I am a PhD candidate in the Department of English at Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec.
My current research focuses on the environmental humanities, forest and landscape literature/aesthetics, and postcolonial, decolonial, and media studies. In particular, my PhD project analyzes the cultural and material entanglements between the publishing industry, environmental and Indigenous literatures, and forested spaces in Canada.
My other research interests include bio- and zoopolitics; trauma and memory studies; science, speculative, and graphic fictions; and textile folk art. My recent research collaborations have included interrogating the role of library special collections as sites of colonial contestation, and developing a digital exhibit surrounding the Rudyard Kipling collection at Dalhousie University. I am therefore interested in open access, the digital humanities, and the function of public spaces as repositories for ways of knowing.
In addition to my research, I am personally invested in storytelling and storying; craft and textile production; and the practice of mending, creating, and sharing as modes of collaboration and community building.
Jessica Ruzek 