Team

SSHRC Partnership Development Grant, Director Interrogating Canadian Identities/ Les identités canadiennes -- une interrogation (ICI) includes people and organizations across Canada.

Our Director is Dr. Anne F. MacLennan of the Department of Communication and Media Studies/Communication & Culture at York University.

Our partners are Aboriginal Council of Winnipeg, Canadian Centre for Civic Media and Arts Development Inc.; Canadian Museum of History; Cape Breton University; Cartt.ca; Kwantlen Polytechnic University; The Montreal Gazette; Musée des Ondes Emile Berliner; Radio Markham York Inc.; The ArQuives; & York University,

Our co-applicants are Dr. Asma Sayed, Kwantlen Polytechnic University; Dr. Felix Odartey-Wellington, Cape Breton University; Dr. Paul S. Moore, Toronto Metropolitan University; Dr. Jennifer Meness, Toronto Metropolitan University; Dr. Olivier Coté, Canadian Museum of History; & Dr. Andrew Monti, Trent University.

Our collaborators are Dr. Jan Hadlaw, York University; Dr. Tokunbo Ojo, York University; Dr. Carmen Victor, York University; Dr. Jonathan Osborn, York University; Dr. Stéphane Couture, Universite de Montreal, Dr. Irena Knezevic, Carleton University; Dr. Michael Windover, Carleton University; Dr. Aidan Moir, University of Windsor; Dr. Amanda Oye, Dr. Jessica Whitehead, Cape Breton University; Dr. Tyrone Hall, & Rebecca Gimmi.

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Dr. Anne F. MacLennan

Director

Dr. Anne F. MacLennan is Associate Professor, Department of Communication and Media Studies, York University and the York-Toronto Metropolitan Universities Joint Graduate Program of Communication and Culture. She co-authored Seeing, Selling, and Situating Radio in Canada, 1922-1956 with Michael Windover. She researches radio history, community radio, podcasting, identities, poverty, women, widows, popular culture, and communication/media research methods. She published in Media and Communication, Journal of Radio & Audio Media, Women’s Studies, The Radio Journal, Relations Industrielles, Urban History Review and edited collections. Recent work includes “Forming Networks: National Radio Networks − Public, State, and Commercial” and with Christine Cooling, “The Impact of the British Broadcasting Corporation on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.” She is completing SSHRC funded research, “Programming, practices, production and policy: Canadian community radio” with Kate Moylan and working on a Social Science and Humanities Research Insight Grant with Irena Knezevic, “The role of entertainment media in the persistence of Canadian and American poverty.” SSHRC Partnership Development Grant. She has started a new SSHRC Partnership Development Grant, “Interrogating Canadian Identities – Les identities canadiennes – une interrogation.” She was awarded the Faculty of Graduate Studies, Faculty Teaching Award for 2023, as well as the 2022 Excellence in Teaching Award (faculty), and University-Wide Teaching Award 2006. She served as Editor-in-chief, Journal of Radio and Audio Media volumes 24 to 28 from 2017 to 2021 and co-editor in 2022, Chair of the Department of Communication and Media Studies from 2018 to 2020, and Graduate Program Director of York-Toronto Metropolitan Universities Joint Graduate Program of Communication and Culture.

Dr. Asma Sayed

Co-Applicant

Dr. Asma Sayed is the Canada Research Chair in South Asian Literary and Cultural Studies in the Department of English at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. Since November 2023, she is also Vice President, Equity and Inclusive Communities leading KPU’s newly established Office of Equity and Inclusive Communities. She specializes in postcolonial and diasporic literatures with a focus on narratives of exile and displacement from South Asia and East Africa, as well as feminist literary and cultural studies related to these geographies. Sayed’s research and teaching is informed by Critical Equity Studies, Critical Race Theory, Critical Hope and Solidarity Studies, and Postcolonial and Decolonial Studies. Her current research projects include: a book on feminist discourse in South Asian literature; an encyclopedia of South Asian literary and cultural contributions; and an anthology of multilingual literature in Canada. Her publications include six books and numerous articles in a range of periodicals, anthologies, and academic journals. Sayed’s work has been recognized through multiple awards and grants. In 2020, she was inducted as a member of the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists. She is a recipient of KPU’s Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) award for 2023 and Distinguished Scholarship Award for 2022.

Dr. Felix Odartey-Wellington

Co-Applicant

Dr. Felix Odartey-Wellington is an Associate Professor of Communication. Dr. Odartey-Wellington received his PhD in Communication and Culture from Toronto Metropolitan and York Universities (Toronto), his MA in Media Studies from Concordia University (Montreal), his BL (Barrister-at-Law/Solicitor qualifying certificate) from Ghana School of Law (Accra), and his BA (Honours) in Political Science and Law from University of Ghana (Legon). Dr. Odartey-Wellington has published and presented his work in Canada and abroad in areas that include race and media, communications policy and law, development communication, media ecology, organizational communication and news and public affairs.

Dr. Paul S. Moore

Co-Applicant

Dr. Paul Moore is professor of sociology at Toronto Metropolitan University. His SSHRC-funded Insight grant, Multicultural Moviegoing, with Co-Investigator Jessica Whitehead, surveys advertising and publicity for diasporic cinema in post-WWII urban Canada. With Sandra Gabriele, he is the author of The Sunday Paper: A Media History (2022, Illinois).

Dr. Jennifer Meness

Co-Applicant

Dr. Jennifer Meness, Bawajigan Waaban (Dreams Tomorrow’s Dawn) is Migizi minwa Biné Dodemok from the Algonquins of Pikwakanagan First Nation. Her research centers forgotten Anishinaabe philosophy and worldview revealed through the sound-based meanings of words in Anishinaabemowin. Dr. Meness’ research braids Anishinaabe epistemology with western theoretical perspectives from the fields of performance, dance, communication, anthropology, material culture, and linguistics. As a powwow dancer for over 30 years, Dr. Meness’s current interest lies in the experience of contemporary powwow through cultural embodiment, acts of transfer from Spirit, and the liminality of the powwow arena.

Dr. Olivier Côté

Co-Applicant

Dr. Olivier Côté has been Curator, Media and Communications, at the Canadian Museum of History since 2015. During his time with the Museum, he has been part of the Canadian History Hall exhibit team, and was curator of the exhibit From Pepinot to PAW Patrol® – Television of Our Childhoods (2022–2023).

In 2014, Côté published Construire la nation au petit écran: Le Canada, une histoire populaire [Building a Nation on the Small Screen – Canada: A People’s History] (Septentrion). As a media historian, he is interested in Canadian television as a conveyor of modernism and identity — particularly children’s television programming and its integration of historically marginalized communities.

Dr. Andrew Monti

Co-Applicant

Andrew A. Monti is an assistant professor at Trent University. His research interests include digital propaganda, work-integrated learning and experiential education. Andrew received his PhD in Communication & Culture from Toronto Metropolitan University (2018) and his MA from York University (2013). In 2022, Andrew secured an Insight Development Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada to explore alternative evidence-based strategies to combat anti-vaccine misinformation on social media. Andrew's past professional experiences include working as a legislative assistant at Queen's Park, as a TV news reporter at Omni TV and as an analyst at the Italian Trade Commission's Toronto Office. Andrew has taught a variety of media, communication and research methods courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels. He also directed York University's signature experiential education field placement course for 4th year students. 

Dr. Amanda Oye

Collaborator

Dr. Amanda Oye is a graduate of York University’s PhD program in Communication and Culture. Her research focused on the development of online news at the British Broadcasting Corporation, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Australian Broadcasting Corporation. She was the recipient of a Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship and now works as a consultant (regulatory and research) for a local, independent broadcaster and teaches a university course on communications policy.

Dr. Aidan Moir

Collaborator

Dr. Aidan Moir is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication, Media and Film at the University of Windsor. Her research analyzes how discourses of branding shape the circulation of iconic identities in visual culture. Her dissertation, “Punk, Obamacare, and a Jesuit: Branding the Iconic Ideals of Vivienne Westwood, Barack Obama, and Pope Francis” – which she is currently adapting into a manuscript – analyzed the symbiotic relationship between legacy media and digital culture in creating the iconic idealism associated with the brand identities of individuals with global impact. Her current research examines the use of the TikTok for political, brand, advocacy, and PR campaigns, and how Toronto-based influencers create a representation of the city on TikTok.

Dr. Jessica Whitehead

Collaborator

Dr. Jessica Leonora Whitehead is an Assistant Professor in the Communication and Languages Department at Cape Breton University. Her research focuses on screen cultures in North America, and her work has appeared in the Canadian Journal of Film Studies, Transformative Works and Cultures, TMG Journal for Media History, Italian Canadiana, and chapters in the books Rural Cinema-going from a Global Perspective, Handbook of Ethnic Media in Canada, and Mapping Movie Magazines. Her current book projects are exploring Italian-Canadian cinema cultures for McGill-Queen’s Press and celebrating the impact of Federico Fellini for the University of Toronto Press. She was awarded UofT's Superior Teaching Award and Excellence through Innovation award for her work with digital pedagogies and is a Teaching Chair at CBU exploring best practices for flexible digital instruction.

Dr. Carmen Victor

Collaborator

Dr. Carmen Victor (she/her) is a contract academic faculty member at universities in and around the Greater Toronto Area, currently teaching in in the Faculty of Arts & Science at OCAD University, and in the School of Arts, Media, Performance and Design at York University. From 2020-23 Victor held a MITACS Accelerate Postdoctoral Fellowship in Cinema and Media Arts at York University, developing a project on accessible practices in non-profit arts publishing, and is Managing Editor of PUBLIC: Art | Culture | Ideas a longstanding journal on contemporary art, media, and the public sphere. Victor's research is concerned with experimental media of the circumpolar North, landscape, and fostering Global North/South dialogue through the medium of film. Victor is a part of the Curatorial Team of the Film Commission Forum, Ministry of Culture, Saudi Arabia, where she is co-developing a film program and panel series in a six-city conference throughout 2023. 
Victor's writing has appeared in a variety of publications including Ciel Variable, TOPIA, Canadian Theatre Review, Prefix Photo, and she has edited chapters in books Sculpting Cinema (Pleasure Dome, Toronto) and Kelly Richardson: Pillars of Dawn (Kerber Verlag, Berlin). As part of “Interrogating Canadian Identities/ L'identités canadiennes—une interrogation (ICI)," Victor is a member of the 'Canadian Identity in Indigenous, Multicultural, and other Communities' and 'Canadian Identity and Communities in the Media' research clusters.

Dr. Irena Knezevic 

Collaborator

Dr. Irena Knezevic studies communication, culture, and health. Her research focuses on food systems and food cultures, and she has published work on food insecurity, poverty-bashing, health and social class, and inequities in food systems.

Dr. Michael Windover

Collaborator

Michael Windover is a historian of modern architecture, design, and material culture. He is particularly interested in the intersections of architecture with other media, the role of the built environment in public cultures, and the effects and affective dimensions of everyday design. In addition to his position in SSAC, he is cross appointed to the Institute for Comparative Studies in Literature, Art and Culture and to the School of Industrial Design at Carleton, as well as being adjunct curator of Design at Ingenium: Canada’s Museums of Science and Innovation.

Dr. Jan Hadlaw

Collaborator

Dr. Jan Hadlaw is an Associate Professor in the School of the Arts, Media, Performance, & Design at York University (Canada), with appointments to the Communication & Culture, Science & Technology Studies, and Interdisciplinary Studies graduate programs. Her research interests focus on histories of modern technologies and the roles they played in shaping and advancing modern conceptions of time, space, and national identity. She is the PI of the xDX Project: Documenting, Linking, and Interpreting Canada's Design Heritage, a SSHRC Partnership Development Grant which brings together universities, museums, archives, and government partners to create interlinked and contextualized online resource for the study of Canadian design history. She is also completing a cultural and material history of the modern American telephone that examines the key actors responsible for its design, production, and marketing (Johns Hopkins University Press). Selected publications include: “Design Nationalism, Technological Pragmatism, and the Performance of Canadian-ness: The Case of the Contempra Telephone,” Journal of Design History (2019); “‘Mysteries of the New Phone Explained’: Introducing Dial Telephones and Automatic Service to Bell Canada Subscribers in the 1920s,” in Edward Imhotep-Jones and Tina Adcock (eds.), Made Modern: Science and Technology in Canadian History (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2018).

Dr. Stéphane Couture

Collaborator

Stéphane Couture is an associate professor in the Department of Communication at the Université de Montréal. His research interests focus, in general, on the social, cultural and ideological aspects of digital media, and in particular on alternative digital media such as free software, decentralized networks and other community-based platforms and social networks. In the past year, he has conducted different research on francophone digital media, and especially in minority context.

Dr. Jonathan Osborn

Collaborator

Dr. Jonathan Osborn is a Canadian artist, educator, and researcher whose artistic and academic interests include human-animal relations, choreographic transmission, practice as research, museum studies, and representations of life within film, animation, and video games. Jonathan currently serves as contract faculty at  York University and holds a PhD in Dance Studies, an MA in Dance, and a BA in English Literature. His SSHRC funded research Between Species: Choreographing Human and Animal Bodies focused on kinaesthetic human-animal relations in a variety of settings and contexts and his academic work has been published in journals and collected editions including PUBLIC (2023). Animals in Narrative Film and Television (2022), Zoo Studies: A New Humanities (2019), and. Narrative in Performance (2018). As a choreographer, Jonathan focuses on the solo form and his work has received support from municipal, provincial, national, and international funding bodies including the TAC, OAC, CCA, and DAAD. His most recent works have been based on human and nonhuman bodies staged within different cultural forums including zoos, gardens, museums, and literary and cinematic archives.

Dr. Tyrone Hall

Collaborator

Tyrone Hall is a public policy communicator and sustainability specialist with in-country research, multilateral and industry experience across the Americas, Africa, India and the Pacific region. His specialties are executive coaching, policy and campaign analysis, research-based communication support, stakeholder engagement and partnership development. He is adept at distilling complex policy issues for varied audiences at both regional and international levels, including briefs, infographics, cogent videos, and viral multi-modal campaigns. His expertise is grounded in award winning doctoral research. His Vanier and Ontario Trillium funded dissertation examined campaign and negotiation processes in relation to the landmark Paris Agreement on Climate Change, alongside communication processes in 17 indigenous and traditional villages across Belize, Fiji and India. 

Dr. Tokunbo Ojo

Collaborator

Dr. Tokunbo Ojo is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication & Media Studies, York University. His teaching and research interests are in global media studies, development communication, journalism studies, African media studies, geopolitics of international communication and political communication. His current research projects include news media sustainability, political economy of African media industries, international news flows, Black Press in Canada, ICT4D,  and China-Africa relations.

Rebecca Gimmi

Collaborator

Rebecca Gimmi is the International Projects Officer, Arts and Science at the University of Toronto. She holds an MBA in Art and Media Administration from the Schulich School of Business at York University and an MA in Art History from York University. Formerly, she served as the Programme Coordinator at the Justina M. Barnicke Gallery, University of Toronto.

Gabriella Conforti

Dean's Award For Research Excellence (DARE) Student

Gabriella Conforti is a third-year Honours BA student in Communication & Media Studies at York University. She has a keen interest in marketing, public relations, and corporate communications, and is dedicated to expanding her expertise in these fields both through her academic pursuits and extracurricular activities. She consistently seeks to enhance her research and professional skills, aiming to contribute significantly to her studies at York University and to her future career endeavours.

Christine Rose Cooling

Research Assistant

Christine Rose Cooling is a Master’s student in the Joint Communication & Culture Program with York University and Toronto Metropolitan University. Her research areas include Canadian broadcasting history and the relationship between contemporary Canadian broadcasting policy, nationalism, and governing Canadian culture and identities. She is currently completing a SSHRC-funded thesis with the working title, “Requiem for a Century? Canadian Broadcasting Policy, Online Streaming Service Regulation, and Cultural Sovereignty in the Digital Age.” She recently published work in the Journal of Radio & Audio Media as a co-author with Dr. Anne F. MacLennan, “The Impact of the British Broadcasting Corporation on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.” She was also awarded the Governor General’s Silver Medal for academic excellence in 2023 and the Odessa Prize for the Study of Canada in 2023 for her undergraduate thesis entitled, “Reimagining Broadcasting Policy in a Networked Canada: Debating Digital Sovereignty and Democratic Freedom” at York University, BA Hons. Communication & Media Studies. Christine would love to continue her studies at the Doctoral level and pursue a future career in academia.

Fatima Husain

Research Assistant

Fatima Husain is a PhD student in the Joint Communication & Culture Program at York University and Toronto Metropolitan University. Her current research examines the case for integrating Transmedia & AI Technologies in the Canadian Community-led Media with an emphasis on Broadcast Radio. Her research interests include Inclusive Media Practices, Canadian Media Policy and Racial Equity Frameworks.

Trevor Greene

Research Assistant

Trevor Greene is a PhD student in the communications and culture program at York University.