Concordia’s new Trudeau Scholars aim to uncover and amplify underrepresented experiences

PhD candidates Francesco MacAllister-Caruso and Pablo Gershanik both use a mixed-methods approach to uncovering and amplifying obscured experiences. They are Concordia’s newest recipients of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation Scholarship Program.

The program recognizes outstanding doctoral candidates in social sciences and humanities programs whose research contributes to one of four themes: human rights and dignity; responsible citizenship; Canada’s role in the world; and people and their natural environment.

Both MacAllister-Caruso and Gershanik noted the significance of being acknowledged by the three-year award and leadership training program in this current polarizing moment in society.

MacAllister-Caruso counters negative narratives

A PhD candidate in political science at Concordia, MacAllister-Caruso studies the representation of Two-Spirit, trans and nonbinary (2S/TNB) people in Canadian electoral politics.

“There’s been a lot written on what we call ‘LGBTQ representation’ over the past decade,” MacAllister-Caruso notes. “But virtually all of that research has been for sexual minorities. This is problematic as it assumes that 2S/TNB people share interchangeable political experiences with LGBQ people despite having distinct and often unmet needs, like access to gender-affirming care.”

Francesco’s mixed-methods doctoral project addresses this gap — all the more important in this political moment.

“We’re seeing such a rapid rise in transphobic public policy,” MacAllister-Caruso says. “We've been the target of quite a lot of political attacks recently. So to have my research supported by the Trudeau Foundation is not only very meaningful to me, but I feel it is also a really good opportunity for our community to make ourselves heard.

“Getting involved in democracy is one of the best ways for trans people to not only be visible, but also to push back against those narratives that are framing us as threats to society. I view this as a really powerful moment for us and I’m very honoured to be a small part of that.”

Gershanik responds to the ‘invisible wound’

The doctoral project of actor, director and professor Gershanik involves the construction of artistic devices in the context of post-violence. During his time as a Concordia artist-in residence, he presented his artistic interventions into issues of memory and resilience.

“It's a time to create dialogue — and the questions this foundation poses are especially pertinent. Opening an interdisciplinary space to explore different problematics in a transversal or a horizontal way is, I think, something wise to do in these times where specialization, fragmentation and polarization are so ‘à la mode.’ We need to imagine different solutions or perspectives that traverse borders, disciplines and gender identities.”

Gershanik’s Laboratoire de Maquettes Intimes began as a personal artistic process in 2019 that was connected to his own experiences and to the story of his home country, Argentina, and the state terrorism of the 1970s. This project has since grown into a quest to communicate the trauma of others by conveying and responding to their stories through the arts.

“This research responds to, what I call, the ‘invisible wound,’” Gershanik says. “You scratch the surface a little bit and suffering appears; the human condition appears. The pandemic showed us that we cannot do it alone, that the social bond is absolutely necessary to keep moving forward. We need to create together. We are not a solo instrument; we are an orchestra.”

Gershanik asks, how can artists create a toolbox to recover a territory, a city, a community, a group of people, a family?

“Recovering what has been said, what has not been said, the personal stories, the social stories — the marble in order to create artistic and metaphoric devices that give voice to victims, bringing personal and social stories into a community’s conversation — that’s the work. Every personal story is a social story at the end of the day.”

Find out more about graduate funding opportunities at Concordia.