Shannon McConnell

Current: PhD student in Cultural Studies at Queen’s University (Kingston, Ontario).

Previous work completed in Department of History, University of Saskatchewan: MA Thesis - “The Woodlands School, 1950-1980” Defended and graduated 2020.

Shannon is a writer, educator, and musician originally from Vancouver, British Columbia. She holds degrees in English Literature and Education from the University of the Fraser Valley (’12) and Simon Fraser University (’14), respectively, and also holds a Master of Fine Arts in Writing (’17) and a Master of Arts in History (’20) from the University of Saskatchewan. Over the last five years she has researched and written about the former British Columbian institution Woodlands School which served as a custodial training school for children with disabilities. Her current PhD work in Cultural Studies at Queen’s University builds off of her knowledge of Woodlands and incorporates new research concerning Huronia Regional Centre which was a custodial training school in Orillia, Ontario. Her PhD work is a research creation project which combines traditional archival research with poetics and photography. Her work aims to push against the common narratives of institutions but also contribute to the growing discourse of custodial training schools in Canada. It is an opportunity to counter map the overarching narratives through conversing with the past through archival sources and also with the present, exploring what is left of these institutions in their respective provinces.