Christina Flemming is an artful educator, writer, and community builder who seeks to widen perspectives. This fall, she is graduating with her PhD in Educational Studies.
In her scholarly work, Christina takes an arts-informed approach in order to explore social justice issues. A mentor to her students, Christina is celebrated not just for what she teaches, but for how she teaches it. As noted by one of her recent Bachelor of Education students, “Christina demonstrated the importance of knowing your students, and how teaching is multidirectional—students learn from their teachers, while teachers can also learn from their students.”
As a queer professor, Christina believes in the importance of representation, both within the academy and outside of it. For the last two years, she has hosted a sequin-filled queer prom in Windsor, Nova Scotia. This event is attended by many local teachers and, therefore, represents an important way to build community supports in order to create safe spaces for queer youth in a rural community.
As the current Managing Editor of the academic journal Art/Research International: A Transdisciplinary Journal, Christina has the privilege of engaging with and supporting research by artful scholars from all over the world. She has read her poetry numerous times during the annual MSVU Community Arts Show and during the Lunenburg Doc Fest. Her academic writing has been published in a variety of journals and books. Christina also holds a Bachelor of Journalism (Honours) from the University of King’s College and a Master of Arts in Creative Writing from Concordia University.
Christina will deliver her valedictory address during the fall 2024 convocation on Sunday, October 20 at 2 p.m. You can watch the ceremony via MSVU’s Facebook and YouTube pages. We asked Christina to tell us more about her time at MSVU and what’s next for her. Read on to learn more about Christina.
Christina Flemming, PhD
Hometown: Halifax, NS
Degree being awarded: PhD in Educational Studies (Lifelong Learning)
Why did you choose to study at MSVU?
I was interested in undertaking a PhD in education because I knew I wanted to teach at the university level. As a lifelong writer, I was drawn toward the idea of exploring arts-informed research methodologies.
When I first met my supervisor, Dr. Ardra Cole, I had no idea her own work was foundational in terms of the evolution of artful research within the academy. I quickly learned that she was co-editor of the Handbook of the Arts in Qualitative Research and, therefore, kind of a big deal! Working with Ardra as my supervisor has been such a joy and honour. Plus, I get first-hand stories about her adorable dogs!
Who are your academic and research mentors (either at MSVU or beyond)?
During the very first week of the PhD program, Dr. Laura Lee Kearns introduced us to the work of educational theorist Maxine Greene. As my own research and teaching focuses on the intersection of critical pedagogy and creativity, I always emphasize Greene’s (1995) words, “The world perceived from one place is not the world” (p. 20).
What class, professor, project or learning activity held the most meaning for you? Why?
As part-time faculty, I designed and delivered a graduate course called Critical Reading. In an effort to privilege oral storytelling over the written word, I decided to hold a story slam on our last day of class. This idea was inspired by The Moth podcast. Each student would have seven minutes to tell a true story from his/her/their life. They would have to memorize the stories—no looking at notes! The stories would be organized around the theme of transformation. I wanted the stories to explore a moment when they read the world differently than they had before; a moment that forever changed who they were.
Reading their final reflections, I learned that most students felt dread when they first looked at the syllabus and saw the story slam assignment. More than one student wrote about fearing that their story would not be as important as the stories of others. They worried about crying in front of the class.
After the slam, I was honoured, and many of the students reflected about feeling honoured, to witness the many stories told. Students wrote about feeling more connected to their classmates after the story slam, even though they had been in a cohort together for over a year. Some wrote about how constructing their oral stories was a healing process. Others, elementary and secondary teachers, wrote about the idea of adapting the assignment for their own students.
The story slam reinforced what I had been attempting to convey throughout the duration of the course—the idea that we can honour our full humanity while learning about our fears, our triumphs, our failures, and our resiliency, through stories.
What is your favourite location on campus and why?
I will always reflect on the feeling of belonging that the community of people at the Mount has given to me. Rather than a specific place, I will cherish the various groups I am part of. I am inspired by the work of my colleagues in the Community for Arts-Informed Research and Teaching, a multi-disciplinary group of faculty members who conduct arts-informed research. As Managing Editor of the academic journal, Art/Research International, I have the privilege of working alongside an amazing editorial team from the Mount and beyond.
During my doctoral studies, when I came out as queer, I was not only accepted, but celebrated by those in my PhD cohort and the faculty and staff at the Mount. That meant a lot to me during a time of great upheaval, and uncertainty, in my life.
Do you have any favourite stories about your time at MSVU?
During COVID when all the restaurants were closed, I invited Rose, my partner, on a dinner date at the PhD student office. I wanted to show her where I did most of my PhD work. We picked up Thai takeout, but when we arrived back at Seton, the doors were locked. We ended up knocking on a window near the MSVU Art Gallery where we proceeded to convince a seemingly skeptical student to let us in. It was the first of many dinner dates over the last few years, except now they do not take place at the Mount!
What do you think differentiates MSVU from other post-secondary institutions?
Crows everywhere. It’s good luck!
Do you have any advice for current students or people considering going to MSVU?
Explore the interconnectedness of your life and your research. Throughout my research process, I saw everything I encountered as informing my work. Whether it was a poem, a song, a piece of scholartistry, a museum exhibition, or a drag show.
What will you miss most about your time at MSVU?
I’m not going anywhere!
If you could share just one piece of advice with your pre-Mount self, what would it be?
Teaching will be one of the greatest joys of your life. You are in the right place.
What is your proudest accomplishment?
Completing a doctorate is a huge amount of work, and I am proud of my dissertation which is divided into two sections. Part One is comprised of a collection of autoethnographic stories based on my own lived experiences as a queer woman, mother, writer, and educator. Part Two of this autoethnographic research details process-related elements, ethical considerations, and the non-linear nature of doctoral research with the aim of offering new educational researchers guidance and insight on autoethnographic writing. Yet, I would have to say that my proudest accomplishment is the love and care that I offer and receive from those closest to me.
What does being named valedictorian mean to you?
It means the world to me because I love celebrations, especially celebrations of learning. I also love graduation speeches so utterly that I once had each student in a graduate level Arts Based Research Course compose, and/or record, a graduation speech! The idea of the assignment was to encourage reflection, and to allow each student to explore the purpose of education from their perspective.
What’s next for you?
My goal is to become full-time faculty in Education at the Mount. I would like to continue teaching both B.Ed. and graduate courses at MSVU.