Place and Placelessness

Mike Commito – McMaster University Hamilton, Ontario

Mike Commito is a second-year PhD student at McMaster University. His dissertation, tentatively titled ”Orphaned Cubs and Responsible Hunters: Conflicting Values and the Management of Black Bears in Ontario, 1900-2000″ focuses on the development of black bear hunting policy and management strategies in Ontario. He is interested in how various groups in the province such as biologists, policy-makers and the general public have viewed bears and how this perspective has changed over time.

Sinead Earley – Queen’s University Kingston, Ontario

Sinead Earley is working through the second year of her doctoral degree at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. In research, she studies the history of forest management in British Columbia (from 1945-present) with a a focus on the evolution of forest entomology throughout the period, while reflecting upon the effects that past managerial practices have had on the most recent and most extensive Dendroctonus ponderosae (mountain pine beetle) outbreak that has occurred in the province. In practice, she is devoted to public geographies – using digital medias to creatively link academic research with activist efforts on the ground.