Contact
Karen Budra
Karen Budra, BA (Theatre & English) and MA (English), relishes teaching at Langara. Winner of the 2009-10 Langara College Teaching Excellence Award, she is known for her eclectic, engaging and passionate approach. A former professional actress, Karen has taught everything from Theatre History (thrice on Field Schools) through Cult Film, Cinema History and Apocalyptic Literature in addition to Introductory Literature & Composition courses at Langara, National University of Ireland (Galway) and Ryerson College. Her favourite genre, though, is the Gothic. In addition to having taught Gothic Literature & Film numerous times at Langara (along with a new Horror Film course debuting in January 2015), she manages to imbue all of her Cinema & Literature classes with a little dark narrative. Karen designed this course, which ran for the first time in 2013, as a way to immerse students in the atmosphere from which UK Gothic springs. An avid traveller, she welcomes the opportunity to lead students on an in situ investigation of dark narrative. Self-fashioning, liminal existence, performance, the abject and metamorphoses are of particular interest.
Debra Scott
Debra Scott, BA (Psychology) UBC and MA (English) UBC, has taught a range of courses, including one that she created several years ago, Mythology and Literature--to explore, among other subjects, the worlds of magic, shape-shifting, and hybrid creartures in both ancient and contemporary works. In this course and others, she has charted the archetypal hero quest, tracing the conventional hero journey and also that of the "other." She has also examined elements of the Gothic in Canadian Literature. Another area of interest is the Christian and the Pagan--and the interplay between these traditions. In the past eight years, Debra has fed her love of art and culture by participating (as a student) in four of Langara's Art History and Architecture tours; these travels have taken her to historical sites, museums, and galleries in six different countries in Europe. When commenting on Debra as an instructor, students' often note her enthusiasm and caring attitude. She is excited to be a part of the 2015 Gothic Field Studies program.
Jacqueline Weal
Jacqueline Weal, BA (English) and MA (English), has been an instructor at Langara College since 2004, teaching a variety of core literature & composition courses as well as self-designed specialty courses on topics ranging from Shape-shifters (via fairytales, werewolves, vampires, cyborgs, and plastic surgery), through Biographies, to, most recently, Romantic Comedies. All of Jacqueline’s courses explore gothic &/or horror elements: for example, Edgar Allan Poe’s “life” in the Biography course or genre-bending films like Harold & Maude and Shaun of the Dead in the RomCom course. In May 2013, Jacqueline was co-instructor on the inaugural UK Gothic Field School. Having worked as a fashion merchandiser for over a decade, which included travel in the USA and Asia, Jacqueline’s professional experience lends itself well to educational travel and the gothic exploration of identity through shifting surfaces. While her passion for horror narrative and pulp fiction goes back to childhood, it was reignited when she took Karen’s Gothic Literature course in 1998; and while most academic inquiry involves “touching from a distance,” Jacqueline believes the GFS offers students the marvelous opportunity of returning - revenant-like - to those uncanny and historic places where some of the best gothic literature, film, and music was created, and where it continues to inspire – and to haunt.
For more information, contact:
Karen Budra
karbudra@langara.bc.ca
604.323.5694
Room A201b
Debra Scott
debscott@langara.bc.ca
604.323.5366
Room A302a
Jacqueline Weal
jweal@langara.bc.ca
604.323.5943
Room A303e
