Rini Sumartojo

I am an urban social geographer with a focus on place and identity, including questions of race, ethnicity, gender, nationality, and belonging. I am particularly interested in urban development and planning, media geographies, and social constructions of nature.

I was initially attracted to study of human geography due to its interdisciplinary approaches and its immediate relevance to my own experiences. Learning to think “like a geographer” helped me develop a deeper awareness and appreciation of the complex web of relationships that shape the world and my own place in it. My overarching goal in teaching is thus to attempt to engender a similar experience for students. In particular, my three main goals in teaching are to help students make connections between geographic scholarship and their own lived experiences, think critically about the production of geographic knowledge and the power dynamics of socio-spatial relationships, and develop a deeper sensitivity to issues of social difference and inequality.

I began teaching at Douglas College in 2012 and have taught Introduction to Human Geography (GEOG 1100), Environment and Media (GEOG 1140), Geographies of Metro Vancouver (GEOG 1150), Geography of British Columbia (GEOG 1160), Geographic Information Systems (GEOG 2270) and Geography of Canada (GEOG 1180). I have also taught both introductory and upper-level courses as a sessional instructor at Simon Fraser University, Kwantlen University, and the University of the Fraser Valley.