Nicole Shukin

Nicole Shukin is an Associate Professor in the Department of English at the University of Victoria (UVic), affiliated with the Cultural, Social, and Political Thought (CSPT) graduate program. She holds an MA from the University of Calgary and a PhD from the University of Alberta. Her research focuses on biopolitical theory, animal studies, and globalization, interrogating intersections between cultural representation and material processes of capital accumulation. Her landmark book Animal Capital: Rendering Life in Biopolitical Times (2009) theorizes 'rendering' as a conceptual framework linking animal commodification to biopolitical power structures.

Shukin's recent work explores settler colonialism's zoopolitical dimensions, Indigenous futurisms, and climate change narratives. She teaches courses such as 'Indigenous and Diasporic Literatures in Canada' and 'The Politics of Nature in the Era of Pandemic Capital,' blending literary analysis with critical theory. Her interdisciplinary approach integrates poststructuralist, Marxist, and posthumanist methodologies to challenge anthropocentric frameworks in cultural studies.

Her publications span edited volumes like The Edinburgh Companion to Animal Studies and journals including Postmodern Culture and Canadian Literature. Current research continues interrogating how colonial and capitalist systems shape human-animal relations through ecological crises and biopolitical governance.