Graduate

Amrita Kumar-Ratt is a PhD candidate in the department of Geography studying with Katharine Rankin (FAS). Amrita’s project titled, “‘Our Bodies Our Voices’: The Feminist Political Geographies of Reproductive Control & Justice in ‘Punjabi Canada’,” combines academic research methods with photography, poetry and performance arts, transformative justice action, and storytelling.

Elio Colavito (he/they) is a doctoral candidate in the Department of History studying with Elspeth Brown (FAS/UTM). Their research explores twentieth-century Canadian and American transmasculine histories of care, mutual aid, and community formation. Dedicated to making historical narratives more accessible to trans communities, Elio uses digital archives and ArcGIS Storymaps chart these histories.

Janani Mandayam Comar (she/her) is a PhD candidate in the Department for the Study of Religion studying with Srilata Raman (FAS). Her research, situated at the intersection of religion, literature, and performance focuses on how caste is tied to ethical discourses in Tamil communities. She is exploring the print and oral traditions of two mythological figures in Tamil culture. She will use a variety of digital tools to expand her exploration of Tamil literature including Tamil Python, OCR software, and natural language processing.

Réka Patrícia Gál (she/they) is a PhD candidate at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Information studying with Sarah Sharma (UTM) and M. Murphy (UTM). Their research charts the environmental consequences of SpaceX’s rocket launch facility in Boca Chica, focusing on human-machine interdependence’s environmental and labor justice implications. Their research practices include using mapping programs and GIS in conjunction with ethnographic interviews and Critical Discourse analysis of archival materials, popular culture texts, and industry materials.

Alisha Grech is a PhD candidate at the Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies, studying with Dr T Nikki Cesare Schotzko (CDTPS). Alisha’s project, titled: “HelpForHer: Feminist Activist Data Strategies for Mapping Gender-Based Violence in Canada”, explores the process of collecting data from an activist, intersectional-feminist perspective.

Mariba Douglas is pursuing her PhD in the department of Geography & Planning at the University of Toronto. Mariba is fascinated by the global circulation of emancipatory ideas, from Black student activism in North America to the rich countercultures of the Caribbean and beyond – all of which highlight the creativity and exuberance of Black radical thought and resistance. Mariba’s research examines the expansion of “equity, diversity and social inclusion” initiatives in higher education as a feature of the persistence of anti-Blackness, contrasting these institutional accounts with vibrant histories of Black struggle and placemaking on Canadian campuses.

Melanie Ng is a PhD candidate in the Department of History at the University of Toronto studying the transpacific history of Chinese paper family migrations to and through North America. Weaving together archival documents and oral histories, her dissertation analyzes clandestine Chinese migrants’ contestation and subversion of legal/illegal categories and their impact on Chinese community identity, Chinese racialization, and trans-imperial legal formation.

Siddharth Sridhar is a 5ᵗʰ year PhD Candidate in the Department of History. His research studies the role of the rubber industry and its associated networks of commerce, labour, and authority in the reproduction of British Imperial space in the Bay of Bengal during the Great Depression and Second World War.