Miss Aafiyah Shaikh
Job Title
PhD Student
Research interests
Research interests
Resource Extraction, Indigenous Rights, Canada, Settler Colonialism, Canadian Studies
Background
My PhD project looks into resource extraction in Alberta, Canada and aims to highlight the sites of violence that shape the lives of Indigenous People in the region. The project aims to explore the lived experience of people who live in and around Fort McMurray in relation to the Oil Industry and how their lives and politics are shaped by their environment. I aim to critically analyse current environmental policy practices in Alberta and the conflicts between the state and Indigenous worldviews. For this project, I will use semi-structured interviews as well as ethnographic data to discern the impacts of resource extraction on the political and social lives of Indigenous Communities in the region. Lastly, I aim to employ the research into a critique of settler colonial policies and how they have been employed in this specific context of the lived experiences of Indigenous peoples in Northern Alberta.
Qualifications
2022 – Present: PhD (Politics), University of Edinburgh
2020 – 2021: MSc Defence, Development, and Diplomacy, Durham University
2016 – 2019: BA (Hons) International Relations, Lancaster University
Awards and Funding
Aziz Foundation Masters Scholarship (2020 – 2021)
Richardson Institute Research Conference Best Research Project Award (2019)
Supervisors
Dr. Darrick Nighthawk Evensen
Prof. Ailsa Henderson
Teaching
2024: Tutor PIR 1A: Politics and International Relations
Political Thinkers
2023: Tutor Data Collection (Online Learning)
2022: Tutor Political Thinkers