Hello! My name is Amy Mazowita (she/her) and I am a settler scholar who moves (primarily) between Treaty 1 and 3 Territory. I was born and raised in Winnipeg, MB—the traditional land of the Anishnaabe, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota, and Dene peoples and the homeland of the Metis Nation, and Falcon Lake, MB—which is located on Treaty 3 territory and the traditional land of the Anishnaabe and Metis peoples. While these two lands are separated by 100+ kilometres, they are also inherently connected; Winnipeg’s drinking water is sourced from Shoal Lake 40 First Nation (adjacent to Falcon Lake and part of Treaty 3), and Falcon Lake is located within Manitoba’s Whiteshell Provincial Park, a popular outdoor recreational destination for citizens of Manitoba and Northwest Ontario.
As a member of the AIM Lab who is not currently based in Montréal (Tiohtiá:ke), my relationship to the land we collectively occupy is both nuanced and complex. While I am not always physically located on the unceded lands of Tiohtiá:ke, the institution within which I work and study is grounded here. So, though my presence in Montréal is transient, I undoubtedly benefit from the resources afforded to me through my connection to AIM and the land upon which it stands.
As a PhD student in the Department of Communications at Concordia University, my current research is situated at the intersections of Communication and Media Studies, Comics Studies, Critical Disability Studies, and Mad Studies. My doctoral project is focused on representations of mental illness in auto/biographical comics, and is particularly interested in how readers of print and web comics are using graphic mental illness narratives as resources for self- and collective care. I am also working on an ethnographic research-creation project that traces the fire-affected landscapes of Manitoba’s Whiteshell Provincial Park, and a study of artist autonomy within the virtual gallery space of Instagram.
In addition to being a core member of the AIM Lab, I am also a member of Concordia’s Feminist Media Studio and work as a TA in the Department of Communications. My doctoral research is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.