She received her PhD from the Social and Political Thought Program at York University in 2005. Her research and teaching focuses on the intersections of human rights and visual culture, psychoanalysis and political theory, and on questions of sexuality and violence. Her most recent research explores the social and political significance of dream-life. Sliwinski serves on the editorial board of Humanity: An International Journal of Human Rights, Humanitarianism, and Development and the advisory board of Topia: Canadian Journal of Cultural Studies. She has been a long-time member of the research collective known as the Toronto Photography Seminar. Books