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Rafael Grohmann is an Assistant Professor of Media Studies at the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC), with a graduate cross-appointment at the Faculty of Information (iSchool). He leads the DigiLabour Initiative and is a researcher with Fairwork, focusing on Critical Platform and Data Studies. His research emphasizes platform labour, the platformization of work, and resistance strategies among workers in Latin America. Grohmann holds a PhD in Communication from the University of São Paulo and has held prior academic positions at institutions in Brazil, including Unisinos University. His research interests span platform cooperativism, public policies for technology and labor, AI's impact on work, and data-driven labour practices. He is an editorial board member for Big Data & Society and Work, Employment and Society , and contributes to UCLA’s Center for Critical Internet Inquiry (C2i2). His work examines intersections of technology, labour precarity, and solidarity economies, with a focus on global South contexts. Recent publications analyze click farm labour in Brazil, gender dynamics in platform cooperatives, and global-local trends in platform worker organizing. Grohmann’s work bridges critical theory with action research, advocating for fair work standards in digital economies. He participates in initiatives like the Platform Cooperativism Consortium and the Labor Tech Research Network.

• Critical Platform and Data Studies
• Platform Labour
• Platform Cooperativism
• +7 more

Stefan Kipfer is a Professor at the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change , York University. He coordinates the Cities, Regions, Planning program and holds a PhD in Political Science from York University. His research focuses on the intersections of spatial organization, social order, and political rule, with particular emphasis on urban politics, racial capitalism, and anti-colonial theory. Education: PhD in Political Science, York University MES in Urban Political Economy and Ecological Politics, York University BA in Political Science and French, York University Kipfer's research spans transnational urban studies, critical theory, and radical political ecology. He explores: Urban social movements in Zurich, Toronto, and Paris State interventions in public housing, transit, and environmental policy The capitalist and racialized dimensions of urbanization Right-wing populism and neo-fascism Connections between Henri Lefebvre, Frantz Fanon, and Antonio Gramsci Recent work analyzes: Urbanization as neocolonial process Anti-racist and decolonial spatial strategies Transit justice and free public services Comparative urban governance Resistances to far-right regimes Articulation theory and political strategy He supervises graduate students in Environmental Studies, Geography, and Political Science, and has contributed to critical urban theory through publications linking Marxist, anti-colonial, and feminist frameworks.

• Urbanization
• Urban Politics & Planning
• Social & Political Theory
• +4 more

Todd McCallum is an Assistant Professor in the Department of History at Dalhousie University . His research focuses on North American social and cultural history , particularly intersections with Marxism, anarchism, and working-class movements . He also explores themes of gender and sexuality within historical contexts. PhD in History from Queen’s University MA in History from Simon Fraser University BA in History from Queen’s University McCallum’s recent publications analyze transient worker communities, labor activism, and spatial marginalization during economic crises. His work critically examines how categories like “tramp” evolved alongside industrial capitalism and social policy, often incorporating interdisciplinary lenses such as eugenics, documentary photography, and urban sociology. Key trends in his research include the dialectic of mobility and marginality, gendered interpretations of transient life, and the role of radical ideologies in shaping worker identities. He has contributed extensively to journals like Labor/Le Travail and BC Studies , with a particular focus on Vancouver’s Depression-era hobo communities. His teaching portfolio includes courses on the history of the future , conspiracy theories , and gender formation in North America . Office hours are held in the Marion McCain Building, Halifax.

• North American social and cultural history
• Marxism
• Anarchism
• +5 more

Anup Grewal is an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC) within the Department of Historical and Cultural Studies and affiliated with the Tri-Campus Graduate Department of History at the University of Toronto. She teaches courses in History, Women’s Studies, and Global Asia Studies, integrating interdisciplinary perspectives into her pedagogy and research. Education: PhD in East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago (2012) MA in History, Trent University BA in History, McGill University Her research focuses on modern Chinese cultural history, gender studies, and transnational leftist movements. She explores intersections of literature, film, and political activism, particularly examining Chinese women's roles in leftist movements of the 1920s-30s. Additional projects include comparative analyses of socialism in Indian and Chinese literature, and studies of minority films in contemporary China. Prior to her current position, she held roles as a Lecturer in Chinese and Comparative Literature at King’s College London (2013–15) and a Postdoctoral Fellow at Leiden University (2012–13).

• Cultural and Intellectual East Asia
• Empire, Colonialism and Indigeneity
• Gender, Sex and Sexualities
• +7 more

Timothy Cheek is a Professor at the University of British Columbia with dual appointments in the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs and the Department of History. He holds the prestigious Louis Cha Chair in Chinese Research and serves as Co-Director of the Centre for Chinese Research at the Institute of Asian Research (IAR). Having joined UBC in 2002, Professor Cheek is a leading scholar of modern Chinese history with expertise in Chinese intellectual history and the Chinese Communist Party. Professor Cheek's educational background includes: Ph.D. in History and East Asian Languages from Harvard University (1986) M.A. in History from The University of Virginia (1980) B.A. in Asian Studies (Honours) from Australian National University (1978) His research focuses on three interconnected areas of modern Chinese history: the history of the Chinese Communist Party within China's twentieth-century revolutionary context; contemporary Chinese thought and society, particularly the role of intellectuals in public life; and Mao Zedong studies. Professor Cheek leads the "Revisiting the Revolution" collaborative translation project, bringing Chinese scholarship on revolutionary history to English-speaking audiences. He is also working on a major project mapping Chinese statecraft from the Ming Dynasty to the present. Professor Cheek's scholarly output reveals consistent engagement with Chinese intellectual history and political development. His recent work shows increasing focus on contemporary China under Xi Jinping, examining ideological governance and the reassertion of party control. He maintains strong interest in the historical roots of current political developments, particularly through the lens of Mao-era political practices and their legacy. Among his notable recognitions: Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (RSC) in the Academy of Arts and Humanities (2023) Professor Cheek actively supervises graduate students, co-mentoring MA and PhD candidates in modern Chinese history with Dr. Jeremy Brown of Simon Fraser University. His research has been supported by multiple SSHRC grants, including a major 2014-2019 project on "Reading and Writing the Chinese Dream" examining public intellectuals in contemporary China. As Co-Director of the Centre for Chinese Research at UBC's Institute of Asian Research, Professor Cheek leads one of Canada's premier institutions for China studies, facilitating research collaborations between Canadian and Chinese scholars and supporting the "Revisiting the Revolution" translation project that brings Chinese historical scholarship to international audiences.

• 20th century Chinese history
• Chinese Communist Party history
• Chinese intellectuals
• +3 more

Matthias Fritsch is a Professor of Philosophy at Concordia University. He specializes in contemporary European philosophy, environmental ethics, and intergenerational justice, with a focus on critical theory, deconstruction, and phenomenology. His work explores normative relations between past, present, and future generations, particularly in environmental and political contexts. Education : Ph.D. (Villanova University, 1994-1999), Doctoral Research (Freie Universität Berlin, 1997-1998), M.A. (New York University, 1993-1994), B.A. (Universität zu Köln, 1990-1993), and Humboldt Scholar (Goethe Universität Frankfurt am Main, 2010-2011, 2023). His research centers on justice in relation to history, time, and the environment, addressing questions about societal obligations to the dead and future generations. Current projects include a monograph on phenomenology and critical theory (SSHRC-funded, 2020-2026) and co-organizing the award-winning Nature-Time-Responsibility research network, which promotes intercultural approaches to environmental justice. Recent publications examine generativity, climate ethics, and temporal responsibility, reflecting his interdisciplinary engagement with Heidegger, Derrida, and indigenous perspectives. His work appears in journals such as Continental Philosophy Review , Constellations , and European Journal of Political Theory . Scientific Awards : Humboldt Scholar (2010-2011, 2023). Matthias supervises graduate students in Philosophy (MA) and Humanities (PhD) and has contributed to edited collections including Eco-Deconstruction (Fordham University Press, 2018) and Environmental Philosophy and East Asia (Routledge, 2022). He is also co-editor of the 2024 special issue of the Yearbook for Eastern and Western Philosophy on "Philosophies of Time and Nature."

• Contemporary European Philosophy
• Critical Theory
• Deconstruction
• +6 more

María Lois is a Lecturer in the Department of History, Theories and Political Geography at the Complutense University of Madrid, Faculty of Political Sciences and Sociology. She is a member of the 'Space and Power' Research Group and 'Polarts (The Politics and the Arts)', a Standing Research Group within the ECPR. María serves as board member of the Research Committee 15 (Political and Cultural Geography) of the International Political Science Association and co-editor of the journal Geopolítica(s). Her research focuses on Political and Cultural Geography , with particular emphasis on border studies, cultural governance, and the heritageization of European borders. She explores geographies of nationalism, spatial interpretations of artistic processes, and geopolitics of globalization, with specialized expertise in literary geographies and cultural dimensions of border regions, particularly the Spanish-Portuguese border. Her work demonstrates how borders transform rather than disappear, examining cross-border cooperation projects that create new spatial configurations while maintaining elements of national security frameworks. María Lois's scholarly contributions reveal consistent focus on spatial arrangements reflecting power relations. Her analysis of border heritage through multiple scales shows parallel versions of the past serving different political purposes. Her research on the Spanish-Portuguese border examines how smuggling routes have been transformed into tourist experiences, re-signifying historical practices for contemporary cultural consumption. She has also made significant contributions to understanding the geopolitics of the COVID-19 pandemic, analyzing border closures as territorial solutions to exceptional situations. Her teaching aligns closely with research interests, particularly in political geography. She has developed innovative approaches using film as a learning tool in political geography education, creating shared teaching resources among faculty members through her project 'APRENDIZAJE A TRAVÉS DEL CINE.' María Lois is actively engaged with research teams focusing on border studies and cultural geography. Her work with the 'Space and Power' Research Group and 'Polarts' suggests collaborative environments where theoretical and empirical border studies are developed. Her participation in EU-funded cross-border cooperation projects indicates practical engagement with policy applications of her research.

• Political Geography
• Geopolitics
• Cultural Geography
• +4 more

Kristin Plys is Associate Professor of Sociology and History at the University of Toronto, cross-appointed with the Department of History, Culinaria (UTSC), and the Centre for South Asian Critical Humanities (UTM). She is also the J. Clawson Mills Scholar in the Director's Office at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for 2023–24. Education: PhD in Sociology, Yale University BA (with honors), Johns Hopkins University Research Interests: Kristin Plys specializes in political economy, colonialism, racialization, and historical methodology. Her work critically examines dictatorship in the 1970s Global South , histories of café culture , labor history , and the intersections of poetry, visual art, and politics in postcolonial contexts. She is particularly interested in how cultural spaces like coffee houses and tea houses serve as sites of resistance and political theorizing. Her recent publications reflect a deep engagement with anti-colonial Marxism , antifascist theory , and global leftist movements , especially in South Asia and the Mediterranean. Her monograph Brewing Resistance (2020) received the Global Sociology Book Award, and her co-authored book Capitalism and its Uncertain Future (2022) was honored with an honorable mention for the PEWS Immanuel Wallerstein Memorial Book Award. Awards and Recognition: Global Sociology Book Award, Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences (2020) PEWS Immanuel Wallerstein Memorial Book Award – Honorable Mention (2022) Grants and Fellowships: Kristin Plys has held visiting positions at Georg-August-Universität-Göttingen (Germany), Jawaharlal Nehru University (India), Centre for Development Studies (India), and Lahore University of Management Sciences (Pakistan). She was a research specialist at Princeton University before her PhD. Lab and Affiliations: She is affiliated with multiple interdisciplinary centers at the University of Toronto, including Culinaria Research Centre at UTSC and the Centre for South Asian Critical Humanities at UTM, fostering collaborative research on food, culture, and postcolonial studies.

• Colonialism
• Racialization
• Indigeneity
• +8 more

Zeyad El Nabolsy is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at York University's Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies. His research examines African philosophy, Marxist theory, and decolonial epistemology through historical and critical frameworks. Education includes: Ph.D. and M.A. from Cornell University M.A. from McMaster University B.Eng from McMaster University Research focuses on modern African philosophy, analyzing thinkers like Paulin Hountondji, Amílcar Cabral, and James Horton to reconstruct intellectual traditions challenging Eurocentric epistemology. Work emphasizes scientific dependency, Marxist historiography, and critiques of racial ideology. Publications bridge classical German philosophy (Kant/Hegel), Marxian theory, and African thought, exploring how epistemological frameworks shape liberation struggles. Recent articles examine decolonial science studies and the weaponization of theory in anti-colonial movements.

• African Philosophy
• History of Science
• Marxist Theory
• +1 more

Enda Brophy is Associate Professor in the School of Communication at Simon Fraser University, where he researches and teaches at the intersection of political economy, labour, and social change in communication industries. Education & Training: While his formal degrees are not explicitly listed, Brophy’s extensive translation work of foundational Italian autonomist texts and his co-editorship of critical academic volumes signal advanced training in critical theory, labour studies, and communication research. Research Interests: Political economy of communication and digital media Labour and collective organising in media, cultural and creative industries Call-centre work and global outsourcing Platform labour and gig-economy dynamics Autonomist Marxist theory and worker inquiry Digital debt, financialisation, and resistance Student movements and university governance Precarious employment and creative labour Analysing his recent publications (2015-2020) reveals a consistent focus on the transformation of labour processes under communicative capitalism: from call-centre scripting and surveillance to food-delivery platform work during COVID-19, and from unpaid internships in creative industries to emergent forms of tech-worker organising using digital tools. These works collectively map how digital infrastructures mediate, discipline, and occasionally enable new solidarities among precarious workers. Awards & Recognition: 2018 Canadian Association of Work and Labour Studies Book of the Year Award for Language Put to Work 2018 Canadian Communication Association Gertrude J. Robinson Book of the Year Award for Language Put to Work Confederation of University Faculty Associations of BC Academic of the Year Award Research Grants & Collaborative Projects: He co-leads Cultural Workers Organize , a multi-investigator SSHRC-funded project with Greig de Peuter, Nicole Cohen, Kate Oakley and Marisol Sandoval, investigating collective responses to precarity among cultural and creative workers in Canada and the UK. Editorial board memberships at Studies in Political Economy , Work Organisation, Labour and Globalisation , and tripleC further anchor his scholarly leadership. Graduate Supervision & Teaching: Brophy currently teaches CMNS 130 Communication and Social Change and actively supervises MA and PhD students working on labour, social movements, and digital media. He is formally associated with SFU’s Labour Studies Program as an Associate.

• Political economy of communication
• Communication and social change
• Labour and collective organizing in media and communication industries
• +7 more

Raju J Das is a Professor at York University's Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change, affiliated with graduate programs in Geography, Social and Political Thought, Environmental Studies, Development Studies, and Communication and Culture. His research bridges Marxist political economy with contemporary issues including neoliberal industrialization in India, class struggle, and the political dimensions of climate change and public health. Das earned a PhD in Geography from The Ohio State University, an MA in Urban Studies from the University of Akron, an MA in Geography from the University of Delhi, and a BA (Honours) in Geography from Utkal University. He serves on editorial boards of journals like Science & Society , Class, Race and Corporate Power , and the Dialectical Anthropology advisory board. His scholarly work examines geographical uneven development, the ruralization/urbanization of capital, and the interplay between neoliberal state policies and class power. Recent projects funded by SSHRC Insight Grant (2016-2022) analyze industrialization patterns in India's rural periphery, focusing on land acquisition conflicts and the dialectics of capitalist expansion. Das teaches radical political economy at the graduate level and undergraduate courses on global economy, international development, and state-civil society relations. He is a Faculty Fellow at York's Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health, integrating his critique of capitalism with health equity concerns.

• Marxist Political Economy
• Theory of Class and State
• Uneven Capitalist Development
• +10 more

Michael D'Arcy is a Professor of English at St. Francis Xavier University, located in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. His academic career spans decades with significant contributions to literary and cultural studies. He holds a Ph.D. from Cornell University, an M.A. from Carleton University, and a B.A. (Honours) from Concordia University. His research focuses on Twentieth-century British, Irish, and French literature, media studies, film and visual culture, literary theory, literature and philosophy, the history of the novel, and postwar/contemporary art. He frequently publishes in top-tier journals and edited volumes, with recent work exploring modernist aesthetics, Samuel Beckett’s narrative innovation, and the intersections of media and modernist thought. His publications include The Contemporaneity of Modernism: Literature, Media, Culture (co-edited with Mathias Nilges) and an upcoming monograph on modernist naiveté. He has presented at international conferences such as MLA, Modernist Studies Association, and the Samuel Beckett Society, delivering invited lectures at institutions like the University of South Bohemia and Charles University. Recipient of SSHRC grants (2016–2019, 2022) Harry Ransom Center Research Fellow (2014) Camargo Foundation Fellow (2003) As a mentor, he has supervised multiple honours theses, including award-winning projects on topics ranging from modernist psychiatry to Iranian art film. He also oversees postdoctoral research, such as the Banting Fellowship held by Dr. Conall Cash (2023–2025). His work bridges literary analysis with interdisciplinary media studies, emphasizing modernism’s ongoing relevance in contemporary cultural discourse.

• Twentieth-century British Literature
• Irish Literature
• French Literature
• +6 more

Alessandra Renzi is an Associate Professor in Communication Studies at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. She serves as Graduate Diploma Director in Communication Studies and actively supervises graduate students in Media Studies (MA) and Communication (PhD) programs. Research Focus: Social Movements, Data Justice, Surveillance, Algorithmic Governance, Housing Rights Key Grants: SSHRC Insight Grant on platform economy gentrification, Applied AI Institute funding for PropTech auditing Teaching: Courses on media research methods, discourses of dissent, communication technologies, and alternative media practices Her recent publications examine platformization in Southeast Asia and gentrification in Montreal's Parc Extension neighborhood. She combines ethnography and research-creation methods in her work on technopolitical struggles. Collaborations: Parc Extension Anti-Eviction Mapping Project, Digital Divides Project Media Engagements: CBC, Le Devoir, The Conversation, Boston Globe media appearances

• Media Studies
• Data Justice
• Social Movements
• +7 more

Armond R. Towns is an Associate Professor in the School of Journalism and Communication at Carleton University, currently on leave. His academic appointment reflects expertise spanning communication studies, Black studies, and media philosophy within Canada's academic landscape. Education: Ph.D. in Communication, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Dr. Towns' research synthesizes Black studies with media philosophy, examining how racial formations intersect with communication technologies and epistemologies. His 2022 monograph On Black Media Philosophy (University of California Press) establishes foundational frameworks for understanding media through Black existential thought, while his editorial leadership in founding Communication and Race pioneers interdisciplinary dialogue at the National Communication Association. Analysis of his recent publications reveals consistent focus on Black media ontology and anti-Blackness in communication systems. Works traverse cultural studies, political economy, and critical race theory, demonstrating methodological range from historical analysis to philosophical critique across journals like Cultural Studies and American Quarterly . Dr. Towns' academic service includes co-authoring the successful proposal establishing the University of Richmond's Africana Studies Program (2020). His current research investigates institutional histories linking communication studies and Black studies in North America, reflecting sustained commitment to reshaping disciplinary boundaries through collaborative scholarship.

• Black Studies
• Media Philosophy
• Cultural Studies
• +1 more

Richard Westerman is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Alberta's Faculty of Arts. He holds a PhD and MA from the University of Cambridge's Faculty of History. His research focuses on social thought, the philosophy of society, and critical theory, with particular emphasis on phenomenology, ethics, and the Frankfurt School. He teaches classical and contemporary social theory, sociology of art, and introductory sociology courses using a liberal arts approach emphasizing critical engagement with primary texts. Westerman's research examines the nature of meaning in consciousness through Husserl and Schütz's phenomenology, and challenges deontological assumptions in critical social theory, engaging with Habermas and Lukács. He also explores ethics in social critique, advocating for a meaning-oriented approach to normative demands. He teaches Soc 212 (Classical Social Theory), Soc 335 (Themes in Contemporary Theory), Soc 461/Soc 503 (Sociology of Art), and Soc 100 (Introductory Sociology). His pedagogical methods prioritize close reading, logical argumentation, and small-group discussion. He supervises graduate students with theoretical/philosophical questions and serves on committees for projects involving social justice, phenomenological sociology, or art theory. Westerman has published extensively on Lukács' theories, critical theory, and the sociology of art. His work appears in journals like Modern Intellectual History and the British Journal of Aesthetics. He is actively involved in the Faculty of Arts' teaching initiatives and maintains an interdisciplinary research profile connecting philosophy, art, and social theory.

• Social Thought
• Philosophy of Society
• Phenomenology
• +4 more