Sara Komarnisky
Why did you decide to pursue a graduate degree?
After completing my MA in Anthropology at the University of Manitoba I worked as a Research Associate with the Addiction and Mental Health Research Lab at the University of Alberta. It was a great job, but after a few years I realized that I really missed anthropology, as well as the time and resources to develop and pursue my own research questions. So, I decided to go back to school to pursue a PhD!
Why did you decide to study at UBC?
I chose to study at UBC because the Department of Anthropology has an excellent and highly regarded PhD program and because I wanted to live in Vancouver. It's also a good place for me to be since it is situated between Alaska and Mexico, making for more convenient travel to my fieldsites.
What was the best surprise about UBC or life in Vancouver?
I think the best surprise has been how easy it is to get around Vancouver! With my bicycle and my UPass I can go almost anywhere.
What advice do you have for new graduate students?
Invest in a good rain jacket – you'll need it.
Learn more about Sara's research
My dissertation is about space, place, and migration from Mexico to Alaska. People from a particular small town in rural Michoacán have been traveling to Anchorage, Alaska to live and work since at least 1953. Through regular movement and everyday practices, different generations of migrants and immigrants produce these two distant places as connected even though at other times, Alaska and Mexico are produced as profoundly separate. My work explores the friction between disconnection and difference and connection and co-production which is a large part of the transnational experience in Alaska. Moreover, regular movements between Alaska and Michoacán raise questions about the way in which multiple spatial points of reference across international borders affect people's sense of belonging. In other words, people draw from experiences and imaginaries here and there to produce a sense of belonging in the north. Rather than understanding Alaska as bounded and separate, these strategies and spatial practices emphasize the contingent, entangled, and interconnected nature of northern spaces.