The sweet sounds of success

Faculty of Arts and Science PhD student Christopher Wilson has earned a Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation Scholarship, one of only 18 PhD students in Canada to earn the honour.

For more than two decades, the Foundation has promoted advanced studies in the humanities and social sciences and supported outstanding PhD students and researchers, encouraging critical reflection and action. It was created in 2001 as a living memorial to the late former prime minister. This year, more than 700 PhD students applied for the honour.

The Scholarship provides $50,000 for three years to cover tuition and living expenses and an annual allowance of up to $20,000 for three years to support research, networking, and travel related to the doctoral project and Foundation programming.

“For a PhD student this award is huge because it covers my living expenses, and it also provides $20,000 which I can use towards my research,” Wilson says. “I can use those funds to go to conferences, host interviews, provide honorariums, and I can also focus on professional development. It helps me on the path of wanting to be a professor and have conversations with people who have gone through the process. It provides the stability so I can focus on my professional development, focus on learning and becoming a thought leader.”

With a Master’s of Design in Strategic Foresight and Innovation and currently pursuing his PhD in Cultural Studies, his research focuses on the alter-archives of Black sound recordings from the 1960s to the early 2000s. This work reflects a dedication to exploring how we envision and utilize our collective futures to build connected, more meaningful communities that are better equipped to navigate the obstacles and possibilities of the future. Let us see ourselves in the future as an act of knowing, of being, and of becoming to reimagine the past and present as pathways to inspire future possibilities for Black folks.

“For my research I’m exploring the sonic histories of cassette tapes and black performance practices that exist within the diaspora communities here in Canada and specifically, looking at certain time ranges – the start of cassettes being invented to the fall – so around 1962 to about 2000,” Wilson explains. “The reasoning for this is in my earlier research for my Masters, I uncovered that the artistic practices that exist within the Black communities have provided ways of imagining future possibilities. So, I'm exploring the memories that were reimagined and disseminated through cassettes.”

He adds there is something within the performances that were captured and recorded that could help support the ways we use them as tools to imagine the future.

“The artists of that time were reimaging the world as they were performing and providing audiences with these memories through the microphonic details that were captured. It’s a way to be able to understand how we imagine the future through exploring these artworks and the practices used to create them.”

Wilson notes he is affiliated with Cultural Studies but also spends his time in the Dan School of Drama and Music, which allows him some unique opportunities. His one supervisor, Daniel McNeil, is currently the inaugural Stuart Hall Interdisciplinary Chair at the University of Birmingham. Sarah Waisvisz (Dan School) is his second supervisor.

“So much of my background is interdisciplinary, and there are cross overs of different elements,” he explains. “In the Dan School, I have the ability to explore this performance practice, especially with my director supervisor being in Cultural Studies and understanding the historic capacity and cultural relevance. I also get to dabble on the Dan side, working with different professors on research projects related to music and performance.”

Wilson says he’s excited for the opportunity to continue his research at Queen’s. “Coming to Queen’s was very important to me given the community of Black professors that are doing work here and the support of those professors has been a huge part of this. They’ve encouraged me to believe in myself and push me to continue to explore my research area and challenge myself to push forward. I’m truly grateful for that.”

Learn more about the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation Scholarship on the website.