researcher statement
My collaborative work with Anita Lafferty is published in Sisters Scholars (ed. Lyle & Mahani, 2021).
I am committed to exploring the theoretical and pedagogical potentials of language learning and art-making to combat linguicism, racism, xenophobia, and other forms of discrimination in schools and societies. In my doctoral research, I was guided by an overarching inquiry: What can be done to creatively support youth Heritage Language Maintenance in our communities?
I work within a creative and collaborative scholarship tradition that includes artist/pedagogue/researchers (Beier, 2021; Biggs, 2006) arts-based researchers (Conrad & Beck, 2015, Knowles & Cole, 2008; Leavy, 2018), research-creation practitioners (Loveless, 2015; Springgay & Rotas, 2015), poetic inquirers (Sameshima et al., 2017), intersectional scholar-activists (Anzaldúa, 1987; Anzaldúa & Morraga, 1981) and Indigenous researchers who deeply value multimodal ways of knowing, emphasize relationality in research, and mix the personal with the theoretical in their writing styles (Hill, 2008; Kenny, 1998; King, 2008; Wilson, 2008).
I feel a deep commitment to the communities that my research impacts beyond academe (Barndt, 2008), including youth, pre-service and in-service teachers, and Heritage Language communities. I have presented my scholarly work in Canada and internationally at conferences, public workshops and symposia, exhibitions, and poetry readings. My dissertation won the 2023 Bacchus Graduate Research Prize.
Since finishing my PhD, I have made the decision to leave academia and continue researching and teaching in my various community roles, where I feel like my research has more immediate impact.
research interests
An example of a collaborative paper and presentation with two language educators.
Language & Culture: Multilingual education; Mother language maintenance; Heritage language development; Immersion and bilingual pedagogy; Foreign and second language pedagogy; Intercultural competence; Intersections of linguicism, racism, and xenophobia; Meaningful literacy instruction; Multiliteracies development; Technology in language acquisition; Digital learning spaces; Sociolinguistics; History of language policies and planning in Canada; Canadian Multiculturalism; Applied linguistics; language ideologies
Art: Art education; Arts-based curricula, Art history; Digital art collectives and learning spaces; Intersectional feminism in art; Collage; Painting; Mixed-media
Poetry: Canadian and World literature; Ekphrasis (writing about art); Multilingualism in Canadian poetry; Marginalization in CanLit; Code-switching; Literary and visual translation; Multilingual rap music
Education: Arts-based language pedagogy; Walking curriculum; Anti-oppressive and anti-racist pedagogies + curricula; Pre-service teacher education; Youth experiences with online teaching
Methodologies: Arts-based research; Research creation; Poetic Inquiry; Autohistoria; Qualitative research methods
peer-reviewed publications
Oniță, A. (2022). Articulating an arts-based language pedagogy. In E. Lyle (Ed.). Re/humanizing Education. Brill | Sense.
Oniță, A., Guéladé-Yai-L, & Wallace, L (2021). Walking the talk: Three language educators engage in walking-based art inquiry for anti-racist education. Journal of the Canadian Association for Curriculum Studies, 19(3).
Lafferty, A. and Oniță, A. (2021). Gently stomping with k’onį nátsę and nădejde: A poetic duoethnography between a ts’élî-iskwew and româncă in academia. In E. Lyle & S. Mahani (Eds.). Sister scholars: Untangling issues of identity as women in academe. DIO Press.
Oniță, A. (2019). Limba maternă: A creative inquiry into mother language shift and loss. In:cite Journal, 2(1), 51-57. https://doi.org/10.33137/incite.2.32820
Oniță, A. (2017). Translating Chicana rap: Snow Tha Product. Transcultural: A Journal of Translation and Cultural Studies, 9(1), 132-144. http://dx.doi.org/10.21992/T9ZD03
peer-reviewed conference presentations
Oniță, A. (2021, May 31). Spanish Art Camp: An arts-based case study of youth Heritage Language maintenance in Alberta [Conference session]. Canadian Society for the Study of Education at Congress, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
Oniță, A. (2021, May 29). “Do you speak White?”: Adolescent Spanish Heritage Language learners in Alberta explore and resist linguistic and racial hegemony through art. [Conference session]. Language and Literacy Researchers of Canada Pre-Conference, Congress, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
Oniță, A., Guéladé-Yai-L, & Wallace, L. (2021, May 29). Anti-racism in the classroom: What’s walking and art gotta do with it? [Conference session]. ARTS SIG Pre-Conference at Congress, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
Oniță, A. (2021, Mar. 26). How the mother tongue—against all odds—can thrive. [Conference session]. 12th Robert Macmillan Symposium in Education, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada.
Oniță, A. (2021, Mar. 23). From multicultiphobia to linguaphobia: Canada’s un/written rules for cultural and linguistic conformity. [Conference session]. Symposium on the Impact of Multiculturalism on Public Education, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
Grace-Williams, M., Lafferty, A., Lyle, E., Mahani, S., & Oniță, A., (2021, Mar. 19). Sister scholars. Global Conference on Women and Gender. Christopher Newport University, Newport News, VA, USA.
Oniță, A. (2021, Mar. 16). Warning: Multilingual writing may cause confusion, discomfort, and repulsion. [Conference session]. DiHuCon 2021, the Digital Humanities Student Association’s annual conference, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
Oniță, A., Guéladé-Yai-L, & Wallace, L. (2021, Mar. 13). Introducing a walking-based anti-racist pedagogy. [Conference session]. Graduate Symposium in the Department of Education at Concordia University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
Oniță, A. (2021, Mar. 1-5). Adolescent experiences with digital technologies in an online summer art camp. [Conference session]. 14th Annual G.M. Dunlop Educational Psychology Graduate Student Research Conference. University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
Oniță, A. (2020, Jun.). Multilingual poetry for heritage language maintenance. Oral presentation at the 12th Nordic Conference on Bilingualism. Stockholm University, Sweden [Postponed until 2021 due to COVID-19].
Oniță, A. (2019, June). Expanding the circle of CanLit poetry: The case of The Polyglot magazine. [Conference session]. Canadian Comparative Literature Association. Congress, 2018. University of British Columbia.
Oniță, A. (2019, June). Arts-based initiatives for heritage language maintenance. Poster session at the Canadian Society for the Study of Education. Congress, 2019. University of British Columbia.
Bilash, O. & Oniță, A. (2019, June). Mapping change in language policy, practice, and public attitudes in Ukraine. Canadian Association of Slavists. Congress, 2018. University of British Columbia.
Conrad, D., Oniță, A., Sutankayo, L., Buckle, M. (2019, March). What do reconciliation or decolonization look like? An arts-based curriculum inquiry. Presentation at Provoking Curriculum Conference. University of Regina.
Oniță, A. (2019, March). How might community arts-based initiatives contribute to Heritage Language maintenance? Weaving Ways of Knowing, Faculty of Education Graduate Student Conference. University of Alberta.
Oniță, A. (2018, Feb). The Gamification of Second Language Learning: A Deleuzoguattarian Analysis of Duolingo, Busuu, and Memrise. Becoming: In the Midst, Faculty of Education Graduate Student Conference. University of Alberta.
Oniță, A. (2016, Sept). Flipping the script: Performing female sexual agency in rap across cultures. 14th Annual St Jerome’s Day Translation Conference, University of Alberta.
Oniță, A. (2014, Feb). Hip-hop feminism: An oxymoron? Connections Modern Language and Cultural Studies Graduate Student Conference, University of Alberta.
Oniță, A. (2013, Nov.) Jilava on my Mind: Poems and Reflections on Travel and Home. Modern Languages and Cultural Studies Lecture Series “Tourists and Travellers,” University of Alberta.
Oniță, A. (2013, April). Ekphrasis in Canada: Then and Now. Canadian Literature Centre Research Seminar, University of Alberta.
Oniță, A. (2013, April). Spanglish poetry: ¿Un puré de impurezas? Our Americas: Latin American Studies Symposium, Modern Languages Cultural Studies, University of Alberta
I’d like to gratefully acknowledge the Killam foundation for funding the research I have done in my PhD.
PhD research Funding
Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Scholarship (May 2019 – May 2021)
Andrew Stewart Graduate Memorial Prize (May 2020 – May 2021)
Principal Instructor Teaching Award – Graduate Student Association (Feb 2020)
Dr. Bruce Bain Memorial Graduate Scholarship (Feb 2020)
Queen Elizabeth II Graduate Scholarship (Sept 2017 – Apr 2018)
Doctoral Recruitment Scholarship (Sept. 2017 – Apr. 2018)
other scholarships and awards
Bacchus Graduate Research Prize (2023)
Green and Gold Professional Leadership Grant (Jan 2013 – Mar 2013)
Jana Hennessey Memorial Graduate Scholarship (Sept. 2012 – Apr. 2014)
Dean’s Entrance Citation in Arts (Sept. 2008 – Apr. 2012)
Lieutenant Colonel Gail Edwards Memorial Bursary (Sept. 2011 – Apr. 2012)
Alison White/Faculty of Arts Honours Prize (Sept. 2011 – Apr. 2012)
The Italian Women’s Society Prize in Italian Language Studies (Sept. 2010 – Apr. 2011)
Louise McKinney Post-Secondary Scholarship (Sept. 2010 – Apr. 2011)
Scotiabank Bursary Sept. 2010 (Apr. 2011)
Jason Lang Scholarship (Sept. 2009 – Apr. 2010)
Faculty of Arts Academic Excellence Scholarship (Sept. 2008 – Apr. 2009)
Roland Stansfield Young Memorial Academic Excellence Scholarship (Sept 2008 – Apr. 2009)