Fredericton Faculty of Arts

Say hello to new assistant professor of English, Dr. Lucas Crawford!

Dr. Crawford is joining the Faculty of Arts from Simon Fraser University in BC, where he taught gender studies. Lucas is originally from rural Nova Scotia. You can also check out the Department of English's fascinating interview with Dr. Crawford on their blog Frond and Spore.

Main research interests

•    20/21st c. British novels
•    Queer theory
•    Transgender studies
•    Architecture and space
•    Food and fat
•    Theories of feeling
•    Creative writing (poetry)

Courses Dr. Crawford will be teaching this year...
•    English 3540: Modern British Novel
•    English 1145: Introduction to Prose Fiction
•    English 1144: Introduction to Non-Fiction

Projects Dr. Crawford is currently working on:

•    A poetry book about the history, politics, and design of a unique piece of New York City, the High Line Park: http://www.thehighline.org

•    An academic book about the ways in which we talk about body size and “feeling fat” in popular culture, in queer theory, and in contemporary British novels

•    I have just finished editing a “transgender lit” special issue of Matrix magazine. It is available locally at Read’s and Chapters.

Above: Dr. Crawford doing a reading on a city bus.

Interesting trivia about Lucas:

•    I designed a flavour for a very large potato chip company in 2013.

•    I have lived in Nova Scotia, Ontario, Alberta, Quebec, British Columbia, and now New Brunswick.

•    I run an online archive (updated intermittently) called Academic Breakfast, which consists of hundreds of submitted breakfast photos and food philosophies of students, staff, and professors from many countries. Check it out here: http://academic-breakfast.tumblr.com

•    I’m an enthusiastic viewer of NBA basketball (Raps! Cavs!) and of professional tennis (Roger! Serena! Rafa!). I also adore Celine Dion (non-ironically).

Favourite parts of Fredericton and/or UNB so far 


•    A return to the favourite foods of my youth: Scotsburn and Farmer’s ice cream, donairs, garlic fingers, proper pepperoni, rappie pie, etc.

•    Learning about NB history in ways I didn’t as a high school student. For instance, I was surprised to learn that an internment camp (used 1940-1945) is located just a few minutes from Fredericton in the community of Ripples. In its first phase, it imprisoned European Jews. Visit the nearby museum in Minto if you can.

•    Maritime friendliness and collegiality both on and off campus.

Finally, a piece of advice for new students?

•    Caring is cool.