On Thursday, Ewa Modlinska, an MES student in environmental studies, and Alex Todd, an MA candidate in geography, will share their observations on the panel, in 120E Stedman Lecture Hall from 3 to 5pm.聽

Right: 91亚色 delegates, from left, MES student Ewa Modlinska, Curtis Kuunuaq Konek and Jordan Konek from the Arviat Youth Project, and MA student Alex Todd

The COP 17 Debrief panel is hosted by 91亚色鈥檚 , which, as a non-government organization, successfully applied for delegate status to the conference, and sponsored Modlinska and Todd.聽

Modlinska will speak about the importance of listening at international climate change conferences. It is the topic of her fourth and final posted about the conference.聽

is short for the 17th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Established in 1992, it meets annually to set intergovernmental frameworks for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and mitigating climate change. COP 17 took place from Nov. 28 to Dec. 9.

Modlinska went back and forth between the official conference inside聽and meetings organized by聽NGOs and other interest groups outside. She heard 鈥渁 plurality of voices bringing different perspectives to the issue of climate change.鈥� Official delegates focused on equity and development rights, while the protesters stressed climate justice, she said. 鈥淭he biggest problem,鈥� she told YFile, 鈥渨as that there was not enough interaction between inside and outside.鈥� Inside, they were proposing market-based mechanisms to mitigate climate change, profit-based solutions opposed by those outside.

Todd spent most of his time with protesters, so will have a different perspective on the conference, says Modlinska.

On the panel with her and Todd will be three others. Youth delegate April Dutheil attended the conference to set up a booth about how climate change is affecting Arviat, her home on the shores of Hudson Bay. From the Faculty of Environmental Studies, Professor Ellie Perkins specializes in globalization and the environment, and postdoctoral fellow Rachel Hirsch, in climate change and food insecurity in the North.

If you cannot attend the panel discussion, join the conversation聽.

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

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For 91亚色聽architectural historian, Professor聽Shelley Hornstein (right), the relationship between memory and place has been a source of fascination for much of her academic career. Hornstein, who teaches architectural history and visual culture in 91亚色鈥檚 Faculty of Fine Arts, has authored a new book on the subject.聽 Losing Site: Architecture, Memory and Place (Ashgate 2011) examines the relationship between memory and place and asks how architecture聽acts as a springboard to聽our memories.

Hornstein will launch Losing Site: Architecture, Memory and Place at a special event聽at the Gladstone Gallery located on the upper floor of Toronto's Gladstone Hotel on Sunday, Dec. 18. The launch will take place from 6 to 8pm and all are welcome.

In Losing Site, Hornstein聽explores how architecture exists as a material object and how it registers as a place that we come to remember beyond the physical site itself.聽She questions what architecture is in the broadest sense, assuming that it is not just buildings.聽The book聽connects architecture with geography, visual culture and urban studies.聽It explores the infinite variations of how architecture maps our physical, mental or emotional space.

The book's title reflects Hornstein's understanding of culture, place and memory. "We've lost sight of what it means to be in a place, to experience, to know聽the physicality of a place," she says. "Losing Site plays with the ideas that bring together site and sight. How does architecture trigger memory?"

Each chapter explores this concept by providing聽a different example of the many ways that the physical place of architecture is curated by the architecture in our mental space, or聽what Hornstein calls our "imaginary toolbox" that we use when we remember or think of a place, look at a photograph,聽visit a site and describe it later to someone else or write about it on a postcard.

Right: From Losing Site, Dani Karavan, Passages - Homage to Walter Benjamin, 1994, Portbou, Spain.聽Photograph聽by Shelley Hornstein

"Architecture is much broader than we imagine. It is not too much of an exaggeration to say that architecture is not only about buildings, but also about the construction of our physical landscape and how we relate to it鈥hat our bodies do and mean in those spaces, as well as the mental maps and architectural constructions we build everyday in our minds聽and the worlds we build visually as we read fiction, for example,"聽says Hornstein.

She notes that even a hedge dividing a garden from a road traces a line that not only divides a space into two places, but creates two new places that did not exist before. "We builds, demolish and shape space into architectural places that are meaningful to us," says Hornstein. "When those places disappear, do we remember them?"

Hornstein describes the聽project as the result of 10 years of writing and teaching that she never realized was a book all along. Writing the text was made possible after she was awarded the Walter L. Gordon Fellowship.

There were two challenges she encountered when writing the book. The first was how to knit together a series of seemingly unrelated case studies into a cohesive manuscript. The second was trying to convince herself that introducing聽what she thought was a wild and crazy idea about architecture to both the specialized architecture communities as well as the general public was indeed possible.

"What fascinated me while researching this book was that no matter who I would describe it to, each person responded with a personal story about the way they remembered a certain place," she says. "A wonderful book would be to record each of those responses!"

Following the launch, Hornstein will turn her attention to an international聽workshop she is organizing to orchestrate a course to be taught by 10 different colleagues in 10 different cities and countries on the theme "Starlets and Starchitecture: Women, Celebrity and Architecture Across Borders". She is also starting a book on the topic of demolition, which she describes as "an assemblage of case studies that riff on what it means to intentionally demolish architecture."

Losing Site: Architecture, Memory and Place is part of the Ashgate Studies in Architecture. The 182-page book includes 17 black-and-white illustrations.

By Jenny Pitt-Clark, YFile editor

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

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For Swannie Chan, a fourth-year geography student who really wanted field experience, the choice was clear: 鈥淒o I want to go to Hawaii or Black Creek Village? It was a no brainer.鈥�

In mid-August, Chan,聽Zoe Davis, a聽fourth-year environmental science student,聽and 16 other 91亚色 undergraduates packed their swimming suits and hiking boots and flew to Honolulu then on to Maui. For the next eight days, they went all over the island on excursions led by geography Professors Kathy Young and Peter Vandergeest, and graduate assistant Jane Assini.

Left: Zoe Davis collecting data on the Maui coast. Photo by Dawn Ho.

Blue skies, brilliant stars and tropical heat tempered by gentle ocean breezes made for an idyllic visit 鈥� perfect for doing the research they鈥檇 come to do. For undergraduates used to textbook learning and case studies, this experience was like reality TV. 鈥淚 thought it would be like 鈥淟ost鈥�,鈥� said Chan. Maui residents Woody Harrelson and Willie Nelson eluded them, but they came home three credits richer, $3,000 poorer, keener than ever and a little聽changed.

For geographers, the appeal of Maui is its diverse topography. Less urbanized than Oahu but still a magnet for celebrities drawn to its sand and surf, the island features everything from desert to tropical rainforest, and volcanoes to vast beaches. On one coast, giant waves draw the world鈥檚 most fanatic surfers, on the other, coral reefs lure snorkellers to an underwater paradise. There is ample evidence of climate change 鈥� a rising sea and persistent drought聽鈥� and tourism has affected the island鈥檚 culture and environment.

What a motherlode of research聽possibilities. The human geographers, like Chan, could study the effect of tourism on the culture. The physical geographers, like聽Davis (she's in the physical stream of聽environmental science), could analyze聽data they collected on聽beach erosion, air temperature, water quality and quantity, and wind energy.

Based in South Kihei on the southwest coast, the students piled into three vans for daily excursions and field trips to all corners of the island.

Right: Sunrise above the clouds on Mount Haleakala. Photo by Kathy Young.

鈥淚 put my research cap on when I left and actually liked doing the trip as a geographer,鈥� said Chan, who鈥檚 travelled the world as a tourist.

The students studied beach erosion on the north and west shores, and learned about volcanoes and lava flows on a trip to Mount Haleakala, one of two volcanoes on Maui. Kathy Young woke them at 2am one morning for a bike excursion up the volcano. Along the way, they measured temperature, and wind and water quality, surfacing above the clouds in time to see the sun rise. They endured hours over rough roads to remote Hana and Lahaina to visit tropical rain forest and desert, and enjoyed a traditional luau celebration. They tasted medicinal plants in botanical gardens, saw sugar cane plantations, visited a taro farm and took an ecotour snorkelling around coral reef. 鈥淭he water was so clear, I felt like I was watching TV,鈥� said Chan. 鈥淚t was one of the highlights of the trip.鈥�

Rangers took them into Ahihi-Kinau Natural Area Reserve, 90 per cent of which is off limits to the public. This fact inspired Chan鈥檚 project聽鈥� a survey of people in nearby Wailea about their knowledge of and opinion of restricted access to the reserve, a sacred Hawaiian heritage site bordering a pristine coral reef.

Davis, on the other hand, was investigating the mitigating influence of coral reefs on beach erosion and, by extension, the potential of rock walls to prevent聽this erosion. 鈥淚t was such an amazing opportunity to be in the field on site designing my own project, analyzing my own data. There is nothing like doing your own work. You never get this experience in the classroom.鈥�

Left: Swannie Chan interviews Ranger Joe.

For聽an environmental science student such as Davis, 鈥渢his trip was a test to see if I could love research and hack it in the field.鈥澛燗fter a three-and-a-half-hour trek 3,000 metres up the side of a cinder cone, getting up at 2am to see sunrise from the top of a volcano, and lugging heavy equipment then improvising when it broke, she thinks she could.

Each student had to do an individual project and a group project. 鈥淲e got a taste of so many different kinds of research,鈥� said Davis. 鈥淚t can change your career. I realized if you work hard you can do some amazing things. It changed my trajectory, but not my direction.鈥� Now she鈥檚 dreaming of doing research in the Arctic.

鈥淭he trip was once in a lifetime,鈥� says Chan, who is majoring in geography and finishing an education degree at the same time. She intends to stick to her plans to teach primary or junior school.聽The Scarborough resident tried passionfruit and guava for the first time, was amazed at the brilliant night sky and loved spending every day outside. 鈥淏eing able to experience nature like I did in Hawaii is something I want to take into the classroom.鈥�

鈥淗awaii was a really cool trip,鈥� says Young. 鈥淚 learned so much and I think the kids were all really energized by it.鈥�

Right: Sliding Sand Trail, Mount Haleakala. Photo by Kathy Young.

The advanced field course in physical geography is brand new. It was funded with $15,000 from the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies. If Young can get more funding, next year she hopes to聽take geography students to聽another, though less balmy,聽volcanic island聽鈥� Iceland.

By Martha Tancock, YFile contributing writer.

Republished courtesy of YFile 鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

The post Geography students take first-ever research field trip to Maui appeared first on Research & Innovation.

Research grants cover most of these expenses, but聽the geography graduate student聽welcomes the $15,000 she won as this year鈥檚 master鈥檚-level recipient of the Garfield Weston Award for Northern Research. The money聽will聽help cover her tuition fees, books and living expenses. "It was definitely nice to get it."

The award is one of many scholarships presented by the Canadian Northern Studies Trust on behalf of the .

Right: Liz Miller on a dig

Miller is the second 91亚色 geography graduate student to win it in two years. Last year, Anna Abnizova (BSc Spec. Hons. '05, MSc '07) was the doctoral-level recipient.

Both students are researching northern wetlands under the supervision of Arctic hydrologist Kathy Young, a geography professor in 91亚色鈥檚 Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies.

Last week, Miller returned to Toronto after three months studying the water flow of two hill streams that drain into the Polar Bear Pass wetland. It was her third trip to the North, her first to conduct her own research.

In the summer of 2009, Abnizova聽chose her as a field assistant to measure water levels, surface area and carbon fluxes聽in wetland ponds fed by snowmelt in this protected wildlife sanctuary.

Left: Liz Miller out 'fishing'

Their research adds to a growing understanding of the effect of climate change on the North. Polar Bear Pass is an oasis of vegetation in the middle of a polar desert. Its plant life nourishes insects, migratory birds and mammals, from lemming and fox to muskox and caribou, not to mention the polar bears that migrate through this protected wildlife area. That plant life depends on the sustainability of the wetland ponds, on the snowmelt and water flow.

Miller鈥檚 love of nature began as a child growing up in rural New Brunswick. She helped her father garden and went on camping and hiking trips across Canada with her parents. Unsure what to study after high school in Toronto, she enrolled at 91亚色 because the Environmental Science Program offered such variety. She could take biology, geography, ecology and conservation and learn about everything from soils and hydrology to plants and animals. Her first taste of the Arctic came after third year when she helped Professor Rick Bello measure carbon release from peatlands in Churchill, Manitoba.

But, until Abnizova invited her to be a field assistant last year, Miller never imagined returning to the Arctic. For three years after earning a bachelor of science in 2006, she had hopped from one government contract to another. She still hasn鈥檛 narrowed her interest to a single field, but can boast a wealth of experience in conservation聽鈥� assessing wetlands, mapping endangered-plant sites, doing surveys of red-shouldered hawks and forest inventories, evaluating the health of streams, restoring wetlands and planting trees.

Right: Rifle-totaing Liz Miller takes no chances in Polar Bear Pass

This week, Miller climbed aboard yet another plane to see Europe for the first time. In three weeks, she鈥檒l return to finish her master鈥檚 degree and then decide whether to do a doctorate.

After witnessing the wildlife聽鈥� caribou in particular 鈥� in Polar Bear Pass, she may branch into a broader investigation of the relationship between聽physical geography (land and water)聽and the biological community. 鈥淚 like figuring out why plants grow where they grow and animals are where they are.鈥�

By Martha Tancock, YFile contributing writer

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

The post Geography graduate student Elizabeth Miller wins northern research award appeared first on Research & Innovation.

If you鈥檙e United Way of 91亚色 Region (UWYR), you collaborate with 91亚色鈥檚 Knowledge Mobilization Unit.

This summer, three 91亚色 students will gain valuable experience through internships with UWYR鈥檚 Community Engagement聽& Research Committee.

As part of their experience with the UWYR, the interns will聽review literature focusing on the impact of growth and change on human services and various responses to address its impact. They will also聽conduct social asset mapping within 91亚色 Region鈥檚 identified geographies of growth. And finally, they will聽identify, refine and pilot potential neighbourhood assessment tools for future consultation and engagement activities with residents, community groups, service providers and聽other key stakeholders.

Their findings will inform the way in which UWYR plans and delivers investments in communities experiencing rapid growth to further its community impact: helping youth grow up strong, enabling individuals and families to achieve economic independence, and improving the well-being of individuals and communities.

The graduate student interns bring a variety of social science research experience to bear on this project.

Jessica Carriere, who聽is working with Professor Gerda Wekerle in the Faculty of Environmental Studies, is researching the social aspects of city planning within major Canadian cities as she works toward completing the Master in Environmental Studies Planning Program. She hopes to work in social planning and development at the municipal level, assisting in the creation of new policy-led strategies aimed at strengthening public involvement in decision-making processes and encouraging investment in social infrastructure.

Left: Jessica Carriere

Nausheen Quayyum, has completed a master of arts in development studies under the supervision of Professors Ananya Mukherjee Reed and Eduardo Canel and will begin doctoral studies in the fall. She has previous experience as a research intern working with (Dhaka), (Toronto) and the University of Toronto鈥檚 Health聽& Human Rights Program.

Right: Nausheen Quayyum

Silvia D鈥橝ddario is a doctoral student in the聽Graduate Program in Geography. Under Professor Valerie Preston鈥檚 supervision, D鈥橝ddario was a graduate researcher on the 91亚色聽Infrastructure Project, which assessed the supply and demand of social infrastructure for three vulnerable populations 鈥� recent immigrants, low-income residents and seniors in 91亚色 Region. Her doctoral studies explore the gendering and racializing intersections of work and residence for immigrants in suburban Toronto.

Left: Silvia D鈥橝ddario

The Knowledge Mobilization Unit鈥檚 internship program, funded in part by a Social Sciences聽& Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Knowledge Impact in Society grant, awards 12 internships each year to 91亚色 graduate students based on an internal competition.

More than聽24 students have been placed to date, including 91亚色 alumna Tammy Lowe (n茅e Miller) (MA 鈥�08) who was supervised by Professor Barbara Crow while completing her master of arts in communication聽& culture. Through her internship placement with , Lowe used her聽master's class and thesis work to conduct a needs assessment to understand and inform a communications strategy and new Web site for the non-profit organization. Lowe was recently hired as a campaign manager with UWYR.

Right: Tammy Lowe

With the SSHRC grant now concluded, the internship program is jointly supported by UWYR and the Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation. It is just one way in which UWYR and 91亚色 work together to make research accessible and of benefit to 91亚色 Region residents.

鈥淲e share with 91亚色 a vision for a healthy and sustainable 91亚色 Region that uses evidence-based research to inform support for public services,鈥� says Daniele Zanotti, CEO of United Way of 91亚色 Region. 鈥淔or us, knowledge mobilization is priceless.鈥�

Submitted by David Phipps, director of the Office of Research Services, and Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer

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Those questions and more are at the heart of , a new collection of essays edited by 91亚色 history Professor Myra Rutherdale published this spring by McGill-Queen鈥檚 University Press.

The book examines the crucial role women have played in health and medicine as nurses and midwives, particularly in the remote geographical areas that dominate Canada鈥檚 landscape. As the book's editor, Rutherdale assembled a national contingent of scholars from nursing, women鈥檚 studies, geography, native studies and history to supply the essays and anecdotes that are contained within its pages. The result is a comprehensive volume that provides insight and understanding into the two centuries of history and courage of the women working on the front lines of health care and medicine in Canada鈥檚 remote communities.

"I was inspired to gather these works together into one collection because I was made aware that there were many scholars working on the history of outpost nursing and midwivery in rural Canada," says Rutherdale. "It struck me that there would be common themes across the country and across the two centuries explored in this book. Most particularly I thought that the perspective of 鈥榯he periphery鈥� would be useful to explore."

"Were these women, especially the trained nurses, acting as agents of the state or in the best interests of agencies like the Red Cross? To what extent were they actually autonomous?" asks Rutherdale. "And, were they merely reinforcing the sometimes racist and social inequities that seemed to be part of many of the federal government schemes?"

Left: Myra Rutherdale

"Did they, for example, work with midwives from northern communities, and how did they respond to medical traditions which were already established in the communities before their arrival? What motivated these women nurses and midwives to take up their work in the first place?"聽notes Rutherdale.聽"Were they just looking for adventure or were they women who wanted to advance in their chosen careers?"

The essays contained in the book also explore themes of religion, colonialism, social divisions and native-newcomer relations. Special attention is paid by Rutherdale to nursing in Aboriginal communities and the relations of race to medical work, particularly in connection to ideas of British ethnicity and conceptualized meanings of whiteness.

Rutherdale聽looks at the experience of nurses in Newfoundland and Labrador, northern Saskatchewan, northern British Columbia and the Arctic. The book features essays on topics such as Mennonite midwives in Western Canada, missionary nurses and Aboriginal nursing assistants in the Yukon.

"There were many interesting submissions and several fascinating stories. The Mennonite midwives explored [in an essay] by University of Waterloo history Professor Marlene Epp were especially interesting since they were so integral to the communities in which they worked. Not only were they midwives but they also worked as undertakers and arranged bodies for funeral rites," says Rutherdale.

Right: A nursing station in Iqaluit

What she discovered in compiling the book was that creativity was a key attribute for the women profiled within Caregiving on the Periphery. "The midwives and nurses who worked on the periphery had to work often alone, or sometimes with just one partner, and they had to work quickly to ensure the survival of their patients," says Rutherdale. "They did not necessarily have the opportunity to consult doctors or to speak with teams. They had to do their best under some harsh circumstances. They had to be skilled and confident in themselves. Nurses were trained 鈥榥ot to diagnose,鈥� but they often found themselves having to do just that, and quickly. They were tested in these communities and had to work hard."

That quality of creativity was also a key element for some of the research that went into the book, says Rutherdale, as there were challenges associated with the fact that some of the nurses, midwives and patients did not leave聽detailed primary source material. "As is evident from this collection, there are some very innovative ways to get around this frustrating lack of evidence," says Rutherdale. She cites an article by Judith Young, professor emerita of nursing at the University of Toronto. "One example of this is the excellent article by Judith Young who researched midwives in 19th-century Toronto. She used directories and land purchase records as well as other official documents to trace the existence of these fascinating midwives 鈥� records that might not be turned to for the questions which she ultimately answered. Sometimes one has to be innovative and creative to find traces of the human past."

Rutherdale also drew on the creativity of her 19-year-old son when she was seeking an appropriate title for the book. "I always find titles rather challenging. I had several titles, most of which were not favoured by family, colleagues or publishers," says Rutherdale. "Finally, I hashed it out with my son who has two parents who are historians so he has heard his fair share about Canadian history throughout his life. He thought Caregiving on the Periphery made a lot of sense given what the authors were trying to highlight in their collective works. And how does one disagree with an opinionated 19-year-old?"

Above:聽Donalda McKillop Copeland with her interpreter and his friends, Southampton Island, early 1950s.聽Rutherdale is researching the experiences of McKillop Copeland.

Rutherdale teaches Canadian history, with a special focus on 20th-century Canada and native-newcomer relations in the Department of History in 91亚色's Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies. She also teaches聽courses on the history of the body and Canadian women's history.

Her current research project is on the history of the introduction of westernized medicine into northern Aboriginal communities. "I look at the history of traditional medicine and ask what changes took place when doctors and nurses moved to northern communities to establish nursing stations and small hospitals," she says. "Northern Canada is still woefully under-served in terms of access to health care and there are many inequities that still exist in northern communities. The infant mortality rate is high, and women are still being sent to the south to deliver their children. This is ridiculous in 2010."

Caregiving on the Periphery is available online through , and .

By Jenny Pitt-Clark, YFile editor

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

The post Professor Myra Rutherdale's new book examines women's role in health and medicine appeared first on Research & Innovation.

Vanessa Lamb (right), a second-year doctoral candidate in geography, is the 2010 Vivienne Poy Asian Research Award recipient. Her research interests include the politics of the environment and development, feminist political ecology and critical science studies.

Lamb received her master's degree from the University of Wisconsin, where she researched and studied the interdisciplinary understandings of conservation. Prior to attending 91亚色, she worked for the Bangkok-based organization TERRA, a regional non-governmental organization (NGO) that works on environmental issues within the Mekong Region. As a doctoral student she has worked as part of the Challenges of Agrarian Transition in Southeast Asia project team.

The award funds will assist Lamb in her dissertation fieldwork during the 2010-2011 academic year. Her research looks at knowledge-making and claim-making practices around resources of the Nu-Salween River, which supports an estimated six million people in China, Burma and Thailand as a source of livelihood and food. She will conduct interviews with local residents, activists, engineers and others connected to a large hydroelectric development project along the river at the Thai-Burma border. Specifically, her research will consider how different knowledges produced about the river interact and influence decision-making processes around development.

The award is named for Canadian Senator Vivienne Poy. It assists a graduate student in fulfilling the fieldwork requirement for the Graduate Diploma in Asian Studies.

Ei Phyu Han (left) and Rae Mitchell are the 2010 YCAR Language Award recipients. Han, a doctoral candidate in geography, will study Thai, while Mitchell, a master's candidate in social聽& political thought, will use the funding to study Hindi in anticipation of her 2010 fieldwork in India.

Han is examining gender identity formation of Karen refugees from Burma along the Thai-Burma border to learn how it is influenced by different actors and power groups at multiple sites of displacement.聽Her research aims to demonstrate how identity is influenced by place and therefore shifts during the process of being displaced because it is continually being renegotiated. This research has the potential to help improve resettlement programs, and she hopes it can play a role in future Canadian refugee policy changes.

"Although I am now a Canadian citizen, I migrated to Canada at the age of six from Burma with my family in the aftermath of the brutal repression of peaceful demonstrations in 1988," says Han. "I believe that this project is important not only for the ways that it can influence policy and resettlement program changes, and its engagement and contribution to academic knowledge, but also because it is integral to learning more about the growing humanitarian crisis in Burma."

She completed her coursework and set the foundations for her fieldwork in the summer of 2009 in Chiang Mai, Thailand, by making contacts with NGOs and by taking Thai language courses. The YCAR Language Award will assist in the continuation of these studies. She will begin her fieldwork this month working with the Thailand Burma Border Consortium, Women's Education for Advancement & Employment and the Karen Youth Organization.

Right: Rae Mitchell

Mitchell's research interests include resistance, social movement theory, engaged Buddhism and social anarchism. Her current research focuses on Gandhian perspectives of the body, including the methods utilized by Gandhi to transform his body (and self) from British subject into revolutionary satyagrahi. She's also interested in the ways that Gandhian approaches to social and political transformation are being adapted and utilized by female members of the Mahila Shanti Sena (Women's Peace Force) in Northern India.

She will complete a four-week intensive Hindi language-training course at the Jaipur School of Hindi in Jaipur, Rajasthan. The school is run in affiliation with Shashvat Sansthan, a local NGO working for the welfare of Rajasthan鈥檚 tribal-indigenous communities. Mitchell will also be travelling with University of Toronto Professor Reva Joshee and Jill Carr-Harris, a development worker in India, throughout central India for three weeks in October to explore possible research collaboration on Ekta Parishad's struggle for land and forest rights for marginalized and indigenous peoples in India.

Mitchell holds a combined聽bachelor of arts (BA)聽in peace studies and anthropology with a minor in religious studies from McMaster University.

The YCAR Language Award was created to support graduate students in fulfilling the language requirement for the Graduate Diploma in Asian Studies and to facilitate awardees master's or doctoral-level research.

Ferdinand Dionisio Caballero (left), a master's candidate in social anthropology, is this year's recipient of the David Wurfel Award. The award will aid him in his fall archival fieldwork in the Philippines where he will focus on the entangled relations between the Catholic Church and the Filipino people.

The David Wurfel Award provides financial support to an honours undergraduate or master's graduate student who intends to conduct thesis research on the topic of Filipino history, culture or society.

Caballero's major research paper will be an anthropological inquiry on religion, colonial subjects, post-colonialism and history. More specifically, he is interested in exploring and understanding the dynamics of power relations between religious institutions and the people.

He holds a BA in anthropology with a specialization in ethnographic studies from Grant MacEwan University in Edmonton, Alberta.

The award was established in 2006 by Senior YCAR Research Associate David Wurfel. He wanted to contribute to the emergence of a new generation of Filipino leadership that is grounded in the country鈥檚 history, culture and public affairs. Wurfel is a Philippine specialist who received his PhD from Cornell University's Southeast Asia Program.

Heather Barnick (right) is the 2010 recipient of the Albert C.W. Chan Foundation Fellowship. A doctoral candidate in the Department of Social Anthropology at 91亚色, her current research interests are related to the anthropology of media, digital anthropology, and techno-science with a specific focus on the visual and material cultures of video games and massive multi-player online role-playing games (MMORPGs).

Last month, Barnick began ethnographic fieldwork in Shanghai, China, following the ways in which online role-playing games have become significant sites for the formations of new national and cultural imaginaries in mainland China. Her fieldwork is supported by the Albert C.W. Chan Fellowship and a Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada doctoral scholarship.

This research follows on the heels of a project initiated by China鈥檚 General Administration of Press & Publication (GAPP) to encourage the production of 100 domestically produced MMORPGs. The narratives and imagery integrated into games developed under GAPP鈥檚 initiative frequently make use of famous fictional stories, such as the Journey to the West, and historical battles, such as Genghis Khan鈥檚 exploits and the Second Sino-Japanese War.

Focusing on the perspectives of youth from Shanghai, Barnick鈥檚 research will examine how these adapted histories come to have new meanings for life in the present. The primary goal is to understand how notions of national and cultural belongings and identities are continuously formed, expressed and re-imagined by Shanghai youth through their participation in MMORPGs produced in China.

Barnick earned a BA in sociology and anthropology from the University of Prince Edward Island and a MA in social and cultural anthropology from Concordia University.

The Albert C.W. Chan Foundation Fellowship was established by the Albert C.W. Chan Foundation to encourage and assist 91亚色 graduate students to conduct field research in East and/or Southeast Asia and was made possible through the聽support of the Albert C. W. Chan family.

Adnan Amin (left) was selected from a strong group of graduate and undergraduate applicants to represent 91亚色 at the Global Initiatives Symposium in Taipei next month. This opportunity is provided by the government of the Republic of China (Taiwan).

Amin's winning essay, 鈥淲hen East Meets West: A Personal Essay on Intersections of North American and East Asian Education鈥�, reflected on his experiences as an English as a second language (ESL) teacher in Taiwan.

Last year, Amin graduated from 91亚色 with an honours double major degree in English and history, completed his concurrent bachelor of education degree, and held a position as student senator for the Faculty of Education Students' Association. Amin has also held an international internship in the English Department of the Hong Kong Institute of Education and taught ESL in Taiwan. He is currently pursing his master of education degree at 91亚色.

Amin's research interests are in teaching and learning strategies, immigrant experiences, English language learning and digital media technology. He currently works as a school settlement worker in Toronto high schools where he helps newcomer students and families with settlement needs.

The Global Initiatives Symposium will be held at the National Taiwan University in Taipei, Taiwan, from July 12 to 16.聽It will bring together emergent leaders from around the world to discuss critical global issues. The topic for 2010 is The Emergence of New Giants: Evolution or Revolution. Participants will also take part in several days of cultural tours in Taiwan following the symposium.

Amin鈥檚 opportunity to represent 91亚色 at the symposium was made possible by the Taipei Economic聽& Cultural Office and the government of the Republic of China (Taiwan).

For more information on any of the awards, visit the YCAR Web site.

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

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A new book co-edited by 91亚色 Professors Norene Pupo and Mark Thomas will receive its official launch Thursday, March 25 at a special reception from 3 to 5pm in 626 91亚色 Research Tower.

is a collection of original essays investigating the social, political and economic transformations associated with the emergence of the so-called new economy, and their impact on the organization of work within Canada.

The essays discuss the ways in which new management strategies, new communication technologies and efforts to revitalize the labour movement have transformed the Canadian workplace. Focusing on changes in work organization, individuals鈥� expectations regarding work and the institutional support provided for workers and their families, the text constructs a critical analysis of the "new economy" in order to identify both the potential for quality work experiences and the ways in which the organization of work remains a profound social problem.

Based on years of participatory research, sector-specific studies, and quantitative and qualitative data collection, the work accounts for the ways in which the contemporary workplace has changed, but also the extent to which older forms of work organization still remain.

The collection begins with an overview of the key social and economic transformations that define the new economy. It then illustrates these transformations through examples, including essays on call centre service work and migrant workers. It also addresses unions and their responses to the restructuring of work, as well as other forms of resistance.

Pupo is the director of the Centre for Research on Work聽& Society at 91亚色 and a sociology professor in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies (LA&PS). She is the co-author of .

Thomas is also a聽professor of sociology in LA& PS at 91亚色. He is the author of .

The event will include a panel of speakers discussing some of the book's themes. Participating on the panel are:聽91亚色 political science Professor Greg Albo; 91亚色 geography Professor Steve Tufts; Ryerson sociology Professor Andie Noack; 91亚色 social science and women鈥檚 studies Professor Linda Briskin; Naveen Mehta, director of human rights, equity聽& diversity for the United Food and Commercial Workers; Angelo DiCaro, national communications representative for the Canadian Auto Workers union; Ryerson sociology Professor Alan Sears; and Jorge Garcia-Orgales, a researcher with the聽United Steelworkers Canadian office.

For more information about the launch, contact Robin Smith, administrator at the聽Centre for Research on Work聽& Society, at 416-736-5612.

The launch of Interrogating the New Economy: Restructuring Work in the 21st Century is co-sponsored by the University of Toronto Press and the following 91亚色 programs and units:聽the Centre for Research on Work & Society, the Department of Sociology, the Graduate Program in Sociology, Graduate Program in Social & Political Thought, Graduate Program in Women鈥檚 Studies, the Labour Studies Program, Gender & Work Database, Centre for Feminist Research and the 91亚色 Staff Association.

Republished with files courtesy of YFile 鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

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The panel discussion, "Suburbia in Transition: Infrastructure and Planning in聽Toronto's In-Between City", will take place Thursday, March 25, from 12:30 to 2pm in the 7th Floor Lounge of the 91亚色 Research Tower, Keele campus.

Suburbia, long a feature of Canadian urbanization, has begun to change face. One of the pervasive features of the new suburbia has been its growing diversity in ethnocultural and socio-economic terms. Part of the challenge of coming to terms with this growing diversity has been the provision of hard and soft, technical and social infrastructures in a rapidly expanding region.

Between 2006 and 2010, 91亚色 held two grants under their Peer Reviewed Research Studies program to study these challenges with specific reference to the suburbs of Toronto. At the same time, suburban communities such as Vaughan have begun to reassess their future development and have developed ambitious new official plan documents. This panel of researchers and planners will examine the pressing problems and emerging solutions in the new suburban infrastructural landscape and report back on recent research findings.

"In-Between Infrastructure: "Infrastructure in 91亚色 Region: A GIS Analysis of Human Services" was funded by Infrastructure Canada and Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

"In-Between Infrastructure: Urban Connectivity in an Age of Vulnerability" was a three-year research project funded in large part by Infrastructure Canada with a contribution from Toronto Community Housing. It explored the infrastructure in what is called the "in-between city", the part of the urban region that is perceived as not quite traditional city and not quite traditional suburb. As a concept, the in-between city explodes the myth of the city and country divide, and opens new ways of understanding infrastructure needs in a globalizing Canadian urban region. A key goal of this research project was to explore the connectivity between different scales through the lens of urban infrastructure.

The project addressed whether it is possible to design a system of social and cultural infrastructure that has everything a community needs and meets global needs as well, and what the impact of economically driven decisions of hard infrastructure is聽on communities. The geographical area that was the subject of this project lies partly in the City of Toronto and partly in the City of Vaughan.

Another team of 91亚色-led experts investigating the availability of infrastructure and services to recent immigrants, low income residents and seniors in 91亚色 Region is finding that funding for services is not keeping pace with growth in the area. "Infrastructure in 91亚色 Region: A GIS Analysis of Human Services" was funded by Infrastructure Canada聽& Citizenship and Immigration Canada. The findings of the聽project have implications for suburbs across Canada, according to principal investigator聽Lo. The 91亚色 infrastructure project has catalogued services and surveyed residents of 91亚色 Region over a two-year period to determine where the most vulnerable populations lie and to identify gaps in services.

Preliminary findings suggest a divide between the northern and southern areas of 91亚色 Region, whereby rural areas are paradoxically better served on a per capita basis than the more urban south, but find services less accessible due to existing transit infrastructure. Similarly, better educated residents are more able to find and avail themselves of existing services, creating an environment where the most in need are the least served.

鈥淭here is a traditional belief among politicians and others that people who move to the outer suburbs, to those big houses, that they are fine,鈥� said Lo. 鈥淭hat is a kind of myth. Given the want [by politicians] for urban intensification, a lot of the resources are being poured in to the traditional city.鈥�

Situated north of Toronto, 91亚色 Region is an archetypal suburban area where the population increased from 169,000 in 1971 to 886,575 in 2006 and is estimated to grow to 1,280,000 by 2026. Immigration propels this growth and seniors and low-income households are growing proportions of the population. The project addresses the infrastructure needs that have arisen during the region鈥檚 rapid transition from a low-density, ethnically and socially homogeneous suburban region to a diverse, rapidly intensifying suburb.

, CITY director and principal investigator聽of the "In-Between Infrastructure" project, will chair a panel with fellow project researchers 91亚色 geography Professor Patricia Wood, 91亚色 social science Professor Douglas Young and John Saunders, a resident faculty member of the CITY and the project's research coordinator. Other panellists include, Leigh McGrath聽of聽Urban Strategies Inc., who聽will present on the firm's recent work on the Vaughan Official Plan, and Lo, chair of 91亚色's Department of Geography, who will address some of the results of the "Infrastructure in 91亚色 Region" project.

Saunders, who teaches in 91亚色's Department of Geography and the Urban Studies Program, will talk about "The Landscape of Citizenship in the In-between City: Downsview Park, Toronto".

Wood will discuss "Residents' Vulnerability and Resilience in an Anti-Residential Landscape".聽Her research focuses on diversity, identity politics and citizenship, particularly in cities. She does both contemporary and historical work in Canada, the United States and Ireland, and conducts research primarily with immigrant groups and indigenous peoples, with an emphasis on participatory, collaborative research practices. She is the author of Nationalism from the Margins: Italians in Alberta and British Columbia (McGill-Queen's University Press, 2002) and co-author of Citizenship聽& Identity (Sage Publications, 1999).

Young will talk about "Planning Challenges in the In-Between City".聽He has worked as an architect, municipal planner and developer of non-profit housing cooperatives and is co-author of a book on urban politics, Changing Toronto: Governing Urban Neoliberalism, (University of Toronto Press, 2009) and co-editor of the forthcoming book, In-between Infrastructure: Urban Connectivity in an Age of Vulnerability.

McGrath will look at "Social Services, Land Use Planning and Vaughan's New Official Plan".聽Her professional work has included a breadth of projects from implementing elements of Ontario's Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe to research and development of an Environmental Master Plan for the City of Red Deer, Alta.聽McGrath聽is a member of the Urban Strategies Vaughan Official Plan team, a project underway since 2007 that is expected to be completed later this year.

Lo will discuss "Vulnerability and Human Service Provisions in 91亚色 Region".聽She is the former economics domain leader of the Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigration & Settlement (CERIS), now known as CERIS - The Ontario Metropolis Centre, and the transportation and commerce research thrust leader, as well as a member of the Research Management Committee of Geomatics for Informed Decision Making, a Canada network centre of excellence. Her current聽research interests聽include vulnerability in the suburbs and human service provision; immigration and banking; recession and return migration; and entrepreneurship in mid-size cities.

Refreshments will be served. Everyone is welcome.

For more information, visit the CITY Web site.

Republished courtesy of YFile 鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

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Professor Jody Berland takes a fresh look at what it means to be Canadian in her new book North of Empire: Essays on the Cultural Technologies of Space, published by Duke University Press. Launched last month and already labelled聽by critics as a major contribution to the fields of communication, cultural studies and geography, Berland鈥檚 book is a group of essays about how technology creates and transforms our sense of space.

Right: Jody Berland

鈥淭echnology has become the focus of our hopes and dreams; my book explores how this has come about and what it means,鈥� says Berland. 鈥淚 try to make vivid the various connections between technology and the spaces we make, live in, tell stories about, defend or seek to transform. In doing so, I explore the meanings and effects of some of the most powerful themes of the 20th century, including nation, progress, convenience, entertainment and technology itself.鈥�

Focusing on the importance of space to understanding culture, Berland investigates how media technologies have given shape to things we often take for granted, such as territory, landscape, the local, the border, nature, music and time. Her essays concentrate largely on Canada and the United States and centre on the connections and disconnections between how space is traversed, how it is narrated and how it is used.

This theme is traced throughout the essays on topics ranging from free trade and the discourse of entertainment, to the history of player pianos in the context of a growing consumer society animated by the desire for convenience, to the emergence of satellite image technologies in relation to television forecasts and the exploration of space.

鈥淲e live in spaces that are shaped in part by technology 鈥� technological tools like railways, radio, musical instruments, optical devices 鈥� and by cultural technologies of social and institutional change, including nation building, storytelling, mapping, broadcasting, converging and instructing,鈥� notes Berland. 鈥淎t the same time, these technologies are constantly changing, which contributes to deeply felt tensions about who we are and where we belong.鈥�

Berland chose the essay structure for her book since it allowed her to explore specific historical developments that illuminate her central questions: How has technological change affected the way we relate to musical instruments? In what ways has satellite photography changed the way we think about the planet? How has the television forecast altered the way we think about weather?

It is her hope that readers will pay close attention to particular political or narrative histories that have been made both real and imaginary through the emergence of technologies such as the radio and the Internet. Berland also hopes that they will understand the urgency of exploring these narratives and the ways in which they reinforce and contest one another in personal, cultural and political spheres.

Berland is program coordinator for the Canadian Studies Program in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies. She was recently awarded the Association for Canadian Studies 2009 Award of Merit, which acknowledged her contributions to the development and dissemination of knowledge about Canada. Specifically, the award honoured three different activities: the role she鈥檚 played as editor of TOPIA: Canadian Journal of Cultural Studies (from 1998 to present); the publication of a significant body of work exploring Canadian history, themes and scholars; and lastly, the cultivation of a new generation of scholars through graduate teaching.

Though the nomination for the Award of Merit was made before her book came out, some of the publications that inspired her win can be found in the new book.

For more information on North of Empire or Berland鈥檚 research, e-mail her at jberland@yorku.ca.聽Copies of her book can be purchased through the .

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