Prof. Benjamin Forest
Research
Redistricting/Redistribution and Minority Political Representation
I analyze the impact of redistricting/redistribution on minority political representation in Canada and the US. Election districts create geographic constituencies with varying political and demographic characteristics. The manipulation of their boundaries is commonly derided as gerrymandering, but any such geographic districts will provide a relative advantage or disadvantage to political and ethnic groups. The rules and practices of redistricting, including the use of GIS technology, determine which groups benefit or suffer. More subtly, the rules governing the creation of districts (ridings) reflect the status of minorities in the political imagination of each country. This work has received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Centre for the Study of Democratic Citizenship.
This Op-Ed in the Montreal Gazette (April 27, 2012), co-authored with Mike Medeiros, addresses some of the policy implictions of these issues:
It's time for effective representation for national minorities
In this talk at Concordia University, sponsored by the Department of Political Science and le Centre Métropolis du Québec, I discuss my research in more detail.
Video: Electoral Redistricting and Minority Political Representation in Canada and the United States (February 2, 2012)
Along with political scientist Juliet Johnson, I conduct research on national identity in post-Communitist states by examining the political struggles over Soviet- and post-Soviet-era monuments and memorials. The project includes the (ongoing) construction of a database with information on changes to monuments and memorials from 1989 to 2010 in twenty six post-Communist states, as well as studies of individual sites and countries. This work has received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Ford Foundation, and the Rockefeller Center at Dartmouth College.
The above link takes you to the website for our project.
Other Projects
I have additional research projects on the electoral geography of same-sex marriage, and on the governance of natural resources. Both are broadly concerned with issues of identity and representation. |
