy”, Organizer and presenter, Department of Philosophy TRC Reading Group, Toronto Metropolitian University
2025 - “How to Integrate Indigenous and Latin American Philosophy into Your Teaching.”, University of Toronto
2024 - “Ukwehuwe Stories: A Philosophy and History of Being in the World”, Co-presented with Nyssa Komorowski, University of Toronto
2023 - “Indigenous Art as Teacher” Roundtable, The Forest City Gallery, London, Ontario                                    

Works in Progress

Tracing the Soul from Plato and Aristotle to Descartes: ‘Does Indians Have Feelings?’ Res Difficiles (under peer review)

"Reconciling Pain through Comedy in Reservation Dogs"  Humor: Integration, Resistance, Survivable, and Renaissance in Indigenous Movies, TV Series, and Documentaries in Canada and The United States (abstract accepted, currently finishing full chapter)

"Story as Indigenous Identity: Embodying life writing and testimony" Routledge Companion on Literature and Identity (final revisions)