Faculty

Amanda F. Grzyb
Assistant Dean, Undergraduate Programs
Assistant Professor

North Campus Building Room 443 Phone: 519-661-2111 x88012 University of Western Ontario London, Ontario, Canada N6A 5B7 Fax: 519-661-3506 Email: agrzyb@uwo.ca

I completed my Ph.D. in English at Duke University, where I wrote my dissertation on literary and cultural representations of American homelessness under the supervision of Professor Houston A. Baker, Jr. I also have an MA in English from Duke, an MA in Theory and Criticism from Western, and a BA in Combined Honors English and Philosophy from Western.

TEACHING AND RESEARCH INTERESTS:

My teaching and research interests include Holocaust and Genocide Studies; media and the public interest; homelessness; social movements and media; American and African-American literature; and theory and criticism. I am a core faculty member at Western's Centre for Transitional Justice and Post-Conflict Reconstruction, an affiliate faculty member at the Centre for Women's Studies and Feminist Research and at the Africa Institute, and an associate scholar at Western's Holocaust Literature Research Institute. I am also on the advisory board of Canada's National Task Force for Holocaust Education, Remembrance, and Research. From 2010-2012, I served as the Communications Officer for the University of Western Ontario Faculty Association (UWOFA).

CURRENT RESEARCH PROJECTS (in progress):

I am currently engaged in the following research projects: 1. I am working on a book-length study of the changing landscape of Holocaust memorialization in post-Communist Poland. 2. I am co-editing a Routledge volume (with Samuel Totten) entitled The Nuba Mountains Crises: Genocide by Attrition and the Problem of Impunity; 3. I continue to conduct field research at genocide memorial sites in Rwanda, a project I've been working on since 2010. 4. I am a co-investigator on a $1.3 million five-year CIHR-funded project led by Helene Berman (Nursing, Western): "Voices Against Violence: Youth Stories Create Change." Using a participatory action research (PAR) approach, our media working group is exploring both mainstream news media coverage of marginalized/vulnerable youth and youth media consumption.

EDITED BOOKS:

Totten, Samuel and Amanda Grzyb, eds. The Nuba Mountains Crises: Genocide By Attrition and the Problem of Impunity. Currently under contract at Routledge with expected publication in 2014.

Grzyb, Amanda, ed. The World and Darfur: International Response to Crimes Against Humanity in Western Sudan. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, April 2009. Second edition published March 2010. http://mqup.mcgill.ca/book.php?bookid=2336. Foreword by Lt.-Gen. (Ret.) Romeo Dallaire. Contributors include: Gerry Caplan, Brent Beardsley, Amanda Grzyb, Frank Chalk and Danielle Kelton, Eric Markusen, Eric Reeves, Samuel Totten, Carla Rose Shapiro, Daniel Listoe, and Peter Langille.

SELECTED BOOK CHAPTERS AND ARTICLES:

Grzyb, Amanda: “From Kristallnacht to the S.S. St. Louis Tragedy: Canadian Press Coverage of Nazi Persecution of the Jews and the Jewish Refugee Crisis, September 1938 to August 1939,” Ruth Klein, ed. Nazi Germany, Canadian Responses, Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2012.

Grzyb, Amanda. “Information Mobility, Human Rights Activism, and International Intervention in Darfur.” Suzan Ilcan, Ed. Mobilities, Knowledge, and Social Justice. S. Ilcan, ed. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2013.

Grzyb, Amanda. “Homeless Impersonations: the Urban Plunge and North-American Poverty Tourism,” Expositions, April 2011.

Smeltzer, Sandra and Amanda Grzyb. “Critical Media Pedagogy in the Public Interest,” Democratic Communiqué, 23:2 (Fall 2009).

Grzyb, Amanda. “Introduction: The International Response to Darfur.” The World and Darfur: International Response to Crimes Against Humanity in Western Sudan. A. Grzyb, ed. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2009.

Grzyb, Amanda. “Media Coverage, Activism, and Creating Public Will for Intervention in Rwanda and Darfur.” The World and Darfur: International Response to Crimes Against Humanity in Western Sudan. A. Grzyb, ed. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2009.

TEACHING 2012-2013:

Fall 2012: MIT 3901f: Getting the Message Out: Activism and the Mainstream Media; and MIT 3931f: Century of Genocide. Winter 2013: MIT 4999g: Media and the Public Interest Practicum; and MS 9223: Representing the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda. Enrollment in the latter course is limited to 5 Media Studies graduate students, and includes a required experiential learning component for two weeks in Rwanda in February (over Reading Week). During the trip, we will participate in workshops with Rwandan students and professors, visit genocide memorial sites, and meet with genocide survivors. Each student will receive a $2000 travel grant, which is made possible by generous support from Western's International Curriculum Fund.

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