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Student profile

Tricia Toso

Thesis supervisor: Dr. Peter Van Wyck
Thesis title: The coloniality of infrastructure and work of decolonization 

Tricia Toso is a PhD candidate in Concordia University's Communication Studies program. Her research examines the role of infrastructure in colonization, and considers what the work of decolonization might look like in the context of infrastructure and infrastructure policy.

Work with the Ethnography Lab, ACT, Art Hives, and Speculative Life have offered her an opportunity to engage with a range of infrastructure systems, methodologies, and communities.

Since 2017 she has collaborated with members of the Cree communities of Eeyou Istchee/James Bay to develop telecommunications and broadcasting policy proposals for the CRTC and ISED that have focused on the barriers to infrastructure development in Indigenous territories and communities.  

Publications: 

  • Toso, T, & Forward, S. (forthcoming) “Dispatches from Eeyou Istchee: Reflections on the challenges of Indigenous media policy”.In Yu, S.S., Al-Rawi, A. Ahadi, D. (Eds).  Revisiting Ethnic Media in Canada: Policies, Practices and Integration. 
  • Toso, T., Spooner-Lockyer, K., Hetherinton, K. (2020). Unsettling the City: walking with a Ghost River. Anthropocenes: Human, Inhuman, Posthuman. University of Westminster Press. https://www.anthropocenes.net/articles/10.16997/ahip.6/
  • Toso, T. (2020). The colonial legacy and role of reconciliation in telecommunications and broadcasting policy. CRTC. https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/acrtc/prx/2020toso.htm
  • Toso, T. (2019) The Costs of Comfortable Retirement: Pension Plans and the Privatization of Infrastructure”. In Durocher, M. Lamontagne, N.T. Lafontiane, C. (Eds) A Year of Aging. ACT publications.
  • Cabot Square Collective, (2019). “Re-centering Indigenous experiences of Montreal: a report on a Photovoice project in Cabot Square”. Ciera (Centre Interuniversitaire d’etudes et de recherches autochtones). Publication forthcoming. https://www.ciera.ulaval.ca/sites/ciera.ulaval.ca/files/Cahiers%20du%20CIERA%20n%C2%B017_3.pdf
  • Toso, T. (2017). Keeping the Road Clear Between Us: Indigenous Infrastructure and the Potential for Transformative Design.” Steam. Special Issue: Public Sphere(s), Public Narratives, and Counter Public(s): Student Papers at the 2017 Canadian Communication Association. https://journals.sfu.ca/stream/index.php/stream/article/view/255
  • Toso, T (2017). “Soundscapes of place-making: the rhythms and voices of Village des Tanneries” E-Topia Journal. York and Ryerson Universities. https://etopia.journals.yorku

Creative work: 

  • Encounters with Urban Glaciers: notes toward an ethnography of the snow dump (2021). In collaboration with Pier-Olivier Tremblay  (Montreal Waterways, Ethnography Lab, Concordia University), this photographic essay considers the parallels between the production of urban glaciers and receding continental glaciers. In review at Heliotrope, Environmental Media Lab at University of Calgary.
  • Lachine Canal Lives (2020). In collaboration with Alejandra Melian-Morse; Devon McKellar and Mozdeh Babagoli (Montreal Waterways, Ethnography Lab, Concordia University), this short film explores the life of the Lachine canal, both above and below the surface. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wCnhJ4sk-w
  • Ghost River (2019). In collaboration with members of Montreal Waterways, this digital, storied, and interactive map of Montreal’s southwest neighbourhoods allows for users to discover the historical river, the Saint-Pierre through an engagement with multiple sites along the river’s former path. https://ethnographylabconcordia.ca/ghostriver/
  • The Warble (2017). Using images of two infrastructural sites and text inspired by the philosophy of Whitehead, Deleuze and Guattari and Indigenous knowledges, we explore what decolonization would mean for the built environment. https://vimeo.com/234118736
  • Cabot Square Photo Voice: Montreal as an Indigenous Space. (2017) Using Photo Voice as a research methodology and medium to communicate Indigenous people’s experiences and history in the square. The project was exhibited at Cabot Square, Concordia University and Université de Montréal.
  • Shamrock Avenue. (2016). A podcast on the history of the Indigenous sport, lacrosse, and its relationship with a small street in Montréal’s Little Italy. https://soundcloud.com/stream
  • Rhythms of Village des Tanneries. (2016) An audio documentary that examines the (im)mobilities of residents in Montréal inner-city neighbourhood, and their sense of social and political inclusion and/or exclusion. https://soundcloud.com/tricia-t-3/rhythms-
  • Green Resilience: La Ruelle DesNoyers. (2015). A short participatory documentary on a green alley in Village Des Tanneries. Screened for L’Autre Montréal for Journée de ruelle verte (September 12, 2015) https://vimeo.com/131472

 

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