Canadian Studies is pleased to announce Britt Leake as the recipient of an Edward E. Hildebrand Graduate Research Fellowship for Fall 2023.
Britt is a PhD candidate in the Travers Department of Political Science. His research focuses on understanding the conditions under which democracy succeeds or fails in societies with extensive ethnolinguistic or religious diversity. His dissertation project uses John Rawls’s theory of public reason as a frame through which to examine historical cases from four countries (Canada, India, Lebanon, and Spain) in which different cultural groups tried to make compromises on the terms of a social contract that would be legitimate in the eyes of each group.
Britt’s research on Canada will focus on the late twentieth century, when the Canadian state tried with mixed success to renegotiate its relationships with Francophone and Indigenous minorities. His Hildebrand Fellowship will support his travel to Canada, where he will conduct archival research in Ottawa, Quebec City, and Montreal.
Britt holds a BA and MA in international studies and BAs in Arabic and French from the University of Oklahoma.