Research Interests
English
Literature
After choosing to complete a combined major in English, consisting of both literature and language studies, my focus in the field of English literature is centered around diaspora literatures within a Canadian context and their socio-political impact and children’s literature. Furthermore, I am interested in forms of alternate story-telling, such as the biotext, characterized by Fred Wah’s text Diamond Grill, and graphic novels, such as Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki’s Skim.
Language
My focus in language, stemming from a linguistic background, is internet discourse/rhetorical analysis, with a particular interest in social media and the way arguments are presented in casual, media discourse surrounding politics. Rhetorical and semantic/pragmatic analysis of such forms can be traced back to the Greek classics, and can be seen in conjunction with power rhetoric, often exemplified by Kenneth Burke.
Philosophy
Philosophy grew on me after taking the first year cohort program, ArtsOne. I am mostly interested in Existentialism and Continental philosophy, but I also often spend time researching the problem of enlightenment (re: Kant, Adorno, Horkheimer, and Habermas), and philosophy in literature (re: Dostoevsky, Camus, Kafka).
Gender, Race, and Social Justice
Critical race and sexuality studies have influenced most of my academic decisions post-grade school school. I am most interested in race theory, which builds upon authors such as Fanon, Said, hooks, Butler, Ahmed, and so on.
Interdisciplinarity
In my view, philosophy, language and history cannot be seen apart from each other. There is a very intimate connection between all three streams that branch out into other fields: sociology, political science, art, literature, and so on. This is reflected in my specific research focus: forms of transnational identity and dysphoria in theory and practice (rel: philosophy, gender/race studies, sociology, language).
Selected Works
Conferences
“The Power of the Graphic Novel and the Young Japanese-Canadian Lesbian in Love,” Northwest Undergraduate Conference on Literature, University of Portland, March 2018.
Cooperative Contributions
Crime and Punishment at 150: An outreach program between the University of British Columbia, University of Toronto, and Cambridge University that celebrated Dostoevsky’s 1866 novel 150 years after publication. The piece I published on Lev Shestov’s analysis of the Philosophy of Tragedy can be found here: https://exhibitions.lib.cam.ac.uk/crimeandpunishment/artifacts/07/
Teaching
Student Directed Seminar, Jan-Apr 2018: The Rhetoric and Implications of the 2016 US Presidential Election (co-ordinated with Sana Fatima)
Life, Partially Examined 