TANJA GRUBNIC
EDUCATION
2019-2025
PhD in English, Western University (Dec. 2024 Completion; 2025 Conferral).
Dissertation: Art or Con? Exploring Instapoetry at the Intersection of Influencer Culture, Author-Entrepreneurism, and Literary Innovation.
Supervisory Committee: Manina Jones (Supervisor), Alison Hearn (Second Reader – Media Studies), and Aarthi Vadde (External Committee Member/Examiner – Duke University). University Examiners: Pauline Wakeham (English) and Sarah E.K. Smith (Media Studies). External Examiner: Lorraine York (English – McMaster University).
2013-2015
MA in Cultural Studies and Critical Theory, McMaster University.
2009-2013
BA (Hons) in English Language and Literature, Brock University.
RESEARCH APPOINTMENTS
2022-2023
Visiting Fulbright Scholar, Duke University, Department of English.
Project: “Instapoets in Canada and the Digital Literary Sphere.”
Supervisor: Aarthi Vadde.
AWARDS AND FELLOWSHIPS
2024
Carl F. & Margaret E. Klinck Prize for an Outstanding Thesis – $2700 CAD.
2024
Western Academic Joint Fund Award (“Can AI Be Creative?”) – $800 CAD.
2023
MLA Graduate Student Travel Award – $400 USD.
2022-2023
Fulbright Research Award – $25,000 USD.
2022
NeMLA Graduate Student Travel Award – $310 USD.
2020-2023
Ontario Graduate Scholarship – $45,000 CAD.
2019-2023
Western University Graduate Research Scholarship – $16,050 CAD.
2022
Duke Franklin Humanities Institute ( “Digital Culture and Literature”) – $2000 USD.
2021
Oral Qualifying Examination – Passed with Distinction.
2019
Western University Provost’s Entrance Scholarship – $4000 CAD.
2013
McMaster University Graduate Scholarship – $7000 CAD.
PEER-REVIEWED PUBLICATIONS
Articles:
Grubnic, Tanja. “#indigenousauthor: Locating Tenille Campbell’s Erotic Poetry, Photography, and Community-Based Arts Beyond Social Media.” The European Journal of English Studies, vol. 27, no. 1, 2023, pp. 122-147. doi:10.1080/13825577.2023.2200492. Solicited.
Grubnic, Tanja. “Nosthetics: Instagram Poetry and the Convergence of Digital Media and Literature.” The Australasian Journal of Popular Culture, vol. 9, no. 2, 2020, pp. 145-163. doi:10.1386/ajpc_00024_1.
Book Chapters:
Grubnic, Tanja. “Platforms and Poetry as a Popular Form of Engagement.” Virtual Identities and Digital Culture, edited by Victoria Kannen and Aaron Langille, Routledge, 2023, pp. 211-220. doi:10.4324/9781003310730-25.
Scholarly Introductions:
Grubnic, Tanja and Sarah Menzies. “Critical Introduction to Vol. 5 of The Savoy (Sep. 1896).” The Savoy Digital Edition, edited by Christopher Keep and Lorraine Janzen Kooistra, Yellow Nineties 2.0, 2021, 10 pp. 1890s.ca/savoyv5-critical-introduction/. Funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).
EDITED SPECIAL ISSUES OF REFEREED JOURNALS
“Storywork in Indigenous Digital Environments.” Edited by Ashley Caranto Morford, Tanja Grubnic, and Jeffrey Ansloos. Transmotion, vol. 9, no.1, 2024, pp. 1-230. journals.kent.ac.uk/index.php/transmotion/issue/view/63/22. Solicited.
OTHER SCHOLARSHIP
Journal Introductions:
Caranto Morford, Ashley, Tanja Grubnic, and Jeffrey Ansloos. “Storywork in Indigenous Digital Environments.”Transmotion, vol. 9 no. 1, 2024, pp. 1-17. doi:10.22024/UniKent/03/tm.1231.
Edited Interviews:
Grubnic, Tanja. “Beyond Nostalgia: Networks of Indigenous World-Making with Paul Seesequasis.” Transmotion, vol. 9, no 1, 2024, pp. 205-230. doi:10.22024/UniKent/03/tm.1232.
Public Essays:
Grubnic, Tanja. “From Influencer to Creator: The Evolution of the ‘Platform Worker’ and the Monetized Public Self.”Digital Literary Cultures, Nov. 2021. https://dlcplus.org/issues/issue-iii/from-influencer-to-creator/.
Grubnic, Tanja, and Camilla Holm Soelseth. “Digital Activism Rising: What’s Been Done and What Needs Doing.” Digital Literary Cultures, Jul. 2021. https://dlcplus.org/issues/issue-ii/digital-activism-rising/.
Grubnic, Tanja. “New Traditions: Why We Need Social Media Research in the Humanities.” Digital Literary Cultures, Mar. 2021. https://dlcplus.org/issues/issue-i/new-traditions/.
Annotated Bibliographies:
Grubnic, Tanja, Camilla Holm Soelseth, Magdalena Elisabeth Korecka, and Yasamin Rezai. “Web 2.0 and Beyond Reading List.” Digital Literary Cultures, 2023. https://dlcplus.org/reading-list/.
RESEARCH LEADERSHIP
2020-Present
Co-Founder and Lead Director: Digital Literary Cultures (DLC+).
Digital Literary Cultures (DLC+) is an open-access digital resource and research network for scholars of digital of literary culture broadly defined. https://dlcplus.org.
2022-2023
Founder and Leader: Digital Culture and Literature Working Group, Duke University.
Funded by a grant from the Franklin Humanities Institute.
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
2016-2017
INVITED PUBLIC LECTURES & TALKS
2024
2024
2023
2020
CONFERENCE PRESENTATONS
2024
“Sheila Heti’s Literary Experimentation with AI.” Association of Canadian College and University Teachers of English (ACCUTE), McGill University, Montreal, QC (Postponed to 2025 due to campus protests).
2023
“The (Cult-)Figure of the Poet and Digital Guru Media.” Global Digital Cultures, Global Perspectives on Platforms and Social Reproduction, The University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, NL, 27 June.
2023
“Poetry Sells: Social Media’s Transformation of Poetry into an Entrepreneurial Medium.” Association of Canadian College and University Teachers of English (ACCUTE), York University, Toronto, ON, 27 May.
2023
“Pages and Platforms: Instapoetry as Adaptation across Digital and Analogue Realms. MLA Annual Conference, San Francisco, CA, 6 January.
2022
“Community-Building as a Force for Indigenous Resurgence in Tenille Campbell’s Poetry and Photography.” PAMLA Annual Conference, The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA, 12 November.
2022
“The Starving-(For-Attention) Artist: Surpassing the Algorithmic Gatekeeper on Instagram.” Global Digital Cultures, Global Perspectives on Platforms and Cultural Production, The University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, NL, 2 June.
2022
“‘Honesty and Accessibility’”: Rupi Kaur’s Poetry as Communal Healing.” Association of Canadian College and University Teachers of English (ACCUTE), Montreal, QC, 13 May.
2022
“‘Honesty and Accessibility’”: Rupi Kaur’s Poetry as Communal Healing.” Association of Canadian College and University Teachers of English (ACCUTE), Montreal, QC, 13 May.
2021
“Social Media and Sovereignty: Tenille Campbell’s #IndianLovePoems.” The American Indian Workshop, European University Cyprus, Virtual, 13 July.
2021
“Canadian Instagram Poets and the Transnational (Digital) Literary Sphere.” Association of Canadian College and University Teachers of English (ACCUTE), University of Alberta, Virtual, 30 May.
2020
“Instapoetry, Digital Celebrity, and the Aestheticized Self.” Humanities Graduate Student Association (HUGSA), York University, Virtual, 31 July.
2020
“Poetry Beyond Borders: Instapoetry and the Transcendence of National Borders of Literature.” Reading Instapoetry, The University of Glasgow, Virtual, 15 July.
2020
“Social Media, Poetry, and the Dissolution of National Borders of Literature in the Age of Globalization.” Association of Canadian College and University Teachers of English (ACCUTE), Western University (Cancelled due to COVID-19).
SYMPOSIA ORGANIZED
2024
Event Organizer: “Can AI Be Creative? A Public Dialogue with Sheila Heti, Aarthi Vadde, and Tanja Grubnic.” Western University, London, ON, 28 March. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjE0ucl_PDk.
Funded by the Western Academic Joint Fund Award.
WORKSHOPS AND WORKING GROUPS ATTENDED
2022-2023
“Computational Humanities.” Rhodes Computational Humanities Center, Duke University, Durham, NC, September to May (Monthly).
2022
“Creator Studies Workshop.” Global Digital Cultures, Global Perspectives on Platforms and Cultural Production Conference, The University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, NL, 30 May.
2021
“How to Blog About Your Research.” Digital Humanities Summer Institute (DHSI), Electronic Textual Cultures Lab, The University of Victoria, Virtual, 15-17 June.
2021
“Digital Fictions, Electronic Literature, Literary Gaming.” Digital Humanities Summer Institute (DHSI), Electronic Textual Cultures Lab, The University of Victoria, Virtual, 7-9 June.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Courses Taught as Instructor:
Western University:
Critical Reading and Writing in Film Studies, Film 2230F (Fall 2024).
Guest Lectures:
Western University:
“Dark Feminine Energy: Femme Fatales in the Social Media Age.” Film 3366F: Film Noir and the Crime Genre, 6 December 2023.
“Instapoetry: Cultural Capital and the Literary Canon.” English 2017: Reading Popular Culture. Virtual. 1 April 2020.
Teaching Assistantships:
Western University:
Rhetoric and Professional Communication, Writing 2130F/G (Prof. Jamie Johnston) (Fall 2023, Winter 2024).
Children’s Literature, English 2033E (Prof. Clarissa Suranyi) (Fall/Winter 2022-2023).
Film Studies: Disney Dream Factory, Film 2159A (Prof. Janelle Blankenship) (Winter 2022).
Topics in Canadian Literature: Black Writing in Canada, English 3579F (Prof. Donna Pennee) (Fall 2021).
Introduction to Film Studies, Film 1022 (Prof. Joseph Wlodarz) (Fall/Winter 2020-2021).
Reading Popular Culture, English 2017: (Prof. Andrew Wenaus) (Fall/Winter 2019-2020).
Brock University:
English Literature: Tradition and Innovation, English 1F91 (Prof. Leah Knight) (Fall/Winter 2015-2016).
McMaster University:
Modern British Literature, English 2I06 (Prof. James King) (Fall/Winter 2013-2014).
SCHOLARLY REVIEW
Peer Review Reader: Electronic Book Review, Oct. 2024.
Peer Review Reader: New Media and Society, SAGE Publications, Apr. 2024.
Peer Review Reader: Cogent Arts and Humanities, Taylor & Francis, Oct. 2023.
UNIVERSITY SERVICE
Visiting Speakers Committee: Western University, English Department, 2021-2023.
Qualifying Examination Mentor: Western University, English Department, 2021-2022.
Academic Coordinator: Western University, English Department, 2020-2021.
Career Profile Advisor: Western University, Employment Resource Centre, 2020-2021.
Incoming Graduate Student Mentor: Western University, English Department, 2019-2021.
Western Peer Leader: Western University, Academic Support & Engagement, 2020-2021.
Writer-in-Residence Selection Committee: Western University, English Department, 2019-2020.
Committee Member: Western University, Graduate English Society, 2019-2020.
DEPARTMENTAL EVENTS ORGANIZED
Public Lecture: Graduate English Society Speakers Series Featuring Jaclyn Reed and Dr. Donna Pennee, Respondent. Western University, Virtual. 18 Mar. 2021.
Public Lecture: Graduate English Society Speakers Series Featuring Jeremy Johnston and Dr. Miranda Green-Barteet, Respondent. Western University, Virtual. 11 Mar. 2021.
MEDIA INTERVIEWS AND RESEARCH COVERAGE
Seguin, Kendra. “Memes Are the Way We See Things” CBC News, 12 Dec. 2024, https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/memes-are-the-way-we-see-things-why-gen-z-consumes-news-through-humour-1.7407937.
Brown, Andrew. “Can Artificial Intelligence Be Creative?” CBC News, 28 Mar. 2024, https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-158-london-morning/clip/16052617-can-artificial-intelligence-creative.
Stacey, Megan. “Artists, Researchers Examine the Role of AI in Creativity,” Western News, 28 Mar. 2024, https://news.westernu.ca/2024/04/sheila-heti-ai-creativity/.
Siddiqi, Maryam. “TikTok Is Helping Libraries Flip Their Quiet, Stuffy Reputation on Its Head.” The Globe and Mail, 31 Mar. 2023, https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books/article-tiktok-public-library/.
Bhargava, Isha. “This Western University Researcher Looks at How Poets Can Evolve Alongside Social Media Trends.” CBC News. 10 Oct. 2022, https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/this-western-university-researcher-looks-at-how-poets-can-evolve-alongside-social-media-trends-1.6610258.
Ferguson, Keri. “Fulbright Student Award Recipient Furthers ‘Instapoet’ Research at Duke.” Western News. 6 Oct. 2022, https://news.westernu.ca/2022/10/fulbright-student-award-recipient-instapoet-duke/.