About Us

Imperial Encounters is a research group at the University of British Columbia Geography Department. Our work extends across the Americas, but converges at the themes of borders, nature and bodies. Borders signify not only political boundaries, but also the everyday experiences of (im)mobility and (in)security. Our research on nature draws from political ecology to examine environmental conflict, resource extraction, and landscapes of peace and violence. We look to post-humanism and feminist theory to reconsider entrenched divisions between humans and nonhumans, questioning which bodies count as political actors. In advancing knowledge of unequal encounters, our group advocates for greater sociality across difference. This site brings together the insights and quandaries raised by our individual research and collaborative meetings.