Mark Munsterhjelm, PhD, MA, BA
Office: 157 CHS
Email: markmun@uwindsor.ca
Telephone: 519-253-3000 ext. 3724
Research and Teaching Areas:
Dr. Munsterhjelm’s research focuses on racism and ideology in genetic research on Indigenous peoples. He is currently studying how several Indigenous peoples in Latin America and the Pacific region have been objectified and incorporated into forensic genetic identification technologies and security-related biotechnology development. Utilizing an innovative synthesis of postcolonial theory, governmentality, actor network theory, semiotics and rhetoric, his recent book Living Dead in the Pacific: Contested Sovereignty and Racism in Genetic Research on Taiwan Aborigines (UBC Press, 2014) won the 2015 Canadian Communication Association Gertrude J. Robinson Book Prize.
Recent Courses Taught:
Dr. Munsterhjelm teaches courses in qualitative research methods and research design covering topics such as research ethics, critical discourse analysis, semiotic analysis, ethnography, and sociology of scientific knowledge.
- Researching Social Life (48-290) at the Second Year Level
- Qualitative Approaches to Social & Cultural Research (48-390) at the Third Year Level
- Qualitative Research Design (48-616) at the Graduate Level (MA and PhD)
Education:
- Post-Doctoral Fellowship (Dalhousie University – Bioethics)
- PhD (University of Windsor – Sociology)
- MA (University of Victoria – Indigenous Governance)
- BA (Carleton University – Economics and Psychology)
Recent and Key Publications:
Books
- 2014. Living Dead in the Pacific: Contested Sovereignty and Racism in Genetic Research on Taiwan Aborigines. Vancouver and Toronto: UBC Press. 292 pages. http://www.ubcpress.ca/search/title_book.asp?BookID=299174294
Peer-Reviewed Articles
- 2014. Beyond the Line: Violence and the Objectification of the Karitiana Indigenous People as Extreme Other in Forensic Genetics. International Journal for the Semiotics of Law. http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11196-014-9395-4
- 2014. Corporate Protectors of State Sovereignty: Mitsubishi’s and a Taiwan Affiliate’s Accounts of Relations with Taiwan Aborigines. Asian Ethnicity, Vol. 15(3), 351-373. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14631369.2014.906061
- 2013. The Political Economy of Hope and Authoritarian Liberalism in Genetics Research. Borderlands e-journal, Vol. 12(1). http://www.borderlands.net.au/vol12no1_2013/munsterhjelm_political.pdf
- 2013. Mackay’s Unburnt Legacy: Hero-Rescue-Aborigines Narratives in the Exhibiting of Taiwan Aboriginal Artefacts. Settler Colonial Studies, Vol. 4(1):82-99. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/2201473X.2013.784237
- 2011. "Unfit For Life": A Case Study of Protector-Protected Analogies in Recent Advocacy of Eugenics and Coercive Genetic Discrimination. Journal of Bioethical Inquiry, Vol. 8(2):177-189. http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs11673-011-9290-6.pdf
- 2010. How Do Researcher Duties Conflict With Aboriginal Rights? Genetics Research and Biobank Problems in Taiwan (Lead author with second author Dr. Frederick Gilbert). Dilemata: International Journal of Applied Ethics, Vol. 2(4):33-56. http://dialnet.unirioja.es/descarga/articulo/3857697.pdf
Conference Presentations
- 2014. Beyond the Line: The Subjectivity of the Karitiana Indigenous People as Abnormal Other in the Security Dispositif. Canadian Sociological Association 2014 Conference, Brock University.
- 2014. Necrovalue and the Subjectivity of Indigenous Peoples’ as Abnormal Other in the Genetic Dispositif. Canadian Sociological Association 2014 Conference, Brock University.
- 2013. Taiwan Aborigines as Necrovalue in Biotechnology. Midwest Conference on Asian Affairs, Michigan State University.