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Ranu Basu

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Associate Professor of Geography, Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change
E-mail: ranubasu@yorku.ca

Ranu Basu's research and teaching interests relate to the geographies of marginality, diversity and social justice in cities; power, space and activism; critical geographies of education; and spatial methodologies including critical GIS. Her projects funded by SSHRC, CERIS and Infrastructure Canada have explored the impacts of neoliberalization of educational restructuring in Ontario; multiculturalism in schools through questions of 'integration'; social sustainability and the meaning of public space as it relates to migrants (including the South Asian Diaspora); and the provision of infrastructure for marginal groups in suburban regions.

She is the Principal Investigator in an international SSHRC Insight Grant project titled Subalterity, Education and Welfare Cities that historically traces the geopolitical impacts of forced displacement on cities and schools through questions of conflict and displacement in Havana, Toronto and Kolkata. As part of this project, a working group on the Geopolitics of Education for Peace is currently exploring international examples around the world related to questions of education, praxis and peace.

In 2008, she was a John A. Sproul Fellow at the Center for Canadian Studies, and a visiting scholar at the Center for Cities and Schools at the Institute for Urban and Regional Development (IURD). She serves on the executive board of the Centre for Refugee Studies (CRS), the YCAR Executive Committee; and previously with the York Centre for Education and Community (YCEC) and CITY Institute. Her publications have appeared in journals such as the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research; Professional Geographer; Education, Social Justice and Citizenship; Geoforum; Environment and Planning: C.

Representative Publications

Basu, R. (2021) "Geopolitical Framings of Subalterity in Education III: Context of Displacement." Refugee Watch – A South Asian Journal on Forced Migration 58.

Basu, R. (2011) "Multiculturalism through Multilingualism in Schools: Emerging Places of 'Integration' in Toronto." Annals of the Association of American Geographers 101(6): 1307-1330

Basu, R. (2013) "Multiplying Spaces of Subalterity in Education: From Ideological Realms to Strategizing Outcomes." Canadian Geographer 57(3).

Basu, R. (2004) "The Rationalization of Neoliberalism in Ontario's Public Education System, 1995-2000." Geoforum 35(5): 621-634.

Basu, R. (2004) "A Flyvbjergian perspective of Public Elementary School Closures in Toronto: A Question of ‘Rationality’ or ‘Power’?" Environment and Planning: C, Government and Policy 22: 423-251.

Basu, R. (2012) "Spatial Phronesis: A Case Study in Geosurveillance." In B. Flyvbjerg, S. Schram and T. Landman (eds.) Real Social Science: Applied Phronesis. Cambridge University Press.

Keywords: Geographies of marginality; diversity and social justice in cities; power, space and activism; sub/urban/altern cosmopolitanism; critical geographies of education; post-colonial geographies; spatial methodologies; anti-imperialism; subalterity and education in Cuba, India and Canada

Upcoming Events

May
24
Tue
11:00 am Fifth Bernard H.K Luk Memorial L... @ Livestreamed and in-person
Fifth Bernard H.K Luk Memorial L... @ Livestreamed and in-person
May 24 @ 11:00 am – 1:00 pm
Fifth Bernard H.K Luk Memorial Lecture in Hong Kong Studies @ Livestreamed and in-person
Envisioning Global Hong Kong Studies: Possibilities, Politics and Praxis 2022 Bernard H.K. Luk Memorial Lecture in Hong Kong Studies with Ching Kwan Lee (UCLA) The [...]
2:00 pm Negotiating Hakka Identities in ...
Negotiating Hakka Identities in ...
May 24 @ 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm
Negotiating Hakka Identities in Multicultural Mauritius
From seeking (temporary) refuge in a European colony in the Indian Ocean after 1860 to becoming an integral part of a post-independent ‘rainbow nation’, the [...]
Jun
10
Fri
6:00 pm Inventories of Dispossession | T... @ Centre for Social Innovation (Annex)
Inventories of Dispossession | T... @ Centre for Social Innovation (Annex)
Jun 10 @ 6:00 pm – Jun 11 @ 8:00 pm
Inventories of Dispossession | Tamil Studies Symposium 2022 @ Centre for Social Innovation (Annex)
Opening Reception and Readings Friday, 10 June 2022 from 18:00 to 21:00 EDT Register at: bit.ly/tssopeningnight22 Symposium Saturday, 11 June 2022 from 10:00 to 20:00 [...]
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