VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Kiyokewin: Urban Indigenous Kinship-Visiting Methodology Approach for Urban Indigenous Youth
Keywords: Criminal
Gladue
Indigenous
Kinship
kiyokewin
wahkotowin

My research presents urban Indigenous kinship-visiting as a methodology, analytical lens, a deliberative approach and forum. An Indigenous kinship-visiting approach emphasizes the second step of R v. Gladue: how the legal community responds to the collective harms against Indigenous peoples and the present-day rehabilitative healing needs that colonialism has created. My research demonstrates an urban Indigenous kinship-visiting approach is beneficial to ensure a more thorough implementation of the Gladue decision and the Youth Criminal Justice Act. In bringing to bear an Indigenous kinship-visiting approach, I focus on Cree, Métis, and Saulteaux laws including: wahkotowin (laws of kinship relationships) and kiyokewin (laws of visiting). Through these Indigenous legal principles, I suggest a viable urban Indigenous kinship-visiting procedural and deliberative approach. An Indigenous-led kinship-visiting approach assists urban Indigenous youth to connect and build kinship relationships with the urban Indigenous community. My case study focuses on urban institutions serving Indigenous youth in Toronto: Aboriginal Legal Services and the Aboriginal Youth Court. They represent two institutions that are visiting with each other to improve the healing services to urban Indigenous youth. Both urban institutions respond to the unique needs of urban Indigenous youth and both are committed to connecting urban Indigenous youth with Indigenous-led talking circles and wellness programs. The intention is for urban Indigenous youth to feel a sense of belonging within the urban Indigenous community. The success of the Aboriginal Youth Court lies in the healthy partnership with, and informal transfer of jurisdiction to, Aboriginal Legal Services to provide Indigenous-led consensus-based deliberation and healing options. Finally, based on the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, I consider future Indigenous Law Institutes where unique Indigenous juridical systems and urban Indigenous kinship-visiting approaches can be respected.
Selves and Subjectivities in Medieval North Atlantic Verse
Keywords: Medieval Irish literature
Medieval Welsh literature
Old English literature
Old Norse-Icelandic literature
Poetry
Subjectivity

This thesis explores the construction of speaking-subjects and their subjectivities in medieval North Atlantic verse. Although first-person poetry in medieval Irish and Welsh, Old English, and Old Norse-Icelandic has enjoyed a good deal of critical attention, little of it, with the exception of the Old English material, has focused on the strategies and rhetoric poets employed in the creation of lyric poetry’s speaking personas. The intent of this project is thus to analyze, discuss, and highlight the creativity and skill with which North Atlantic poets brought the speaking-subjects of their poetry to life. “Subject” and “subjectivity” are understood in psychoanalytical terms, primarily through the narrative of signification articulated by Julia Kristeva. In particular, Kristeva’s understanding of the formation of subjectivity through the interaction of the semiotic and the symbolic order forms both the thesis’s primary tool of analysis – along with close reading – and its organizing principle. The lyric poems under consideration here are thus organized into chapters according to the relationship of the semiotic and symbolic in the formation of their speaking-subjects. The first chapter, then, examines how Irish monastic poets constructed a Christian subjectivity in which the semiotic, bodily drives of the speaking-subject – in its ideal form – ran in perfect accord with the Christian symbolic order. The second chapter takes up the theme of consolation, and examines how Old English, Irish, and Norse verse could be used as a therapeutic tool to end a speaking-subject’s alienation by modelling a process through which the subject signifies himself within an alternative symbolic order, one which enables the speaker to understand his or her subject-position in a more positive light, thus bringing semiotic and symbolic closer to accord. The third and final chapter turns to those alienated speaking-subjects for whom there is no hope of achieving accord between the semiotic desires of the body and the symbolic order, or of finding even consolation. The chapter explores some of the topoi of alienation – eros, old age, illness – prevalent in North Atlantic verse, examining the conditions through which these lyric speakers have become alienated, and what strategies poets employed to represent their estranged state.
Translation, Reputation, and Authorship in Eighteenth-Century Britain
Keywords: Authorship
Book History
Reputation
Translation

This thesis explores the reputation-building strategies which shaped eighteenth-century translation practices by examining authors of both translations and original works whose lives and writing span the long eighteenth century. Recent studies in translation have often focused on the way in which adaptation shapes the reception of a foreign work, questioning the assumptions and cultural influences which become visible in the process of transformation. My research adds a new dimension to the emerging scholarship on translation by examining how foreign texts empower their English translators, offering opportunities for authors to establish themselves within a literary community. Translation, adaptation, and revision allow writers to set up advantageous comparisons to other authors, times, and literary milieux and to create a product which benefits from the cachet of foreignness and the authority implied by a pre-existing audience, successful reception history, and the standing of the original author. I argue that John Dryden, Alexander Pope, Eliza Haywood, and Elizabeth Carter integrate this legitimizing process into their conscious attempts at self-fashioning as they work with existing texts to demonstrate creative and compositional skills, establish kinship to canonical authors, and both construct and insert themselves within a literary canon, exercising a unique form of control over their contemporary reputation. By examining the classical translations of Dryden and Pope alongside Haywood’s popular French translations and Carter’s scholarly and philosophical translations from Greek, Italian, and French, I show how each of these authors use conventions of classical translation, following similar strategies to build reputations. Both Pope and Dryden ask readers to compare them to a classical source, but Dryden promotes his writing by praising the authors he translates while Pope’s relationship to his originals is often adversarial. Haywood refuses to follow the topos of modesty, demanding equality with her authors, while Carter caters to current fashions by displaying her faults while praising her original. Although they wrote for different audiences and in different genres, I argue that these writers and their contemporaries saw translation as a central part of their public identity and I call for increased scholarly attention to this dimension of self-fashioning in eighteenth-century literature.
Behavioural consequences and proximate mechanisms of kin recognition in the Trinidadian guppy (Poecilia reticulata)
Keywords: Animal behaviour
Inclusive fitness
Kin recognition
Phenotype matching
Sexual selection
Social evolution

Kin recognition has been widely documented, but the behavioural consequences and underlying proximate mechanisms remain poorly understood. In this thesis, I use the Trinidadian guppy (Poecilia reticulata) to empirically explore how organisms infer relatedness, and the effects of perceived relatedness on sexual interactions. In Chapter 2, I investigate whether, and how, females avoid inbreeding. I show that females discriminate against males with whom they are familiar, and against relatives that they recognize based on phenotypic similarity. Intriguingly, females avoided inbreeding once previously mated, but were indiscriminate in their choice of mates as virgins, likely reflecting a strategy to gain reproductive assurance. In Chapter 3, I examine the role of relatedness in intrasexual competition. I develop an analytical model predicting how males should optimally allocate mating effort in relation to female quality, competitor presence/absence, and competitor relatedness, to maximize inclusive fitness gains. Then, using a behavioural experiment, I demonstrate that males allocate their effort in striking concordance with these predictions. These results suggest that sophisticated male mating decisions have been tailored by kin selection. In Chapter 4, I examine the proximate mechanisms guppies use to recognize kin. I use a combination of breeding crosses to show that guppies assess infer relatedness based on the phenotypic similarity of conspecifics to themselves (rather than to their mother or broodmates). Additionally, I demonstrate that olfactory cues are both necessary and sufficient for kin recognition, while visual cues are unimportant. In Chapter 5, I test recent theory that proposes that, to judge phenotypic similarity, individuals require information about the population’s distribution of phenotypes as a “frame of reference”. I show that, in guppies, patterns of kin discrimination shift in accordance with theoretical predictions depending on the distribution of phenotypes in the individual’s rearing group. Thus, kin recognition is informed by population estimates that are acquired through social experience. The results in this thesis resolve key components of the mechanisms by which individuals recognize kin, and the contexts in which relatedness modulates sexual interactions. These findings provide insights into the patterns of kin discrimination that occur in natural settings.
Unsettling Imaginaries: The Decolonial Diaspora Aesthetics of Four Contemporary Filipinx Visual Artists in Canada
Keywords: antiracism
art criticism
Decolonial Diaspora Aesthetics
Filipino Canadian Studies
Filipinos in Canada
Filipinx diasporic art

In the dominant Canadian imaginary, Filipinx subjects are largely seen as serving the neoliberal priorities of the nation’s economy, which figure the Filipinx as always on the periphery of full national belonging. As a counternarrative, this study examines the practices and oral histories of four Filipinx artists in Canada: Leslie Supnet, Marigold Santos, Julius Poncelet Manapul, and Kuh Del Rosario. To understand the ways in which these racialized and diasporic artists respond to nonbelonging, the researcher utilizes contextual analysis that weaves together interpretations of the artists’ work and their oral histories, which are read through the lens of contemporary art criticism and cultural studies. Key findings reveal that these artists activate their discontent in productive ways that disrupt normative notions of whiteness, sexuality, gender, nuclear family, and nationalisms. Their subject positions are in excess to the dominant stereotypes that persist in the midst of racist and colonial discourses enmeshed in the political, social, and cultural dimensions of Canadian society. Further, this study suggests that Filipinx artists in Canada are complicating visibility politics by adopting non-objective and feminist self- representations. Taken together, this research evidences what the author calls a “decolonial diaspora aesthetic.” Ultimately, they are unsettling dominant conceptions of Filipinx-ness that work to manage difference within the nation’s white settler colonial dominance. The study capaciously draws implications for pedagogy, as this project offers new imaginaries that take into account race, diaspora, and difference in ethical ways that promote antiracism and decolonial relations in Canada.
Unsettling food sovereignty in Canada: Settler roles and responsibilities; tensions and (im)possibilities
Keywords: Canada
food movements
food sovereignty
Indigenous food sovereignty
settler colonialism

Critical Indigenous food sovereignty activists and scholars have called settler food sovereignty movements to complicate our understandings of food and food systems in so-called Canada (Coté, 2016; Morrison, 2011; Manson, 2015). These calls include requests for settlers to rethink interrelationships between land, food, colonialism, and Indigenous sovereignty. Learning from these calls for change, I examine whether and how settler food activists are responding. I do so through a series of five independent papers framed by an introduction and conclusion, which make up this dissertation as a whole. First I outline the methodological and theoretical frameworks and implications of this dissertation. Next, I outline three main themes that arose from the interviews and participant observation I conducted. First, interviewees emphasized that settler food activists need to self-educate about Canadian colonialism and Indigenous struggles for land. Second, interviewees talked about settler food activists’ visions for future food systems that perpetuate colonial food systems. Third, interviewees highlighted the importance of changing settler food activists’ relationships to land, including returning land to Indigenous nations. Based on interviewees’ experiences and insights, I argue that settler food sovereignty movements have not adequately responded to Indigenous critiques and requests and that, through this lack of response, settler food sovereignty movements reify colonial logics. At the same time, interviewees’ experiences also demonstrate that a small number of settlers have begun to engage with Indigenous critiques around Canadian food sovereignty narratives and praxis, and through this engagement are working to support Indigenous food sovereignty. Lastly, I argue that if food sovereignty is a movement rooted in addressing systemic inequities, it cannot be achieved without radically transforming Indigenous-settler relations. It is therefore essential that settler activists are aware of whether and how we are responding to Indigenous calls for change and what work still lies ahead in order to support Indigenous resurgence.
Identification of fitness genes and genotype-specific vulnerabilities using functional genetic screens in human cancer cells
Keywords: Cancer
CRISPR-Cas9
Fitness genes
Mitochondrial Respiration
Synthetic lethal

Large-scale genomic analyses of tumor cells have revealed many genetic alterations present in cancer cells, which may represent inherent vulnerabilities for genotype-specific targeted therapy. In order to understand the functional significance of these mutations and find better therapeutic targets, it is important to identify genes which are differentially essential for cancer cell survival and proliferation. The CRISPR-Cas9 system has revolutionized biology and enabled systematic identification of genotype-specific vulnerabilities in cancer cell lines. For my thesis, I have developed a second-generation CRISPR guide RNA (gRNA) library of 176,500 gRNAs targeting 17,661 human protein-coding genes, and used it to screen human cell lines to identify genes whose knockouts induce significant fitness defects in cancer cell lines. My CRISPR-based screens accurately recapitulate pathway-specific genetic vulnerabilities induced by known oncogenes and identify novel context-specific vulnerabilities. Further, I have applied our genome-wide CRISPR gRNA library to identify chemical-genetic interactions with an anticancer drug, pyrvinium. My screen revealed that pyrvinium treatment sensitizes cells to loss of genes involved in metabolic pathways such as glycolysis, the pentose phosphate pathway, and the aspartate-malate shuttle. Furthermore, my screen uncovered many chemical genetic interactions with pyrvinium, including a novel interaction with PGP, the gene that encodes glycerol 3-phosphate phosphatase. I also identified masking effects or genetic suppression mediated by several different genes, including a novel uncharacterized gene
Molecular Level Analysis of Disease-causing Mutations in the Sulfonylurea Receptor One
Keywords: ATP-sensitive potassium channel (KATP)
Congenital Hyperinsulinism
Coupling helices
Neonatal Diabetes
Nucleotide binding domain (NBD1)
Sulfonylurea receptor 1 (SUR1)

KATP channels are key players in many biological processes, including insulin secretion in the pancreas and neurotransmitter release in the brain. The sulfonylurea receptor 1 (SUR1) proteins form the regulatory subunits of the pancreatic ATP-sensitive potassium (KATP) channel. SUR1 proteins are classified as ATP binding cassette (ABC) proteins, and as such contain two membrane spanning domains and two nucleotide binding domains (NBD1 and NBD2). Short helices, termed coupling helices, connect the long helical extensions in the membrane domains and contact the NBDs. MgATP binding and hydrolysis at the SUR1 NBDs result in KATP channel opening. Mutations of the SUR1 NBDs or the coupling helices can cause neonatal diabetes, congenital hyperinsulinism, or epilepsy. The current lack of detailed structural information on SUR NBDs and coupling helices precludes our understanding of the molecular defects that results from the disease-causing mutations in the SUR protein and their consequences on the KATP channel function. In this dissertation, the effects of disease-causing mutations in isolated NBD1 and at the coupling helices were analyzed by NMR and fluorescence spectroscopy. We studied four congenital hyperinsulinism- (CHI) and two neonatal diabetes-causing (NMD) mutations at NBD1, as well as one CHI-causing mutation in the coupling helix four of SUR1. Our results show that NBD1 CHI and NDM-causing mutations change the structure, conformation and activity of the domain. Further, mutations at NBD1 also affect the interaction with the coupling helices. Similarly, CHI-causing mutation at coupling helix four affects the interaction with NBD1. The studies summarized here elucidate the molecular basis by which these mutations cause disease. Furthermore, these studies provide a platform for the development of therapies for CHI and NMD.
Role of modifier gene SLC6A14 in Cystic Fibrosis and the path to personalized medicine
Keywords: CFTR
Cystic Fibrosis
Modifier genes
Mouse model
Personalized Medicine
SLC6A14

Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is the most common fatal genetic disorder in Canada. It is a multi-system disorder caused by mutations in the CFTR gene, expressed in epithelial tissues. Decrease in lung function over time is the most common cause of morbidity and mortality in CF. However, affliction to other organs systems like the gastro-intestinal system, also contributes to significant disease burden. Variation in disease severity among CF patients is well established, attributable to CFTR gene and modifier gene mutations. There are over 2,000 disease causing mutations in the CFTR gene. F508del is the most common CF causing mutation present on at least one allele in 90% of the CF population. However, patients bearing the same F508del mutation on both alleles also exhibit a tremendous variation in disease severity, which has been attributed to modifier gene mutations. Two FDA approved drugs that work directly on CFTR protein – Ivacaftor and Lumacaftor, are shown to have a heterogenous response in CF patients. The heterogeneity in response has also been attributed to modifier genes. With a greater understanding of modifier genes and CFTR genetics, the variation in patient responses to currently available CF therapies could be explained. This has led to efforts for in vitro phenotypic profiling of individual patient derived tissues, in the context of CF. Towards this we developed the apical CFTR conductance assay, to measure CFTR function in vitro using cultured airway epithelia from individual patients. Later we applied this technology to murine intestinal tissue to understand the mechanism of a genetic modifier of Cystic Fibrosis – SLC6A14, which was a top hit in a recent genome wide association study. Using a murine CF model and a SLC6A14 knockout mouse, we discovered that SLC6A14 modifies the intestinal phenotype of CF by regulating the fluid secretory capacity of the CF affected epithelium, via the nitric-oxide pathway. Thus, we explored the biologic basis of SLC6A14 as a modifier of CF. Taken together, the studies described in this thesis will facilitate the path towards personalized medicine in CF.
Residential Selection at Retirement: A Visual Ethnography Exploring the Later Life Mobilities of Jamaican Canadian Transmigrants
Keywords: Ageing
Jamaican Canadian
Migration
Older Adults
Transnationalism
Visual Ethnography

This thesis focuses on the migratory life course and everyday life geographies of Jamaican Canadian older adults in order to document, analyze, and share how they sustain their social and economic wellbeing. My research questions are: What are the experiences of Jamaican Canadian transmigrant older adults who live in and across Canada and Jamaica? As racialized older adults, what factors determine their geographical options at retirement? How do systemic barriers stemming from intersections of age, race, gender, and class impact their mobility strategies and decisions? My research is informed by my preliminary empirical studies (Hepburn, 2011; Hepburn et al., 2015) and by my five-year professional background as a gerontological social worker in Toronto. To understand the life course of racialized transmigrant older adults, my study utilizes visual ethnography, operationalized as photovoice in conjunction with constructivist grounded theory methods, to advance a new theoretical framework propitious for social work practice. To address the study’s central questions, my data collection took place in Toronto, Canada and in Trelawny and Manchester, Jamaica. I examined the lives and living conditions of 12 Jamaican Canadian older adults categorized into three groups: those who decided to stay in Canada permanently; those who reside in both Canada and Jamaica; and those who returned to Jamaica permanently. For feasibility, data from five participants who represented information-rich cases were selected for this thesis. In what is largely a critique of mainstream social gerontology and migration studies, I propose a “critical transnational ethnogerontology framework” based on the ways in which Jamaican Canadian older adults navigate transnational spaces. This framework is generative for social work because it broadens the gerontological imagination and revises social work’s theoretical, methodological and practice models that are bounded within the nation-state and linear conceptions of the life course. Transmigrant mobility presents social workers with challenges, such as how to deliver services to older adults who move between countries, what their needs are, and how to develop support networks beyond a singular state. My study provides a new theoretical framework, relevant empirical data, methodological innovation, and policy and practical recommendations for the later life adaptations of transmigrant racialized older adults to an increasingly insecure, globalized world.