Our Students

Abhi is a first-year PhD student in Politics at York. He received his M.A. in Social and Political Thought from York and a B.A. in Philosophy from the University of California, Berkeley. His research focuses on the history of revolutionary Marxist thought. From a position of immanence to the crisis of Marxism as framed by the work of Sylvain Lazarus and Alain Badiou, his research engages a critical rethinking of Marxist practice from the perspective of political subjectivity, through comparative studies of previous emancipatory moments including the French, Russian, and Chinese revolutions and 20th century national liberation struggles. His work aims to develop a conception of politics as rare and exceptional rather than constant and inevitable, as essentially a break or rupture with history in which the thought of political actors functions inventively to create novel forms of political organization.

Alie is 5th year PhD candidate whose research focuses on the political ecology and waste production of extractive capitalist firms in the Alberta tar sands. Their dissertation research analyzes three components of Albertan oil: the dynamics surrounding the production of tar sands waste and its associated regulatory frameworks; the ways that oil and gas asset desertion co-constitutes a crisis in capitalist production; the ways that financial-industrial capital shields itself from view of the public while shifting the financial and socio-environmental costs away from the industry.

Prior to beginning their graduate studies they worked as an environmental staff scientist conducting biological, physical, and chemical monitoring at industrial sites throughout the U.S. They monitored a variety of industries including cement, soda ash, lithium, coal gasification, commercial printing, utilities providers, and oil and gas. Beyond their research they are a trim carpenter, former bike mechanic, soaper, and union activist.

Cam Cannon is a PhD student specializing in political theory and comparative politics at York University’s Department of Politics. They hold a BA(Adv) in Global Political Economy from the University of Manitoba, and an MA in Political Science from York University. Their research interests include anti-colonial movements, the political economy of settler colonialism, subjectivity, identity, and depoliticization with a particular investment in exploring the discourses emerging from Althusser and his students. Research experiences have focused on Canadian settler colonialism, including survivor-led work in support of identifying missing children from the Indian Residential School System, and another project in support of collaborative repatriation of Indigenous remains held at the University of Manitoba. Their writing has appeared in Negation Magazine, Canadian Dimension, Passage, The Media Co-op, and The Manitoban. Cam previously held the Packer Award in Social Justice and a SSHRC Canada Graduate Scholarship.

I research the political economy of migration, agriculture and uneven development, with a focus on how dispossession, extractivism and inequality in the Global South shape labour migration to the North. I am interested in the experience of workers within the structural constraints of the world economy, how agency is exercised amidst these forces, and the social reproduction of labour power.

My PhD thesis research focuses on agrarian labour migration flows between Guatemala and Ontario, Canada, and their relationship to transnational processes of agricultural transformation during the era of neoliberal capitalism. I am seeking to understand how circuits of capital and circuits of labour migration interact and reinforce one another through a hemispheric extractive agricultural economy, and to better understand the experience of migrant workers whose labour power is essential to the maintenance of these circuits. You can reach me at cdlittle@yorku.ca.

Christophe Davis is a fifth year doctoral student in the Department of Politics at York University. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the Université de Montréal and a master's in comparative politics from the London School of Economics and Political Science. His research centres on questions surrounding the production and the consumption of collective memory. He finds particularly interesting instances of memory manipulation by public and private actors, as well as the deconstruction of these manipulations through memory activism. His doctoral research focuses on the commodification and the reappropriation of industrial memories in Belfast’s Titanic Quarter and Montréal’s Sud-Ouest, two neighbourhoods experiencing gentrification.

Dalia is a first-year PhD student who's main research interests are in Political Theory and International Relations. She has completed an MA at McMaster University and published a Master's Thesis entitled 'Adorno on Music and Politics', which focuses on the role and impact of 'art' on society through a critical lens. She holds several Graduate awards and is a member of the Golden Key Honor Society. She currently works as an RA.

Her previous work can be found at: hdl.handle.net/11375/25942.

Dalia can be contacted mariasd@yorku.ca

Dani Magsumbol is currently completing her doctoral degree at the Department of Politics at York University. She was awarded a Joseph-Armand Bombardier CGS-D award for her research, which examines affective relationships of citizen/ships & nation/alisms and the political economy of emotions, with a focus on the Filipino labour diaspora in Canada. She can be reached at ndm@yorku.ca.

Emma Willert is a PhD student in Political Science at York University. She explores the intersection between welfare regimes, demography, and migration to understand the fundamentally gendered nature of population change over time. Her comparative research utilizes a feminist political economy approach to examine how governments strategically intervene in the process of social reproduction to achieve a variety of goals, such as reproducing the labour force, assuaging demographic anxieties, or pursuing nation-building projects. Currently her research is focused on developing a framework exploring social reproduction policy regimes using the variation between the Canadian provinces as a case study, with particular focus on the unique case of Quebec. Emma can be reached at: ewillert@yorku.ca.

Erdem Kaya (BA, MA) is a fifth-year PhD candidate in Politics at York University. He has a double major in international relations and comparative politics. Erdem has previously published on Turkish foreign policy, global governance, and conflict resolution. His research project at York University focuses on Sino-capitalism and the developing world, and dependent development. His research interests also include how populism shapes foreign policy, multilateralism and global governance. Erdem is a past recipient of the Ontario Graduate Scholarship (2020–2022).

Evangeline Kroon is a PhD candidate in political science at York University specializing in women in politics and Canadian politics. Her current research centers on political expressions of climate anxiety with a focus on the federal and provincial Green parties in Canada. Previously she has published on narratives of female violence in post-apocalyptic pop culture, and this research interest has remains relevant in her current research as she examines our understandings of future-oriented imaginaries through the lens of climate crises. This research also blends seamlessly with her personal love of nature, quest for ecological sustainability and feminism. She lives and works and tries to keep plants alive in her apartment in Tkaronto.

Fasah Ali is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Politics, specializing in Political Theory and International Relations. He holds an MA in Public Policy and Canadian Politics from McMaster University, and an HBA in Political Science from the University of Toronto. His research interests include the history of Western and Eastern/Islamic political thought, postcolonial theorizations of new world systems, and empire as a political tool of domination. Fasah’s dissertation project focuses on the persistence of empire beyond the mid-twentieth postcolonial era, examining and comparing the thoughts of notable theorists, such as Carl Schmitt and Sayyid Qutb, in order to deduce the challenges apparent in formulating a non-imperialist global order. His research draws upon a host of perspectives, most notably utilizing a decolonial, anti-imperialist lens to proficiently document the plight of marginalized communities under Western imperialism. To connect with Fasah, please email fasah@yorku.ca or message through LinkedIn.

Irteqa Khan (she/her) is a Ph.D. student in Political Science at York University. She holds a BA Hons. in History and an MA in Political Studies from the University of Saskatchewan. Her identity as a Muslim-Canadian immigrant woman and poet of color has informed her scholarly interests, which include identity politics, postcolonial feminism, anti-Muslim racism, and diaspora studies. In her doctoral research, she is interested in expanding on the intricate existential confrontation between the self as “insider” and the self as “outsider” and the pain of “belonging nowhere” by “belonging everywhere” in conjunction with cross-examining the spaces of policy and practice and challenging structures and systems which perpetuate complicity, silence, and narratives of denialism in the Canadian context. Irteqa has co-authored an article called "We-Relation: Narratives of Emergence, Education and Resistance" in the NWJTE (doi.org/10.15760/nwjte.2022.17.3.32). She can be reached at irteqak@yorku.ca.

Isadora is a PhD student in Politics at York. They are originally from Milan, Italy, where they received their BA in Political Science with honors at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore. They gained an MA at Uppsala University while completing an advanced diploma in Critical Theory at Università Milano-Bicocca.

Their theoretical focus is at the intersection of social reproduction theories, queer scholarship, and Marxist thought. Their doctoral research plans to analyze the workings of capitalist reproduction through the exploration of how queer communities and bodies reproduce themselves, both in normative and non-normative ways. By shedding light on social reproduction both as the condition of capital realization and as arena of struggle, their goal is to integrate the different and contradictory ways through which capital is produced and reproduced to understand class and class politics as multidimensional.

To connect with Isadora, you can send an email to: isadora@yorku.ca.

Keith G. Sujo is a Latin American scholar with a background in international development studies, sociology, and politics (Trent University). He has worked extensively with not-for-profit organizations operating in the region as well as in Canada, in the themes of critical pedagogies and sustainable agricultural programmes. Currently, he is a third-year student in the PhD programme, specializing in political theory (Arendt, Fanon), and international relations (critical security studies, American imperial studies). His dissertation delves into the current Nicaraguan problematique under the Ortega-Murillo regime, delving into 'pre-political' areas such as education, all the way up to the totalitarian mechanisms of violence used by the Nicaraguan security forces. He has presented his work in academic conferences (CALACS), published editorial works and educational toolkits (Casa-Pueblito), as well as op-eds (Organization for World Peace). He can be reached at keithgon@yorku.ca.

Kenya is a PhD student in York University’s Department of Politics, having recently completed her MA at Carleton University’s Institute of Political Economy. Her research interests include social reproduction, the politics of caregiving, everyday activism, and community-based research. Her MA research investigated care as an inherently political act, working alongside mothers and caregivers in Nova Scotia’s childcare deserts to examine how they coordinate childcare and other caring needs when formal childcare options are sparse or unavailable. She plans to expand upon this project in her doctoral research, monitoring the development and implementation of the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care Plan and its lived implications for diverse, low-income, and rural families.

Khaoula Bengezi is a PhD candidate at the Department of Politics. Currently, Khaoula is researching global responses to climate change vis-à-vis clean energy technologies. She utilizes a feminist and decolonial lens to examine the how Western knowledge production and expertise manifest in global renewable energy imaginaries and juxtaposes these techno-scientific imaginaries with local perspectives on land, water and ways of knowing and being. Khaoula’s work on global governance, international law and gender, and feminist interventions in political theory and methods can be seen in Feminist Formations Journal, the Politics of the Middle East Seminars, Kohl Journal for Body and Gender Research, Lamma: A Journal of Libyan Studies, the Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies, and the Program on African Social Research. You can reach Khaoula at kben17@yorku.ca.

Laila Mourad is a PhD candidate at York University who adopts an interdisciplinary approach to research gender, labor and international development. Currently, she is exploring how home-based ‘gig’ workers can inform and shape our understanding of the evolving notion of ‘work’ in the digital economy. Laila examines how existing and emerging technologies transform how household economies and social relationalities are envisioned, and their role in development. She is the co-founder of SWANA Collective, a collaborative student body advocating for alternative decolonial spaces in academia and beyond. In her personal life she trains and coaches kickboxing, to cultivate resilience and wellness.

Marion Trejo spent half a decade as Lecturer at Tec de Monterrey in the Department of Politics and International Relations after completing her Master's in Philosophy at the National Autonomous University of Mexico with Highest Honours. During her time at Tec Marion's interests focused on contemporary political theory, biopolitical international relations, and critical geopolitics. Since then Marion has expanded her interests to include feminist political economy and critiques of contemporary neoliberal governance. Marion is a contributor to the forthcoming volume "Flowers for Marx" and the Springer Encyclopedia of Diversity. Her writing has also been featured in Zero Books and the magazine Merion West. Her current projects include writing her PhD dissertation on the political instrumentalization of fear and contributing to an essay volume on the philosophy of G.A Cohen.

Martin Barakov is a PhD student in the Department of Politics at York University. He completed his B.A. at McMaster University in 2022 and his M.A. at York in 2023. Martin’s research primarily revolves around critical approaches to comparative politics and international relations, with a geographic emphasis on the Balkans and Latin America. His Major Research Paper (MRP) during the M.A. centred on examining the social forces involved in both creating and preventing the emergence of a Balkan federative state in the 20th century. Currently, he focuses on human development and physical quality of life (QoL) outcomes in the aforementioned regions, comparing the roles played by structural adjustment programs from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to alternative models of development (state socialism in the Eastern Bloc, ‘buen vivir’ in Latin America, etc.). He can be reached at barakovm@yorku.ca.

Mitchell Harris is a PhD student in the Department of Politics at York University. Originally from Sault Ste Marie, he received his BA (Hons) in political science with a minor in economics from Algoma University in 2022 and his MA in political science from York in 2023. His current research is situated in the post-Marxist tradition. Harris is a teaching assistant in the departments of Social Science and Equity Studies at York. He is a past recipient of the Neal Wood Graduate Award. For more information, please visit his website at mitchellharris.ca.

Natasha Sofia Martinez is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Politics, with a specialization in International Relations and Women and Politics. She is also a Research Associate with the Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean (CERLAC).

Her proposed dissertation researches the externalization of borders and border management in transit countries within the global South. The main goal through this research is to highlight the ways in which migrants/refugees resist forms of oppression and maintain agency through transnational collective mobility. This project also aims to shed light on several sub-themes such as colonialism, race, technology, and security.

Country(ies) or Region(s) of Specialization: Latin America
Keywords: Migration, Refugees, Social Movements

Natasha can be reached at martinns@yorku.ca

Pablo Roy-Rojas is a PhD student in the Department of Politics at York University. He specializes in International Political Sociology and Political Theory. Previously, he was trained in Sociology (BA, MA) at Université Laval, where he received the Jean-Charles Falardeau Scholarship for academic excellence (2021). His research has been funded by the National Institute for Scientific Research (OMEC-INRS) (2022). Mobilizing his multidisciplinary background, in 2022 he directed a research project on behalf of the Confederation of National Trade Unions, investigating the impacts of strikes in the public transport sector, and worked at Laval’s Faculty of Medicine, examining health inequalities experienced by immigrant women in Canada. Pablo contributes to research in his field and beyond, having been published in journals such as Aspects sociologiques (2023) and by the Ligue des droits et libertés (2019). His doctoral research takes a critical perspective on immigration detention and border securitization in North America.

She is an assistant professor in the Department of Public Administration at the University of Chittagong in Bangladesh. She is a fifth-year PhD candidate in the Department of Politics at York University. Her doctoral thesis focuses on multilateral banks, especially non-Bretton Woods MDBs driven by emerging economies in the Global South, and their contributions to empowering third-world countries with their financing and other support as development partners. Her previous studies focused on gun control policies in North America, globalization, domestic politics in Bangladesh, and their impact on economic development. Her research has appeared in several Sage journals, including World Affairs, India Quarterly, and Foreign Trade Review. One of her papers titled "Opening New Horizons: Bangladesh Joins the New Development Bank" has been published in the Global Policy Journal, and another paper is upcoming in the same journal as part of her doctoral research. Rifat can be reached at rk16mp@yorku.ca.

Rob is a PhD student, whose research interests include Political Theory, History of political thought, Canadian Politics, Urban Governance and design, and By-Laws. He holds an M.A. in Political Science, a B.A. in History, and a Concurrent Certificate in Urban Studies and Planning (USP) from McMaster University. General academic interests remain wide and range from republican and Marxist theory to critical film analysis, and beyond. He can be reached at rbutrym@yorku.ca.

I, Samira Lavei, am a 6th year PhD Candidate in Political Science, specializing in Women & Politics and International Relations. My research focuses on the experiences of women in armed conflict in Colombia. In 2022–23, I was privileged to conduct fieldwork across Colombia. I interviewed victims, organizations and high profile politicians to understand the conflict from a gender-based perspective. During my time on the field, I understood the importance of personalizing the fieldwork experience. I utilized my experience as a karate athlete to network and collaborate with NGOs to teach self defence to victims of the conflict and victims of sex trafficking. I realized that the fieldwork experience is made valuable when you situate every aspect of your life into it. It is a wonderful opportunity to get to know your interviewees and for them to understand you. This creates a lasting relationship and trusting bond with one another.

Samuel de Brouwer is a PhD student in the Department of Politics, specializing in Political Theory and International Relations. He holds an MA in Philosophy from the University of Ottawa and a BA in Political Science and Philosophy from the Université de Montréal. His research interests include the history of Western social and political thought, the postmodern debates, democratic theory, and postcolonial theory. Samuel’s dissertation focuses on the relationship between democracy and the state, examining the contrasting perspectives of Marcel Gauchet and Miguel Abensour within the evolution of postwar political theory in France. Beyond contextual and textual components, his methodology also involves archival works and interviews with key figures. To connect with Samuel, you can message him via email (sdebrouw@yorku.ca) or LinkedIn.

Sheema is a Doctoral candidate in Politics with a focus on decolonial feminist thought, critical race theory, Critical Surveillance Studies and South Asian studies. Previously on the Fulbright grant, she completed her MA in Gender Studies from San Diego State University. Her MA thesis explored feminist thought and organizing around the crisis of public space access in urban Pakistan. Her current dissertation project examines the impact of the War on Terror in South Asia centered on the site of the university campus. She seeks to examine how the subsequent securitization measures impact marginalized ethnic and gendered campus communities in Karachi.
Sheema can be reached at sheemakh@yorku.ca.

Shreya is a PhD student and holds a SSHRC Canada Graduate Scholarship. Her research interests are in critical development studies, gender and development, Canadian foreign policy, and feminist political economy. Her doctoral research examines Canada’s international development policies and programming following the introduction of the Feminist International Assistance Policy in 2017. Her writing has been featured in Studies in Political Economy, the Bullet, Upping the Anti, the Winnipeg Free Press, and the Queen’s Policy Review, as well as in books, policy reports, and other venues.

Shreya can be reached at shreya3@yorku.ca

Tylor is a finishing 1st year PhD student who focuses on genocide perpetration and the Holocaust. He is internationally recognized for his lecturing experience on the Holocaust, combining critical and personal presentations. Tylor began his international experience in the WarZone between Russian-backed South Ossetia and the Republic of Georgia 2009. After this, he moved to the city of "Stalingrad". Tylor spent years being active within the Russian Academic community and specializes in understanding Russian mentality from the viewpoint of a Western-educated scholar. Tylor focuses on Indigenous issues by focusing on the practicalities of active reconciliation measures. He focuses more on the realities of genocide perpetration and reconciliation over general themes of decolonization, which he views as a standardized form of collective guilt. Tylor is accredited for his teaching and lecturing experience in Israel, The Russian Federation, the Republic of Georgia, and the EU. Tylor can be contacted at tbergman@yorku.ca.

Viktoriya Vinik is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Politics at York University. She specializes in critical Israeli-Palestinian studies and Jewish political thought. Her doctoral research examines the relationship between Israel's housing crisis and West Bank settlements, specifically how Airbnb has impacted racialized land and property relations in Jerusalem and the West Bank. She unpacks how settler colonial governance over land and property has changed through gentrification over time, especially in response to the advent of the sharing economy, and how this change has generated new forms of struggle in Israel-Palestine. She can be reached at vikaav@yorku.ca.

Vincent (Vinnie) Collins is a PhD candidate in the department of Politics at York University. He completed his Masters in Political Science from York University, Toronto in early June 2020. He is originally from Glasgow, Scotland where he gained a BA in Social Sciences from Glasgow Caledonian University. Vinnie done his masters at York, where his research analyzed the Green New Deal, and whether it can redress the systemic inequalities that exist in society today while mitigating the climate crisis. Vinnie’s PhD dissertation follows on from this to focus centrally on the role of labour unions organizing amidst the climate crisis and their potential to deliver labour-led climate action that materially improves the lives of their members' and the broader working-class while simultaneously overcoming the climate crisis. Vinnie was recently awarded the CRIMT Institutional Experimentation for Better Work Project Partnership: Studentship Fund award.

Yara Flahat is a PhD student in the Department of Political Science at York University. She completed her Bachelor of Arts at the University of Toronto with a specialization in Political Science and then went on to complete her Master's in Political Science at York University—where she was a recipient of the Neal Wood Award. Yara’s past research has focused on comparative carceral systems, privatized healthcare, and the perpetuation of poverty cycles. In 2024, Yara was invited as a speaker at the 13th annual Mapping the Global Dimensions of Policy Conference at McMaster University to discuss her work on the United States Incarceration crisis. Yara’s current research areas are now focused on comparative and theoretical approaches to addressing resource dependency, famine, and food insecurity in the global east and the ways in which systems of production contribute to the economic, political, and ecological perpetuation of food insecurity.

Yu-Chen Chen is a second-year PhD student in Political Science at York University, whose research interests include critical digital transnational authoritarianism, cross-border migration control, dual citizenship and nationalities, online disinformation, and state propaganda processes. Her dissertation research, funded by SSHRC CGS-D (2022-2025) and PCH-SSHRC Initiative for Digital Citizen Research (2022-2023), focuses on how disinformation framed by the Chinese Communist Party is reversing longstanding distrust toward the Party throughout the Chinese-speaking diaspora in Canada, even among those whose origin countries share similar democratic and multicultural values as Canada, and is successfully expanding its digital authoritarian influence into the Canadian information space. Yu-Chen is a past recipient of the SSHRC Joseph-Armand Bombardier Graduate Scholarship (2019-2020) for research into the topic of the detained Kazakhs in Xinjiang; she still works on the Xinjiang human rights issue as her side research. Yu-Chen can be reached at: yzchen@yorku.ca

Zhi Ming Sim is a 3rd Year Ph.D. Candidate in Politics and a Research Associate with the York Centre for Asian Research and the Centre for Feminist Research. Zhi Ming received their BSocSci Honours (Political Science and Sociology) from the National University of Singapore and M.A. (Politics) from York University.

Through a decolonial ecological lens, their research focuses on energy transition projects in Southeast Asia and Canada. They have also written on conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) and anti-imperialist social movements across Asia. Zhi Ming is also a recipient of the 22/23 Ontario Graduate Scholarship.

Zhi Ming can be reached at www.simzhiming.com.