Shoukia van Beek (she/her) is a settler-scholar and graduate student at the University of Victoria, on W̱SÁNEĆ & Lək̓ʷəŋən territories. Shoukia was named after her late grandmother, a Frisian-Dutch immigrant, whose ferocity, compassion, and caring ways shaped Shoukia’s sense of self and community. Her lessons and love continue to inform Shoukia’s interests, worldview, and ultimately, her work. Shoukia’s research examines how borders, and their associated practices, function as a mechanism of settler-colonialism. Her work is rooted in, and takes place at the intersection of, literatures and theories of political ecology, border studies, and Indigenous sovereignty—actively centring an anti-colonial, anti-capitalist, and abolitionist legal-geographic analysis and epistemological commitment.
If you take an interest in any of this work, please don’t hesitate to reach out. You can follow Shoukia on Twitter (@shoukia), schedule an appointment, or send her a message (shoukia@uvic.ca) if you want to chat, share your work, or just say hello!
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Shoukia currently serves as a Cross-Border Consultant for the Blackfoot Confederacy Tribal Council.
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Episode 3 of Stuff the British Stole was fact checked by Dr. Eldon Yellowhorn and Shoukia. Watch The Crow Flies for free on CBC Gem.
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The University of Victoria | Border Studies
Ph.D. Student and Graduate Fellow in the BIG Lab
Elected Student Representative on the Legal Geography Board Author and Editor for the Law & Space (Un)Journal Studying under the supervision of Emmanuel Brunet-Jailly
Watch a Research Circle interview between Shoukia, Dr. Emmanuel Brunet-Jailly, and Dean Dr. Charlotte Loppie
