Lisa Guenther

Lisa Guenther is a Professor and Term Adjunct in the Department of Philosophy at Queen's University. Her work bridges phenomenology, abolition studies, and critical social theory, focusing on carceral systems, racial capitalism, and structural violence. She explores the lived experiences of incarceration, the abolitionist imperative, and the intersections of colonialism and policing. Her research emphasizes the ethical and political dimensions of resistance movements and the decolonization of academic and institutional structures.

Key research interests include: phenomenological analysis of carceral spaces, abolitionist frameworks for justice systems, memory studies in prisons, and critical examinations of white ignorance and racial epistemologies. She also investigates the role of perception and policing in maintaining systemic inequalities, particularly through studies of police drones and racialized surveillance.

Her publications critically engage with thinkers like Merleau-Ponty, Derrida, and Foucault, applying their theories to contemporary issues such as solitary confinement, prison abolition, and Indigenous sovereignty. Recent work addresses the 2022 Freedom Convoy protests in Canada through an abolitionist lens, analyzing their implications for carceral state legitimacy.

Guenther’s work has been featured in journals like Canadian Journal of Human Rights and Deutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie. She actively contributes to abolitionist movements, emphasizing the need for transformative justice beyond punitive frameworks.