Our Students

Alanah Broomfield is a Master’s student at York University in the Socio-Legal Studies graduate program. She completed her undergraduate degree at York University Glendon campus in French Studies with a certification in Law and Social Thought. The certificate ignited her interest in the philosophy and ethics of law, questioning what law is and what it ought to be. She is committed to using a legal pluralistic perspective to better understand the perpetuation of racial inequities within institutions. Her MRP research focuses on the racial inequalities within the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States. Alanah will be joining the Socio-Legal Studies PhD program in the Fall.

Alex Painter is a first-year PhD student in Socio-Legal studies at York University. He holds an MA in criminology from the University of Windsor and a BASc in criminology from Lakehead University. His MA thesis examined epistemological biases in the coverage of green protests in Canadian and US news outlets. His work primarily addresses topics in green criminology, internet theory and its interrelation with criminological studies, and trends in protest criminalization.

Alex can be contacted at paintera@yorku.ca

Arunita Das (she/her) is a PhD Candidate in the Socio-Legal Studies program at York University. She holds an MA in Socio-Legal Studies and a BA in Sociology. Throughout her graduate studies and work experience with non-profit charitable organizations, Das has been developing research in racism, hate and extremism, colonization, and feminist criminology for over five years. Her current research examines the relationship between Canadian far-right women, online hate speech, hate crime, and free expression laws in Canada.

Beheshta Sharifi is a first-year PhD student in Socio-Legal Studies at York University. She holds her BA and MA in Law and Legal Studies from Carleton University. Her research interests are predominantly in security, sovereignty, liberalism, rationality, exception, and critical terrorism studies. In particular, her current research focuses on how ideas of citizenship for minorities relate to the ‘War on Terror’ and the proliferation of new risk management techniques. “How does the invocation of risk in the War on Terror constitute a radical re-think of how we understand and theorize security?” “What are the implications for populations that come to be designated as “risky”?” Moreover, she is interested in normative debates regarding the relationship between national security and civil liberties. Her work critically examines the specific modes of risk calculation in the War on Terror and post-9/11 politics through discourses of risk, pre-emptive targeting, and surveillance, especially where these concepts intersect with critical race traditions.

Brianna Garneau is a PhD candidate in Socio-legal Studies and holds a Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship. She earned her MA in Criminology from the University of Ottawa, where she studied the racial exclusionary mechanisms of citizenship and national security. Her doctoral research is focused on the symbiotic harms of detention and deportation as experienced by families in Canada and the ways these experiences are shaped by the racially embedded processes of criminalization, securitization, and punishment. Brianna has worked as a research assistant on the Deporting Refugees: Hidden Injustice in Canada project (romerohouse.org) and has co-authored the article Carceral experiences and custodial lifeworld of prisoners’ families: The impacts of ion scan technology in Canadian prisons (journals.sagepub.com).

Brianna can be reached at: bgarneau@yorku.ca.

Can Turgut is a Ph.D. candidate in the Socio-Legal Studies Graduate Program. His research project interrogates some of the major theories of comparative constitutional studies and public law, such as constitution-making, constitutional supremacy, rule of law, and sovereignty, in their capacity to influence modern state-making practices, neo-liberal transformations, resistance, transitional justice, self-determination, and indigeneity. He contextualizes these socio-legal concepts and theories in global North and South relations, the expansion of capitalism, neo-colonialism, and Euro-America centrism. His purpose is to expand the scope of the field of comparative constitutional studies and comparative public law by pushing their boundaries away from the binary opposition between liberalism and illiberal authoritarianism.

Before joining York University Socio-Legal Studies Graduate Program, Turgut received his LLB degree from Istanbul Bilgi University, where he was part of the legal clinic team as a law student instructor. After graduating from Istanbul Bilgi University, he continued his studies in the Galatasaray University’s LL.M. program in public law. He was a visiting researcher at Institut d’études politiques de Paris (SciencesPo Paris Law School). He defended his LL.M. thesis titled ‘Comparative legal theory and the case of common law constitutionalism in early medieval Europe’ (forthcoming book in Turkish). He is a non-practicing lawyer with the Istanbul Bar Association, where he previously worked on constitutional and international human rights litigation, refugee rights, and criminal and administrative law. He is the co-chair of the Socio-Legal Studies Graduate Student Association.

Chante Barnwell is a full-time Ph.D. student in Socio-Legal Studies and a graduate teaching assistant for the Law and Society program within the Department of Social Science at York University. Her Ph.D. dissertation research will examine the intersections of visual jurisprudence, race, Canadian cultural policy, and the perception of criminality and victimization in institutionally digitalized crime media archives. She has presented her research papers at many national and international conferences and has received the 2022-2023 Nathanson Centre Graduate Student Fellowship from Osgoode Hall Law School, York University. She holds a Master of Arts degree in Public Policy and Administration and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Documentary Media, both from Toronto Metropolitan University. She also graduated with an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Toronto, where she specialized in Art and Culture, majored in Studio Visual Arts and minored in Art History. During her past graduate studies, she completed two Master Research Papers (MRPs) and a solo self-curated MFA thesis exhibition. Chante is also a multidisciplinary visual artist and has held several leadership positions contributing thousands of volunteer hours to various organizations and causes.

Chika Maduakolam is a Ph.D. candidate in Socio-legal Studies at York University. She holds an LLM degree from Osgoode Hall Law School. She has worked as research assistant on an international research project on gendered violence in war; and domestic project on civil justice in Canada. Her main area of research is focused on sexual and gender-based violence in conflict. She is interested in the following research areas: conflict-related sexual violence, gender issues, militarized masculinities, international law and human rights. Chika can be reached at: chika16@yorku.ca.

Deepa Nagari is a PhD student in the socio-legal studies program at York University. Her research focuses on forced migration and bordering laws and policies, particularly examining the Canada-U.S. border and the Safe Third Country Agreement. She also examines alternative solutions, grassroots efforts, and feminist, Global South, and de-colonial perspectives on forced migration laws and policies. Deepa obtained her MA from Carleton University in the Department of Law and Legal Studies, where she also explored the STCA between 2016 and 2018 in her research. Previously, she worked in the private sector alongside IRCC before realizing her passion for academia and research.

I am a PhD candidate of the Socio-Legal Studies Program at York University, Master in Sociology of Law by the Oñati Internacional Institute of Sociology of Law, and Licentiate in Cultural Anthropology by the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. My research focuses on indigenous consuetudinary law, transitional justice, and state justice administration in rural areas in peruvian Andes and Amazonia. I chose the Socio-Legal Studies PhD Program because it is focused on society and law, and it has a faculty with experience in research on indigenous peoples and community engagement.

Jackie Sikdar is a Ph.D candidate in the Socio-Legal Studies program at York University. Her research interests revolve around exploring the intersections between race and victimization. Her current research project examines the politics of the victim label in the context of Toronto gun violence, with a focus on how racial identity and past/ongoing conflict with the law can complicate the attainment of victim status and shape victim-offenders experiences within the criminal justice system.

Jessica Malandrino is a 6th year PhD student in socio-legal studies. Her research involves using abolition and resistance to gender violence imposed by the state. Specifically, her work is invested in using art-making methods to cope with gender violence upheld by police and the prison system in Canada. As an alternative to using the criminal legal system as a process of retributive punishment, Jessica’s work depends on a transformative justice framework. Similar to queerness that is always becoming, abolitionist frameworks that Jessica’s work involves how women’s creation vis-a-vis feminism is an approach to address, cope with, and heal from violence and trauma upheld by the state.

Liam Michaud is a PhD candidate in Socio-Legal studies at York University and currently holds a Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship. Drawing on ethnographic and community-based participatory methods, his research examines the convergences between health-based and criminal-legal approaches in drug policy. He has published work on the barriers posed by the legal environment to public health and healthcare in Contemporary Drug Problems and Surveillance & Society. He works as a Research Assistant on several projects related to harm reduction, policing, experiences of overdose among people who use drugs, prison-based needle exchange, and health surveillance.

Liam is supervised by Dr Eric Mykhalovskiy and can be reached at Lmichaud@yorku.ca

Recent publications- ojs.library.queensu.ca and ojs.library.queensu.ca

Melissa Mary Anderson (BA, BSW, MA) is a PhD Candidate in Socio-Legal Studies at York University. Melissa worked as a research assistant on the Vulnerabilities Under the Global Protection Regime (VULNER) EU Horizon 2020 project: vulner.eu/Research-Report-2-Canada. She has co-authored findings from this research, where she investigated how vulnerability is operationalized in Canada’s inland refugee (or asylum) determination procedures compared to its overseas resettlement program: mdpi.com.

Her dissertation research titled ‘A Socio-Legal Critique on Denials, Delays and Barriers to Care: Health Care Access for Medically Uninsured Migrants in Toronto & Edmonton’ investigates how systemic barriers and denials to health care for migrants with precarious status across Canadian cities is underpinned by the rationality of racial capitalism. For her doctoral research, Melissa interviewed health care providers, civil society group members, and medically uninsured migrants about their experiences navigating local health care systems to examine both barriers to care as well as opportunities for reform and resistance.

Melissa is a past recipient of SSHRC Doctoral Award (2021) and the Ontario Graduate Scholarship (2017-2020).

Melissa can be reached at: andersm@yorku.ca.

I am a doctoral candidate in the Socio-legal department, centering my research on the intricate dynamics of free expression and academic freedom. My primary focus is the nuanced examination of these themes within the context of Canadian higher education institutions, aiming to elucidate their profound socio-political ramifications. Furthermore, my research portfolio includes active involvement in various projects pertaining to criminal justice. Particularly, critically examining the sentencing disparities experienced by racialized communities within the Canadian criminal justice system.

Natilie Richer (she/her) is a PhD candidate in Socio-Legal Studies at York University, who is also earning a diploma in Art History and Visual Culture. Her research-creational project unpacks the potential to decolonize overlooked sites of legal discourse, including the museum, the art gallery, and the university by challenging imperialist histories of curatorial and exhibition knowledge, as well as knowledge production more generally. Detailing her collaborative endeavour with Canadian Indigenous visual artist, Melanie de la Morandiere, Henvey Inlet, First Nation and their experimental, and exploratory engagement with arts-based practices, her project illustrates the ensuing necessity of grappling with exhibitionary spaces as comparable or directly linked to the sociolegal and the academic as well as their distinct ways of knowing. Natilie’s doctoral research is supported by the Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canadian Graduate Scholarship.

Pirethiga is an MA student in the socio-legal studies program at York University, holding a BA in Criminology and Anthropology. She is keenly interested in the intersection of law, crime, technology, and regulation. Actively engaged in various projects, Pirethiga has served as a legal intern at two law firms and participated in community initiatives like the Wrongful Convictions Collective, United South Asians at York and the Women Empowerment Club. She also co-led the “Breaking the Barriers” campaign for the South Asian Canadian Access to Justice Association, addressing challenges minorities face in accessing the legal system.

Through her MA degree, Pirethiga aims to explore predictive technologies, AI, and automated decision-making in immigration and border management. She is passionate about addressing the impact of these technologies on marginalized communities and investigating the biases in immigration decision-making processes. Her research scrutinizes these models to reveal societal injustices. Pirethiga aspires to use her education to advocate for social reform, focusing on reshaping the legal landscape in response to the challenges and opportunities presented by technology and AI.

My research interest stems from an interdisciplinary approach rooted in my undergraduate studies in Women’s and Gender Studies, Political Science, and Sociology. I am particularly intrigued by how these fields overlap in addressing social issues and the role of law as both an instrument of change and a subtly unquestioned often overlooked perpetrator of injustice and inequality. This fuels my desire to explore the hidden dynamics of law in relation to gender, race, de-colonialism, human rights, systemic racism, immigration, and surveillance amongst others. I chose York University’s Graduate Program in Socio-Legal Studies for its commitment to an interdisciplinary and intersectional framework, which aligns perfectly with my research ambitions. I currently aim to investigate how displacement and mining activities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo impact the rights of Congolese women and children, as well as the implications of the lack of an intersectional feminist lens in the Canadian legal system’s treatment of Black and Indigenous women. I remain open to exploring additional research avenues as my interests evolve throughout my studies. By exploring these critical issues, I aim to deepen our understanding of the complex and often overlooked intersections between law and social justice, both nationally and internationally, and contribute to research and discussions that foster positive change.

Roberta Medina is a 1st year PhD student in Socio-Legal studies. She holds an MA in Criminal Sciences from Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil) and a BA in Law from the same institution. Her doctoral research is focused on a comparative study between the use of drones for policing in Brasil and Canada. Her research interests span critical theory, politics, surveillance studies, policing, militarization and intersectionality.

Roberta can be reached at: robmdina@yorku.ca.

Shantel Siviebadan (she/her) is a first-year MA student in Socio-Legal Studies at York University. She recently earned her BA (Hons.) in Law and Society from York University. She has a diverse range of research interests in gender, sexuality, religion, human rights, racialization, migration, and surveillance. Keen about the intersection of these disciplines, Shantel chose the SLST program to explore and unpack the legal structures that impact marginalized communities. She seeks to develop her understanding of the legal responses and implications of queer politics and human rights. Shantel aims to critically analyze the gaps in education policy and barriers concerned with queer politics and rights. By examining these barriers, she seeks to identify systemic challenges and promote inclusive educational frameworks that foster equity and awareness for marginalized communities.

Sophia Martensen (she/her) is a third-year Ph.D. student in the Socio-Legal studies program at York University. She holds an Honours Specialization in Criminology and a Major in Psychology from Western University. She obtained her Master’s in Criminology and Sociolegal studies at the University of Toronto. Her current research focuses on post-racialism, Canadian multiculturalism, and race management. Specifically, Sophia is interested in investigating Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) initiatives in Canadian Universities to understand the boundaries and limits of EDI as a solution to racial inequity in institutions of higher learning in Canada.

Stephanie Giorno is a PhD candidate in Socio-Legal Studies at York University. She completed her B.A. (Hons) at York University in Law & Society, and earned her M.A. in Criminology at Toronto Metropolitan University. Her research interests include intimate partner violence (IPV), criminal harassment, and the gaps in accessing victim services. The objective of her doctoral work is to gain a better understanding of the ways the COVID-19 pandemic has affected IPV, with a particular emphasis on victims from the most vulnerable sectors of our society. She aims to use her research to establish an import for policy and practice, and to generate pragmatic and actionable policy recommendations.