About

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Amanda White (she/her) is Canada Research Chair in Sustainability, Ecological Justice, and Climate action in Creative Practices (Tier II) and Assistant Professor of Critical Studies at Emily Carr University, on unceded Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh territories. At ECU Dr. White leads the Living Environmental Arts and Futures (LEAF) Kitchen & Lab, a space supporting environmentally engaged creative research and practices such as material experimentation, collaborative initiatives, and public engagement, supported by the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI).
Amanda is an artist and researcher working at the intersection of art, environmental and cultural studies with a focus on plants studies, food justice and living systems. She is a co-initiator of the Creative Food Research Collaboratory co-author and producer for Ecologies in Practice, and co-author of a graphic novel for middle-grade readers as part of the Hungry Stories research group. Amanda holds BFA and MFA in studio arts, she earned her PhD in Cultural Studies from Queen’s, and she was a SSHRC postdoctoral fellow at the Centre for Sustainable Curating in the Department of Visual Arts at Western University. 

Get in touch: amandawhite (at) ecuad.ca

Art & Research 

Dr. Amanda White is an artist and researcher using art to engage with ecological systems, climate change, and human-nature relationships from a critical white settler lens. A key focus of her work is creative practice and critical plant studies, examining plants as living technologies that regulate climate, sustain ecosystems, and hold cultural significance. Her practivce explores plant lives and their role in shaping both human and more-than-human worlds.

Her book, Ecologies in Practice: Environmentally Engaged Arts in Canada, co-edited with Dr. Elysia French, was published in 2024 by Wilfrid Laurier University Press.  In 2025, they launched the Ecologies in Practice podcast to expand on the conversations in the book, bringing environmentally engaged artists and researchers into dialogue.

Amanda’s work also explores food systems, investigating how food production, distribution, and consumption are deeply connected to environmental and social issues. Through artistic methods, she highlights the links between agriculture, biodiversity, and climate justice, making these systems more visible and experiential. She currently works on two collaborative interdisciplinary food justice projects: the Creative Food Research Collaboratory, an international project connecting artists and food justice scholars and activists; and Hungry Stories, a national initiative with leaders in health and food studies to explore food security, sustainability, and policy.  Committed to public engagement and collaboration, her practice fosters deeper public understanding of environmental issues, emphasizing the role of art in shaping environmental discourse.

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Collaborative Projects and Websites:

Ecologies in Practice  

Ecologies in Practice: Environmentally Engaged Arts in Canada is an edited collection by Amanda White and Elysia French and published by Wilfrid Laurier University Press (2024). The Ecologies in Practice podcast series is a public program of conversations motivated by the ideas and concepts in the book. Season 1 launched in 2025.  

Creative Food Research Collaboratory  

The Creative Food Research Collaboratory germinates collaborations at the intersection of art and food studies, exploring how the arts can imagine—and therefore help to achieve—food security, food sovereignty, and food justice in Canada. Our work includes academic research, public events, teaching and workshops, as well as fundraising for community food initiatives

Hungry Stories  

the Hungry Stories research team is a group of activist-scholars aiming to change the narrative around food insecurity in Canada. Shy Cat and the Stuff the Bus Challenge, by Dian Day and Amanda White is a 200 page graphic novel for middle grade readers about friendship, neighbourhood cats, growing up and food justice, Second Story Press (Toronto) 2026.

reach me at amandawhite at ecuad.ca