I grew up in Cape Town, South Africa and immigrated to Canada in 2013, where I completed a Bachelor and Master of Arts in English Language & Literatures from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. My research is focused on "critter studies," that is, the examination of how we story nonhuman "pests" (invasive species, weeds, fungi, microbes, insects, parasites). My dissertation investigates botanical languages and botanical narration in recent Canadian and Indigenous novels, where I forage for new ways to think with plants, and to tell stories that foreground the intelligences of our botanical co-tenants. I'm also currently writing definitions for the forthcoming Canadian English Dictionary. On any given day, you'll find me investigating (through my macro lens) plants and bugs around Kingston with my dog, Basil.
Contemporary Canadian Literature; Indigenous Literatures; Ecocriticism; Critical Plant Studies; Animal Studies; Indigenous Languages; Knowledges and Ways of Knowing; Systems of Naming and Categorization; Decolonial Studies; Ecolinguistics.
