Our MA and PhD Students
Our graduate students are conducting exciting research in diverse subject areas.
Samantha Abel
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Mohammad Aldhahri
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Amina Ally
MA candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Christopher Alton
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Rawan Al-Wakeal
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Mahmood Amadi Afzadi
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Elisa Arca Jarque
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Joshua Augustino
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Daryoush Ayvaizin Kari
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Srijan Batra
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Jessica Bay
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Emily Blyth
MA candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Mary-Ann Boateng
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Alexandra Borkowski
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Cynthia Breen
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Degrees:
MCM, McMaster University
BA, Media Studies, University of Guelph
Diploma, Public Relations, Humber College
Research:
I have extensive experience in public relations and strategic communications, with a specialization in digital content and integrated marketing, including managing a variety of digital communications projects and social media throughout my career.
My research area is using data to drive public relations success, specifically in the area of fundraising.
Additional Information:
I am currently a full time faculty member at Conestoga College in the Public Relations program.
I have presented my work various public relations and fundraising conferences in North America, including the World Public Relations Forum and the Canadian Council for the Advancement of Education.
Zoe Burke
MA candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Adam Camacho
MA candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Degrees:
Specialized Honors Major Law & Society
Specialized Honours Major Communication
Research:
Not confirmed.
Additional Information:
2019 Communications Intern Government of Canada-Minister of Crown Lands & Indigenous Relations
2018 Planning Assistant Toronto Transit Commission
2018 Human Resource Clerk Ministry of Government & Consumer Services
2017 Planning Assistant Toronto Transit Commission
2016 Assistant to the Director March of Dimes-Stakeholder Relations
2012 Library Clerk, Legal Law Library Intern Stickman Elliot LLB, Law Library
2011 Administrative Assistant Ontario Civilian Police Commission (Volunteer)
2010 York Region Student Advisory Board Representative,Ministry of Education
Alex Chalk
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Sae Min Choi
MA candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Terri Chu
Degrees:
Bachelor of Applied Science (Aerospace Engineering)
Masters in Engineering (Civil - Energy systems specialist)
Initiatives
Founder of "Why Should I Care?" - a NFP dedicated to increasing civic participation in politics
Founder of "Plateshare" - new initiative to reduce landfill by providing plates and forks in various locations and encouraging party hosts to borrow instead of use disposable
Research:
I want to know how to fight the formidable force that anti-science advocates have become. The climate change deniers have set us back decades and our children are now more likely of dying from famine than making it to old age. Anti Vaxxers have brought back measles and endanger those who are immunocompromised. The anti science discourse is a danger to a democratic society. My interests lie in understanding and combating it.
Additional Information:
Board member - Annex Residents' Association
Chair - Annex Residents' Association -Parks, Trees, and Environment committee
Invited Publications
Book Chapters
2014 T. Chu, M. Ragowska, M. Richardson, “The Importance of District Energy in Building Resilient Cities”, Canada: Becoming a Sustainable Energy Superpower, Ed. C. Bowman, R. Marceau, pp 169-186, Canadian Academy of Engineers,
2014
Peer Reviewed Publications
Book Chapters
2013 T. Chu, S. Yee, “How District Energy Systems can be used to Reduce Infrastructure Costs and Environmental Burdens”, Sustainability Appraisal:`Quantitative Methods and Mathematical Techniques for Environmental Performance Evaluation, Ed. Erechtchoukova et al, pp 195-211, Springer-Verlag,
2013
Conference Papers
2018 T. Chu, S. Chen, A. Mayoral Baños, R. Hartani, “Increasing Renewable Energy Penetration Through Strategic Deployment of IoT Devices”, Proceedings of IEEE Canada Electrical Power and Energy Conference 2018, IEEE Press.
Non- referred Publications
2014 T Chu, “Municipal Planning for Severe Weather: District Energy can be part of the Solution”, District Energy Magazine, 2014, Q2, p 69
Giovanna Cioffi
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Aurore Coco Avolonto
MA candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Julia Cucci
MA candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Axelle Demus
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Degrees:
I have a BA and an MA in Anglophone Studies from the Université de Nantes, France.
Research:
My dissertation develops a history of Canadian LGBTQ2+ public access television, while exploring the ways in which affect circulated through these programs, as well as how these shows have been preserved through affective mobilizations. In particular, I argue that these programs and their archives mobilize queer feelings of belonging, circulate community affects, and mediate the experience of queer folks in Canada through the lens of a powerful--yet ephemeral and transitory--medium: television.
Additional Information:
My research interests include queer and feminist media theory and history, television studies, archives, and alternative media. I am currently a student researcher for the SSHRC-funded project Archive/Counter-Archive, as well as a member of the Studio for Media Activism and Critical Thought's Graduate Student Caucus at Ryerson. I also use experimental filmmaking to explore issues of space/place, loss, bodies, activism, and identity; my recent films deal with the disappearance of spaces for queer women in Toronto and the current opioid epidemic.
Joshua Dittrich
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Patrick Dolan
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Jeffery Donison
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Degrees:
Honours BA Professional Writing (York University)
MA Popular Music & Culture (University of Western Ontario)
Research:
Jeff's current research focuses on journalism and technology, specifically dealing with racial representation in Canadian news and podcasting production as a decolonizing practice.
Supervisory Committee: Anne MacLennan, Jan Hadlaw, Tokunbo Ojo
Additional Information:
Presentations:
Donison, J. (2018, December 13). The misconception of Lauryn Hill: Combatting
male spaces in hip hop. Future Communications Graduate Conference - 2018. Toronto, ON: York University.
Donison, J. (2019, March 9). Horror movies on wax: Examining violence in ‘90’s horrorcore rap. Intersections | Cross-sections Graduate Conference - 2019. Toronto, ON: Ryerson University.
Donison, J. (2019, November 9). “Who speaks for us, who represents us?”
Analyzing Canadian television vox pop practices. Two Days of Canada Conference: Canadian Screens – 2019. St. Catharines, ON: Brock University.
Publications:
Donison, J. (2019, August 5). The Serial podcast and storytelling in the digital
age [Book review]. Digital Journalism. Retrieved from
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21670811.2019.1648188
Donison, J. (2019, November). The race of sound: Listening, timbre, and vocality
in African American music [Book review]. Journal of Radio & Audio Media, 26(2).
Wendy Donnan
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Valeria Duarte
MA candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Diana Edelhauser
MA candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Dilli Edingo
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Elizabeth Edwards
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Masoud Eskandari
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Tamar Faber
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Victoria Fleming
MA candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
J.A. Forbes
James Alexander Forbes is a SSHRC Doctoral Fellow and PhD Candidate in Communication and Culture at York University. His general research focuses primarily on materialist perspectives in the philosophy and history of technology. More specifically, he is interested in questions of mobility and the medium, media archaeology, and machine ontology as it is portrayed in the literature and film of science fiction. He is also conducting research in queer theory, queer ontology, and is a lifelong advocate for HIV+ people.
His proposed dissertation will examine the lived experience of HIV+ Long Term Survivors as a potential site for the positive reclamation of queer theory. It is also a means of championing and celebrating lives and stories that are frequently marginalized or overlooked. He holds a B.A. from McGill (English and Anthropology), a B.A. with Honors from Concordia (Philosophy), and a M.A. from Ryerson and York (Communication and Culture).
Supervisory Committee:
Dr. Kevin Dowler (Supervisor), Dr. Anne MacLennan, Dr. Nick Mulé
Select Publications:
Selling Heaven: Evangelical Natalism in 19 Kids and Counting. Ed. Roberta Garrett, Tracey Jensen and Angie Voela. In: We Need to Talk about Family: Essays on Neo-liberalism, The Family and Popular Culture, 2016.
Select Conference Papers:
Positive Talk: Online Forums, HIV and MSM Sexual Health in the Canadian, Context. IAMCR 2017, Cartagena CO.
Towards Undetectable Stigma: Canadian ASO’s, Health Communication and “AIDS Panic”. CCA/Congress 2017, Toronto ON.
Quilts and Candlelight: Marginalization, Memory, and the Stigmatization of HIV+ Long Term Survivors in Canadian ASO’s. IAMCR 2016, Leicester UK.
Material and Technique: On the Origins of Writing in the Ancient Near-East. CCA/Congress 2016, Calgary AB.
Television as Oracle: Ancient Greek Epigraphy from Dodona and the Modern Soap Opera. Northeast Popular Culture Association Regional Conference 2014, Providence, RI.
Politics and Printing in the Dutch Golden Age: La République des Lettres in the Printing House of Samuel Luchtmans? Technology/Politics 2014, Trent University Graduate Conference, Peterborough, ON.
Narrowing the Gap: Normative Representation of Families and the Limitations of Political Discourse. Popular Culture Association of America National Conference 2014, Chicago, IL.
Conference Chairing:
Co-Chair, Intersections | Cross-Sections 2015
Distinctions:
SSHRC 2016 Doctoral Fellowship
OGS 2016 (Declined)
Waitlisted, Vanier 2015 Competition
Johanna Frazer
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Sophia Goshulak
MA candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Andrew Greer
MA candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Keah Hansen
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Abu Faiz Md Haque
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Degrees:
MA in Communication and Culture, York and Ryerson Joint Graduate Program
MBA in Finance, The People’s University of Bangladesh
MA in English, National University, Bangladesh
Ontario College Graduate Certificate in Videography—Broadcast Journalism/Documentary, Conestoga College
BA (Pass), National University, Bangladesh
Research:
Abu's research interest lies in exploring the boundaries within the discursive practices of socio-political and cultural representations. He is a documentary filmmaker and has been the featured artist in two solo exhibitions. Abu is interested in combining research with creativity—either representing research findings through a creative process or using creativity as a means of inquiry. He is the winner of The Ken Mackenzie Memorial Award & Bell Media Videography Digital Media Award.
Additional Information:
Publication:
Haque, Abu. “Space in Contemporary Cinema: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Manchester by the Sea and The Shape of Water.” The Journal of Communication and Media Studies, vol. 4, no. 1, March 2019, pp. 23-31.
Conference:
46th ICOHTEC Symposium, University of Silesia, Poland
“Technological Mediation: Alienated Bodies”
July 22-29, 2019
International Graduate Student Symposium, York University
“In the Line of Fire: Disposable Body of Labour”
February 21-22, 2019
New Frontiers Graduate Conference in History
“Ambiguity of the Spatiotemporal”
February 21-23, 2019
Third International Conference on Communication & Media Studies, University of Berkeley, CA
“Space in Contemporary Cinema”
October 18-19, 2018
Annual Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences 2018, University of Regina, Canada
“Marginality: Space for Anxiety and Struggle”
May 30-June 1, 2018
Canadian Studies Conference, Carleton University, Canada
“Memory and Erasure: A Subaltern View”
October 28-29, 2016
Film Screening:
Intersections | Cross-sections Conference 2017, Ryerson University
"How the Niqab defeated the Harper Government in the 2015 General Election"
March 10-11, 2017
Documentary Showcase, Princess Twin Cinema
“Finding Mitzi”
April 23, 2014
Exhibition:
Extension of the Self, DRIK Gallery, Dhaka
August 2007
Inside Out: Face of the Time
Zainul Gallery, Institute of Fine Arts, Dhaka University
July 2005
Daniel Harley
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Zaul Hasan
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Emilie Hurst
Emilie Hurst is a first year PhD student in the Communication and Culture departement at York University. She previously obtained a BA (Honours) in Music and Creative Writing from Dalhousie University and an MA in Music and Culture from Carleton University where she explored the role of repetition in the music of Doctor Who through a Deleuzian lens. Her current research interest centres on studying fans of classical music, especially those of the composer Richard Wagner.
Isabel Inclan
MA candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Degrees:
Bachelor degree in Science of Communication. UNAM
Research:
After many years of minimum participation in Canadian politics, the Hispanic Community in Toronto is starting a movement to participate actively and directly in politics in three levels of power. From volunteers to candidates, this visible minority is eager to be more visible and to get more representation. This movement is not being reflected in mainstream media, only in ethnic media. It is necessary to create an alternative product, such as a short documentary, to record this movement.
Additional Information:
Isabel Inclan has worked as a journalist for more than 20 years, in both Mexico and in Canada. She is a collaborator with New Canadian Media. She worked as a Press Office coordinator at the Consulate-General of Mexico in Toronto for seven years (2007-2014). In 2017, in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Canadian Confederation, and in collaboration with the Institute for Creative Exchange, Isabel produced the short video “Canada 150-150 Mexicans,” which portrays Mexicans who are contributing to the development of Canada. The video was screened at seven events in Toronto and Ottawa (https://bit.ly/35pUsoG). In 2016, she organized the first forum of Hispanic journalists at Glendon College with the support of Professor Alejandro Zamora. In 2015, Isabel was honoured as one of the “10 most influential Hispanic Canadians”, an annual award presented by the Canadian Hispanic Alliance.
Aaisha Islam
MA candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Preethi Jagadeesh
MA candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Steve Jankowski
Steve Jankowski is a PhD candidate Communication and Culture at York University. He holds an MA in Communication from the University of Ottawa and a Bachelor of Design from the York / Sheridan Design Program. Steve's current research interests include critical theory, digital epistemologies and new media aesthetics. More specifically he is exploring how the affordances of media have influenced the creation, dissemination, circulation and experience of knowledge.
Lianrui Jia
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Robyn Joffe
MA candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Sohaila Khaliqyar
MA candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Shahbaz Khayambashi
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Shila Khayambashi
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Irina Kovalenko
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Kaitlyn Kribs
Kait Kribs is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Joint Program in Communication and Culture at York University/Ryerson University, and is the recipient of an Ontario Graduate Scholarship (2017-2019). She holds a Master of Arts in Popular Culture and a Bachelor of Arts in Communications, Media and Culture Studies from Brock University. Her current research interests include the political economy of communication and culture, the popular music industries, and creative labour. Under the supervision of Dr. David Skinner, Kait’s doctoral research assesses how digital distribution and marketplace platforms, crowdfunding sites, and content aggregators change the way musician labour is discursively understood and materially practiced in the digital era.
Select Publications and Presentations
Book Review, "Popular Music as Promotion: Music and Branding in the Digital Era," Canadian Journal of Communication, (2018).
Book Review, "(Not) Getting Paid to Do What you Love: Gender, Social Media, and Aspirational Labor," Journal of Cultural Economy, (2018).
Article, “Independent (Net)Work: Musician Labour Under Conditions of Platform Capitalism,” Global Labour Research Centre Graduate Symposium, Proceedings, (2017).
Article, “The Artist-as-Intermediary: Musician Labour in the Digitally Networked Era,” eTopia, Proceedings, (2017).
Presentation, “Independent (Net)Work: Microfunding and Musician Labour in Digitally Networked Capitalism,” at the Canadian Communication Association Annual Meeting, Toronto, ON, June 2017.
Presentation, “Creative & Immaterial Labour In The Networked Era: Indie Music, Digital Distribution and The Artist-as-Intermediary,” Canadian Communication Association, Calgary, AB, June 2016.
Mary Grace Lao
Mary Grace Lao is a PhD candidate in York and Ryerson Universities’ Communication and Culture program. She holds a BSc in Psychology and Exceptionality in Human Learning from the University of Toronto and an MEd from Brock University. Her PhD research looks at gender-based violence and rape culture in the context of social media and if/how it affects the ways that issues of sexual violence and assault are framed in mainstream media. Additional areas of research interest are: politics of representation, Asian studies, online “space”, and surveillance.
Mary Grace was co-chair of ComCult’s annual Intersections | Cross-Sections Conference and Art Exhibit in 2016 and has recently completed summer-long Education Specialist internship with the Shanti Uganda Society, working with midwives on improving maternal and infant health programs in Luwero District, Uganda.
Lisa La Rocca
Lisa La Rocca is a part-time PhD student in the Communication and Culture program at York University. She holds an M.A. in Communication and New Media from McMaster University, where she completed her OGS funded research “The Use of Internet Technologies by Canadian Musicians”. Her current research interests include the Canadian Music Industry, the dichotomy between record labels and independent artists, public music funding in Canada, and concert ticketing platforms.
Lisa La Rocca is currently Director of Operations at independent record label Sonic Unyon Records in Hamilton, which includes producing Hamilton’s Supercrawl festival, and many other live music and cultural events year-round.
Research interests include the Canadian Music Industry, the dichotomy between record labels and independent artists, public music funding in Canada, and concert ticketing platforms
Select conference presentations:
Independent Music and Space: A Study of Independent Musicians and Their Local Music Communities. Screen: Communication Graduate Caucus Conference (Carleton University, 2014)
Has the Independent Musician Been Empowered? Analyzing the Use of Internet Technologies for Music Promotion. TEM 2014: Annual Conference of the Canadian Communication Association (Brock University, 2014)
Supercrawl, a Case Study: The Growth of a Music and Arts Street Festival in Hamilton, Ontario. Colloquium on Urban Arts Festivals in Canada. (McGill University, 2014)
Ryan Legassicke
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Bryn Ludlow
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Degrees:
PhD(c), Communication & Culture, York University (Expected, 2020)
Cert., Health Equity & Diversity, University of Toronto (2019)
M.A., Health and Aging, McMaster University (2012)
B.F.A., Integrated Media, OCAD University (2010)
Research:
Dissertation: "Diverse perspectives on digital stories by former youth in foster care in Canada," https://brynludlow.com/portfolio/dissertation/
Additional Information:
Bryn Ludlow is an artist, and PhD Candidate in the York and Ryerson Joint Graduate Program in Communication and Culture, and an International Affiliate Member at the Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling at Concordia University in Montréal, Quebec. Her research is founded on the interest to apply digital, arts-based health methods, including: body mapping, digital storytelling, and human-centred experience design, as a means to address health disparities among diverse and marginalized populations. Her research is published in: The Medical Post, Ars Medica: A Journal of Medicine, The Arts, and Humanities, The American Journal of Kidney Diseases (AJKD), The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), and Forum: Qualitative Social Research (F-QSR).
Lauren Lyew
MA candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Degrees:
Bachelor of Arts, University of Toronto
Bachelor of Education, University of Toronto
Research:
My thesis will explore the intersection of race, gender, religion, class, and status within the context of hip-hop music in North America. It will consider the implications of hip-hop music as a tool for activism as well as for bridging gaps in the North-American Muslim woman's multiple identities.
research areas of interest:
cultural studies; hybridized identities; critical race theory; intersectionality; social media; gender studies; education; social movements; diaspora studies
Stephanie Mackenzie_Smith
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Mamta Manhas
Ma candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Michael Marlatt
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
George Martin
George Martin is a PhD student in Communication and Culture at York University. His research considers sociological aspects of heritage conservation in cities. This involves examining how notions of historic cultural values are formulated through conversation and debate. George holds a MSc in Conservation from the University Hong Kong and has worked as an urban planning consultant in Toronto and Vancouver.
Daniela Mastrocola
Daniela Mastrocola is a PhD candidate in York University’s Communication and Culture program. She holds an MA in Communication & Social Justice from the University of Windsor, where her OGS-funded research assessed CBC coverage of the Canadian seal hunts from the perspectives of Inuit sealers and animal rights activists. Daniela earned her first BA (Hons.) from the University of Toronto in English and Political Science, and second from York University in Communication Studies.
Daniela’s research and teaching interests include the political economy of communication and culture, alternative and activist media, and communication for social justice. Currently, her research explores the impacts of deregulation and digitalization on campus-community radio stations in Canada. Her recent work “Another One Bites the Dust? The Transition from CHRY 105.5FM to VIBE105” was awarded the CRTC Prize for Excellence in Policy Research.
Before beginning her doctorate, Daniela was the News & Spoken Word Coordinator at CHRY 105.5FM/VIBE105, where she oversaw the creation and dissemination of critical, locally reflective talk-radio content, largely with a social justice orientation.
Autumn Mayes
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Alejando Mayoral Banos
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Samuel McCready
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Ali Mehboob Hirji
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Sophia Melanson
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Immony Men
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Jennifer Meness
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Fizza Mir
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Andrey Miroshnichenko
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Degrees:
Diploma with honours in journalism, 1993.
A degree in linguistics and journalism (PhD equivalent) with the dissertation on semantics of the Soviet media and propaganda, 1996.
Research:
The current PhD dissertation is focused on the media conditions and cultural preconditions of post-truth. Post-truth is explored within the framework of media ecology and the political economy of communications with the application of Marshall McLuhan’s concept of figure/ground analysis. Trumpism, fake news, polarization, along with transformative processes in old, new media and mass consciousness, are also in the focus of the research.
Additional Information:
The author of “Human as media. The emancipation of authorship” (2013) and other books on media, politics and marketing.
Fulbright-Kennan scholar (2012-13). Media futurologist and expert with appearances in The New York Times, BBC, The Huffington Post, The Awl and other media outlets.
The most recent publications:
• Berger, Eva; Logan, Robert K.; Ringel, Anat; and Miroshnichenko, Andrey. (2019). “MEDIACY: A way to enrich media literacy.” Journal of Media Literacy Education, 11(3), 85 -90.
• Samoilenko, Sergei A., and Miroshnichenko, Andrey. (2019). “Profiting From the ‘Trump Bump’: The Effects of Selling Negativity in the Media.” In: Chiluwa, Innocent E., & Samoilenko, Sergei A. (Eds.) Handbook of Research on Deception, Fake News, and Misinformation Online. Pp. 375-391.
• Miroshnichenko, Andrey. (2018). “AI to Bypass Creativity. Will Robots Replace Journalists? (The Answer Is 'Yes').” Information, 9, 183.
• Miroshnichenko, Andrey. (2016). “Extrapolating on McLuhan: How Media Environments of the Given, the Represented, and the Induced Shape and Reshape Our Sensorium.” Philosophies, 1(3), 170-189.
• Miroshnichenko, Andrey. (2015). “Media Ecology as Ecology Contrariwise: Protecting Humans from an Environment.” Systema: connecting matter, life, culture and technology, Vol 3, No 1-2015, 89-104.
Alla Miroshnichenko
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Zahra Nader
MA candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Bahar Nasirzadeh
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Stephen Neville
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Degrees:
Master of Arts, Communication and Culture, York University and Ryerson University
Bachelor of Arts with Honors, Culture and Expression, York University
Research:
Stephen master’s thesis focused on a case study of the Amazon Echo smart speaker to explore developments in the domestication of new technology in relation to issues of consumer privacy and auditory surveillance. Stephen’s ongoing doctoral research interprets digital assistants as technologies of the self that shape neoliberal subjectivity and processes of subjectification through corporate regimes of surveillance.
Additional Information:
Presentations:
November 2019 Digital Citizenship Cultures: Canadian Adversarial Politics, Poster Session for Rubix Research Festival, Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada
June 2019 Surveillance and Big Data on the Home Front for Canadian Communication Association, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
March 2019 Listening In: The Domestication of Voice-controlled Technology for University of Amsterdam, Department of Media Studies, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
March 2019 Listening In: The Domestication of Voice-controlled Technology for Erasmus Research Centre for Media, Communication and Culture, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Gagan Nijjar
MA candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Océane Nyela
MA candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Degrees:
Honours Bachelor of Social Sciences with a Major in Criminology and a Minor in Sociology.
Research:
My research interests sit at the intersections of race and technology. Particularly, I am interested in studying the ways in which the Black Canadians have used technology to create and sustain their identity in relationship with the rest of the Black diaspora.
Amanda Oye
Amanda Oye is a PhD candidate in the Communication and Culture department at York University. She has a Master of Arts degree in Communication from Simon Fraser University and a Bachelor of Journalism degree from Kwantlen Polytechnic University. Her research interests include broadcast policy, public service broadcasting, new media and journalism.
She is the 2016 recipient of the Dalton Camp award for best essay written by a post-secondary student, and a recipient of the SSHRC Joseph Armand-Bombardier CGS Doctoral Scholarship.
Elizaveta Poliakova
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Matthew Poulter
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Fatima Qaraan
MA candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Alanna Quinn
MA candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Ryan Ram
MA candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Grayson Richards
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Richard Rosenbaum
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Daniela Sanzone
Daniela Sanzone is a PhD York student in Communication &
Culture, joint program York/Ryerson Universities. Her research interests are Canadian broadcasting policies, journalism, and third language media. From La Sapienza University in Rome, Italy, she holds two Masters, in Communications Sciences (dissertation: La televisione di servizio – Educational Television), and Cultural Anthropology. Her Bachelor Degree in Literature and Fine Arts ended with a dissertation on History of Cinema and Critique (Realtà italiana e modelli sociali nel cinema di inchiesta del dopoguerra, 1945-1955 - Italian reality and social paradigms in Neorealist Cinema, 1945-1955). Before embracing her academic project on how news should reflect the complexity of the Canadian “interculturalism”, Daniela was a film critic and a journalist. She worked for television and radio, print and online media. In Toronto, she has been a reporter for the Italian newspaper Corriere Canadese, and a News Anchor, On-Air Host, Producer and Reporter for the Italian News broadcast on Omni Television.
Conference papers presented:
- 2014 October – Disconnected journalism: OMNI TV and CityTv unequal space – “Italian Without Borders – Transnational Italian American Experience” – 47th Annual Conference of the Italian American Studies Association, Toronto, University of Toronto.
- 2013 December – How to improve ethnic media in the GTA, the crisis of OMNI TV as a case study – Future Communication Symposium, Toronto, York University.
- 2013 March – A portrait of the present Italian Community in Ontario (Canada), section “Border Studies, Cultural Economy and Migration,” PCA-ACA (Popular Culture Association-American Culture Association), Washington, DC.
- 2006 – Multiculturalism in the World of Mass Media during the Digital Era, Frank Iacobucci Centre for Italian Studies, University of Toronto.
- 2002 – Italy and Italians on the North American silver screen, 79th Congress of the AATI (American association of teachers of Italian), OISE (Ontario Institute for Studies in Education), University of Toronto.
Academic publications:
- Journal Article, “From Mass Media immigration to professional workers – A portrait of the present Italian ‘Comunità’ in Ontario”, Italian Canadiana, Frank Iacobucci Centre for Italian Studies. University of Toronto. (2016)
- Book Review, “The Global Intercultural Communication Reader”, Canadian Journal of Communication, Vol. 40 N. 4 (2015).
- Book Review, “Global Media Ethics: Problems and Perspective”, Canadian Journal of Communication, 39 N.3 (2014).
- Journal Article, “Italian Canadian Mass Media in the Digital Era”, The Virtual Piazza, Special Issue of Italian Canadiana, Frank Iacobucci Centre for Italian Studies. University of Toronto, Vol. 19 (2006).
- Book Research, La “scuola” italiana: storia, strutture e immaginario di un altro cinema (1988-1996) (The Italian “school”: history, structures and imaginary of another cinema). (Pesaro International Film festival). Pesaro (1996).
- Journal Article, “Neorealism as inquiry”. Il ragazzo selvaggio (Wild child). Centro Studi Cinematografici, Rome. April-June. (1995).
Dana Seif
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Shon Shum
MA candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Karen Skardzius
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Hanako Smith
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Sarah Smithies
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Sarah Stang
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Degrees:
Bachelor of Arts (double major in History and Religious Studies) - University of Victoria
Master of Arts (Cinema and Media Studies) - York University
Research:
My research analyses the representation of non-normative female bodies in digital games. More specifically, I examine how games present old, fat, queer, mad, and hybrid women as monstrous others to be confronted and slain by the player-character or avatar. In this sense, I argue that the player is forced to embody a normative representative of patriarchal society and is tasked with slaughtering monstrous characters who are often overtly coded as part of various marginalized identities.
Additional Information:
My work on the monstrous-feminine in games has been published in Press Start, Nordlit, Games and Culture, and is forthcoming in an edited collection on Skyrim. I have also written on the representation of fatherhood and motherhood in games, which has been published in First Person Scholar, Loading, and an edited collection on the BioShock series. My work on agency and player choice in games has been published in Game Studies, and my research on androgynous gender representation in The Legend of Zelda series is forthcoming in Human Technology.
Chad Story
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Stedman Tabiri
MA candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Paula Todd
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Davis Vallesi
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Degrees:
Davis holds a Bachelor of Arts in Digital Media & Journalism (2016) and a Master of Arts in Cultural Analysis & Social Theory (2017), both completed at Wilfrid Laurier University, Brantford campus.
Research:
Davis' research interests include the fields of journalism, political science, and digital media. He is currently working on his doctoral dissertation, which will comprise a comparative analysis of media content related to the 1968 and 2019 Canadian federal elections.
The dissertation committee will include Dr. Anne F. MacLennan (supervisor), Dr. Jonathan Obar, and Dr. Tokunbo Ojo.
Additional Information:
Davis' recent publications include "Framing the Issue: A Critical Examination of Traditional Journalism" as part of the 2019 Intersections Cross-Sections conference proceedings. He also completed a MA major research project titled, "Politics & the Internet: The Impact of Digital Media on Democracy" (2017).
Davis proudly served as the York President of the Communication & Culture Graduate Students Association during the 2019-2020 academic year.
Deepa Venkatesan
MA candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Iris Verschuren
MA candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Carmen Victor
Carmen Victor is a PhD student affiliated with the York/Ryerson Graduate Program in Communication & Culture, supervised by Dr. Janine Marchessault. Her research interests include exhibitions, museum studies, contemporary art, visual culture, experimental film, Arctic cinema, communication studies, critical surveillance studies, critical theories of climate change.
She serves on the board of Directors of YYZ Artists Outlet, is a caucus member of Sensorium: Centre for Digital Arts and Technology and has recently published in Seismopolite: Journal of Art & Politics and Prefix Photo magazine # 32. She has forthcoming chapters in Kelly Richardson: Pillars of Dawn (Art Editions North, University of Sunderland, UK) and Sculpting Cinema (Pleasure Dome).
In 2015 she presented her research at the 103rd College Art Association in New York, the 41st Annual Conference of the Association of Art Historians at the University of East Anglia in the UK, the Film Studies Association of Canada at the University of Ottawa, Visible Evidence XXII at Ryerson University, and Arctic Cinemas and the Documentary Ethos at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In 2016 she was a panelist for the Toronto Film & Media Seminar at the TIFF Lightbox and will present at the Film Studies Association of Canada Annual Conference at the 2016 Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences and others.
She is a recipient of the Anne Simone International Graduate Award (2015) and an Ontario Graduate Scholarship (2016-17).
Lauren Walter
MA candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Jason Wang
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Sisi Wei
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Brianna Weins
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Degrees:
BA, University of Waterloo (Major: Honours Speech Communication; Minors: French and Women's Studies)
MA, University of Colorado Boulder (Communication Studies, specializing in Rhetoric & Culture)
Research:
Brianna I. Wiens's research is motivated by intersectional, queer, and trans feminist politics and sits at the nexus of feminist technoscience, queer affect, and feminist new materialism. Her work takes up these bodies of research to (a) explore and apply intersectional feminist philosophy and practice as a form of techné to (b) ask about the potential of queer and feminist technologies for hashtag activisms, while (c) conceptualizing such technologies and hashtag activisms as pharmakon.
Additional Information:
Wiens is a co-convener of the qcollaborative (http://www.qcollaborative.com/), an intersectional feminist research design lab, and a doctoral candidate in ComCult. She is currently the lead research assistant on a SSHRC Insight Development project on digital aesthetic resistance and a HeforShe Impact study on collaborative and creative feminist approaches for building supportive communities for diverse groups of students across campus under the supervision of Dr. Shana MacDonald at the University of Waterloo. Recently published work includes a paper on “Mobilizing the ‘Multi-Mangle’: Why New Materialist Research Methods in Public Participatory Art Matter” (2019) in the special issue of Leisure Sciences on Posthumanism and a forthcoming article on #MeToo and the poiesis of hashtag feminisms in Feminist Media Studies. Wiens is currently co-editing a collection of essays with Lexington Press on networked feminisms, activist assemblies, and digital practices.
Samantha Whatley
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture
Kyler Zeleny
PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture