As part of their fellowship, Graduate Fellows are required to carry out a knowledge mobilization project, translating their research through a format that is engaging and informative for the public. These are some examples of student work created as part of the knowledge mobilization challenge.
Navigating Identity: From Hong Kong to Canada
By: Mitchell Ma (1st place)
This project presents ten stories from various members of the Hong Kong Diaspora community in Canada. These stories delve into how their immigration experiences have shaped their sense of self and belonging in Toronto. They emerged from a public call for submissions in Fall 2023.
The driving force behind this project is a desire to allow public participation in knowledge-building. Unlike traditional academic anthropology, where researchers typically formulate ethnographic questions and then seek participants to answer them, this project takes a different approach. Instead of imposing predetermined questions, it invites the community to share their perspectives by posing broader questions about their immigration experiences. This approach allows the public to shape the discourse of immigrant identity in Canada’s Hong Kong diaspora.
The rise of robo-retail: Who gets left behind when retail is automated?
By: Mathew Iantorno (2nd place)
The rise of robo-retail: Who gets left behind when retail is automated is a data visualization and public scholarship project that explores how novel forms of streetside automation in North America have in turn yielded novel forms of hostile architecture. It takes the form of an ArcGIS story map: a single-page website that presents a narrative through combined data visualization, text, photography, and video in a style akin to long-form journalism. This medium was chosen as a visually accessible way of showcasing the inequitable ways automats, unstaffed stores, and other automated retail concepts reconfigure public space.
Lines in the Land
By: Ameer Idreis (runner-up)
Lines in the Land is a play exploring some of the multiple narratives of the Ontario Greenbelt and how it affects the residents of the Greater Golden Horseshoe. The play weaves through varying and opposing conversations, dialogues, and debates around the Greenbelt, before diving into contemplated discussions and possibilities that leave the audience with both insight and questions. Theatre, like other forms of storytelling, can make larger societal trends or realities into compelling, evocative art and entertainment and can be a powerful tool for knowledge mobilization.
The Rise of Public Sector Unionism: Implications for labour and local government employers
By: Jen Harmer (runner-up)
This fibre art project visualizes the important role of the 235,000 municipal workers who help power local governments across the province and deliver the services citizens depend on. 444 individual patches, representing each of the 444 municipalities in the province, have been assembled together with over 32,000 stitches. This artwork is accompanied by a research project that explores labour matters relating to municipal work. A historic look at urban municipal labour is also available in a library with photographs sourced from municipal archives across the province.
Riding through the smog: A ‘roznamcha’ of ride-sourcing bike taxis
By: Ashique Thuppilikkat (runner-up)
The comic strip visually explores an interview with a bike-taxi worker from New Delhi, addressing the challenges stemming from the city’s severely deteriorating air quality, which surpassed WHO limits by over 100 times in November 2023. A comic strip was chosen as this project’s medium for its ability to blend art and narrative, effectively conveying the emotions and lived realities of the worker’s experience. Through this work, the researchers aim to prompt public discussion and enhance understanding of the interconnectedness of environmental and climate-related challenges, urban infrastructure, and labour issues.
Designated Graffiti Area
By: Upasana Bhattacharjee (runner-up)
Designated Graffiti Area is a photo essay on the changing street art at the Bloor and Dufferin intersection in Toronto. Street art has been understood as a way to claim rights over space, and there is value examining how it trades in time and attention. Its impact, disruption, and capacity to make a political statement can be gauged by how quickly it is erased and painted over. Upasana’s photo essay shows how the hoarding/scaffolding at the intersection became a site of contestation between graffiti and officially sanctioned artwork. Through this work the public is encouraged to observe and consider the value of temporary street art.
Health Diseases & Contributing Factors in Toronto, Ontario
By: Scarlett Rakowska
This StoryMap allows users to explore the prevalence of major health diseases visually through maps, graphs, and analysis. The goal is to navigate through the complex intersections of health and environment in Toronto, aiming to inform interventions and policies for a healthier city. The medium chosen is ideal for displaying maps and correlations through a hands-on and user-friendly experience.
Atlanta BeltLine: Impacts Incorporating Residents’ Life Satisfaction in Assessments of Atlanta BeltLine Impacts
By: Elizabeth Chan
My project examined the impact of the Atlanta BeltLine development on over 82,000 Atlanta residents’ life satisfaction from 2008-2019 and found no consistent improvements in life satisfaction as a result of the development. The report is targeted at relevant stakeholders involved in the ongoing planning and development of the BeltLine, along with community leaders who represent residents. It aims to elucidate BeltLine impacts on residents themselves, highlight the importance of a human-centered perspective, and offer empirically backed recommendations.