I am an Associate Professor of History at the University of Toronto, where I also direct the Centre for the Study of the United States and the American Studies Program. I arrived at U of T in 2000, after a two-year pre-doctoral fellowship at the Getty Research Institute, and completing my doctorate in American Studies at Yale University. I’m a cultural historian who researches the relationship between the market, the body, and visuality in historical perspective, with an emphasis on gender, sexuality, racial formation, and the history of American industrial and commercial culture (including consumption). Recently, my theoretical reading has been in queer theory and affect/emotion/public feeling as a route into sexuality studies. For more about my research and projects, please see the appropriate links above.

As a teacher, I’ve worked closely with both graduate students and undergraduates. I usually teach a different graduate seminar each year, ranging from fields courses to more specialized topics. I regularly supervise comprehensive fields in U.S. history, 1877-present; in Cultural History; and in the History of Gender and Sexuality. For more about the courses I teach, as well as the projects my students are working on, please see the appropriate links above.

As an administrator, my main work has been to direct the Centre for the Study of the United States and the American Studies Program at the University of Toronto; I have been director of both since 2006.

The Centre for the Study of the United States

The Centre for the Study of the United States (CSUS) represents the largest collection of U.S.-focused scholars in Canada, as well as the greatest concentration of U.S. expertise in Canada’s history. With over 66 faculty affiliates, we have an unprecedented strength in U.S. expertise and in American Studies, both institutionally and nationally. In addition to its vibrant interdisciplinary undergraduate program in American Studies, the Centre boasts many exciting activities such as our graduate student research colloquium; scholarly research talks by academics from all over the world (including our F. Ross Johnson/Connaught Distinguished Speaker Series); the F. Ross Johnson/Connaught Distinguished Visitor in American Studies, who spends three weeks on campus and teaches an intensive ‘sprint’ course each year; internships and fellowships; and at least one annual conference. 

American Studies Undergraduate Program

Uniquely positioned to study the United States from a cross-border perspective, and drawing on the expertise of the more than 65 faculty at the University of Toronto with an interest in the United States, the American Studies undergraduate major and minor program is designed to provide students with an interdisciplinary, in-depth education about the United States. The American Studies Program relies heavily on upper-level courses, foregrounding the research our senior undergraduates produce in our annual Undergraduate Journal of American Studies.