Image Description: Photograph of plate of food not yet eaten on a metal garden table at Olivea restaurant in Kingston, Ontario. Food includes sausages, mushrooms, potatoes, tomatoes, and grilled chicken.
Meet Marcus Young! He is a researcher whose scholarly focus is on masculinity and visual culture. As a Graduate Student Ambassadors, Graduate Inclusivity Fellow, he is invested in helping new and current graduate students thrive socially and academically.
Describe yourself in three words! Tell us about your faculty/department, your area of research, what made you interested in pursuing that area of research and what you are involved in at Queen’s.
Three words, that’s tough! Resilient, hardworking, and dedicated. I was reflecting on my time as a graduate student––throughout my MA and my current PhD. These three words probably describe the (forever) student in me.
I’m in the Cultural Studies (CUST) Program. People often ask what makes a project fall under this field. I’d argue that, if it questions the role of power, or how power plays into particular subjects, then that’s a CUST project!
I research representations of masculinity regarding the officers of the Canadian navy during the Second World War. In part, this research is informed by my role in the Canadian Armed Forces and my interest in culture change in the military. I find that revisiting historical accounts, especially gendered histories, reveal symptoms of what we might still be encountering in today’s military.
Aside from focusing on my PhD, I’m serving as a Graduate Ambassador for the School of Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs. It gives me the opportunity to connect with students and support them in their graduate life.
What is your absolute favourite place to go in Kingston? What makes it special to you?
I love good food. Olivea is probably my favourite place in Kingston. It's special to me because, in the three years that I’ve been here, this is the place where me and my friends have celebrated special occasions, and even just hang out and catch up. A lot of good memories were made there.
Best Advice you have received in your Graduate Studies so far?
Not so much a word of advice but a quote that I remember from doing my MA out West. A supervisor and mentor, now close colleague, once said to me, “I’m not convinced.” This was the feedback they gave me on my thesis. I think about this quote almost everyday. It’s comical but also practical. When you’re writing anything, you’re trying to convince. This quote is a reminder to ask myself if I’ve done what writing was intended to achieve.
What makes Queen’s a great place to do a post-grad program?
Queen’s is an exciting place to be. It is such a student-focused university. Kingston is a very student-focused place. Queen’s sets students up for success by connecting them to the right supervisors and the right peers, As a campus, Queen’s has so much energy. The feeling of community here is unmatched and a reason why I’m proud to be a Gael.
If you had a chance to study something OTHER than what you are currently studying, what would you choose?
I’d most likely study International Relations. I grew up in a family that was heavily involved in diplomatic work, and at a time, this was actually my undergrad before switching to Communication. Int’l Relations is such an elegant pathway and it provides a unique perspective on how culture operates across borders.
When you were younger, what did you think you would do as a job?
Too many to choose from! As a kid, you dream about so many things. This is perhaps why I chose the academic path. Despite a specific field of interest, as an academic you’re often working in relation to other topics and discourses. It’s the intertextuality of it all that keeps me interested in what I do.
What is the one thing you want new graduate students to know as they start navigating their graduate studies?
It’s a marathon, not a sprint. Go at the right pace and do it in such a way that is not only productive but meaningful. At the end of the day, your project should be fulfilling to you.
To learn more about Marcus and his graduate journey, connect with him through: https://www.queensu.ca/grad-postdoc/graduate-studies/ask-grad-student!