Tanya Aminataei, BA Hons (English), MA (Public Texts)
Supervisor: Margaret Steffler
Research: Indigenous literature as works of resistance
Lauren Baranik, BA Hons (History & Anthropology), MA (Arctic & Northern Studies)
Supervisor: Heather Nicol
Research: Environmental Policymaking in the Arctic
John Bessai, BA Hons (History), MA (Political Science)
Supervisors: Liam Mitchell, Heather Nicol
Working Title: The National Film Board of Canada in the Digital Age: A Case Study
John Bessai is a researcher, writer, producer, director, and educator. While completing his MA at York University in International Relations he started making TV documentaries on Canadian politics, art, health care, and the environment. In the mid-1990s - “Greenpeace: A Canadian Discovery was shown across Canada documenting the extraordinary accomplishment of Canadian activists founding a political powerhouse. In the next decade, he developed and produced Green Heroes which took a multiplatform approach to storytelling about change. He also co-produced the authorized TV biography of Buffy Sainte-Marie.
Holly Brant, BA Hons (Psychology), MA (Social Work)
Supervisory: John Milloy
Working title: Lifting up the Voices of Tyendinaga’s Health Care Professionals
Karennahawe is a proud Ihstha and Totah and a member of the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte enrolled in the Canadian Studies Doctoral Graduate Program. She holds a diploma in Social Services from Loyalist College, an Honours BA with a Certificate in Law and Justice from Laurentian University and graduated in 2009 with her Masters in Social Work from Carleton University. Karennahawe has opted to investigate the harmonious or contested emergence of Indigenous people and Social Work. Her research interests lie in the full engagement of Indigenous people in navigating a holistic journey that is inclusive of emotional, physical, spiritual and physical healing with settlers who may be involved in this journey. Effective communication, respect, dialogue, understanding and implementation will be at the root of this quest between Indigenous and Settler relations with the Indigenous person’s optimum vision of wellness as their guide.
Cynthia Clarke, BSW, MSW
Supervisor: Heather Nicol
Research: Issues and conditions in social and health care of the elderly
Nicole Covey, BA Hons (Political Science) MA (Political Science)
Supervisor: Whitney Lackenbauer
Research: Arctic security and Canadian sovereignty
Sarah Cullingham, BA Hons (Women's Studies) MA (Planning)
Supervisor: Mark Skinner
Research: Cannabis policy liberalizations - potential benefits, potencial harms, questions of policy equity
Kathleen Donovan, BA (Criminology & Psychology), MA (Critical Disability Studies)
Supervisor: Nadine Changfoot
Research: Intersections of Indigeneity and notions of learning disabilities - how social architecture shapes both the perception of disability and the experience of access
Sabrina Dourado-Jaffer, BA Hons (Arts & Contemporary Studies), MEd
Supervisor: May Chazan
Working Title: Sexual Exploitation and Violence in State Care: Problematizing Childhoods within the Canadian Context
My name is Sabrina Dourado-Jaffer and I am a PhD candidate in the Canadian Studies department at Trent University. I have completed a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) at Ryerson University where my focus was in Diversity & Equity Studies with a Minor in Sociology. From there I completed a Masters of Education at OISE through the University of Toronto. While studying at UofT I furthered my research within the field of Social Justice Education.
Through both lived and educational experiences, I have gained a heightened interest in the intersectionality of marginalization and how it impacts our lived experience. Bolstered by feminist ideologies, my research thus far has concentrated on issues related to racism, violence, femicide, post-colonialism, problematizing childhood and consent. Through my PhD studies at Trent, I hope to integrate these themes into a cohesive research project that seeks to understand how bodies are produced in certain ways, which creates continuities of marginalization. This will be done through analyzing the systems and structures that sustain violence and are produced through it.
With my work I hope to make a positive change in the world and bring issues to light that are otherwise silenced or forgotten. Although I am passionate about my research, I am cognisant of the fact that as an educator it is my duty to create an environment that focuses on actions of macro and micro-politicization within and beyond the field of academia.
Amanda Graham, BA (History), MA (History)
Supervisors: Heather Nicol and Whitney Lackenbauer
Research: history of research in the North, especially Yukon
Ashley Gyarmati, BFA (Dance), MEd
Supervisors: Blair Niblett & Marrie Mumford
Research: Moving Indigenous History into the classroom
Shelley Hermer, BA (Psychology), MSW
Supervisor: Joan Sangster
Working title: On the Ground: The Everyday Dissonance of Canadian Social Policy
Emma Hughes, BA Hons (Political Science), MA (Canadian Studies and Indigenous Studies)
Supervisor: Stephanie Rutherford
Research: How socially constructed discourses surrounding recreation have aided settler colonial expansion along the Trent Severn Waterway
Sarah Jessup, BA Hons (Anthropology) MA (Canadian Studies and Indigenous Studies)
Supervisor: Joan Sangster
Working title: Workplace Bullying, Gender, and the Continuum of Violence in Ontario Health Care
Sarah Jessup is a PhD candidate in Canada Studies at Trent University. Her research examines the relationship between policy, gender, and workplace bullying in Canada's health care settings. In particular, her doctoral project focuses on workplace bullying within the broader scope of workplace aggression and considers the connection between bullying and other forms of hostility in the workplace, including physical violence, domestic violence, and sexual harassment.
Sebastian Johnston-Lindsay, BA Hons (English & Cultural Studies), MA (English & Transitional Justice)
Supervisor: Suzanne Bailey
Working Title: A Study of Twentieth-Century English Canadian Nationalism and Auto/Biography in the work of Margaret Laurence, Mordecai Richler, Peter Gzowski, and Gord Downie
My main research interests concern the connections between auto/biographical narrative forms across a variety of popular media and the formation of mid-twentieth century English-Canadian cultural nationalism. The four main figures whose work I consider in my dissertation exemplify a form of celebrity that is mediated through their cultural production and the role their work played in the production and maintenance of nationalist sentiments and discourse over the course of the latter half of the twentieth century in Canada. In my study of life-writing and auto/biography, I propose an approach to investigating specific questions surrounding the power of authorial self-representation and celebrity culture in Canada by considering not only the artistic or professional works and achievements of these individuals, but also the ways in which their lives were understood, written about, and narrated through a variety of media over the course of their respective careers.
Outside the academic sphere, I write and produce a weekly radio show on Trent Radio called Great Canadian Covers, past episodes of which are archived here.
Helen Knibb, BA (History), MA (Museum Studies)
Supervisor: Tom Hutchinson
Research: The cultural, ecological and socio-economic history of wool sheep and the British shepherding tradition in Eastern Canada, colonization to WW II, and its relevance to mixed-farming, managed grazing systems and sustainable rural economies today
Eric Lehman, BA (Music), MA (Public Texts)
Supervisor: Hugh Hodges
Working title: Starving Artists: Negotiating musical work for a digital age under Canadian copyright reform
Catherine Masson, BA, BA Hons (Women's Studies), MES
Supervisor: Stephen Bocking
Research: Global to Local Freshwater Biodiversity
Jessa McAuliffe, BPS, MA (Canadian Studies and Indigenous Studies)
Supervisor: Nael Bhanji
Research: Access to justice for marginalized communities - specifically transgender
Michelle McDonald, BA (International Development Studies), MEd
Supervisor: Karleen Pendleton-Jimenez
Research: the disconnect between the image of canadian children as out-doorsy and the reality of instructional experience
Keith McIntyre, BA Hons (Sociology), MA (Canadian Studies and Indigenous Studies)
Supervisor: Heather Nicol
Research: relationships between Jewish, Muslim and Christian Communities in Peterborough, Ontario
Derek Newman-Stille, BA Hons (Classical Studies), MA (Anthropology)
Supervisor: Sally Chivers
Working title: Bloods and Crips: Canadian Urban "Dark" Fantasy and the Exploration of Disability Through the Lens of the Monstrous Protagonist
Derek’s current research is focused on the role of the monster in current Canadian urban ‘dark’ fantasy literature and the ability of the body monstrous to be inscribed with alterity. Particularly, Derek is exploring the role of monstrosity as a symbol for exploring issues of disability (such as accessibility, accommodating to a normalised world, and bodily difference). The monster, as an extremified symbol of difference, illustrates the ludicrous nature of not creating accessible spaces for people with disabilities. Derek did his BA (hon) in Classics and Anthropology and his MA in Anthropology. He taught a course on “Werewolves as Symbols of the Human Experience” and “Witchcraft in the Greek and Roman World” at Trent University.
Mike Perry, BA Hons (Political Science), LLB, LLM, MSW
Supervisor: Jonathan Greene
Working title: The Environment, Climate Change and Modern Slavery
Mike's background is in law and public policy. His work focuses on exploring any nexus between climate change, migration, increased vulnerability and slavery. Mike is committed to using scholarship to help combat human trafficking, especially through the use of quantitative data. His broad interests in this area also include human trafficking for forced labour in Canada; the implications of capitalism in slavery today; and innovating aftercare for survivors, especially in mental health.
Laura Poulin, BSW, MA (Health Administration)
Supervisor: Mark Skinner
Working title: Transitional Care of Older Rural Adults
Christopher Rooney, BA Hons (Indigenous Studies), MEd
Supervisor: Karleen Pendleton Jimenez
Research: CFL as test site for Canadian masculinity
Peggy Shaughnessy, BSc (Psychology), MA (Canadian Heritage & Development Studies)
Supervisor: John Milloy
Working title: Whose Truth is it Anyways? Over-representation of Aboriginal Offenders in the Justice System
Juanita Spears, BMusic Hons, MA (Canadian Studies and Indigenous Studies)
Supervisor: Karleen Pendleton Jimenez
Research: diverse picture books in Canadian schools as tools for inclusion
Lisa Trefzger Clarke, BA Hons (English), MAEd
Supervisor: Karleen Pendelton Jimenez
Research: feminist counselling practice in Ontario
Henk Warnar, BA (History), MA (History)
Supervisor: Stephen Hill
Working Title:Wuskwatim: A Historical Examination on the Socio-Economic Impact of Hydroelectric Development on a Northern Manitoba Community, Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation, Nelson House, 1965-2014
Liane Zafiropoulos, BA (English), MEd
Supervisor: Nicole Bell
Research: achieving social and climate justice through Indigenous curriculum