Research Interests
- Gender and sexuality in medieval western Europe
- Queer and trans history
- History of medicine
- Visual and material culture
Education
| 2020-Present | Doctor of Philosophy, History, with a collaborative specialization in Sexual Diversity Studies, University of Toronto (in progress) supervised by Alison More and Isabelle Cochelin |
| 2019-2020 | Master of Arts in History, University of Guelph “Questions of Categorization: Surgical Interventions on Intersex Bodies in Late Medieval Europe,” supervised by Jacqueline Murray |
| 2015-2019 | Honours Bachelor of Arts with High Distinction, majors in History and Art History, minor in History of Religions, University of Toronto |
Teaching Experience
Teaching Assistant
| Summer 2020 | World Religions in Historical Perspectives, University of Guelph |
| Winter 2020 | Science and Technology in a Global Context, University of Guelph |
| Fall 2019 | Early Modern Europe, University of Guelph |
| Fall 2017 | Happiness, University of Toronto Mississauga |
Research Experience
| 2021-Present | Graduate Research Assistant for Alison More, Boyle Seminar in Scripts and Stories Virtual Classroom, University of Toronto |
| 2020-Present | Graduate Research Assistant for Walid Saleh, Practices of Commentary, University of Toronto |
| 2019 | Graduate Assistant for Nick Mulé, School of Social Work, York University Creation of a digital exhibition, Queer Liberation Theory Project, featuring forty interviews with queer academics, artists, and activists within the queer liberation movement for the ArQuives and Queer Ontario. |
| 2016-2019 | Research Assistant for Dr. Evonne Levy, Department of Visual Studies, University of Toronto Mississauga Work on the History of Art History in Canada Project (1933-2018), including gathering and interpreting data, working on the website, keeping detailed and accurate records, and working collaboratively with shared files. |
| 2018-2019 | Internship, ArQuives (previously the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives) Designed, researched, and developed a digital exhibition, Genderqueer in Canada, on nonbinary identities in Canada to be hosted on The ArQuives’ website. |
Scholarships, Honours, and Awards
Graduate
| 2020-2024 | Doctoral Fellowship, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada |
| 2020 | Ontario Graduate Scholarship (declined) |
| 2020-2021 | Department of History Graduate Program Award, University of Toronto |
| 2020 | Linda F. Dietz Graduate Essay Prize, Canadian Journal of History |
| 2021 | Department of History Best MRP Award, University of Guelph |
| 2020 | Faculty of Arts And Science Program-Level Fellowship, University of Toronto |
| 2020 | Graduate Travel, Research, and Creation Fund, University of Guelph |
| 2020 | Department of History Graduate Essay Prize, University of Guelph |
| 2020 | Hannah Studentship, Associated Medical Services and the Canadian Society for the History of Medicine |
| 2020 | Board of Graduate Studies Research Scholarship, University of Guelph |
| 2019-2020 | Graduate Tuition Scholarship, University of Guelph |
| 2019-2020 | University Graduate Scholarship, University of Guelph |
Undergraduate
| 2019 | Dean’s Graduation Award, University of Toronto |
| 2015-2019 | Dean’s List Scholar, University of Toronto |
| 2019 | Award for Outstanding Performance in Visual Studies, University of Toronto |
| 2015-2018 | Joseph Alfred Whealey Incourse Scholarship, University of Toronto |
| 2018 | UTM Experiential Learning Bursary, University of Toronto |
| 2017 | Best Exhibition Proposal in Curatorial Studies Award, Sheridan College |
| 2017 | University of Toronto Excellence Award in Social Sciences and Humanities |
| 2017 | Marjorie E. Simonds Travel Award, University of Toronto |
| 2016 | History Emeriti Award, Historical Studies, University of Toronto |
Professional
| 2018 | Teaching Assistant Award, Historical Studies, University of Toronto |
| 2013 | Writer’s Grant, Toronto Arts Council |
Publications
Journals
Mara-McKay, Nico. “Witchcraft Pamphlets at the Dawn of the Scottish Enlightenment.” Canadian Journal of History (accepted and forthcoming 2021).
Mara-McKay, Nico. “Becoming Gendered: Two Medieval Approaches to Intersex Gender Assignment.” Prandium: The Journal of Historical Studies at University of Toronto Mississauga 7:1 (2018).
Catalogue
Mara-McKay, Nico. “Commemorating Community: The St. Kunibert Office of the Dead.” In Illuminating Life: Manuscript Pages of the Middle Ages, edited by Brittney Payer and Alex Wall, 62-74. Guelph: University of Guelph, 2020.
For nonacademic publications, see Select Publication History.
Presentations
Papers Presented
Mara-McKay, Nico. “‘Calling [Herself] Eleanor’: Translike Gender Presentation in
Medieval Europe.” Sexual Diversity Studies Student Research Colloquium. University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, 26 March 2021.
Mara-McKay, Nico. “Categorizing Gender: Historicizing the Nonnormative.” Moving Trans History Forward, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, 11-14 March 2021.
Mara-McKay, Nico. “Patient Women: Surgical Instruments in the Treatment of Medieval Women’s Diseases.” Canadian Society of Medievalists Congress 2020, Western University, London, ON, 1-3 June 2020. (Conference cancelled due to covid-19.)
Mara-McKay, Nico. “Maladies of the Matrix: On the Treatment of Women in Guy de Chauliac’s Chirurgia Magna.” Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Science, Congress 2020, Western University, London, ON, 30 May-1 June 2020. (Conference cancelled due to covid-19.)
Mara-McKay, Nico. “Private Devotion: The Materiality of a Sixteenth Century Printed Books of Hours.” History Across the Disciplines, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, 20-22 March 2020. (Conference cancelled due to covid-19.)
Mara-McKay, Nico. “Witchcraft Pamphlets at the Dawn of the Scottish Enlightenment.” (Re)Making History: the Tri-University Conference, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, 14 March 2020. (Conference cancelled due to covid-19.)
Mara-McKay, Nico. “Commemorating Community: St Kunibert’s Office of the Dead.” From Parchment to Pixels Colloquium, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, 12 March 2020.
Mara-McKay, Nico. “Early Modern English Witch Bottles and the Logic of Counteractive Magic.” Experience and Expression in the Renaissance: Exploring Early Modern Media Conference by the Association of Renaissance Studies, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, 15 March 2019.
Mara-McKay, Nico. “Becoming Gendered: Two Medieval Approaches to Intersex Gender Assignment.” Prandium Conference, University of Toronto, Mississauga, ON, 19 March 2018.
Mara-McKay, Nico. “Katherina Hetzeldorfer and the Consequences of a Woman Living as a Heterosexual Man in Fifteenth-Century Germany.” Revealing the Renaissance: (De)constructing Early Modern Identities, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, 16 March 2018.
Mara-McKay, Nico. “The Materiality of Meret Oppenheim’s Surrealist Objects.” Back to Basics: Materials and Process, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, 17 March 2017.
Talks
Mara-McKay, Nico with Eriks Bredovskis and Steve Penfold. “History in the Time of Creative Pedagogy.” History Department, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, 24 March 2021.
Mara-McKay, Nico. “Sympathy for the Pittenweem Witch.” Research and Revolt: International Women’s Day Conference, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, 6-7 March 2020.
Mara-McKay, Nico with Melissa McAfee, Susannah Ferreira, Kathryn Comper, Rosalie Engles, Brittany Payer and Richard Griffin. “Manuscripts in the Curriculum.” Library Forum, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, 3 December 2019.
Mara-McKay, Nico and Konrad Boeschenstein. “Witch Pee and Costly Codices: Undergraduate Research Opportunities at U of T.” Toronto District School Board, Department of History, Unviersity of Toronto, Toronto, ON, 2 May 2019.
Mara-McKay, Nico. “The History of Tarot Visuals.” First Thursdays: Be Magik, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, ON, 3 November 2016.
Nonacademic Panels
Mara-McKay, Nico with Salako Kalfou and April Snellings, moderated by Alison Lang. “Witch, Please: Myth versus Reality.” Panel. Dark Carnival, Hamilton, ON, 10 July 2016.
Mara-McKay, Nico with Lynx Sainte Marie, Clementine Morrigan, Jenna Danchuk, and Amrit Brar, hosted by Jonathan Valelly. “Magick and the Occult in the Independent Arts.” Panel. Canzine, Toronto, ON, 17 October 2015.
Exhibitions
Mara-McKay, Nico, with Brenna Clark, Kathryn Comper, Rosalie Engels, Richard Griffin, Brittney Payer, and Alex Wall. Illuminating Life: Manuscript Pages of the Middle Ages. Archival and Special Collections, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON. 12 March-12 May 2020.
Mara-McKay, Nico. Genderqueer in Canada. The ArQuives’ Digital Exhibition, launched 2020.
Mulé, Nick and Queer Ontario, with Nico Mara-McKay. Queer Liberation Theory. The ArQuives’ Digital Exhibition, launched October 2019.
Interstice Collective (Mara-McKay, Nico, with Brendan Bradley, Natalie Chan, Anran Guo, Nada Hafez, John Ryan Manahan, Aaliyah Mitchell Harris, and Abby Nowak). Between, Blackwood Gallery, Mississauga, ON, 4-14 April 2018.
Media Appearance
“Medieval Manuscripts in the Classroom.” Interview on CTV Kitchener Evening News, 5 February 2020.
Academic Service
| 2020-2021 | Graduate Student Committee, Mandate and Bylaw Pod, Canadian Historical Society |
| 2020-2021 | Internal Reviewer, Past Tense, Graduate History Association, University of Toronto |
| 2020-2021 | Co-organizer, Convergences: York-University of Toronto History Conference 2021 |
| 2019-2020 | General Director (elected), History, Graduate Student Association, University of Guelph GSA Bylaws Committee OUTline Advisory Committee |
| 2018-2019 | Secretary (elected executive), Historical Studies Society, University of Toronto Mississauga |
| 2017-2018 | Marketing Director (elected executive), Historical Studies Society, University of Toronto Mississauga |
| 2017-2019 | Volunteer Note Taker, AccessAbility Services, University of Toronto Mississauga |
| 2016-2017 | Volunteer Coordinator (elected executive), OUT@UTM, University of Toronto Mississauga |
Nonacademic Work
| 2016-2020 | Copy Editor, Broken Pencil Magazine |
Professional Memberships
- American History Association
- Canadian Society of the History of Medicine
- Canadian Society of Medievalists
- Medieval Academy of America
- Sexuality Studies Association
- Society for Medieval Feminist Scholarship
Languages
- Reading knowledge of French, German, and medieval Latin