Doctor of Philosophy in Human Ecology
Supervisor:
Dr. Megan Strickfaden
Research Area:
Thesis title: Between Nostalgia and Adaptation: The Material and Affective Dimensions of West African Immigrant Near Environment in Canada
My thesis looks at the deeply personal ways West African immigrants, including myself, use clothing and cherished objects to navigate our new lives in Canada. I explore how these material items are not just functional or aesthetic but are powerful mediators of emotion, memory, and identity.
Drawing on affect theory, fashion theory, and material culture studies, I frame migration as an affective, material, and performative experience. I use Goffman’s dramaturgical approach to examine how we consciously ‘perform’ our identities through dress in different Canadian social spaces, constantly negotiating between visibility and belonging.
To ground this research, I employ qualitative methods like ethnographic and wardrobe interviews, alongside object-based analysis, to gather rich, personal stories. I argue that our sartorial choices and personal possessions act as affective anchors, evoking nostalgia for home while helping us reconstruct a sense of self and community here in Canada. Ultimately, my work positions the everyday near environment of fashion as a crucial site for understanding the emotional and embodied dimensions of the immigrant experience.