Graduate Students

Abdullah Alzubaidi

Doctor of Philosophy - Political Science (Canadian and Comparative Politics)
Supervisor: Dr. Lori Thorlakson

Title: It's All in the Fine Print- Or Is It? An Analysis of the Deliberative Spaces Provided by the Print Media of New Zealand and British Columbia Leading-into Their Respective Electoral Reform Referendums.

The research that I am currently undertaking aims to advance literature on mediated deliberation, referendums, and electoral system change by investigating the coverage provided by major print media publications in both the Oceanic country of New Zealand leading-into their 1992 and 1993 electoral reform referendums, and the Pacific Canadian province of British Columbia before electoral reform referendums that occurred there in 2005 and 2009. This research encompasses several of my areas of research interest, including deliberative democracy, mediated deliberation, the mass media, referendums, electoral reform, and electoral system change.

 

 

 

 

aalzubai@ualberta.ca

 

Meagan Auer

Doctor of Philosophy - Political Science (Gender and Politics; International Relations)
Supervisor: Dr. Linda Trimble & Dr. Siobhan Byrne

Meagan studies the politics of higher education under the supervision of Dr. Rob Aitken. Her interests include graduate education, teaching & pedagogy, program design & delivery, and academic governance. Her dissertation research explores continuity and change in the crisis narratives surrounding higher education. She approaches her research through theories such as affect, neoliberalism, and discipline.

 

Website: https://meaganauer.com/


meauer@ualberta.ca

Kyle Beattie

Doctor of Philosophy - Political Science 
Supervisor: Dr. Rob Aitken

My doctoral dissertation focuses on the field of corruption studies. Whereas most of the discipline of corruption studies has largely focused on developing world corruption, I am interested in the types of corruption that emanate from the developed world. These forms of corruption, which are often much more sophisticated, include illegal wars, economic sanctions, fiat currency manipulation, media control and manipulation of public opinion, and the UN veto vote, among others. I am particularly interested in developing new measurements of corruption using my knowledge of computer programming and large quantitative datasets combined with the Islamic notion of fasad (corruption) as a basis from which to define the term. I speak, write, and/or research in English, Spanish, and Arabic.

 

Website: http://kylebeattie.dx.am/

 

 

 

kbeattie@ualberta.ca

Renée Beausoleil (McBeth)

Doctor of Philosophy - Political Science 
Supervisor: Cressida J. Heyes

Dissertation title: Home in the city: Practical governance for urban housing and support services.

 

My research is focused on co-creating governance resources with individuals connected to urban housing and support services. Employing a feminist decolonial analysis within a community-engaged governance process, this project articulates principles and processes that can assist service organizations and community members in collaborating across differences to address inequity in downtown communities. Through this deeply relational fieldwork, my dissertation introduces and analyses a “practical governance” methodology as a community governance strategy and a theory of political relations.

 

Website: http://cressidaheyes.com/renee-mcbeth/

 

 

rmcbeth@ualberta.ca 

Margot R. Challborn

Doctor of Philosophy - Political Science 
Supervisor: Dr. Lois Harder

I am interested in the governance of intimate life in Canada. My doctoral dissertation examines the ways in which provincial and federal legislation, social policy, and case law regulate kinship, sexuality, and gender with a specific focus on multi-parentage.

Website: https://www.margotchallborn.com/

 


mchallbo@ualberta.ca

Laticia Chapman

Doctor of Philosophy - Political Science (Political Theory and Canadian Politics)
Supervisor: Dr. Roger Epp

My research has been somewhat unsettled and far-ranging, from early modern political thought to literary criticism. From my Masters research, I have an interest in New Materialism, post-colonialism, and poststructuralism. More recently, I have been captivated by Hannah Arendt’s theorization of political community and political space. My dissertation will look at rural libraries in Canada as political spaces, and consider reading as a practice both embedded in and alternative to state-building in 20th century Canada.

 

lvchapma@ualberta.ca

Telisa Courtney

Doctor of Philosophy - Political Science
Supervisor: Dr. Andy Knight

Telisa's research investigates the utility of theatre for development in the reintegration of demobilised child soldiers, and post-conflict reconciliation more broadly. Telisa's geographical interest is in Central and East Africa, specifically Congo and South Sudan. They have done previous research in Kenya and Uganda in their undergrad and masters degree.

 

telisa@ualberta.ca

Chadwick (Chad) Cowie

Doctor of Philosophy: Political Science (Canadian and Comparative Politics)
Supervisor: Dr. Yasmeen Abu-Laban

Title: Complexities and Realities: Indigenous Peoples and Electoral Participation in Canada

As an individual with a mixed background (Anishinaabeg and European), I focus on the following question for my research: Can electoral institutions in Canada be utilized by Indigenous peoples to promote Indigenous interests and integrate Indigenous views - if so, how? Additionally, are there examples elsewhere (such as New Zealand and the Scandinavian states) of institutional design and participation that facilitate Indigenous recognition? The aforementioned question relates well to my areas of research interest: Indigenous/Canadian Relations and Politics; Institutional Change; Elections, Voting and Behaviour; Political Parties; Politics of Identity; Sovereignty; Citizenship; and Federalism.

Website: ca.linkedin.com/in/chadwick-cowie-2027507b



 

crcowie@ualberta.ca

Dax D'Orazio

Doctor of Philosophy - Political Science
Supervisor: Dr. Yasmeen Abu-Laban

Title: Is University the Opposite of Diversity? Controversial Political Issues and Freedom of Speech in Canadian Universities

My project asks a broad question: how are our ideas about freedom of speech changing in the contemporary university? On the one hand, universities are assumed to be bastions of free intellectual inquiry, where difficult and controversial issues can and should be discussed. On the other hand, universities have been accounting for their exclusionary nature and perhaps more than ever recognize that the pursuit of knowledge is not morally neutral. Engaging with a range of political theory, the project seeks to map the different rationales for speech restriction to understand how and why certain claims of harm and victimhood are (in) validated through political contestation. It is grounded by three case studies that each represent different types of contestation on contemporary university campuses: student activist groups, controversial professors, and political pundits.



dorazio@ualberta.ca

Anas Fassih

Doctor of Philosophy - Political Science (International Relations, Comparative Politics)
Supervisor: Dr. Mojtaba Mahdavi

My broad research interests fall at the nexus between international relations and comparative politics with a chief emphasis on third world security, political economy of energy, postcolonial analysis, and global North-South energy relationships (post-petroleum) as either political dependence, independence or both. In my PhD thesis, I aim to unravel the complexity of how energy systems, petroleum or solar (or hydroelectric), concentrate rather than disperse power and shape particular kinds of state's sovereignty in the Twenty-first century.


fassih@ualberta.ca

Stacey Haugen

Doctor of Philosophy - Political Science
Supervisors: Dr. Roger Epp & Dr. Sandra Rein

My research examines the challenges and benefits of refugee resettlement and integration in rural communities in Canada and Europe.

Website: www.linkedin.com/in/stacey-haugen-b96501173

 

shaugen@ualberta.ca 

Noelle Jaipaul

Doctor of Philosophy - Political Science
Supervisor: Cressida Heyes

Noelle's research is focused on the political and ethical challenges and opportunities presented by outer space exploration. In particular, Noelle's research aims to develop a deeper understanding of the Overview Effect in relation to its utility in cosmopolitan theory, and to then assess whether social justice behaviours can be enhanced through creative imitation or abstraction of the Overview Effect.

 

 

ljaipaul@ualberta.ca

Danika Jorgensen-Skakum

Doctor of Philosophy - Political Science
Supervisor: Dr. David Kahane

Danika is a Michif scholar whose work focuses primarily on the environmental and algorithmic entanglements of politics in Alberta. Danika also writes on (re)composition, death, and what it means to become in the context of the so-called Anthropocene. She has collaborated on a research-creation project with Jessie Beier, THE FUTURE OF FOOD IS ______ since 2017.

 

 

jorgense@ualberta.ca

Ehsan Kashfi

Doctor of Philosophy - Political Science
Supervisor: Dr. Mojtaba Mahdavi

My research is about the manifold state-sponsored attempts to reconstruct Shia identity in the post-revolutionary Iran, seeking to delineate the discursive processes and institutions through which Shi'ism is evoked and restored to articulate a hegemonic narrative of identity, securing political support and cementing legitimacy.


kashfi@ualberta.ca

kashfi@ualberta.ca

Emrah Keskin

Doctor of Philosophy - International Relations
Supervisor: Dr. Siobhan Byrne

My current research focuses on the impact of mental health trauma on post-conflict reconciliation.

keskin@ualberta.ca

William Kujala

Doctor of Philosophy - Political Science
Supervisor: Dr Catherine Kellogg

My research is at the boundary between political theory and international relations. My PhD project examines how revolutionary Black and anticolonial internationalisms in the US understood North America's unique situation in the era of decolonization. Other research interests include: dialectical political thought, empire and race in IR, and theories and critiques of sovereignty.

 

wkujala@ualberta.ca

Samantha Papuha

Doctor of Philosophy - Political Science 
Supervisor: Dr. Lori Thorlakson

Through comparative visual discourse analysis, my work addresses constructions of refugee victimhood in Canadian and Italian television news. I am particularly interested in addressing how national media environments impact both who is seen as a deserving victim, and the public's later support for refugee resettlement initiatives.

papuha@ualberta.ca 

Rissa-Wilissa Reist

Doctor of Philosophy - Political Science (Gender and Politics and Canadian Politics)
Supervisor: Dr. Linda Trimble

Brief description of work: My dissertation research explores how political humour responds to gendered and racialized forms of violence in contemporary Canada. Using a combination of critical discourse analysis and activity-based focus groups, my methodology disaggregates humour into two components: the meanings communicated by humour and the reception of it by audiences. Through this research, my goal is to understand how political humour in Canada reinforces and/or contests gendered and racialized hierarchies by marking some acts of violence normal and humorous while others as unacceptable.

wilissa@ualberta.ca

Daisy Raphael

Doctor of Philosophy - Political Science
(Gender and Politics and Canadian Politics)

Vanier Canada Graduate Scholar (2013)
Supervisor: Dr. Lois Harder

Title: Feeling Canadian: Affect, Citizenship, and Government in Canada

My research explores concepts of citizenship and nation in contemporary Canada through the lens of affect theory. Examining national narratives and origin myths under Harper and Trudeau, I want to trace the ways in which our relationships to the nation are governed via our feelings, whether of belonging or exclusion, for instance.

Geoff Salomons

Doctor of Philosophy - Political Science 
Supervisor: Jared Wesley

My research investigates the long-term challenges of Alberta's non-renewable wealth governance. From Premier Lougheed to Premier Klein, it examines how Alberta has collected, saved, and distributed it's oil and gas revenue, explains why key policy changes occurred during this period, and unpacks the distributional consequences for both present and future generations.

Website: geoffsalomons.wordpress.com

Elise Sammons

Doctor of Philosophy - Political Science
Supervisor: Dr. Siobhan Byrne

In my research, I'm interested in exploring how memory, both individual and collective, intersects with politics. In my doctoral dissertation project, I am tracing public remembering of the 1939 voyage of the M.S. St. Louis, which has come to symbolize North American apathy to the fate of European Jews in the 1930s. Through a longitudinal and comparative study of this memory, my research contributes to our knowledge of the legacy of this significant historical event, but also contributes to debates about what constitutes political memory, and to methodologies for studying memory.

esammons@ualberta.ca 

Luke Sandle

Doctor of Philosophy - Political Science
Supervisor: Dr. Catherine Kellogg

Dissertation Title: Natality and Fidelity: Politics in a New Ontological Mode

My work lies in the fields of political ontology, continental political thought and radical democratic theory. I am writing my dissertation on the ontological claims found in the thought of Hannah Arendt and Alain Badiou. My argument is that the use of the terms ‘natality’ (Arendt) and ‘fidelity’ (Badiou) to theorize political subjectivity and political action represent a methodological exemplarity when it comes to work on the philosophy of the political. I thus oppose the work of Arendt and Badiou to a wide swathe of authors who have also claimed to express the fundamental logic of politics, such as Ernesto Laclau, Chantal Mouffe, Jean-Luc Nancy, Giorgio Agamben, and Jacques Rancière.

 

sandle@ualberta.ca

 

Doctor of Philosophy - Political Science
Supervisor: Dr.Lori Thorlakson

Broadly interested in social science methodologies, I have been focusing on quantitative methods & automated textual analysis. My doctoral research looks at the carbon tax as a climate mitigation policy from a perspective of political communications and policy design.

Website: https://sites.google.com/ualberta.ca/sleptcov

 

nikita_sleptcov.png

sleptcov@ualberta.ca

Noureddin Zaamout

Doctor of Philosophy - Political Science
Supervisor: Dr. Mojtaba Mahdavi-Ardekani

I am a PhD candidate in political science, specializing in comparative politics and international relations. My research examines how conflict changes the space for pluralist ideas and projects in societies undergoing conflict, focusing on Syria as a case study.

 

Website: www.researchgate.net/profile/Noureddin-Zaamout

 


zaamout@ualberta.ca

David Baxter

Master of Arts - Political Science
Supervisor: Dr. Fiona Nicoll

Using my background as an academic librarian, I study the political economy of the production of knowledge about gambling and problem gambling. My project focuses on comparing gambling research published in academic journals and books to gambling evidence produced as "grey literature", such as government publications, think tank reports, and case law.

 

 

dbaxter@ualberta.ca

Alicia Bednarski

Master of Arts - Political Science
Supervisor: Dr. Yasmeen Abu-Laban

My research interests include the politics of gender, race, migration, and citizenship. For my thesis research, I am examining political and news media rhetoric surrounding the alleged practice of foreign women coming to Canada to give birth and contextualizing these discourses within gendered and racialized notions of what Canadian citizenship should look like.


 

abednars@ualberta.ca

Sagnik Guha

Master of Arts - Political Science
Supervisor: Dr. Greg Anderson

My research interests largely relate to the field of International Relations and International Political Economy. I am interested in the discourse surrounding global development and institutions of global governance. Specifically, I am interested in studying the impact of these institutions on the global South (particularly Asia) and examining shifts in developmental paradigms concurrent to the rise of India, China and the dynamic geopolitics of Asia. Understanding the complex interplay of factors underlying the interactions of these emerging economies with the 'old order' of the 20th century forms an important part of my research interests.


guha@ualberta.ca

guha@ualberta.ca

Sayeh Yousefi

Master of Arts - Political Science Course-Based
Supervisor: Dr. Siobhan Byrne

I am researching the influence of political advisors on political decision-making, looking specificaly at former U.S. Presidents.

 

yousefi1@ualberta.ca

Melanie Dene

Master of Arts in Policy Science
Supervisor: Dr. Isabel Altmirano

My interests are how legislative policies impact Indienous women in on/off reserve communities.

mdene@ualberta.ca

Amissa Jablonski

Master of Arts in Policy Studies
Supervisor: Dr. Jared Wesley

Focus on municipal policy and Alberta.

   

amissa@ualberta.ca

Justine Keefer

Master of Arts in Policy Studies
Supervisor: Matthew Wildcat

Focusing research and practicum work on the use of the duty to consult by industry in Alberta as it impacts Indienous communities. This includes a specific focus on potential impacts of the new coal policy, as well as Canada's new guidelines under IAAC.


 

keefer@ualberta.ca