My research began as an investigation of tropes of sickness and disease in Quebec's literary and political writing. I sought to critique the notion, based on the concept of the body politic, that allusions to sickness are a reflection of "sick" nationhood.
Since then, I have translated my interest in social and cultural uses of the body to more contemporary phenomena. I am undertaking research into health campaigns and fundraising initiatives that call on participants to use or modify their bodies for a cause. This has developed into a major project looking at Temporary Sobriety Iniatives as a way to link behaviour change, cultural change, the body and philanthropy.
Experience
2013–present
Senior lecturer, University of Technology Sydney
2022–present
Dean (Learning & Teaching), Griffith University
2022–present
Professor, Griffith University
2019–2021
Associate professor, University of Technology Sydney
2019–2021
Associate Dean Teaching & Learning, University of Technology Sydney
2010–2013
Lecturer, University of Technology Sydney
Education
2009
University of Michigan, Romance Languages and Literatures
Publications
2016
Temporary Sobriety Initiatives: Emergence, Possibilities and Constraints, Continuum
2016
Curative Illnesses: Medico-National Allegory in Québécois Fiction, McGill-Queen's University Press
2015
Temporary sobriety initiatives as public pedagogy: Windows of opportunity for embodied learning, Health