Published on Brock University (http://www.brocku.ca)

Graduate Student Profiles

Lisa Arblaster

BS (Honours), Physical Geography, Brock University
Email: la07gf@brocku.ca

As a student coming from a physical geography background, I find the MA program in Geography to be very helpful in merging the physical and human aspects of my research topic. I am interested in how physical trends in the environment are being affected by climate change and how these changing patterns might affect society. I will be examining the precipitation trends within the Prairie Region of Canada to determine what effect, if any, climate change has on the prevalence of drought in this region. Initially, I will examine the global occurrences and effects of drought, both in reference to the climatological aspects (global areas likely to receive little precipitation on a yearly basis) and in reference to the socio-economic aspects (other factors affecting historically significant droughts). I will then use meteorological stations throughout the Prairies to examine the current, as well as historical, precipitation trends. I will focus on this research topic with the aim of determining the environmental and economic impacts of these possible occurrences of drought.

Jessie Barber

B.A. Geography, University of North Carolina, Charlotte
Email: jb10qj@brocku.ca

My research is concerned with the multiple and dynamic ways gay men and lesbians connect and constitute themselves in space. I received my BA in Geography with a minor in Urban Studies from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 2010. My undergraduate research examined how the absence of a visible gay neighborhood in Charlotte, North Carolina impeded gay male and lesbian candidates from election in local government. My MA current research focuses on the location-based social networking application Grindr (available on iPhone, Blackberry and Android phones), as it is used in the Toronto context. Using Grindr allows some gay, bisexual and curious men to find other homocurious men in proximity. I propose that Grindr, despite its mobility, remains intimately linked to Toronto’s gay village. I speculate that Grindr may afford users some possibilities ‘outside’ Toronto’s gay village, but remains conditioned and constrained by spatio-temporal legacies embedded in physical space.

Micheal Boateng

BA (Honours), Geography and Rural Development, Ghana
Email: mb12xo@brocku.ca

I have developed a lot of interest in economic geography. This is partly because I studied economics as part of my 4-year degree in Geography and Rural Development. It is also because I consider spatial economic policies as key to development. I decided to advance my interest by enrolling on a graduate program. With a number of graduate school admission offers available to me, I chose to enroll in the MA Geography program at Brock University for two reasons. First, the program offers a broad and critical understanding of theories and research methods used in geography. The second reason is the privilege of working with a willing and devoted academic supervisor who provides direction on how I can advance my research interest. Currently, I am utilizing these fine academic provisions for my MA research. I am examining the practicality of fiscal decentralization policies in Ghana. Hopefully, I will contribute towards improving fiscal policies in Ghana and developing countries at large through my research.

Natalie Currie

B.A. (Honours) History, B.Ed., Brock University
Email: nc03wn@brocku.ca

While completing the undergraduate concurrent education program I gained a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) with a major in History as well as a Bachelor of Education. I am also currently a member of the Ontario College of Teachers (OCT). My undergraduate experiences led me to consider the importance of space in historical circumstances and educational settings. Because of this I am now in pursuit of a Masters’ degree in Geography. My thesis research, then, seeks to combine my undergraduate interests and explore the relationship between curriculum and student created products within the Indian Residential School (IRS) system. More specifically, my research aims to explore how student works of art were used as opportunities to resist the goals of the residential school curriculum. Furthermore, it seeks to investigate how students negotiated their identities within the spaces of the IRS through classroom based art.

Rick Epp

B.A. (Honours), Human Geography, Brock University
Email: re08tu@brocku.ca

I entered the geography program at Brock University in my Undergraduate not knowing what to expect. All I knew at the time was that I was fascinated by the world around me. By my second year, the Geography department’s faculty and staff intrigued my interest in the discipline and I became determined to continue my education by enrolling Graduate School. The diverse sub-disciplinary backgrounds of the devoted faculty promote a wide-range of possibilities to take one’s own research. My research is concerned with how men who have sex with men in the Niagara Region cruise online personal advertisements and social media profiles. Through Internet ethnography, I intend to explore the subjectivities enforced on men who have sex with men in Niagara and the opportunities and constraints of digital spaces for online cruising.

Sara Epp

B.A. (Honours) Geography, Brock University
Email: se03ln@brocku.ca

When I began my undergraduate degree at Brock I had planned to attend law school after gaining a degree in a subject that interested me. I was unaware that majoring in geography would have such a large impact on my life and influence my future academic aspirations. As a rural Niagara resident, studying rural geography and community development as they relate to the Niagara Region during my undergrad motivated me to continue studying geography and join the MA program. For my thesis I plan to explore regional and municipal planning policies and their implications for rural community development. Of particular interest is the ways in which the Niagara Region’s growth policies deal with competing visions for use of rural land, as it pertains to residential development and agricultural production.

Warren Jenkinson

B.A. (Honours) Human Geography, Brock University
Email: wj99ty@brocku.ca

I had not anticipated my current enthusiasm for human geography. What was originally a quest for a pass degree turned into an honours degree, and now I’m working on my Masters. As a local musician, I thought it would be ideal to somehow combine my love of music with my emerging passion for geography. And so, my MA thesis focuses on the ways in which sounds constitute our environment. I am interested specifically in studying how fourth year students in a Geography of Music course consider sound as constitutive of space. I am also interested in the ways people respond to certain environmental sounds. I have worked as a Research Assistant, Teaching Assistant, and I’ve even played some house league sports here. It was an important decision to come to Brock, and I think a smart one to do my Masters here.

Oscar Asiedu Kuffour

BA (Honours), Geography and Resource Development, University of Ghana
Email: oa11tm@brocku.ca

From my undergraduate study at the University of Ghana, I have been interested in the constraints of human activities in space. I have been more concerned about how disasters continue to add to the already uncountable problems of humankind. Though disasters sometimes happen unexpectedly, their impacts on humankind largely depend on how well they are managed. My research interests focus on the effects of decentralization on disaster management in Ghana. I intend to study the often conflicting and complementing role of the central government and decentralized bodies towards disasters in Ghana and its challenges on disaster management. I find the MA program at Brock University invaluable in helping me achieve this objective.

Richard Lagani

B.A. (Honours) Geography, Brock University
Email: rl04au@brocku.ca

I am originally from Whitby, Ontario, and have spent the duration of my post-secondary education learning and developing at Brock University. My research interests include social and cultural geography, and more particularly taken-for-granted landscapes. For my Major Research Paper, I am examining how door locks discipline constitution and use of domestic space. There are two main ways I intend to do this. First, I am exploring the reasons people lock the doors that connect the neighborhood and home. Second, I am exploring the relationship between lockable doors inside the home and the practices they make private. Outside of school, I enjoy spending time with family and friends, listening to music, and watching sports on television.

Tanisha Minson

BA (Honours) Dramatic Arts, Brock University
Email: tm08ti@brocku.ca

My interest in human geography came to me while I was completing my undergrad in Theater at Brock. While I have always been extremely passionate about acting I discovered a new passion through a Geography of Gender course. Learning about the many relationships between humans and the various spaces we occupy not only facilitated a deeper understanding of the stage environment but also allowed for me to start thinking about my own life in many new and intriguing ways. I then decided to pursue this new interest through Brock`s Geography MA program. I am now exploring the spatial policing of hierarchies of legitimacy in trans* cyberspaces and the effects of this on identities and practices. While it is still very much a work in progress I look forward to continuing my research and broadening my skills within the Geography MA program. Switching disciplines has not come without its challenges; however, the expansion of my knowledge base and the development of new skills has been very beneficial and extremely rewarding.

Kerrie Pickering

B.Sc. (Honours) Environment, Brock University
Email: kp02ad@brocku.ca

Since completing my undergraduate Environment degree at Brock University I have been involved in a research project in Niagara facilitating the creation of a collaborative network of active stakeholders focusing on climate change. Adaptive capacity has been shown to strengthen and increase when individuals and groups work collectively while also creating an opportunity for social learning to occur. Social learning occurs when individuals and groups ‘learn to walk in another shoes’ by sharing experiences and ideas as they work together to resolve complex issues such as climate change. Having witnessed this process it has reinforced and strengthened a strong interest in climate change, how people and communities perceive, react and adapt to the phenomenon, how academic knowledge can assist in this process and the importance of governance and leadership in dealing with such complex and dynamic issues. My MA research is identifying present and potential future adaptations to climate change in the Ontario wine industry through a social-ecological lens.

Paul Russumanno

B.A. (Honours) Geography, Brock University
Email: pr04jo@brocku.ca

As an undergraduate Geography student at Brock I developed diverse insights into the relationships between humans and the spaces we occupy and move through. I am applying these insights in my MA research, which examines the implications of ‘creative’ urban renewal in the city of Hamilton, Ontario. I am specifically interested in the privatization of public space and the neo-liberal policies that encourage and foster the development of Richard Florida's 'Creative Class'. My research is informed by Guy Debord's "Society of Spectacle", Richard Florida's "Rise of the Creative Class" and Thorstein Veblen's "The Theory of the Leisure Class".

David Szymanski

B.A. (Honours), Human Geography, Brock University
Email: ds08ti@brocku.ca

I completed a 4-year Honours BA in Human Geography at Brock. I was always impressed by the program's ability to stimulate critical thinking in such a large diversity of topics and issues. The department has such an impressive scope of expertise, which is necessary for providing a comprehensive graduate program. The opportunity to work as a Teaching Assistant is also invaluable to a graduate student's intellectual and career development. My own research interests fall mostly within the realm of cultural geography. In short, I am taking a spatial approach to understand how professional sports in North America are actively promoting an ideology of militarism.

Heather Whipple

BA English, Swarthmore College; MA English, MLS, Indiana University
hw10jd@brocku.ca

I first started studying Geography about five years ago, when I thought I might want to change careers from academic librarianship to something more focused on environmental and sustainability issues. Since then, I've developed additional geographical interests in GIS, critical animal geography, cultural geography, and almost anything to do with grey areas, fuzzy boundaries, and liminal spaces, both material and metaphorical. Although I'm still quite committed to sustainability and shifting away from consumerism while encouraging respectful engagement with the non-human world, my topic reverted to my first loves, astronomy and science fiction. I'll be researching how living in outer space is represented and imagined in popular discourse, mostly by and for those of us who will never go there.

Tomasz Wierzba

BA (Honours) Geography, Brock University
Email: tw05lz@brocku.ca

I have always been fascinated by the world around me, and have sought understanding from different disciplines; none has captured my imagination like geography. In my MA research I hope to study the relationship between government policy and quality of life, by examining the Niagara Culture Plan. My research is informed by an eclectic set of theoretical perspectives. It is problem-based and action-oriented. I can best describe myself as a critical pragmatist with an interest in social change. The Geography Department at Brock provides me with an intellectually supportive and inclusive environment where I feel I can achieve my personal, academic and career goals.

Faculty of Social Sciences

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