Graduate Supervision

PhD supervision
Completed

  • Sehrish Malik, "Psychoanalytic Transference: Julia Kristeva’s Struggle for Maternal Identification," York Humanities, defended 14 Aug 24
  • Kathryn Franklin, “Glamour in the Good: Exhibiting Glamour’s Expression in Toronto’s Urban Imaginary,” York Humanities, defended 17 Dec 20
  • Rebecca Halliday, “The Live Fashion Show in Mediatized Culture,” York Communication & Culture, defended 20 Nov 17
  • Justin Derry, “Ecological Discourse Out of Bounds: Environmental Humanities Scholarship for Multi-Species and Transdisciplinary Contexts,” York Humanities, defended 27 Jan 17
  • Francesca D’Angelo, “Standing Tall, the Stiletto Heel as Material Memory: A Contemporary Cross-Cultural Look at Perceptions of the Stiletto Heel,” York Humanities, defended 12 Aug 16
  • Ivan Zhavoronkov, “The Symbols of Eternal Return and the Eternal Return of Symbols in Friedrich Nietzsche’s Thus Spake Zarathustra,” York Humanities, defended 15 Apr 15
  • Carson Phillips, “Post-Holocaust Conceptualizations of Masculinity in Germanophone and Jewish Men,” York Humanities, defended 18 Apr 13
  • Manuela Cazan, “Exorcising Communism: Three Case Studies: Czeslaw Milosz, Milan Kundera, Norman Manea,” University of Auckland Comparative Literature, defended 28 Sept 12

In Progress

  • Agata Mergler, York Humanities
  • Jamie Giannou, York Humanities
  • Daveeda Goldberg, York Humanities
  • Inga Untiks, “Ars Baltica: The Globalization of Contemporary Art,” York Humanities

PhD supervisory committees
Completed

  • Josh Trichilo, "The Inside and Outside are One and the Same: Field Recording, Vibration, and Disaster in Northeastern Japan after 3.11," York Humanities, defended 11 Jul 24
  • Shoshana Elharar, “Tel Aviv-Jaffa, One City, Two Worlds: An Investigation into the History, Culture, Language, Identity, Race, Economy, and Heritage of a Global Centre,” York Humanities, defended 8 Oct 21
  • Myriam Couturier, “Reading Fashion in the Corporate Archive: The Communication, Promotion, and Collection of Dress at Eaton’s,” Ryerson Communication and Culture, defended 31 Aug 21
  • Sanjukta Banerjee, “Translating Mediation in Travel Writing: India in Pierre Sonnerat’s Voyages aux Indes orientales et à la Chine (1782),” York Humanities, defended 20 Jan 21
  • Robert Beghetto, “Monstrous Liminality, or The Uncanny Strangers of Secularized Modernity,” York Humanities, defended 30 Apr 20
  • Keith O’Regan, “Towards a Productive Aesthetics: History and Now-Time in Blake and Brecht,” York Social and Political Thought, defended 16 Oct 17
  • Han Zhang, “The Root of Excellence: An Interpretive Approach to Understanding Elder Care within Transnational Chinese Families in Canada,” York Communication and Culture, defended 13 June 17
  • Josh Synenko, “In the Aftermath of Memory: Socially Engaged Art in Postnational Europe,” York Humanities, defended 3 July 15
  • Aleksandra Bida, “Mapping Home: Literary and Filmic Representations of Multi-scalar Dwelling,” Ryerson Communication and Culture, defended 6 Jan 14
  • Fiona Stewart, “‘In the Beginning was the Garden’: Anna Lesznai and Hungarian Modernism 1906-1919,” York Humanities, defended 7 Jan 11
  • Elke Grenzer, “Architecture, Aesthetics and the City: The Problem of Building and Rebuilding the Memory of the Holocaust in Berlin” York Sociology, defended 21 Dec 10
  • Lyse Hébert, “Translational Culture From Within: Cuban and Canadian Perspectives,” York Humanities, defended 8 Dec 10
  • Emilie Dion, York Social and Political Thought, Director’s Representative for comprehensive exams, 11 Nov 10

In Progress

  • Vindra Moonilal, York Humanities
  • Carolina De Souza, York English
  • Chris Corker, York Humanities
  • Shreya Sangai, York Humanities
  • Lee Campbell, York Humanities
  • Jaclyn Marcus, TMU Communication and Culture  

PhD defence committees

  • Kurosh Amoui, “The Esoteric, the Islamicate, and 20th Century World Literature,” York SPT, internal external, defended 14 Dec 22
  • Angela Cope, “Plastics: Mapping the Childhood of Modernity’s Worst Material,” York STS, internal external, defended 21 Jan 22
  • Nisha Ghatak, “Alterities of Translated Desire: A Comparative Analysis of 20th-Century Women’s Autobiographical Writings from India,” Auckland, Comparative Literature, external examiner, defended 26 May 21
  • Christina Foisy, “Sounding Madness: The Ethics of Listening in Janet Frame’s Faces in the Water,” York, Humanities, Dean’s representative, defended 16 Apr 21
  • Patric Plesa, “The Anti-Self-Help Project: Existential Suffering in Neonihilism,” York, Historical, Theoretical and Critical Studies of Psychology, internal external, defended 2 Oct 20
  • Stacy Allison, “Fugitive Phrases: Arcade Fire, Music, and the Amorous Self,” York, Humanities, chair, defended 1 Oct 20
  • Cody Lang, “Magical Realism in Transnational Cinema,” York, Film, internal external, defended 27 Aug 20
  • Jing Xu, “‘The Politics of Memory: Cultural Interaction and Confrontation among the Haunting Ghosts of Russians, Japanese and Chinese in Harbin.” York, Humanities, Dean’s Representative, defended 8 May 19
  • Hazma Karamally, “Art and Otherness: Critical Encounters from Modern Literature.” York Humanities, Dean’s Representative, defended 9 Aug 18
  • Jennifer Sweeney, “Sartorial Modernisms: Fashionable Resistance in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.” Binghamton English, General Literature, and Rhetoric, external examiner, defended 6 May 16
  • Fernanda Carra-Sandberg, “An Interdisciplinary Study of the Role of Trauma and Early Host Foreign-Language Immersions in Significant Language Learning and Translingual Identity Formations.” York Education, internal external, defended 16 Jan 15
  • Stefanie Kullick, “Exploring Urban Spaces in the Young Imagination: Untersuchungen zur Großstadt in der Kinder- und Jugendliteratur nach 2000,” Queen’s Languages, Literatures and Cultures, external examiner, defended 24 Aug 12
  • Damon Lazzara, “The Modern Myth of Adolescence: Coming-of-Age as Deviation From Maturation,” York Humanities, internal external member, defended 12 July 12
  • Joe Hodes, “From India to Israel – The Journey of a Jewish Community,” York Humanities, Dean’s Representative, defended 12 Jan 11
  • Anthony Metivier, “I’ll Be There For You: Friendship and Serial Killer Cinema,” York Humanities, Dean’s Representative, defended 3 Apr 09
  • Dana Patrascu-Kingsley, “Dynamic Ethnicity and Trans Cultural Dialogue: A Study of Selected Central and Eastern European-Canadian Fiction,” York English, internal external, defended 28 March 08
  • Colette Granger, “Silent Moments: A Psychoanalytic Autoethnography of Learning and Teaching,” York Education, internal external, defended 15 Sept 07, winner of the 2007-2008 York Dissertation Prize
  • Kumudu Kusum Kumara, “Politics Beyond Governance: Reclaiming the Public Realm – A Conversation between Michael Oakeshott and Hannah Arendt,” York Sociology, internal external, defended 04 Sept 07

MA supervisions
Completed

  • Harrison Caldeira, "Proposal for a New Anthology of Guyanese Literature." York English, completed May 23.
  • Urs Dierker, “Every Stain a Story: The Use of Textures on Costumes in Hollywood Action, Horror and Sci-Fi Films.” York Interdisciplinary Studies, defended 21 Jan 19
  • Alexandra Gilbert, “To Dye For: An Examination of Three Purple Garments from Seed to Storage.” York Interdisciplinary Studies, defended 5 June 18
  • Christine Nguyen, “Making Art in the Everyday: Virginia Woolf’s Jacob’s Room and Vanessa Bell’s Still Life Paintings,” York Humanities, MRP supervisor, completed Jan 16
  • Forrest Johnson, “Clytemnestra’s Space: Gendered Space in Greek Tragedy and Victorian Literature,” York Humanities, MRP supervisor, completed Aug 15
  • Stephanie Todd, “Shakespeare’s Tempest as a Meditation on Power,” York Humanities, MRP supervisor, completed Apr 15
  • Ivan Zhavoronkov, “Symbolism in Friedrich Nietzsche’s Thus Spake Zarathustra,” York Humanities, MRP supervisor, completed June 09
  • Natalia Barykina, “Urban Theory in Minsk,” York Communication and Culture, MRP supervisor, completed May 07
  • Lee Kuhnle, “Towards a Theology of the Profane: Form and Function of the Religious in Walter Benjamin’s Passagen-Werk,” York Humanities, MRP supervisor, completed Aug 06
  • Katrina Sark, “The New Berlin in the New Germany – an Unfinished Project,” York Humanities, MRP supervisor, completed Aug 06

MA committees
Completed

  • Andrew Urie, "Maverick Communalist: A Study of the Major Works of Ioan Davies." York Social and Political Thought, defended 21 Mar 24
  • Griffen Horsley, "Necromancy: A Hauntology of Grief, Material Culture, and Research Creation." Toronto Metropolitan University Communication and Culture, defended 5 Sept 23
  • Seung Woo Baek, “Ignored and Deleted: Understanding Content Moderators as Racialized Media of Social Network Services,” York Communication and Culture, external, defended 29 Aug 22
  • Emily Harrison, “Hidden Identities: An Analysis of the Estonian City,” York Humanities, MRP 2nd reader, completed Aug 22
  • Stefan Samuel, “Unprinciplism as an Imperial Prerogative: The Empire’s Thomas Carlyle and His Admirers,” York Humanities, MRP 2nd reader, completed Dec 21
  • Kathleen Ballantyne, “Viewing the Spectacular Body of Modernity: Bourgeois Identity and the Body of the Other,” Ryerson Communication and Culture, defended 23 Aug 21
  • Susanne Toito, Glendon Translation Studies and Graduate Diploma in Comparative Literature, completed Apr 21
  • Aaisha Zafar Islam, “The Lost Generation of the Gulf Cooperation Council Countries (GCC): Stories of Loss, Longing, and Belonging,” York Communication and Culture, defended 3 Sept 20
  • Yalini Jothilingam, “Rebels and Writers: Charting the Trajectories of a Gendered Self in Conflict.” York Humanities, MRP 2nd reader, completed Feb 20
  • Hannah Warkentin, “Space in Canadian Dystopian Fiction: Salt Fish Girl and Nostalgia.” Ryerson Communication and Culture, MRP 2nd reader, completed July 19
  • Riley Kucheran, “Maadaadizi (to start a journey):Strategies for Indigenous Luxury Fashion Designers,” Ryerson Communication and Culture, MA committee, defended 28 Aug 17
  • Lauren Greenwood, “Self-Portrait,” York Cinema and Media Studies, MFA external, defended 23 May 17
  • Madeline Davy, “Fashion, Subversion, and Social Change in Modernist Salons,” Ryerson Communication and Culture, MRP 2nd reader, completed Sept 16
  • Erik Tate, “Poetics as Survival: Using Walter Benjamin’s ‘The Translator’s Task’ to Read Dante’s Divine Comedy,” York Humanities, MRP 2nd reader, completed Sept 16
  • Mahdieh Valizadeh, “From Imagination to Nothingness: A Comparative Study of Rumi and Wordsworth,” York Humanities, MRP 2nd reader, Aug 16
  • Josh Trichilo, “Fire in the Snow: Political Resistance in the Editing of Kawabata’s Snow Country from Pre-Sino-Japanese Conflict to Post-WWII Occupation,” York Humanities, MRP 2nd reader, Sept 15
  • Joel Starkman, “Robert Crumb’s Genesis Illustrated: Is It Commentary? An Ad Fontes Visual Verbatim Deconstruction of the Biblical Visual Canon,” York Humanities, MRP 2nd reader, Sept 14
  • Simran Kaur Saini, “Negotiating Womanhood: Making Meaning of My Gatka,” York Humanities, MRP 2nd reader, Aug 14
  • Monireh Mohammadi, “The Paradoxes of Representation,” York Humanities, MRP 2nd reader, July 14
  • Stephanie Lalonde, “Donning Fictional Truths: Cosplay and the Performance of Identity in Fan Communities.” York Theatre Studies, MRP 2nd reader, Aug 13.
  • Tino Economou, “Landmark Films of the 70s: Capitalism, Masculinity and Violence,” York Humanities, MRP 2nd reader, Aug 13
  • Jilynn Quek, “An Adventurer Like You: Heroic Quests in the Video Game Medium,” York Humanities, MRP 2nd reader, June 13
  • Erin Dillon, “Shadows in Parallel: Collective Memory and Literary Representations: Life in the German Democratic Republic and Francoist Spain,” University of Auckland Languages and Literature, external assessor, Sept 11
  • Rebecca Halliday, “From Runway to Superhighway: Can Fashion Film Replace the Fashion Show?” York Theater Studies, MRP 2nd reader, Aug 11
  • Ilona Molnar, “Translation at the Nation’s Borders: Gendering the Proper Name in Hungarian Fiction”, York Humanities, MRP 2nd reader, Aug 11
  • Rachel Yan, “The Critique of the Postmodern Pursuit of Authentic Selfhood,” University of Hong Kong Comparative Literature, external examiner, Jan 11
  • Robert Beghetto, “Italo Svevo’s Zeno’s Conscience,” York Humanities, MRP 2nd reader, Sept 10
  • Daniel Marrone, “Between Panels: Nostalgia in the Work of Daniel Clowes,” York Communication and Culture, MA, supervisory committee, defended 02 June 09
  • Lee Knuttila, “Adapted for the Multitude: A Theory of Early Cinema Spectatorship.” York Film, MA, outside member, defended 14 Nov 08
  • Adele Spraggon, “Gender Shame and Its Effects: Visible in Christianity and Reconciled through Imagery,” York Humanities, MRP 2nd reader, Sept 08
  •  Jessica Gaiser, “Patrick Sueskinds Kontrabass – Einsamkeit und Psychische Erkrankungen als Folge der Kommunikationslosigkeit in der modernen Gesellschaft,” Waterloo German, MA, external evaluator, defended 12 Aug 08
  • Katie Franklin, “Goodbye to Gisa,” York Humanities, MRP 2nd reader, Aug 05

Last updated: 24 Sept 24