Education
Postdoc, Communication Studies, McMaster University
PhD, Communication Studies, McGill University
MA, Cinema Studies, University of Toronto
BA, Cultural Studies, Toronto Metropolitan University
Bio
Nathaniel is an interdisciplinary scholar, who works at the juncture of intercultural communications, critical pedagogy and media studies. By analyzing the social media and digital marketing/recruitment strategies of volunteer tourism agencies and international service learning programs that prioritize the pursuit of fun and pleasure in international tourism, he seeks to understand how colonial and imperial legacies continue to shape global humanitarian practices, even when they aspire to rupture these histories. He is also currently writing about how the increasing mediatization of solidarity work undertaken by student activists offer post-secondary education institutions an opportunity to rethink interventions in the Global South beyond current models of international experiential education.
Nathaniel’s recent work has been published in First Monday, Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies, J-Source: The Canadian Journalism Project, and elsewhere. As a research consultant, he has worked on a wide range of projects with Global Affairs Canada, the Canadian Museum of Human Rights and the Universalia Management Group. He has contributed as project manager to publications and multimedia projects of Experiments in Feminist Ethical Collaborative Tools & Technologies (EFECT), a SSHRC-funded research collective.
He has also previously worked in film development and distribution, with organizations such as the National Film Board of Canada, Toronto International Film Festival, Canadian Film Centre & Frontières International Coproduction Market. He is from Niagara, Ontario (the home and traditional territory of the Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabe peoples) and has previously lived and worked in Toronto, Paris, Brussels and Lima. When he’s not at work, Nathaniel enjoys beaches, public parks and coffee shops, as well as a daily-ish running and/or yoga practice.
Current Teaching (2022-23)
COMS 205 (Effective Communication)
COMS 305 (Media Genres)
COMS 310 (Media Criticism)
COMS 372 (Theories of Public Discourse)
COMS 425 (Advanced Seminar in Cultural Studies)
COMS 505 (Introduction to Theory & History of Communication, GrDp)
Nathaniel has previously taught courses on professional communication, sociology, international development, cultural studies, and film.
