Intrigued by the complexities of Newfoundland and Labrador’s settler culture, German artist Rona Rangsch embarked on a unique PhD journey at Memorial and found a second home in St. John’s

Where are you from?
I'm originally from Germany, where I was born and raised in a small city at the French border, with French my first foreign language. Saarbrücken is roughly the size of St. John's, which made it easy for me to settle in here.

Why did you choose Memorial for graduate studies?
I did not come to Newfoundland to do a PhD. I first came here as an artist-in-residence in 2007, and the place has inspired me ever since. It also encouraged me to move my artistic practice further into a research-based, field-study-like direction. When I learned about the Interdisciplinary PhD Program at Memorial and that another artist (Pam Hall) had completed it, I felt this would be just the thing to take my new Newfoundland-related project onto the next level. So, it was at Memorial or nowhere that I would embark on my journey for a PhD. It all fell into place for me, and I sometimes think Newfoundland and Memorial chose me rather than I chose them.

What is your degree program and area of specialization?
As noted above, my program was the Interdisciplinary (ID) PhD program. It is really special because, unlike most interdisciplinary programs, it allows you to combine disciplines from across the university rather than merely from within one faculty. While I did not actually use that pan-university interdisciplinarity because my doctoral project was firmly rooted in the Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS), I believe I benefited from it in the admission process. A less broad-based academic committee may not have given an artist with a background in science (my master's degree, which lies many years back, was in physics) a chance to enter new terrain at this level.
My own case aside, I believe that, in times of multiple crises, research across disciplinary and faculty boundaries is more important than ever. I can only congratulate Memorial for offering such an amazing program, and I encourage prospective students with a broad range of interests to benefit from it.

How would you describe your experience as a graduate student at Memorial?
My experience was amazing. That is not to say that it was always easy. At times, I felt overwhelmed by the critique of my supervisors (in the ID PhD program, you have at least three of them), but looking back, I am deeply thankful they pushed my intellectual boundaries the way they did. I always felt respected and taken seriously, and we had a great connection throughout. Three other parties need to be credited for my utterly positive experience: the School of Graduate Studies (SGS), the Centre for Newfoundland Studies (CNS), and the ID PhD program director. No matter what requests or questions I had, everybody at SGS was always extremely accommodating. Lacking affiliation with a specific faculty due to the nature of the ID PhD program, SGS was my institutional “home” at Memorial, and it really felt so, too. CNS was my sacrosanct, as it holds pretty much everything that relates to Newfoundland. In addition, the staff's commitment and expertise goes beyond what I would expect, even from the highly specialized librarians that they are. The support was simply amazing! Last but not least, Dr. Emmanuel Haven, the ID PhD program's director, also played a central role in my positive experience. Being an interdisciplinary scholar himself, he truly cares for the program and every single student, and he helped me navigate the complexities that a PhD program abroad at times represented to me. 

What were some of your accomplishments during your graduate degree?
Early in my studies, I received the A.G. Hatcher Memorial Award, and at the end, I was awarded the title Fellow of the School of Graduate Studies. Midway, I was invited to give a talk at the interdisciplinary conference “Regarding Uncertainty” at McGill. As an artist and researcher, I also presented at the “Aesthetics of Contamination” conference at Memorial last fall, and my contribution will be included in a publication on the topic. The biggest accomplishment, for me, however, was to make an actual contribution to a field and discourse that was widely unknown to me six years ago. 

What is your research/thesis about? What is the goal of your research? 
My research project, “AMBIVALAND: Cultural Ambivalence in Newfoundland,” was about developing a better understanding of the Newfoundland settler culture. After my first stay on the island, I returned for several other artist residencies in different parts of the island, and the place kept inspiring yet also puzzling me. Notably, the central role Newfoundland played in a series of pivotal events in Western history (like the first transatlantic telegraph and radio signals and the first non-stop transatlantic flight, or the signing of the Atlantic Charter) clashed with my ideas of the island's remoteness and marginality. When I embarked on my PhD, I had already come up with the idea that a sort of ambivalence, as a potentially stimulating asset, might explain these contrasting qualities. So, the goal of my dissertation was to explore that hypothesis.
After developing the highly malleable concept of ambivalence into a clean-cut and productive research lens, I applied it to the local settler culture and received ample response. Besides the place's quality as both centre and periphery, the erratic European colonization of the island, the precariousness in Newfoundland outports, the sociopolitical tangle in post-confederation Newfoundland, settler Newfoundlanders non-singular colonial identity, and clashes between radical resource exploitation and love of the land all resonated with the concept of ambivalence. From there, the research developed its own dynamic. Alternative angles on previously studied topics opened up, and new connections between phenomena and contexts emerged quasi naturally. Revealing and studying a whole web of cultural ambivalence in Newfoundland, rather than one ambivalent aspect, the project became a more comprehensive endeavour than I had initially imagined. This meant a lot of work and took time, but it was also very rewarding to see my idea and approach prove so fruitful.

What are the implications of your research project for the province, the country and the world?
Viewing the local settler culture through the lens of ambivalence adds a new facet with a strong creative potential to the image of a place that has often been painted predominantly in the colours of crisis and failure.
More tangible implications include an enriched understanding of a number of divides within the local society. These include rifts between urban and rural populations, environmentalists and proponents of extractive industries, and main islanders and offshore islanders. With a better understanding of the roots and impact of these rifts, I was able to suggest new leverage points to approach them. Moreover, I further debunked several detrimental yet persistent myths, like the myth of constant neglect (first by Britain and then by Canada) and ideas of victimization more generally. Finally, my study of settler Newfoundlanders' ambivalent relation with the land exposed cultural fixes that need to be broken in order to defuse the widespread lack of environmental care and the extra pressure on environmentalists in the province.
With cultural ambivalence established as a productive research lens that opens new avenues for conceiving change in Newfoundland, it also lends itself for the study of other borderlands with complex colonial histories.

What are you doing now after having graduated with your PhD, and what are your plans?

Right now, with convocation only a couple of weeks ago, I am enjoying the Newfoundland summer, which – when it finally arrives – is just fabulous. I have also resumed reno work at our small old home in the St. John's harbour, which I had paused to finish my thesis. Painting a room or refurbishing a window can actually be quite satisfying...
In the long run, I have a number of ideas on where to go from here. Which road I will take also depends on what life throws at me. When I started a PhD at Memorial, heading towards an academic career was not my priority. I had a solid career as a visual artist (if modest in terms of income), and I never intended to give that up entirely. My main motivation for becoming a student again was my curiosity to learn more about the place I had chosen as my second home. Of course, the program provided so much more than satisfying this curiosity! Entering the Humanities and Social Sciences on a PhD level and in an interdisciplinary program immensely widened my horizon and sensitized me for issues I was barely concerned with before, like colonialism or energy and climate politics. So, I will combine my background in science and my passion for visual art with my new interests and skills in HSS to get more engaged both socially and environmentally.
Of course, I also intend to bring my doctoral project to the next level. For one thing, I want to publish my findings. For another, I would like to do further research into the possibilities for tapping the potential for change that I have identified. The latter would ideally be done in the context of a postdoc position, which would mean I stick with academia for some more.

Last but not least, my studies made me a strong advocate of interdisciplinarity, and I would like to use my skills and experiences to foster related trends at Memorial and beyond.

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