 Vanessa, how are you? I wonder if you could tell us a little bit about your background and what you did before you came to UBC. Okay, so I actually have three degrees in Criminology, B, A, M, A, and Ph.D. And I was, before I decided to do a master's, I had decided that I was going to go to law school. And then in the course of my undergraduate degree, I changed my mind and decided that graduate school was the place for me. So I did my MA and Ph.D. in Criminology as well. And I finished my Ph.D. at the Center of Criminology at the University of Toronto in 2001. And then I had a postdoc for a year and was hired at UBC in 2002 and started in 2003. I've been here for 10 years teaching in sociology. So yes, you're in sociology, but you also had the program, I believe, in law and society. And you're interested in post-colonial and gender issues. Can you say a little bit more about that specialization and what you do? Sure. So I was hired at UBC to teach in law and society. Which is interesting because at the time that I was hired, sociology didn't actually have any law and society classes. So there are many classes in, well not many actually, several classes in crime and society that are very popular, which I teach. But the job description was specifically to teach in law and society. And law and society is essentially thinking about the dynamic relationship between law and society more generally, whether we're talking about regions or nation states or the globe. And thinking about the ways in which law permeates all aspects of society. So it's an attempt to think about law outside of the professional designation of law schools. And it doesn't focus on doctrine or jurisprudence, but more around history, politics, social theory, all of those things. So when I first started at UBC there was a law and society speaker series that was run by West Pew who's in the law school. And since then there's been a growing interest both at the level of the administration and at the level of students and faculty to try to begin a minor in law and society. So we did actually create a minor that I believe has 70 to 75 minors currently. And there is an introduction to law and society class as well as classes from various other disciplines including sociology, political science, philosophy, history that are attached to the minor. So it's a very exciting program and a very exciting development. Perhaps you could say a little bit about your specific research or one or two instances. Sure. So I am interested, I actually do social legal history. So since I finished my PhD at the University of Toronto the Centre of Criminology has become more aptly named the Centre for Criminology and Social Legal Studies. And so I am interested in do legal history and I'm particularly interested in histories of the British Empire. So my first book was focused on British Columbia and on Canada looking at interactions and encounters between original people and Chinese migrants. And my second book which I'm working on now is called Across Oceans of Law and is focused on ships, oceans and law and legality. Sounds cool. Can you say a little bit about teaching and your approach to teaching? Okay, I find teaching to be very challenging in part because it, even though as the professor we're at the front of the class lecturing or leading seminars, teaching is really a very collaborative process. So it only works well if students are engaged and excited and interested. And for the most part that happens but sometimes enthusiasm wanes over the course of the term or the year. So I'm really interested in teaching students how to think critically. I'm also very interested and excited about the content that I put on my reading lists and that I teach in my classes. But I think that one of the most important elements or objectives of university is to teach students how to think, how to be critical thinkers so that when they go out into the world they can actually apply those skills to real experiences and situations. Perhaps that's a link to Arts One. What attracts you to Arts One program, especially given you come from sociology and criminology, which is not the most, not usually represented within the program? So I actually see myself as someone who's much more, even though I have, who's much more humanities oriented. So even though I have a PhD in criminology, which is actually in many places considered to be an applied science, I definitely have a sort of humanities approach to my work. So as I said, I'm someone who does sociological history, but I'm also really interested in critical theory and in philosophy. And so in many ways, yes, sociology, criminology hasn't been well represented in Arts One. But one of the reasons why I really, one of the reasons that I was attracted to teaching in Arts One was precisely because of the range of texts that we would be reading. And so many of the texts that we've encountered and read in the past year that we will again read in the coming year are texts that have been really foundational to discussions about law engagements with human rights. Many of the things that I'm really interested in. And so it's been a really amazing experience actually the past year has, being able to work with, closely with colleagues, and to be able to hear or to think about texts from the vantage point of other disciplines and other forms of expertise. So it's, and to actually hear that or to think about texts that I might have read before, or maybe not, from historians, from people teaching in the English department has been really, really exciting for me. But you can tell us about one or two of the texts that you're contributing, teaching, lecturing on this year in Arts One. They range, there's quite a range, from Bazolomé Las Casas, Fanon, Marx, and a novel. And a novel, yes. So the texts that I'm teaching on range from the British, French, and Spanish empires. And so I am interested, really interested in questions of colonialism. My own expertise is around the British Empire. But it's been really quite exciting to be able to teach texts that I have approached, such as Fanon's Wretched of the Year, through the lens of critical theory, and to think about it more historically and substantively within a broader, imperial context. I am teaching a novel, this will be my first time, and the novel is Amitav Ghosh's Sea of Poppies. It's really a remarkable book about indentured labor from India to Mauritius. And one of the reasons why I thought it would be a very exciting text for this year is precisely because of the theme of exploration in the counter. But also because my own current research is really focused on the Indian Ocean. And one of the issues that repeatedly comes up with journeys by a ship is the middle passage. And Ghosh really beautifully demonstrates the kinds of social relations and antagonisms that happen on this middle passage from India to, across the Indian Ocean, to Mauritius. So I'm very excited about teaching the novel and I'm very excited to be talking about ships and oceans with the Arts One class. What are you looking forward to in particular this year? The students. So last year was the first time that I've actually taught first year undergraduate students. And it was quite a remarkable experience. I learned so much from my students in the class. It was a lot of fun to actually have 20 students and to get to know them over the course of a full year, often getting to know them quite intimately. And it was really exciting to read texts with them to hear about their impressions and experiences with texts that they might have read before in high school or that they've encountered for the first time. So I'm really excited to meet my students and I'm excited to see where our conversations go. What advice would you have for a new student or to someone who's thinking about becoming a student in Arts One? My advice is get to know your peers in the class for sure. I think that that's a really important piece of advice in part because you're going to be with these 20 students for the course of the entire year. And in many cases you're going to be learning from them and not just the professors in the class. So some of our best discussions have happened in seminars, in small groups. And it's been really, one of the really rewarding experiences last year was to see how the dynamics of our seminar actually congealed in particular ways. So be open to your peers and get to know them well and make sure you read. Great. Thank you very much. Thank you.