The 2018 IWB committee is happy to announce that Dr. Jason Grek Martin will be speaking at the conference!
Jason Grek Martin, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Geography & Environmental Studies, Saint Mary’s University. I am a cultural and historical geographer and my research analyzes the rich and multi-faceted concept of place—particularly the dynamic and power-laden processes by which places are constructed, contested, and imbued with complex meanings by individuals and communities. My current research explores place-making primarily in the context of travel and tourism to heritage sites with a dark past, drawing on a robust interdisciplinary scholarship developing at the intersection of dark tourism, media tourism, heritage studies and geographies of memory. One dimension of this research looks at the relationship between the novel/mini-series Roots and the real-life Gambian heritage sites from which Alex Haley drew inspiration for the novel. Another project focuses on the diverse ways in which the familiar narrative of the RMS Titanic has been emplaced and reshaped within the various commemorative sites on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean that can claim a direct historical connection to this infamous disaster—including several sites here in Halifax.