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Heather McLean

Assistant Professor Environmental Studies and Human Geography

    20092026

    Research activity per year

    Personal profile

    Personal profile

    Heather McLean (she/her) is a comedic performance artist and Associate Professor of Human Geography and Environmental Studies at Athabasca University. Born and raised in Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc, colonially
    known as Kamloops, British Columbia, she works at the intersections of
    feminist, queer, decolonial, arts-based research creation. Her scholarship and practice focus on culture-led regeneration, precarity, arts interventions, and the everyday geographies of agency, resistance, and mutual aid. She is committed to decentering dominant discourses and engaging participants in the co-production of knowledge.
     
    From 2017 to 2019, Heather was an Economic and Social Research Council Future Researcher at the University of Glasgow, where she examined how feminist arts collectives and artist-run centres supported marginalized communities across the UK.

    Research interests

    Currently, her research explores the role of the arts in fostering mutual aid and community resilience in colonially named rural British Columbia and Alberta.
     
    Heather’s creative practice is deeply entwined with her research. As a clown and comedian, she has collaborated with Dirty Plotz, a queer/feminist cabaret collective, and co-created drag king walking tours for the Workers’ Theatre, the People’s Bank of Govanhill, the Glasgow School of Art, the Edinburgh College of Art, the Western Canada Theatre Company (Kamloops) and the Gutterclown Cabaret (Vancouver).
     
    In addition to her teaching, research, and performance practice, Heather is an active member of the Community Economies Research Network, a global collective of artists, scholars, and practitioners committed to fostering ways of living and thriving Together. 

    External positions

    Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals

    In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

    1. SDG 5 - Gender Equality
      SDG 5 Gender Equality
    2. SDG 8 - Decent Work and Economic Growth
      SDG 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth
    3. SDG 10 - Reduced Inequalities
      SDG 10 Reduced Inequalities
    4. SDG 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities
      SDG 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities

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    Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years

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