My SSHRC- and OGS-funded research analyzes the relationship between contemporary radical democratic thought and ancient Greek democracy. It focuses in particular on the work of Cornelius Castoriadis, Claude Lefort, and Jacques Rancière, and notions of social imaginaries, “dissensual” democracy, self-institution, and autonomy. Under the supervision of Dr. Sophie Marcotte Chénard, I propose a new framework for the analysis of ancient democratic thought as a crucible for new democratic projects of equality, with particular attention paid to the political potentiality of poverty and the poor.
My broader research interests include the political dimensions of popular entertainment and art, especially circus and freakshows, and the aesthetic-political dimensions of tragedy. I have published and presented widely on circus as the aesthetic manifestation of a grotesque democracy.
I hold a BA Hons. in Dramatic Arts (2015) and an MA in Comparative Literatures and Arts (2017) from Brock University, as well as an MA in Social and Political Thought from York University (2021). I have presented my research at numerous academic conferences, in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Europe. In addition to my peer-reviewed contributions, I co-edited “Circus and Its Others,” a double issue of the peer-reviewed journal Performance Matters published by Simon Fraser University. I have also been published in The Toronto Star, alt.theatre Magazine, and Intermission Magazine, among others.